Hunter becomes the hunted(PD inc. 17)

"Okay then, what's our plan...gentlemen?" Asked Samuel calmly to his only thinking companions in the group.

The necromancer along with Gawain and Randaloph sat in the middle of the forest between the trees, well hidden from unwanted view. They sat around each other in a circle and were surrounded by the rest of the undead army who were constantly on the lookout for any sign of movement in the nearby forest thicket.

"Master..."

"--__--"

"Come on, don't make me do everything myself."

"Randaloph I understand because he is an animal, but even you Gawain can't help...you know I am disappointed in you."

"Maassttee..."

"--'\__/'--"

"--'\__/'--"

"--'\__/'--"

"I can't believe you're just now offended that I called you an animal Randaloph."

"Randaloph I can't believe I have to tell you this, but you are a wolf...and a wolf according to humans is an animal."

"--`'\__/'`--"

"Well, you are going to shoot a furball now...really now that of all the moments you could have chosen?"

"--`'\__/'`--"

"Ehhh...Okay, be that as it may...you won this time."

"Sorry Randaloph... you're happy now?"

"=='\__/'=="

"No...no...no...I can't believe my eyes again...I really can't believe it myself right now...so what, you're going to make me say the whole apology every word, right?"

"--`'\__/'`--"

"Breathe Samuel...breathe it's just a simple dog, no need to get so upset about it." Thought the necromancer 'slightly' annoyed, as he tried to slowly inhale the cold air through his nose, even though he didn't need oxygen to survive.

"--`'\__/'`--"

" Okay...I'll say it, happy?"

"--',__,'--"

"And now he's still going to taunt me, the bloody flea-bearer," Samuel thought as he began to 'slightly' shake in anger.

"..."

"Randaloph I apologize for calling you a regular animal, wolves are very clever and they match their intelligence with humans...now satisfied?"

"~~',__,'~~"

"And now I am supposed to still say, how wolves are better than humans, you little..." Shouted Samuel furiously not caring that his voice might be heard by someone and thus betray his well-hidden position.

"RANDALOPH don't push your luck or we'll get cross, do we understand each other?"

"--__--"

"Apology accepted?"

"--__--"

"It's great that we've come to an agreement, you must know that we have more important things on our minds, and you of the three of us should care the most about that...unless something has changed?" Said Samuel this time much slower and calmer.

"--__--"

"I thought so"

"Damn mongrel we'll come back to this after all. And then I'll show you who's the real boss here" Thought the necromancer as he began to plan his sweet revenge.

As the master and his dog...the alpha and his servant...the necromancer and his undead wolf, or whatever their relationship was, tried to establish dominance over each other, Gawain meanwhile was watching their interactions with his usual stoic calm, unfazed by what was happening before him.

"So this is what home looks like, lovely." Thought the undead knight as he observed his new family, and with each minute of watching he gained more and more knowledge and intelligence.

"And you," Samuel said as he pointed his finger at the bone giant as soon as he had finished arguing with his pet and thus interrupted Gawain's thoughts.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you Gawain."

"Master..."

"No, no, I don't accept that, do you hear me?"

"You don't have any rational excuse for this, you have to figure something out, you understand, and you have to do it quickly because a pack of wolves won't wait for your laziness, they will probably move to another place soon and then we will have to search for them all day, again."

"Maaassstteerr....."

"Don't whine just get on with it."

"Gosh like with children, instead of creating an army capable of destroying the world am I playing a family?" Thought Samuel frustrated with the whole day today.

"Master..."

"You don't know how to do it...don't lie Gawain, even captains have some basics of skeleton management, not to mention you, 'great' and 'magnificent' knight"

"Master..."

"Ehhh..."

"So you don't have the confidence to come up with a plan that can work since you don't have full knowledge of the subject and you prefer to trust me to do it better, is that right?"

"Master..."

"Eh..." Sighs Samuel mentally tired.

"And couldn't you have said it straight away, just been circling the subject?"

"Master..."

"Apology accepted"

"Okay then so what now," Thought the necromancer thoughtfully. "I guess as always we need to improvise, I hope I can at least rely a little on these two idiots."

" Hey...Gawain, Randaloph if you guys don't want to make a plan then I have to take care of it...as usual"

"Master..."

"--__--"

"That's the first thing I need to do is to gather information about what we know and the vessels we stand, Randaloph let's start with you," he said.

"Show me through our mana connection how the pack hunts or how they attack something. As the former alpha you will definitely know that."

"--___--""

"Okay I understand, is there anything else I should know before we move on?"

"--,__,--"

"That's...something I didn't need to know but ok"

"Gawain now you, are you capable of directing the rest of the army for a while while I use the spells?"

"Master..."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear, the formation will already be established so all you need to do is fill in the gaps in the shield wall and give the archers the commands to fire"

"Master..."

"Don't worry about the losses apart from you two the rest of the army I can replenish easily"

"Master..."

"Relax now you have time to learn to be better in the future"

"Maaassstteerr..."

"It will be fine"

"..."

"Ok...the most important things are behind us, but to establish the rest it would be helpful to know more about..."

"Randaloph run around the herd now and see how many there are but try not to let them see you."

"--`__`--"

"You're not over it yet...don't grumble just run and take one skeleton with you on your back so I can see something"

"Well, unless you want me to search your memory again?"

The wolf did not reply to his order with his usually stoic face, but took the nearest skeleton in his mouth and started running to the target, avoiding or jumping over the rest of the undead army.

...

"Three males, four females and an alpha, eight anim...specimens in total".

"You know I expected there to be more"

"--__--"

"Well I was thinking there would be about 20 or 30 wolves, but with less than ten we should be able to handle it"

"--__-- !!!"

"When you left there were more, interesting probably the alpha had to chase away the pretenders and kill the cubs"

"--__-- !!!"

"He even killed a pregnant females?"

"I would do the same if I were him, "Thought Samuel with a bit of respect.

"Speaking of the alpha, he's a big motherfucker, even bigger than you were when I met you, no surprise you lost a fight with him."

"--\__/--"

"Yes, you are right...but I hope it teaches you something...that you should murder the children of your former rivals"

"--'__'--"

"That's good..."

"--__--"

"..."

"..."

"You'll probably want to fight him alone, right?"

"--'\__/'--"

"Okay, so we'll stop the rest."

"Master..."

"Okay, we're all set now, let's disperse and prepare as best we can."

"We leave in half an hour unless the herd moves on".

And if he knows when the 30 minutes is up I will let you know if you don't get yourselves together"

"Master..."

"--__--"

"I will, in the meantime, come up with some new spells that may come in handy later in the battle," The necromancer thought when he could finally focus on himself."

******

"Listen up, everyone..." Said the necromancer to his closest comrades and soldiers as he and his army marched calmly until the pack of wolves came within his sight.

" The plan is to start by attacking from a distance to see how our opponent behaves."

"If they attack, the shieldmens at the front should hold out until they are sufficiently wounded."

"In case of a flank attack Gawain you know what to do."

"Master..."

"And if they escape like..."

"--__--"

"If they escape...even better, we will then isolate and attack them one at a time. The pursuit with Randaloph in front will continue until we slaughter them all or find ourselves in an unexpected situation."

"Master..."

"Master..."

"Relax, I'll tell the rest in a moment."

"However, in case that pack attacks us directly, Randaloph takes the alpha on himself and we handle the rest. Let's try not to let them interrupt their duel."

"7 wolves I will try to separate them with an ice wall. I already know more or less how they will behave then..."

"--__--"

"When the axemens, spearmens, and Gawain try to kill the weakest and most injured individual."

"MASTER..."

"What again Gawain, why are you interrupting me again?"

"..."

"Ah that explains a lot," Samuel said as he followed his knight's finger with his sight, indicating the impending danger.

"The pack is moving this way or has spotted us, well, whatever."

"Get ready for battle...captains the rest of the plan will be implemented on the fly"

"Good luck Randaloph" Whispered the necromancer to the wolf as he crept further unnoticed by wolfs.

"And we Gawain...we have monsters to kill."