The captain's decision to leap back into training so quickly and so aggressively perhaps was not the wisest course of action. He should have given the men time to grieve. He had no sooner heard the news of Algan's death than he had us marching south for some pointless training exercise. The captain treats us as recruits, thinking that pushing us hard will somehow make us forget everything else. He does not know the Red Blades nearly as well as he thinks. We are deeply saddened by Algan's death but we are still able to cope and to function normally, we are not children. Willem has been acting odd lately, as if he has something else on his mind. More than once, I have smelt what I believe to be spirits on his breath. He often seems distracted and out of sorts. I hope he realizes he is becoming a problem and remedies whatever is bothering him soon. Many of the others are not as forgiving as I.
Fortunately, for the time being we appear to be rooted in Targonor. Captain Willem made the decision to keep us here based off his interaction with the vulmane during our last little camping trip. There is no doubt something had the wolf men bothered but I did not think nearly as much of it as the captain did, that is until today.
An exhausted vulmane was spotted by a tower guard approaching the city in the early hours of the morning. I have never seen one of the wolf men this far north. He was tired and haggard looking, even for a vulmane. I was not on patrol at the time so I did not have the chance to get very close to it, but from what the other soldiers tell me it was rambling something about enraged spirits and retribution.
I do not know the intent of the vulmane's trek to Targonor. There are rumors aplenty of course, some say it came to request military aid, something no vulmane has ever done before. Others say it merely brought warning of coming danger, also something no vulmane has ever done before. I do not know much of the wolf men but I do know that the vulmane are a people governed by custom and change is not something they welcome with open arms. For the decision to be made to send an emissary, they must truly believe something extraordinary is happening, this fact alone worries me more than anything
Edonus Taggart
Red Blade Unit
