A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Meanwhile, a few day's travel from Frostvik, a lone cabin stood in the woods. It was a cabin much like the one that Erik and the others had spent a night at.

Mostly made of wood and consisting of a single room, it had a bed, a table, a small kitchen, and a couch.

Inside, a man was sitting at the table and playing with a stone that had various symbols etched onto it. Had Elora or Erik been there, they would have quickly recognized these symbols as a sigil intended for communication.

Along with him were two women lounging around the cabin doing their own thing. The exact nature of their relationship was uncertain.

All three wore uniforms with a crest-style logo incorporating three distinct shields. One had a magical staff, one the shadowy form of an undefined creature, and the last had a wide-open set of teeth with clear vampire fangs.

This too, Erik or Elora would have recognized, as it was clearly the mark of the European Council.

The only difference between the three uniforms was that the man's had some more embellishments, clearly indicating his higher rank.

He kept playing around with the stone as an expression of patient curiosity hung on his face. Finally, the stone lit up, and so did the man's face.

A hushed voice seemed to emanate from the stone. "We found them."

The man looked excited before responding, "And? Is it them?!"

It remained quiet for a moment before a response came, accompanied by an annoyed grunt. "I can't say."

The man frowned, "What do you mean you can't say? Describe their faces for me. You did see their faces, right?"

The voice from the stone sounded frustrated. "Yeah, I did. I just can't tell you if it's them, nor can I describe their faces."

Now, narrowing his eyes, the man seemed to become angry. "Can't or won't?" he growled. "Remember our deal! The only way you get anything is if you give me the information I want!"

"You think I don't know that?!" the response came, still hushed but now clearly becoming more agitated. "I want to tell you, but I can't! Nor can I even tell you why I can't tell you! You think I like this?!"

The man was about to respond but then fell quiet and frowned as a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

Suddenly, he seemed to come to a realization as he remembered a specific piece of information. His face lit up in a greedy smile, "Oh! Oh, I see." He mumbled excitedly.

He responded to the stone a little impatiently. "I know you probably can't tell me where you are, but can you tell me what direction you went after arriving at the battle site?"

read-first-on-MVLeMpYr

The voice seemed glad it was able to provide some information at least and quickly relayed the desired intelligence.

Hearing the answer, the man chuckled with glee and excitement at the prospect of future rewards from his faction. "Don't worry, my friend. I understand your difficulties, and you've already given me exactly what I needed. I'll make sure you get what you want."

Without waiting for a response, the man made some hand movements, and the light from the stone died down. Whether his final promise was genuine or not was anyone's guess.

Next, he turned to one of the women, "Nina, go to the usual place and tell them I want to arrange a meeting with Frostfang. I'm ready to start sending aid immediately in return for his help with a little errand.

I believe we've found the people Lady Lefay is looking for…" he said, as greed flashed through his eyes.

******

Back in Frostvik, the morning sun rose above the snow-covered houses, and the four occupants of Erik's parent's bedroom began to stir.

The bed was a complex and chaotic mess of limbs and hair, as all three women were trying to get a piece of Erik's body.

Elora was lying naked on top of him, while Emma was in her underwear and had her limbs wrapped around him on the left side. Meanwhile, a fully clothed Emily had wrapped her limbs around him from the right.

Naturally, in Emily's case, this had happened while asleep, as she had begun the night trying to stay as far away from him as possible, simply because she wanted to avoid this exact scenario from happening again.

Surprisingly, Emma was not tied up this time, as she simply hadn't thought of it in all the excitement from last night.

Not that it really mattered, as the only reason it was even still happening was that she had come to enjoy it.

As usual, Erik was the first to open his eyes, and immediately, a content smile appeared on his face as he felt the three beautiful women's soft bodies plastered against his.

'This must be what heaven feels like,' he chuckled. 'My only plan for today is to train with uncle and his companions, but they can wait a little longer.'

Thinking so, he nestled comfortably back into the pillow with a smile on his face as he waited for the others to wake up.

The first to wake up after him was Emily, who once again freaked out upon finding herself hugging Erik's body and quickly struggled to jump off the bed with a yelp.

"Dammit!" she cursed more to herself than anything else, "If there were another bed in this damn house, I'd use it!" She quickly went through the standard ritual of telling Erik not to think anything weird and then stormed off to take a shower.

Meanwhile, her actions had naturally awoken the others.

Under Elora's lazy smile, Emma leaned forward to kiss Erik, "Good morning, Master!"

"Good morning, Emma," he grinned.

After their morning greeting, Emma suddenly jumped off the bed and hummed happily as she walked towards her maid outfit with one hand on the new mark on her stomach. "I'll go make some breakfast!" she said enthusiastically.

Yet, before she could grab her outfit and put it on, Elora suddenly appeared in front of her. The fairy had a playful smile on her lips as she bent down and waved her hand, after which the maid outfit seemed to disintegrate, causing Emma to gawk.

"Elora, you…! Why would you do that?!" she said as a surprising amount of anger flared in her normally pure eyes.

Still smiling, apparently not minding the anger, Elora held up her arms, and the red jewel on her forehead flashed before a new set of clothes appeared in her hands. "I can't exactly let my dear sister-wife walk around in that old rag. Let me give you a present as a welcome to our family."