Authors: Len Gilbert
“Um, yes sir Master Sepp!”
Kasha shouted with perplexed enthusiasm. This ‘Hitler,’ who the Master and Petch-Key frequently commended, was still a mystery to Kasha. He still knew of no one in their new tribe named ‘Hitler,’ but figured he would see that warrior soon.
Kasha followed the path signs to the forging hut and new training grounds. It looked like a previously abandoned village that had been reconstructed overnight. A blacksmith had turned up in the ever-swelling ranks of fleeing wolves, and Master Sepp then ordered this village to be refaced and crowned with an armory. Boys, older males, and even some womenfolk were hard at work perfecting Master Sepp’s contraptions. Kasha approached the blacksmith in his workshop.
“Excuse me. I’m looking for a tripod and the firing range?”
“Just three paces from here. Over that way,” the burly fox pointed and then returned to his work.
Three paces behind the armory was, sure enough, a small clearing in the woods with wooden targets and marks for practice. Among other things, a tripod sat waiting for his use.
The contraption felt strange at first, but after a few shots Kasha realized that he would have no problem using it and using it well. Back in the armory, one of the foremen gave Kasha a strap of boomsticks and ordered him to carry the tripod out to Kristiyan. He left the bustling village and followed the signs north into the thick forests.
So this was where the battle would soon take place. It seemed an unforgiving place for Grimeskins. On the other hand, this was the wolves’ natural habitat, and his nose told him many things about the surroundings. After half an hour of walking, Kasha came across three young wolven girls digging a deep, narrow line through the ground. Two of them looked up and smiled.
“Um. The HQ?”
“Over there…”
One of them giggled up from inside the trench. It was too bad he might not live to see these girls again. The HQ was just a tiny hut which sat well behind a series of dugouts, trenches and well-forested hiding spots. Three paces ahead, Kristiyan was waving the men around to their stations. He recognized Kasha instantly.
“Mr. Kasha, I believe you are adept at lassoing?” The tall ‘Haupsturmfuehrer’ asked.
“Yes, Herr Kristiyan.”
“Then you shall be in my platoon. Take two boomsticks and report to the line.”
Kasha deposited the tripod and walked back to a makeshift bunker. During his frantic training Kasha hardly noticed the constant stream of newcomers, but today most of the faces here did look familiar, even though their names still escaped him. It took him just a moment to find his ‘lasso unit.’ Their commander was following not far behind, and soon all of them were called to gather in front of their trench.
Kasha looked around. Now he could see that there were dozens and dozens of wolves in ‘Kampfgruppe Kristiyan,’ well over a hundred. He hadn’t seen these many wolves together since before the Grimeskins first appeared from over the mountains. The sight of so many wolves made him stir inside, and gave him hope.
Kristiyan shouted for all of their attention.
“Kamerads, pack members. You are divided into five platoons and one reserve. Seven of you, and myself, have the honor of being dragoons, the most demanding job of all. The remainder will be pullers, shooters, loaders, archers or warriors. Check your name on the list and organize accordingly.”
He pulled up a box of metal things.
“After scrounging the forests, Master Sepp has also procured us with boom sticks and mashers. Some of you will receive one of the two. Use them wisely.”
“What will we be up against?” One of the company asked.
“Our scouts say they have brought Grimeskins from the east. They have some new kind of fire that falls from the sky. The forests and your trenches will protect you from that. We have seen other species too, including some felines.”
Another wolf asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.
“Do they have Wolftaurs?”
“Yes.”
A hush fell over the men.
“But we will stop them here. We must. The world which the Khanate will impose on the forests will not be one where we have a place.”
“How many of them are there?”
“We don’t know. Somewhere around a thousand.”
Kasha did a quick deciphering in his head. If there were three Kampfgruppes, and the other two were equal to this one, then the wolves’ total could only number some 400.
———
“Everybody down!”
Sepp could feel his heart thumping in his chest once again. No matter how many times he did this, there was still a certain feeling when the wait finally ended. His wolves crawled into a set of trenches and foxholes when the first gunpowder bombs went off and blew open several trees nearby. Sepp could feel the explosions sucking air out of his lungs. He peeled his face out of the dirt to check that his wolves were clutching the ground and not panicking. Only one in his trench was shaking and muttering to himself; Rokura. After a moment one of them peeked out of the trench.
“Not yet,” Sepp growled. “This is just the time they hit.”
The young wolf crawled back in, just as another gunpowder bomb thundered out above them and poured dirt onto all. And then there was another.
“I-uh-I-this… HELP!”
Sepp reached over and grabbed Rokura by the back of his neck.
“You shut up right now. We won’t be buried alive. They don’t have the supply. It will all be over soon.”
It was over soon. Sepp could already hear the oncoming growls of giant ‘wolftaurs,’ each one of them looked to have a Grimeskin mounted atop of them. Sepp picked up his binoculars and saw columns of green hunched over and following in the wake of the black wolftaurs.
“This is it! Everybody up!” He shouted.
Canine heads peeked out of the dugout and archers already fired a few shots to give cover to the wolves grabbing ropes and scurrying behind trees.
“Tripods up! Dragoons ready!”
A handful more wolves scurried out of their places. A few axes came in from far off but hit no one.
“Look out!” One of the wolves called out. Snouts peeked up from the craters and trenches as the tripods stood ready.
“Wait for it. Yet…”
Sepp called out, but his voice was already challenged by the growling six-legged beasts that were coming forward in a trot. Sepp got flat on his stomach and manned one of the tripods. Then the Wolftaurs came and Sepp blew his whistle. He was helpless now. It was all up to the wolves he had trained. Two lassos darted out from the trees, curled around the taur’s neck and dragged it down.
“Cover fire! Cover fire!”
Sepp blew the whistle a second time. The Greenskins stared in confusion at the new tactic as a rain of arrows shot wildly into their ranks, causing distraction.
A howl rose up from behind the tree and Sepp turned to watch one of his boys leap up onto the Wolftaur and lock his spear against the Raider’s ax handle. The dragoon struggled for a second, but then butted the Monster off his steed.
“Keep the taur down!”
Sepp watched as an ax flew at the dragoon’s head and missed narrowly. The Dragoon pulled out a knife and drove it into the wolftaur’s brain.
On the other side things weren’t as fortunate. The Raider, on that side, remained atop his wolftaur.
“Open up!” Sepp shouted, returning his attention to the action nearest him. The dragoon rolled off the wolftaur and scrambled back to the trench as tripods began tearing apart green flesh with each mechanical shot. Sepp’s ballista hit home all three times.
“Boom stick!”
A stick of dynamite was thrown out on the other side, and it blew up the second wolftaur, but already on that end the monsters were charging into the line.
“Warriors forward, archers as well!” Sepp barked out. The wolves behind him hesitated. He was sending ten of them to face twenty much larger Greenskins.
“Go, I said, raus!” Sepp pulled on a grenade and tossed it into the spearmen’s dugout. Like possessed animals they leaped out of the hole and at the monsters just before the dugout exploded. Sepp picked up his own crossbow and took out one of the charging Raiders. The Raiders easily cut and tore into the wolven warriors once the fighting was close up, but the flanking wolves descended from the trees and leaped upon the enemy in packs just yards away.
“Sir, what do I do? I can’t fire they’re too close!” Rokura shouted.
“Here! Watch…”
Sepp got down by the tripod and shooed Rokura to the side.
“Know your own inaccuracy and compensate it. Then anticipate the enemy. Like so.”
Sepp pulled the trigger and pierced the skull of another grimeskin locked in combat. Sepp’s shot saved a grey-furred wolf. He continued his lecture.
“Then breathe in, out. Pull trigger on the exhale.”
And once again Sepp’s aim hit home.
A captain on the other side howled for retreat, and the remaining warriors fell back into the trench. The flank attack on Sepp’s end also had to retreat, and now the monsters were coming again. A fresh wave of ballista arrows flew out from the trenches to claim four or five more of the Greenskins. The monsters had worked up fierce rage at those tripods, and now that they were close enough they smashed the machines with their axes, chopping some of the gunners as well.
The Greenskins jumped, and some fell, into the trenches around him. Sepp dropped the crossbow and pulled out his dagger. He heard angry snarls rise up on all sides of him as wolves jumped up from their places and onto the enemy. On both sides he heard the blocky Grimeskins getting torn apart in the thin trenches.
“We’re keeping them out,” Rokura said, sprinting over to Sepp.
Sepp pulled the binoculars back to his eyes and observed the trench fighting going on. The Grimeskins seemed uninterested in retreat, and all of them who came to the trenches met their end there. Outside his own trench he saw the wolves hunting Greenskins in packs of three in the nearby woods.
“Have we won, sir?” Rokura asked.
“No,” Sepp replied, setting down his field glass. “This was just their first attempt.”
Der Standartenfuehrer
“I assume they smoke over in the Grossdeutschland?” Peiper asked Hans and reached in his pocket to produce a pack of cigarettes.
“Of course, Herr Standartenfuehrer.”
Peiper gave Hans a cigarette and lit it for him. After the escape, and Sarah, and then having to explain himself to two officers, that cigarette did a lot of good.
“So you know some things about this land, I take it?”
“Well. Some. There are two port towns to the south of here, a long way south of here.”
“Is that how you came here?”
“Jawohl. I first arrived on another continent, but wound up here after a long journey.”
“What kind of creatures are in this world?”
“Well, I call them ‘Furries,’ sir. They’re like animals, but really they think and talk just like we do.”
Peiper blew a stream of smoke into the icy air, “Are they dangerous?”
“…Some yes, some no. Some I’ve seen are friendly to humans, some hostile.”
“Alright. Well, the men you see here were part of my Kampfgruppe some time ago. They’ve been through a lot before getting here.”
Hans wondered what Peiper really meant. After all, everyone had been through a lot.
“Where were you last, Herr Standartenfuehrer?”
“Prison. We were put on some show trial by the Americans. And you don’t want to know how Americans get ‘confessions.’”
“…I see.”
The commander quickly changed topics. “Are there any other comrades you’ve seen on your journey here, Herr Hepner?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see any, but—”
“But what?”
“There is a fighter plane somewhere on this world. I’ve been searching for it all this time. That’s how I got here.”
“Where did you first see it?”
“Far away, sir. On the other continent. Some of the furries are terrified of it. Originally I came to this continent in search of this plane. To try and put a stop to it.”
“Is it bombing or strafing?”
“I believe so. From what I’ve heard, yes. I’m not sure why. Or who it is.”
Peiper took another drag on the cigarette.
“And what about the American? You seem to know him well.”
“Not really, sir. I just met him yesterday. Tex was the only one in the camp who believed me when I told him about this world, and he didn’t leave me when he had the chance. So if it’s all the same I’d rather keep him around.”
“Interesting,” Peiper said, butting out his cigarette and leaning back, and then sighed.
“You know, I have a wife and three kids. Three kids who no longer have a father back home. For me, that’s the hardest part of this whole thing.”
Hans looked down at the ground and nodded. “I had never fallen in love until I came to this world, sir…”
Peiper nodded. “That’s why you’ve adapted so well to this place. And it’s probably why I never will.”
“Yeah, um, I mean, ‘Jawohl.’”
Peiper laughed softly at Hans’ faux pas.
“See, Herr Hepner, these men here, we are each others’ family. Especially now. You are free to continue your journey when your Sarah Flame is healed, although we’d be grateful if you stayed.”
It was a serious question Hans hadn’t considered. He always just assumed he’d stay here with his own, especially since his own resources had run dry.
“Sir, I’d like to stay if at all possible. I think Sarah would like to stay, also.”
Peiper nodded.
“That’s a relief. I’m glad you want to stay.”
“I will certainly try my best, sir.”
“One other thing. This location here. Do you know if there are more wolves around here?”
“I don’t know. There might be.”
Now was probably a good time to show Jochen the map. Hans reached in his bag and unfurled the parchment and pointed at their approximate location.
“Hmm. To the south are some mountains And you say the foxen live past the mountains?”
“Yes. The foxen I’ve seen are hostile. There are also felines on the other side and they are, uh, a bit friendlier.”
Peiper shot Hans a glance, but Hans was eager to change the subject.
“The person who gave me this said there shouldn’t be any wolves around here, but it turns out there are. She warned me to avoid this one area especially,” Hans hovered his finger over a wide swath of forest due east of them. The ‘wolven’ area accounted for nearly a quarter of the map.