As the wolf, returning from his evening stroll, pushed the door and entered the cabin a small gust of wind blew and made the flames in the fireplace across the room dance higher. For a fleeting second the eyes of the wizard grew bright as if in anticipation and then they died out again. The large canine walked silently by the fireplace, picked up a piece of wood from the stack on the floor with his teeth and tossed it into the fire, then he went by his master’s side and pushing with his snout he positioned his head under the old mans hand. For a few long minutes both of them remained still and then the old man’s face came back to life. He turned his head to the wolf and his fingers scratched the peaceful beast behind his ears.
“Hello old friend”, he said softly, and the left side of his mouth curled into something of a smile.
“For you to return from your walk, I guess another day has come to an end, and night has fallen once more”, he said with a sigh.
The room was dark, almost no light entered from the heavy barred wooden windows, making it difficult to tell the time of the day from the inside. The only source of light was the fireplace. Not much else existed in the room, a rectangular table with two chairs, a cabinet with a few plates and pots, the pedestal, a large wooden chest with metal lining, and the mage’s staff, leaning on the wall close to the fireplace. Everything was covered with a thin layer of dust and a persistent smell of smoke and humid wood filled the room. A door to the right of the fireplace, led to a small corridor that in turn lead to the wizard’s bedroom and to his study where he kept his books, and his few but valuable artefacts.
The wolf left the side of the armchair and went to sit in front of the fire, his usual place for a nap, and before he curled into a large ball of fur, he turned his eyes to the old man that was now once again absorbed in staring at the flames. Sleep had hardly managed to fall upon the beast when his instincts sounded an alarm such as he hasn’t felt for ages. The hairs rose at the back of his neck and within a second he was up with ears that searched for the slightest sign of danger, and his eyes wide open. A deep growl built up in his throat and then he felt a tremor propagate through the earth followed by a loud and deep menacing sound that made his hide shiver with terror. As he felt the old wizard standing up from the chair, he knew this was no ordinary natural phenomenon.
“This is it!!”, he thought, “We are summoned once again!!”, his heart filled with a mixture of fear and excitement.
