“Keep the taur down!”
Sepp watched as an ax flew at the dragoon’s head and missed narrowly. The Dragoon pulled out a knife and drove it into the wolftaur’s brain.
On the other side things weren’t as fortunate. The Raider, on that side, remained atop his wolftaur.
“Open up!” Sepp shouted, returning his attention to the action nearest him. The dragoon rolled off the wolftaur and scrambled back to the trench as tripods began tearing apart green flesh with each mechanical shot. Sepp’s ballista hit home all three times.
“Boom stick!”
A stick of dynamite was thrown out on the other side, and it blew up the second wolftaur, but already on that end the monsters were charging into the line.
“Warriors forward, archers as well!” Sepp barked out. The wolves behind him hesitated. He was sending ten of them to face twenty much larger Greenskins.
“Go, I said, raus!” Sepp pulled on a grenade and tossed it into the spearmen’s dugout. Like possessed animals they leaped out of the hole and at the monsters just before the dugout exploded. Sepp picked up his own crossbow and took out one of the charging Raiders. The Raiders easily cut and tore into the wolven warriors once the fighting was close up, but the flanking wolves descended from the trees and leaped upon the enemy in packs just yards away.
“Sir, what do I do? I can’t fire they’re too close!” Rokura shouted.
“Here! Watch…”
Sepp got down by the tripod and shooed Rokura to the side.
“Know your own inaccuracy and compensate it. Then anticipate the enemy. Like so.”
Sepp pulled the trigger and pierced the skull of another grimeskin locked in combat. Sepp’s shot saved a grey-furred wolf. He continued his lecture.
“Then breathe in, out. Pull trigger on the exhale.”
And once again Sepp’s aim hit home.
A captain on the other side howled for retreat, and the remaining warriors fell back into the trench. The flank attack on Sepp’s end also had to retreat, and now the monsters were coming again. A fresh wave of ballista arrows flew out from the trenches to claim four or five more of the Greenskins. The monsters had worked up fierce rage at those tripods, and now that they were close enough they smashed the machines with their axes, chopping some of the gunners as well.
The Greenskins jumped, and some fell, into the trenches around him. Sepp dropped the crossbow and pulled out his dagger. He heard angry snarls rise up on all sides of him as wolves jumped up from their places and onto the enemy. On both sides he heard the blocky Grimeskins getting torn apart in the thin trenches.
“We’re keeping them out,” Rokura said, sprinting over to Sepp.
Sepp pulled the binoculars back to his eyes and observed the trench fighting going on. The Grimeskins seemed uninterested in retreat, and all of them who came to the trenches met their end there. Outside his own trench he saw the wolves hunting Greenskins in packs of three in the nearby woods.
“Have we won, sir?” Rokura asked.
“No,” Sepp replied, setting down his field glass. “This was just their first attempt.”
Der Standartenfuehrer
“I assume they smoke over in the Grossdeutschland?” Peiper asked Hans and reached in his pocket to produce a pack of cigarettes.
“Of course, Herr Standartenfuehrer.”
Peiper gave Hans a cigarette and lit it for him. After the escape, and Sarah, and then having to explain himself to two officers, that cigarette did a lot of good.
“So you know some things about this land, I take it?”
“Well. Some. There are two port towns to the south of here, a long way south of here.”
“Is that how you came here?”
“Jawohl. I first arrived on another continent, but wound up here after a long journey.”
“What kind of creatures are in this world?”
“Well, I call them ‘Furries,’ sir. They’re like animals, but really they think and talk just like we do.”
Peiper blew a stream of smoke into the icy air, “Are they dangerous?”
“…Some yes, some no. Some I’ve seen are friendly to humans, some hostile.”
“Alright. Well, the men you see here were part of my Kampfgruppe some time ago. They’ve been through a lot before getting here.”
Hans wondered what Peiper really meant. After all, everyone had been through a lot.
“Where were you last, Herr Standartenfuehrer?”
“Prison. We were put on some show trial by the Americans. And you don’t want to know how Americans get ‘confessions.’”
“…I see.”
The commander quickly changed topics. “Are there any other comrades you’ve seen on your journey here, Herr Hepner?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see any, but—”
“But what?”
“There is a fighter plane somewhere on this world. I’ve been searching for it all this time. That’s how I got here.”
“Where did you first see it?”
“Far away, sir. On the other continent. Some of the furries are terrified of it. Originally I came to this continent in search of this plane. To try and put a stop to it.”
“Is it bombing or strafing?”
“I believe so. From what I’ve heard, yes. I’m not sure why. Or who it is.”
Peiper took another drag on the cigarette.
“And what about the American? You seem to know him well.”
“Not really, sir. I just met him yesterday. Tex was the only one in the camp who believed me when I told him about this world, and he didn’t leave me when he had the chance. So if it’s all the same I’d rather keep him around.”
“Interesting,” Peiper said, butting out his cigarette and leaning back, and then sighed.
“You know, I have a wife and three kids. Three kids who no longer have a father back home. For me, that’s the hardest part of this whole thing.”
Hans looked down at the ground and nodded. “I had never fallen in love until I came to this world, sir…”
Peiper nodded. “That’s why you’ve adapted so well to this place. And it’s probably why I never will.”
“Yeah, um, I mean, ‘Jawohl.’”
Peiper laughed softly at Hans’ faux pas.
“See, Herr Hepner, these men here, we are each others’ family. Especially now. You are free to continue your journey when your Sarah Flame is healed, although we’d be grateful if you stayed.”
It was a serious question Hans hadn’t considered. He always just assumed he’d stay here with his own, especially since his own resources had run dry.
“Sir, I’d like to stay if at all possible. I think Sarah would like to stay, also.”
Peiper nodded.
“That’s a relief. I’m glad you want to stay.”
“I will certainly try my best, sir.”
“One other thing. This location here. Do you know if there are more wolves around here?”
“I don’t know. There might be.”
Now was probably a good time to show Jochen the map. Hans reached in his bag and unfurled the parchment and pointed at their approximate location.
“Hmm. To the south are some mountains And you say the foxen live past the mountains?”
“Yes. The foxen I’ve seen are hostile. There are also felines on the other side and they are, uh, a bit friendlier.”
Peiper shot Hans a glance, but Hans was eager to change the subject.
“The person who gave me this said there shouldn’t be any wolves around here, but it turns out there are. She warned me to avoid this one area especially,” Hans hovered his finger over a wide swath of forest due east of them. The ‘wolven’ area accounted for nearly a quarter of the map.
“I see. It looks like wolves will be our greatest threat.”
“They could be. But I’ve heard there is another threat coming, only once, but still.”