A New Path

by Xander Jade

  Getting myself back into the fight, I turned to see the last one watching me with pure hatred and disdain. Well, right back at you fella! After a few moments, I heard a raspy voice enter my head, ‘Leave this place and live. You will not defeat us.’ The fuckers talk with telepathy!

  ‘Okay, what makes you think that?’

  His raspy laugh pissed me off and after he got it under control he replied, ‘Because there is only one of you, and four of us left in our hideout.’

  ‘Really? Well, let me break it down for you,’ I sniffed his scent, it filled my nose, and almost retched but continued, ‘I have your scent, and after we are finished with you, then we will take your hideout. I’m assuming that’s where your hiding all the people you kidnapped.’ I tried to keep it busy so the wolves could come behind the creature.

  ‘You’ll never find out,’ it snarled

  "Now!" I yelled and the wolves jumped him from behind, the wendigo screeched trying desperately to get them off. It only worked a few seconds before he shook them off, but that’s all that was needed. I punched hard into the bastard’s back; my claws grabbed onto its heart and yanked it out of its body. I threw the heart down and grabbed the fucker’s head and made it look at me as I twisted the head off of its shoulders. Black blood oozed everywhere.

  I threw the head down on the ground, grabbed the heart that was left, and ripped it apart. Turning around, I found the wolf pack staring at me. I didn’t know what they were doing, so I just waited patiently. One of the bigger wolves came over and sat down before me, I was going to be polite for now, so went down on all fours, but still towered over the wolf.

  A female voice entered my mind, ‘We are grateful for your timely intervention. If you hadn’t shown up those vile creatures would have ended us.’ I nodded while glancing around to see where Reap and Herc were, but didn’t see them. Since he didn’t respond she continued, ‘I am Sophia, can I ask your name?’

  ‘Max, nice to meet you Sophia.’

  ‘Wow, such a strong voice, I am happy to meet you Max. We haven’t seen a creature like you before, are we trespassing in your lands?’ Sophia asked politely.

  ‘Yes, these are my woods, but it’s okay. The forest protectors advised us of your pack, they had us come check you out to make sure everything was kosher. I don’t mind you being here as long as your pack doesn’t cause trouble, the forest protectors will keep eyes on you. As to your question about what creature I am, that’s a tough answer to give. I am probably the only one of my kind, so can’t really say what I am.’

  She nodded and spoke again, ‘Thank you Max for letting us stay. Our pack was driven off by orcs and other evil ones. We’ve traveled across many miles, and noticed the raids are getting worse. Now, we find wendigoes this far south. It seems some kind of evil is driving these incidents.’

  All I could do is nod and agree with her. I didn’t know what she was wanting and decided to hurry this conversation along. I needed to get to the wendigo hideout before losing the trail.

  ‘Sophia, I’m sorry to hurry you along, but I have to find this creature’s hideout. Are you needing something from me?’

  ‘Yes Max, I would like to discuss something with you, but it can wait until the hideout is found.’ I heard footsteps behind me, knowing that it was Reap and Herc, I kept my eyes on the wolf. She checked out who was behind me and took a couple steps back, her eyes widened when she saw the two predators behind me. I will have to say, those two are a sight to see when alone, but together they are intimidating. She composed herself well enough to stammer out, ‘D-Damn, what are you doing with a siba and a kodiak? By yourself, you are frightening, but having those two with you is downright terrifying!’

  I laughed, turned towards them, and stated, ‘What’s up fellas! I’ve got the scent off dingle berry there,’ pointing to the headless beast, ‘we need to move, I don’t know how far the hideout is, but those things need to be stopped. The revolting douchebag said there were four more of them at their hideout.’

  ‘That is disturbing news. I believe you were correct in thinking the people that were kidnapped are probably held there. They need to be stopped, but we can’t go there unprepared.’ Reap counseled.

  Herc agreed, ‘Yes, we need a plan and quick.’

  I thought about the situation, but couldn’t bring any one that could be caught easily, so that left the rangers out. I wanted to go get the girls, but it was even more dangerous for them. ‘Can we do it ourselves, or do we get help?’ If I was in my other form, I would get reinforcements, this form I could do without my normal weapons.

  Reap answered, ‘It will be difficult, but yes we can.’ Herc nodded, that’s all I needed to know to start forming my plan. He continued, "Also, here are your harness and weapons." He bent his head down and they fell to the ground, picking them up I turned back to the wolf and saw she had taken more steps back.

  ‘Sophia, let me introduce them to you so it will calm your nerves. This is Reaper,’ pointing at the siba, ‘and that is Hercules,’ pointing to the kodiak.

  She lowered her head in respect, ‘It’s nice to meet you gentlemen. I am a little shaken by your presence, so please, excuse me.’ They nodded and I spoke to her again, ‘We are heading out to locate their hideout. It was nice meeting you, I’m sure we’ll see each other again.’ She was about to say something but we were already across the meadow.

  We traveled north for a few hours, stopping only for food and water. I could tell we were close, but still couldn’t get a good read on the scent I picked up. We noticed numerous tracks, most of them human, so we followed them onto a road for a while and picked up the scent strongly, and followed it to an abandoned mine shaft. Unbelievable, these creatures are setting up shop in plain sight, this has to be near a town.

  ‘This has to be it. They live in damp, dark, secluded places.’ Reap advised.

  I nodded and proposed, ‘Okay, let’s find a place up off the ground to see if those things come out.’ They agreed, so we checked around and found a hill about 30 yards from the mine. It was dense with foliage and trees that would make us invisible if we played our cards right. We were there for another hour before catching movement coming from the north.

  It looks like a group of 50 or so orcs leading about forty prisoners to the mine. That was definitely odd behavior for them. They had them boxed in where no one could escape, although none could do anything without taking another prisoner with them. The prisoners were tied together with shackles, and metal collars, it would be suicide to try anything. They were of different races: human, dwarf, elf, amazon, and probably races of were. This was alarming, not only are the orcs involved, it seems these wendigoes have a part to play too. What are they doing with these people? The leader of the orcs bellowed something unintelligible while stopping the group 30 feet from the entrance, and stood there waiting for something. Hmm…Let’s see if any of the ugly bastards come out. It wasn’t two minutes and four creepy looking beings came out, if the prisoners weren’t scared before, they were now. I could see some groaning and fighting against their captivity, but it wasn’t long until the orcs got the situation under control. The leader walked to the four wendigoes and started up a conversation that I could understand.

  "You’re late." The lead wendigo grumbled.

  "We ran into some trouble and had to fight off some rangers. They are getting better, soon they will know what we are up to. How many more are we supposed to gather?" The lead orc replied.

  "That isn’t decided by us, we were told to handle this portion of the plan. The other nine locations are gathering too. Soon we will have our quota, then we can leave this place. The overlords will decide when that happens, but right now we stay on course," the wendigo answered. Holy shit! They have nine other locations like this. After a couple minutes the prisoners were led into the mine and soon the doors closed behind them. The orcs regrouped and started leaving.

  ‘Okay, you heard the conversation?’ They nodded, ‘Two things I see we need to do, stop t
hose orcs, and infiltrate that mine.’

  ‘Yes, the orcs need to be first, then scout out the mine.’ Herc stated.

  ‘I agree, let’s go.’

  We followed them silently through the woods. They weren’t in any hurry, so we took our time coming up on them. About an hour later they set up camp a little off the road, we stayed in the brush and foliage, it made good camouflage. We laid down to rest and made our plans to destroy these orcs, I tried to keep my eyes open, but advised the other two I was taking a breather. It felt like only a few minutes went by but it was a couple of hours when I was awoken.

  Scanning the area I found the sun was already down and was nudged by Reaper, ‘They are settling down by the campfire, sentries are out, and we have company.’

  He pointed behind me and I turned my groggy mind to see who would be by us. It took me a minute to locate her, but I found the she wolf in human form staring at me from a distance. Hmm… I wonder what she’s doing here. Indicating where I was going, he nodded. Coming upon her, she looked anxious, so I put her mind at ease and bowed my head to her.

  "Soph, to what do I owe the honor of your presence?"

  She actually blushed and looked away. "I am sorry for intruding, but we wanted to help. We have been following you since you left the mine."

  "Okay, but this is a dangerous situation, we counted about fifty orcs over that hill,’ I let her know as I pointed, "also we found at least four wendigoes back at the mine."

  She agreed and spoke confidently, "We have seen them. The orcs are a plus, we owe those fuckers too. Please, let us help, we won’t be a distraction."

  I thought about our situation and agreed we could use someone to run interference or create diversions. "I concede that we could use the help. How many did you bring with you?"

  "Twenty five survived, but we left five with the cubs. The four other groups of my pack are exploring other areas not too far from these woods. Each group numbers in the sixties, but the rest of who were in the battle this morning are here, hidden, and waiting for commands. Don’t know if this matters, but there are twelve females, and eight males. The one’s left behind were female too."

  "We won’t have any issues if they can follow orders, trust each other, and kill when I need them to. Doesn’t matter to me if they are male or female."

  She laughed softly and replied, "You are one of a kind Max. Most males would try to control the pack or at least make sure the females are in the background. The females are always overlooked even though we could probably kick most of their asses."

  I chuckled and responded, "Remind them of that in a few minutes when they are surrounded by orcs. I need to get back up there, so we will try to communicate to you what needs to be done."

  "Okay, when we get through this ordeal, we need to finish our conversation we started earlier today." She countered and strolled over to me and nuzzled her head in my chest. That action caught me off guard, but I didn’t want to appear rude, so I wrapped her in a hug. "Stay safe, Max." She commanded as she walked away. What just happened? I didn’t want to think what that meant. I made my way back to Reap and Herc, to find out what’s going on.

  ‘What’s the status? Is it going to be hard?’

  Reap snickered, ‘I don’t know,’ looking at my downstairs, ‘You sure were cozy with that she-wolf. How hard did she make it?’

  I was caught off guard by that comment. ‘What are you talking about? She came to me.’

  Herc chuckled, ‘Damn, you made her cum that quick? You need to tell me you’re secret.'

  ‘Okay, obviously I have missed the joke. Explain it!’

  ‘Let’s just say that she has your scent, and it won’t go away anytime soon,’ he replied.

  It dawned on me then what they were explaining. ‘Are you saying she wants to mate with me?’

  Reaper laughed loudly, ‘Yes, she will make you hers, no matter what you say.’

  ‘I’m not a wolf, I’m not even this form, and don’t even know if I can change back into this,’ gesturing to my body.

  Sigmus confidently offered an explanation, ‘The magic you have will allow this. You already have a lioness, an avian mage, and a few elves. Why not a wolf too?’ He chuckled but got serious again, "I have been meaning to speak to you about that and have been thinking why you shifted into that form. I believe you can mimic your bonds, therefore change into their forms. It seems you chose both of their forms at the same time, which is truly remarkable, and seems why you are half again their size. It also seems you will be larger than the original form you take. I believe if you bond to a mage you can mimic their magic. We would need to practice to see what you can do.’

  I looked at Herc after the clarification of my sudden ability to shapeshift. He nodded and smiled, or at least I think he smiled. He looked like he was constipated to me, but on to the matter at hand.

  ‘You’re saying that when people bond to me, I can somehow copy their magic or form?’ They all grunted and I assumed that was a yes. ‘How does someone bond to me? Do they attach their auras to me, like Cass said?’

  Herc answered my questions, ‘Yes, if it is the individual’s will, they can link themselves to you. I did that when we first met. I knew your heart was in the right place when Reap was with you. He wouldn’t be around if you had an evil heart. From what Sigmus says, when someone links themselves with your aura, theoretically you will be able to use their magic. Since Reaper is a telepath, you will be able to talk with others through telepathy. Another way is through a mate bond, a connection will form when the females’ will wants more than to attach to you. When you have a mate bond form between you, they will start to feel things: emotions, thoughts, and sensations.

  Sigmus popped in with a smug comment, "Seven links have already formed.’ I snapped my head around so fast, I felt my neck pop.

  ‘What do you mean seven?’ I whispered.

  Reap responded to that. ‘Well, to our earlier laughing at you, we knew what was happening. The she-wolf has linked herself to you. You only have to accept it, like you did with your other mates back at the cabin.’

  ‘So I take it with me being able to speak through the minds of others, then I’m allowing others to come into my mind as well?’ Reap nodded but I continued, ‘That’s why I could talk with the wendigo, I somehow wanted to communicate with it.’

  The two grunted and I shook my head at this weird and spectacular day. I will figure out the she-wolf later. ‘Well, on to things I can control. The wolves want to help and awaiting my command. What is the plan?’ We went over what we thought would have the least casualties, relaying the thoughts to the wolves and was getting anxious. I tried the breathing exercises my dad taught me, and eventually calmed down. This was it, we got in our positions, and waited for the right time to attack.

  ‘Soph, can you hear me?’

  ‘Loud and clear, hon.’

  ‘Move to your positions, and prepare for battle. Be careful, don’t take risks unless you need to.’

  ‘Will do, baby. You just take care of that sexy ass of yours. Don’t make me kick your ass too.’

  I laughed, and put my concentration back on the scene in front of me.

  We technically surrounded them, I silently creeped up to the sentry on my side, which was mind boggling since I’m huge. He turned away from me, a big mistake, I reached and grabbed his head and broke his neck, dropped his body to the ground, then moved up until I heard talking at the camp fire.

  "Where will we go now, we pretty much have been to every town around here? They need to get those wagons here before they wake up and rebel."

  "What do you think the count is now?"

  "I don’t know, over four hundred maybe, but they won’t be able to get away from those wens."

  "We’ll head south, to catch up with those three other wens. They went down to exterminate those wolf packs that have been hindering us lately."

  "Ha! Makes my mouth water just thinking about some wolf meat."

  "What about thos
e rangers we captured. Do you think it will cause trouble?

  "Hmm…not sure, but don’t care, they’ll be gone this week anyway."

  A bat was chittering, crickets chirping, and other animal noises were heard, until it wasn’t. All of a sudden, silence was heard throughout the woods.

  "What’s going on?"

  "I don’t know, be quiet, I think I heard something."

  That was my que, so I stood up and stomped into the camp site. Orcs bellowed and hurried to find their weapons.

  "W-What the f-fuck… are y-you?" the lead orc stuttered.

  "Someone who wants information," I grumbled.

  "W-What information?"

  "How many wens, as you call them, are in that mine?"

  His green face went to a pale green, knowing we saw the mine, he tried to save face, "What mine? What are wens?"

  I sighed, "Okay, I’ll make this easy for you. I will ask a question, and you will answer truthfully. If you don’t then one of you dies. It’s looks like I can play twenty questions and have leftovers." I laughed at his confused reaction. "First questions. How many prisoners are in the mine, and how long have you been doing this mission?"

  "Don’t tell him anything! The overlords will end us!" A stupid ass orc shouted out.

  "Hmm…I guess it is show and tell time." I extended my claws and swiped across the neck of the orc that shouted out, decapitating him. His head rolled on the ground and the body fell flat.

  "Now, answer the question."

  "400, we have been at it over 6 months." Another orc answered.

  I nodded at him, "Next question, how many rangers were captured?"