The White Wolf

It had been a long time since anyone had even spoke of the empire being in such disarray. Since before Sigmar united men under one banner, one nation, one force. A nation of men destroyed by men, how foolish.

Sighing Bekan walked onto the snow-laden balcony of his orders keep. He brushed snow off the railing of the balcony, then placed his rough hands on the top of the marble rail and stared out across Middenheim. Snow covered everything he could see, and he couldn't help but smile at how while the world of men lay in disarray snow could lie so peacefully on the ground.

He ran a hand through his long viking blonde hair brushing it out of his face, and walked inside. He gazed around his room that, after being brought into the ranks of the White Wolves from the Middenheim Pistoliers, was his and was decorated with his armor, weaponry and trophies he had earned over the years. Slowly he stretched his shoulders and pulled on a wolf skin robe.

As he left his room a servant stood before him and bowed, Bekan dwarfed the feeble servant with his muscular frame. "Is there anything I can help you with sir knight?" The servant asked. Bekan shook his head and continued walking, on his way out of the keep.

Bekan arrived at the Temple of Ulric in the centre of Middenheim, slowly he pushed his way through the door. He bowed at the alter as he entered, then made his way towards the ever burning flame. Kneeling down before it Bekan clasped his hands together and stared deep into the flame praying to Ulric. He prayed that the war of men would be just and all the deaths of his fellow kinsmen would be swift and painless.

As Bekan prayed a man slowly walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder. Bekan jumped slightly at the sudden touch and turned to see who it was, Bekan did not recognize the face and reached for the dagger at his side, slowly wrapping his hand around the hilt. The man smiled at Bekan then spoke "Stay your blade brother, your presence is requested in the keep" Bekan nodded in response then rose and made his way back to the keep.

Bekan walked towards the great hall, as the huge wooden doors were pulled open in front of him. He walked through the doors into a large dome shaped room with a round table in the centre around it sat the inner circle of the White Wolf, the most hardened of all knights, the kind of men that could scare a Chaos Champion. They were all full of blood lust and even seeing blood drove them into a wild rampage. Bekan began to realize how lucky he was that they were on his side.

The Grand Master of the order looked straight at Bekan, with no emotion on his face, no smile, no grimace, just nothingness. Bekan bowed as he walked towards the table, The Grand Master motioned for Bekan to sit down as an equal. "Welcome Bekan, you are new to the order and strive to be noticed yes?" The Grand Master questioned. Bekan nodded as a servant placed a goblet of wine on the table in front of him and dipped a hot poker into the wine to warm it up. Bekan thanked the man and took a sip and looked back at the Grand Master.

"There has been much deliberation as to if we should give you this mission or not but after much discussion we have decided that out of all the new initiates that you would be most suited." The Grand Master explained to Bekan. Bekan nodded and looked at some of the inner circle, before standing to speak. "Grand Master, members of the Inner Circle, I am honoured that you would give me the honour of performing a task for such prestigious men. I have just one question, what is this task?" He questioned before taking his seat and sipping the wine again. The Grand Master took a last glance at his men seeing how they would respond. One by one each of them nodded at the Grand Master as a final notification of their acceptance that Bekan would receive this mission. "Alright Bekan, you will be working along side a Witch Hunter, he has already been informed of the task at hand, now we must inform you of it too. We suspect there is an aspect of Chaos conspiracy behind this civil war, they wish mankind to destroy its self instead of wasting man power. We want you to go to the rebelling lands and search for any possible indication of Chaos involvement." Bekans eye's widened slightly before he nodded, accepting the mission. "You are dismissed Bekan, collect your belongings from your quaters then you will meet the Witch Hunter at the local Tavern." The Grand Master explained. Bekan rose from his seat bowed and left the room.

Bekan smiled as he entered his room, he had been acknowledged as the best of the initiate's it was the greatest day of his life so far. He motioned for a servant to enter his room, Bekan held out his arms as two servants entered the room and began fitting his plate armour onto his muscled frame. After his armour was fitted, wolf skins were fitted to his armour. He thanked the servants as they left the room and set about his weaponry. He picked up his short sword and slotted it into it's scabbard on his hip, then picked up his lucky pistol and slotted it into a holster on his lower back, finally as he left his room he picked up his three foot warhammer.

When he arrived at the tavern the sun was beginning to set and it was getting colder outside, it was getting to the point where Bekan could see his own breath. He pushed the door of the tavern open and slowly walked in, fortunatly this was Middenheim so no-one was shocked by a Knight of the White Wolf walking into a tavern, he set his hammer down leant against the bar next to him and ordered a mead. Time to wait for his contact.

In a corner of the tavern, sitting only in the company of a single candle sat a man in a ornamented, black, leather coat. Underneath it were various weapons and equipment strapped to his body. On the table, next to the candle, sat the 'trademark' hat, branded with notable symbols, clearly showing that it was the belongings of a Witch-Hunter.

He let out a sharp whistle, and waved a finger at the Knight. "I presume you are looking for me.." He kicked out a spare chair, offering the knight a seat.

Bekan turned around and looked at the Witch Hunter and then at the chair, before picking up his mead and his hammer, then walked towards the chair. He eyed the Witch Hunter from head to toe inspecting his armour and weaponry. He was armed to the teeth with all sorts of things, it made Bekan feel under armed. He placed his heafty warhammer on the table with a bang, then placed down his mead gently before clunking into his seat as the powerful plate armour shifted around his body.

Bekan smiled slightly at the Witch Hunter. "It's a pleasure to be working along side you, my name is Bekan Wolfenhelm, you are?" he asked, running his hand over the ivory handle of his curved short sword, that he had taken from a fallen Dark Elf foe. He looked at his new partner and awaited a response.

"Wolfram Totenauge.. You are alone?" Wolfram peered at him with his clear green eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

A young woman eyed the two men with great interest, her body was covered with a thin robe of black with blue spiralling down the side, her hands were locked together in interest her elbow balanced on the old tables. A dark hood covered her face so that only the candel light crept under her hood lightening up her ambitious eyes and untrusting mouth. At her side she weilded an old staff with runes engraved into the sides.

Bekan nodded slowly, "As far as I know I am, I didn't come with anyone." he glanced around quickly, before looking back at Wolfram. "I was informed you were aware of our situation and the task we have been given?" Bekan asked.

He watched Wolfram as he leant back slightly and took a long swig of his mead. He reached into a pouch on his side and pulled out a pipe, then packed tobacco into it and lit it, he took a long first drag blowing smoke rings into the already smoky tavern air. The tavern was no different to your average tavern, wooden bar, wooden tables and chairs. A smokey atmosphere and sticky floors from all the spilled beer and mead. Bekan loved the atmosphere of a good tavern, some taverns had changed recently, become cleaner less smokey, Bekan hated those taverns. This is how it should be.

Wolfram briefly glanced over to the robed lady before looking back at Bekan.

"I thought you Knights allways traveled in packs.." He smirks slightly.

"So... Seeing as this is.. your supperiors doing.. You should be the one to answer, When do we leave?"

The woman looked down at knowing she had been spotted staring back down at her ale. Her ears remained locked into the conversation her finger twitching up the glass.

Bekan looked at Wolfram, nodding as to say he had noticed the girl too, he hoped that Wolfram would understand the very slight and subtle nod. "We leave as soon as we are both ready. I have no qualms with riding in the snow, you have a horse right?" Bekan asked, Wolfram looked like a distinguished Witch Hunter but he had clearly spent a lot of his money on weaponry and horses are expensive.

Bekan, downed the last of his mead and slowly slid his hand towards the handle of his warhammer. He gently wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the weapon, using the window behind his new partner to check what the woman was looking at. He scratched his beard with his spare hand.

Wolfram gave a brief nod and got to his feet, putting on his hat and doublechecking all his equipment.

"Ofcource i have a horse* He smirked slightly "I am ready whenever you are".

The woman looked up at the young knight not saying a word but letting out a slight laugh.. disturbing.. she twiddled with her glass some more.. before with a flick of her hands the glass broke in several places and in a few moments it repaired itself. She stroked it seeming playing around with her energys gave her entertainment.. but she knew she was being watched.. a sign maybe? a warning? or maybe just fooling around?

Bekan stood up and flicked his warhammer onto his shoulder, and stood up before walking towards the door. "We head for Salzenmund, it's the main city in Nordland, which is the closest rebelling region too us here. It will be about a days ride, maybe two" Bekan pushed open the wooden door of the tavern and stroked his pure white horse. He had a large leather saddle, and wolf pelts on it. "I just got the "Travel in packs" joke, cause I am a member of the White Wolves. Good one" Bekan said laughing once, before putting his warhammer into a holster on the side of his horse, then mounted up.

He watched Wolfram as he readied up, then looked at the woman in the tavern one last time as the door swung closed. He looked towards the city gates, then looked back at Wolfram "When we get out of the city gates we shall head due north, straight for the city, we have no rivers or mountains to cross. Although we will be travelling through Drakwald forest which is infested with Beasts of Chaos. I can't promise this will be a smooth journey."

Wolfram headed towards the door, and as he walked past the woman, he gave her a wink and a slight grin, as he slammed through the door.

He got onto his horse which was tied close to the tavern entrance. The horse was of a dark brown, allmost black, colour. However on its back there was a large area that was discoloured, it appeared to be blood that had been mostly washed away.

"Lead the way..." He peared at the entrance, waiting for Bekans motion.

Then woman smirked back at the man as he passed.. She concentrated back on her glass allowing them to leave.. though.. she may give off the impression that it won't be the last time the would see her on their journey. Outside her own horse was easily spotted its coat shaved in placed with runes running up the leg and under the cloth that was used as a saddle.

Bekan began riding towards the large gate at the north of the city, it was one of two doors of the city. He smiled as they were opened for the twosome, who were on their way into the treacherous Drakwald Forest, home of the Beasts of Chaos. He sighed as he pulled his wolf skin robe higher up on his face shielding it from the snow slightly. The snow covered everywhere apart from the well worn dirt road that lead the way towards the forest.

As they travelled the path towards the forest the farmers began staring out of the fields at the odd pairing of men. They were travelling towards possibly the most dangerous forest in all of the empire. Bekan nodded to the farmers, not that there was much to farm in the frozen barren that is Middenheim. He looked up and the forest and how the trees built up from small to large at the edge, until you could see nothing within the forest but trees.

The two had been travelling for almost an hour, they were surrounded by thick forest apart from the thin road they had been travelling on since Middenheim. The sides of the roads were dotted with broken carts that had clear axe and sword marks on them, it was obvious what had happened here, inordinate amounts of ambushes happened in this forest, from small raiding parties to full scale organized beast armies. Bekan prayed that they would not suffer the same fate, he had never seen a Witch Hunter fight so had no idea of their capabilities.

"Keep your wits about you, we are deep into the forest now, if there is an ambush, we won't be saved by anyone but ourselves." Bekan said looking at Wolfram before turning back to the road, constantly flicking his gaze through the trees for any sign of movement.

Wolframs shifted strongly in the wind as they rode forth, he frequently glanced around him, ensuring they were still alone.

He kept riding, and a responce was hard to find to Bekans words.

Bekan shifted uneasily in his saddle, in the distance a beastly whail could be heard, what it was exactly was left to be determined. Bekan looked back at Wolfram lifting his finger to his lips to show that he wanted silence. Bekan's gaze was even more alert now searching the trees for even the slightest movement. The snow was still falling atop the trees every now and then a large clump would fall from a high branch, making Bekan flick his gaze uneasily toward the noise.

Not far away a man with long dark hair crouched over a doused fire, it was still warm, he had been tracking the war party for days watching their movements so that he could report back to the captain in Salzenmund. He was not actually a part of the empire forces, but was the most skilled tracker in the kingdom and would often be called upon as a mercenary. He picked up his rifle, and began following the beast tracks, they were following something. He was hunting a group who were clearly hunting something else. He checked his axe and knife as he moved through the forest and kept moving.

Bekan and Wolfram were still on the trail, they had heard nothing in the way of beast noises for sometime, only rustlings that sounded much like the wind blowing leaves around. Bekan turned to Wolfram and smiled slightly trying to show that he thought the danger was gone " I thin-" He spoke too soon, suddenly a beast of chaos leapt from the trees and tackled him from his horse, a huge party of almost forty beasts came running from the trees.

Bekan rose too his feet, suddenly drawing this pistol from his back, bringing it in front of him and shooting a beast straight between the eyes, before dropping it a drawing his short sword to slice open the got of another Gor. He was fighting his way to his horse so that he could retrieve his hammer, his hammer was the most prided weapon he carried, it symbolized that he was a part of the White wolf. Finally he got to his hammer and began striking beasts down, crushing their skulls.

At least fifteen of the war party were already trying to attack Wolfram, Bekan prayed that the Witch Hunter could handle himself as he had no way to assist him. Bekan looked around again to check for more, there was a single gunshot from the forest and a beast fell not far from Bekan, as an imperial tracker jumped out the forest with a tomahawk and dagger, landing on the back of a beast before slitting it's throat clean.

Bekan smiled, he was thankful there was another on the scene, as he spun around smashing his hammer into the ribs of another Gor, he prayed there would be no casualties amoung his allies this day, as ten more Gors ran out of the forest attacking the men.

A split second after Bekan had been dismounted, Wolfram swiftly lept off his horse. He spun around, facing the beasts targeting him and drew a pistol in his left hand and a sword in the right.

As one of the beasts trampeled towards him he did one swift swing of his sword, cleanly slicing its throat, and a moment after reaching over the carcass of the falling abomination, he fired a bullet into the chest of another and swiftly relocating to another one, placing a bullet neatly into its head. He sheathed the gun and drew a new, loaded one. Taking out the closest ones with his sword, and choosing targets from a distance with his gun.

A womans cry echoed out into the distance, and the shriek of a stallion cracked at the area. but no figure was around to be seen. The wind picked up slightly swarming around the combat.

Bekan slammed his hammer into another Gor's stomach, the enemy forces were beginning to thin, and Bekan sighed with relief as he saw some of the Ungors retreat. He clubbed a last Gor round the head with his hammer and panted slightly from the battle. He was about to drop his hammer, but no sooner had he thought he would another wave of beasts charge from the forest at the three men, who fought for their lives. "Ulric give me strength." Bekan muttered as he charged back at the beasts slamming his hammer into the face of one.

The tracker on the other side of Bekan was almost taken unaware, suddenly his spun round hacking his axe into the stomach of a beast before stabbing it a few times in the spine with his dagger, before moving onto the next beast cutting its head half off with his axe and stabbing another clean through the eye, blood covered the ground now, beasts were falling left, right and centre. The tracker wasn't trained for such long stints of combat and was beginning to grow tired.

Bekan threw his hammer with two hands over his head impaling it into the head of a Gor before tackling another and beating its face to a pulp with his plated fists, as he was doing so a Gor took him down and pinned him to the ground Bekan was struggling for his life on the ground with the beast. The beast was trying to force a dagger into Bekans eye whilst pinning him to the ground.

Bekan would perhaps see only a stream of blood as Wolfram lead his sword through the beasts neck. "No time to make friends now.." he uttered as he hastily moved on to the remaining targets.

Still no figure was lurking.. but around them a storm began to brew, the clouds slowly gathered into a grey mess. The sound of thunder gave off a very dramatic feel.

"Even the fucking weather is against us!" Bekan growled as his spun around smashing his hammer into the face on the last Gor near him. The battle had ended the road was covered in the bodies of the beasts of Chaos. Bekan looked around, everyone was still alive. He suddenly remembered the man who had turned up randomly. He pointed his warhammer at the tracker before speaking "You there what is your name and how did you find us, have you been following us?" Bekan questioned suspiciously staring at the man.

The tracker looked back at Bekan. "My name is Cutter Smith, I am a tracker, and no I wasn't tracking you, I was tracking them, I came across their trail a few days ago." Cutter explained, as he walked over to his rifle and reloaded it before slinging it onto his back. "Where are you heading?"

Bekan sighed and looked at Wolfram "Salzenmund." Bekan said. Cutter nodded and began walking, Bekan mounted back up and followed the tracker. "You are going that way too?" Bekan asked. Cutter nodded. "I don't live far from the city, but I was hired to track that warband find their camps, I will have to return to the city with good and bad news, the war band is eliminated but I still don't know where the encampments are." He explained.
"We are sorry for any trouble we caused you Cutter." Bekan said slowly and bowed his head to the tracker as the walked on.

Bekan turned to Wolfram and flicked his head at towards Cutter. Wolfram was the investigator after all and Bekan had no idea what questions to ask to find a lead, so he tried to subtly suggest that Wolfram might want to ask him a few things as he was homed near their first destination.

Wolfram reloaded all his pistols and remounted his horse.

"Mmm... So, Cutter.. Who do you work for?.. There must be a hefty prize for going alone into this forest.." He said as he tightened all his straps. His hat was pulled down slightly, concealing his eyes as he rode along with the rest.