The Mercenary

Prologue

The heavy doors of the great hall opened with a thunder. The light filtered by the white columns cast an eerie hallo around the silvery wolf collapsed at the feet of the throne. His mouth was foaming, and his breath was shallow. The queen frowned while the transformation took place, and a man appeared on the floor.
'I barely escaped this time. They have Will... dead' he answered the queen's inquisitive brow. He shuddered and added: 'To everyone else it would seem he was attacked by wolves.'
The queen bit her lip and paced around the hall for a while. For all her power, humans were growing more and more meddling and worse at all, organized. Her people couldn't roam the realms free anymore. To train or make things right, as they did for 5000 years. Each parcel is charted and the instruments the men invented could watch their every move. What did they call them? Satellites?
'We need a new training ground, Zamolxis', she murmured to the young man, clad now in a silky white robe.
'A place where we can be right in their eyes and practice shape-shifting, strengthen our spells and train our fighters; without mankind suspecting.'
Zamolxis thought for a while, and his eyes sparkled.
'I might know exactly the place. I will need some of those... things... computers and...' he stopped, noticing the look of disgust on the queen's face.
'Never mind, mother, know that I must use their tools to hide what I have to do.'
The queen nodded, not pleased with what she heard. She had no better idea though and her son might be right, after all. Uneasily, she asked: 'What do you have in mind?"
'I plan hacking their biggest video-game, link it to our realm and use it as a gate. We will be some of the millions of people entering and exiting every day. Nobody will suspect. Only those who we choose can ever pass, and even they will not know it.'
The queen started to like the idea. She would not only hide the biggest secret right in the front of men, but she could train her people without them knowing she existed.
She never liked revealing themselves, even to the few chosen ones. 'The hearts of men are easily corrupted' as one of their kin put it.
She shook away 5000 years of loath and worry and looked at her son:
'Can you do it? '