The green blur of Sharrag shot across the forest’s of the Beor Mountains. Below him a heard of wild Feldunost were sprinting through the trees, running from the unseen predators they knew that lurked behind them. They were running fast, fast enough to keep Sharrag at a reasonable speed as he flew through the air.

‘Talismen!’ he said as he reached into the Shrrg’s mind, ‘Take Seriah and swing left. There is a clearing up ahead and if I land their they might split into two groups. Craves and Siserl, go right, Tay’el, keep coming from the middle.’

The wolves’ vocabulary had expanded at a fast pace during the last month. They could now understand and put together more complex sentences, and began to speak with each other on every day conversation instead of the usual grunts and growls that usually came with a Shrrg’s ‘conversation’. He snorted; before they learned how to speak they could hardly even understand each other, let alone normal human speech.

‘What if they continue ahead?’ asked Talismen, who had now become the unofficial ‘second-in-command’ of the wolf pack.

‘I’m there, I’m sure a dragon could easily withstand a few butts hear and there from a Feldunost,’ replied the dragon with a smile, he was in a good mood that day.

Sticking to the plan Sharrag swooped down and landed in the clearing, just as the first few large goats broke into the clearing. Seeing the dragon they bleated in alarm, trying to slide to a stop, but the Feldunost behind them continued to push them forward. Giving up they decided to veer away from the green monster ahead of them, some going right and some going left.

The few that wondered within reach of the dragon were instantly killed by talons or teeth. Before long there was a small pile of Feldunost next to him, and he nodded. That should feed the pack for a while, depending on what the other Shrrg caught of course.

He sent out his mind to the five of them, watching threw their memories. Talismen had managed to catch two, while the rest had one each. Sharrag scooped up his four and headed back to the cave where he knew the Urzhad and her cubs, as well as the wolf pups, were nesting.

The pups had grown quite a lot and would soon make an additional four to the dragon’s small fighting force. He would have to give them names as well, and snorted at the thought. He didn’t like naming things; he wasn’t the best at it. He did a small twist in the air and dived towards the cave.

The first thing he noticed as he neared the cave was the smell off fresh blood. He growled as he scented it and landed in the clearing. A puddle of dark red liquid was pooled up in a small crevice of the rock. It smelled and looked like the blood of an Urzhad. Surrounding the pool were three dead bodies wearing the same armour as most of the soldiers he had seen lately.

With a growl he walked into the cave, fire ready in his maw. As he walked threw he saw more of the dead bodies until he came to the form of the Urzhad. She was lying on the ground, her cubs and the pups behind her. She was breathing with labouring breath, her side mattered with blood and a dozen sword cuts covering her body. Sharrag growled and reached his mind to her. She was still alive at least, and none of her wounds were mortal, but to be able to do this much damage to an Urzhad was something unheard off before.

Sharrag carefully went through her memories to see what had happened. She had been outside, with the cubs and the pups. She had been lying down, watching, when she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. She had gotten up with a growl and looked to see what it was, surprise to find what looked like a crossbow bolt. Another hit her in the chest causing her to growl in pain, before ten humans came rushing out of the forest armed with spears and sword. She was wounded badly in the leg, but managed to kill three before retreating into the cave. The babies had come with her, making sure to stay behind her. She killed another five in the cave, leaving two left. They had fled before she had had a chance to slay them then she collapsed in exhaustion and from loss of blood.

The bear stirred as Sharrag withdrew from her mind. An Urzhad being attacked by humans was unheard off as well. No two-leg in there right mind would want to fight against something as formidable as one of those bears. The only reason he could think of for them attacking her would be that they knew about him. He growled at the thought.

He bent down his muzzled and carefully nudged her. The pups behind her were whimpering in fear. They all came up to Sharrag, nuzzling his legs and looking out of the cave in fear that the humans would come back.

‘It’s okay little ones,’ he said in their minds soothingly.

It seemed to calm them somewhat.

He turned his attention back to the female bear. She opened one of her eyes and whimpered softy at the dragon. Sharrag spread his mind out to her again. He told her what he knew, and she sighed. She used images to ask him why they had attacked her. Humans don’t hunt Urzhad. He shrugged and sighed, before he was distracted by the sound of Shrrg padding into the cave. He turned around to greet them.

‘What happened?’ asked Talismen.

‘She was attacked,’ replied Sharrag, ‘And wounded badly.’

‘Will she die?’

Sharrag shook his head. None of her vital organs had been pieced and, though she had lost a large amount of blood, it wasn’t enough to kill her. Talismen growled.

‘What do we do, they know we are here,’ he said.

Sharrag nodded with thought, then decided something, ‘I will stay here in case they come back. Talismen and Tay’el I want you to track them and find their den. Do not try to fight them, unless there is only one or two, but when you do find them come back here and tell me what you have seen.’

* * *

Talismen and Tay’el ran swiftly through the undergrowth. The sun had gone down and they were nearing the edge of their territory. The scent of the two humans they were tracking was getting stronger and stronger the longer they ran. By the scent the two wolves could tell that one of them was injured, for the scent of blood was in the air, and it was human blood.

The two dark streaks came to a halt near the side of a mountain. They looked at each other worriedly. By the way the humans had gone Talismen could only think that they had their den outside of the Shrrg’s territory. He wasn’t a big fan of slinking through another pack’s territory and Sharrag had made it clear that they were to find the human den. He looked at Tay’el.

‘What to do?’ he asked the she wolf.

‘Keep going,’ she replied, ‘I smell smoke in the wind.’

Talismen looked up and the sky and scented. She was right. The tell-tale scent of smoke was in the air and smoke meant a fire, and fire meant humans. The two wolves continued up the steep slope of the mountain, passing into the other pack’s territory.

The two Shrrg were now on high alert, not only for humans but also for other Shrrg. They still had there weapons in close reach so one or the other might not be a problem, but a group of them definitely would be, and Talismen wanted to avoid a confrontation that night.

As they got higher and to the other side of the mountain Talismen began to see the orange glow of a fire. Another small fire appeared, followed by another, until the wolf could see almost ten small campfires spread throughout the valley. That was a far larger amount then Talismen would have like to have seen. He looked at Tay’el.

‘Let us get closer,’ he said.

Tay’el nodded with a growl. The two began their descent down the mountain and towards the campfires. They kept close and held a constant lookout, never letting down their guard. They had done this many times and were getting quite experienced with tracking down humans and killing them, though there would be no killing them tonight.

Talismen suddenly stopped and lay on his belly. Tay’el followed suit without question. The Shrrg focused in a figure up ahead. It was probably one of those human guards.

‘Don’t attack,’ he told her.

Tay’el agreed and together they quietly got and slinked passed the human, being careful not to step on any dead leaves or sticks that were going to break. They got past the two-leg easily before running down to the camp sight. The two wolves hid behind a tent and gazed around.

Talismen counted at least ten groups of ten around the camp with ten humans at each camp. None of them were wearing their armour, or had any weapons. They were all stored in a large tent at one end of the camp.

Talismen let out a small snort at all the different scents that swamped his nose. He could smell all different sorts of human odour throughout the camp, as well as the scent of burnt animal flesh and two-leg flash as well. The humans were all talking and laughing with each other, tearing at the burnt meat. Talismen felt his stomach grumble reminding him that he hadn’t eaten yet.

With a growl he turned around to leave but stopped when he felt something emerge from one of the tents. The soldiers were immediately quite and the mood became one of fear. Even the Shrrg felt himself getting chills. He looked for the source and spotted it. A two-leg, wearing a dark robe. It had a different scent from a human, and the way it walked was if it was slightly ill. Both Shrrg jumped in fright as it spoke.

“There is something… out there,” It rasped angrily, “Go kill it, or them. They are here somewhere. I felt it’s mind, it is a Shrrg. GO! It could warn the dragon about us!”

The men didn’t question the thing and were instantly in action. They ran for their weapons and scooped them up, before fanning out and searching the camp. By the time they had done that however the two Shrrg were long gone, sprinting through the trees as fast as their four legs could carry them.

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Hey guys! New chapter, sorry it took so long to get out. School has started again and I have had a little less inspiration then I usually do, anyway, here it is, so vote and comment if you enjoyed and the next chapter shall be out as soon as I can get it out. See Ya!

Pennator^^