Chapter 2

Mathias walked over to the wagon and Kuro and the dogs followed. He climbed into the wagon and moved the saddle over to the edge of the wagon and separated the bridle blanket and saddlebags. He climbed out, grabbed the bridle and moved over to beside Kuro's head. He carefully slipped the bridle on and secured it. Next came the blanket and then he lifted the saddle onto Kuro's back and did up the cinch. Mathias slung the saddlebags over and secured them and Kuro was ready to go.

"Fluffy, Buffy, can you two handle everything, making sure no one comes up to the wagon and none of the horses run off? The others and I are going to have a look around. We'll be back by sunset," Mathias asked as he turned to the two of them. They both gave him a hearty bark and he smiled in return.

He climbed up into the wagon and got the weapon belt from the clothes chest and put it on. Then he retrieved the box with his weapons and opened it. He started with the Tantō and slipped them into the pair of holders in the small of his back. This arrangement allowed him to quickly draw one with either hand. Next, the Wakizashi was clipped onto the belt on his right so that he could draw it with his left hand. Lastly, the Katana was clipped onto his left side so that his right hand could draw it. Fully armed, Mathias closed the box and jumped out of the wagon, turning to close it up once he landed.

He climbed into the saddle on Kuro and with a last look at his new surroundings, spurred Kuro into a trot and headed out.

Once he was away from the canyon mouth he was able to get a better sense of his bearings. He appeared to be facing south as the sun was on his left and rising. The canyon was behind him and faced south also. To the west, very faintly, just on the horizon was what might be a line of hills. The most impressive thing to Mathias was that his box canyon was part of a monolith, much like the ones he had seen in Monument Valley.

After taking in the vista, Mathias urged Kuro to continue on, steering him around the monolith to the west. He had barely ridden 2 miles when he heard the sounds of snarling and fighting. Before he had a chance to decide what to do, a scream was heard and Mathias spurred Kuro into a gallop towards the sounds, the dogs following at a run. A minute later, he crested a rise and saw the cause of the sounds.

A pack of wolves had surrounded two men and were going in for the kill. The pack had once numbered 7 but now only 5 as it had lost two of its members to the spears of the men. But one of the men was out of the fight now; his left arm was bleeding from a good clawing by a wolf. Looking over the scene, Mathias quickly thought up a plan of action.

"You four each pick a wolf and attack him. Go for the throat but be careful, I don't want any of you hurt. If you have to, back away. I'm going to ride down and help the man with his arm and fight off any of the wolves that you don't get," Mathias explained as he drew his katana. The dog lolled about, waiting for Mathias to go.

The fight was rather anticlimactic. Mathias and the dogs came down the embankment and the wolves were taken by surprise. Caesar and Cleopatra caught their targets completely unawares and simply body slammed them to the ground and locked their jaws onto the throats of the wolves. Kaiser's wolf managed to get a look at him before Kaiser tackled him to the ground, clawing at his face before locking his jaws onto the wolf's throat. Meeka's wolf presented the most difficulty as the bitch managed to turn fully around before Meeka got to her. They squared off at each other, snarling and swiping with their claws. The fight didn't last long however as the wolf showed its inexperience when she tried to jump onto Meeka. Meeka simply dropped to the ground and bit into the wolf's throat as it passed overhead. They came crashing to the ground with Meeka's teeth still firmly in place.

Mathias rode Kuro around the fight and over to where the two men were facing off with the last wolf. It had ignored the new arrivals and continued to go after the two men. As Mathias rode up, ready to attack, the wolf jumped at the uninjured man. He managed to get his spear up and impaled the wolf through the chest. Mathias stopped short of the two men as they noticed his arrival and the uninjured one bought his spear up in front of him. The injured one retrieved a flint knife from somewhere and held it up with his right arm.

"What do you want strange one?" the uninjured one asked. Mathias was bewildered. He consciously knew that the man had not spoken English but he had understood him despite of it.

"To help," Mathias replied, surprised again when he replied in the same language. As the two men spoke to each other hurriedly and looked him over, Mathias looked them over. The two men were different and yet similar. The uninjured one was maybe 5'4" and 130 pounds while the injured one was a large 6'6" and easily 250 pounds if not close to 300. They had the same facial features and hair but their different sizes convinced Mathias that they were only distantly related, if at all.

"Alright strange one, you may come closer, but move carefully," the small one said. Mathias rode up to within 6' of them and dismounted. As he stood beside Kuro, he sheathed his katana and looked around. Caesar and Cleopatra had finished off their wolves and were standing over them, watching the two men. Kaiser was sniffing at his wolf and watching Meeka as she continued to bit into her bitch's neck.