Kimmik leaped as high as she could and came crashing down onto the wolf's back. In a second she was off as scoring down its side with her fangs. The wolf tried to retaliate, but it was too slow. A heavy blow from Kimmik's paw had it crumpled on the ground, barely breathing.
Finish it, the shadows whispered. Kimmik smiled, imagining the taste of the blood spilling over her tongue. Then she looked up. All the warriors and lieutenants stared at her, awe in their eyes.
No. Kimmik replied. She dug her teeth into the wolf's scruff and pulled her upright. "What is your name?" Kimmik asked.
"Liza," the wolf wheezed out.
"Liza, you have just been restored to the rank of a corporeal. Any wolf brave enough to fight me and strong enough to land a hit deserves it. Serve me well, and don't make me demote you again."
Liza bowed and backed up. Once she was at a suitable distance she turned and ran to the pile of armour. Kimmik smiled, pleased. She supervised the rest of the training session, promoting a few wolves in each squadron. Just as she was about to leave, Ryu flew down and spoke quietly in her ear. Kimmik's face hardened. "The southern wolf packs?" She asked, and growled lowly when Ryu nodded. "Where?" Ryu pointed to the southeast with one wing.
Kimmik nodded again and then threw back her head and howled. A rich, low note filled the room and everyone stopped dead.
"We are under attack." Kimmik snarled. "The southern wolf packs believe that they can steal some of our land, after our recent battle with the north. They are wrong. We will rout them, we will show them we are not to be trifled with! To your stations, and may this be a battle that history never forgets."
The wolves around her raised their heads in a savage song before turning tail and racing to their positions. Kimmik moved to the front of the formation. Shadow dancer, the voices whispered, lead them well.
A sudden craving hit her, a craving for blood and the tearing of flesh that she had never felt before. The strength of it almost knocked her off her feet. Kimmik's eyes narrowed.
I will, and when I am through they will wish they had never crossed our land.
She gestured to her officers and they hurried close. "Kill everyone," she ordered, "even if they surrender. Bathe in their blood and scatter their entrails." The officers looked taken aback by her ferocity but nodded their heads, their gleam ins eyes reflecting the ice around them.
Kimmik let out a wild battle call and then charged forward, out of the castle and into the wintry forest.
Her wolves ran on, through the trees and to where the enemy force was supposed to be waiting. Their scent covered the ground and paw prints mussed the powdery snow. "Where are they?" Kimmik asked Ryu. The raven only shook his head.
Suddenly, and erie howling rose up, close to them. The whipping wind made it hard to determine the location, and Kimmik whipped around. The call was then taken up by dozens, hundreds, thousands of voices, all around.
"We're surrounded." Kimmik snarled to herself. The song cut off as quickly as it had begun, and there was no sound, save for the howl of the wind. Somewhere in the ranks of warriors a wolf shifted and their armour clanked. Kimmik let out a hiss.
Another howl met their ears, and it broke off suddenly. In a flash, enemy wolves pounced from out of the cover of the trees and fell on their force. A huge grey wolf leaped for Kimmik, but she sidestepped and slashed her teeth across its throat. Blood welled under her fangs.
Find their leader, the shadows whispered, he is at the edge. Go to him.
Kimmik snarled an affirmative as she dispatched another wolf. Four or five sprang at her at once, but he jumped into the air and landed on them, snapping their spines. She waded through the carnage. Her wolves seemed to be acquitting themselves well, although the mass numbers of the enemy didn't allow them to move as freely as she wished.
There. The wraiths indicated a tall, bluish-white wolf at the edge of the crowd. Dozens of Kimmik's kin threw themselves at him, but each one fell at his paws. He stood a head taller than each of them, the fact accentuated by the rock he stood on. Kimmik snarled and leaped forwards, taking him off his feet. They tumbled down the gentle slope onto the ground. As soon as Kimmik's paws found leverage, she shot up. Her enemy found his footing almost as quickly as she did.
He's fast. She thought grimly.
"You are the leader?" She asked. "What brings you to set foot on our lands?"
The wolf laughed, his armour moving with his breath. "We needed hunting ground, and you seem to have plenty of it."
"You'll find our fiefdoms not so easily taken." Kimmik shot back.
"Even so," the wolf continued, "you seem to be outmatched."
"No," Kimmik growled, "it is you that are outmatched." She sprang, landing two blows on him. As usual, his attacks seemed to move sluggishly. She ducked easily and his teeth snapped in the air over her head. Kimmik shoved him off of his feet and then slashed at his underbelly. She reared up into her hind legs and fell down, driving the breath from his lungs. The wolf's eyes showed terror.
"I have never before met my match," he said, squirming under her. His eyes lot with amazement. "Who are you?"
Kimmik thought back to the words the wraiths always used, the first thing that they had ever said to her. Her eyes glowed. "I am the Shadow Dancer."
The wolf looked from her helm, to her, and then back. His eyes showed understanding, and shock pricked under Kimmik's pelt.
"My king would pay a pretty price for that helm on your head," he growled.
Kimmik placed a paw on his throat, cutting off his breath. "Too bad you're not going to live to tell him about it."
"So you don't know." The wolf asked, choking the words out with a hint of amusement.
"I know that this helm protects me, form almost everything." Kimmik replied. "Is that enough?"
The wolf let out a coughing, wheezing sound. Kimmik stared at him in puzzlement, and then it hit her; the wolf was laughing.
"What do you know of this helm?" she demanded, cutting off his breath further.
The enemy leader immediately cut of his mirth. "It was forged...for my King's son, Evander, many centuries ago. He is...human. He imbued the helm with powerful dark magics, to give him strength, and entombed dark spirits there. He called himself the Shadow Dancer."
Kimmik gasped, forgetting where she was, for a moment.
"The helm drove him mad. It increased his live of war, of pain, of suffering. He lost his shape and turned into a wolf. He would retreat to his laboratory, filling many dark experiments. He lost himself. Eventually, the helm
lost faith in him, and it allowed itself to go missing. It had vanished, until you found it."
"That's a pretty tale, but story time is over for you now." Kimmik snarled. Inside, however, she was shaken. The story couldn't be true, and yet... It fit the facts.
The wolf bowed his head. "I wish you well."
"I would like to know who my enemy is, before I kill them." Kimmik said. She raised her claws for the death blow.
The wolf didn't struggle, he just lay there. "It is my time." He admitted quietly. "I am Evander, the son of the wolf king."
Evander closed his eyes, and Kimmik's claws fell.

Well, a semi-crappy chapter. As always, to my pack. I hope you liked it.