The Ruins of Dachsen
The old castle had stood for centuries, but long ago its walls and floor had collapsed into a dangerous maze of rubble. One misstep on the loose stone and you could plunge through to the depths below. Yet twisted vines and exposed tree roots had grown thick enough to hold it all together, creating a makeshift path. Travelers stepped only on solid boulders, guided by the clinging roots and vines. This clever design had driven away most of the insects and snakes that slumbered in the dim corridors. The area teemed with insects that thrived in damp places, and farther in, the thick roots had sprouted mushrooms in abundance. Passing through the cluttered passage filled with vermin and fungus brought us to a wide open space. It felt like the old training yard of the estate, though the collapsed tower and boulders now formed the ceiling. It was intriguing, yet the entire area looked dangerously unstable.
Suddenly.
BOOM!
The sound of something heavy crashing down echoed through the chamber. I drew my sword and sprinted toward the noise.
In the narrow passage, I spotted a man rubbing his backside where he had fallen from a height taller than he was. Ion leveled his blade at him.
“Who are you!”
The man, still facing away, turned his head at my words. His eyes widened at the point of my long sword.
“Hah! Y-yes?”
“I asked who you were!”
The man raised both hands in surrender.
“I-I’m a mercenary. My name is Gert!”
“Right. Mercenary Gert. What brings you here?”
Gert, in his forties with a slender build and cheap gambeson, carried a short sword and a bandolier slung across his chest. A yellow dot marked him on the map.
“I was asked to look for missing persons from Beden County.”
“A missing persons search? Even a mercenary gets that kind of work?”
“I-I’m a former hunter! I’m good at tracking! That’s why I take jobs like this!”
“You have no bow?”
“I’m better with a sword than a bow. I switched from hunter to mercenary.”
His story had no glaring contradictions. Yet I still doubted a lone mercenary could be here.
“Hmm… You came here alone?”
“Y-yes. No one else wanted to join, so I came by myself. I just wanted a quick look around.”
It sounded plausible enough. I nearly doubted every word, but I sheathed my sword.
“I’m here too. I took a job from the county sheriff.”
“Oh? A knight… as well?”
“I’m Ion of Bergen. Since you say you’re good at tracking, lead the way.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gert sprang to his feet and began scanning the surroundings.
Then he spotted something and pointed at the floor.
“Look here. You can see paw prints. They’re about the size of a wolf’s.”
“Why a wolf?”
“Big cats tuck in their claws when they walk, but dogs don’t. Look at the pads here—they’re bare.”
“I see.”
As Gert said, the prints showed the animal’s pads and claws. He really was a skilled tracker.
“There are also rumors that a wolf carried off people. We should head this way.”
“Hmm…”
I paused to think. I couldn’t simply follow the wolf tracks.
“Do you have another idea?”
“On my way here I ran into bandits.”
“Bandits?”
Gert’s eyes bulged in surprise.
“That’s right. I found the bodies of several missing persons in their hideout.”
“Bodies? But not all of them?”
“That’s right.”
“Then perhaps there’s another presence besides wolves or bandits?”
“I think so. I shouldn’t follow the wolf alone.”
“Yes. You’re right.”
Gert nodded and led the way into another corridor.
He truly was a skilled hunter. Even on bare stone the tracks were faint, yet he found the wolf’s paw prints with ease. When no clear trail remained, he cocked his head and sniffed the air to choose direction.
Seeing only one set of prints convinced me a single wolf was hiding in the ruins.
We searched for some time longer. From a collapsed watchtower we located its lair.
“It looks abandoned. All the tracks are old.”
“The wolf was here, but it’s gone now.”
“Yes. I agree. I haven’t found any trace of the other creature you mentioned.”
“The surface looks clear.”
“The castle certainly had a basement, but the ground is unstable. The surface is safe thanks to the roots, but underground… not so much.”
As Gert said, these old castles always had basements. The castle had collapsed because of a landslide, so the ground was weak. Yet that weakness might make a perfect hiding place.
“Let’s check only for tracks.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gert reluctantly let me take the lead. We reached the entrance to the main tower where the lord had stayed and found a downward passage. Inside, long claw marks marred the stone.
“What do you make of this?”
“The shape isn’t cat. It’s canine, but much larger.”
“Bigger than a wolf?”
“Looking at the height, it looks almost as big as a dire wolf.”
“Hmm… Either way, we have to go in.”
“Yes.”
This time I drew my sword and led the way down into the basement.
The stairs down were rickety and shaky, yet I descended carefully. Behind me, Gert lit a torch to light the path.
After the stairs, the basement split into two directions. One side looked like a storeroom, the other had a solid wooden door with an iron grille that let you peer inside.
“There!”
Gert pointed at the rust-eaten grille. Blood stained the bars, though it had mostly dried. A faint red still clung to the metal.
I opened the wooden door and cautiously entered the prison.
It wasn’t a line of cells with iron bars. Instead, small chambers lined both walls, sealed with thick doors. At the center stood a large wooden door blocking the passage. I opened each door and checked the chambers one by one.
The last chamber reeked of death. Dry blood crusted the door. Gert stared at me with uneasy eyes. I shut my mouth and opened it.
“Ugh…!”
“Hah!”
Bodies piled high. The lower layers were already bleached bone, while upper layers showed less decay. Even so, the topmost corpses bore deep claw wounds from a beast. The stench was overwhelming, yet Ion and Gert carefully examined the injuries before exiting the prison.
“The wounds match a red wolf.”
“Hmm… It looks that way.”
My eyes sparkled. ‘Did I say “red wolf”?’
Since the first time I saw Gert, he had only shown a yellow dot. For now, the blue dot hadn’t appeared.
The inner chambers held empty cells. We left the basement.
Breathing fresh air, I tried to wash away the stench clinging to my nose.
―Awooo!
The howl of a wolf echoed. Following the sound, we found a red wolf standing guard in the center of the old training yard, snarling.
“That thing killed the people!”
“It looks like the wolf did it, but we can’t be sure it’s the red wolf you mentioned?”
Gert, who had been pointing at the wolf, froze at my words.
“What do you mean?”
“I never said ‘red wolf.’ Yet you just did.”
And Gert remained yellow while the red wolf was still blue. The dots alone couldn’t tell everything, but it gave me reason to doubt.
Gert’s face stiffened, then he smiled coldly. The yellow dot turned red.
“Heh. I guess I slipped up.”
“What’s your real identity? Are you part of the bandit crew?”
“No. I’m not a bandit. I’m a gray wolf mercenary.”
“Mercenaries? Even if they turned on their own kind, why kill like this?”
“No reason to stop anyone who came in. Sending them out would expose us to the townsfolk.”
Turncoats among mercenaries were common. Killing people this way was not.
“You’re not talking about money. You’re asking why you tore them apart like a wolf.”
“Heh heh heh. It wasn’t me. I bit and chewed through flesh and blood myself.”
…
Gert’s strange words shifted the mood. The red wolf, still snarling at us, turned toward Gert and howled.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
Gert exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders, puffing up his chest. Muscles swelled, clothing tore.
“Grrrr. I’ll kill you all!”
His bones and muscles cracked as they grew. His snout elongated, thick fur bristled across his body.
I drew my sword and stepped back.
“Hmm… A werewolf! So that’s why you killed them like—”
In an instant his body grew, reshaping into a wolf. From ordinary height he became a towering monster over two meters tall. His face was pure wolf, muscles rippling under matted fur. His claws on his fingers had lengthened into hooks.
“Grrrr. Let me taste a knight’s flesh!”
The transformed Gert launched himself at me, bounding with unnatural leaps. He closed the distance and slashed with those razor claws.
I leaned back, parrying his left with my left hand and blocking his right with my sword.
Clang!
The impact drove me back, yet I kept blocking as he rained blows down.
“Heh heh! So a knight’s defense isn’t bad at all!”
Without his strength growing stronger, I might have dropped my sword. These monsters required more power.
From behind, the red wolf charged toward Gert.
“Kung!”
The red wolf leaped and clamped onto Gert’s leg.
“You—!”
Gert staggered for a moment. I slashed at his forearm with my sword.
The thick hide prevented a deep cut, but red lines appeared and droplets of blood welled.
“Craaaah! You damn things!”
Gert shook off the red wolf and turned on me. I dropped into a crouch and swung my sword at his leg.
Swish!
I nicked his shin again, rolling forward and slipping behind him. Blood trickled from the cut. He stumbled. The red wolf leaped onto his back and sank its fangs into his neck.
“Gah!”
The thick neck didn’t tear, but the wolf’s canines held firm. Ion’s sword slipped through a gap as Gert thrashed, slicing deep into his leg.
Blood sprayed. Gert dropped to one knee.
“Gaaaaaah!”
Gert shook his head violently, trying to dislodge the wolf. His claws raked its hide again and again, yet the wolf endured, bleeding but refusing to let go.
I dropped to one knee, entering Gert’s lowered guard. I drove my sword into his jaw.
“Kkueh!”
The blade pierced through the jaw to the crown. Blood sprayed as I twisted the hilt. His skull cracked. I pulled the sword free and Gert collapsed forward.
Boom!
His body twitched. Stronger now than any foe I had faced. He wouldn’t fall so easily anymore.
The red wolf finally released its grip on Gert’s neck and fell off.
“Kiiing…”
Gert’s claws had left many holes in the wolf’s body. Blood poured from them.
I knelt and examined the wounds, stroking the wolf’s head.
“Hmm… It must hurt. You feel it too, don’t you?”
Our eyes met. It felt like he agreed. We had fought the same enemy twice in such a short time.
“If it hurts… I’ll send you without pain?”
Instead of letting it die slowly in agony, I offered the painless way. The wolf touched my leg with its snout and pointed elsewhere.
…?
A blue dot moved inside the pointed chamber. A pile of broken stones blocked the entrance, yet a small wolf pup was cautiously approaching.
“Nanh…”
The pup nuzzled its mother, licking her wounds. Blood still flowed. The mother looked back at me. I nodded at the wolf’s eyes. The red wolf bowed its head, then died.
* * *
I buried the red wolf mother with Gert’s head. The pup whimpered but didn’t stop me. The mother’s eyes seemed to beg me to take care of the pup. I accepted.
I lifted Gert’s head and spoke to the wolf pup.
“I’m leaving here now. Will you come with me? Or stay? Do as you wish.”
Even if the mother had begged, I wouldn’t stop. I asked if it refused, but the pup looked at me, then at its mother’s grave. It walked over to me.
The pup wasn’t tiny. Slightly larger than a normal puppy.
“From now on your name is Lotte. Red means red. What do you think?”
The pup tilted its head as if questioning the words. I checked the map. The blue dot for the pup changed to green. New colors showed closeness. I kept calling its name, confident it would understand. I carried Gert’s head and entered the slanted corridor leading out of the ruins.
Glancing back, Lotte easily scrambled over a tall boulder while whining. From the ruins, a girl named Yian approached to feed the grass. She stopped when she saw Lotte. Lotte, intrigued, walked toward her. While the two animals approached and retreated, we made a campfire.
We mixed jerky, biscuits, and water into a stew, ate it, let it cool, and fed some to Lotte. She licked it clean in seconds. Then she nuzzled Yian until she fell asleep. Even as a wolf pup, it acted like a puppy.
I thought, whether puppy or wolf, it would grow fast. Taking it along wasn’t bad. I entered the tent and fell asleep.
The next evening, Ion carried Gert’s head on Yian’s saddle and entered the Dachsen estate. At his feet, Lotte strode proudly beside him.
―Hey! What’s that?
―A wolf head? It’s huge! Is it a dire wolf?
―No, not a dire wolf.
―But look at those fangs. Terrifying.
―The young knight cut that neck clean off. Impressive.
―Young? Looks more like a kid. He looks so young!
People chatting near the lord’s residence muttered as they saw Gert’s head.