As they moved up the Rhine through the Black Forest, Titania became scared because of the stories Giovanni told. She feared the wicked witches and their ovens. She feared the trickster spirits that might require her to spin straw into gold. She especially feared the big bad wolf, and no amount of reassurance from Leonora, Baklovani, Sibelius, Needles, and the others made any difference. In fact, she believed so strongly, some of the people were inclined to blame her for their bad luck, though they did not hold it against her. Most said they understood.

At that time, Leonora found out there were more space aliens than she imagined. What happened was the Gott-Druk, that is the Neanderthals who left Earth between twenty and forty thousand years ago and had all that time to work on space technology brought a whole brigade of Wolv to the area to see how long it would take the wild ones to clean out an area from human habitation. The Gott-Druk wanted to repopulate their ancient homeland, which was essentially Europe, but they had to first get rid of the humans living there.

The Wolv looked much like their name but with snub noses like a bear. On their home world, they lived in tribes in a kind of neolithic existence of hunter-gatherers, though they did not gather much. They were carnivores and always hungry. When they stood on their hind feet, they were also seven feet tall and with fangs and front claws that could shred a man in armor. Most important, they could be trained to work together as first-rate soldiers. They had their own language and could communicate with each other. They were not just dumb beasts.

The circus and the people in Baden-Baden locked the gates of the town. They had a wall, but it was made of wood and not anything that would keep out six hundred hungry Wolv. The local priest came up angry and ready to accuse the circus of bringing this evil on them, but he got surprised when Giovanni asked him to say a special mass and lead a time of prayer for the safety of all the people. He got doubly surprised when the circus people sat in the front row and prayed fervently for the Lord to deliver them from the Wolv. The priest still though the circus might be an evil thing in its own way, but at least he realized that against the Wolv, they were all in the same predicament.

Fortunately, the Elenar, that is, the Denisovan people who were cousins and rivals of the Gott-Druk had been watching and followed the Gott-Druk to Earth. They were able to chase away the Gott-Druk and stop the Wolv from doing too much damage. Though no circus people died, many of the men in the town did not survive the attack. Two days later, the circus left town and headed north.

“Do you think the Elenar got them all?” Oberon asked while the circus made for Karlsruhe.

“Quiet,” Giovanni scolded Oberon and his mouth. “Don’t even suggest that they didn’t.”

Of course, the Elenar did not get them all, being mostly concerned with the Gott-Druk. Soon enough, the circus ran into a three-Wolv scout team that was terrorizing the whole area around Heidelberg. It was nearly June by then and Giovanni started pushing the group, though not so fast that they ran into the jaws of the Wolv.

The circus camped south of the city so they could go in at first light and set up for the day of festivities. Leonora and Needles, were the first to hear the howls in the distance. Madam Figiori began to shout and gather the people around the elephant tent. Titania, Baklovani, and Constantine hid where Ravi and Surti desperately tried to keep the elephants calm. Vader brought his knives. Leonardo the horseman and Rugello the fire eater both brought their swords. Others had something like weapons, and Severas had Sir Brutus the bear on his leash. That was probably not a good idea as the bear became very agitated and threatened to break loose at any minute. Pinky the monkey screeched every now and then and that did not help anyone’s nerves.

The Wolv came out of the dark. The first came directly toward them, and the other two held back a minute before they approached the sides more carefully. When the Wolv got close enough, just before it charged, Vader threw a well-aimed knife, followed quickly by more until he ran out of knives. The Wolv did not appeared terribly bothered by having knives sticking out of its hide here and there, until it tried to stand on its hind legs. The legs collapsed. Vader must have cut through to a major muscle group.

“I was right,” Giovanni mumbled as he knew the other two Wolv would come from the sides. Only a loud trumpet like a war cry from Mombo made them hesitate. “If the Wolv broke through the gate in Baden-Baden where the circus was deployed, this circus would not have lasted a minute. He traded places with Nameless and everything froze except he let Leonora and his little ones still move.

Oberon came up holding his bow, though dwarfs were notoriously bad shots. Sibelius came holding his big hammer that only he could lift. Madam Figiori came from the other side with Needles as Leonora grabbed on to Nameless and tried not to look.

Nameless merely waved his hand and the two Wolv on the sides turned to dust. Then he moved out to the wounded one. It is not normally wise to approach any wounded animal. To approach a wounded Wolv might be considered a form of suicide. But in this case, the Wolv did not even growl. It stuck its neck out for the headsman’s axe and plainly said the Greek word, “Kairos.” It was crippled and in Wolv thinking, the crippled were a drag on the tribe and needed to be done away with. This Wolv wanted to die.

“This is not the first time Wolv have come to Earth,” Nameless told Leonora. “In fact, they have over a thousand years of history of being brought by their masters to fight on earth. They once tried to invade, back in the time of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Despite the conquests of Trajan before him, Hadrian, you might know, gave back much of the land, and made peace. He lost too many men—whole legions fighting off the Wolv. He did not have much choice but to be a peacemaker.”

Nameless turned to the Wolv and asked. “Are there any more Wolv around?” He took a breath and took a look in the Wolv’s chaotic mind. As far as this one knew, they were the last. Just to be sure, Nameless let his senses stretch out through that whole section of the lands of Aesgard. He found no more Wolv so he let it go.

Nameless traded places with another man who appeared in the armor of the Kairos, the great sword Wyrd across his back. The new man immediately shouted, “No. Why d-do I have to d-do it?” But he did not hesitate as the Wolv sat patiently waiting for judgment. He pulled that sword and said, “God forgive me.” In one swift move he cleanly cut the head off the beast and fell to his knees in prayer, asking for forgiveness. Leonora wanted to run to him but she did not dare until he changed back to Giovanni. Then she cried on his back until he stood and wrapped her up in his arms.

Later, Oberon said, “Three strikes, you’re out.”

“I know,” Giovanni responded. The Masters would soon know if they did not already know that he was the Kairos. That would put a target on his back. He chose not to think about that. He stayed busy reassuring the circus that the Wolv were now gone for good.

Titania said it was her worst nightmare. She decided that maybe she was spending too much time with Madam Figiori and maybe that was rubbing off on her. For sure, tales of the big bad wolf would ring through that part of Germany for many years to come.