“And you’re sure this ward thing will work right?”
Alex sighed as he looked up from the dirt where their crudely drawn plan was.
“Yeah, with this quality of source chalk, it should hold even in steepest conditions.”
Emily looked down from their vantage point amongst the trees where the Rime wolf's home was situated.
Over the last two days, they had plenty of time to observe creatures from the shadows. Hiding and constantly moving had not been easy but they had quickly discovered the task would be almost impossible to accomplish stealthily. The young Rime wolves were guarded around the clock, only being brought out once in the late evenings to feed. Other than that they remained in the caves with their parents as guards. Alex had made more of his concoction as they slowly came up with a plan of attack.
However, Emily could do without the sudden spritz of fruity water every hour or so.
After spending all of yesterday preparing while their prey slept, they were ready.
The main problem was that there were many moving parts to it and honestly, a lot could go wrong, but they were on a deadline and this plan had merit.
It was late morning at this point, the wolves were nocturnal and were most active near dusk and dawn.
Now it was time to spring the trap
Emily unstrapped her scabbard, letting her blade rest at her side. She left her pack up ahead, knowing she couldn't afford to be weighed down—not when she was about to be chased by a pack of wolves.
“Here, take the brooch—you’re going to need it,”
He glanced down at the siphon in her hand, then back at Emily.
“You know I’m much faster than you.”
Emily rolled her eyes and pressed the brooch into his hand.
“We’ve been over this. You’re also much quieter. Both of our jobs are risky, but let’s be honest—I’m far more alluring as a distraction.” She gave him a quick wink, a playful glint in her eye.
Alex snorted as he looked back down at the dens.
“Remember the Tameracs aren’t usually hostile to smaller creatures but we don’t know how things will go.”
Emily rolled her eyes.
"Where've I heard that before."
Despite this Emily moved towards the pile of tinder they’d gathered around the base of a tree. There was enough kindling here to make two or three bonfires. They had to be certain these trees would catch or their plan would go out the window. Alex moved over to another one and began working his piece of flint and steel. Emily saw that her one had caught and moved to the second cluster of trees. When it was lit she glazed over at Alex giving him a thumbs up before moving towards the den.
It was too early for the smoke to reach here but with their senses, it wouldn’t be long before they realized something was wrong.
The den itself was arranged in a type ‘U’ formation, coming to a point near the top. A few wolves were lying out in the late morning sun, but most were safely tucked away in their caves. Emily crept closer fully expecting their heightened sense of heading to warn them of her approach, but when none of the beasts roused she got closer, picking up a roundish stone as she went.
It was only when she was near to center of the area that Emily noticed a pair of eyes watching her. The old she-wolf lay on her side with her head lurching up. Ears perky and fluttering. Their eyes locked for a second, before a snarl exposed her canines and pink gums, gleaming in the light.
Others were stirring now.
Taking a deep breath, she let out her best werewolf impression at the top of her lungs, sending a single lonely howl into the open sky. Savage growls echoed through the area as dozens of eyes glared out from their caves at the foolish morsel. Flinging the rock at a nearby wolf elicited a yelp from the creature, but Emily didn’t wait—she dashed out of the clearing at full speed.
Her departure heralded the calls of many, as howls filled the air followed by the sound of them giving chase.
Emily glanced back over her shoulder and saw that the fires they had set were beginning to release plumes of smoke into the sky.
This also gave Emily the heads-up she needed to see the Rime wolf diving through the air at her.
Ducking low, the beast traveled overhead but Emily didn’t slow as she served around it and continued running.
She could hear the sounds of twigs snapping and shadows shifting in her peripheral. Emily had no illusions of outrunning these creatures. They were on their home turf and their natural speed was more than five times hers.
The only advantage she had was the fact that her scent couldn’t be used to track her and Emily made good use of this.
Diving behind trunks and dodging through beams of morning light.
The Rime wolves spread out as Emily changed direction and ran directly into a group of three wolves.
She swerved and rushed in the opposite direction but not before one of them reacted, lunging for her.
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A bolt of blood to its chest in midair had ample stopping power. The beast would not die from this but it was more than enough time for Emily to rush into the next clearing.
Dodging the wolves was like walking a tightrope. One wrong move and she would be buried in snapping maws. But it wasn’t impossible either as she used their forest against them.
This worked until she got to the plains. Emily had been dreading this part as it was by far the most vulnerable point of their plan.
The moment she exploded out of the treeline Emily glanced back again.
The world behind her had shifted.
An ominous glow of orange was shifting through the treetops and Emily only had a second before dozens of Rime wolves exploded forth from the foliage.
Glancing towards the front Emily placed her tongue to the roof of her mouth and released a sharp whistling sound across the occupied plains.
This, in addition to the panting beasts behind her, caused the Tamerac up ahead to go on guard. They planned to use the herd to their advantage and have Emily run through them to get rid of her pursuers.
Seeing as the Rime wolves were their natural enemies the herd should work as a buffer against the beasts, but first Emily had to get there.
She could practically feel their gazes weighing on her back as dozens of wolves could now see her running out in the open. Not only that but their path was now free of obstructions.
Several frontrunners put on a bust of speed and the pack behind her swarmed in from both sides. Emily threw two bolts behind herself, launching one on either side. Both smacked into a beast, one on the snout and the other against a hind leg, causing two of them to fall behind. Unfortunately, it almost didn’t matter because more rose to fill the gaps.
Up ahead the Tameracs were becoming nervous as they let off warning bleats.
Emily had just passed the halfway mark when the nearest wolf dove at her.
Diving forward, Emily tucked her limbs in and rolled on the ground, getting up in one fluid motion. As though ready for her another lunged and Emily struck out with her blade. The wolfs jaws latched onto the weapon in an attempt to rip it from her grasp. If she held onto it she would be pulled back so Emily abandoned it in a heartbeat, letting the wolf and blade fall behind her.
Emily managed to break away but the move cost her a great deal, not to mention space as she fell further back amongst the pack.
Emily was boxed in all sides by an enemy that wanted to rip her throat out, nipping at her face and arms. They weren't trying to kill her right there, because all they needed to do was take her to the ground it was all over.
The rest of the pack behind her would pounce and rip her to shreds if she gave them half a chance.
Something Emily was not interested in doing, so she sped up and called two bolts to her hands but instead of releasing them she shaped the blood from her palms into two convex disks around the size of dinner plates.
The beasts would lunch themselves at Emily only get a mouthful of hardened blood. Sadly the size disparity meant that some of the attacks still got through.
One of them nipped at Emily's thigh tearing through the material with ease and taking a fist-size chunk of flesh out of her.
Emily wanted to scream bloody murder, so she did, cursing at the top of her lungs caused the Tamerac up ahead more stress as they braced for the charge.
They were so close now Emily could see the dull reflection in the large beast's eyes as they watched Emily lead a pack of no less than seventy wolves straight towards them.
Out of her peripheral Emily spotted one of the males the she-wolf had tried to warn heading in her direction. The beast was massive with fur as dark as tree bark.
It lunged at Emily but it was impatient and knocked its fellow packmates out of the way. Only managing to send its whip-like arm out. Seeing the attack coming Emily moved her blood disk into the path of the strike to block, but the force was enough to send her flying the last couple of meters. Emily went siding beneath the legs of Tamerac.
Now normally the last place one wanted to be is below the feet of such a larger creature, doubly so when it freaked out and rose on its hind legs but Emily couldn't help smiling as she launched to her feet and dove deeper into the herd.
The Tamerac saw her weaving between her, however, had far more pressing concerns at that moment. The Rime wolves were unwilling to halt their charge and the two groups of animals collided. It was like lighting a fuse on a barrel of gunpowder as the Tamerac lost all reason and tried to stomp the interlopers, while the Rime wolves suddenly had to contend with their prey slipping in among the herd.
Emily dodged toward the center of the chaos where the calfs resided. Fear laced the area as chaos descended. The mother Tameracs hedged in on the calves forming a wall of meat and bone. Unfortunately, even the calves were the size of large bulls so Emily climbed atop one as they were jostled around.
The beasts barely even registered she was there as Emily floated on a sea of the beastes.
A minute or two more and things started to calm down as Emily could make out the pack beginning to fall back to a safer distance. The Tamerac remained skittish as they didn’t leave the area.
Emily spotted the old she-wolf padding up to the brown wolf as she gathered her breath.
Over the last couple days, Emily had watched the older wolf closely and had come to realize the she-wolf cared for her pack closely, but the pack didn’t seem to return the sentiment. She was an outcast who knew nothing else.
Howls went up from somewhere distant and Emily was certain Alex had begun his side of the plan.
They had decided the most direct route of approach was to burn them out. And so while Emily distracted a good portion of the pack, Alex had been stoking fires. The smoke and flame would force more of the pack out which should make robbing them of pups easier. That was the theory at least.
But as Emily watched now she saw half the pack break off in the direction of their den. The other half remained, as they began to spread out through the fields trying their best not to antagonize the herd.
Emily pursed her lips.
The Tamerac were pushed up to the edge of the forest, she could make a run for it but it was too early.
That's when she spotted the flicker of a torch moving through the trees at an incredible speed.
Emily smiled as she glanced back down at the rest of the pack. Moving to the edge proved to be more dangerous than she thought as one of the mothers tried to grab her with its trunk. Luckily it didn’t want to hurt its calves so it moved slowly. Emily used this to her advantage and climbed atop the beast's back. Emily thought it would have more of a problem with this but all it did was attempt to shake her off. A good grip and a bit of balance were all she needed to move from one Tamerac to the next until she was at the edge of the forest once more.
Lowering herself and tucking into a roll, Emily landed on the ground and got up in the same motion. Making a mad dash for the treeline.
Growls issued forth and the chase restarted as Emily spotted several nearby Rime wolves heading in her direction.
Plunging into the undergrowth the bushes tore at her arms but there was no time to waste as Emily spotted the markers she’d set for herself.
Bursting into the clearing she saw Alex arriving there at the same time with a net full of whining pups over his shoulder.
The moment he saw Emily he turned and dumped the torch in his hand directly onto the small line of oil-soaked wood surrounding them.
Its ignition was spontaneous as flames licked up the surrounding trees forming a loose circle of fire. Inside Alex moved towards the wards he had drawn and pressed the broach to them. Right away the chalk began to glow a dull red, preventing the flames and smoke from entering the large clearing.
Just before the fire closed in half a dozen wolves dove through the flames and landed on the other side. Both the brown wolf and old she-wolf bared their fangs as the flame grew higher sealing them all in the ring together.
Blood points: 24