Role

Chapter 2

Darkness was falling as my men and I left our camp on the southern eaves of
the Great Pine Forest of the North. We were hunting a great beast who had
terrorized the people of the northern mountains for some months. He was a
dire wolf of exceptional size, ferocity and cruelty. Some even said he was
an incarnation of the Ancient called Beroxxus. This was our third night on
the hunt, there were only a few injuries amongst my men and we had already
slain nine of the wolves. I had claimed five myself. We were moving quickly
through the twisting trails when a clamor of howls and screams went up to our
west. Moving as one my six men and I spread out and sprinted towards the
commotion. We were not quite prepared for what we were about to witness.

As we burst into a moonlit clearing, we saw no less than fifteen of the great
beasts assaulting a small contingent of what looked like elves.Already,
many of the elves were down, being ripped apart by the yellow-eyed killers.
After a slight hesitation, I gathered myself and bellowed a challenge to the
wolves.My men, roused from their trance, joined in my war cry and we set
upon the vicious devils. I hurled my spear at the nearest wolf. It hit him
so hard that it drove clear through and pinned him to the ground as it rolled
him over. My sword came out and my shield off my back as I charged into the
fray. I bashed into the next wolf in my way and pushed him off of the
mangled elven corpse. I regained my footing at the same time as the beast,
and was just able to dodge underneath the lunging beast and drive my sword up
my face. The next wolf did not even see me coming as a strong downward
stroke decapitated him.

With no immediate enemies I stopped to take stock of the situation. One of
my men and twelve of the wolves were down. We were pressing home an
overwhelming victory. The three wolves that remained turned tail and made
for the forest. One, which was much larger than the others, stopped at the
edge of the clearing and turned to us. He snarled and let loose a piercing,
evil howl of which I have never heard the like again. He looked right at me
with his hateful eyes, snarled, turned, and disappeared into the forest. It
had felt as though he were boring into my soul, like he was marking me for a
later time. Perhaps it truly was the Lord of Pain. Only time will tell.

It appeared we had arrived too late, for I saw no movement among the elves.
I did however, hear a whimpering behind me. One of the elven maidens was
still alive, though she was pinned down by the carcass of one of the wolves.
I heaved the dead wolf off of her and laid eyes on the most beautiful thing I
had ever seen. I thought that I must have been a terrible fright to her at
first, covered in black blood like I was. But as I helped her to her feet,
she jumped upon me and wrapped her arms tightly around me. I was madly in
love and vowed by the Ancestors to make her my wife.