HOWL OF THE DAWN (ON HOLD)

Chapter Three - Do it for Love

        “Wear your armor now, Katrina.” said Uncle Gene, readying me for the biggest battle that the Bertrand will have against the monsters that our clan have been trying to finish for almost a century now.

        I wore my armor and readied myself for my first and biggest battle as a Bertrand warrior.

        My family was trained to kill all the wolves in the Herrmann Fortress, a Fortress where the monsters who kill Tennessee’s townspeople without mercy live.

        Each member of my family was trained to be the best wolf slaughterers in town. We must kill all those monsters without mercy like how those monsters kill our townspeople without mercy too.

        “Katrina! Let’s go!” shouted Uncle Gene.

        I immediately followed him together with the almost a hundred of Bertrands who are going to invade the Herrmann Fortress to those wolves’ surprise. Herrmann Fortress is the hideout of the Herrmanns— the monsters, wolves who are responsible for the series of mysterious killings in Tennessee.

        This invasion has been planned by my clan for almost four years. We prepared so much for this. We made new weapons, strong armors, and trained almost every day for this battle. For this plan to be perfectly executed, this has been a secret of my clan for a long time so that no leakage will ever arrive at the ears of the Herrmanns. Even the townspeople, whom we know that are with us, have no idea that we have a plan to invade the Herrmann Fortress on this day.

        Even Jefferson.

        I honestly feel a little bit guilty for not telling Jefferson about this. I never hid any secret from him except this; maybe because my loyalty for my family is so much bigger than my loyalty for him. Well, it’s not that I don’t trust him. I just obeyed the rules that my parents gave me not to tell anyone about this.

        Almost an hour passed, and we are now arriving at the Herrmann Fortress. When we neared to its gate, of course we expected that some of their soldiers will obstruct our warriors. And hundreds of firing arrows are like freely falling from the sky, or should I say, from the top of the fortress where the wolf archers are attacking us.

        Only few of our warriors are unfortunate for not being able to enter the Fortress. But, most of us survived the first attack of the wolf soldiers. We entered the fortress and attacked all the soldiers that blocked our way to the center of the fortress.

        The monster’s movements and attacks are very predictable, of course, because we have planned this long enough to memorize all their possible offenses and defenses.

        The battle continued and as soon as we are nearing the Fortress’ center where their king is dwelling, the bigger and bigger the wolves that we are encountering.

        “Kat, stay here and help our other soldiers finish these monsters. You can’t get in the center.” said my dad the moment that we arrived at the gate of the Fortress’ center. Definitely, I know why I can’t get in. The best wolf soldiers are staying inside guarding their king. So I stayed with the other soldiers here outside the center.

        Now I realized how important our training was. I am confident and I believe that I had memorized all of these wolves’ actions and attacks. And now, I can easily slam their jaws and fangs on the ground even when they are attacking me from behind; like now.

        One of the wolves just tried to scratch my back but I immediately caught one of its front legs and tried to slam it on the ground. But this wolf is good. While I was holding its leg, it curved itself and kicked me hard that I almost broke my hip. I was down on the floor when I can’t help but to smile a little; feeling challenged that I found an enemy that can give me a good fight.