Philippe dragged Buckie's corpse to the other side of the room, panting heavily. He threw the body into a closet and slammed the door shut. The additional problem was to clean the blood from the floor and skipper the ship by himself.
They were close to Zin post, but his original plan wasn't to berth the ship next to the guard post, but to find a secluded base his men could camp for the meantime.
Philippe searched thoroughly and quietly for cleaning appliances, and he did whatever he could to get rid of all trails of the Murder he had committed. The thing that troubled him the most was the body. He didn't know if he should cut it up and throw it into a furnace, toss the body in the river, or bury it somewhere on dry land. Another problem was when he should do that. There were over five hundred men on that ship, and how to evade them all while transporting a dead body was more tricky than it looked.
"I think the best thing to do is cut it up and make it look like I'm carrying supplies in my satchel. But I'm sure I'll get blood all over the place again. Fuck. At this point…" Philippe moved to the door of the captain and locked it "I don't mind cleaning the ship again."
At the break of dawn, Philippe carried his camp materials and made his way past the bridge of the ship. Some of them men were barely awake, only a few pulled themselves together and sobered up.
He'd come across a few of the crew mates greeting him, and asking about Buckie. Unable to tell the truth and risk losing his workforce, he lied and said he left to scout some hour earlier.
They didn't see any reason why he wouldn't say the truth about the captain's whereabouts, so they didn't think too much about it, and carried on with their day.
Soon Philippe scurried into the woods with tools including a shovel, and the captain's cut up body in his bag.
****
The white furred wolf dashed forward in search of its owner. It heard the loud whistle from afar and realized the time had come to go home.
The wolf wagged its tail the moment it saw the man sitting casually on a branch of the largest tree of the forest. The man shifted his gaze after minutes of observing the terrain to his favorite pet, Zuiver.
With its sharp paws, the wolf ascended the tree and jumped into its master's embrace. The man covered the wolf's face with kissed and smiled.
"Did you miss me?" The man asked as the wolf nuzzled at his coat.
"I know you did" The wolf wagged its tail in agreement.
"You're such a good little one," The man praised. He thought he'd be able to watch over her in case she'd try to run away, but he had a change of plans and made his harmless wolf do it in his stead.
"I'm surprised she didn't hurt you. Maybe it was because she took a liking to you. Well, she's lucky. If she attacked you, whether accidentally or not, I would've killed her."
The wolf barked, still wagging its tail, until the man's other pets neared. Its ears dropped, and it whimpered quietly at the sight of the six dire wolves that came to a stop near the bole of the tree.
"Look Zuiver, we have company," The man said, observing his scouting pack.
Saliva coated their tongue as it brushed against sharp, ivory canines; the occasional drop hitting the ground. They howled in unison, greeting their master. The man smiled and dug his hand into a bag beside him and tossed large pieces of deers at them and fed Zuiver by himself.
Zuiver wasn't like the man's other pets. She was domesticated and gentle, completely different from the species she was born from. And her master loved her so much he could kill anything and everything that harmed her.
"We have human company," the man said, and the wolves listened attentively.
"I know you all can smell them, too. Welcome them to their doom," The man said, his voice falling deep. The wolves galloped away after his command, but Zuiver stayed back. Zuiver didn't like attacking, unlike the others. She just wanted to stay nestled in her master's arms.
"Do you not want to follow them, Zuiver?" The man asked with his docile expression that always calmed the animal.
She whimpered with her eyes showing her emotions. "Okay, you'll wait here. I don't want you to get hurt" The man kissed Zuiver one more time before placing her on the ground and dashing away from her at the speed of light.
Zuvier did as her master said, and started to wait, no matter how long it takes.
The dire wolves from earlier followed the scent of a corpse and a living human as they surrounded Philippe once they spotted him.
The man was digging shallow holes for Buckie's body when the large animals burst through the bushes surrounding the deforested area he was at.
Their four black paws stood firm to the earth's soil as they crouched down with their ears pulled forward, taking slow steps in stealth, closing up on their potential meal.
Philippe cussed as he drew out his sword from its sheath, his hands shaking at the hilt as small puffs escaped his discolored, thin lips. He'd never seen wolves that big as the ones surrounding him, but he was certain he could do something about them all. They were just dumb animals, nothing more, nothing less.
"I'm Philippe Westward! You should fear me and my sword," the man screamed, as they charged towards him. Philippe tried to keep calm as he swung his sword towards the closest wolf, but with its sharp teeth, it bit his sword so hard it broke.
"Impossible" Philippe's body stiffened as his grip loosened around the blade-less hilt of what used to be a sword. He stood there with an ashen face, legs that were unable to move as if he was stuck to the ground with invincible concrete.
"It's impossible. I bought this sword for five thousand gold pieces… it's supposed to…. It's supposed to slay every wolf kind."
Before he knew it, one wolf mauled his leg till it came off, and the others followed their alpha's lead.
From a distance, Mark watched the wolves shred his dad to pieces. He followed his father, curious to know what was making him so restless and what caused his behavior to be different from all the days he'd known him.
Mark was falling behind earlier, but after following his father's footsteps and finding where he was, he was brimming with laments about everything.
Fear buckled his knees, and he gulped back the tears that were threatening to spill. One of the wolf's lips curled back in a growl, and mark saw its gleaming yellowish teeth, capped with fresh, scarlet blood. The wolf spotted him, so he ran as fast as possible, hoping he'd be able to get back to the ship.