Murphy soon received Natalie's report.
He and Triss hurriedly cut short their vacation in Cadman City and returned to the Machino Line. The druids had acted quickly; almost as soon as Murphy got back, Hughson's dire wolf and the letter it had brought him were delivered as well.
Madam Bonnie had escorted them personally. When she saw Murphy and Natalie, she reported:
"The dire wolf's spine was brutally broken. Whoever attacked it didn't want it to die quickly; they wanted to torture it. Judging by the wounds, Hughson himself was likely responsible. But based on how much affection and care Hughson had shown this dire wolf before, it's unlikely this was its own choice.
"So we can basically conclude that the information in this letter is all true.
"Hughson has already had his body taken over by the Lord of the Hunt, and it's leading the last tens of thousands of gnoll marauders in a mad rush toward the Swamp Exclusion Zone."
"They actually went there?"
Murphy raised an eyebrow in surprise. Triss, standing beside him, looked just as astonished.
They had considered it highly likely that the Lord of the Hunt would take Hughson's body, but they had expected it to break through toward the Genoa Peninsula. It would try to seize control of the gnolls there and establish an earthly kingdom for an evil god, not stay in the Filthy Swamp and wait to die.
Instead, the Lord of the Hunt had made an unexpected choice. Murphy was curious what the thing was really up to.
He took the cleaned leather letter. The dog-scratch handwriting was unmistakably Hughson's, but the leather had certainly not been written on recently. Judging by its worn condition, the letter had been kept for quite some time.
Murphy read it.
It was short,