Salaryman
Being the victim of attempted assassination, was something new. At least I should be, I had never been in a position where someone wanted me dead in my salaryman's life. Being murdered by a disgruntled employee didn't count, that was… an illogical emotional overreaction reaction. Assassinations were done for political expediency when you could not talk someone into your point of view. Which was a clear way of telling me that there would be no way to bring my pack and the enemy pack together peacefully and I doubted I would be able to pull that one-on-one trick again as well.
Someone who attempts to kill you while you're away from your forces tends to not play fair. Which meant I didn't need to play fair. If the wolf leader of the western pack wanted to play dirty... Then I need not play fair myself. I had the advantage of numbers, and if I was stupid I could rush in there and kill as much as I could 'till I won.
But I was not some primitive fool. My enemy was a pack of feral animals, if I attacked them like that they would be backed into a corner and my numbers would mean nothing. No, what I needed to do was to weaken the enemy pack. As I had done with the Yetis and the other wolf pack I began data collection. My experience with the former eastern pack helped with identifying roads the wolves took for their hunting parties, finding out numbers, and figuring out how they organized the tribe.
After a week of scouting, I had a better understanding of the situation and I had figured out the important parts. The wolves of the west had around 100 wolves under their command, a few more than I had known weeks before, which meant an attack on their camp would be even harder than I had suspected. At all times there were 20 wolves guarding their camp, which was a tunnel bored into the side of a mountain. When I say bored, I mean bored. From as close as I was able to get I could tell that the tunnel was not natural, machines had been used to make it. Why? I didn't know, but the black pit that those wolves came in and out of yawed open with a palpable feeling of foreboding.
Without being able to get inside there was no way to confirm my estimation. There were only 100 wolves visible, including, those 20 at the camp, at any given time but it could be double that. For all I knew the tunnel went all the way to the other side of the mountain range and there was a whole nation of millions on the other side. I doubted that greatly, the wolves I had at my disposal were ravenous creatures who ate too much for numbers of that size. But without information gathering in the tunnel, I would just have to hope my calculations were correct.
As for the 80 wolves that left the tunnel, three packs of 10 would go on hunting trips in their territory. I had thought maybe it was only two but Raven proved to be a quick and intelligent animal, and he had friends. If I was asked which animal was more intelligent I would probably say wolves, but Raven did give a good enough show that I was wondering about that.
I had come back from my scouting trip and used rocks in the show to make an estimate of the distribution of the enemy wolves. The raven saw what I was doing and somehow put together that pile of ten stock represented ten unit hunting parties. At the time I just assumed it was wondering what I was doing. The next day, when I came back from scouting, there was another pile of rock next to my two and three ravens hanging out, with the Raven being easy to spot out by my bandages still on his side.
The fact that there were more ravens was not surprising. If one exists there must be more, the fact that the bird could contact two others and get them to do what he wanted and confirm there was a third band I missed... That was a sign of organization and intel gathering capability I did not expect from a bird. But Raven was nearly three and a half feet big, I should have expected the animal to be more intelligent just from the bigger brain cavity. Of course, I went out and confirmed this information. Always best to double-check your sources, after all. And I did confirm the raven's intel, which was where those extra ten had come from. These were tactical advantages I didn't intend to let go to waste, having an eye in the sky allowed me to confirm other numbers and with Raven's help I did just that.
The last group of 50 were on patrol between my territory and their own, occasionally poking into mine to grab a quick snack. And their leader, I believed, moved with this group. The wolves were large enough that I could ride them, big enough already, but the wolf at the core of this group was much larger. It was a beast of a wolf, dark of fur, and its eyes seemed to glow with an energy the others lacked. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about it.
Yes, I could attack the group with my 120 wolves. I had a chance of winning. I also had a chance of being bitten in half during the attack. Attacking a monster like that while it was at its strongest was exactly what it wanted. It had put a hit on my head and wanted me dead. What better way to give it what it wanted than to put myself in biting range.
I was not going to give it what it wanted. No, I was going to take from it everything it had. Breaking my wolves into groups of 30 myself, Cunning, Fierce, and Mother as the leaders, I planned to move out to hunt down the western wolves hunting packs. As such I would train those groups of 30 to work as a unit.
The plan was simple: the 50 on the border were looking for me, so I would put in an appearance along the northern stretch of the territory .to draw that wolf and his pack to me. As I did so my 3 other parties would cross the border and hunt down and kill the hunting packs. I had considered ordering an attack on the cave while the big beast was chasing me, but that would not serve my goals.
I needed that big bad wolf tied down, looking after its home. If it had no home, well it had nothing to lose. And something that has nothing to lose was a dangerous thing to fight. Or stand near train station tracks with.
I had considered ways to increases my, and my wolves, combat affinity, unfortunately the wolves were well-armed so there was nothing to add to them. The best I was able to come up with was to use all the spare leather and hides I gathered over the last few months to build a basic side and neck armor, increasing their survival rate for what was about to come was really the best I could do. For myself… Well hopefully I would not need anything, but I took a particularly long and sharp elk horn and put leather around the handles. It was an impromptu sword, which was better than nothing if I lost my spears. As for range, I devised a kind of spear thrower. I had been working on a way to increase my range with my weapons when that thought came to me, I believed that I remembered it from some national geographic magazine I read once. Then again, the fact I could figure out how to make something like this spoke heavily that knowledge I didn't fully grasp had been placed in this body before I had woken to it.
Spear throw had taken a few iterations to get it right, a full week of carving and prepping but did what I needed to do for the survival of my tribe.
Three weeks after the failed assassination, it was time to repay that crime.
Salaryman
Fighting a larger enemy force with a smaller force takes planning and preparations, fighting one who literally has a wolf the size of a small tank took a lot of planning. So, sitting on the back of one of my biggest wolves, I waited. this far north the tree line was barely a thing, more of the rocky slopes with dense brush and occasional pools of snow turned to water by geothermal warmth. The wolves were scattered about, resting themselves for the fight ahead.
There was no cover here for my 30 wolves, there was an only open field of snow, and there was no way the big bastard wouldn't see us up here and come running. Once he started chasing me, I had a plan. It was a bad plan but it was a plan. We were not too far from where I first camped when I woke on this world, not too far from the pool that was surrounded by bones. I hoped that my wolves, being smaller than that walking tank, would have a speed advantage and that we could get to the other side of the poisoned pool before it arrived. At that point, with any luck, it would be so incensed that it would charge us through it. The best outcome would be that it would fall to poison without me having to do much more. Worst outcome, it would just slow up. In that case we could run away again before leading it on a continued chase around the top of the valley, keeping it busy till I thought my other wolf groups had finished off its hunting parties.
It was a bad and simple plan, but the simpler it was the less likely something would go wrong. I just needed the back-furred tank to show up. As I pondered what was taking so long, Raven landed on my shoulder and poked the side of my head. Muttering a pained complaint, I looked up at Raven and saw it was looking down slowly. Following its gaze, I saw the movement of the trees and quickly confirmed that the wind was not in cause. No, these were the guests I had been waiting for. Muttering a few words to wake the wolves, they quickly got to their feet and started letting out howls which served to draw out the howls off the tree line below. Whatever surprise they hoped to have was gone now and there was no reason for them to attempt to skulk up on me.
With a rush the wolves came charging out of the tree line, coming up the slope at us. How I wished I had some kinda rifle at that moment, they were open targets and could have easily been taken out. But I didn't so I worked with what tools I had. Grabbing my spear thrower I took basic aim and launched one then two of my spears down, slowly, at the charging mass. I didn't bother to check to see if I hit, there were 50 wolves bearing down at me and I needed them chasing me. If they hit, they would be angry and charge harder, if not… Well, either way I needed to move. With a few words my wolves ran, heading east toward the pond.
Looking back I saw 50 wolves chasing without issues. Behind them, breaking some younger tree in its headlong charge, came to the leader of the western back. Its eyes seemed to glow as it rushed after us, trampling some of its own wolves as it did.
Staying calm I pulled another spear, turned my body as much as possible, and threw another spear. This one I watched land, impaling itself in the big bastard's shoulder. The howl of pain was rather satisfying but then it seemed to pick up speed. I was hoping it would possibly slow down however it seemed that making it angry was not something I should aim for. Turning back to my wolves I held on tight. They knew what to do, it was all up to them now and I just had to hope that the pool was as poisonous as I believed.
It was a straight run from where I had been waiting to the pool and, at the speed we were going, we soon reached the pool. Carefully I ordered the wolves to go around the edges of the area I thought could be deadly by following the prepared sticks that I had put up in the last few days. The angle we came at also gave us a bit of a height advantage, as we came to stop on a cliffed hill that a pool of water flowed out of. I had a moment to take a breath of fresh air. The fastest route for the enemy was for the wolves to cut through the area covered in bones, and with luck they would not be thinking and do it.
And they did not think. The wolves rushed onward toward us, some of them jumping into the water to swim directly towards me. They didn't seem to be dying off from poison so my plan looked to have gone to shit. I prepared to keep running when something massive roared, cutting through the chaos. Roaring, not howling. Looking over the edge of the cliff I sat on in confusion, I wondered what that was about until I saw something massive and white swim out of what I had thought was a small hole in the cliff into which the water of the pond spilled.
The creature that swam to the center of the pond before it stood up on its hind legs revealed that the small hole was not a water passage but a burrow and the whole pawn was not some poisoned graveyard. It was simply the lunch remnants of the creature in front of me.
Standing a good 12 feet tall a massive white bear looked down at the wolves near its paws... Then smacked one out of its water, sending it flying into a tree where it was impaled on a branch. The massive polar bear looked around then moved to smack another, and the chaos began. The western wolves in the water moved desperately to get away from the beast, the ones out of the water howled and bore their fangs at the bear, and the western leader barrelled through the pack and launched itself at the polar bear.
There were few things I expected would happen today… A kaiju fight was not on that list. But that is what I got as the bear and wolf tore at each other, ripping, clawing, trying to put each other down. The pond, which had been muddy brown, slowly turned red with the blood running into it.
I was a bit torn on what to do. On one hand, the bear was killing my enemy so the enemy of my enemy was my friend. But on the other, polar bears were known as man-eaters so helping it seemed like a bad idea. Frankly, in this situation, it was best to let my enemies fight each other to death and it would be better to flee Even if the bear and big wolf were killing each other, the western wolves still outnumbered me by ten wolves despite their losses.
Then Raven landed on my shoulder, tapped my shoulder, and pointed west. Looking that way I saw another raven coming my way, as far as I knew there was a raven with each of my wolf units. If that raven was part of one of my wolf packs and was heading here, that meant they had succeeded in their mission and were returning. 60 to 40 advantage in my favor.
I smiled, the numbers could be better but really with the western wolves preoccupied watching the kaiju fight… Well, they weren't paying attention to what we were doing. Not only that, they were broken up into two groups, 15 on the right of the pond and 25 on the left. If I attacked the flank it would take them a moment to recognize it, and with the other wolf unit coming from right behind them… My smile broadened till my fangs were bared, as I realized they could be encircled and destroyed. Pulling my last spear out of the side, I tapped the shoulder of the wolf I was riding and signaled to advance on the right flank. Quickly, not to draw attention, my wolves moved down the right slope, being as stealthy as they could be to not draw the western wolves' notices. They only started barking and charging as one of the western wolves turned it head and looked at us.
Like a wave of claws and teeth, My pack was on the flank ripping into the western wolves with murderous glee. From my position on a wolf's back, I had a better look at the battle than most, but I was too busy showing my remaining spear into enemy wolves that tried to go for me. No doubt the bigger wolf had offered some sorta reward for my head with how driven they were. One of them even got lucky, slashing its clawed paw down the left side of my face and leaving a deep cut. How bad it was I didn't know, I would have to deal with that later. But this worked in my favor as they wasted any chance to reorganize and fed themselves into the fight.
As the fight progressed and things became more organized I began to get a look at the situation Between stabbing of my spear in wolves that came for me. The black wolf and white bear were still fighting, too preoccupied with their own fight to care about what was happening around the body of water they stood in. The western wolves that my 30 had pounded on looked to be beaten or dead. I saw several severely wounded wolves limping away with many cuts and bits. Of my 30 they seemed to have taken wounds proportional. Five were down that I wasn't sure would be getting back up, with another 10 looking bloody from various wounds that looked like they would have been worse if I had not provided them with some basic armor.
As for those that had been on the other side of the pond they were now facing us down, 5 of them had charged in and been killed or wounded with the 15. This meant I had 15 fresh wolves to their 20, yes I had ten more wounded wolves but I rather they didn't have to fight and go from wounded to dead.
I considered calling a retreat as the other wolves had not arrived yet and it was better to take what gains I could than get myself killed when a raven, not the one marked by bandages landed on my shoulder. Smiling, I looked past the enemy wolves and saw Mother wolf and her band of 30 rushing out of the tree behind the 20 western wolves. They moved silently and without much noise, most likely planning to take the 20 wolves in front of me by surprise. This crazy impromptu plan was working, I just needed to keep the wolves looking my way so that Mother could grind them into dust.
So I took up my last remaining bloody spear and, not bothering to use the spear thrower, I tossed. The wooden stick tipped with elkhorn sailed true and smashed in the head of one of the wolves, killing it. This broke whatever order they had as the wolves charged my position, but the commotion of their charge covered the sound of mother and her wolves charging up behind them. Before they reached our position a fourth of their number was already taken down and the numbers looked worse for them by the moment. I drew the elk sword and pointed it toward the western wolves, signaling the charge to my pack.
Holding on for dear life as the wolves rushed each other, I couldn't really do much but wave my sword around. The wolves knew their business of fighting, I was just the tactician in this little fight. I now simply needed to trust my loyal subordinates to execute their duty without fail. And my trust was well placed as the western wolves were thoroughly overrun, a few ran for healing back in the direction of their home but most died or were left seriously injured at the edges of the battle where they would die. Or perhaps I could convince them to switch sides in exchange of aid? Something to investigate, but for now I was smiling. I had a great victory, not only had I accomplished my goals but the opportunity I found had been exploited to deal a crushing blow. Now the valley was as good as mine.
'The tiny furless Whelp thinks they won, have they?' accompanying a deep gravelly voice in my head, I felt a sharp spike of pain. Confused, I looked toward the pond and saw the black wolf standing on what was left of the polar bear. Blood was running down its sides and legs, a set of new scars running down its face on the right side, and one of its eyes was gone but seemed to have been replaced by that energy I had seen before from a distance, now swirling with miasma effect.
'You furless ones, always thinking you're better than us. Building your homes and killing our prey, and now you seek to enslave my kind to your whims again?' The wolf sneezed, giving me a death glare and never taking the eye off me. 'You Lowly creatures are nothing but livestock we should consume when the hard winter comes. To think, my kind would even let such disgusting creature ride its back. REMOVE THAT FILTH!'. The wolf I was riding tensed and seemed to be at war with itself, it began shaking horribly. I rolled off the side of the wolf and whatever the black wolf had done immediately seemed to lessen. I petted the wolf's side to calm it, noting all the other wolves around me were backing away from the black wolf.
Sighing, I cleared my throat and turned to look at the black wolf, "Apparently you have a problem with humans? I'm afraid I'm not particularly fond of overt speciesism, I had to send enough staff to sensitivity training over the years. Perhaps though we can come to some compromises? I only had to result in such base animalistic wars because I believed we could not come to an understanding. But if we can talk surely we can come to an understanding. There is enough place in the valley for two packs."
'What nonsense is that? Are you trying to keep me busy in hopes that more of your tamed pets arrive? They won't do you any good, I AM THE KING OF THIS VALLEY!' The wolves around me buckled to the ground but though I felt a headache it was minuscule enough that I ignored it. 'Once I have eaten you I will remove the taint you brought here, they will be fed to the next generation growing safely in my home.'
"You wish to eat and kill those who took me, in, My good king? You seem to be a cannibal, and I'm afraid I can not abide cannibals," I said, keeping the sword tight in my hand. There was no way I could run at this point with what the black wolf had done to mine to render them weakened. I had to assume though that there was a reason he did not use this ability before. y hope was that, whatever that was, along with its weakened state from injuries, would make whatever fight was about to happen go in my favor.
The black wolf began to move toward me, it was limping but, with its size, it was menacing nonetheless. 'I don't care what my food abides, I only care for where my food will come next'.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head, wiping some blood from my face, before pointing my sword at the approaching beast as I attempted to psych myself up for this fight., "And I only care that you seem to have some magic ability to enforce your will over MY PACK! If I knew how to undo that you would not be so sure in your declaration about my existence as your food, though I'm sure the raven would love your EYES for a meal."
The Black wolf stopped halfway to me, opening it remaining eye wide, 'What? How-'. Whatever it was about to say was interrupted by my raven dive-bombing from the sky and digging its pointed beak into the wolf's sole good eye. The Wolf shook its head, attempting to fling the raven off, leaving me to stare, stumped, at what just happened. Did the raven hear me say 'eye 'and get the idea to attack it with an eye? But how did it know what eye meant? This question was postponed by the mother wolf's head resting on my shoulder and licking my cheek. Surprised, I looked over and saw the wolves getting back up all around me, whatever spell had been cast upon them seemingly broken.
'Whelp! I AM THE KING OF THIS VALLEY! You will not take it from me while I live!'
Looking at the wolf, seeing its eyes were gone but the orbits were now filled by blood and that strange miasma, I could only shake my head. "Well then, it would seem that the economic forces that dictated the need for a king have run their course, I prefer an elective republic style of government anyways."
My wolves charged past me and pounced onto it, biting into the monster's legs and sides, attempting to pull it down. I noted their bites weren't having much effect, simply pulling the beast's fur and his hide seeming to block their teeth. The monster attempted to bite my wolves but, being blind and weakened, it was too slow to stop them as they pulled its struggling body into the water. They most likely realized the best way to deal with the beast was to drown it, effective but time-consuming with the way it was fighting.
Walking up I carefully dodged its head as it attempted to take a bite out of where it thought I was standing. It may be blind but could still smell me, most likely. Dodging another attack I aimed and shoved the elk blade deep into the open eye socket of the wolf's head. I let go and left the blade in its brain as I took a step back. The black wolf bit at the air a couple more times before the life force that animated the monster went out of it and the body collapsed into the water.
Salaryman
I can not abide cannibals, those wolves that remained alive were not something to keep around. Yes, I understood that animals should not be held to the same standard as humans. But these animals showed by their continued intelligence that they did not get that excuse, Without even getting into the freak of nature's strange abilities.
In consequence, though the enemy wolves represented a potential food source, I made sure to have them piled up before applying flammable materials to them. These creatures were tainted in some way, the way they acted was not natural and was not human. They hunted their own kind, attempted assassinations, and could speak through mental powers. No doubt that strange energy I saw in the wolf's eyes aligned with that foreboding I felt at their cave home. Whatever was in that cave needed to be burned out to prevent it from spreading, be it some microorganism or just a quirk of their genetics. Perhaps a form of rabies? Who knows.
After I set the wolves alight I would have done the same to the big monster as well but it was too heavy to lift out of the pond. Without much in the way of options, I took my knife and cut out a large segment of its fur coat. with proper cleaning and drying the material may be useful, it had stood up to the bites of my wolves after all. I did take my blade out of its skull, finding it had broken off halfway inside.
From there I took stock of the situation. The other units had made their way to the pond, their raven leading them here, and I was able to get my pack together. There was no way to know the remaining enemy numbers but, from the look of the somewhat beat-up armor on my wolves, it would guess they all been successful. This meant that at best, of each original 30 targets, most like 90% were dead. Meanwhile, of the 50 I had fought, I could confirm 40 bodies so my best estimate what that there was probably upward of 30 wolves left at the western cave. They were most likely severely wounded, besides the 20 who stayed at the cave guarding the "next generation". Well, I wasn't going to let that next generation happen, that taint needed to be removed from this valley if I ever wanted to have peace again. Out of my wolves, 80 were still combat-ready, the armor having done its job they were tired but willing. Thirty were wounded greatly and I directed them back home while I organized the best funeral I could for the last ten under the situation.
Then I packed the 80 wolves with as much wood and flammables that I could find, cleaning up a large swath of forest ground around the pond. I would burn this taint out before it spread.
King Thengir of Russ
I warmed My hand by the fire, as i looking out a window set into the old stone walls at the black night sky, Helwinter was coming, in a few short months the cold in the mountain would drive the animals that lived there from their homes. Then raids would begin again.
I had been king for 50 years and lived 60, in that time things did not change much. War with other tribes over resources, wars for much of the year, war during the summer over the coastal bounties with the sea folk. And war during Helwinter over the game during the winter. It was a never-ending cycle that dated back to long before he was alive. The castle I lived in, a small stone affair, was a prime example of how long it had been going. There were no records of who had built it but it was clear that it had been built not out of some desire for splendor but to keep the people inside safe.
And as the ruler of this castle, I had done My best to extend that safety to My people as far as I could over the last 50 years. 50 long years of war, pain, and suffering. And mistakes. So many mistakes. The biggest one was myself, I never produced an heir. Oh, I had tried, how I tried, but things just never worked out. Though they did elect kings in the Russ, the current options to the throne were… warmongers, who would lead My people to destruction. I likely had only 20 years of life left, maybe more if things went well but I worried what would happen after My death. Who would lead the Russ after the day I passed on into legend? I could only hope the Allfather would send someone worthy to take My place before My time was up, someone I could mold into a good king.
Writers Note; I may have too much fun on this chapter and let creativity take the wheel. But on the other hand what is warhammer? It a sci-fi franchise that is about going overboard? Is it about taking things to the extreme? I don't know, let me know if I went too far.
Chapter 6, Moving
Salarymen
By estimation it was now almost a full year since I arrived on this world, give or take a month. I had stopped counting the days during the fight with the other packs and never picked it back. It was useless to mark the time when I needed to focus on survival, plus I didn't know if my measurement of time was any good. All I knew for sure was that for the last few days storms seemed to be brewing in the north, and the planet was getting colder. Something that I didn't know it could do but before I arrived here I didn't know there was mind-eating rabies that gave wolves mind-control over their kin and allowed them to talk to you in your mind.
The situation being as it was, I suspected that massive creatures of the mountains would soon be forced into the valleys. Since I knew those creatures included massive wolves like the former leader of the western clan and yetis... I thought it was time to pull up stakes, at least for now.
I loaded up my 110 wolves with everything reasonable: spears, tools, food stalks, furs, and anything else I could think of. I also strapped wolf armor I built on Mother, Fierce and Cunning. They were my sub-leaders of the pack thus I needed them to be ready to handle any situation we came across. I had also created a bit more saddlebags than I really needed during my practice session, those I mounted on wolves so they could be used by the 20 or 30 pups that had come into existence since I had taken control. If something were to happen we couldn't afford the little ones slowing us down.
The last thing I did before we set out on our journey south was to make a stop by the western pack cave. I had set a team of wolves to guard it, making sure nothing had come out of it, after I had piled the entrance with as much burnable debris as possible and set it alight. So far nothing has come out of it, though every few weeks I came by and attempted to fill entrances with as much junk as possible.
I doubted there was anything left of that pack alive in that darkness, but I wasn't going to take any chances that I would come back after winter to find a monster had taken over my valley permanently. During those trips though I had confirmed a few things that upset my understanding of things.
I now knew humans existed on this planet, the leader of the western pack had made that clear if the bones found on the yetis had not. What I did not know was where they were, and what state humanity was in.
On the side of assuming they were advanced, I had the pod I had found myself in, which was something well beyond my understanding, and the way cave walls had been drilled through to indicate humanity had progressed to machine use. The problem was some of the junk by the cave entrances said something else.
Swords, shields, arrows, and other implements of feudal society… Now, thankfully, what I had seen looked old and rusted but there was no way they were as old as the bored entrances in the cave. Which meant humanity had progressed to the point they could bore through mountains, then collapsed to the point they were using axes. That could mean any number of things, but the most likely outcome was this planet was probably going through a dark age.
What did that mean for me? Well, it meant any hope that humanity would be my safe path to stress-free retirement was not looking great, but otherwise, it just meant I had hard work ahead of me.
If I was in a dark age that meant I was not in a very enlightened time period, there were good chances that if I wasn't careful and very kind when I finally met the human population I could get declared a witch or demon.
Wouldn't that tickle that bastard's fancy… What bastard? If I ever find out who blocked off large chunks of my memories I was going to teach them that if memories needed to be removed, then they should be removed and not left behind a damn cheese grater. Leaving those issues aside I would need to be careful. I may be stronger than I suspected but I was just a 5-foot girl. By my estimation, if humans were just as genetically modified as myself, it would not be hard to tie me to a stake and burn me as a witch.
But that was my last trip before the big move. I looked through junk for any gold I could give as a gift since gold should be worth something, found nothing I could use, then headed back to my own camp to finish the last of the preparations.
The next day I gathered up all my wolves and all the supplies I could get my hands on before starting the march south. It only took a day to leave the valley I spent the last of my year in and soon we were moving through foothills that flanked the mountain ranges of the north. Hunting along the route we moved through the snowy cold-as-hell tundra for several days, stopping to rest at several campsites the wolves knew such as volcanic springs or warm spots that had probably been used for generations for such trips.
The wolves were generally faster than me but I was able to ride on the back of my three sub-commanders for most of the trip. The higher position allowed me to keep an eye on our movements as the wolves moved in a column of two, seeming to default to this in order to hide their numbers I guessed.
Keeping this routine, and not being slowed down by the pups, we were able to make good time and soon found ourselves at a set of low hills, near a river. My pack seemed to think this place was good for a permanent camp and, looking around, I did see signs of old wolf habitation.
There were no caves here, though there was some sort of geothermal activity beneath the earth as the nearby spring ran with warm water. Following the water that bubbled out from the earth led to a cold river, beyond that I didn't know. For now, I focused on setting up camp over this warm spot using furs I had taken from many of the megaFauna and tree branches I brought as replacement spear poles to construct several tents for my and my pack to share as we survived down here.
King Thengir of Russ
The wolves were back. Like always the hordes of wolves had swept out of the mountains preying on the farmlands of the Russ. The only good thing about the wolves coming down from their mountain homes was the war with our neighbors stopped as we all rallied together to survive the Helwinter and the wolves that stalked it.
As King of Russ, it was my duty to see that as much of our lands was protected from the ravenous beast as I could, but after decades of hard work, I knew that in reality, I could only hold 40% of our territory safely. I would have my forces put on a good show in the other 60%, marching through the countryside and fighting single wolves when they could. That is just how the Snow fell on Fenris and it would be a miracle if things stayed in that good of a situation.
Especially with the black demon leading them. That monster was older than the possible Kingdom of Russ itself. I had grown up on the legends of the proud warriors who stood up to the beast and died in glorious battles sending the beast back to the mountain it came from. In my youth, I was afraid of it. In my prime, I thought I would be the one to kill it. Now… Now I am just glad I had never seen it.
Though who knows. Maybe this would be the year I saw it up close and personal. If I had to make an end, I guess I would rather go down as a good king who fought to the last for his people than a good king who didn't leave anything for his people after he died. The first option would at least overshadow my failure in life.
As for the current deposition of my kingdom, things stood as they always did this time of year: my scouts were on the move, tracking three groups of 50+ wolves each. There had already been several skirmishes with farmers and local guards. Fighting had gone in our favor so far, as these were the common Fenrisian Wolves, they were not the true monsters that would stalk our nightmares.
No, the Blackmaned, the monsters who lived in the mountain, were what would change the tide. They were massive beasts the size of warhorses and they came in the second waves of wolves that hunted my lands this time of year. The monsters would sweep down from the mountains and eat everything that was not the common wolf. Whether it be human or elk or wooly mammoth, it didn't matter to them.
No doubt the Black Demon, the fabled King of the Mountains, a Black Thunder Wolf who led the local Blackmaned, would lead this sweep with cruelty this year. At the start of this Helwinter I had attended meetings with other kings in the region. My allies in Helwinter, and one of the younger and foolhardier kings had reported they sent an expedition in the mountains to kill the Demon at the end of last Helwinter. They said that stupidity with such pride, it had been sickening. I hadn't even bothered to point out that unless there was pelt there was no proof of the dead. I had seen a fool do something that stupid in my prime, the ravages the land underwent had been such that they had brought a wave of peace. For 5 years, when not being raided by the wolves in Helwinter and the sea peoples in the summer, there just was no willingness to fight. People had been too busy trying to survive with what little they had.
That is why I planned to not overextend myself this year, most likely the other lords who remembered that time were also thinking the same. Whoever had the most left after this Helwinter would have the power to dictate the situation of the lowlands for the next 5 years.
But, even with that being my plan, I still needed to put in appearances. Thus I had taken my Huscarls on a campaign, 200 of my finest warriors marched behind me in orderly lines. My mission was simple, I needed to kill as many of the common wolves as possible. With that done my people would be appeased and I could plan for a defensive campaign against the Blackmaned wolves.
Riding my horse at the head of my column of troops I pondered how I was going to keep my people safe from the terrible beast. I could evacuate large parts of my land to castle Russ, its heavy thick stone wall would serve as prime defenses against the Blackmaned. Though if the Demon himself came he would break down the doors without issues.
Really I just had to hope it would be one of the other 2 packs of Blackmaned wolves who came to my territory. They were bad but they were weaker, and less likely to attack fortified holdings unless desperate.
Perhaps I could arrange things so that the wolves went for other kings' lands? I'm sure the other kings were thinking similar things, so theorizing possible ways to move the wolves along was not breaking off the alliances yet. I was simply coming up with ways to move the wolves back if one king broke it first
Most likely the best way to do that was to hunt on the borders of a king's territory and hope the wolves followed the blood across the border. It was a possibility, but not very likely to work. I needed to come up with something better. Something that would not result in me feeding the enemy my own resources.
Sighing I looked up at the sky and closed my eyes before asking silently for the Allfather to guide me to a path that would save my kingdom from the worst of the coming pain. He worked in mysterious ways and though he never answered my request I did believe he guided me for a long time to my success.
He may not be vocal but his influences were everywhere, if you knew where to look for them. And I had come to believe that looking at all situations closely and finding his influences was the key to the successes in life.
Listening to the clatter of the chainlink on the leather of my Huscarls' armor, I waited for something, some sign to tell me what I should be doing. What meaning would come from that noise I didn't know, but I knew something would come to me as I listened to it. Then the noise stopped suddenly and unexpectedly.
"THE FUCK IS THAT!" I heard a warrior scream, taking me out of my moment. Opening my eyes I leveled my head and looked back at the column seeing that a dozen or so warriors just behind me had broken formation to look at something to the north in the tree line. Following their gaze, I looked to see what had caused such commotion and was left in no better state than my troops.
To our west were 5 to 10 blackmaned wolves, something so brazen I would assume we were surrounded and about to be attacked if not for the other oddity. Blackmaned tended to be night hunters down in the lowlands, using their nearly dark coloration to move about and stalk preys who could not see very well in the twilight hours.
They did not come out in the day because, though they were bigger than humans, we tended to be more organized and able to work together in light to kill them.
To see the Blackmaned in the light of the day tended to be a bad sign, it usually meant the Black Demon was coming to ravage your lands.
What did not have me organize an attack in hopes of killing the beast, in hope of saving my kingdom the trouble of a Blackmaned attack… Was the rider on the back of one of the bigger wolves.
There was a person riding a wolf! That… that didn't happen, that had never happened. There were some old legends about Allfather being able to harness the wolves, but those were myths. The wolves, especially the Blackmaned, were too savage to ride.
Yet there, atop the biggest wolf, sat a figure in all black cloak, their head and face obscured by a hood. In fact, much of their body was observed by the black-furred cloak.
Blinking a couple of times I got a hold of the situation and called out. "Huscarls, Defensive line!" With the sound of many men moving, the quiet line moved like the professional warriors they were, taking up the shield wall with those with spears making up the second line.
Striking while the troopers were focused I rode off the side of the road and in front of my warriors looking at the black-cloaked figure from the back of my horse. The figure was watching back. I could tell that from the way the hood moved, just the bare hints of light in the near blackness. Taking a moment I looked away from here to look at the wolves, noting something else was off. They had armor, some kind of crude leather and hide was strapped over the vital area around the neck and sides, making the deadly beast even harder to kill. I had the advantage in numbers from the look of it but if something went wrong I had no idea what was happening. In my many years of life, nothing like this had ever happened.
Moving my eyes to look back at the rider, I noted the figure had been looking at my men, which was good. I hoped they would see the professionalism and dedication, along with the numbers, and realize fighting here was not a situation they could win.
Then the rider dismounted and my assurance lessened. On the back of the wolf I could believe the figure was some regular human, but standing there and petting the wolves as if they had no worries in the world, they were not normal. The wolves tended toward a height that mirrored my own horse at 7 feet tall, the rider was by estimate only a foot shorter, maybe a half foot shorter than the wolves. They were as tall as me or taller and they were handling those wolves, the most dangerous things in the world, like it was a common house pet.
What madness has found me, was all I could think for a moment, then the raven came out from the west and landed on the black rider's shoulder.
"Allfather," I said, making the sign of a hammer, before dismounting from my horse. Ravens did not just land on people's shoulders, they were intelligent creatures that bore the Allfather's messages. I had no idea what was going on but this was the sign I had been asking for, something great stood before me. And I had to do my damndest to navigate the path set before me. Allfather only gave a few chances to humans on this planet, and when he gave you one you either rose to meet the occasion or were cursed and cast down.
Stepping away from my battle line I walked till I was halfway between my men and the wolves. Those wolves were fast enough that they could kill me before I could retreat but something told me that I should show a little faith.
The rider looked at me, gave one more ear rub to the wolf they had been riding, and started to walk closer to me. The wind picked up and I was able to get a better look at them as they came, beneath their cloak they wore some kind of leather armor in a style I had never seen before, over what looked like hide clothing. As they got closer though I could better see the cloak, which I had not really given much thought to, and a thing became clear: it was not just some black animal's fur, it was wolf fur and it was the same shade as described by the survivors of the Demon, the purest black that no light could escape.
They couldn't have, could they? No. Allfather, there was no way the demon had been slain and turned into a fur cloak, that would… that would be something Allfather would find humorous, I had to admit.
The figure came to a stop not five feet away from me, and I could now confirm that they were in fact nearly 7 feet tall, a giant of a human if I had ever seen one. They pulled back their hood, which seemed to undo the cloak, revealing two more confusing and devastating things. First the figure was not only a giant but also a girl, though altogether she looked no older than some of the shield maidens who made up my own formations. The other was that she had ample tracts of land when it came to her figure, if the leather chest armor was anything to go by. Thankfully I was too old for that childish thought but she would be the center of attention in any room she walked into.
The blonde-haired blue-eyed girl with a few small scars around her left eye smiled and held out her hand in a friendly greeting motion, then she said something in languages I never heard before.
Stunned and confused I held out my hand and she took it, shaking it happily.
Salarymen
Humans are resilient creatures, even in the worst environmental conditions they can find ways to survive and thrive. I was glad they could because before me stood an example of the human will to not only thrive in the worst but also build up what they have to be better.
Though I was a bit concerned by how small they appeared to be. Being the only human I had seen when I arrived on this world I had made an assumption, that assumption being that I was the average height of the women of my own country. A foolhardy thing to do considering I was not a human from my country but it is how I choose to evaluate things barring any absolute scale. Megafauna and flora had not challenged that assumption, being their sizes were large enough that a difference of a foot didn't matter. The man in front of me did challenge that assumption though, and greatly. The humans in front of me were either hobbit-sized or I was a giant.
Which was not a great situation, being different was a great way to draw fear and ire from humans. This was another reason why I needed to look as friendly as possible.
The human in front of me had to be some kind of leader, the way he walked reminded me how some CEO would walk, like a king in control of everything they see. Considering the leather armor and the 200 or so warriors that were making up the spear line behind him, I would have also assumed he was possibly a king or local lord. If I could ingratiate myself to him and make myself useful, well… The keys to my human life lay before me, one where I didn't have to sleep in tents in the cold. Even if the wolves kept me warm, I would like a proper bed.
Pulling down the hood I used to keep the sun out of my eyes I revealed my face, assuming that such was proper decorum, and smiled before holding out my hand.
The man in front of me was old, I could tell that with a look. His hair was as white as the snow, his face was age-lined and marked and he looked like someone who had seen a hard life. If not for the fact that he was well-muscled for someone in their elder years I would have assumed that he was in his 90s based off his face. Going by his mass and height… Maybe later 60s? Most of his lower face was hidden by a short beard such that, if he was a bit more stout, I could have compared him to dwarfs. He also had piercing blue eyes, not too dissimilar to my own.
He also wore some fine chain armor in between layers of padding and fur that seemed to be dyed a light blue-gray. Over that, he wore a short gray cloak that looked a bit like my own, except without the hood and with more fur around the collar. Looking past him I noted the warriors that came with him wore similar shades of color, perhaps a way to identify each other during a fight?
That spoke of a professional force, which required a central government! Oh, how wonderful. A society I could ingrate my pack into so we didn't need to spend a night out in the cold.
Continuing to smile, I said, "Good afternoon, pleasure meeting you." I knew he could not understand me and I figured it would take a while, maybe a few months, for me to understand him but as long as the words sounded nice it would serve its purposes.
He only hesitated for a moment before reaching out and taking my lower arm, a different kind of shake than I was expecting but acceptable, he then said something… I could understand, if barely. It sounded like a mix of languages, but some of it sounded Norden. What Norden was, and how and why I knew it, was a question for another time though the answer was behind the damn cheese grater as usual.
But I could pick out words here or there that sounded familiar, not enough to get the full meaning but enough to tell he wasn't threatening me. He greeted me warmly by my guess, having a tone of voice that was cheerful. No doubt he knew that tone could set conversation just as much as words. Wonderful, like-minded individuals.
Pointing to himself he said "Thengir of Russ" before pointing at my chest. He told me his name I assumed and was asking mine, which was an issue.
Hmm, what to say? He was asking my name, of course, but how do you respond when the name you remembered having in your last life, was very male and very unsuited for your current condition. It would be better to choose a name that would make sense, something European. Perhaps something that sounded a bit like Thengir; similarities would continue the cheery mood.
"Tanya," I said while pointing at myself, choosing the first T name that popped into my mind, and was rewarded with a smile from the old man.
"Tanya" he pointed to the fur cloak I was wearing, then past me at the wolves I came with. Rubbing my chin I quickly deduced he was asking where the coat had come from.
Shaking my head I pointed to my wolves and then held out my arms bigger, trying to convey that the cloak came from a monster of a wolf. The old man's eyes widened and then, looking past me, he pointed to the wolves and mimed petting them.
Not hard to figure out, and I was not about to pass up a chance to improve my social situation. Whistling I pointed to Fierce, who trotted over next to me. He sat next to me and I laid my hand on his shoulder reassuringly, rubbing up and down.
There was a bit of murmur from the warriors back on the road but Thengir headed none of that. Instead of walking up to the horse-sized wolf and petting the other shoulder Thengir smiled and, chuckling as he did, the same shoulder and turned to look at me. He seemed to be thinking, nodding. He stepped in front of me and removed his own cloak, which I now realized was made of wolf fur, and laid it on the ground. He pointed toward the cloak then at Fierce then made a motion that seemed to indicate something smaller.
Nodding I mimicked the smaller motion, assuming he meant there was a breed of wolf that was smaller and had that gray color of fire.
Pointing at the warriors he then pointed at his cloak and then hit his arms against each other. I assumed he meant his warriors and he were out here hunting smaller wolves that attacked his people. An understandable situation, though I wondered where he was going with this.
He pointed to me, then to Fierce, then to me, then to the cloak. You didn't have to be a genius to figure out what he wanted, he wanted me to do what I did to the wolves of mountains to this smaller breed. The question was if that was even possible. Assuming the wolves were more manageable in size then humans could handle them, though they may not be as intelligent as my mountain wolves.
Really this was not even the question, was it not? If they were menaces to this society and my wolves helped in their removal, even if just tearing them apart, it would cement their place and mine in this society. Either way, it was worth a shot so I might as well try.
Chuckling I muttered "Seems I'm stuck managing wolves for a while more" before looking Thengir in the eye and nodding my agreement, holding out my arm so we could shake on it.