“What hubris…” I idly thought, watching the centaurs from above. They hadn’t learned from our attacks in the last couple of days, not at all. In the first attack, under the cover of conjured mist, that they hadn’t respected the change in environmental conditions and fumbled into a trap might have been forgiven once. But the wolf-pack and I had repeated the same pattern three times over the last few days, a dense cloud of mist rolling in and under the cover of that mist, a group of wolves jumped the centaurs that were disoriented and unable to get their bearings. I had conjured up a couple of clouds without wolves hidden within, just to prevent the centaurs from seeing a pattern, and apparently, they had yet to catch on that the mist conveniently covered the wolves’ retreat, each and every time.

Granted, the mist worked great for the wolves, the slightly moist air carried smells even better than normal and their silver-greyish fur blended into the grey mist, making them all but invisible. Comparatively, the centaurs were all but blinded in the dense clouds, which caused them to lose their sense of direction, which, combined with the vicious attacks of the wolves, made them panic, almost like normal horses. And once they lost themselves to panic, they quickly lost their minds, even if we had let one of them get away, allowing her to charge out of the mist, driven by panic and bleeding from shallow wounds, she was our message to the centaurs. Our mission wasn’t to kill some of them, it was to keep all of them back.

And yet, despite the losses they had in the previous days, they were stubbornly marching on, taking note of the mist but doing nothing to avoid it. Trying to patrol every day, hunting for whatever game or prey they could scare up, they seemed quite driven.

But this group might be different; for the first time, the silly ponies had brought the large, dark canines I had seen guarding their camp with them, maybe hoping to have them counter the wolves. I doubted it would work, there were more wolves than they had seen hidden in the mist, so their dogs would likely end up dead, even if they might put up a fight.

Thanks to Lenore flying above, I was able to get a rough idea what was happening under the cover of the mist, could hear the screams of the pained centaurs and the frantic sounds of the dogs they had taken with them.

“And here you thought the ponies hadn’t learned a thing.” Lenore mused over our connection and added her magical sight to the information she was sending me. And I had to agree, the ponies had changed something, one of the ponies in the middle of their formation was surrounded by a swirling mass of Astral Power, hinting that it was a spellcaster of some kind, about to unleash something. Judging by the colour of the Astral Power used, I was quite sure that it was some sort of wind-magic but neither Lenore nore I were sure what it would do. But most likely, it would be some sort of gusting wind, used to blow away the mist, allowing the centaurs to bring their bows and numbers to bear against the wolves.

“Sigmir, tell the wolves to retreat. The ponies have a spellcaster.” I said out loud, letting Sigmir relay it to Ylva, who was with the pack, hunting in the mist.

The links between Lenore and me and between Sigmir and Ylva were incredibly useful, just moments after I had given the order, Lenore noticed hints that the wolves were retreating under the cover of the mist, just before the Centaur-spellcaster was able to finish their spell, causing a strong wind to blow from her extended arm, flowing towards the mist.

I had to laugh when a dark, canine shape jumped from the cold mist, only to get pierced by multiple arrows, the centaurs having taken a policy of shoot first, ask questions later, which, in this case, had lead them to turn one of their own dogs into a dying pincushion. That alone told me that the attacks got to them more than they wanted us to realise.

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And when the centaurs started to chase after the mist they had just blown away, hoping to catch the wolves as soon as the mist was fully dispersed, I realised that it was a crucial mistake, allowing us to strike a devastating blow at them.

“Sigmir, the centaurs are chasing after the wolves. Have them retreat into the forest and loop around, they will come from one direction, we will attack from the other direction.” I directed, planning to simply have this one patrol vanish, hopefully without any survivors and little trace of what had happened. I slowed down the ritual dance I had used to conjure and direct the mist, not wanting to simply stop, feeling that it would be disrespectful, but I had to stop dancing, there were other things to be done. Or maybe I was merely looking for reasoning in a natural process, I didn’t know. But no matter what, the wind and mist I had conjured up seemed to be almost happy to be allowed to go back to rest.

“Adra, can you place your hunting-spell on us?” I asked once the magic around me ceased.

“Sure, give me a minute.” Adra agreed and we all gathered around her while I mentally directed Lenore to keep an eye on the ponies. They had found the wolves’ tracks and were following them towards the forest, meaning that we had only limited time.

“We will strike the centaurs from behind once the wolves attack from the front and side. My personal target is to take out the spellcaster, I doubt that they have too many of those. And losing the complete patrol when they sent one will add to their fear.” I explained to the others, who simply nodded.

Moments later, Adra finished her spell and I felt the magic settle around me, it was a nifty spell that allowed us to move a little quicker, made us harder to detect and increased the damage of the next attack we made, making it excellent for hunting. Or for ambushes, such as the one we were planning.

By now, Lenore showed me that the centaurs had reached the forest and started making their way inside. It was quite obvious that forests were not their natural habitat; their normally quite efficient and usable formation had been replaced by a tight cluster of frightened ponies, moving close together so that each of them would be able to quickly react if one of their number was attacked. But at the same time, the tight formation would allow us to get close to their group, where we could use the trees to our advantage.

Sigmir, Rai, Adra and I set out, checking in with the wolves to coordinate the attack, telling them where our prey was and how they moved. Thanks to Lenore, I was able to direct the wolves from above, she was barely able to make out where they were moving through the trees. It had taken her a few days of training, but by now, she was able to follow them, even through the forest.

I watched as a small group of wolves readied themselves to attack the ponies from the front, mostly as a distraction, while the rest of the pack was waiting on the flank opposite of the direction my group was approaching from.

“Thank you, Lenore. If something changes, tell me, I need to focus on my approach.” I sent to my companion, knowing that I needed to focus my attention, or I would make a stupid mistake. Looking around for a second, I started to gently pull at the shadows around me, weaving them into a cloak that would allow me to blend into them, hiding myself from detection. Next to me, I could feel Rai doing the same, getting ready to strike at the centaur’s rear, hoping to take out a few of them before they even realised that there were more than just wolves attacking them. A short distance behind us, Sigmir and Adra were following us in, ready to strike on their own, even if their main task was to ensure that no pony was able to escape. They shared that particular task with Lenore who was still high above the trees, which gave her an even better perspective.

Some distance in front of us, I heard the snarls and growls that i associated with attacking wolves, telling me that the bait-group had started their attack. That meant that in a short time, the main-group would strike at the centaurs’ flank and right behind them, it would be our turn. Looking over to the indistinct patch of darkness that hid Rai’s form, I softly muttered, “It’s time to strike.” before ghosting forward, a blade in each hand.