In an instant, the joyous sounds of celebration were replaced with screams of terror. “Hunters!” I heard a guild member cry. “Loose arrows!” But the wolves were too fast and too numerous. They ran every which way and pounced upon any villager within their reach. The handful of guildsmen continued to rain their arrows upon the pack, but the wolves quickly turned their full attention to the archers. Looking like a black blur, they moved on anyone who attacked them and tore them to shreds.

Villagers who outpaced the wolves long enough to get inside a building were still not safe from the flames. Embers sparked from the snapping fangs and set the storefront doors aflame.

I hadn’t even noticed my mother grab the villagers around her, nor had I noticed the run to Auntie Bev’s until we were at the door. “Everyone inside,” my mother called, ushering the villagers into the kitchen. She kept the door open as villagers piled in, and I watched the chaos continue in the street. I could see a small effort being mounted against the Fire Wolves; villagers charged with pitchforks and smithing hammers or the occasional dull-edged sword. Like the guildsmen however, they were overwhelmed.

All the villagers at the door had made their way inside, and Mother was turning to close and bar the door, but before she could shut it, another scream rang out. A man had his leg trapped under a burning cart, and a child stood near him crying for help, unable to lift it. All my mother had to do was turn and look, and Bev knew what to do. I kicked and cried as Bev took me from my mother’s arms, and I watched her run back into the fray. No, don’t go out there! Please, Mother, stay with me! Aunt Bev shut the door.

I struggled from her grasp and fell to the ground, navigating between the boot steps of the panicked crowd still moving further into the kitchen. I crawled to a window and pulled myself onto the nook and searched for my mother.

There! I spotted her by the fallen cart, trying to lift it high enough for the man to squeeze out. The tide was beginning to turn. More guildsmen had sprung to the fight, loosing arrows on the pack, slaying them or scaring them back the way they came. I raised my little fists over my head and cheered as the mass of wolves scattered and scampered away from the square. Get out of our village!!

It looked as though my mother would pull the man from the cart, and I watched as the guildsmen continued to chase after the pack, ensuring they wouldn’t return. “There ye are!” I heard the familiar voice say as I was lifted from the nook. “I’m to protect ye ‘til your ma comes for ye.” But who’s going to protect her? As Bev raised me into an embrace, I spotted the alpha.

I strained to turn in Bev’s arms and keep an eye out the window, reaching toward the glass. Did they forget about the big one?! It’s only the size of a wagon!! It was tearing the stag apart, bursts of fire charring the meat through its gnashed teeth, when it spotted the child next to my mother. It moved slowly, evidently more interested in a live catch than the cold stag. I wrestled free from Bev’s grip again and stared out the window, hands pressed to the glass.

The man saw it first. He warned my mother, telling her to leave him and get his child to safety. My mother turned and stood in front of the child, facing the wolf. Other villagers had joined me at the window by now, looking in horror at what was next to come. What is she doing? Run! The wolf snarled a spout of fire before starting its charge.

Just as I thought its jaws would snap around Mother’s body, a blur of green tackled the Fire Wolf to the ground. It happened so fast that I wasn’t even sure what I had witnessed. The Fire Wolf writhed and rolled on the ground, a guildsman atop it with two short swords planted in its side. He then leapt through the air, twin lines of blood arcing from his blades like a dancer flourishing scarlet ribbons, and landed between the cart and the beast. The green hood of his cloak revealed his face when it slipped down from his head.

Father?!

The alpha was back on its feet, bellowing a deep roar of ash and flame, looking more akin to a dragon than a wolf. My mother was already back at the cart, lifting it the final bit for the man to make his way out. Before running with the man and child toward the kitchen, my mother shot a look at my father that surprised me--she didn't appear afraid for his life whatsoever. The beast charged again, zig-zagging in the dirt, making its way to snap at the child this time, but my father moved like lightning. He leapt over its head, slashing its snout with both swords, just before it could reach its mark.

The Fire Wolf was struggling to stay standing now, changing its focus from the child to my father. Its legs wavered and buckled under its own weight. Blood poured from the cuts in its snout and pooled in the dirt. My father stood and watched, cleaning the blood from his blades with a single flourish. Looks like there’s a new alpha.

Once more, the Fire Wolf charged forward, one last breath of flame bursting toward its new target. Father charged too, deflecting the heat with a spin and stabbing precisely at the beast’s throat. He continued to spin and, in a single fluid motion, slashed the blade outward from the wolf’s flesh, decapitating it. The headless wolf crashed into a vendor’s stand.

Then, just like that, all was still.