The plan they had finally arrived at was not a plan anyone liked, but it was one that stood a chance at working. Six messengers riding the fastest horses the capital could provide would set out at once, each riding off in a different direction. But no-one expected any of those messengers to make it past the siege. If any of the young men and women riding out lived to see nightfall, Hood would be very surprised. This wasn’t the type of mission where the participants were offered gold or glory. It was the type of mission where they received a promise that the family they left behind would be well cared for. The purpose of the riders was simply to provide a distraction. To keep the demons busy chasing horses while Hood, Ulrik and a small party of well-trained guards slipped out in secret. They crept through grass and brush, keeping low and silent as they made their way towards the distant forest where they hoped to slip away from the blockade of wolves. Over their usual gear, they had pulled cloaks woven from grass and leaves to obscure their shape, and they made sure to travel into the wind so the wolves ahead of them wouldn’t catch their scent. They made some noise as they crept through the brush, of course, but it wasn’t exactly a quiet day. The snarls and growls of agitated wolves, the thundering of hoofbeats in the distance… The messengers acting as distractions were certainly performing their job, although Hood knew it wouldn’t last long. And even then, their way was far from unimpeded. Hood signalled the group to stop as she spotted two wolves standing guard in a small grove of trees ahead and pointed them out to the others. She motioned to the crossbows Ulrik and the guards were carrying and pointed to one of the wolves, then she carefully crept nearer to her prey and clambered up into the branches of a nearby tree. Without warning, she leapt from the branches, the mighty bound carrying her over twenty feet through the air. She landed with inhuman grace next to one of the wolves and plunged her blade into its neck, killing it before it had a chance to even realize what was happening. The other demon barely had time to turn its head towards her before five crossbow bolts thudded into it and it sank to the ground with a dying wheeze. Hood crouched down, tossing her head about for any sign that the disturbance had been noticed, but she didn’t hear anything that suggested it. With a relieved sigh, she motioned for the group to keep following. They were drawing close to the forest when the world around them seemed to grow silent once more. Hood could only guess it meant all the decoy messengers, or at least all the ones on this side of the city, had been chased down and killed. She would have sworn if she wasn’t worried it might give away their position. No more decoys meant less noise to conceal their own, and it meant the wolves would all be returning to their posts. As if to confirm her worries, she spotted four wolves ahead of them, smaller than the two they’d killed before, but just as alert. After some consideration, she signalled two guards each to take aim on two of the wolves and Ulrik to aim for a third. Keeping low in the brush, Hood crept up towards the nearest wolf as silently as she was able, padding on all fours as she slunk between bushes and strands of grass. The moment she noticed her prey’s ears perk up as if hearing something, she lunged for it, landing within two feet of the beast and bringing her sword around in an arc that almost clove its head from its body. Ulrik’s bolts hit his quarry right in the eye, piercing deep into its brain and sending it collapsing to the ground. The wolf next to it fell almost without a sound, but their luck failed them with the final wolf. While one of the bolts pierced a lung and would probably be lethal in time, the second bolt simply thudded into the beast’s side, and the wolf gave out a piercing, pained howl before Hood could lunge for it and tear its throat out. “RUN!” Hood called out the order as she darted off towards the forest. If they made it into the cover of the trees, they could split up, and at least one of them might escape to deliver the message. It wasn’t to be, however, as the howl had alerted every wolf within hearing range, and it wasn’t long at all before they were beset by attackers on all sides. With an enraged snarl Hood fell down on all fours, her teeth and nails lengthening and her face distorting as she forced every bit of demonic energy she could muster to the fore. The battle turned to chaos in an instant, the screams of men and howls of wolves filling the air as Hood shot from demon to demon hacking and tearing at them wildly with tooth and claw and blade. But there were too many enemies, and she couldn’t protect everyone. One by one, the guards died around her as the rage burned hotter and hotter inside her veins. Blood pounded in her ears as a red mist seemed to lower itself across her vision. Wolf after wolf fell before her furious onslaught, all conscious thought vanishing from her mind as she gave more and more of herself over to her demonic impulses. “Stand down, or the whelp dies!” She turned around with a snarl… And saw Ulrik overcome by wolves, two of the beast pinning him to the ground while a third held its jaws around his throat, fully prepared to tear it out at the slightest provocation. To Hood, it felt as though ice was shooting through her veins, quelling the boiling rage in her blood in an instant. A hundred plans of attack flashed through her suddenly clear head, and were rejected almost as quickly. There was nothing she could do to save Ulrik. Nothing except surrender. With a bitter frown Hood forced herself to her feet, her feature’s returning once again to something close to human as she turned to the demon who had spoken. He was a mighty beast, easily three times as tall as most of the wolves here and built more like a wild boar than a wolf, making his features look grotesquely bloated. “And who are you supposed to be?” “Glupa. Duke Glupa, since you slew my father.” “You’re Carrion’s get?” “I am indeed. Thank you for that, by the way. I had not imagined I’d have a chance to usurp his title for quite some time. But once you killed the old bastard, all I had to do was strike my siblings down and claim the title for myself.” “It wasn’t me who struck the killing blow. It was the ‘whelp’, as you call him.” Glupa cast a surprised glance at Ulrik, seeming to re-evaluate man. “Is that so? Perhaps there’s more to him than meets the eye. But it doesn’t matter. You clearly care for him, in the foolish way that humans do, and that means he will serve his purpose most excellently.” “What do you want, wolf? Why not just kill us?” “Because I am here to deliver a message, straight from old Fenris himself.” “Then let’s hear it!” Hood spat, what little patience she had left quickly running out. “Fenris will be waiting for you in the royal hunting grounds, at noon the day after tomorrow. It seems he wants to settle matters with you, my little red lady.” “And why would I agree to a fight on his terms?” “Because if you do, then no matter how the fight goes, all the wolves harrying this city will withdraw. We’ll allow people back to their farms and villages, and life will go on. But if you do not, then we will squeeze the life out of this worthless city until there’s nothing left.” Hood stared at him, not believing what she’d just heard. “You cannot be serious! Are you saying all this, this entire siege, is just a way to force me into battle with the demon king?” “So it would seem. Old Fenris seems quite insistent on this, little lady.” “But that’s madness! How many wolves have already perished in this ridiculous ploy? All just to herd me into the king’s clutches.” Glupa tossed his head about carelessly. “A hundred? Two, perhaps. It doesn’t matter.” “But why? Why would nobles like yourself go along with this ridiculous plot? The demon king never commanded such loyalty before.” This time, Glupa grinned hugely. “And he still does not, little lady. But he has offered us of the noble lines a prize far greater than any other. A prize well worth throwing away a few hundred common demons to acquire.” “And I suppose you wouldn’t be inclined to tell me what this prize is?” “And ruin the surprise? Of course not. Now go, little lady. We’ll see you and your whelp safely back to the city walls so you can make your preparations. After all, it would be a shame to disappoint the king after he’s put so much effort into this.” Hood snarled and spat on the ground, but made no move to resist as the wolves herded her and Ulrik back towards the city gate. Nothing about this made sense. Why was the demon king so anxious to meet her? And what could he possibly have offered the other demon nobles to make them agree to something like this? It was with a mind full of impossible questions and a body coated in demon blood and gore that Hood returned to the streets of the capital.