The Battle Begins

Linus' POV

"Finally," I thought to myself as I shifted back into my wolf. "I thought this blowhard would never shut his mouth" I attempted to take in all the boats to see which ones had the most men. The amounts seemed to be even as they teemed out of the ships. It was odd, though. These soldiers didn't seem to be in any hurry to fight. Are they being held against their will? Are they slave soldiers? Hell, would this even be considered a fight by the time they reach us, I thought to myself? Not only are they sauntering, but there also seem to be bunched together, I thought to myself. Was that because there were so freaking many of them? The ship was rather large, but the number of men pouring out of it was not right. My thoughts were interrupted when I smelled the air. I didn't smell any fear on the oncoming soldiers, which some soldiers are for sure braver than others, but in every troop, you will always smell fear. It is the human and animal condition, for you may be ready for battle, but no one is ready for the unknown. "Do any of you men smell any scents coming from these soldiers?" I asked through a mind link. "No" "Now that you mention it, I don't" " Nope, no scents from here," I heard back from multiple wolves at once. "Well, it took a good 5 minutes, but they are finally out of the boats and within a good range." I sent it out to everyone. "Men on the mountain who have not shifted yet, use your arrows on the men in the back. We'll rip apart the ones who are close to us." "Yes," Alpha I heard in return. I felt a rush of satisfaction as the arrows that whizzed by all hit their targets. It seems my men did take the archery training seriously. They all scoffed at me when I told them my plans, seeing as werewolves never really used arrows. All we ever relied on were our teeth and claws, which, since they were lethal, make a hell of a lot of sense. I'm glad now that I could pick up on the tactical advantage that the mountains give us.

Enough it was time to get out of my head. I felt the ground rumble under my feet as I let out a thunderous growl. Leaping forward at the first body that comes in to view the crunch of bones between my jaw as I latched onto a neck was immediately followed by the worst taste I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. It was like a mix of rotting meat, fungus, and some odd chemical. The body fell limp as I gagged. Getting closer to the fallen victim to see if I could get any scent from the wounds sent me over the edge. I hurled all over the dead body. What the f**k was wrong with these people. There was no time to think about that, though; there were plenty of more...men... should I call them men? They don't smell or taste like men... I shook my head to get my thoughts back on track. It doesn't matter what they are; they need to die. All the nerve they have to come to my island call me and my family names and then demand to enter; they need a rude and deadly awakening. I latched onto another one of those things necks. The snap and crumble were immediate. One after one, I went through clawing and snapping necks. I was feeling invigorated by the battle. That awful taste was becoming something that I could ignore when biting into their necks. Two of them moved forward, and I attempted to use their momentum against them, but they moved too slowly, so I charged them and ripped their hearts out. The screams around me were... "wait a minute," I said, standing over one of the bodies I had just taken down; where are all of the screams? This battle was silent except for the growls from my men and the snapping of bones. Scanning the battleground, the lack of bodies also began to stand out to me. There should be hundreds of bodies with broken necks and claw marks strewn around. I looked closer to the ship, expecting to see bodies with arrows sticking out of them, and there were none.

"Are you men noticing the strange things happening in this battle?" I asked through a mind link. "Yes," Alpha. I heard in response. " I have been paying close attention," Lupin sent to me. "After a couple of minutes, the body seems to disintegrate into the ground. Not that you can tell much of a difference between their faces, which in and of itself is weird, the same men come scrambling back out of the ship." Lupin finished. "Give me some time to come up with a plan; keep fighting in the meantime. " Alpha, the humans that we're killing on the extra boats are staying dead." Gideon, One of my soldiers, reported from the sea. " The mermaids are doing a great job of lulling them with their song, and we have almost emptied the vessels. What should we do now, Alpha?" "Search the boats. Keep anything of value, kill any straggler humans that are not prisoners. Any prisoner of there will be one of ours for a bit. I want to see what passes as crimes for humans since they attack so casually. We'll kill them after questioning. " "Yes, Alpha," I heard in response. So not all the men are unkillable. They must have a witch, the realization of the situation, making my blood boil. How could any witch side with the humans and attack the nexus? Not all the species got along, but Riara island was neutral ground. My wolf expanded his nostrils and took a deep breath. Focus. Kill, kill, kill, how do I kill them? Focus on killing them. Take their head off, I thought. I haven't tried that yet. Clean rip, leave nothing attached. My heart was racing; fury honed my thoughts. My anger filled me with a warmth that gave me confidence. I felt the power of my alpha blood flowing through me. I focused on distributing that power through every muscle in my body. I don't know if it was real or not, but I could swear I felt myself grow. With my rage burning, I lunged at the next thing that came my way. He slowly raised his arms at me as I jumped above him and turned on a dime to see his back. The slow-moving thing was unable to ride before I lunged at the end of his neck. I was picturing his inescapable death as I ripped his head off.

As I rampage, keep an eye on the men on the ground and see if they regenerate," I sent to my men. "Die," I thought as I lunged at another neck. F*****g stay dead, I thought as I ripped two heads completely off and bit through another neck. I could have sworn as I was bulldozing through these things that there was a glow to my paws. No, that couldn't be, I thought to myself. It must be the moonlight reflecting off of the blood on my claws. No time to focus on that, I thought to myself, crouching to miss an ax. Just kill until the witches get here. How many men have I taken down so far? How long have I been fighting? I didn't need my men to tell me that my strategy worked because I could finally see bodies fall around me. "You are the only one that seems to be able to kill them, Alpha. We saw that ripping their heads off was working for you, but when we tried, they would once again just dissolve into the ground and come back to life. " I am the only one that can kill them? There is so much that is off about that. If they can be taken down by beheading, why does it only work when I do it? I used my large claw to behead a slow-moving enemy. How much longer can I last? Being the only one able to murder them would be fine if there was only one boatload of men, but there are 5. Thank god, my men and the mermaids were able to take care of the other boats. I can feel my wolf starting to slow down. Luckily these men were prolonged, so I had a lot of room to slow down before they became any kind of threat. I jumped on two, trapping one with each paw to the ground, and thrust my claws through their necks at a 45-degree angle. The heads snapped clean off, and I let out a heavy sigh. I could feel the battle starting to wear on me. "Alpha, the Witches have arrived." I heard from a soldier of mine, Silvanus.

I searched the minds of my men and found the location of the newly arrived witches. With three massive leaps, I made it to the top of the mountain, where I saw my men and the Witch. "What do you need me to do" The Witch looked at me and asked. Shifting to human form but still looking at the battleground, I let her know that the men are regenerating somehow. " They dissolve into the ground after a couple of minutes and regenerate. Plus, look at how slowly they move as if their minds are a million miles away." I said, turning in time to see the Witch putting her waist-length black hair up into a bun. She turned towards me, and her hazel eyes held a look of understanding. "I think they have a witch on their side. I don't understand why they would betray the island, though." I state. "That is where you are wrong, my alpha." They do not have a witch on their side. They have a necromancer." She raised her arms, and her long flowy sleeves swayed in the slight breeze. "A f*****g necromancer," I roared and slammed my foot into the ground. "They are low and vile beings, but even so, I wouldn't think that one would work with humans." I wondered aloud. Then something hit me that explains the lack of smell on the men. The necromancer must have masked it to get away with the ruse. "Maybe they offered him something of great value." The Witch stated in an ethereal voice, taking me out of my thoughts. "Maybe," I agreed. "Try to capture the necromancer alive for questioning. Don't worry too much if you are unable to, though." "Yes, alpha," The Witch stated as her feet began to sink into the ground. "I am powerful, but I am no necromancer and don't have control over the dead," She stated as her hands started to tremble. "Instruct your men to keep fighting and killing but know that they will stay down" "Men, there is no need to worry; keep fighting, and when they go down, they will stay down thanks to the witch," I sent out to my men. I watched, amazed as the Witch started to hum, and the ground around her began to tremble with her hands. There was a slight gold aura around her and the shaking ground. Surveying the shore beneath us, I saw my men ripping and tearing the living dead to shreds. Keeping an eye on the bodies, I indeed saw that they no longer came back to life after they disintegrated into the ground.

We now had the upper hand. "Thank you, witch," I barked out as I shifted back into my wolf, swishing my tail as I hopped down the mountain. Now that there was a solution to our little regeneration problem, I could focus on bigger things like that blowhard admiral. I weaved my way through countless wolves ripping heads off. After a few shorts minutes, I reached the shore and hopped onto the leading boat with ease. Lowering my head to the ground, I took a couple of big whiffs. It was pretty easy to tell where the Adirmal was since they filled it with bodies that had their scents masked.

I made my way to the bowls of the ship and saw the Admiral sitting at a table. " I see you found a way to beat my necromancer he said, looking at my wolf. I let out a growl in response. He took a swig of the bourbon in the cup and turned to look at me. " I can see that we are beaten. I radioed the men in the backup ships, and there was no response, which could only mean one thing." He stood and walked over to a counter taking his drink with him. Taking the last swing of the bourbon, he set the cp on the counter and opened a drawer. He left his hand in the drawer and turned to me. " I hope you know that you will never hold me hostage, and I will never reveal state secrets. He whipped his hand out of the drawer and hurled a knife at me, to which I jumped to the left and easily dodged it. "Quick, just like I thought," He said slowly as he started to slump. "I laced my bourbon with poppy seeds, which means I am giving myself the best send-off." He spat as he jammed a knife into his neck. He slumped to the ground. His bleeding and breath quickly stopped, but there was no telling since they had the necromancer, so I waited around to see if the body would reanimate. What is just waiting is not enough, I thought to myself? Not wanting to take any chances, I sauntered over to the body and chopped the head off only in case.