<HTML> Arla stopped and stared at the figure in front of her blocking their way. Standing in the center of the hallway not twenty feet from Arla was a very tall, stoutly built, wolf morph. She stared at the figure for a long moment. "Who are you?" she asked. The wolf morph was at least eight feet tall and his body seemed to bristle with muscles. He wore no clothes, except the deep black fur that covered his body. She didn't know who this person was but all her instincts were telling her something was wrong. Behind her she heard one of the dire wolves whine in fear. The wolf morph didn't say anything but started moving towards the scouts at a slow walk. Arla could feel her hackles rise and a shiver ran down her spine. The wolf's scent came to her nose, it was wrong, strange, not the scent of a keeper. "Stay right there, come no closer," Lisa ordered coming to stand next to Arla. In return the strange morph snarled and broke into a run. As he brought both hands over his head she could see long, razor sharp claws tipping each finger. "That's no keeper," Lisa said drawing her sword. "SHIT!" Arla shouted pulling her sword from its sheath. "AMBUSH!" Behind her she could hear the other scouts drawing weapons. "Get down Arla!" Meredith's voice thundered from behind her. Without thinking she obeyed and dropped to the floor and rolled to one side. Behind her she heard the snap of the bear's crossbow and a bolt buried itself in the attacking wolf's chest. A second later two arrows joined it. If the missiles hurt the creature it didn't show. The stranger just brushed them off the way a child might flick away an annoying fly. It kept charging straight at them, a feral look in its eyes. And then it was among them. Lisa met the creature head on, lashing out with her sword catching the creature across the stomach. The monster grabbed the girl in it's jaws and shook her like a dog shaking a sock. Then it released her and Lisa flew backward in a bloody spray. She hit the wall, slid to the floor and lay in an increasing pool of her own blood. Without hesitating Ralls leapt over Lisa's bloody body, swinging his war hammer for all its worth. Charging right beside him, was Meredith, who in spite of the narrow confines of the hall still managed to swing his axe. Fast behind them was Laura and Allart. Allart's face was drawn into a furious, rictus snarl, his deep blue eyes as hard as winter ice and burned with a dark rage as his shout rang over the clash and screams of the fight, "You'll die." Without hesitating Arla leapt up and rushed the creature. She ducked one of those massive paws and lashed out with her own sword the point aimed at its stomach. She saw Ralls thrown backward by a powerful backhand and sent flying out of sight behind the beast. The creature took Meredith's axe blow across the chest and lunged forward, it's teeth snapping the two-inch thick wooden handle like it was a twig. The bear had to leap backward to avoid being killed but didn't move fast enough, those sharp claws caught him across the chest. "What is it?" Someone screamed. "It's a werewolf," Allart said calmly as he attacked, his sword biting deeply into the creature's side. He dodged a swipe of a paw and backed away. Suddenly there was just Arla, Allart and Laura facing the creature; all the other scouts were gone. The werewolf calmly looked at the age morph. "Clever little boy," it said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. Then it rushed the three remaining scouts. Allart flicked a pair of throwing stars at the creature, one burying in itself in the monster's muzzle. Arla's sword flashed as she lashed out at the monster's paw. She heard it bellow in pain, and she felt a jolt like some one had hit her, and warm blood splashed over her. The monster simply rammed into her and she was sent flying backward into a wall. Dazed and confused she felt something warm and moist touch her muzzle. She looked up into the eyes of Crooked Jaw, the leader of the dire wolves. She had completely forgotten about them in the midst of the fight. They just seemed to be watching the battle. At least they weren't fighting against the scouts. She turned to the fighting and saw Meredith, shedding all traces of civilization, had changed to his full animal form and was charging the werewolf on both hind legs. The one ton brown bear was a terrible sight, his chest was a mass of blood and there was true rage in his eyes. A whine brought Arlas attention back to dire wolves. They were staring at an object laying on the floor. It was a paw from the werewolf. She saw the terror of many of the wolves who were crouching in the corner, tails between their legs. They were truly terrified of that werewolf. She looked at Crooked jaw for a long moment and something passed between them. Then she stood up and retrieved her sword from a corner. Behind her she heard the wolf give a short, sharp bark, and then the sounds of the wolves moving. With a loud howl Arla rushed back into the fight and with her came twenty dire wolves. She saw the werewolf shake off the bear and send him tumbling down the  hallway. Arla leapt over the bear and the wolves simply flowed around his body. She couldn't spare the time to help her friend. It was a swirling chaos of a fight. Men, women, morphs, and wolves leaping, snapping, and rushing the creature as it lashed out with its remaining paw and it's dagger-sized teeth. She saw Ralls trip and fall to the ground, his leg shattered from a snap of the werewolf's jaws. Before she could help him a dire wolf clamped onto his armor and pulled him to safety. She saw Laura, a dire wolf by her side, rush straight the monster, sword slashing. Then she saw a dire wolf, it had to be the smallest of the pack, run straight up the monster's broad back and clamp its teeth onto the werewolf's head, right across those rage filled eyes. The monster gave a flick of it's head and the wolf was sent flying. It hit the wall with a thud and a crunch, it struggled to stand up for a moment then collapsed to the floor. The small wolf's attack had not been in vain though. The monster's eyes were a mass of bloody bone and shredded flesh. The creature blindly flailed around for a moment, before Allart stepped up and drove his sword deep into it's left leg. With a bellow of pain it crashed onto the floor, and wolves and keepers alike swarmed over it, biting, slashing, stabbing, and ripping in a brutal, killing frenzy.   It was a long time before Laura ended it.   "ENOUGH!" she shouted in a ragged voice. "It's finally dead." Everyone just stood still and looked at the corpse, unbelieving that the fight was truly over. Finally Allart sheathed his sword, and that broke the stillness. "See to the wounded," he said calmly. It was a sad business picking up after the battle. Everyone was hurt. Arla found Laura gingerly bandaging the broken ribs of a small, female dire wolf. No less then four of the dire wolves sat nearby intently watching. Laura's right arm was covered in a bandage from elbow to wrist. Tired, Arla sat down and rested her back against the wall. She suddenly recognized the female Laura was helping. "That's the one who blinded the werewolf by running up its back?" she asked. The woman nodded. "Yes. One really brave soul." "Very brave." "What's the count?" Laura asked. "Four of the wolves are hurt, but not badly," the collie answered. "Ralls has a broken leg. Meredith has some deep cuts across the chest, but they're minor. Allart has a few cuts and bruises. And me, I'm fine except for a few bruised ribs." The canine hesitated to continue. "What about Lisa?" Laura asked. "You'd best talk to Ralls about that," was all Arla could say. The woman just stared at Arla without speaking. "That bad?" Arla just nodded. Laura quickly finished bandaging the wolf and hustled over to where the girl was lying. She passed Terrence. The boy was calmly bandaging his wrist and arm. She hadn't noticed him in the mayhem of the fight but the long, claw wounds on his arm told that he had fought or at least gotten in the way. The woman paused long enough to be she the boy would be fine and then rushed over to where Lisa lay. In spite of his broken leg Ralls had all the equipment of healing spread out on the floor and was working on the girl with Allart's help. It was not a pretty sight. Lisa was lying on a blanket and was covered with a second one. Her face had lost its color and was a pasty white. She was breathing shallowly and looked to be asleep. Arla couldn't help but look at the mangled remains of Lisa's right arm. Ralls motioned both of them forward. "How is she?" Laura asked. "Her right arm is completely shattered," Ralls said. "Plus she's broken at least four of her ribs and she's lost a lot of blood. I've stopped the bleeding but we need to get her to help immediately if she's going to live." "All right, rig a stretcher for her and yourself," was Laura's answer. She turned to Arla. "Do you think you can talk one of the wolves into doing a little stretcher pulling?" Arla pondered before answering. "Probably, as long as we save room for Little Tail on that stretcher." "Little Tail?" Allart asked. "That's the female wolf who blinded the werewolf," Arla explained. Laura smiled. "Sure. The Longs always take care of their own." *** The two groups met together in a small room of the Temple library. The walls were lined with shelves full of books that went all the way to the ceiling. Daria noticed Misha examining the books on one of the shelves. That surprised her. She'd never considered the fox to be a reader. His reputation painted him as a blood thirsty killer. "Misha, how do we start?" Daria asked. The fox put down the book he was reading and moved to stand in front of the girl. "Let me introduce my people to you." He pointed to the ferret, who had sheathed his sword. "That's Finbar. He's team leader. Standing next to him is Danielle." The pine marten nodded to Daria. She was carrying a short sword, a bow was slung across her back and three hand axes hung from her belt. The fox pointed to three other scouts, a man, a woman and a red panda morph. "The woman wielding the spear, is Georgette." The brown haired woman smiled at Daria. The girl noticed that besides the spear she hand a long bow and no less then five daggers. The short man standing next to Georgette bowed deeply. The mace hanging from his belt had long, sharp spikes and the two hand axes hanging next to it had razor sharp edges. The ever-present bow was firmly gripped in his right hand. "My name is Jotham," he said shaking Daria's hand. "This tall fellow," Misha said patting the panda on the back. "Is Kershaw." The panda looked Daria in the eyes with a piercing gaze. "It's a pleasure to meet you," The panda said. "Is that your whole group?" Daria asked. "It's small." Misha chuckled. "You know what they say? Good things come in small packages." ***   End part 29 </HTML>