“Whipvines are truly some of nature’s most petty creations. Are they trees, are they rubbery posiers that can move faster than a hydra hummingbird’s wings? Yes. Yes, they are.”

- (A finely dressed stranger oddly well-versed on the subject)

I stumbled through the dense foliage of yet another low-hanging tree and cursed yet again at the absence of a blade.

“What I would give to smash you down into the size of a proper dagger, you useless armband,” I spat at the inert bracelet on my sweaty right wrist. “I know a few blacksmiths. I’m sure they’d love to hammer down on one of the bloody duke’s spare legacies.”

I pulled back the dangling limbs of what I was fairly certain was a willow tree of some sort. The branches stretched in a similar fashion as the sapling segment currently keeping my ankle from collapsing. I peered through the opening I made and recognized the boulder I’d stopped at earlier. I came at it from a different direction, having gotten lost on my way through the shadowy embrace of this forest.

I let go of the narrow tendrils belonging to the willow tree as I entered the small clearing. Pain lashed across my back from out of nowhere. It stung something awful and I whirled as fast as my sprained ankle would allow. The willow tree danced wildly back and forth.

“What the—” I began, but my tirade was cut off by a sound significantly closer than last I heard it.

A howl.

It rang through the forest like some ancient dirge. I might’ve imagined it, but sorrow laced that cry.

Others took it up. Soon, five or more howls harmonized eerily in the lunar sky. Unbidden, my gauntlet activated as I clenched my fist in terror. The metal clicked and whirled into place, the now-familiar gemstones studded into the second knuckle of each finger illuminating the ground beneath me.

“Oh, now you come out. Was it the blacksmith threats? I’ll do that more often, you strange slab of metal.” I glanced around for any advantage. The howls were close, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they found the easiest prey in the forest right now.

Me.

Clouds moved and the moon’s beams cascaded down onto the boulder in the center of this unofficial battleground I’d found myself in. Where once I saw the stony outcropping as noble and majestic, all I could see now was an altar where I would be dined upon.

No. I will not die here.

The notion calmed some of the storm that brewed inside of me.

“Okay, I can’t fight more than one of the beasties. I barely know how to use my magical gauntlet, and I have a sprained ankle that hurts like Coldor stepped on it right before he was cast into the void. Aaannd I’m talking to myself. This is going to be great.” I walked toward the boulder and crawled up its angled length until I could stand at eye level with most of the foliage. I couldn’t see beyond it, but from my vantage, a certain detail caught my attention. I hadn’t noticed it before largely because it hadn’t lashed my spine earlier.

The willow trees, if that’s what they were, lined the edge of the clearing. There were easily a dozen of them, each with hundreds of wiry branches swaying gently in the breeze, belying their deadly potential.

Potential that’s mine now.

I would not die here tonight. But something might.

I slid off the boulder bit off a particularly colorful curse in dwarvish, which notoriously has the best profanity in Eridia. The inconsiderate clump of dirt had ripped a part of my uniform off, leaving an unpleasant breezeway along my outer thigh. It hadn’t broken skin, but seven hells was it chilly now. Comforted that I properly insulted the rock that ruined my clothes, I got to work.

The wind picked up and bit into my skin as the temperature dropped. A light fog began to collect along the edges of my clearing. More howls shredded through my patience and resolve, but my hands kept at their work. The gauntlet provided the crucial boost of strength to my plans.

I don’t know how long I toiled into the night, but I did know that I would’ve gladly worked myself to exhaustion if it meant I didn’t have to hear what came next.

The soft shuffle of many limbs stirred me from the rhythm of my work. My head shot up. I had been listening for any signs of the intruders I expected, and they were finally here. My pulse quickened, and I checked my handiwork one last time before I rushed into place. The quiet thuds of heavy paws stopped near the clearing. At first, I was confused how they’d gotten so close without a noise only to get lazy now, but then I realized the truth.

They wanted me to know. They wanted me afraid.

Well, you got your way, you bastards. Now, come get me.

I stepped out into the clearing. Eyes that glowed clearer than ice and twice as blue shone in the darkness. I counted five pairs across the clearing, all in a loose semicircle around me. One of their owners padded into the moonlight above. Crystalline fur sparkled in the night, casting strange shadows and refractory light onto the surrounding flora. It growled low in its throat, and I felt my blood run cold. The creature was easily five feet tall, and over seven feet in length. But that wasn’t the imposing part. No. It was the sheer density of coiled muscles beneath that shimmering fur that had my hairs stand on end.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

This was a predator. This was a hunter. I was just a kid in a black coat.

The other wolfish monsters prowled around either side of me. I grinned slightly.

Keep going, you sparkly mongrels.

I waited with baited breath as the creature nearest me stepped closer. Its lip curled and I saw fangs the size of my forearms glisten with saliva. I raised my fists, the gauntlet on my right arm ready to smash in gilded snouts and jugulars alike if given the opportunity.

“Come on!” I yelled at the gathered predators. Their growls redoubled in ferocity, and I felt the low thrum in my chest. “You all sparkle like out of something in my mother’s wildest dreams! I think I’m going to call you necklace, and you earrings.” I pointed at two of the monsters, including the creature nearest me. I made sure to maintain eye contact with them, hopeful it would aggravate them as much as it did the stray dogs back home.

It totally did.

The beast, largest by at least a good foot and a half than the others, crouched low. Talons extends from his paws with a faint whisper of crystal against flesh. They passed far farther than I expected, until the claws were ingrained into the soft earth below. Its hind legs tensed and I knew what was to come.

Its growling reached a fever pitch, and I made my move. I leapt backward and out, careful to remain as low as possible. A whining sound crashed through the air ahead of me as the reflective animal pounced right where I stood. I watched in stunned silence as faint wisps of icy blue magic curled along its talons where it struck. Crystalline shapes started to spread slightly from where they hit, black soil turning into tiny pebbles made up of a shiny material not unlike a diamond.

That didn’t matter.

What did matter was where it smashed into the ground. Thin tendrils whistled through the gathering fog as they shot toward the giant wolf. Flora met fauna as the willowy tree enacted my justice for me against the would-be killer. The elastic limbs cut through portions of its flesh, while others showed stress fractures along the shimmering surface of its skin. It howled, but it wasn’t a mournful or predatory sound. No. This was agony incarnate.

The other wolves turned and rushed toward their comrade. Three other wolves fell for similar traps I had created around the clearing. Wolves yelped and screamed in pain as my plan went into full swing. Some of them gnashed and cut at the whiplike tree, but it was useless. Their talons either met air or were too slow to ensnare the torrent of now uncoiled branches.

I remember the days when our house creaked against the violent surges and my father regaled me and Kaelin about his days as a Fisher. With a toothpick in his cheek, he taught us some of the simplest traps he used to put down monsters in local villages.

“The trick is the bait, my little darlings,” he would always say.

Check and check, dad, I thought as I got to my feet. I’m the bait, and they’re about to learn that a bigger stick in a fight doesn’t mean a better stick.

The lead wolf recovered and snapped a warning toward my face. One of its eyes was bleeding precariously, and a vicious red mark lined the skin around the injury. I rotated so that I would stay on its new bad side. The wolf that hadn’t been injured reached me first. It barked as it jumped. It completely vaulted over the large boulder and dove directly for where I stood. I yelled back, fear and the thrill of this fight gathering all sorts of energy within me. I focused on that strange sensation I’d noticed gathering in my gut and released an open palmed strike at the wolf. Pressurized air popped with a massive blast.

My aim was true. The monster veered to the side and collided with its leader. My attack was not enough to halt its momentum, however, and so the two beasts slid several feet through the grass before coming to a halt. I limped toward them as quickly as I could. Before they could untangle themselves, I slammed my gauntleted first into the second wolf’s jaw. The impact, even with the magical force absorption inlaid into the armor piece, was bone jarring. The beast was worse off, though. Its largest fang splintered and fell out of its mouth with a geyser of purplish blood.

It fell back, the pain blinding it. I jabbed again, this time at the leader. It snarled but dodged my blow. It backed up and I followed up, desperate to end this fight before it got out of my control. I had only a second before the other three recovered enough to come for aid. But no matter how hard or fast I punched, I was too slow. Even if my leg were uninjured, I doubted I would’ve been able to hit the agile beast.

Movement to my left and right signaled that I was out of time. I Backed up, careful to keep the four upright monsters in my sights. They followed, each glaring with eyes ablaze with fury.

Good, I promised myself. It’ll make this idiotic part a little easier.

When they were within lunging range, I committed to my final ploy. One of the weaker animals swept at my feet and I used the fortunate action to leap back with all my force. My ankle screamed in protest at the forceful motion. As my body tore through the stretchy branches of the willowy tree, I grabbed as many as I could as I flew back. Over a dozen in hand, I didn’t set them free. Oh, no. Slightly suspended in the air, I bunched them all into my left fist and raised my right hand. Yanking my knees to my chest, I shoved every ounce of willpower into the gauntlet and held my open palm toward the lead wolf. The gauntlet pulsed its pressurized blast and I slung backward.

Right as I reached the apex of my horizontal pull on the stretchy branches, I let go. My butt landed hard on the ground, but I paid it no mind as a dozen vines whipped toward the monster with impossible force. It struck the beast so hard that a few of the sharp ends of the branches pierced through the beast with the sound of shattering glass. Its limp body was dragged along the ground as the residual force was eaten away by the giant crystalline hunter. Its pack howled and yelped in surprise and horror. One of them fled. The others bared their teeth at me.

They shrank back.

“Yeah! Take that, you slobbery görnachs! May Coldor piss on the lot of you, rest his weary soul!” I began to laugh. It was a wild, hysterical sound, even to my own ears. One of the creatures raised its nose and smelt the air cautiously before it started to run off back into the shadows. Grief-ridden howls filled the night air.

I caught my breath. The adrenaline started to seep from my muscles and my body expressed in no uncertain terms that it was annoyed at my movements these past minutes.

Minutes? Seven hells, that didn’t last long.

Then I smelled it. It caught on the fog like a leech, corrupting the benign force into something that heralded a terrible omen.

Smoke.

The forest was on fire.