Argar perked his ears. A roar echoed through the hills; it came from the direction where Bryn went. A roar which the mind of the guardian recognized instantly. A gorgepaw.

  The black dog looked around, saw that the humans were just standing and without another thought started running towards the battlefield.

  He ran without thought, the ancient hunter’s call that burned in his veins driving him onward. He crested one hill, and from there the sounds of battle could easily be heard. The clash of weapons, shouts of anger and cries of pain.

  And another roar, this one filled with pain. And another that died quickly.

  “Good” thought Argar as he weaved between the rocks. “You should have stayed in the darkness.”

  Argar reached the bottom of the last hill. He could smell the horses on the top and see the flags of one Bryn called the Duke. From the right people were streaming downhill, running in panic. Running for their lives. Argar bared his teeth. That’s where the gorgepaw was. And he ran uphill.

  He barely crested the top and then a howl came. A howl that made the black dog freeze. He sniffed the air and tried to look down into the mess of the battle, while trying to avoid the feet of the running men.

  The howl came again, filled with pain and rage. Rage that could change the world. Argar could smell that rage. It smelled like the Flame. The first thing that he smelled as a newborn guardian. Also… like Bryn, the first thing he smelled like a newborn pup…this time. And then it dawned on him.

  “Bryn! Bryyyn! BRYYYYYN!” The dog screamed in his mind as he ran downhill.

  There was no answer.

  “Probably I am too far!” the dog jumped away from a running spearman and dodged two archers. “That’s why he can’t hear me”

  Then another gorgepaw roar came. Followed by a roar that made Argar’s hackles rise. Something ancient and primal was on the battlefield.

  “COME AND DIE!” Thundered in his mind. A voice like Bryn’s but at the same time it was not his friend.

  Argar passed the last of the running men and stopped trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

  Higher on the hill to the left the battle was still raging with humans doing human stuff to each other. But in front of him…

  A gorgepaw lay dead, several spears sticking out of him. Another one further down was lying on its back, head lolling, throat torn, grey black blood streaming from the wound.

  A third one was fighting for its life with a…. black shape that moved almost too fast for the dog to see properly. Argar sniffed the air. Dead gorgepaws, dead and dying humans, blood, torn flesh, fear, viscera and…a predator. That same predator smell that Argar came to know from the first time he sniffed Bryn.

  As Argar watched the black shape jumped towards the gorgepaw. The beast managed to move at the last moment, and its enemy darted past it hitting the ground and rolling. While it regained its footing Argar managed to take a better look at it.

  It was a giant black wolf. But this one was shaped wrong. No. Its shape was changing. It stood on its hind legs and grew in size looking more like a giant human-wolf hybrid. It now towered over the gorgepaw which instinctively rose to match. But the beast had no chance. The wolfman barreled into it tearing with its paws. The gorgepaw’s tentacles tried to grasp and pull him back but couldn’t. Then with a terrifying crunch the jaws of the wolf locked around the throat of the beast, tearing through meat and bone. The gorgepaw fell still.

  The wolfman stood up, his head looking around for another opponent. Standing on its back legs he was as tall as a horseman. His nose twitched as he was sniffing the air, his hot breath coming out almost as steam in the crisp morning, bloody foam dripping from his jaws to his broad chest. His hands ended with bloodied talons. He raised his head to the sky and howled.

  It was the same howl that Argar had heard.

  The battle on the hill had stopped. Men from both sides were looking and pointing towards the wolfman and the dead gorgepaws. Bryn, Argar was sure that it was Bryn, though changed by some unknown power, looked towards the armies and howled again, then charged towards them.

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  This spurred Argar into action.

  “BRYN! STOP!” He called his friend.

  “THEY KILLED THEM!” came the roaring reply.

  “No, they didn’t.”

  “SEVAR IS DEAD! KHIDRON IS DEAD! THE MIRROR IS DEAD! I WILL KILL THEM ALL!”

  Argar was not sure what Bryn meant. But he decided to try and divert his anger from the humans.

  “It was not the humans, Bryn! It was the gorgepaws!”

  “THE GORGEPAWS! YES! THEY KILLED THEM!”

  The humans had begun to flee. And Bryn seemed to slow down his pace.

  “Bryn!” Called Argar again. “Where did the gorgepaws come from”

  “FROM…” Bryn stopped and looked downhill towards the forest. “THERE WAS A MAGE,”

  “A mage?”

  “YES.” Bryn dropped on all fours, his chest heaving. The rage in his voice subsiding.

  “This mage called them?” Argar stopped close to his friend but was careful not to be out of reach.

  “YES. I THink so…” The wolfman collapsed and Argar surged towards him.

  Bryn’s body was changing. Decreasing in size and with cracking of bones and twisting of muscles and sinews his friend was becoming human again. When the change stopped, he didn’t move. Just lay there on the ground, his face in the ground, his naked body strewn on the bloodied grass.

  “Bryn?” Argar whined. “Can you hear me?”

  He nudged the human with his nose. There was no answer.

  Then he heard the softest of breaths coming from Bryn’s lungs. Then another…

  The human was alive. And sleeping.

  Argar looked at the battlefield around. He knew he had to track the mage. Learn how he managed to summon the gorgepaws. And make him forget the knowledge. He should do all that. But that could wait. He was not going to leave Bryn.

  The black dog sat on his haunches by the human and kept watch

  ***

  A rumbling sound close to his ears brought Bryn back to his senses. Something was growling. He knew that growl. It was Argar.

  “Calm down, friend.” he tried to speak in his mind as his eyes tried to focus the grass beneath his face.

  “BRYN! You are awake!” The dog sounded ecstatic. He stuck his nose stuck by the human’s ear, sniffing.

  “Yes! What happened?”

  “I am not sure. There was a fight here. You killed the gorgepaws. And then the humans fled. I stayed to guard you.” Argar said.

  Bryn tried to stand up but only managed to roll on his back. His muscles ached and his whole body was stiff, but the wind felt good on his naked skin. Naked.

  “Why am I naked?”

  “You changed.”

  “Changed clothes in the middle of the battle?”

  “No. YOU changed.”

  Bryn looked at his naked body. He couldn’t fight this way. There were enough weapons on the ground around him, but without a single piece of clothing it would be too easy to wound him. He had no memory after the gorgepaw tried to bite the Mirror.

  “The Mirror. Argar, have you seen him?”

  “Yes. Around noon. Some of the company returned and took him and the body of your captain. The Mirror was alive. He smelled of blood and his arm looked funny.”

  “I have got to get back to them.”

  “I…” Argar started. Then smelled the air and growled. “We must go. Now!”

  On the top of the hill several men appeared. They were walking among the corpses and wounded. Spearmen wearing the colors of Vethren. As he watched one of them stabbed his spear into a man from Namkar. Then another one. They were killing the wounded enemies.

  Bryn looked for the nearest place where they could hide. Going uphill was not a good idea as it would be harder and the enemy would catch him soon. The safest place would be the forest. That’s where the enemy camp was, but perhaps he could pass unnoticed and get some clothes.

  He dropped back and turned on his stomach and told Argar.

  “I will start crawling down towards the forest. Keep an eye on these men and if someone looks our way tell me to stop. We will go into the forest.”

  “Alright. Go.”

  Bryn started crawling downhill with the rocky ground jabbing and scratching his skin. He growled in his mind. He moved down about twenty paces when Argar growled.

  “Wait.”

  Bryn froze.

  Moments passed. Bryn’s face was stuck on the ground. He didn’t dare move his head.

  “Go on.”

  Bryn continued. The black shape of Argar darted by him and stopped further down, looking at the men. Cries came from there as some wounded realized what was going on. He was begging for his life. His cries were cut short.

  Both man and dog growled at that.

  Bryn kept crawling.

  “Do you know that you humans don’t look like you were built for crawling?”

  “Really?” groaned Bryn. “What made you think that?”

  “You are really clumsy when crawling.”

  This time the groan was audible.

  “About as graceful as you walking on hind legs.”

  “Hey. You should have seen yourself.”

  “I have seen myself walk on hind legs. I really prefer it to crawling.”

  “Are you sure. You looked like you really could run on fours.”

  Bryn looked at the dog, puzzled.

  “What?”

  “Head down.” Argar growled.

  Bryn dropped his head and pretended to be dead.

  “You changed your shape while I was not here. You… turned into a big black wolf.”

  “WHAT?!?!”

  “I don’t know what happened and how. Rhae might know, but I can’t call to her. I tried.”

  “Rhae? The Huntress? The Mother of Fangs?”

  “Yes. We should find one of her dens.”

  “A den? Oh, you mean a temple?”

  “I don’t know what you humans call it. But that’s where her servants live and leave food for her and her children.”

  “Can I continue down?” asked Bryn.

  “They moved away. I think we can move faster now.”

  “Can I stand up?”

  “If you insist. You are funnier when crawling.”

  Bryn stood up, glanced to the hill where only the dead remained and then ran for the trees.

  When they reached the cover of the forest Argar said.

  “I forgot to tell you.”

  “What?”

  “You...your wolf shape said that the gorgepaws came from this forest.”

  “WHAT?!?”