War of Djinn and Men Part 1.

With Timous walking outside the cave 2 of the 6 wolves go with him, it looks more playful than mean or offensive. “Have you seen how dogs and humans interact?” I look back at the black Lycan, He nods his round head. “When those humans come around, I'll need you to act like a dog…” His eyes go wide and I can tell what he's thinking. Its definitely"I will fucking eat you.” I try to explain myself. “If the humans see you as not a threat, and we can let them come close enough to you to see you arent a man eater. Then they might let us get you further away from them. No fight, no injury and no risk of more humans coming to find your family.”

He looks at me and the nursing mother, then to the entrance…”GRRRrrrrrr” He walks off towards the nursing mother, leaving me to wonder to myself. “Am I on my own? Are we fucked here?” I look back at the entrance and see Timous just past the bushes with the wolves. He's nervous, but still watching out. I walk back towards the nursing mom, and another wolf stops me. The other lycan moves up to the nursing mother, and the big lycan. I kneel to the wolf to let him smell me and it starts rubbing up against me, showing me affection. They Lycans growl, whimper and react to each other like they are in a conversation… “Whoa there! Stay back! BAAck! They are inside!” I look out the cave to see Timous running off towards the way we came to the cave.

I look back at the Lycans,"Help me here, and we will find you a safe place, and get you out of here so humans don't come back here…” The big lycan hesitates momentarily, then approaches me and nods. We make our way to the entrance where I can hear Timous telling them “You are all in danger! Leave now!” I look to the Lycan who sits still just behind me."We will go slow, and calm. We make them think I'm part of your pack now, and you listen to me.” He nods again, and we go as the humans talk back to Timous. “We have orders to hunt and kill the beasts now! I will not return to my governor without completing that task! And if you think… Oh my gods.” I walk out backwards with no cloak on for the first time in front of humans. And the Lycan follows, calmly tail straight up, and on all fours. “Come on, Come on. That's it. You're doing good!” I try to reassure him he's doing the right thing.

Now that we are in the light I can see the lycan is all black fur, slim but muscular. When we come to a stop he stands on his hind legs and he looks to be well over 6 feet. Maybe as tall as me. He's also got keloid scars and normal scars all over his body, standing out from the fur missing. Several of them are pretty huge, and stand out. They tell me he's had a tough life, but some of them look like they have been stitched."There it is!” One man whispers excitedly, snapping the lycans head their direction with a snarl added. I step between them, “Whoa! Good boy. It's ok, it's ok.” The lycan locks his eyes on me and relaxes. “Hey, whoever is in charge, drop your weapons and come here.” I call out.

I look back and see one man trying to do so, But he's fascinated by the lycan and struggling with himslef. I continue trying to talk to the troops and watch the lycan."We had a quick battle inside and then we all just started getting along. None of them smell like they've been eating humans, I think they are just trying to survive. Timous and I will try to take them with us, further away from your homes.” The one human is finally approaching, and as he does he gets startled by the other lycan. The smaller lycan gets panicked looking back at the black lycan, me and the human. The all black one blows air through his nose and groans, tipping his head like he's telling the lycan “This way.” It watches the man between steps and makes its way behind the pack leader."Stay there buddy.” I look at the all black one still reassuring him, kneeling to the other lycan. On my knee I can see she's a girl, Very clean and beautiful white and brown shades in her fur. She's definitely younger, but I'm not sure what her place is in the pack. I hold my hand out to her and she looks back to the human and then to my hand. She walks forward and rubs into my hand, and makes her way behind me. Shielding herself from the humans.

The man approaches close to me and stares back and forth at them. "They... They are not savage beasts but. They are… How did you..?” He's completely lost. Just like how they think witches and non humans are inherently evil… He must have thought lycans needed to kill or be killed. I turn to him, “I need at least a two wheel cart back here that we can borrow or buy. I can get them out of here for good. Go back and get me that cart, maybe a few large blankets too.” It takes a minute or two for him to back off."Sir, it will be easier if we come with a cart in this direction. I know where we are but tracking that creature took the better part of the day.” He says to me. “That will be fine. Thank you men, make sure you tell the governor we have this under control. Tell him what you saw and get back here fast. The fewer humans we need to interact with the easier it will be to move them.”

All the humans walk to the woods, disappearing in the woodline. The black Lycan drops to all fours, shakes his head and moves back to the cave entrance, The younger girl white lycan continues brushing up against my right calf and says much softer “Thank you.” I drop to my left knee to which she seems shocked and acts timid again. “It's ok! Stay calm. We're all friends now. What's your name? She looks right at me, sits on her butt, takes a deep breath and says "Sassaba.” In this instance I can see she uses her throat to speak, explaining why they all sound guttural. Almost like death metal. Her mouth opens enough to let the sounds out. It all takes effort, so I imagine to myself we aren't going to have intricate conversations. Timous walks over closing the gap between us. 2 wolves follow.

“Have you and your kind always been able to talk?” He asks finishing his short walk. She looks at him and nods. Timous is beyond fascinated at this point. “How long have you and your pack been here Sassaba?” He asks her. "Over 3 moons.” She answers and I look to timous. He seems taken back for a second. "Sassaba dear, do you mean 3 moons as in sun, moon sun? Or the shadows on the moon?” She licks her nose and says “Shadows.” Timous looks back at me. “Takes almost 30 days to get from the new moon to the waning crescent, they must follow the moon to tell times and days.” She nods again, the other wolves are investigating me and my back now. I sit still letting them get comfortable with me, but I add to the conversation. “That makes sense. 3 lycans and a handful of wolves. They would eat pretty well to the point they go after livestock.” She nods again and adds. “Pack moves. Every 3 moons.”

“And the mothers leg being broken means you had to stay?” Timous pieces the puzzle together. Sassaba breaths deep again. “Conri. Not leave. Louve. Conri. My brother. Louve His mate.” I look back at the cave to see if he's there, He must be inside with Louve."Do you name the wolves that travel with you?” She shakes her head, and takes a breath. “Wolves. Follow. Just follow.” By now one wolf is licking the back of my head and another is cleaning her ear."We should take them to your house. Keep them out of sight.” Timous looks at me shocked. “Son, They are lycans. How do we house lycans?” I look at her, and back at the cave. ''Leprechauns can change and alter their homes without issue. So we add a cave, let them stay there till she is better. If they want to help, then we have some amazing help. If not, Maybe we have friends to watch out for us as needed.” He stops his shocked look and just looks at me. “I suppose, but they will need to hunt.” I look him dead in the eyes “Buddy, you have drawers of never ending supplies. A cool meat locker that replenishes itself…” He gets wide eyed and looks off in the distance. "Maybe fate really is trying to orchestrate an end to those Djinn who are out of control…”

We spend a few hours keeping an eye out for more humans. Trying to show them we are looking to protect them. Intermediately we talk to Sassaba but not the others. The cave is their home and they deserve privacy. Timous explains how he is a healer for people in general, but not the best with animals. He tells her how Aoifes father made her start to lean in the stables because it made her useful to the king and his court. It takes time for her to understand. But when she seems to get it, they continue into more conversation. Timous takes note in a little note pad.

It's been the better half of 3 hours. I walk to Timous and interrupt the conversation. "So they should be showing up soon. They either do what we asked, or come in force. Or do what we asked and try laying traps.” I say to the two of them while petting a white and gray wolf. Sassaba puts her head down and Timous adds on. “It's been 3 hours? Sassaba here has been excellent company. But you are right. Any ideas on what to do next son?” I look around, We are in a long valley. There is minimal cover or concealment from above, even from either end of the valley. "I don't wanna fight and discredit ourselves from humans. We need their money to make deals and barters. But we can't take the chance they want to kill these Lycans. They are smarter than we thought. And really pretty nice…” Timous takes his hat off and sighs. "You're wiser than I assume, son. And everything you're saying is accurate… But if they come in force, we only stand a chance if you take the lead and the rest of us hunker down.” I look up to the partly sky with big white fluffy cumulus clouds. "Be ready to sit in that cave, old man.”

Just as we both smirk to each other 8 men approach from the opposite direction with a larger hand cart. It takes 2 of them pushing and 2 pulling to get it through the woods, and four other men who seem to be walking with them. I assume they all traded places to give each other a chance to recuperate. “So far we might not have a fight Timous.” I say to him as I walk towards them, Sassaba and Timous are only a few steps behind me. As I move towards them and past the cave I see Conri looking at them while on guard, he breaks his gaze on them to see me. I hold my hand out low and whisper "No, stay there. We should be fine.” He looks back to them and slowly backs up into his cave.

“The governor is very curious as to why you did not kill the beasts, He’d love to send the king a Lycan skin.” The leader of the group says who had stepped forward earlier, My eyes go wide and look back to check on Sassaba who is now looking timid and stops in her tracks. Timous takes a few steps to stand next to her, putting his hand on her he just says "Any man who would want to try might not survive the night.” As he speaks I try looking around the area again for any chance of an attack…"We mean no offense here!” The leader says. "Die by my Governors hand or cast myself from that city forever to help you. I will help you, you killed the ghouls who broke my hip and took a bite from my arm.” One of the cart pushers says. None of them are overly armed just a sword on each of them. "Fine,no more talk about dead lycanthropes. Thank you for getting the cart, What do we owe you?” I ask. “The governor is wary to pay you full bounty on no dead lycans. He offered 500 gold for their removal. But he warned against them coming back…”

“If they do return they will be assisting me in hunting beasts.” I sent it back to him without hesitation. He looks back at Sassaba and nods. “What do we owe for the cart?” I repeat. "The owner does not want it back, "He said 50 gold for the cart and blankets are 4 in total. He didn't want them to be soiled by them…” He says shyly. I look him in the eye and ask, "Can I see the gold sir.” And he turns to grab 2 sacks of gold, he hands them over to me,both are equal weight. “250 in each bag?” I ask and he nods. I hand one back. “Give the cart owner 100 gold. Give the farmer who lost a bull 100. And here's more for all of you to split for your help.” I get another 30 gold from my sack of gold and extend it in my hands. “Take the remainder and split it between you all. “Thats 4 weeks wages as the governors guard sir.” The man who had a chunk taken out of him says. "So go home, eat well and thank you for not trying to betray us.”

The men all look shocked and nod their heads to me like they are all grateful but don't really want to say it. They walk off and I take the cart towards the cave. While passing Sassaba, “Hey, Could you run out and scout the hill really quick? Make sure there isn't an ambush, and don't travel close to the men who just left.” Sassaba looks back for them, making me do the same but they are in the wood line. She bolts off and as you see them turn left to get to the main road, She hugs the other hillside and continues straight. We make our way to the cave and start setting up the cart for the pups and Louve, Conri looks on. Seems like he trusts us but doesn't really understand what we are doing.

“Conri, Let's get Louve into the cart so she won't have to walk, then we get the pups in there with her and we leave.” He nods and walks back towards Louve and the pups. We load them relatively easily, I'm able to lift Louve easily and we don't cause her much pain if any. The pups are no issue except they start whining as soon as they were without mom. As soon as we bring them to her, they all start feeding again. Sassaba returns as we get the third blanket to cover most of her body and the pups. She says in her distinct high rumble voice “No more humans.” So you think we are safe to go?” I ask and she nods. “Thanks Sassaba. Were gonna move as fast as we can without hurting Louve.” She stands and looks in the cart, Louve looks up at her and it seems like both reassured each other.

Making it through the woods to the road was slow, and uneventful. But we got through with only a few yelps out of Louve, the cart was getting stuck on roots and rocks. “The sun is setting Timous. Think we should just keep moving through the night?” I ask him as we break the tree line, wolves and laycans at our sides. “Well, yes. We shouldn't sit still with lycans on or near the road.” I stop the cart and check on the space in it. "Conr, we can fit two wolves on the cart right now. We let them rest and trade spots, but we need to keep traveling.” He looks at two wolves near the cart now, one mostly white with a little gray and one dark gray with a little light gray. They walk right up to me and put their front two legs on the cart ready to get in and look back at me like they want help. I reach down and grab the dark gray ones rear legs, I lift him up easily into the cart's bed. I move down to the other one and do the same, then stare at Timous. "What are you…” I point to the cart before he can finish. "Ah, small legs.” We smile again and I helped him into the cart without issue.

I'm excited for this test of my strength and endurance. Since I've gotten Hughs armor I've spent a lot of time working on learning. But there has only been so much time for me to physically work out. I grab the cart's two wooden handles and start pulling, And just refuse to stop. We traversed the road for several hours into the night. Making a little conversation between Sassaba, Conri, Timous and myself throughout the walk. Not about much in particular, I just didn't want to be out in the light where some humans would see the Lycans and freak out. Or try to do so much worse. As the sun starts to rise we are passing Douglas’ wool farm, the two wolves in the cart had jumped out hours ago. I ask Conri “Does any other pack member need a break in the cart?” He looks at all of them one by one, all return a head shake saying no. He looks at me and in a softer voice this time just says “No”. “Timous you ok back there?” He responds “Yes! Just writing in my journal… I think if our new friends stay with us for a while I may try writing a new book on Lycans…” All that knowledge in his house and he's looking to do more and add some, I give a little laugh and we keep pushing on to home.

We see our little rocky hill and Timous speaks up from the back “Thats it! Home is in sight.” Conri and Sassaba stop and look around confused, Falling behind the cart Timous speaks up again "No, come on. Keep up, we will show you when we get closer.” The Lycans sprint back up to me and Conri gutterally says “River. We get water?” “No, buddy. We have water and meat inside for everyone, I promise it will make more sense when we get there.” He gets on his hind legs and stands at eye level with me staring me down, I look at him for a moment and realize he is worried for his pack again. "Timous’s wife and daughter are in the same house we will all go to, I promise. I don't want to hurt any of you.” He inhales deep and blows out his nostrils fast and hard. Good news is we are off the road and almost ready to start getting everyone up the hill.

As we come to a stop, I speak to the group. “Timous do you wanna get up there with some of the pack? You can get mom to open the door and they can look around quickly as we start gathering the pups to get them up the hill first.” Timous responds "Right.” And as he gets down and moves up the hill Conri and 3 wolves follow closely, not responding to me at all. “Conri is scared.” Sassaba says, "Conri needs to see. Safe” Louve says. “I know.” I answer to them both. "He'll see, none of you have anything to fear, and we will get you up there with your pups and Aoife will be able to look over that leg and the pups. I see Sassaba looking up the hill and I follow he gaze up the hill, making sure everything ok. The door is open and Angela is walking down, I give her a big hug when she gets near. Sassaba approaches and starts smelling her, and they seem excited to meet each other. They even say hello and introduce themselves, the remaining three wolves join in slightly skittishly and sniff Angela a little as well. Timous calls out "Mark! Bring them up!” Conri stands behind him and nods one time to who I assume is Sassaba. “Ok let's get the pups up the hill guys.” I stop looking at Angela. “Ugh. Sassaba, Will Angela be safe handling a pup?” I ask as she looks back at me unaware, so I continue. “At what age do Lycanthropes get their venom glands to make werewolves?” She again looks confused tilting her head. “She is too young. So are my pups. The girl is safe.” Louve answers from the cart. “Ok Louve, we will get them all up the hill with Conri and then I'll carry you up ok?” She nods. Angela takes one pup with both hands, Sassaba takes two walking on her hind legs and I do the same. We make our way to the house slowly, encouraging Angela to move slowly and keep doing a great job, at this point the pups don't really look like Lycans yet. That shocks me a little now that I'm holding two.

Aoife has several blankets on the ground for them by the fireplace, we set the pups in slowly and one to Aoife too. “Where can we house all of them?” Aoife asks. "Oh well…” Timous starts up as Conri stands in the door looking back at me. “Can you make them their own cave in your home? Maybe it cleans their scatt too.” Timous Laughs “Cleans their scat? Haha! Leprechaun magic and a hybrid’s brains! Right there!” He points behind me to the side of the fireplace. I look back and the wall morphs and stretches into a cave mouth opening taller than me. “Ah! Should like the other cave inside with a little light and some fresh water.” He says as he finishes. Aoife pokes my leg, “Go get the rest of the pups and the mom, son. I need to see her leg!” “Got it mom.” I answer back.

Sassaba and Angela come down to help again, this time Angela has a small backpack and puts the last 2 pups in it so she can carry them. With the 7 pups inside or getting up there I go for the mom, I carefully scoop her up and start to carry her up the hill. Sassaba moves the cart to the woods so it isn't in plain sight. Halfway up the hill she rejoins Louve and myself, walking behind and beside me on all fours again. In all honesty, It isn't hard carrying her uphill. But I take my time to not hurt her by dropping her or stumbling. Which we do successfully. Without her whimpering. Aoife made enough room by the fire for Louve to lay by her babies. Once we get her down, Aofie introduces herself and starts looking her over.