Aldrich swung his saber, cutting away the tall grasses in his path. He'd never been this far into unfamiliar territory- or at least not without his loyal Pointer, Bean. It had been a week and Aldrich had already lost Bean's trail. He simply meant to go on a hunting trip with Bean, but an inky black panther appeared and chased after Bean. Aldrich shivered as the flashback replayed. Bean, terrified, fled for her life and ended up disappearing into the dense forest. By the time Aldrich had caught up with Bean and the black panther (or at least where they were), the two tussling animals were gone. Every muscle in his body screamed to go get help, but his one stubborn bone refused. Being the dumb-witted human he was, Aldrich set off after Bean. Snap! Stick splinters flew everywhere, grabbing Aldrich's attention and distracting him from his thoughts.

What was that? Couldn't be a hare, I haven't seen one around here. Aldrich thought with rising panic. Must be some heavy animal. A small animal couldn't have sent splinters flying. Or if Aldrich really thought about it... the animal could've been a human. He grunted, raising his crossbow in case he needed to shoot. The air went deathly still for a moment and Aldrich thought he could hear rapid breathing. Yeah, someone's definitely here, the lean man narrowed his eyes. Then he slowly turned around, although he might've accidentally stepped on a couple of leaves. Forget about it, the thing might've seen me anyways. Aldrich shook his head in frustration, which happened to be a big mistake because he wasn't paying attention at that particular moment. A quarterstaff whacked Aldrich on the back of his head and pain blasted from the back of his head. Aldrich released a furious below and he quickly pulled out a short dagger hanging from his belt as he dropped his crossbow. Then as Aldrich swung around to face his opponent, a white coyote-like mask appeared in front of him and punched his face. There are two of them? How am I supposed to fight two people? Aldrich didn't stop to ponder that question, because this was a life or death situation. He refused to die at the hands of some people he couldn't see. He needed to track down Bean-

"Wow, this guy is really slow," one of his attackers commented as the quarterstaff swept under his feet. He fell onto his back, grunting as he reached for his crossbow. It wasn't like it'll do much, considering crossbows were inefficient in close combat. Then the person with the coyote mask leaped on top of Aldrich and whipped out short knives, pressing the blade against his neck.

"He's probably caught up in his muddled thoughts," scoffed the coyote man. Aldrich froze, trying not to do anything to anger the coyote man. He squinted and realized the coyote man wasn't actually a man. He was more of a boy, around the age of thirteen. The attacker with the quarterstaff leaned over and the realization hit Aldrich. This kid had a similar appearance to the coyote boy. She had a feline mask (lion? leopard? cheetah? he couldn't tell) and as he waited, the feline girl squinted at Aldrich's face.

"State your name and business," growled the feline girl.

"Or we'll make you!" yapped the coyote boy as his grip on the blade harden. Aldrich gulped, sweat beginning to form on his face.

"I-I'm just trying to find my hunting dog," stammered Aldrich. The two kids exchange a glance with each other. "It's... nothing you should worry about, run along now-" clearly that was the wrong thing to say.

"Run along now? It's like he's dismissing us!" the feline girl angrily spat.

"He thinks he's higher than us, being older and all. Don't forget sir, we beat you up before you could get a punch in!" sneered the coyote boy. Aldrich could feel his face flush in anger.

"What do you want with me anyway? I already answered your question!" Aldrich tried to defend himself from these two savage kids.

"First, you didn't tell us your name so I can't say you answered my question. Second, you're in an area you're not supposed to be in." snapped the feline girl. Before anyone could make any move, the leaves rustled and two more red-cloaked figures calmly walked into view. One of them was a large, burly man with a ram mask and horizontal pupils. Wait- did humans normally had horizontal pupils? A question flashed in Aldrich's mind. The other one had a feline mask (similar to the feline girl) but appeared to be older.

"Prowler. Howl. What did I say before we left?" rumbled the ram person. Aldrich got the feeling he was some sort of authority because the coyote boy (or 'Howl') squeaked while 'Prowler' (the feline girl) defiantly looked up at the ram person.

"Don't run ahead and wait for the others to catch up." mumble the two kids. Howl hanged his head while Prowler continued staring at the ram person. Then the ram person noticed Aldrich and sighed, shaking his head. 

"Sorry about that. We're on patrol and this is Prowler and Howl's first time patrolling. You two, get off him now." with a frustrated sigh, the two kids hopped off Aldrich with a sigh. Aldrich groaned as he got up and brushed the dirt away from his clothes. "Anyways, state your name and business. Please."

"Aldrich McFray. I'm searching for my hunting dog." Aldrich revealed. He fiddled with his cloak, waiting for the ram person to decide what to do next.

"Stead. A pleasure to meet you." the ram person, or 'Stead' held out his hand for Aldrich to shake. A little imitated, Aldrich hesitantly took out his hand to shake Stead's hand. "That's Worthy and the two trainees are Howl and Prowler. You're getting awfully close to the Redcloak tower so I'd suggest you turn back now. We'll help you find your lost dog."

Wait, did he just said Redcloaks? wondered Aldrich. He'd heard rumors of a mysterious group of masked people living around this area, but he never believed it until now.

"Erm, uh, thank.. you." stammered Aldrich and Stead nodded.

"Come along now. It's getting dark and we don't leave anyone in the dark." Stead nodded his head and motioned everyone to follow him. As they walked, Aldrich noticed Stead was in the lead, with himself being flanked by the two kids and the silent 'Worthy' bringing up the rear. It's like they don't want me to run off or something, he thought.

"Tell me, what brought you here to this remote area?" Worthy suddenly inquired. Aldrich was surprised and a little stunned for a moment before clearing his throat.

"I was hunting with my dog a week ago," Aldrich started off. He could see from the corners of his eyes the two kids leaned closer- perhaps to eavesdrop. "when a huge, inky black panther leaped out of nowhere and-"

"Wait, you said huge, inky black panther?" interrupted Prowler. Her eyes suddenly blazed with questions. Aldrich nodded a tiny bit. "Oh! That's Jinx, my spirit animal! He went missing for two weeks. We've been trying to find him- at least we now know where he was last seen."

"Wait- what?" exclaimed Aldrich.

"Speaking of which, you mentioned hunting dog, right?" Howl shoved himself into the conversation. "I some skinny dog with a scar on her nose dragged herself up to our tower the other day-"

"Wouldn't stop yapping whenever we said beans and soup-" Prowler added in.

"Bean!" cried out Aldrich. "You found Bean!" just as Aldrich was rejoicing inside his mind, sticks snapped behind him. Splitters flew everywhere and that reminded Aldrich something... a huge, black panther slithered out from the bushes. He was covered in bits of dirt and sticks but managed to look beautiful and imitating at the same time.

"Jinx!" exclaimed Prowler as she ran over to the panther, hugging him. "Looks like we found our missing black panther!"

"Or rather, Jinx found us," muttered Worthy. "Let's get back to the tower before it starts to rain."