15^th Illumis, 460 AG, 20:35PM, Heodal Kingdom


The last wisps of sunlight fell onto the field, when it was too late to hope for a warm place and yet too early to believe the day would end at all. Xyron saw nothing at first, but he felt the shift, the way the wind changed direction, the sudden surge of tension in Aolyne’s small grip, the way Katyl lifted her head like she just caught the scent of lightning about to strike.

Then, in the next instant, chaos began. Gray shapes flooded from the grass at the northern edge, moving not individually but as a planned out strike. Yellow eyes caught what little light was left, lips curled back from teeth that looked built for shattering bone. The first villager screamed and then went down, a woman in a woven apron, pulled sideways by the shoulders as two wolves dragged her off the crowd and into the dying grass. The man next to her never had time to react, a wolf slammed into the back of his thighs, and he fell in a mix of screams and blood.

Xyron’s heart took a beat to catch up. Then, all at once, it started to race. He flinched as Katyl’s voice made its way through the line of people, sharp enough to slice open the noise.

“Hold!” Her command was to Xyron and Kai, but it hit the entire group like absolute order.

“Don’t run! Make yourselves wide!” She yelled, planting herself just ahead of the orphans.

The sword in her hand glinted, wet already from where she’d cut herself drawing it too quickly. Her silverish hair, loose from its band, whipped in the gusts of wind that made their way through the field. “Xyron, left! Kai, guard the back!” Katyl’s other hand came up with her handled knife, its blade reflecting a spark of sunlight.

Xyron’s hand shook on the sword, but he did not back up. He swung it wide, the way his father had instructed many times before, and tried to anchor his feet as the first wolves hit the front of the crowd. They didn’t bark or howl, there was no show. Only the low, hungry rumble that sounded like the inside of a predator’s chest. The lead wolf, massive and covered in scars both old and new, feinted to Xyron’s side, but then switch targets at the last moment and barreled into a nearby man, sending him flying. A second wolf, smaller but faster, caught Xyron’s eye as it charged him straight on.

He lifted the sword, but the wolf dodged at the last instant, causing its shoulder to smash into his ribs, knocking him off balance. Xyron tasted dirt and blood in his mouth as he fell, but before the wolf could close its blood lusting jaws on him, it was yanked back by something, Kai, who’d grabbed the wolf’s tail and pulled with a grunt. The wolf twisted, snapping at Kai’s calf, but the armor Zlodey had fit him with took the brunt of it, and the wolf’s teeth clanked off the steel with a frustrated howl.

“Thank you!” Xyron coughed out, scrambling to his knees. Kai’s face was white, all his focus on the animal in front of him, but he still managed a nod, ignoring his cracked lips and teary eyes.

Behind them, the world was dissolving into even more panic. Villagers ran in every direction, but the wolves were herding them, driving the mass away from the trail and into the open. Every time someone tried to break away, a pair of wolves cut them off, their fangs snapping and legs moving in perfect sync. Xyron saw one man take a wolf in the chest with a pitchfork, but another wolf was already on him before he could pull the tool free, and the two of them rolled together in a blur of red and gray.

Closer in, Katyl was the only person that had a sense of control. She moved so fast Xyron almost couldn’t see. Her hair trailed like a flash, then the flick of her wrist as she whipped the knife at a wolf underside. The blade struck just under its jaw, burying itself with the hilt deep. The wolf convulsed, legs twitching out, before coming to a halt less than a meter from Aolyne, who screamed alongside the other children and tried to vanish behind Luzia’s legs.

Three more wolves broke from the main charge and bolted toward Katyl’s group. She caught the first beast across the muzzle with the flat of her sword, redirecting its bite into the dirt below. Before it could recover, she backstepped and let the second wolf overcommit, then drove the sword straight down through its shoulder. The wolf made a noise like a bag of air popping, and its legs gave out underneath it. The third wolf, the largest by far, managed to get close to her side. Its claw ripped a gash through Katyl’s left sleeve, splitting it open and leaving a bright shining stripe of blood in its wake. Katyl hissed through her teeth, spun on her good leg, and used the momentum to drive the sword into the base of the wolf’s skull.

Her arm was already leaking a steady stream of darkened blood, but she barely seemed to be bothered by it. She turned to Xyron with a sharp voice.

“Keep your feet! Don’t let them circle!” She kicked the dying wolf off her blade and reset her stance, boots planted in a triangle, every muscle twitching with tension.

Somewhere among the chaos, Xyron caught sight of Aolyne. He’d tripped on a root and was down on his hands and knees, his face streaked with snot and absolute terror. Luzia, who had been holding the orphans in a trembling group behind her, let go just long enough to scoop up Aolyne and drag him into the knot of kids pressed into each other like their lives depended on it. Her voice was thin, hiding the fear she felt.

 “Stay down. Stay down. Goddess Viana, protect us. Goddess Viana…” She repeated it like a spell, every repetition slower and quieter.

A wolf made for Luzia’s back, but Kai was there before he even realized himself. He stepped in front, arms wide, and took the hit on his left forearm. The wolf’s teeth locked around the bracelet of his armor, and the force of it nearly spun Kai off his feet.

The wolf shook its head trying to break bone, but the metal held as Kai shouted more from effort than fear and proceeded to kick the wolf in the ribs. The beast let go of him, staggered but still standing, and then whirled back at him trying to finish what it started.

Xyron didn’t remember making the choice, he just saw the wolf lunging for Kai and reacted. He raised his sword and brought it down with both hands. The blade caught the wolf at the shoulder, cutting deep but not nearly enough to kill. The wolf twisted and tried to bite Xyron’s arm, but Kai was there, grabbing his friend’s collar and pulling him back as the wolf’s jaw snapped on empty air.

“Don’t freeze!” Kai barked at Xyron, nearly out of breath. He looked like he was about to say more, but then another wolf crashed into them from the side, making all three of them go down in a pile of teeth and elbows.

The ground was cold and wet, Xyron could feel the chill up through his knees. The wolf’s snout was in his face, teeth so close to his nose. He did not think, he just jammed his thumb into the animal’s eye. The wolf let out all kinds of sounds as he kept twisting away, allowing Xyron to roll free, his hand was sticky and his stomach heaving at the feel of the animal’s eye going soft. He got up again and saw that Katyl had drawn the other two wolves away from the group, using herself as bait to give them space.

She was clearly hurt. Her left arm now hung loose, blood soaking the entire sleeve, but her right still wielded the blade with a steady grip. Every time a wolf tried to get around her, she redirected with footwork, giving ground but never exposing her back. Xyron thought the discipline of it would have made Paul proud, and then the pain from his ribs reminded him that thinking about his father was a luxury for later, if later ever came.

“Xyron! To me!” Katyl called with a demanding tone.

He ran as fast as he could, but nowhere nearly as smooth as he hoped. His left leg dragged, and his hand was still slick with wolf blood, but he got there. His sword was up, ready to take whatever was coming, and Katyl nodded at him, standing together with their backs to the crowd.

The rest of the frightened villagers had scattered. Only Luzia, Kai, and the orphaned kids stayed close, hunched behind the broken pack frame and praying for the fight to end.

More wolves pressed in, and Xyron felt the circle closing. The pack leaders were sensing victory, paced at the edge, waiting for Katyl to bleed out or for Xyron to drop his guard for just a second. He tried not to think about it. He tried to focus on the cold feeling of the sword in his hand and the taste of iron in his mouth.

The fight seemed to go on forever, or maybe just a minute or two. For them, time was moving as slowly as possible. At some point, Xyron realized he could no longer lift his left arm above his waist. Looking down, a wolf had grabbed him just above the elbow, and the muscles there now throbbed with every heartbeat. Katyl still moved but slower, her face was gray and her lips almost white with effort.

Xyron’s hand glowed bright as flames began manifesting where the wolf was. Soon enough, the creature had been lit aflame, screeching in pain as it rolled on the grass and ran away. Using magic was a risk, the costs were always too great, but there was no other way.

He heard a child scream, and in the same instant he spun around, spotting a wolf with its jaws around the leg of one of the orphans, the smallest girl. Luzia was kicking at the wolf, but it completely ignored her, dragging the girl backwards.

Kai was busy with two other wolves at once as the other children scattered out of fear. For a split second, Xyron had to choose, hold ground with his mother or save the children.

The decision was made for him as Katyl barked, “Go!” And Xyron ran.

He threw himself at the wolf’s flank and drove the point of the sword into its ribs, causing the blade to catch itself stuck in its body. Xyron let go of the sword and tackled the wolf with both arms, rolling with it into the dirt. The wolf tried to bite his face, but Xyron was already on its back with his hands wrapped around the sword’s hilt. He twisted and pulled as hard as he could, finally freeing the blade, making a sound like he was pulling a root from mud. The wolf spasmed and went stiff.

The orphan girl was alive although bloody and screaming in pain. Luzia pulled her up and pressed her to her chest, rocking her back and forth. Xyron tried to check the other children, and they were all accounted for. Aolyne huddled behind Kai, who had both arms wrapped around the boy, with two wolves dead at their feet. Thanks to his armor he could fight with less worry about being injured so easily.

The ground was littered with bodies of wolves, but lots of people as well. Xyron saw the faces of some he’d passed that morning, now pale and staring at nothing. The air stank of blood panic, he wanted to vomit, but he didn’t. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and looked for his mother.

Usually, a pack of wolves would be no problem for Katyl, but it was long since she last used magic properly, and the fight back at the church had drained whatever she could use. Would she attempt to cast any spells in such state, nothing good would come of it.

She was still up and fighting, but a wolf had gotten its teeth on her wounded arm, and she was staggering. She lashed out with the blade, caught the wolf on the snout, and the animal let go. Another wolf circled to her left, aiming for her blind spot. Xyron saw it happening, but he was too far, and too slow.

“Mother!” he shouted, but Katyl had already seen it. She waited until the wolf lunged, and then reversed the sword, stabbing backwards and up. The blade entered under the beast’s neck, and the wolf fell limp as he dragged her down with its weight. Katyl collapsed, rolling onto her side, and Xyron thought, for one awful moment, that the worst had happened.

He limped over and dropped beside her.

“Are you okay?” He asked, hating the sound of his own voice. Katyl grinned.

“Never better.” She joked as she grabbed his hand, squeezed hard and whispered, “We’ll make our way out of this, I promise.”

The sky was all but dark now, only a rim of light left on the far horizon. The surviving wolves, seeing their leaders dead or dying, began to melt away, slinking back toward the tree line. The world went oddly silent. Only the moans of the wounded, the shaky sobs of children, and the faint breathing of the two of them on the ground.

Xyron looked up, expecting more horror, and instead saw three shapes running at them from the east, boots, not more blood thirsty paws, but pounding hard enough to almost shake the ground. The lead figure was tall and dark haired, with a few stripes of gray. There were two more behind, both with ornamented armor and carrying swords. They cut through the mess of bodies and dying wolves, closing in fast.

“Help is here.” Xyron whispered, not even sure if it was a promise or a prayer.

The three new arrivals never slowed. The tall one, Captain Jaros, moved straight to Katyl’s side, knelt, and pressed a folded cloth to her arm. The other two took up positions at the edge, fending off any wolf that looked like it might try for one last attack. Jaros’s eyes flicked over Xyron, Kai, Luzia and the kids, then back to Katyl.

“You did well.” He said, with no judgment in it, only truth.

Xyron finale relaxed his body, felt the weight of everything hit him all at once. He wanted to sleep, but forced himself up, looking around for anyone still alive. They had made it, but barely.