Krion found himself waking up as the small pillow he had been using hit the floor. Somehow in the middle of the night, he had twisted sideways on the bed. Shifting ihi, he reached over the edge to grab the pillow. Without it, he didn’t think he would be able to get back to sleep. His hand fumbled once, but on the sed try was able to grasp it. He was in the process of lifting it back to the bed whehought he heard something. Was that a howl?

  The sound came again.

  Setting the pillow aside, Krion sat up. For a howl to pee deep enough into the inn, the dog must be almost just outside. Yet something seemed off about the howl, but he wasn’t sure what. Closing his eyes, he strained his ears, trying to hear. For a long minute, he heard nothing.

  Several howls rang out, louder than the first he heard. Faintly, he thought he heard some screaming.

  Even though everything was still so o him, Krion did not think that was normal. Pushing himself up and out of the bed, he moved over to the pile of clothes he had been wearing st night. With a grimace, he lifted them and began shaking them out, trying to get as much of the dirt and dried blood off as possible. After the first few shakes, nothing else was ing off. Giving up, he pulled them on. The st thing was the harness and his greatsword. With a now well-practiced touch, he tightly secured the harness, then gripped the hilt of his on to make sure he would be able to pull it if he . He hoped he wouldn’t have to.

  Doing o, quick check, he made sure he had everything with him. Unlog the door, he stepped into the hall and almost ran face-first into Rolfun. Already in his armor, the rge half-ogre reached out to steady him.

  “Good, you are up,” Rolfun said, a hint of tension clear in his voice. “We o get going.”

  “What is going on?”

  As if to reinforce the urgency of the moment, Krion could now clearly make out screaming ing from outside the inn. Howling soon followed, and what seemed like bsts of some sort were now eg in the distance. Rolfun had paused, clearly trying to listen to what was happening. When the cacophony did not die down but increased in volume, Krio ohat whatever was going on was ing closer.

  “We are not sure, but based on what we are hearing outside, I would say something is attag the settlement,” the half-ogre responded, apparently having heard what he o. “The oint is still shut down for the night, but given the apparent situation outside, it is likely it will sooivated for whatever emergency is unfolding.”

  “So you’re takio the Imperial Academy now?” Krion asked. He had e to enjoy the time with Rolfun and Alesie how intense all the training had been. While his muscles still ached a even more sore at the memories of the days spent traveling with them, Krion knew he was going to miss them. In the short time they had been together, each of them had stepped forward to help him e to terms with everything that had ged for him in such a short period of time. Alesin herself had tio push him forward whenever any doubts had crept in, while Rolfun’s good humor had allowed him to better uand that just because he was entering into what was essentially a new life, that did not mean that his position and role would prevent him from finding allies and, more importantly, friends. For that is what he sidered both Alesin and Rolfun now. Their relentless focus on training had also instilled the importance of preparing to the greatest degree possible. Even though he felt he had fallen short of what they had been trying to teach him, he would make sure to carry that momentum forward into whatever came at the Imperial Academy.

  “Yes,” Rolfun said, not catg the plicated look on his face. “As soon as Alesin is ready, we will be heading out.”

  As if Rolfun’s response had been her cue, the door to the room where his escorts had been staying opened. Pack over the shoulder, Alesin stepped into the hallway, closing the door with a click behind herself.

  “Oh, good,” she said with a jerking nod. “If you are ready then, Krion, we really o get going if we are to beat the rush for the oint.”

  Both his escorts stepped to the stairs, Krion following in their wake. While moving to follow closely, he was about to ask more questions when the frantiging of bells sounded outside the inn. As one, both Alesin and Rolfun tensed up.

  “I am guessing that is not good?”

  “No, Krion, no it is not. We have eveime now,” Alesin responded, pig up her pace to the stairs. “Every settlement has a bell like that, and it is only rung when attackers have successfully made it inside.”

  “So the howling?”

  “Likely the attackers,” her voice, if possible, got even mrim. “It might evehe beginning of a Beast Wave.”

  “Which is why we o get you to that oint. Now.” Rolfun said, pig up his pace as well.

  “But ’t we help?” Krion asked to their backs as he made to follow. “From what I tell, you both are strong. I even stay here, out of the way?”

  “Not how this works, Lord Krion,” Alesin responded, her tone and the title she used telling him this wasn’t his friend talking but a sworn protector of House Bcksword. “Our only duty is to get you safely to that oint. Everything else, including our lives, is sedary to that.”

  “But—”

  “No,” Alesin cut him off with the heat in her voice as she pivoted to face him, her husband ing to a stop beside her. “I know its hard for yht now, but you don’t yet uand the value you represent to the Empire and to House Bcksword. It would be regrettable if Imperial citizens die tonight, but even the smallest ce that something happens to if we intervene is not acceptable. Do you uand?”

  “No,” Krion said holy, but before Alesin could respond he tinued, albiet in a bit of a bitter tone, “but I know just how little I still uand about everything, so I will follow your lead.”

  “That will have to do,” Alesin replied, spinning back to the stairs. “Stick close then. We will be moving quickly.”

  As a group, they practically ran dowairs bato the on room. This te, only a single dwarf assed out at a er table. With how loudly he was sn, it ossible he would sleep the whole way through whatever crisis was unfolding.

  The only other person up was the elven innkeeper. Long red hair tied up in a crude version of a bun, she darted from window to window in her night gown, frantically pulling down thick wooden blinds and log them. She just fihe st whehree of them made it to the entrahe innkeeper saw them just as Rolfun stepped forward to open the door.

  “If you go out, you won’t be able to e ba,” the innkeeper said, starting to scramble to the door. This close to the entrance, clear screams were ing through, and the howling sounded quite a bit nearer. “It sounds like a bad attack out there. You paid through the night, why don’t you stay?”

  At first, Krion thought the innkeeper was purely out of the goodness of her heart, but then he followed the dire of her gaze to see her eyes darting to Rolfun’s armivihe be of the doubt, he still knew by how hard she was staring at the half-ogre that keeping the three of them there would mean additional prote for her, and her inn, if it was attacked.

  “Just bar the door,” Rolfun said over his shoulder as he stepped out.

  Alesin and Krion followed behind him, all the while, the innkeeper got increasingly desperate to get them to stay. The sound of her, now begging, was cut off as Alesin closed the door behind them.

  Night still lingered, with dawn still a ways off, but despite that, the lighting along the streets within Thorn’s Reach allowed them to see what was going on.

  The streets were in chaos.

  Men, women, and children of many races were sprinting dowreet along the inn. Some darted between carts to go down narrow alleys, probably hoping to find a pce to hide. Others, clutg whatever belongings they had in haher moved in a tightly packed mob to the ter of the settlement or approached buildings at random, demanding ging to be let inside. Few opeheir doors, but that didn’t stop many fr.

  Alesin pushed Krion along, as he had paused to stare. Both of his escorts pressed in close, doing their best to protect him from the crowd. Krion had no idea what levels either was, but no one in the crowd was able to get close to him as a result of their efforts.

  Alesin pulled Krion hard to the left as a horse, mad with panic, came galloping down a side street to overturn a stall that a mert had practically been attempting to pack away. Hitting it fully on the side, the horse was barely slowed as all of the mert’s goods were throwhe street. Galloping away, it knocked several other stands and people over as it went. The mert tossed his arms up i, then grabbed what he could to join the crowd, rushing away from the dire the howls were ing from. Given some of the words many were shouting, Krion finally heard what was going on. The front gate had fallen and the walls were utack. The arm had wrung right as the attackers, Storm Wolves, had gotten inside.

  Alesin tiugging him along, as Rolfun struggled to clear a path without hurting aoo badly. Normally he would be able to do so without issue, but some people who had been driven mad in fear were trying to push against the crowd.

  From the distance came another set of gut-wreng howls, the Storm wolves sending another wave of panic through the crowd. Louder than the ohat had e before, it was clear to Krion that they were ing closer. As if summoned by the impending threat, two squads of the Watch who had been deeper into the settlement came barreling around the er further down. Formed up in a wedge, they were making good headway in carving a path through the panicked popution. Garbed in armor, and wielding spears alongside upraised shields, any civilians they entered moved quickly out of their way. Unfortunately, a side effect of their charge was that a signifit number of people in his part of the crowd began to run iher dire. Before he k, a massive dwarf in darkened leather ran full into his chest, pushing him bad away from Alesin and Rolfun, who at the time was struggling against a group of armored elves.

  Tripping over the debris of another overturned cart, it took Krion nearly a mio get back to his feet, what with the press of the crowd around him. He was only able to do so when some beastkin man with pointed ears paused to pull him back upright. Before he could thank him, the beastkin was off again. Krion quickly checked his harness, feeling some relief that his greatsword was still secured to his back. That relief turo i his veins as he realized that Alesin and Rolfun were nowhere in sight.

  Krion looked around the street, hoping that he would see either of his escorts ing back around a er to get him. No such luck. Even though the pressing crowd had already signifitly shrunk, and the squads of the Watch had already passed through, he didn’t see the sun elf or half-ogre anywhere.

  The weakening cries of fear became full screams of terror behind him as the rgest howl yet rang out. Spinning in pce, Krion’s hand darted without scious thought to the hilt of the greatsword on his babsp;

  That was whe his first look at a Storm Wolf.

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