(The OOC thread for refrence:l<a class="postlink-local" href="https://creativefreedomrpg.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&amp;t=42039&amp;p=199116#p199116">viewtopic.php?f=23&amp;t=42039&amp;p=199116#p199116</a>l)<br/><br/><br/><span style="color: #800000"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 200%; line-height: 116%;">The Queen's Army</span></span></span><br/><br/>A man sat next to his fire, his face burned and torn into a million pieces, then stitched back together with spit and tar. His name was Cuth, and he was a man of men, with a heart made of fuel ready to ignite. The other men sat around the fire with him, a blackness inking behind them. It was a moonless night, and the snow was falling, though it was invisible in the void.<br/><br/>Cuth, eating a large piece of black meat, was in the middle of a story “-so I grabbed the man’s neck and took my blade-“ but he was interrupted by the howl of a wolf in the distance. Some of the men looked around, and Cuth looked at them. “What, are you scared of a little wolf? You’re men of the night! You should eat wolves for breakfast!”<br/><br/>The men laughed, but another howl echoed, closer this time. “There’s no moon,” one of the men spat out. “Why’r they howling?”<br/><br/>“Because they wanna to fuck!” yelled another.  The men laughed.<br/><br/>Another howl, even closer. Cuth wiped the grease of his meat onto his black fur coat. He got up, and then howled, “awoooo!” He smiled at his men.<br/><br/>What must have been a hundred howls suddenly erupted all around them. The whole camp grew silent and every man grabbed their swords and axes, Goosebumps shivered up Cuth’s spine.<br/><br/>“They don’t hunt human’s, do they?”<br/><br/>“Not the wild ones,” Cuth exaplained.<br/><br/>“What does that mean?”<br/><br/>The howls grew larger and multiplied. They sounded different. “They don’t sound like wolves,” said one of the men. “They sound- human.”<br/><br/>“Some are human, some are wolves, but they are all hounds” Cuth told his men. “Show yourselves!” he screamed into the night.<br/><br/>The howls turned silent. The silence remained for a few minutes.<br/><br/>“What’s going on?” “Who’s out there?” “What are they doing?” The camp was growing restless, worried.<br/><br/>“Calm down! Everyone!” Cuth told them. “Shut up!” he snarled. Cuth knew what was going on, but dared not tell his men. If they knew who was really out there, they would surrender, and men of the night don’t surrender. Out there was the only man Cuth truly feared, a man known for his cunning and intelligence, as well as his strength; General Gaius Cassian.<br/><br/>The howls erupted once again, sending shivers down the men. Wolves snarled and snared out of the firelight, but the eyes glowed everywhere. One of his men screamed, “I don’t want to die!” and he ran off into the dark, to only scream as the wolves devoured him and swords cut him to pieces.<br/><br/>“Hold your ground men!” Cuth yelled. He wasn’t sure what the general was doing, but he was clearly trying to use fear.<br/><br/>The howls stopped, and the silence was eerie. “Show your face Cassian! You coward!”<br/><br/>The howls began again. Another man ran scared into the darkness to be slaughtered. This was repeated for hours, and Cuth’s force was whittled down to almost no one but his best fighters. Then it came- arrows of fire rained down upon the survivors, wolves tore through the night and attacked the barbarians, and soldiers joined the wolves for a feast of blood and flesh. Cuth was dead by a dozen arrows and his flesh was torn from his body. It was a slaughter.<br/><br/>Amongst the chaos, the fire, and the fury of swords, the general emerged bloody and satisfied. He was strong in the way he held himself, and his red cape matched the blood on his sword. His face had seen many winter storms, but was still very handsome regardless. He looked as his men thrust their blades into the dead as a precaution. Then he turned his attention to a large boar barely touched, still roasting over a fire. Several other plates of meat still remained, and some game was left to bleed.<br/><br/>“Looks like we’re eating tonight boys!” he yelled into the night, and his men howled in celebration.