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“Retreat, Twilight Pack!”
The mysterious deep voice screeched over the wasteland.
There was blood everywhere. It was a horrible battle so far, many wolves had died and not many dragons had been killed.
It was almost a lost cause, a worthless effort. But Sascha would not let it get to her head. She needed to win... she needed to find Akemi.
The bloody white she-wolf looked back toward the mountains, seeing a brown male wolf with pale underfur.
“Thor!” She yelled to him.
A few dragons flew overhead and breathed fire over the battlefield. They were setting everything on fire! It looked like the dragons had the upper hand now.
The hot flames surrounded her, burning at her pelt but at the same time hardly touching her.
What could she do now? There was no way to escape! It was too hot!
The dragons screeched as they trapped the other wolves in the flames, and she didn’t know if any of them were to die there or not... but if she were to help them, Sascha needed to find a way out of the cramped flame circle she was trapped in.
She glanced around, desperately searching for an opening in the flames. But there was nothing there. No openings, no exits.
“Jump through the fire Sascha!” She heard Thor on the other side of the fire.
“Are you crazy?” Sascha exclaimed with disbelief.
Jump into the fire? How was she actually expected to do that?
She coughed; the smoke was getting to her. She saw memories of the fire in Rosewood Forest the night the druids were detained by King Xanthus, that horrible night. Tairek said that he’d always be there with her, but where was he now?
He was not here! Not even in spirit.
She didn’t feel his presence.
She just felt the heat of the flames that threatened her life. The flames that she needed to jump through. She didn’t have the thick pelt of a wolf for she was only half wolf; her father had been a dog… and so that made her less protected against the fire.
Sascha dashed forward, aiming at a thin wall of flames. She could see a figure on the other side of it but she did not know what it was.
It was a silhouette, but it was large and it was shaped like nothing she’d ever seen before. It had long ears, or something that really resembled ears or horns.
The first thing that came to her mind was a dragon, but it looked different from the others. But whatever it was, if it was anything at all, she would brace for it on the other side. Shutting her eyes tightly, she took a real leap of faith through the bright red flames.
It barely burned her for she was passing through them so fast. Only a little black smoke was left emanating from her as she hit the ground on the other side, and her red and white fur was stained black with soot in some patches.
Sascha almost forgot about everything else as she saw the silhouette moving. It raised itself, head going up higher and higher.
It literally stood at the height of a cedar tree!
“Are you ready to fight me, you pathetic parasite?” The thundering voice questioned her fiercely.
It truly chilled her to the bone. But she only knew one answer. “I was born ready, Harloc,” she snarled loudly so that the powerful Ituic Dragon could hear her well.
“Very well,” the evil creature growled. “Then let me squash you!” Sascha saw a huge hand full of extremely long claws coming down directly at her, and she immediately rolled out of the way, being careful not to touch the flames with any part of her body.
She felt the intense tremors in the earth as Harloc’s hand impacted the ground. She looked up just in time to see a large jaw of razor sharp teeth the size of bananas coming down at her, and leaped to her paws and raced away in less than three heartbeats.
Harloc’s face smashed through some of the earth, getting a pile of rotten dirt and pebbles stuck in his mouth. Roaring louder than thunder, the sinister dragon creature spat it out quickly. The white she-wolf had caught a glimpse of his face and replaying the image in her mind again and again just scared her out of her fur.
His vibrant red eyes, hairy face, orange-and-blue mane, and his huge horns that protruded from the back of his head. Even in the evening darkness she could make out almost every mannerism of Harloc, thus fighting just as well in the darkness as in the light.
Of course there was the light of the flames, but that didn’t help her see the dragon’s upper body.
“Are you just going to dodge every attack I throw at you?” Harloc snapped.
Sascha snarled, her long fangs showing. The essence of battle was burning within her. She felt a great need to win the battle with the evil dragon. If she made it out of this wasteland alive she would head straight back to Aerulis and kill Xanthus, the one who had caused her life misery since the beginning. It would be over. She could return to her life with the druids as normal, only then she would be a much wiser wolf than before. She’d be able to protect her clan with everything she had, instead of cowering in the corner like a mouse.
Unfortunately she could only jump as high as the creature’s chest. Though the power in her legs was very strong, she still had trouble jumping up to the height of Harloc’s throat. If she could do that, then everything would be finished just like that.
So how was she expected to kill Harloc?
Make him bleed to death with her fangs that barely did anything to even the smaller dragons? If only the rest of the pack could help her...
“Sascha! The rest of us are fine! Don’t worry!” Thor yowled to her through the flames. She looked behind her to see through the blurring red flames and saw that every wolf and dog had been accounted for.
Of course she knew that a lot of the canines had died in the fire, never mind the entire battle, but that was the way of war.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Wolves died, and there was nothing anyone could do about it sometimes. She owed it to Thor for building up courage and coming to help out. If he hadn’t, many more warriors would have died.
“Look out!”
It startled her and quickly she whipped around. But it was far too late. Before she knew it, Harloc had her in his deathly jaws.
That was a bad move of Sascha!
She should have been paying attention! Curse her inexperience! Curse it! As if she weren’t in enough pain already, Harloc’s sharp sword-like teeth ripped through her flesh down to the bone. She was so high in the air! It was as if she were on the highest branch of a majestic sequoia tree, thinking that balance was the most important thing in the world.
But at this point, she would have been more than happy to fall... the pain was so intense, and she was losing a lot of blood from this.
The long pointy teeth were jammed into her shoulder area and her hip area, and luckily her extremities were not hurt in the process. It was a miracle!
Harloc threw her plummeting to the ground from that height, the white she-wolf crashing to the ground agonizingly. Within seconds there was a pool of blood around her almost lifeless body.
Visions of the past were flashing before her eyes; her friends, the druids, Tairek’s untimely death... she knew it was the end. It was over. All of this struggle... it had been for nothing. She had known it was pointless from the beginning, to even think that saving the druids was even possible.
Don’t give up now!
The strange sound rang in her head, sending chills down her spine. There was a familiarity in the powerful voice; Tairek! She now recognized his gentle voice. Shifting her position a little bit, she tried desperately to stand but couldn’t.
“Tairek, I can’t... I just... can’t go on doing this anymore...” The pain was just too intense, and she knew that eventually she would die. She was ready for death though, it was not one of her fears anymore.
Just trust me! The druids are alive and well! They’re waiting for you to save them!
“But how can I save them? I can’t even kill a dragon!” She protested quietly.
Don’t think like that! Think of the prophecy, Sascha! Get up! Get up and fight!
Sascha felt a new inspiration forming within her. Tairek was really here with her, just like he’d promised before he had died by the river shore back in Aerulis territory.
She could not let him down... Sascha would never forgive herself if she did. He had died so that she could begin the quest to save the druids.
You didn’t have much time to train with Rei before the dragon attacked, but everything you need to know has been in you since your birth. I didn’t realize that when I gave you the bag of coins. Don’t worry; just let your instincts guide you!
A new strength pulsed through her. She had to live! And she had to win this battle! Everyone needed her. The druids had to be saved from their execution. Zachery her beloved caretaker had to be rescued. And the druid King Avyrus.
She clawed and thrashed on the ground, struggling with all the will she had to stand up. Ever so shakily, she eventually stood up straight with her mange ridden bloody tail pointed upward.
“Are you ready for more?” Harloc snickered, his huge teeth bared pompously.
“Always,” she snarled furiously and then charged forward, digging her claws into the earth to increase her speed.
Drowning her mind with thoughts of the druids and all the happy memories before everything had gone wrong, she sprang as high as the power in her hind legs would allow her, and fortunately that height was very acceptable.
A dragon’s chest area was a very good place to attack, she had learned. She sunk her long fangs deep into the Ituic’s chest. She remembered what Tairek had said, he had said that the important fighting moves had been in her since birth... and so she let all worry fade.
She decided to try something new.
Harloc roared with anger, but she didn’t care. Not when she had come so far and was closer to winning than ever before.
Digging her sharp back claws into the dragon’s skin she started to rapidly climb up its neck, every few seconds grabbing the skin with her teeth for support in case she slipped.
Of course Harloc’s wounds were starting to bleed badly, and that was a good thing for it proved he was not immortal after all. She climbed up so quickly that Harloc didn’t even have time to decide what to do. She reached his throat almost immediately, and did only what she could. She sank her fangs into his throat, tugging and ripping strongly. If she could stop the dragon’s breathing then it would be finished.
Harloc was caught by surprise, but the shock only lasted a split second before he fell over and tried to pull her from the wound with his hand. Sascha couldn’t hold on, his grasp was too strong for her.
She felt as if her body would rip apart if she continued to hold on to the Ituic’s throat. She just hoped she had broken the airway. Harloc coughed in a fit of pain which made him weak for a moment, so the white she-wolf took advantage of that and scrambled out of his grasp.
Sascha raced for the gigantic opponent’s head as it lifted up, and leaped up to bite down on Harloc’s ear. Sascha was getting very hot while in the battle circle that was surrounded by the fire, so she was thankful for a sudden breeze that cooled her a bit.
She saw Harloc’s face, and still thought it was rather creepy. His eyes were glowing red with cat-like pupil slits, and his face was dusty with reddish orange scaly skin. His mane was orange with blue highlights, and was blowing slightly in the light breeze that picked up.
As Harloc began to stand Sascha leaped over the dragon’s head and sank her fangs into what she could of his large muzzle. Harloc shook her, quickly panicking. He sped through the flames holding his head very low to the ground so that Sascha would be burned and perhaps forced to let go.
Dragons were apparently immune to fire because Harloc was not harmed. Fear pulsed wildly through her, and she acted completely on her instincts.
Leaping away from Harloc, she was especially careful not to breathe in the flames. She landed on solid cold ground less a second later, her once beautiful white fur completely black with mucky soot.
Somehow her fur had been protected, and she presumed that Tairek had shielded her from the dangerous fire as she passed through it.
A dragon roared in the distance. They were returning?
Sascha was having a hard enough time fighting one. She had an eerie feeling in the pit of her stomach... maybe this really was the end?