The healing process for Romulus took hours.


    The Healers tried healing magic and Purification at first, but his body seemed resistant to healing. They slowed down after half an hour of that seemed to have produced little change in his condition. An examination showed that some of his flesh was simply dead, and his heartbeat remained ragged and weak, his body unable to properly recover with what was effectively rotting meat attached to it. Then they had to cut away the dead flesh before they resumed.


    Fortunately, one of the Healers was a former surgeon, preventing the frightening necessity of some inexperienced person having to play doctor with the wounded wolf. He patiently pruned away the putrefying meat for another half hour. There were more wounds than had been obvious visually, and any rotten flesh that remained on the body would only slow the wolf’s recovery.


    Luna assisted in this part of the process. She had been watching everything, and her nose allowed her to more easily identify parts of the body where the odor was off relative to what her mate ought to smell like.


    Finally, there was another hour of thoroughly blasting the wolf with healing Mana until they had destroyed every trace of corruption and repaired his body. One of the Healers compared it to something called “chemotherapy” that Luna gathered had been a form of medical treatment before the System.


    Once that was finished, all that was left for Romulus was to sleep and recover. He had not awakened throughout the process, but Luna felt good about his odds of survival. Not merely because the Healers said encouraging things, but because she listened to his heartbeat, and it sounded stronger and steadier than it had when she brought him back.


    The Master Forest Wolf walked back to the Captain and the other leaders of the gathered Royal Fisher Army. They were gathered around a small fire. The sun was getting lower in the sky now. It would be sunset soon.


    “Thank you for waiting for me,” Luna said through her leftmost head, her eyes lowered.


    She was surprised to find Dave’s hand landing on the top of that head, gently caressing her much as James would have. Luna thought she should probably tell him to stop that, as it was beneath her dignity as a member of the King’s council to accept such gestures of affection from any lesser personage than the King himself, but it felt very nice, so she quieted that voice for now.


    “Of course we waited for you,” the Captain replied, his voice soothing, hand slowly moving over her fur in time with his voice. “Now let’s talk about some revenge. About taking this land.”


    Luna forced herself to nod, breaking the contact between fur and hand—and the accompanying spell.


    “What is the plan?” she asked.


    “Based on what you told me earlier, we can bring a significant wedge of people into the territory and keep them there for the duration of the battle…” He explained his idea for the operation in detail.


    Then the Captain looked to Luna, his expression expectant. Weirdly, Dave almost seemed as if he wanted her feedback.


    “Well, what do you think?” he finally asked.


    “It is not my part to question,” Luna replied humbly. “I have been placed under your authority, Captain. It is my role to do as ordered or die in the attempt, knowing that the Kingdom and the pack live on.” Seeing that he bit his lip as if dissatisfied, she went on, “If you truly want another opinion, after receiving those of our fellow officers—” She used the snout of her rightmost head to gesture at the others gathered around—“I think it is a good plan, and I hope it will work. I am certainly prepared to do my share.”


    Dave nodded. “Go on.”


    “Well, even the best plans can fail against a Ruler, especially when you lack one on your side.”


    “We humans have a saying that no plan survives first contact with the enemy,” he said. “You actually reminded me of a poem. ‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’ Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew someone had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die. Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred.” His expression turned wistful.


    You must have a more positive outlook than that, Captain, Luna thought. No one but her seemed to be bothered by the impromptu poetry. Duncan had actually taken a small notepad from his side and begun to make notes, as if he was thinking about composing a poem of his own.


    “Well, the King has entrusted this to us, so we must believe it is possible,” Luna replied in a fervent tone. “We are valuable assets. He would not throw us away lightly.”


    Dave smiled slightly and nodded again. “I agree.” He turned to the Goblin Overlord, who lowered his pad. “How quickly can your people perform their part of the pre-operation?”


    Duncan thumped his chest. “I have plenty of Goblins here, and they are already working on their part. With our ingenuity, it can be done overnight.”


    “Tomorrow, then. First light. So we will have the whole day for the battle, assuming that is needed. Better than fighting in the dark. I understand that rattlesnakes have vision well adapted to the darkness.”


    “Thank you for your part, Duncan,” Luna said. “The wolf pack appreciates it.”


    The Goblin shrugged, suddenly looking slightly uncomfortable. “It is you and your kin who are doing the more difficult work. The dangerous work. We are glad to support however we can.”


    “The pack will be more than happy to take the fight to the hydra,” Luna growled. “We do not appreciate being ambushed.”


    “Duly noted,” Samuel said dryly. The alligator’s mouth arranged itself into a toothy grin. “In the event that the residents of the swamp need to challenge the wolf pack to a fight in the future, we will ensure that we do so openly, eye to eye, in broad daylight.”


    Luna relaxed her ears slightly, amused despite her generally serious mood.


    “And we promise to slaughter you and your reptiles honorably until you surrender,” she replied.


    “How civilized,” Dave said, apparently much less perturbed than he had been in earlier meetings in which the monsters said such, frankly monstrous things. “If there is nothing else, you can disperse to work on your respective tasks. We will reconvene at first light, at which point we will pursue and destroy the enemy.”


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    Luna rapidly communicated the plan to the rest of the pack, who were excited about their pivotal role in the coming attack.


    Then she returned to her mate’s side. Romulus remained unconscious following the procedure, and he did not awaken for the remainder of the evening. Luna remained with him, keeping him warm with her body.


    For the rest of the Royal Fisher Army camp, the night was spent in preparation for the battle that would begin the next day—that would decide the fate of this land of rattlesnakes.


    The sound of hammering, in particular, echoed through the night air.


    Somehow, despite her worry for her mate and the constant din of hammers falling, Luna managed to get to sleep sometime after dark had fallen. She was awakened by the feel of a furry snout nosing at her side. Luna lifted one head and turned slightly to meet the young wolf’s eyes.


    Please forgive the presumption, my lady, sent the female wolf telepathically, lowering her gaze. The time is almost at hand, and the Goblins would like to outfit you. We thought that you would wish to be roused.


    Luna looked down at the wolf’s body and saw that she was partly encased in gleaming metal armor. It fit around the wolf’s chest, and there were smaller necklaces of metal around her neck and guards around her leg, along with blades that attached just above her claws, elevated slightly so that they would not touch the ground while running but would still strike the enemy when the claws were swung. The wolf’s head was unprotected, along with a bit of the rear and tail, but Luna was impressed with the overall effect.


    The Goblins did it after all, she thought. In one single night. I should remember not to doubt Duncan when he says his people will accomplish some task…


    Luna had not truly doubted the Goblin Overlord, but she had little context to know whether his promises on a matter such as this could be relied upon. He had been asked to prepare armor and equipment for the army overnight. Mainly for the wolves. After the experience Romulus had suffered, and considering how heavily involved the wolves were likely to be in the fighting, it only made sense to attempt to provide them with armor.


    Forgive me, but what was your name, child? Luna replied as gently as she could. Thank you for waking me up.


    Luna normally recognized all of her pack members by scent, as her sense of smell was better than her vision, but right now, the gleaming metal armor was throwing off both senses. And one wolf snout was much like another.


    Flavia, my lady, the other wolf replied. Since James named Luna and Romulus, the other wolves had taken to calling themselves names of a similar heritage. It was my privilege.


    Were the Goblins unable to perform the other bit of engineering? Luna asked.


    No, they prepared them, Flavia sent. But they said that we should not wear the gas masks until we are actually getting ready to enter enemy territory. They will become uncomfortable after some time, and they also contain a filter that only lasts for a limited period.


    Luna nodded. That was impressive—and genuinely surprising. When Dave had spoken with Duncan and the others about his plans before Luna returned, he had mentioned the gas mask concept, and it had apparently been something Duncan was familiar with and confident that his people could manufacture. They carried a lot of materials with them, in Small Bags of Deceptive Dimensions that perhaps ten percent of Goblins owned—Looted from humans killed in Orientation—but he had not been certain that they had enough to make the appropriate number of masks.


    Are there masks for everyone? Luna asked.


    Only the wolves, Flavia replied.


    That is fine, since it will only be us out of the Healers’ reach in the critical early stages of the battle, Luna sent back. Thank you for the report, Flavia. It was hard to recognize you in that gleaming armor, but I will fix this image of you in my mind. Strong and brave, ready to serve our King and take revenge for the underhanded attack on our pack during our scouting mission.


    The other wolves gave a sharp, fierce nod but still kept her eyes pointed down, avoiding any implication of disrespect or a challenge—which direct eye contact could sometimes mean, within wolf society.


    Luna rose from her position next to Romulus, nuzzled him one final time—he was pleasantly warm and smelled the same as ever, and his heartbeat seemed to be back to normal to her—and then walked over to the Goblins. They were almost done with outfitting her fellow wolves, but the craftsman responsible rushed over to Luna energetically and bumped her to the front of the queue. They seemed to be very excited to work on the largest of the wolves entering the battle.


    The armor they had crafted for her fit so well that Luna had to wonder if they had approached her sleeping body to measure her. Probably they had. She didn’t bother to ask. Her mind was elsewhere, either on Romulus and his recovery or on the Eastern Diamondback Hydra who she was going to rip to pieces and eat.


    At last, Luna was fully outfitted, and the first rays of sunlight began to show. The leaders of the various army groups gathered at the heads of their respective squads, aside from those who were staying behind—the Mages, the Goblins, a squad of riflemen, and a few close combat types to guard them and the injured.


    As Luna and the wolves took their places, the Goblin craftsmen rushed away from the Goblin group to quickly and efficiently apply gas masks to each of the wolves’ heads. They were little nose covers, rather than true masks that fit over the full snout.


    But Luna refused the mask for her central head, only taking them for the left and right heads. The masks seemed to block out all sense of smell, and she would need some degree of that for her coming task. If necessary, she could stop breathing through one or two heads and just rely on one that still wore a mask.


    Finally, almost as an afterthought, Luna chose her final elemental affinity.


    She had acquired two as she Evolved into a Command Forest Wolf and grew her second head.


    When she completed her latest Evolution and became a Master Forest Wolf, she had been given a choice between several elemental affinities, but she had held off. Perhaps her father had decided that too hastily, and that had been the factor that caused his death in the fight with James.


    Luna did not resent the King for killing her father, but of course she had no wish to share in the same fate. This choice would be with her for a long time.


    She opened her System interface and made her selection, then felt a slight surge of power and knew that her third head finally had its elemental attack.


    At last, all was ready.


    She looked to the Captain, and Dave met her gaze and gave Luna a simple nod. His way of saying, Go ahead, we’ll follow your lead.


    The wolf threw all three of her heads back and let loose a forceful howl that shook the trees around her. Then the pack joined in, building their feeling of collective energy.


    Without hesitation, they charged across the border and into the pine scrubs.


    Luna had gotten a literal and figurative taste of the Ruler’s energy by fighting—and repeatedly biting—the Manifestation that the hydra had created. The Manifestation was a more concentrated version of the hydra’s aura—the same aura that pervaded the air all throughout the monster’s territory—and mingled with it, she had bitten off a bit of shadowy flesh. The meat had dissipated almost instantly and drifted out of her mouth like smoke, but in those moments when Luna was biting into the Manifestation’s flesh, she had observed a subtle taste and smell.


    The taste and smell of the actual hydra.


    The wolf found the odor strong and pungent, actually—just subtle compared with what she imagined the hydra’s in person taste and smell would be like. A bit like a skunk. Fitting for a cowardly Ruler who had repeatedly failed to meet opponents in open battle, instead sending foot soldiers and a Manifestation to attack them.


    But regardless of how she felt about the taste, Luna now had the odor of their adversary, and she followed the scent into the scrubby pine land.