"The Redhill family. Acting as sole leadership of the villages. From military, to outside operations, to farming or logistics, and sole authority." Calliope explained.
"So this place had a leadership structure, that's it?" Oliver questioned.
"The most well known of the family. The head of outside operations and expansion…Volen?" Her tone immediately shifted, from a serious and composed tone to pure confusion.
"Volen? Isn't that the guy who ordered us to go here?" Calliope scrambled to look st the other papers, trying to gain more information from this sudden revalation.
She stared at one of the papers with wide eyes, desperate to learn what else the office contained.
"Frolen, the head of military and security. Tasked with training and arming militia, and protecting vital locations such as the flower garden." She read further, grabbing idividual papers and reading them at a fast rate, setting some down on the table.
"Queen Lavenza. Head of the Redhill family council. Despite the council's purpose to govern, Lavenza holds sole authority above all of them. Due to her power she may outrule any decision given." She began piecing together the information given, until suddenly.
"So these are the ones we met alongside Volen. And they seem to be conn3cted to this place." She continued.
She placed the rest of the papers down, holding a single sheet. It took a few mokents for to fully read what was written on it.
"A fire seemed to have destroyed most of the garden. Only leaving a single patch left…" She finished, grabbing all the papers before sending them to her storage for future use.
A loud yell from the outside alerted the team. Rushing to the window, Marcus and Quill both ran from a giant wolf, far larger than the ones they encountered before. Both rushed to the abandoned homes to try escaping it.
Its claws slashed through the buildings like paper, tearing them apart to try reaching the two.
"It seems that is the source of the howls before." She looked at the wolf, its movements to its attacks, forming a plan in her head.
"Its speed and strength exceeds the ones before. But the size could make it a disasvantage." She looked at Myo.
"We will attempt to jump on top of the creature and try taking it down. Will that be alright for you?" Myo smiled.
"Hah, let's do it." She nodded her head at Myo's response before facing the rest.
"As for the rest of you, your task is to draw its attention near this building so we may jump onto its back. As for the twins, stay as far from the chaos as possible." She gave her orders. Even though they had only fought the wolves a few times, she quickly found ways to take them down.
Without hesitation, Colton, Celestine, and the twins rushed down the stairs, ready to do their orders.
Colton took out his hammer, thinking what else he could do to take down the beast. But for now, he had to follow his friend's orders.
Outside, the beast continued its rampage, destroying what was left of the already crumblimg village.
Celestine and Colton both looked at it in horror while the the twins fled behind them.
"So, uh. How do we get that thing's attention." She nervously asked. In a few seconds, Colton had an idea.
"Didn't that woman say the cards were more than just playing?"
"Yeah, and i noticed the edges were more sharp than normal. And the cards just look thinner." Without delay, he took one of the cards, and threw it towards the wolf.
The card pierced through the fur, hitting the skin of the beast and stopping its attack for a moment.
"So that's what she meant."
The wolf turned its head to the two, its two bright red eyes looked back at them, as if piercing their souls with its gaze.
Celestine and Colton both jumped out the way at the last second as the wolf lunged towards them, snarling at them.
He ran towards the tall building, getting the attention of the beast.
The sight of its eyes brought terror to Colton, an odd feeling rose in his body as if something was hplding him down, stopping him from moving. But he broke out of the thought.
Colton continued moving to the building, hurling insults and waving his arms up for the wolf to see. And in seconds, it jumped again.
The wolf lunged forward, destroying the entrance of the building. Above, Myo and Calliope jumped on its back, prepared to finish its rampage.
The wolf howled in pain as it began trying to get the two off its back, slamming into the tall building and other homes to try killing them, but to no avail.
Celestine regrouped with Colton, followed by Quill and Marcus. The two were shaken up and injured but still alive.
"So that's where the howl came from." Marcus panted, catching his breath after desperately escaping the beast's wrath.
"What do we do now?" With Calliope occupied at the moment, Colton assumed leadership for now. With what knowledge he had of leading soldiers before.
"Celestine bring both of them to the twins, i'll aid Myo and Calliope." In a moment, Celestine nodded, bringing the two away.
The wolf began thrashing around, slowly getting near Colton and the building.
'Dunno if this will work, but that thing needs to go.' As it got closer, Colton prepared his hammer.
With a single hard swing, the wolf was stunned for a brief moment before tumbling to the building, completely destroying it as rubble started covering it. But it continued to struggle.
As Colton continued swinging, the wolf thrashed more and more, at ine point slashing at Colton's chest.
After a minute, swinging over and over at the beast, its body began to vanish into dust.
Colton knelt to the ground, feeling the wound in his chest.
"That was rather reckless. Though i am not and surprised. You did disobey some commands." Calliope commented, helping him up.
The rest of the team returned to see the aftermath.
Oliver went to work, healing Colton quickly looking visibly tired again.
"So, that thing's dead. Are we gonna go get that flower now or what?" Marcus questioned.
"Judging from how long we moved. We msy nearby to the flowers." As she finished, a series of high and low pitched howls echoed to the forest.
Their faces became frustrated. Now focused on just coming out of this place alive.
"That flower better be there." The team walked away from the destroyed center building, now only focused on getting the flower.
"Anyways, we found a book or two. What did you guys find?" Marcus asked.