Chapter 1

A lone wolf stood and looked out over the hillside down into the valley, and seems to be watching the large town below him in the darkness.

If one didn't know better they might believe that the wolf was angry as he stood there.

And they would be correct.

As the wolf looked out over the valley he was angered by the growing town. More and more humans seem to either be born there or they seemed to be coming to stay instead of moving on.

The wolf couldn't stand those humans below, who while poor prey, often would do well in a pinch as food. But they often fought back far too viciously to be considered a good food source.

They were almost as cunning as wolves, he thought, and they had a long memory and often held grudges well past the time they should.

Tonight however he was irritated how much more of the wolves' land he could see that was being taken over by the humans and the things they planted in the ground. Their presence here was chasing away all the good game.

Whatever they the wolves didn't hunt themselves, was now almost gone into extinction.

The wolf shook his head in disgust and he knew he would still need to report any changes to the pack leader. The only thing of interest for him was his visits to the town to see all the changes. Sometimes interesting things did happen in the human packs.

Yet once again though, they had expanded even further into the surrounding forest. They had been busy since the last full moon clearing away more trees and brush. They also had put up even more fences surrounding their pitiful dwellings.

He would need to take a closer look to make sure he got all the details right.

As the wolf turned and started to fade from view, one might mistake him for a normal wolf, save for the extremely bright red eyes that seemed to miss nothing below him.

Soon the darkness swallowed them up, as well as his form, as if they had never been there.

Nathan just barely managed to tuck his head as he slammed into the wall upside down, where he then slid down the wall, but rolled and came to a crouch facing the wrong way.

Jumping up he was extremely angry as he turned and hopped over the bar counter and raced back into the fight. That shouldn't have ever happened he thought, as he waded in.

Ariel was close by, and while now she was giving him a look of amusement, he had noticed earlier before that she sometimes appeared distracted or at times as if she was doing her fighting by rote.

Once during that time Nathan had noticed that as she broke one man's arm she used the back of the man who bent over to nurse that arm as a base as she threw out a kick to catch the man trying to sneak up on her before she then caught the same man under the chin with a vicious knee to the face.

That made him smile as he realized that in spite of the situation no matter how distracted she might be, she was still dangerous.

Nathan reached the man who threw him and he perfectly imitated the same move the man just used against him to slam the man into the very same Tavern wall that he was just occupying only moments before, but the man hit far harder and was out cold on impact.

Turning he looked at her questioningly a moment. While bedlam was still going on around them she took a spare moment to catch a breather and talk to Nathan.

"They shouldn't know how to do this. Mountain bandits shouldn't know this type of grappling. This is something deck hands from the east use, as this combat's principle is based on the swaying motion of a ship. It makes them unpredictable, but how they know how to use it makes no sense," smiled Ariel as she noticed Nathan's eyes and ducked.

Nathan grabbed the man swinging at her head by his out stretched arm and used it to flip the man.

Gaining another moment to breathe, she continued at Nathan's questioning look.

"Oh cut it out. It's not like I didn't train you and the kids for most all occurrences. There is no way to train you in every form of any combat you might see, no matter how obscure it may be, but what I did was train you to give you a good fighting chance no matter what you encounter," said Ariel as she did a front snap kick at another a man as he flew past them out of the blue.

Terrance threw her a smile as he turned to greet a different playmate. He was only trying to get the man away from him to get in better position, but throwing him Ariel's way now appeared that it was the best way to go, even if it was unintentional.

Rory was on the other side of the room was just now getting in a good shot that knocked out his target as he concentrated on the next guy heading his way.

"So how do you know about it?" Nathan asked, as he used his elbow to hit a man who had just jumped at him.

It was an opponent who was in the process of swinging his knee up at him, while attempting to connect to Nathan's face.

Had Nathan not grabbed the man's leg and hit the man, the kick the man was attempting to use would have hit Nathan squarely in the bridge of his nose.

Everyone kept trying to hit him in the head when they weren't trying to throw him upside down at walls. Most were frustrated that their body blows on him were mostly going unnoticed.

"Nathan I was on a lot of battlefields as you know. We fighters didn't get to pick who we faced or where we went. I've seen more types of fighting than you could possibly imagine. What our family uses is what I came up with as the best defense against many styles, and with your reflexes and memory it's not like you're not going to incorporate some of this into your own personal style," smiled Ariel

Smiling Nathan leaned in, kissed her and said "Soon as some of this craziness dies down you need to start writing down what you know on various styles. It's something we can pass on to all the children as something that can only help them later in life," and then they were back into the thick of the fighting.

But as he did he missed the look of deep longing she gave him, before she returned back to the fight and once again appeared to be fighting as if her mind was a million miles away.

Looking around at the mess and all the unconscious men, the four of them smiled.

This was a pretty involved fight and one that had to happen so that they could capture their target that they were hired to bring in. The mayor of the city was desperate to have him stopped.

The target was a mountain Bandit Chief who every spring came down from the mountains and raided the city. Not only did they steal everything they could get their hands on, but several women and girls went missing only to come back traumatized weeks later telling horror stories about their treatment.

Their usual method was to come to town, take over a tavern, drink all of their alcohol and eat all their reserves, and once it was all gone they would raid the town before they left.

The city of Carlson's Grove was willing to pay whatever they could to get someone to help. With his having an estimated 50 – 70 men backing him, it made most guilds decide that fighting a small war might not be the best thing for them to do.

But the Phoenix's guild decided to take the contract and felt they only need to send these four to take care of the matter.

Knowing that a frontal assault might give the man time to escape, the four of them talked at length and Ariel came up with a plan that, while it was a plan she wasn't remotely comfortable with, she also knew it would give them the greatest chance at success.

Nathan wasn't sure about letting her go in there unarmed with so many men surrounding her, but a quick deep kiss from Ariel, that seemed to go on longer than it should have by the way, quickly convinced him to let her try her plan.

Rory and Terrance both looked on quietly with their usual envy.

With the three men now in position, giving the appearance that they were just milling around, they drew no attention as they started to slowly approach the Wounded Dog Tavern from three different angles.

Ariel waited until she could see them closing in on the building before she slowly and coyly walked right up to the front door, smiled a toothy and dimpled smile at the men standing there with their backs against the door frame guarding the entrance, and put a hand on each of their chest and lightly pushed her way past them inside.

The men, seeing her do this, seemed to be entranced as they both stepped back and allowed her to step inside as they continued to turn and watched her walk further into the room.

The room seemed to fall silent of all conversation as Ariel stood in the doorway and allowed her eyes to adjust to the lower level of light.

All eyes seemed to be focused on the entrance of the striking woman with the flowing long red hair hanging high in a ponytail on her head behind her, and the bangs that were cut long to reach just to the tops of her cutely arching eyebrows.

Those who were the closest could see the bright emerald green eyes and deep dimples on her face as she stood there for a few moments.

But none could miss how the plunging neckline of her black vest combined with the light blue blouse underneath that came to her neck, and how the form fitting black leather pants did nothing to hide the hips.

This all worked to complete the impressive hourglass figure, and if anything the outfit only accentuated them.

After a few moments, and once she could clearly see around the room, Ariel looked around and soon was able to spot the target Brandon Standish. He was seated and he appeared to be holding down on his lap what appeared to be a very unwilling serving girl.

The poor girl had short black hair that was closely cut to her head. She was a mildly attractive young girl with red lips, brown eyes, and a smattering of freckles on her face.

She was a touch heavy for her youthful age, but working the long hours at a tavern on her feet would soon fix that, though right at that moment terror was the only thing that was etched on that young face.

The girl had been struggling to keep Brandon from kissing her face, but she wasn't trying too hard as she was scared to anger him, and as she did Brandon had been laughing at her as he kept trying.

At Ariel's entrance, while he was still holding on to the woman's waist, she became long forgotten pursuit as he now watched Ariel slow entrance along with his men.

Ariel thought dryly as she noticed the girl, that she must have not been able to get out of the Tavern when they approached like the other women because she saw no other women around. The poor woman was so scared Ariel could see the whites of her eyes from where she was at the front of the room.

With her conviction confirmed even more by what she saw, and smiling even bigger which made her dimples even deeper, Ariel slowly sauntered towards Brandon as she looked him over.

She stopped in the center of the room to let him look her over as she studied him in greater detail.

He had a jagged scar along the left side of his face. It was obvious that whatever caused the scar also took his left eye, as it was puckered and closed. The man was large and muscular, just a touch larger than her husband Nathan. He had a thick bushy mustache and needed a shave badly from the day's growth around his chin.

While Ariel was approaching the man she realized that she could smell him a mile away.

It didn't help that his dirty grey short sleeve shirt, with a single torn and ragged sleeve, was stained with things she couldn't even begin to identify. The shirt was covered by an opened brown leather vest. She could just barely make out his homespun dirty brown pants underneath the girl while he was seated.

Smiling as she approached him she did her best to swing her hips as much as she could to ensure that everyone's eyes were on her and not on the door she just entered through.

Something in her green eyes flashed and you could almost smell and taste the barely hidden sexual desire just dripping off her, and that realization made every man in the room go hard as they looked at her.

Very hard.

As soon as it was apparent that she was headed for Brandon, he quickly stood, causing the serving girl to fall forgotten to the floor, where she gratefully and quickly jumped up, and raced to the back of the Tavern headed for the back door, but none of the men seemed to notice as they were entranced by Arial.

The young woman couldn't believe any woman would be fool enough to ever seek Brandon out, but she was grateful she was no longer his main focus as she fled.

"So I hear you are Brandon Standish, the terror of the mountains. Is everything they say about you true?" asked Ariel with a coy smile.

Staring at her for a moment Brandon said with a cocky smile "That depends. Are we talking about how no man can match my considerable fighting prowess or how the bitches seek me out because they hear the ones I've been with just can't get enough?

"Oh, so you're just that much of a man? Well I'm just someone who was passing through and I heard about you and had to get a look at you just once so I could say I did. So do you think you might be man enough for me?" asked Ariel suddenly softer which causing her deep voice to get deeper and raspy.

Brandon's smile grew larger as he started walking towards where she was in the middle of the room.

As he reached her, Ariel quickly placed her hand on his chest to hold him away from her for a moment. Stopping he looked down at her hand before he looked up into her shining bright green eyes. The heat of his own desire could be felt through her hand.

"Before we get started I have to make sure you're man enough to even be with someone like me," said Ariel softly with a seductive smile.

Grabbing her wrist he held it for a moment as he said "There is no one more manly than I am," and then he yanked her off balance towards him.

As Ariel started towards him she seemed to spin and ended up with her back to him so that he was now holding onto her arm and that arm was now across her own chest.

Brandon leaned in close to her head and she could hear his breathing as close as he was, but the stench he had was almost overpowering as close to her as he now was.

But if she hadn't turned as she did, she was sure that his pulling movement would have ended up in a kiss. While they were this close Ariel spoke again.

"Oh? Well then you better hold on best you can, so I can see your manliness. This way you can prove it to everyone here," said Ariel as her seductive smile suddenly grew very, very evil in nature.

The other men in the room all looked around at each other in confusion at her quick change of facial expression as she looked back at them.

While she did this she had looked back towards the door she had entered through and she could now see that Nathan, Terrance, and Rory were now just inside the Tavern's doors.

They all smiled at her and gave her thumbs up. When she saw that she seemed to show an explosive movement.

Stepping slight forward Ariel stomped Brandon's foot as hard as she could with the flat of her heeled boot.

When she did, and as the pain registered Brandon started to lean forward, but when he did as she expected Ariel hit him squarely in the throat with a savage elbow as he released the hand he was holding onto her with in surprise.

With his foot long forgotten Brandon tried to now grab his throat with both hands as he stared at her with watering bug eyes trying to gasp for breath. But it didn't matter, because as she was turning to face him she did a jump kick that just caught him under the chin.

Brandon appeared to be sprouting wings as he flew backwards and crashed into his former table shattering it. Brandon was out cold and would be for a long time.

Everyone stood in silence staring at what she had just done.

"Oh my, I guess you really weren't really man enough for me, were you? Only one man really is, and he wouldn't have been caught by that nearly as easy as you were," said Ariel as she smiled at the down man in a playful manner.

She could now hear the noise behind her of the men who were starting for her, but Nathan's voice suddenly roared out "Hey honey guess what I found" as he grabbed the nearest man in front of him from behind, and threw the man across the room at about waist height.

The man he threw had been one of those guarding the door, and the man hit the bar counter head first and that took him out of the fight. At that noise all the men turned to see what was going on at the door.

As the men looked at the door they couldn't miss a lightly tan, yet thickly muscled man, with extremely thick and curly brown hair, with a single silver forelock in it, in a brown short sleeved tunic and brown leather pants with what looked to be a collapsible staff across his back

Nor did they miss the stocky brown haired man with the thin black mustache who seemed to be running full speed at the nearest man with his arms opened as if he was going to bear hug them, or did they miss his slightly taller lean companion with blonde hair and blue eyes that seem to be spoiling to get into a fight as he scanned around himself before he leapt at the nearest man to himself.

As the men spread out and started grabbing anyone with in reach near them Ariel turned back to the men nearest her and started using her arms and legs to take out anyone she could reach.

From that point forward the fight was on and bedlam ruled.

Now that it was over and done Ariel looked around the room.

"Well that went better than planned. God I hated letting him touch me. I wanted to break his arm for it as soon as he did, but I had to let him get that close because I didn't hear you enter yet.

"I should still break an arm now just purely for the sake of his lack of hygiene, but I don't want to ever get that close to him again. What took you so long?" asked Ariel while she looked at her husband.

She was still sweating, even though the fight was long over, and she also seemed to be frowning at her husband.

"Sorry, we tried to move faster but Rory kept stopping to stare at your butt," said Nathan with a smile.

"Bwwaaa, no I didn't ... I mean not that I wouldn't ... but ... I ... I mean I... , ' stammered Rory as he started blushing hard.

"He's pulling your leg and he better stop," said Ariel as she looked at her husband dangerously.

She never did tell him that the two men had once asked if she and Nathan ever traded partners.

Ariel was capable of handling this and felt it was already handled, but she knew Nathan wouldn't have ever said that as a joke if he had known.

"Just kidding, just kidding. We made one last quick pass first to make sure that there wasn't anyone left outside," said Nathan with a smile as he looked at still blushing Rory.

Now that they were finished here, they planned to collect Brandon solely by himself, tie him up, and deliver him to the local jail for safekeeping.

"We'll collect our fee, but we may have to still destroy his camp to make sure that he is discouraged from doing this again," said Terrance as he stepped past Ariel and started for Brandon.

As Rory also moved past her to start for Brandon, Ariel waited before she reached out and grabbed her husband and pulled him into a savage kiss as he also turned to move towards Brandon.

For some reason, he could now feel her lightly trembling as she did.

"Nathan it's been five nights, almost six. I know we needed to plan this out, to ride hard to get here, and still have time to scout the city. So because of that we never had any time to ourselves as desperate as the situation was, but I'm not going to last much longer.