Sam was suddenly woken up by the sound of a loud howl. Startled he quickly climbed out of bed and ran over to his dresser and retrieved his dagger which was sitting on top. He pulled the blade from its sheath and as silently as he could crept over to the window. He peered out keeping most of his body hidden behind the wall, looking for movement in the bright light of the full moon above. Seeing nothing moving from his bedroom window he silently moved over to his bedroom door and walked into the hallway. He made his way through to the kitchen and looked out the kitchen window.
Just as he was about to return to his room, he saw a large shadow dart out from behind one of the other houses across the street before the sounds of shouting rang out from the house the shadow had come from. Before long the shouting had broken out all throughout the village as people called out to each other in panic. He had woken his parents up deciding they needed to know what was going on in the village. His father got up and dress before he took his axe and left the house heading for the town hall to speak with Paul to find out what was going on.
It was around an hour before his father returned, and he brought back worrying news. One of the village’s houses was broken into by the wolf only for it to be chased off by one of the hunter’s hunting dogs who was patrolling the village overnight. Apparently, Paul had gotten all the village hunters to take turns patrolling the village throughout the night as a precaution. It seems everyone’s fears had come true; the wolf had come into the village and not only that had broken into someone’s home. Apparently, Paul was going to bring all the villagers together in the village hall in the morning and explain the situation to everyone as well as come up with a way to get rid of the wolf. With this news everyone went back to bed with most unlikely getting any further sleep. Sam lay in bed unable to sleep his sheathed dagger grasped in his hand. He was unable to clear his mind enough to fall back asleep with countless scenarios playing out in his head and before long the sun had risen, and he was out of bed sitting in the kitchen waiting for the meeting in the village hall.
When it was time to head to the village hall, Sam grabbed his dagger and work knife and strapped them both to his belt before he joined his family. They all walked down to the village hall together with his father carrying the axe they used for cutting wood, a sharp glint on the blade where his father must have recently sharpened it. They ran into a few other families heading there as well, also carrying axes, swords and other tools. No one seemed to be in a speaking mood, and they all quietly made their way over to the village hall.
When they got inside, they took a seat together and waited for the meeting to start. Paul came up on stage along with James and the rest of the village hunters. “Good morning, everybody.” Paul said as he stood forward to speak to the crowd. “I’m sure by now you’re all aware of the wolf that has been roaming the outskirts of the village. Last night the wolf came into the village and attempted to break into one of the homes. Luckily it was chased off by one of the hunter’s hunting dogs, but we expect it to return as it has gotten a taste for the livestock in the village. As far as we can tell this is a lone wolf and not part of a pack. Now I am going to explain how we plan to combat the wolf and what everyone’s roles will be to keep everyone in the village safe”.
“The men between 18 and 55 will form groups around each of our hunters and will spread out around the village to hunt down the wolf. The women who are more physically capable will join the 13–17-year-old men and 55 plus men in patrolling the village itself. Everyone else will need to stay home and look after the younger children and the more senior villagers. Once we have our groups assigned there will be 12-hour rosters until the wolf is found and killed, or we are confident that it has fled the surrounding area and won’t return. Now those of you who will not be part of the hunting parties or patrols please return to your homes. If your children will need to be left with someone else, please make the appropriate arrangements outside” Paul said to the crowd of villagers. Sam was starting to get a bit nervous as he expected to be having to wait at home for the older village to deal with the wolf but it seems now he was 13 he had to join one of the patrols.
They waited for a few minutes while those who wouldn’t be on patrols or in the hunting parties left the hall. Once they had cleared out Paul spoke again. “Now everyone left who will be patrolling the village move to the left and those who will be joining the hunting parties to the right so we can get a better idea of numbers”. Sam moved over to the left. He was the youngest one still in the hall having only just turned 13. The next youngest in the village was David, the son of Adam, the general store owner, who was 14. Cedrick the other 14-year-old was out of the village having gone into town with his father the day before.
Paul proceeded to split the villages up into their individual hunting parties before they left the hall. His father was in Jame’s hunting party and was one of the ones that was going straight out. He was left alone with roughly 30 others who would be part of the village patrols. Once the hunting parties had all set off Paul began splitting the remaining people into groups of two for the village patrols. “Sam, you will be partnered with Travis as your one of only 4 in this group who knows how to ride a horse, and I want a mounted group patrolling the village at all times” Paul said to him. Sam nodded to the man and walked over to where Travis was standing.
“Looks like you will get to ride Carrot again Laddy” Travis said to him. “I hope he’s calmed down a bit now that he’s a bit older” Sam replied. “Maybe a little bit but don’t get your hopes up” Travis laughed. Sam and Travis had been assigned to the midnight to midday shift. Once the meeting had finally been adjourned, and they left the hall Sam headed home to get some rest. Sam was to meet Travis at the stables at 11:30pm to get Carrot saddled and ready for their patrol. As he walked through the front door he was met by his sister and Kanna the daughter of Fredrick one of the woodsmen and Katia the only huntress of the village. They were both part of the hunting parties so Kanna would be staying with them until this wolf problem was resolved. Not long after Sam got home, he grabbed something to eat and read for a bit before going to bed to rest up for his patrol that night.
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Sam woke up around 10:30pm an hour before he was supposed to meet up with Travis for their joint patrol. He quietly packed himself some food to take with him before eating some leftovers his mum had left out on the table for him. Once he had eaten, he got ready to go out. For the first time he put on his sword belt and slid the sword into its place on his left hip with the dagger sliding into the strap on his right hip. He slung the quiver of hunting arrows he had gotten from James over his back and slid the bow over his shoulders. He didn’t know what he was going to need so he just decided to bring everything he could with him just in case.
Once he was confident he had everything he needed, he slung his backpack over his right shoulder. Just as he was about to walk out the door his mother came out of her bedroom. “She came over to him and gave him a hug. “Take care of yourself Sam. If there is anything you can’t handle then don’t be afraid to run away” she said to him. “Don’t worry mum, I will be careful” he said as he returned her hug. His mother watched him as he walked out the front door and closed it behind him.
He had brought a lantern with him, but it appeared he wouldn’t need it. The village was lit up completely with lanterns. It seemed like the patrols must have been keeping the lights on throughout the night likely in an attempt to keep the wolf away. Just as he had that thought one of the patrols passed by him. “Evening Sam” David greeted him as they approached. “Evening David, Boris” Sam returned the greeting as he nodded to Boris. Boris was one of the older men in the village who had combat experience. During the war he was on the front lines pretty much from the beginning. He was a former adventurer and was therefore used to combat. He was injured during the war and as a result was unable to talk. “Going to be replacing us soon?” David asked him. “Yeah, I’m the mounted patrol for the next shift” Sam replied to him. “Right, I remember you had to work at the stables last summer and got some riding lessons out of it, I know how to tend the reins of a wagon but can’t ride” David explained. “I see, well good luck with the rest of your shift. I have to be off to the stables as I have to be there by 11:30” Sam said as he checked the time on his pocket watch. “I see well we won’t keep you any longer then. See you later Sam” David replied, and the two men waved as he left them and headed off towards the stables.
Sam arrived at the stables with just a couple of minutes to spare and noticed Travis preparing his own horse and went over to greet him. “Hi Travis, is the saddle ready for Carrot?” Sam greeted. “Evening Laddy, yes the saddle is with Carrot in his pen. You know how to use all that” Travis questioned and pointed down to his sword. “Not really, but I thought it was better to have than not” Sam answered. “I suppose that’s true. Well best go and get saddled up, we will be heading out once the other patrol comes back in” Travis said. Nodding Sam headed over to the pen where he knew Carrot was held in.
Sam spent the next half an hour saddling Carrot and filling his saddle bags. He also tied the quiver to the saddle as well as he thought it would be easier to ride without it on his back, and it would be in a position where it would be much easier to draw arrows than if it was on his back. He was also given a bag with a few pieces of equipment in it for the patrol. It contained two types of whistles; one was a high-pitched whistle for signaling a sighting of the wolf and another was a lower pitched whistle to signal a need for immediate help. He kept this bag on top of the saddle to ensure he could reach it without having to shift around in the saddle.
Once Sam was ready to go he climbed up onto Carrots back and motioned for Carrot to head out of the stable. The horse refused to move. “Come on Carrot, todays not the time for playing games” Sam scolded the horse. He gave him a sarcastic sounding snort before he started moving. I swear this horse knows exactly what I’m saying Sam thought as he rode out of the stable and stopped beside Travis who was atop Black Sand a dark brown horse with a near back coat. They waited there atop the horses for a few minutes before the other patrol finally returned. The returning patrol relayed some instructions to head to the village hall where coordination centre had been established to get a map of their patrol route for the night. Once the instructions were received Travis and Sam departed the stables and headed for the village hall.
When Sam and Travis arrived in the village centre there was a small tent, likely the coordination centre the other patrol mentioned, set up out the front of the hall. Sam got off his horse and headed over to Paul who appeared to be the one manning the station. “Evening Paul, Travis and I are here for the patrol maps” Sam said. “Sam, good evening. Here you go. Don’t lose these as they will be your route until this whole wolf mess is finished. Also take this as well” Paul said as he handed Sam the maps and a strange cylindrical item. “What is it?” Sam questioned while turning it over in his hands. “It’s a signal flare. If you need to blow the whistle for immediate help also fire this flare off. Point the side the arrow is pointing to in the air and channel a little bit of mana into it and it will fire a ball of red light into the air signaling your position. It’s a single use item as the magic crystal inside is a fairly cheap one as it’s all we had on hand, but it should do the job”. “Okay, thanks Paul” Sam responded. “Just take care of yourself out there okay.” Paul cautioned him. “I will thank you” Sam said as he turned back to the horses and remounted. He passed one of the maps over to Travis and tucked the flare into the bag on top of his saddle before they both set off to start the first lap of their patrol route.
