The scream ended abruptly.
Not faded.
Ended.
Aric stood beneath the gatehouse with one hand around the spear and the other still pressed against the dead guard's shoulder. The man's body had gone slack, but the warning remained in his mind.
Inside.
Garran shouted from the road.
"Aric, get back!"
The caravan horses were panicking. One reared hard enough to drag the driver several steps before the reins slipped through his hands. Another kicked against the side of the wagon, eyes wide and rolling.
Lysa's bow was already raised.
"Something moved on the roof!"
Aric looked up.
A shape crossed the edge of the nearest building and disappeared behind the sloped roofline. It was too low and too quick to be a person standing upright.
Then something slammed against the inner side of the gate.
The wooden doors shuddered.
Aric stepped backward into the road.
"Close the wagons," he called. "Bring the rear carts forward."
Garran understood immediately.
"Move! Move!"
The drivers pulled the caravan into a tighter formation. The lead wagon angled across the road while the others closed behind it, creating a barrier between the open gate and the horses. The frightened animals were dragged toward the center of the formation, where they would be less exposed.
Lysa kept her bow trained on the rooftops.
"Do we leave?" she asked.
Aric glanced at the waystation.
The gate remained open.
The guard was dead.
A wounded person was somewhere inside.
And whatever had attacked the station knew that a caravan had arrived.
"We can't leave the station like this," Garran said.
Aric looked at him.
Garran's jaw was clenched. His sword remained drawn, but his attention kept shifting between the wagons and the buildings beyond the gate.
"You know everyone inside?" Aric asked.
"Not everyone. The station keeper, two guards, a stable boy, and whoever is traveling through."
"That answer is incomplete."
"It's the answer I have."
Aric looked toward the open gate again.
If they left now, whatever was inside would remain behind them. If they entered carelessly, the caravan could be trapped inside the palisade with the same danger.
The System appeared.
[Current threat remains unconfirmed.]
[Multiple living presences detected within the waystation.]
[One or more hostile entities are also present.]
[Recommended action: Secure the entrance before committing the full caravan.]
Aric studied the gate.
"Lysa, can you cover the left roof?"
"I can."
"Garran, keep the wagons outside. No one enters unless I call for them."
Garran's expression hardened. "You're going in."
"I'm checking the gatehouse and the nearest building."
"That is not the same as checking."
"It is the first step."
"You've already taken enough first steps today."
Aric met his eyes.
"If someone is alive in there, every minute matters."
Garran stared at him, then looked away with a curse.
"You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
"That wasn't praise."
"I didn't take it as praise."
Lysa moved to the side of the road, found a clear angle, and raised her bow toward the rooftops.
"Go," she said. "I'll watch the upper levels."
Aric stepped through the gate.
The air inside the palisade felt different.
The road outside had been open and bright beneath the afternoon sky. Inside, the buildings crowded together, casting long shadows across the packed earth. A stable stood to the right, its doors hanging open. To the left was a low storehouse with a broken shutter.
Straight ahead, the main station building stood with its front door half-closed.
A metal bucket lay on its side near the steps.
Water spread slowly across the dirt.
Aric moved toward the gatehouse first.
The structure was narrow, with a ladder leading to the upper platform. The bell rope hung beside the stairs. It swayed slightly.
No one stood above.
He climbed two steps and stopped.
There was blood on the wood.
Not much.
Enough.
A body lay behind the railing, face turned toward the wall. The uniform marked him as the second station guard. His throat had been cut.
Aric did not touch him.
He looked instead at the blood pattern.
The killing had happened close to the railing. The body had been dragged afterward, but not far. Whoever had done it had moved quickly and without concern for being seen.
A noise came from the station building.
A muffled thud.
Then a child began crying.
Aric turned toward the sound.
The System appeared.
[Living presence detected: Two.]
[Condition estimate: One adult injured. One child distressed.]
[Hostile presence: Within the main building.]
Aric tightened his grip.
A child.
That changed the risk.
It also changed the order of decisions.
He stepped away from the gatehouse and moved toward the station building, staying close to the wall rather than crossing the open yard.
The front door had been forced inward. The latch hung broken.
Aric crouched beside the entrance and listened.
The child's crying came from somewhere deeper inside.
A woman spoke in a strained whisper.
"Please… please, just go."
Something answered her.
The sound was not speech.
It was a low, wet growl.
Aric looked back toward the gate.
Through the open entrance, he could see Garran beside the lead wagon and Lysa covering the roofline. Both were watching him.
He raised two fingers.
Two living.
Then he pointed toward the building.
Garran nodded once.
Aric turned back.
The System offered no further instruction.
That was appropriate.
The next decision was his.
He pushed the door open with the butt of the spear.
The entry hall was dark. A table had been overturned against the far wall, and broken crockery covered the floor. Blood streaked the boards near the stairs.
The growl came again.
From the left.
Aric shifted his footing.
A figure burst from behind the counter.
It was a man in station clothing, but he moved with a jerking, uneven gait. One arm hung uselessly at his side. Blood covered his face, and his eyes were unfocused.
He raised a wood axe.
Aric caught the strike on the shaft of the spear.
The impact drove him back half a step.
The man snarled and tried to wrench the weapon aside.
"Listen to me," Aric said. "You're hurt."
The man answered with another wild swing.
Aric twisted the spear, redirected the axe, and struck the man's wrist with the shaft. The axe fell.
The man lunged.
Aric drove the butt of the spear into his stomach.
The station guard doubled over, but did not fall.
Something moved behind him.
Aric saw a flash of gray fur.
He shoved the injured man sideways.
A creature sprang from the shadows and hit the floor where Aric had been standing.
It was lean and long-legged, with gray fur clotted dark around the mouth. Its front limbs were too heavy for its body, and its claws scraped deep lines into the boards.
Not a wolf.
Not entirely.
The creature turned its head toward him.
Its eyes reflected the dim light with a pale yellow sheen.
The System appeared.
[Hostile entity identified: Unconfirmed.]
[Threat estimate: Moderate.]
[Behavior: Predatory. Coordinated with surrounding activity.]
Aric kept the spear between them.
The wounded guard had collapsed near the counter. Behind him, a woman clutched a child against her chest. She was bleeding from the forehead but still standing.
The creature crouched.
Aric shifted left, keeping himself between it and the civilians.
The beast sprang.
He stepped into the attack instead of retreating and drove the spear forward.
The point struck high in the chest.
The creature twisted at the last moment, turning a killing thrust into a deep wound along its shoulder. It crashed into Aric with enough force to knock him against the wall.
Its claws tore across his side.
Pain flared.
The spear slipped from his hand.
The creature opened its jaws.
Aric caught its lower throat with his forearm before the bite could close. Its breath was hot and foul against his face.
He drove his other hand beneath its jaw and pushed upward.
The beast thrashed.
The wall cracked behind his shoulder.
"Aric!"
Garran's voice came from the doorway.
The creature turned toward the sound.
That moment of distraction gave Aric the space he needed.
He drove his knee into its abdomen, twisted his body, and used the beast's own momentum to throw it sideways across the floor.
It struck the overturned table.
The spear lay between them.
Aric reached for it.
The creature recovered first.
It charged low.
Garran entered the room and slashed downward. His sword struck the beast across the back, opening a long cut but failing to stop it.
The creature crashed into Garran and drove him into the doorframe.
Aric seized the spear with both hands.
"Move!"
Garran shoved away.
Aric thrust.
The spearhead entered beneath the creature's ribs.
The beast convulsed.
He pushed until the shaft struck against its body, then pulled the weapon free and stepped back.
The creature collapsed.
For several seconds, only the child's crying filled the room.
Aric stood over the body, breathing hard.
The System appeared.
[Hostile entity incapacitated.]
[EXP awarded: Pending classification confirmation.]
[Current HP: 260 / 280]
Aric glanced at the number.
The claws had reopened the earlier cut and torn deeper this time.
Still manageable.
Still not something to ignore.
Garran leaned against the doorframe, one hand pressed to his ribs.
"That thing," he said. "What was it?"
"Not a normal wolf."
"That much I understood."
The woman holding the child stepped forward carefully.
"It came from the cellar," she said.
Her voice shook, but she kept control of it.
"There were three of them. They attacked before noon. The station keeper tried to lock them out, but one was already inside."
"Where are the others?" Aric asked.
The woman looked toward the rear of the building.
"One went upstairs. The other dragged my husband into the cellar."
Garran swore.
"How long ago?"
"Minutes."
Aric looked at the staircase.
Above them, something scratched slowly across the floorboards.
The woman tightened her grip around the child.
"Please," she whispered. "My husband is still alive."
Aric glanced at Garran.
The caravan leader was pale, but he had already straightened.
"You heard her," Garran said. "We go together."
Lysa appeared in the doorway with her bow still drawn.
"Roof is clear," she said. "For now."
Aric looked at the injured guard near the counter.
"Get the woman and child outside," he said. "Keep them behind the wagons."
Garran frowned. "And the guard?"
"Alive. He needs treatment."
Lysa moved to help the woman.
The child clung to her mother's neck and stared at Aric with frightened, silent eyes.
Aric lowered the spear slightly.
"We're bringing him back," he said.
He did not know whether that promise was possible.
The words came anyway.
The woman nodded.
As Lysa guided her toward the entrance, the scratching above them stopped.
A heavy footstep crossed the ceiling.
Then another.
From below, somewhere beneath the station floor, came a muffled pounding.
Someone was still alive in the cellar.
And something else was moving between them.
Aric tightened his grip on the spear.
The waystation had not been a simple ambush.
It was a nest.