A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Before they could get underway, Erik suddenly heard a low growling next to his ear. Emma's aura had briefly stunned Alice before, but now she noticed the dazed-looking man standing just behind these women.

"Victor…" she mumbled hatefully. Her mind was consumed by anger, as she preferred to spend her thoughts on revenge, rather than confront her emotions about his fate.

Noticing her turmoil, and sensing her body tensing in preparation to confront Victor right there and then, Erik raised his right hand and gently caressed the young wereverine's head. "You'll get your chance, little one," he said soothingly. "But be a little patient, alright? We don't have time right now, but he's not going anywhere."

"I know you don't know me well yet, but you can trust Erik," Emma smiled at Alice, while comfortably nestled in Erik's arms. "He's never broken his word to me."

The combined efforts of Emma and Erik quickly calmed Alice down. She took a deep breath, nodded, and tightened her grip on Erik's neck and back. However, she never took her hate-filled, narrowed eyes off Victor.

Next, under the anxious and furious gazes of the Institute scientists, guards, and communal residents, Emily climbed onto Astrid's back, before they took off running. Behind them, Victor followed along obediently.

As soon as they were out of eyesight, the black orb lodged in the eye socket of Emily's unfortunate target dissipated. Relieved from constant pain and the immediate threat to his life, the second-ranker guard immediately fainted from exhaustion.

Alex looked at him with pity, sighed, shook his head, and turned around.

He was now commander of this place, and there was much to do.

*****

A group of six, three of whom were being carried, raced across the plains of Sweden towards Finland.

They intended to make the trip back in one go this time. After all, the council forces throughout Sweden were likely already warned about their assault on the Institute, either through sigils or the council's partially restored phone network.

While they obviously didn't need to worry about the first-rankers, there were also at least fifty second-rankers in Sweden, many of whom were vampires and shapeshifters capable of traveling just as quickly as Erik and his group.

Fortunately, Sweden was large. Plus, the Council couldn't be sure of their next destination. Not to mention that they would need at least ten second-rankers to pose a serious obstacle to Erik and the others.

Still, to linger and make themselves easy targets would be foolish. Thus, they traveled at as high a speed as they could maintain for the entire trip while carrying three people, which was about 60 km/h (~37 mph). They took no rest and used minor detours to avoid any inhabited areas.

In the end, it took them 23 hours of constant travel before they finally arrived back in Muonio.

When the the familiar ruins of Muonio appeared in sight, Erik and Astrid slaked deep sighs of relief, as sweat poured down their bodies, their muscles screamed in pain, and they took in a big gulps of air at a time.

With Elora's physical essence still incapacitated, Erik's only support during this trip was Elora's rejuvenating magic, which he had to share with Astrid if he wanted her to keep up. Luckily, his body wasn't badly wounded as it was on the trip between Frostvik and Muonio a few days ago, but he did have to travel for far longer this time.

They were still on the outskirts of town, but neither Erik nor Astrid cared. They released their passengers and sagged onto the cold, snow-covered ground, with Erik taking the additional step of dumping his armor to the side, and returning to human form.

Naturally, Elora took the time to conjure some clothes on him, sparing young Alice the sight of his naked body.

"Uuuuugh," Astrid and Erik groaned at the same time. They enjoyed the feeling of the cold ground and snow, cooling down their bodies while they lay sprawled on the ground.

Surprisingly, Emily also joined them on the ground as she felt her body ache from clinging to Astrid's back for so many hours.

Only Emma and Alice remained standing. They looked down on the three of them with part pity, and part amusement. While Alice, too, had to hold on to Erik for the entire trip, her Runebound body and wiry, wereverine muscles were perfectly suited to the task.

In fact, Alice had even managed to fall asleep for large parts of their journey. After all, her mind and body were both exhausted from the revelations about her father and her months of nerve-wracking imprisonment by the Council.

Thus, by hooking her claws into Erik's armor, and with a little magical help, she had managed to stick to Erik's back while sleeping.

Actually, her ability to fall asleep had involved a bit of magical assistance as well. Erik had asked Elora to help, in order to prevent the young wereverine from being alone with her thoughts about Björn and Victor for the entire journey.

"How are you feeling, Master?" Emma asked with concern and a touch of sadness. "I'm sorry you had to carry me. I wish I could have helped…"

"I'm fine, Emma…" he panted in response. "Don't worry about it. Just let us catch our breath for a moment, and we'll go to the same room as last time."

"Don't worry about it, my butt," Astrid panted as she (very) lightly punched Emily lying next to her before pointing a finger at the black-haired girl. "You owe me!"

"Sure, sure," Emily chuckled and panted, sporting a teasing grin. "Next time I'll carry you on my back. Let's see how far we get."

"I'm holding you to that!" Astrid laughed softly in response.

Erik smiled softly at the banter next to him. He enjoyed this. For seven years, it had been just him and Elora, with some notable exceptions, and while he loved his time alone with the mischievous fairy, he realized he greatly enjoyed having more people to travel with.

At least, while they were getting along.

Meanwhile, Alice scratched her head, looking a bit uncomfortable. While she felt a great affinity for both Erik and Emma, the last 23 hours hadn't offered much opportunity for conversation, so she didn't really feel like part of the group yet. She felt like an outsider.

Luckily, Emma noticed her discomfort and approached the young girl with a smile. "Say, Alice. I haven't seen your human form yet. Do you mind showing me?"