(Beginning location: South Harkonen, with a small band of mercenaries.)
Stellos groggily came awake in the afternoon sunlight. He had been able to get some sleep in a shallow cave located not too far from the main camp, but it was now time to leave again. He unhinged himself from the ceiling and nimbly dropped on the floor- he preferred to walk when it was not necessary to fight. Although trained as an assassin, Stellos did not have a naturally reclusive personality; on the contrary, he was lighthearted and outgoing when he wasn't engaged in combat.
As he emerged from the gaping maw of the cavern, he sighted the other members of his fighting party. The leader of the party- in title, if not in skill- was a tall and imposing cat by the name of Renoe. Like many of his kind, Renoe was a proud and wealthy descendant of a pureblood line- an Abyssinian, a species with a preternatural royal air about them. However, Renoe was no spoiled heir; he was a warrior through and through. With a long, thin katana enclosed in the sheath at his side, he gave off a dominant and powerful aura, reinforced by the chainmail armor visible beneath his finely embroidered and adorned cloak.
Next to Renoe was his oldest son, Pierre. While not as dignified as his warrior father, he made up for his lack of experience with his keen eagerness and natural skill. To his mother, it seemed as though just yesterday he had been a youngling; but his appraising father was more aware of his talents and his desire to make a name for himself. He was also aware that if Pierre didn't hone his skills while he was young, his potential would slowly ebb and fade. Thus, he had taken him along on this journey.
Behind the father and son stood the rest of the warriors- mercenaries like Stellos. He was the only bat in the group, selected for his reconnaissance abilities, and the others were similarly selected for their own unique specializations. There stood two dogs, brothers, called Ren and Ben. They were large for their species, even standing equal to or taller than many wolves. Their imposing size was backed up by their skill with heavy weapons like spears and other pole-arms: even as Stellos watched, both were cleaning their halberds and preparing for the next part of the journey. They seemed nearly identical in their appearance and movements, and he idly wondered if they were twins.
A little distance away from the camp, there was a rabbit known as Lily, crouched and collecting water from a nearby stream. It was covered with a thin layer of ice, and she had had to first smash it open using a heavy-tipped sword. She was a bit of an oddity; there existed female rabbit warriors, but they were few and far between. As if this distinction wasn't enough to mark her as strange, unlike most rabbits, she relished in using heavier weapons such as the short hacking sword she had at her side. Stellos recalled seeing a battle axe outside of a tent the night before- he had assumed at the time that it belonged to one of the brothers, but now it dawned on him that the proud owner of that beastly weapon might be Lily. She glanced up and caught him staring at her, causing her to grin and wink. That was another odd thing about Lily- to say that she was flirtatious would be an understatement. The girl practically hit on every male creature she saw, regardless of their species.
Laying asleep in the middle of the camp, stretched out like a feral, was a wolf named Enzo. He had been abandoned as a youngling because his pack had determined him weak, mainly due to the fact that he refused to fight with the other pups. This wasn't out of fear or weakness, however; Enzo was just amiable by nature. After being abandoned, he barely survived a harsh snow storm on Mount Igneous. He was miraculously saved when he emerged from the cave, tired, weakened, and hungry, and found the carcass of a rat frozen from the storm. He gorged greedily and advanced down the mountain until he reached the Harkonen/Chante border, where he was discovered by a patrol of rabbit soldiers. Though they'd initially wanted to attack him, he explained his predicament, and they instead accepted him into their small bordertown. As he aged, Enzo grew strong and gained a reputation as a fierce fighter despite his normally pacifist nature. While he liked or at least tolerated most creatures, he held a deep hatred for his own race- excluding intelligent exiles like himself.
As Stellos reached the camp, the brothers finished shining their weapons, Lily returned with water, Enzo shook himself awake, and Renoe and Pierre finished packing up the supplies. Renoe spoke up: "Come on then, everyone, we're leaving. That wolf den has to be nearby. They've been sending attacks against small villages on the border, raiding towns for their food and equipment. Most of these cities have been too small to retaliate, but as you all know, the fools made the mistake of assaulting my palazzo a week ago. I will not forgive these beasts for slaughtering my two younger sons. Leave no survivors."
The group began to move north again. Stellos took to the sky, relishing the crisp, cool, fresh air of the mountains, and began to fly towards the nearest cliff. He intended to fully use what daylight remained; although his keen eyes could find dens in the dark, it would be easier to spot a wolf out during the day than it would be to look for a tiny black spot shrouded in the darkness of a mountain. Their attack would come at night; his responsibility at the moment was to find that den.
