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Insistent shaking brought him awake, his eyes flew open and were greeted by the sight of Ukon. "Wake up you dolt!" Ukons harsh voice snarled. "Put these on and hurry up!" he snarled again tossing a bundle of cloth on the bed. "Now!" he ordered, seening Chris's hesitation.

Chris hurridly jumped from the bed, pulling the cloth up with him, it was a simple robe of rough spun wool, a faded white.

"Come on now!" the burly soldier grumbled, "get it on!"

Chris threw the robe over his head and pulled it on. Ukon grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him through the doorway. Chris nearly stumbled as he was thrown off balance, but the solid grip of the soldier kept him upright.

"What... what's going on?" Chris asked.

"It's time for the assembly, now listen" Ukon barked at him. "You are to stand where I leave you, do not talk to anyone, you will stand and listen to the Grandmaster. If you so much as think to squeak, I will personally come and smack you for being insolent. Tren said that you were special and the council had plans for you, but don't think for a moment that I'm going to go easy on you just 'cause of that." Chris wondered fleetingly who Tren was. "After the Grandmaster has spoken, you will follow in line with the others. You won't have to do anything, but after the choosing, you are to go to your designated group." Chris could barely keep up with the soldiers long strides, the hallway twisted and turned, rooms and halls flew by. Through one arched doorway Chris gasped. The room they strode through was breath taking. Sunlight streamed through the circular opening in the rooftop, glistening off a still pool in the middle of the room. Neatly trimmed grass surrounded it and around the grass, the floor was tiled in white stone. Ukon gave no indication of even noticing his surroundings and simply tugged Chris along. "The group will then be given their instructions on where they will go afterward." He glared over his shoulder at Chris "Got all that?"

Chris nodded meekly and opened his mouth to ask a question. "No talking" Ukon said, "You will be silent until you are asked a direct question!"

Finally they came to a small door and Ukon opened it and led him through. The hallway into which they walked was immense. The sealing alone must have stood as high as five wagons on top of each other. Columns soared upward, they seemed to be made of the same white stone floor he'd seen earlier, but veins of pink and oranges ran across their surface. The veins seemed to pulsate gently in the golden light flooding through the high windows and a slight breeze ran through from the great open doors in the distance, as if the building itself were breathing.

Ukon dragged him to a stop near the front of this hallway and looked him steadily in the eye. He brought a single finger to his lips, a universal gesture for silence. Chris nodded, but the soldier had already smartly turned around and headed to stand against the wall far to the right, other soldiers falling in next to him and a quick glance showing that more had started stationing themselves all the way down the great hall. Chris looked around and marvelled at everything. Stories were one thing, but even his wildest dreams could never have prepared him for this sight. The great pillars, standing three times his own width seemed small in the vast space. He quickly looked up into the distant heights fearing to see the sealing coming down to squash such an insignificantly tiny creature desecrating its innards. Chris wondered if it was magic that kept it up on high. It made no sense to him that stone itself could sit like this and not tumble down.

The echo of footsteps made him look behind. He could see a mass of young people coming in through the door. Other boys and girls came to stand abreast of him and then more lined up behind, he couldn't see over the heads behind him to find out how many had filled the hall.

He quickly looked ahead of him when a tall muscular red head looked down at him, his eyebrow arched. After what seemed an eternity of footsteps droning through the hall, silence descended like darkness after the snuffing of a candle. Chris glanced nervously to the side of the hallway and met Ukon's glance. The soldier again brought a single finger to his lips.

"Welcome young one's!" A voice boomed out into the hallway, making him jump in fright. The girl on his left was looking upwards and Chris quickly followed her glance. He then saw a balcony set above the great closed doors in front of them. A figure dressed in a colourfully striped robed stood at the edge of the balcony, his grey beard hanging like a snowy waterfall from his chin to the top of the balustrade.

"Welcome to the war of freedom!" the voice boomed out. "We rejoice that you have come to help us in our cause. We rejoice that you have the strength to stand in the face of danger. We rejoice that you have come to help stem the tide of the Evil that faces us!"

The crowd raised a great cry in answer to the booming words. Chris stood silently.

"This will be a difficult time for you, as it has been for us all. The 5 year truce is near it's end, in a year from now the forces of tyranny will again begin their fight to rule you. They have not let that time idly slip by. Their armies have amassed and grown. Their Magicians have been hard at work. Already they have started striking out at us! Breaking their oath of peace!" Again the crowd raised a cry, this time one of anger.

"We stood at a stale mate before they offered us this truce, but now the time is almost upon us where we must again fight for the freedom to live as we will! This time we will not let a stalemate be brought about! This time we will win!"

The cry of the crowd was deafening, even the vastness of the halls only seemed to take the swell of the cry and fold it back upon itself.

"Let the choosing begin!" The voice boomed out, the man on the balcony stepping back into its recesses.

The front row all turned to their left. Chris followed along. One by one he could see them approach a man seated at a table. Objects set out in front of him. As Chris grew closer he could see that there were five orbs of different colours, one a milky white, another deep blue, the third a burnt orange, the fourth a muddy brown and the last a crystal clear sphere. As a girl approached the table the deep blue sphere began to pulse strongly with light, the man behind the table said something to her and she walked off through the door on the opposite side of the hall where Chris had come in.

Drawing ever closer he could start making out the other objects, a small statue of a wolf sculpted so lifelike that it seemed about to leap away off its pedestal, a great bird with its wings outstretched as if about to leap off a rock into the air. A proud horse raised on its hind legs its main static in a wind only it could feel in its entombment of a dark red wood. Chris noticed the next to approach the table were two youths instead of one. The man behind the table looked up, and then motioned for one to move away. A small frail looking lanky youth with silver hair hanging to his thin shoulders stood before the table. Immediately the clear sphere began to radiate a strong light, the light seemed to jump from it to the other five spheres and they all glowed strongly. The man behind the table sat for a moment his face staring in shock at the five orbs, quickly he motioned the youth who had stepped away back. Chris could see his large muscles straining against the simple robe the youth wore, it dawned on him that everyone was wearing the same simple woollen robe that he himself had on.

As the pair moved through the doors the man at the table held up his hand signalling to the next in line to stay where he was.

Moments went by and the big youth came back through the door. As he approached the table the statue of the wolf began to pulsate with an inner light. The youth shook his head and said something to the seated man. The man calmly replied, Chris could see by the big youth's shoulders and his expressive arm gesturing that he was not happy with what he had been told, but not a word reached Chris's ears, even though he was sure that the youth had shouted.

The man at the table talked for a while and the youth's shoulders finally slumped dejectedly. He nodded and moved through the door. The next in line ascended the few steps when the seated man beckoned him upward. Chris wondered at the strange thing taking place. The booming voice had said this was the choosing. Choosing for what he wondered? How could coloured glass and little statuettes glow and what were the meanings behind it. It seemed that in the few days since he was taken from his people life had turned into madness. Lost in his reverie Chris was shocked to find himself at the foot of the steps. He looked up to see the man who had been in front of him in the line disappear through the door.

Chris ascended the few steps to the table, as his feet touched the top step he felt a tingle run through his body. He came to stand in front of the table and looked at the objects there.

There were a few that he had not been able to see, a book of green stone lay to the side. A strange disc, two teardrops fused together. One side was a pure white and the other jet black, a circle of the opposite colour in the middle of the rounded part of both. Before he could further study the objects a glow attracted his attention, it was the statue of the wolf. The seated man nodded and said sharply to Chris in a nasal voice. "Go through the door and tell the waiting man you are to join the wolves." Chris wanted to ask what was going on, but the admonishment that Ukon had given him stilled his tongue. He nodded and stepped through the door. Walking through the short hallway Chris stepped through another door. "Designation?" a voice inquired making Chris jump in fright. "I am to join the wolves?" he answered, his shaky voice belying his nervousness. "Name?" the man asked, jotting down a note on the paper he held on a board in his left arm.

"Chris" he answered.

"Follow the grey designation line to your group" the man said, pointing at Chris's feet.

Chris looked down and saw a multitude of coloured lines running from the spot he was standing. The grey line in the tangle lit lightly in a pool, the other colours fading away. The light started running forward along the line and stopped.

"Go on" The man said, giving Chris a push.

Chris did as he was told, not having much of another choice. He quickly glanced around him as he went and saw that he was in a large circular room. All around he could see the youths who had gone before standing in groups. Chris followed the guiding light of the grey line as it ran in a straight line to the walls. Chris looked up to his destination and saw the great muscled youth he had seen earlier standing next to a girl with blond hair who grinned at him impishly. The light at his feet broke in parallel directions away from him and ran in a square to the walls. Chris stepped up and stood against the wall to the big youth's right.

Chris watched in silence as one after another youths came in through the door and took station around the room. He noticed that the lanky silver haired youth stood on his own to their left. He studied the boys face, noticing that the boys eyes were a milky white. That must be why the hulking boy next to Chris had taken him up to the table and through the door. The boy was blind.

As the time ticked by the other groups swelled and grew, 2 more people came to join Chris's group and only one other came to stand next to the silver haired boy. All around though the other groups grew bigger and bigger as more people stepped through the door.

After what seemed to be hours of standing with his feet starting to ache, the man who had asked Chris his designation stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

An expectant silence filled the room, as if everyone was holding their breath at what was to come.

In front of each group a circle of light grew on the floor. Chris watched the light in front of his group as it grew ever brighter, finally having to look away as it felt like the sun was glaring up at him.

Suddenly the light cut out and Chris looked back. His breath caught in his throat at the sight before him.

A creature stood in front of him, its splayed paws spread on the floor, its chest and legs were covered in leather armour, the same gold burnishing that had been on Ukon's glinted in the light.

A wolf's face stared down at him, piercing golden eyes looking into his. Its black tipped ears flicked as it brought a single digit to its snout in the gesture of silence and then winked at Chris.

Terror squeezed Chris's insides, here before him stood a thing of legend. A nightmare creature of wolf and man, a paw resting on the hilt of a sword hung from its belt.

"A small litter" it said. "Well, you'll have to do, follow me"

Chris glanced at his group. None of them seemed afraid or shocked at the monster that had just talked to them in an all too human voice. In fact the big youth on his left stepped forward boldly. "Sir, please. What of my brother?" He asked pointing at the lanky youth. The Wolfman grunted and looked where he was pointing. "He will be taken care of, don't fret yourself. You will see him soon enough. Now no more questions." It rumbled and stepped toward them.

Light suddenly flashed brightly blinding Chris, he blinked in pain and surprise. The light quickly faded.

Chris looked around, they were in another room. Small and square, with the strange light globes hanging from the ceiling, behind the Wolfman there were benches. It beckoned for them to seat themselves as it walked to stand behind a desk. It waited until they all had sat, Chris quickly following the other four with him when they scuttled to get seated.

"You five have been chosen to join the wolf pack. What you see before you is what you will become." Three of the youths grinned at its words, except for the big youth and Chris himself.

The Wolfman shook its head and gazed at them for a moment.

"Some of you will not make it through this night" it said quietly into the silence.

"The change is an arduous thing, I am here to try and help you, to give you some guidance and make it easier. I have been through it myself." It said.

"The mages cannot help you, there is no other way. To be one of us you will have to endure great pain, you will feel like your limbs are being torn apart, as if you have been dipped in boiling oil" The others around him gasped, Chris whimpered in fear. The big youth just sat and listened impassively.

"You must endure this pain. You will want to fight it. You will want to eventually die just to let it end. That is exactly what you must not do. You must give yourself up to it. Embrace it like a long lost friend. When it gets too much and you wish for death you must cling to life or you will get your wish"

A low growl escaped it's maw. Chris could see fear now in the eyes of everyone else, except the big youth. There he saw only determination. The youth spoke. "Will I see my brother again afterwards?"

The Wolfman stared at him and nodded "If you survive then after you have recovered I will allow it."

"When will this happen then?" the youth asked.

"Now, if you want to be first?" There was a challenge in its growled words.

The youth stood up, wiping a stray silver hair from his eyes. "Let's get this done then."

The Wolfman bared his fangs in a grin. "I shall see you on the other side little one, go through that door and follow the brother who is waiting for you." It turned it's golden eyes back on the remaining four as the big youth stepped through the doorway.

"Now, who of you will be brave enough to go next?" It's black tipped ears flicked forward. It's dark grey tail swished behind it when no answer was forth coming.

Chris's mind sped up in a second, time seemed suspended like it had when he'd been flung from his horse in what seemed a long time ago. His thoughts spun and circled like two warring hawks of indecicion. Finally one won out. He decided that if this was going to happen, if it was even really happening and not just another of his prolonged nightmares then he would rather have it over and done with than having to sit and await his fate. Time returned as he stood up on shaking legs.

The Wolfman's eyes gleamed in surprise and then it broke into a smile. "Go through the door and follow the brother waiting for you. Ukon said he thought you had it in you. The rest of you will come with me. The mages will have to rest before they can perform the ritual again"

Chris stepped up to the door, his heart racing so fast he thought it might pound its way out of his chest. He pulled open the door and stepped through, another creature stood waiting on its other side. Its golden brown fur was braided, the braids hanging down over its armour to its chest. Chris could not mistake its feminism. It bared its fangs, but Chris could see by the laughing mirth in its eyes that it was meant as a smile.

"Two brave younglings so quick to take up the challenge, this bodes well for the pack. Come on then, before you change your mind" It rumbled laughingly in a lilting voice that seemed incongruent with its height and form.