The Lion's Wrath

The Battle Begins as Hope Restores

  Standing at full height with his titanic blade in hand Wolve's-Claw peered out across the woods in the hopes of seeing her coming. "I have missed you these past five years my love. But soon we will be in each others arms again. I swear it." He said as the wind whipped his long blonde hair past his face. His ice blue eyes glimmering with the hopes of his beloved shining through them. "I'm sorry circumstances forced us apart but never again will I be separated from you Seon." His square jaw clenched as he grasped his blade with all his strength. He launched his sword up high into the air and leapt higher still into the sky. He saw his love and her companions racing forth only a few hundred yards away. He came down catching the Glacial Frostblade and landing without even a sound. He smiled as he saw the three of them were all in good health yet he wondered what became of the three others who went with Oskar and Tien.

  "Hurry my new friends Wolf awaits us and many lives need our care." Said Seon in mid stride. Tien was running side by side with her and Oskar and shouted in his deep baritone voice "Dr. Seon when and why did you come to Tiva in the first place? Why leave Wolve's-Claw and Alastair simply to live here?" Seon smiling replied "Do not think I wished to Tien. I was asked right after meeting with Alastair the morning after the ambush. Do you remember the Liberating Siege of Tiva five years ago?" Tien gruffly shouted "Yea I do. My brother died in that battle." Seon apologized and continued "That was contained and ended by Wolf and a thousand Tresbullian soldiers. They fought and saved Tiva before vanishing back to Tresbull." This news shocked Tien and he stumbled falling flat on his face. He picked himself up as the two stopped to check on him. "But...that's not possible. He and Tresbull were never mentioned about that battle? There's no way he could have helped." He said as they began running again. Seon smiled as they were clear of the woods and near the gates, "Tien I'll tell you all about it later. We're here so let's get busy shall we?" She asked as they made it to the entrance. The guys agreed and quickly rushed inside looking around for people to help as Seon went straight to the main makeshift hospital.

  After reaching the hospital she grabbed the instruments and her book and was about to begin surgery when a familiar voice shot from behind her. "Miss do you have any clue what you're doing?" She froze as her heart began to melt with that familiar warmth "Wolfie! Oh by the gods it really is you my love!" She said as she spun round and leapt into his arms giving him a deep passionate kiss. "I've missed you so very much Seon my love. I'd love to talk more but right now we have much work to do." He hugged her tight before they separated from each other and she began to perform surgery on a gravely wounded woman. After hours of surgeries and some very complex spells Seon had saved over three hundred lives but was so exhausted she fell asleep on a stool by the operating table. She began to slip off of it when suddenly she felt a very powerful man catch her and lift her gently in his arms. "Miss Seon you are far too tired to help anyone else tonight. Let's get you to bed shall we?" Seon said before thinking "You can take me anywhere you want Wolfie. "Oskar who had been standing beside Wolve's-Claw turned red as a lobster and quickly rushed to find something to do. Wolve's-Claw smiled and carried Seon to an abandoned house near the hospital and laid her in bed. He watched over her like a hen watches her brood all night long and was still seated near the bed when she woke up the following morning. "Wolfie have you been here all night?" She asked groggily seeing his smiling face in the dim light. "Yes love I have. It's been so long since we last saw one another i couldn't help it. How have you been these five years past?" He asked quite sincerely. Seon thought for a moment before sighing and said "Over the last five years I have helped thousands with the book and instruments you'd given me so long ago. Hundreds more with any aid I could with their daily lives. I have you and Alastair to thank for this opportunity but...." She paused as tears formed in her purple eyes. "Did Oskar and Tien tell you the conditions in which they found me?" Wolve's-Claw looked deep into her eyes and he grabbed her hand shaking his head no. "A few weeks ago I treated some thugs who got hurt in a brawl and one was bragging about them being in a crime syndicate that was going to take over Tiva. I brushed it off as mere chicanery to try impressing me but a week later I came to my clinic to find it trashed and both of the thugs had been butchered and their corpses left there as well as a warning writ in their blood telling me to leave and forget everything I heard or else. I panicked and went to the town guard for help but he was part of the syndicate as well. I managed to avoid them for a week. But I had been captured and tormented by them a few hours before Oskar and Tien found me a rescued me. However.... I..I..." She began sobbing a stared down at her hands "I was the one who killed their leader. I stabbed him in his head killing him instantly. They were funded by Stevkan but still my hands are stained with his blood." Wolve's-Claw held her close as waves of tears and sobs went through her. "I'm sorry you had to kill him love. I truly am. This is as I feared was happening tis why I left the front lines to visit Tiva in the first place. Presently they have at least fifty thousand forces at Riandria which is where I need to return too. War it seems is reaching all across Ishkumbala."

They parted ways as Seon spent another grueling day healing as many as she could through surgery and spell before sitting down in hopes of a peaceful night. Yet fate is a cruel mistress indeed as a huge explosion rocked the night just outside the gates of Kios. She rushed outside to the gates and saw a force of eight hundred men dressed in Stevkan's black and red armor. A man carrying a halberd stood in front of them and shouted "Blue Wolf! We seek you for we carry a message from the one true king." There was no answer causing the man to shout even louder "BLUE WOLF IF YOU DON'T SHOW YOURSELF WE HAVE ORDERS TO SLAUGHTER EVERYO..." His futile threatening words were cut short as Wolve's-Claw's Glacial Frostblade smashed into the earth right before him and an even louder voice boomed "I AM THE BLUE WOLF OF LAI KUN. TELL ME YOUR MESSAGE COWARDS BEFORE I SLAY YOU ALL WHERE YOU STAND!!!" Suddenly Wolve's-Claw was standing right beside his sword. Bewildered the soldiers all began backing away save the halberd bearer. Who quickly tried to swallow his heart before saying shakily, "My name is Leon Corinthian and I serve the one true king who declares "The Wolf alone in my territory is an act of treason if you don't return to Riandria I will eviscerate the town of Kios, city of Tiva, and all other civilizations between him and Riandria!" However Blue Wolf there is something more you should know." Said Leon as he stepped forward and quietly said "You rescued my wife years ago and for that you have my undying loyalty, he said to give you five minutes after saying my message before these worms are to attack Kios and Tiva has ten thousand men surrounding her gates. I'm supposed to go there and tell them to attack should you not retreat I'm sorry I couldn't buy you more time. However there are over three thousand men who will defect to your side if I go there and tell them you shall fight Stevkan." Wolve's-Claw smiled and whispered "Thank you Leon. Please go there now and tell them the Wolf bears his fangs." Leon backed up saying yes as Wolve's-Claw raised his blade and roared "Death to Stevkan and his damned tyranny!!" Leon ran with halberd in hand to inform his soldiers that he was off to Tiva to sound the attack.

Oskar and Tien took up positions at the main entrance as the majority of their compatriots guarded the second entrance. All hoping that no enemies made it inside the town. Wolve's-Claw was a glorious sight to behold. He launched into the soldiers spinning slashing his blade hacking down dozens of soldiers in an instant. He leapt twenty feet into the air and slashed his blade down so fast his blade sent shockwaves wiping out ten men at once. As soon as he landed he rushed forward slashing a man in half before thrusting his blade through five men. A soldier rushed him hammering hand but before realizing it had three swords pierced into his chest. He fell to the ground as a second soldier screamed. "A demon...he's a demon mages exorcise him now! The rest focus on the blasted gates. Bring this sorry town down!" The small band of mages all began casting several offensive spells and launched them at Wolve's-Claw when suddenly a huge wall of water appeared from nowhere destroying their spells and the mages as well as forty more soldiers in an instant. "How dare Stevkan attack my home and all of mine innocent friends for that he will pay with his life!!!" Yelled a man who rushed forth with a staff in hand wearing an aqua blue robe. "Long time no see my dear friend." Said Wolve's-Claw as he rushed to the man's side. "Though I truly wish it were under better circumstances." The man looked to Wolve's-Claw shouting"As do I my friend. Well shall we beat these cowardly ruffians and talk more later?" He asked with a cocky smile on his face. Wolve's-Claw laughed raucously "We shall my friend." They both charged forth and made short work of the forces they faced. The lone mage used such advanced spells it made them truly fear him even more than Stevkan himself. He obliterated a hundred with one huge cube of water he cast in mere seconds. Soon only the lone mage and Wolve's-Claw were let standing. "My thanks Wolf for protecting my home in my stead. But what's going on here?" Wolve's-Claw looked on smiling. "Zain my friend war has finally begun a war for all of Ishkumbala."