The Quantum Wanderer

A couple of days after, during breakfast, Huginn lands on the table. She comes over to us.

“Father, it is time.”

Calling me father, instead of papa, tells me that this is something serious. This came out of the blue, so I am not sure what she is talking about. I tilt my head, she sees that I don’t really know what she is talking about.

“They crossed the border.”

“Oh. How many people in the group?”

She tilts her head.

“4 knights, one knight commander, and other 35 men on horses. There is also a dozen maids and two butlers.”

“How many carriages?”

“Three. A very luxurious one, and another two carrying the help.”

“Cool. Once we are done with the breakfast, we will go in.”

Charles and Lucille already kept mostly to themselves. They managed to be even quieter. After we finish breakfast, we prepare with the armors. I put a black robe over it, just in case. I am really enjoying using Brokkr’s armor, it is really tough getting back to that leather one. The girls also mention that I look better in this one.

Huginn opens the portal in our room, and we go through it. We are taken to a forest, there is an inclination behind us. Down from us I can see a road. From a turn, I can hear some noises of a big caravan taking their time on the road. Muninn turns to me.

“I am going to ask you all to get up really high on this tree. Otherwise you may get caught up in the chaos.”

There is a tree right by us. The trees in this forest are absolutely huge. The trunk must be around 10 feet wide.

The girls and I go up on the tree, it is not hard for us. A couple of jumps and we are already 100 feet from the ground. Cecilia flies up, smiling all the way. Huginn flies in front of me.

“Like I told you, papa, leave this to me. Enjoy the show.”

I turn to Muninn, that just landed on my shoulder. He just shrugs.

“I am almost feeling sorry for the kid. Almost.”

“Do you know what she is going to do?”

“No idea. She wanted a surprise.”

The horses are getting closer. They chose a formation where the help’s carriages would be on the outer side, one in front and another in the back of the caravan. Between them there was the luxurious carriage, with details of gold, and two flags, one of the Empire and the other was the Holy Kingdom’s.

When the caravan is right in front of us, I spot Huginn. She is flying around the trees, in her big size. She has a baby Fenrir in each paw. She is flying low, and slow in terms of the speeds she can reach. The baby fenrirs are yelping. They are the size of a big dire wolf.

I look behind her there is a pack of fenrirs. I can spot at least 15 of them. They look really pissed. Huginn pass by us and flies over the caravan. She drops the two puppies, one on the top of the luxurious carriage and another one on the back carriage of the help.

The impact shake the carriages. The small fenrirs grab on the ceiling of the carriage with their claws. The horses around all get skittish. They start to jump around, while the guards try to reign them in. A half a dozen of the riders can’t control the horses and fall down. A couple of soldiers, upon falling down, get their foot stuck in the saddle and get carried away. 

The horses are trying to run, but the guards on top of them try to get control. It doesn’t work. The guards end up dismounting the horses. Some of the horses, being held in place, just die from fear or shock. The chaos is complete.

A couple of knights, the ones with a higher level, hold the carriage so that the horses don’t get away with it. The horses are uncontrollable. The wood assemble upon which they are tied to breaks. One of the knights just cut the leather tying the horses to the carriage.

A couple of the higher level soldiers get down from the horses, and punch the animal on the head. These horses drop down, probably dead.

The soldiers look around, and focus their attention on the puppy on top of the carriage. One of the soldiers, in front of the caravan, takes a long look at the action, and escapes toward the forest opposite the one we are in right now. A second soldier follows him.

At this point, the fenrirs that were following Huginn are right bellow us. They position themselves against the border of the forest.

A knight jumps to the top of the luxury carriage. He kicks the Fenrir down to the ground. When it falls to the ground, one of the soldiers try to impale it with a spear. He misses partially, but still sticks his spear on the hind leg of the small Fenrir.

The pup cries out in pain. I look down. I can smell the murder intent from the fenrirs. They circle the caravan. Some of them cross the road in a single leap. They are really fast. One of the soldiers notices, and tries to talk to the commander. He gets slapped on the face. He falls down on his butt, and starts looking around. He is the first to understand what is going to happen.

A shout in the back alert the guards. One of the maids shouted because a Fenrir positioned itself on the road. Growling. I thought the fenrirs were pissed off before. Now they are almost possessed.

One of the butlers tried to run. The Fenrir on the road slapped him down. The butler exploded like a frog that gets stepped on.

A couple of the maids passed out. Some of the help picked up their Nergal’s insignia, and started praying. One maid had her top half bitten off mid prayer.

The other fenrirs crossed the forest border, very slowly. The guards tried to assume formation around the empress’s carriage. The first attack broke formation. The common soldiers’ weapons weren’t even able to pierce the leather.

One of the higher level knights bashed an open mouth full of teeth with his shield, but another Fenrir grabbed his top with his mouth. We could hear the bones crushing. He offered the lower part to the Fenrir that had been bashed, and they split the knight in two. Then they spit it out. The helmet fell open, and terror in the knight’s face became his mask of death.

The attack was brutal. The fenrirs demonstratred a cruelty normally not found among beasts. They played with the soldiers. People were killed slowly, the fenrirs took their time. They destroyed the help carriages as if it was made of paper. The noises were impressive. Blood and guts getting spread everywhere.

I wonder how much of this picture Huginn had foreseen.

At last, the guards are all done in. The only target now is the carriage with the empress and her son in it. The silence after all the slaughter is eerie. One of the fenrirs get its nose close to the carriage and does this deep inhale. We hear a squeak from inside the carriage. The Fenrir pokes it with his nose, another squeak.

Three fenrirs start biting and scratching the carriage. Some parts are torn apart, but the frame holds. Some of the metal exposed looks like mithril. That part holds, but the rest is coming apart. Quickly.

The doors are torn out. The ceiling is no more. Every attack they get closer to the empress that is hugging her son. They attack the carriage, and it ends up falling down the hill from the road. It keeps rolling down, until it hits a tree. The silence is complete. And then the pup yelps.

The fenrirs turn around, and pick the big puppy by the skin on the back of the neck, and start going back home. The one that had been on top of the helpers’ carriage was walking slowly with the group.

After they are gone, I look for Huginn. There had been so much chaos that I didn’t even look where she was. Right now, she was in her small size, on top of the tree the carriage crashed against. She flies down, assuming her large size. She inspects the inside of the carriage.

I do a ping of mana sense around us. No one around. The guards that started running never stopped. I don’t know if they heard any of the chaos, but it was a wise decision.

I jump and cast a fly spell. I land close to Huginn. She is looking at the two people in front of her. They are unconscious, but miraculously alive.

“Oh, hi, papa. Look at this… Amazing, right? What amount of luck do these shits have? I just don’t know if it is good or bad…”

The two start jerking and convulsing. They start screaming. The whole thing takes so long they keep screaming, but no sound comes out. The faces are contorted with terror. The fingers and members positions are weird, unnatural.

Huginn approaches, and gives them a heart attack. They die with their eyes open but not seeing anything.

“There papa. Done. We can go back.”

She opens a portal home, and we go back. I turn to her.

“What about the Fenrir pup?”

“Fine, I will heal it later. Just for you, papa.”

I am looking around, paying attention. I remember some police shows, I realize that we are leaving footprints close to the carriage.

“What about our footprints?”

“Don’t worry, papa. They were visibly not killed by a human.”

I am still not completely happy with the result. I open a portal, and I let the girls jump through it. After they are done, I cast a very simple earth spell and clear the foot prints. I check for any residual mana from the spell, and clear it out with he sanctuary spell. I make sure not to leave my footprints, and jump through the portal back home.

It is already afternoon, around two o’clock. The girls and I decide to wash ourselves early. Before we go up, I tell Rudolph to invite Edward for dinner. Something informal.

We go up to our room, and we undress and wash up. We pick something casual to wear, bearing in mind that we are going to have guests. Since we are given the time, we take our time relaxing in the bath, and wear some scented oils. It is relaxing.

We go down to the living room. Edward arrives shortly after, with his family. It is still way too early for dinner. Sophia is wearing the armor gifted by Davina, and Rebirth is on her shoulder. The rest of the family are wearing casual but fine clothes.

Sophia does a courtesy and Caius bows to us, and then they go over to the bookcase upon which Muninn and Huginn are, and do the same for them. Both of them comes back to me.

“Uncle, can we go play in the park?”

“Sure.” I turn to Huginn. “Can you please keep an eye?”

“Of course, papa.”

Sophia go away, running towards the kitchen, Caius is behind her. I can see that Addrianna is a little embarrassed because of her daughter, but not really. The scene is funny. After that, Edward and Addrianna finally have the time to get closer to us.

“Good afternoon, friend. I came as soon as I could.”

“Good afternoon.”

I cast a silence spell around us in the living room. I gesture them to sit on the couch. The girls, Muninn, Huginn and I sit across them.

“Do you want to include your wife in this?”

“She is already included. Do you see any problem?”

I shrug. “It is more of a deniability thing. If you don’t mind, I don’t mind as well… That being said, it is done.”

“Thank you. May I ask how was it?”

“They suffered a Fenrir attack. A Fenrir pack attack. The fenrirs did not manage to break into the main carriage, but the carriage they were in rolled down the hill and they had heart attacks.”

“Any survivors?”

“A couple? Perhaps 3 of them, that are going to testify on the Fenrir attack.”

“Thank you, friend. I am truly sorry for imposing this on you.”

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it. How is everything else?”

“Tense, but stable. We are waiting for some news on Romuela, but right now they are doing some military exercises and preparing their army. The adventurers already know to carry the banner of the Great Adventurer.”

“Thanks for the update.”

Addrianna clears her throat. She uses her softest smile and voice.

“Excuse me, but… Did the little shit get real justice? A heart attack seems a little… Plain if you get my meaning…”

Huginn is the one to answer.

“Oh, don’t worry. Plenty of justice. The little shit owed me one. You will eventually see their faces. Just remember, that is not rigidity after death, they died like that.”

And she opens a smile. The creepy smile because they both have beaks, that should not allow for that, and yet…

Addrianna seems satisfied, though. I myself get a chill in my spine. As we chat, the sun starts to set. Addrianna mentions that she is going to call to the children, but Huginn tells her that there is no need. Sophia comes running from the kitchen soon after. The dinner starts to get served.

“Rebirth told me that dinner was being served! We are really hungry!”

Addrianna sighs. Edward blinks an eye to me.

“Who is ‘we’, Sophia?”

She looks at Edward as if it is something completely obvious.

“I already told you, father, Rebirth and I! I don’t know why you keep asking that!”

“Wait a minute… “ Addrianna looks at her kid. “What do you mean Rebirth told you?”

“He talked ‘dinner served’.”

Edward and Addrianna look at Huginn that now has a smug look to her.

After a short giggle, we all go to the dinning table and have a good meal. We talk about some light subjects, like the weather. Edward tells us, laughing, that I apparently broke another professor. He jokes that he is going to forbid my encounter with other professors, or his job will get a lot harder.

He also mentions that they are switching the teacher of Cecilia’s class in magic school. He mentions that a teacher harassing a student is unthinkable.

After dinner, we have a little liquor in the living room, and when the kids get sleepy, they go home.

The next few days progress normally. I keep using the time to study their official history. The books are funny on their exaggeration. And I am talking about exaggeration in a magical universe. I know exactly how brutal and unfair humans can be. I remember the tales of what happens when we are not bound by laws. Yet these reports make humans look like saints. Other than the history books, I have been checking out other possibilities. In particular, playing also with anti-matter is particularly fun.

The dragonesses got more attached to Huginn after the whole incident. Ruby in particular is really close to her.

***

Leopold’s POV

My upper echelon Comm Gem is vibrating, I pick it up and accept the connection. I move out of my bedroom.

“Good evening, sir!”

“Good evening, Henry. What is going on?”

“Sir, we have a situation. A bad one.”

“Sure. What is wrong?”

“A caravan with some adventurers have reached the village today. The adventurers are doing an escort quest. They brought some bodies, and reported that another traveling group got attacked by fenrirs.”

“Well, this is bad, but I can’t say it is completely uncommon. What is the problem?”

“Sir, they brought some of the bodies. Some fine dressed guards, and a mother and an adolescent. They bear the sigil of the Empire. And I mean the emperor’s sigil.”

  “What?”

“Yes, sir! It looks like we may be talking about the empress and the prince…”

“Did you send someone to investigate the scene already?”

“I did. The investigation group is not back yet. But I have had some information from the group that brought some of the information. They did check the area around. They already had no doubts it was a Fenrir pack attack. Not a single one, a pack. They said the site was one out of a nightmare. Some guards ripped in half, left to rot. The carriages were destroyed, except the one the two recovered bodies were in. So they decided to get a piece of the carriage’s door, with the sigil, and the two bodies.”

“Do you have the bodies there? Did you encase them in ice?”

“Yes, sir. I am following protocol for noble deaths. But…”

“But what?”

“Sir, their faces. I have seen people die in fear, but not like that. The fear was what killed them.”

“What do you mean?”

“They had some bug on them, normal stuff. But they had no external cause of death. And the face they were, or are, making… There is the fear that you are going to die, but this was some worse than death torture face. It is kind of unsettling.”

“Well, I am sure that having a pack of fenrirs trying to get you is scary enough.”

I hear him sighing from the other side.

“I will get in touch once the investigation team is back with information. They have trackers with them.”

“Great. Thank you. Let me know when they are back.”

I disconnect. I remember the whole thing in Marcelo’s wedding. Of course they were only waiting for a chance to get rid of the little shit. Huginn’s nickname was perfect. Given the people involved, I am amazed the kid lived this long. Marcelo probably did not want to involve himself, because the most offended part was family.

I grab Edward’s Comm Gem.

“Good evening, Leopold.”

“Good evening, your highness.”

“Please, Leopold, no titles here. We are all upper echelon. At most we can tolerate something like lord or sir, but just as a measure of respect. That being said, how can I help you?”

“Well, the bodies were found.”

“Oh, ok. I am not going to insult your intelligence. How was the… accident?”

“The caravan was decimated by a pack of fenrirs, apparently. Is investigating it safe?”

“Yes. That is what our friend told me.”

“Great. The guild branch admin already created a quest and had an investigation party sent.”

“That is great. It is good to know that your people is so effective. Do you have any idea… How? Do you know of any cases of Fenrir taming?”

“No. I thought the limit for something like that was dire wolves. There were some reports of plated rhinos, but they were raised from pups.”

“Why didn’t anyone ever raise a Fenrir?”

“Some tried. I thought you would know about this. The problems start when they start to eat to gain weight. The species needs to hunt and eat meat with higher doses of mana. Those are very expensive. Not everyone’s pockets can manage this. Not every noble’s pockets can manage this.

“Then, if the tamer is capable of this, the beast gets big. And then they start to challenge the owner. The tamers use their powers to keep the animal in check. Until they can’t. Then a village gets destroyed.”

 “I wonder why I didn’t get notified of this.”

“Because it happened around 400 years ago? That’s the reason we have the rule. Did you ever read the annals?”

…

“It’s ok. I was always more on the curious side. I will call you back once the investigation ends.”

We cut off the connection. It’s not like I can ask Marcelo what happened, but him throwing Fenrirs at a caravan, as if they were rabbits might not be too far from the truth. His girls could do it. Huginn and Muninn could do that as well.

I remember that Huginn had taken the insult as kind of personal. The kid had no idea what he had started.

I pour myself some hard liquor, and decide to sit on the couch, looking out the window. A small cloud passes in front of the bigger moon. I remember all the stirring that Marcelo has produced so far. The bet for the bag of holding. I had done that before, of course. I should have known what was going on when he managed to win the bet.

I put the glass down, I get back to bed. I won’t have further news before tomorrow.

The following day, I get another Comm Gem communication from Henry.

“Good morning, sir!”

“Good morning, Henry. What do you have to report?”

“The party that produced the report has a high level tracker in it, so it is trustworthy. They said that a pack of no less then 8 fenrirs attacked the caravan. They mentioned that there was some issue with some pups. They found some prints, so at least one, at most four pups involved. The caravan was completely destroyed.

“The carriage carrying her highness and his highness had a mithril reinforced frame, and that’s why it held. It was thrown from the road, though, and rolled down a hill, where it collided with a tree.

“They mentioned that the fenrirs were not hunting, and the place where it happened is reasonably far from the place they normally stay, but the prints are unmistakable.

“I am having what’s left of the carriages brought in.”

“Good. Great job. Send what is left of the attack, including the bodies, back to Ironhold. They can further investigate it there. Besides, I would assume that they would want to have a burial for her highness and her son. Make sure the ice casket holds.”

“Of course, sir.”

“The travel expenses will be paid by the guild in Ironhold, upon delivery. And don’t forget to send them with the peace banner. Thank you.”

“Of course, sir. It will be done.”

I turn off the communication. Let’s have the emperor deal with that however he wants. I am now more worried with Romuela.