"Okay what's our plan... guys?" I asked my companions when the smell of dog feces wafted nearby. I didn't sense it, however, in this case I preferred to trust.

The three of us sat in the middle of the forest, hidden from unwanted sight. We were divided into two circles, us three musketeers in the inner circle and the rest of the army constantly on the lookout for movement in the outer ring.

"Master..."

"--__--!!!"

"Come on, don't make me do everything myself. Why do I need you guys?"

"I get Randaloph, he's an animal, but even you Gawain will not help at all.... you know, I'm disappointed."

"Maassttee..."

"--'\__/'--"

"--'\__/'--"

"--'\__/'--"

"I can't believe that, that just now. Now you are offended that I called you an animal, do not forget why we are here. Randaloph I don't believe I have to tell you this, but you are a wolf.... wolf in the classification is.... animal. I know, surprising but it's the truth."

"--`'\__/'`--"

"Well, and you're going to make a fuss now.... really now that all the moments you could have chosen?"

"--`'\__/`'---"

"Ehhh.... good enough... you won again this time."

Fucking dog.

"Sorry Randaloph.... are you pleased now?"

"=='\__/'=="

"No... no... no... again, I don't believe my eyes, I really don't believe it now...what now?"

"You're going to make me say the whole apology down to the word, aren't you?"

"--`'\__/'`--"

"Breathe Samuel... breathe, it's just an ordinary dog, no need to get so upset about it."

"--`'\__/'`--"

"Okay... I'll say it, happy?"

"--',__,'--"

"And now he's still going to taunt me, the damn fleabag." I thought as my bones began to shake in passing.

"--',__,'--"

"Randaloph I'm sorry for calling you a mere animal, wolves are very smart and match their intelligence with that of humans.... content now?"

"==',__,'=="

"And seemingly now I'm yet to say how wolves are better than humans, you little.... RANDALOPH don't push your luck, do we understand each other?"

"--`'\__/'`--"

"I said don't push over... apology accepted?"

"--__--"

"It's good that we came to an agreement, after all, you personally know that we have more important things on our minds. And it is you of all three of us who should care the most, well, unless something has changed. Why don't we go back?" I asked and my voice this time sounded like a ripped piece of paper.

"--__--"

"Damn mongrel we'll still come back to this after all. And then I'll show you who's the real boss here" I thought once the situation had deescalated.

#

While the master and his dog... alpha and his servant ... the necromancer and his undead wolf, or whatever their relationship consists of, tried to establish dominance over each other it was Gawain, meanwhile, who watched their interactions that with his usual stoic calm. Unmoved by what was happening in front of his eyes.

"So this is what home looks like, nice." Thought the undead knight as he watched his new family, and with each minute of observation his mind like a sponge gained more and more knowledge.

#

"And you..." I said as I pointed my finger at the bone giant. I finished arguing with one then it was time to fight another. "Don't think I've forgotten about you Gawain."

"Master..."

"No, no, I don't accept it, did you hear me?"

"You have to come up with something. You don't have any rational explanation for making excuses do you understand. Plus you'll do it fast, the wolf pack won't wait for your laziness, they'll probably move soon and then we'll have to look for them all day again. Time does not wait."

"Maaassstteerr....."

"Don't whine just get to work. Move that head."

"Gosh like with children, instead of creating an army capable of destroying the world, am I playing family?" I thought again shaking slightly.

"Master..."

"You don't know how to do it... don't lie Gawain, even captains have some basics of skeleton management, not to mention you. Great and magnificent knight or maybe I misjudged you?"

"Master..."

"So you're not confident in coming up with a plan that can work.... phhh. You don't have full knowledge in this area and prefer to trust me to do it better, got it right?"

"Master..."

"Eh..." Mental fatigue began to make its presence known. "And you couldn't say it right away , you just circled around the topic?"

"Master..."

"Apology accepted."

"Okay then what now," I thought when silence once again beckoned to the area. "I guess as always one has to improvise.... and I was hoping that I could at least rely a little on these two idiots. Alone as always."

"Eh...Gawain, Randaloph if you guys don't want to create a plan then I have to deal with it.... as usual."

"Master..."

"--__--"

"Let's start by gathering information, what we know and where we stand. Randaloph let's start with you. Show me through our connection how the pack hunts or how they attack something. As the former alpha of this pack, you will certainly know that. "

"--___--"

"Without complaining, if I don't know the threat then I won't start a fight."

"--___--"

"Okay I understand, is there anything else I should know before we move on?"

"--,__,--"

"That's something I didn't need to know, but ok."

"Gawain now you , will you be able to lead the rest of the army for a while when I will be using spells?"

"Master..."

" Good... good, that's what I wanted to hear. You'll already have the formation established so all you have to do is fill in the gaps in the shield wall and give commands to the archers to shoot, it shouldn't be too difficult for you."

"Master..."

"Don't worry about the losses, besides you two the rest of the army I can replenish, they are expendable."

"Master..."

"Relax now you have time to learn to be better in the future."

"Maaassstteerr..."

"It will be fine."

~~~

"The most important things are behind us, but in order to determine the rest it would be useful to..."

"Randaloph run to investigate the pack and see how many there are, just try to make sure they don't notice you."

"--`__`--"

"You're still not over ... don't whine, just run, take one skeleton on your back so I can see something. Well, unless you want me to search your memory again?"

To my order the wolf did not answer him with his usual stoic face but took the nearest skeleton in his mouth and started running to his destination, dodging or leaping over the rest of the undead army.

~~~

"Three males, four females, and an alpha, eight units. You know I expected there to be more."

"--__--"

"Well I was hoping there would be about 20 or 30 wolves, but with less than ten we should be able to handle it."

"--__-- !!!"

"As you left there were more.... interesting. Probably the alpha must have chased away the pretenders and killed the cubs or maybe there was some bigger fight."

"--__-- !!!"

"He even slaughtered a pregnant female.... "

"Actually, I would have done the same thing if I were him." I thought with a bit of regard.

"Alpha... great son of a bitch, even greater than when I met you. I'm not surprised you lost to him."

"--\__/--"

"Yes you are right... but I hope this has taught you something. For the future you should murder the children of your former rivals."

"--'__'--"

"That's good..."

"--__--"

"..."

"..."

"You'll probably want to fight him alone, right?"

"--'\__/'--"

"Okay, we'll stop the rest."

"Master..."

"Okay that's it, let's split up and mentally prepare as best we can. We leave in half an hour unless the herd moves on."

"Master..."

"--__--"

"I, in the meantime, I'll come up with some new spells that may come in handy later."

~~~

"Listen me everybody... here's the plan, at first we attack from a distance to see how our opponent will behave."

"If they attack , the shieldmen in the front should hold out until we hurt them enough. In case of a flank attack Gawain you know what to do."

"Master..."

"And if they run away like..."

"--__--"

"If they escape... that's even better, we'll then isolate them and attack them one at a time. The pursuit with Randaloph in front will continue until we knock them all out or find ourselves in an unexpected situation."

"Master..."

"Relax, I'm already telling the rest"

"However, in case the pack directly attacks us Randaloph takes the alpha on himself and we take the rest. Let's try not to let their duel be interrupted."

"Seven wolves, I will try to separate whem with an ice wall, I already know more or less how they will behave then..."

"--__--"

"When the axemens , spearmens and Gawain will try to kill the weakest and most injured individual."

"MASTER..."

"What again Gawain , why are you interrupting me again?"

"MASTER..."

"Ah that explains a lot," I said involuntarily as I wandered my eyes behind the knight's finger. "The pack is moving this way or they've spotted us or..."

"Get ready for battle.... captains, I will communicate the rest of the plan in real time."

"Good luck Randalophie," I whispered to the wolf as he disappeared unnoticed.

"And we Gawain.... we have monsters to kill."