The Hour of The Wolves

A lone moonbeam broke the thick creamy mist and shone down on the car which came from the other side of the valley. Liam recognized the driver by his crooked posture and huge hat as he looked up before tossing down the last bear trap. He moved away in the tall grass with the elegance and skill of seasoned hunters. He looked up one last time to the moon, feeling the panging pain in his right arm so he pushed the silver nails a bit deeper in his flesh. The last thing he needed tonight was the full moon, but that is his luck, well that’s how things have been since the market square. The loud noise of driver running away woke up him from his melancholy, he saw the cart now was open and he could see four men stumbling out from it in rabbit masks, they all started to run in the middle of the road to reach the other side of the valley. Liam pulled his hat deeper in his eyes and loaded the repeating crossbow in his hand. –“Well let’s hope this new child of Percy’s constant tinkering will work as he told me so otherwise it will be a dirty job”-. He could hear the men running past him , and from the far he heard that the hunters also arrived. He could recognize four hunters with wolf masks and their hunting wolves.  -“Why they need to use wolves to help them , they could smell and see just fine in he dark, the mask gives them the senses of the wolf so it is unnecessary and I just hate killing them pointlessly.”-  He though as the first hunters passed him by. The wolf next to him paused for a moment but it had to sneeze because the wolfbanes in Liam’s belt so it just ran after the rabbits who by now scattered across the valley in the high grass trying to get out alive. When the last hunter passed Liam, he raised his crossbow slowly without making a sound and waited, breath hold back. –“ 10,9,8,7”- One of the wolves darted off to the grass and yelled in pain as one of the bear traps tore him apart.-“6,5”- Liam risen as a ghost of the hunting field and released 7 shots with letting out the air from his lungs and dropped back on his knees.-“4,3,”- He could hear the rabbit masked men leaving the valley in a sprint.-“2,1”- His heightened senses couldn’t pick up any movement, only the pained breathing of one hunter he shot in the shoulder so he could question him later. He stood up and walked up to the scene of his m******e. There they, three man pierced through their eyes, their blood slowly dripping out to the grass. The wolves were shot in the side , the arrows perfectly aimed to their hearth. He pulled his hat even deeper in his eyes focusing on the shrieking survivor who were trying to crawl away from him, so he put a bolt in the spine of the hunter and turned him with a kick. –“Well, well, well. What do we have here a proud wolf or just little cub”- His rasping voice was full of despise and bloodlust, it made the reaming man, who was revealed to be a young boy with well-groomed hair and handsome feature, tremble in fear.  –“Oh, f**k another kid. Don’t you have anything better to do than hunting for poor citizen of your fiefdom brat? “- The pity and disappointment were the only feelings remained in Liam’s voice. He didn’t hate these young nobles, they were just fools, the puppets of his father, made to hunt the poor and the weak as a sport. The kid just stared at him, his eyes became more and more wide.  – Y…Yo…You are him, aren’t you? -He asked trembling in fear and started the try to crawl away as fast as he could. –“ You are the Earl’s son the mad wolf who has been hunting all us down and brought the end on the kingdom!”-  Hey kid don’t go that way you… “- Liam was interrupted by the mechanical cling of the other trap and the terrible scream of the young noble. -“ f**k. At least you can’t say that I didn’t tried to warn him … Lets just move on, still have a lot to do tonight.” –  He said to himself as he started to move away from the corpses, he looked at each face and memorized them. They were all young maybe just turned sixteen. -Fools, stupid fools.- He muttered as he lighted his cigar and with the same motion stroked a tear of his face. He headed to the cart where he found the driver returned, and back on the seat. –“Good evening young Lord! May your strength remain until we turn the life of this country to the better! “-  The driver called out to Liam and bowed in his seat. -Good evening to you too Luca! Liam said looking up to the weathered face of his old friend. Luca has been the driver of the Fenris family since Liam’s Father’s birth. He served the Fenris house loyally, but sometimes loyalty requires the betrayal of the current head and helping the next one to power if his Lord just fallen in madness. The driver smiled down on him, but Liam could see the sadness in his eyes grieving also for the younglings . –“ I hope you are in no danger my friend back in the city. Do you have any news? –“ “ Yes, young Sir I do! The serial killer left another corpse behind so the citizens getting more and more uneasy. But hope on , I will take you until the crossroad and we can talk.” As Liam jumped on next to the old driver, he encouraged the horses to get moving whit a soft whip. “ So where was I ? Oh  yeah, the new victims were found near the trade district so even the wealthy merchants started to panic. People were protesting before the city guard station until Lady Alissarh came and calmed them. That girl is a real treasure I have to admit, we were lost in this count without her. “ He continued for a while, but Liam could focus on what he is saying as his mind was full of memories and dreams of Alissarh, his one and only Lissha. The thoughts left a sour taste in his mouth as the last time he saw her , was when he lost control of the beast in the market square and changed fully into his monster form. Many died that day and the blood filled the canals of Grimwalden , but it was necessary to make an opening in the wall of guards so soldiers of the resistance can escape. Still he spilled too much blood by now, he was beyond salvation, so he doesn’t deserve someone so perfect and pure as Lissha. He was brooding about thought like this falling in deeper and deeper in self loath as the carriage slowly left the bloody valley behind.