Wolf's Maiden

-The sun has risen, the birds are chirping in the trees but in the cave, Kasumi is fast asleep with a campfire near her. She did not sleep well last night after she left Akio and Vita back at the abandoned town. She then hears what sounds like sniffing and wakes up to 2 wolves standing over her. She notices that the wolves aren’t attacking her but instead look like they are waiting for her. When she reaches out to touch the one on the right, the wolf bows his head and his tail wags vigorously, she does the same to the female wolf and it does the same as the first wolf. When she inspects the wolves more, she notices their coats are soft and shiny. The male has a dark grey coat and the female has a lighter coat which makes it easier to differentiate between the two. Kasumi walks outside of the cave and the wolves follow her at her side.-

“Who sent you two to be with me?” Her eyes glow purple for a few seconds and she notices strong arcane magic from them. “I see it wasn’t just some natural pull to this cave that led you to me. If only you two could talk, I would be able to know.” Kasumi lets out a sigh and picks up her things and starts walking away from the cave with the wolves following her. As she passes by a river, one the wolves tugs at her pants leg and walks over to the river, letting her know they are getting some water. She patiently waits for them as she walks over to their left and fills up her waterskin. When they were finished, Kasumi continued moving along the riverbank with the wolves following her closely.

-A few hours passed, and it is now almost evening and the three are still traveling, this time no longer along the riverbank. Kasumi sees a town and heads straight towards it, if the people wouldn’t mind a couple of wolves walking with her as if they were her trained guards. Then she considered that thought, ‘what if they weren’t trained to properly tell what is hostile and what isn’t?’ She took the chance and entered the town. The townsfolk, of course, noticed the wolves following this young woman around town and were worried and scared. Kasumi heard a voice from behind her, when she turned to see who it was, she saw five guards approach her.-

“Ma’am, what do you think you are doing?”

“Looking for a place to relax in. Try to figure out where to go, what’s wrong with that?”

“You have Dire Wolves with you.”

“They are my friends. They only attack if they feel I’m being threatened.”

“I’m going to have to ask you to take your wolves and leave. You are scaring the citizens.”

“Well maybe they shouldn’t be scared if they don’t have any intentions to harm me,” Kasumi raised her voice loud enough for the people around to hear her say that.

“Keep your voice down and leave or we will detain you and your mutts.”

-The wolves sniffed the air, turned to their left and started barking in that direction. When Kasumi and the guards looked, they only saw the citizens who were looking at the situation unfold in front of them. Kasumi had a slight idea of what they were barking about and reconsidered staying in town. She walked past the guards, ignoring them and looking around the area the wolves were barking at.-

_It could be nothing, but why were they just barking in that direction? If it’s a warning, I’m taking my leave. One of the wolves gently nudged Kasumi forward, Ok, it’s definitely a warning._ Kasumi walked a bit faster out of town and continued down the road looking for a town that would take her and her new guards.

-Thirty minutes later, the guards are in their barracks having a good time, chatting with the others when they saw the door being flung open. They couldn’t react in time to grab their weapons when four people dressed in white cloaks showed themselves.-

“We heard you had a situation in town.”

“It was handled.”

“Who was it?”

“Who?”

“The person you stopped in town, who was it? What did they look like?”

“I don’t know the name. She did look like a blacksmith. Kinda weird for one to have wolves, right?” The guard jokingly said to the mystery male.

“Indeed. Unless she is getting help from someone. Where did she go?”

“Hey now, I don’t think—”

-Before he could finish, the man pulled out a hand crossbow and his comrades pulled out their weapons.-

“No. I don’t think you understand. You let a threat roam free, you should have handed her your souls while you were at it. Where did she go?”

“She followed the road. I didn’t see where after that.”

A cloaked female stepped in front of her male comrade, “I can have my scouts search the area for her.”

“No need, if she came here alone, her friends were left behind. They might know where she went.”

“He has a fallen goddess with him.”

“She is a fool to go against the gods’ wishes. We were instructed to kill those who get in our way, even if that means a fallen deity. Clean up in here and let’s get moving before she gets too powerful.” The male puts away his crossbow and heads outside waiting for his comrades to finish up. When they get out, they don’t say anything and started moving towards the road going back to where Kasumi came from.