They say when a wild predator is confident about its victory, their only concern is making sure their prey doesn’t escape. I thought the wolves would rush in as soon as they saw us. But they had slowly encircled us, as if thinking of us like deer who would scamper at the slightest movement. Despite the screaming of all the soldiers, the wolves just inched forward.

They settled into the groups, most with the people they were most comfortable to watch their backs. The pointy tips of the spears they held in their hands and the shoulder contact of their comrades gave them the slightest comfort.

Elfindor and I forced our way into the center. Being the leaders, we had that right, even if it was cowardly.

“Now! Get your wolf!” Elfindor said with a loud whistle, signaling the start.

Each group tried their best to get a single wolf’s attention, but sometimes two wolves attacked together. The wolves were too fast to block with the wooden shields, which sometimes interfered with the person’s vision. A person would block a claw in front of them, only for the wolf to maneuver itself under and rip into the person’s lower extremities.

Sometimes the soldiers forced the spear through the monster’s thick hide. But the wolf quickly took the advantage and used the closed distance to leap onto the attacking soldier, not caring about a mere flesh wound.

Soon an entire group died to a single wolf, and the wolves stopped fighting for a moment to feast on the corpses.

Five people were dead, and almost twenty-five had gaping wounds in only a minute of battle. Only a single wolf had been injured but not killed.

As the wolves ripped through the fallen, the groups huddled together in fear, wondering how much time they’d have left before those things pounced on them again.

“I can’t do this!” someone said, dropping their spear. He started running away.

More joined, and soon half the troops deserted us.

“Come back! We need you!” Elfindor shouted.

After about fifteen seconds, only six men remained. Those who were here showed resolve to fight ‘till the very end.

“We can’t let the chief die, or our people will be kicked out!”

“Defend him with our lives!”

The remaining guys formed a shield around me and Elfindor, with their spears held in a horizontal line outwards. Their trembling hands made them waver. I knew as soon as the wolves were done eating, those spears would fall like dominoes.

We’re going to die unless my card works.

I had hesitated with so many witnesses around. To use the water card. I had been more concerned with no one finding out my secret, so I’d done nothing.

I let five people get ripped apart. I could’ve done something sooner.

Anger pulsated through me. I moved the person blocking my view out of the way and ran to the monsters. While the wolves had their snouts on the ground eating, I shot the fastest waterball I could make at one, making it fall over with a high-pitched cry. With a cooldown of about two seconds, I shot it again before it could get up.

“What?” one of our guys said with eyes peeled.

“Water? How?”

I ignored them and kept shooting. I don’t know if their butts were made of steel but getting hit there didn’t even make them flinch. After four waterballs, the one I’d been trying to knock down turned toward us quickly and sprinted toward us. We had no choice but to run away, too. I kept turning my head, trying to get the angle just right before releasing the next one. I managed to hit the skull.

Despite their offensive prowess, a single water ball to the head shot at max speed was enough to make one of them stop running and collapse, completely disoriented. The kind of impact that had knocked out a grown man cold had only made them shudder in pain. But as it comforted itself with a paw, it was wide open for more shots.

This time, the prolonged whimpering made the rest of the pack look up from their lunch. They had been hungry enough to not notice their numbers slowly dwindling, but now the pack’s eyes gleamed with the wisdom of a full stomach.

Stolen story; please report.

Eight of us, eight of them.

The wolves began to sniff their fallen comardes, checking for signs of life, before turning to us. They began to snarl, their teeth vibrating and jutted outwards with menacing faces. But they wouldn’t move. They were more careful than I thought. But that caution gave me the moment I needed to catch my breath.

More waterballs. Another fell.

“Keep shooting!” a villager shouted, pointing frantically at the wolves.

They pointed their snouts upward and howled together. The wolves’ expression had changed.

“W-what are they doing?” one of our guys stammered, stepping back.

“If they all run at the same time we’re dead!”

And that’s exactly what happened.

“Damn it! You cursed us!” I shouted at him, as our legs exploded into another run.

Waterballs won’t work anymore! I need something else!

I created a huge pool of water directly above them, using up almost eight thousand gallons in a single ball to get them soaked and hopefully slow them down. The water splashed and waves spread out from the epicenter, dragging all seven of the remaining wolves away for a few seconds.

“Don’t just stand there!” I shouted at the men stopping to gawk. “Now’s our chance!”

They looked at each other and gulped. Elfindor gripped his spear and ran in with a war cry and the other guys rallied behind him, headed for the three that were shaking off water. I pelted them with a few more fast waterballs, and the men put all their strength into one thrust with the spears. Against an unspecting wolf, a direct stab with those shoddy things actually dealt some damage. The flesh ripped at the site of the wound and blood gushed out. Three wolves were taken out, spears jammed deep into their guts.

The men pulled out their spears just in time, as the rest of the wolves recovered.

With two more accurate waterballs, I took out one more. The last three clashed with the remaining soldiers and they shouted in pain as claws ripped their arms and teeth sunk into their legs. Three guys managed to impale one wolf. Realizing it was outmatched, one of them ran away, leaving the last one on its own. It started whimpering and turned to run, but I created another pool of water above it and our guys finished the rest.

We had won.

“How’s your injuries?” Elfndor asked.

Two guys were gnashing their teeth. One covered an arm with the other and couldn’t stand, as the wolf bite had ripped out a huge chunk of flesh. I noticed some of the wolves were still breathing, so I shouted to drive the spears through their skulls and finish the job.

Once we made sure they were all dead, I took off my shirt and we used it to wrap the dude’s leg. Other guys took off their shirts and added more padding. The second guy’s injuries weren’t anywhere near as bad but he had surface-level claw marks into his stomach. He narrowly avoided having his stomach ripped out.

“What are you doing?” Elfindor asked as I went to pick up a wolf. The wolf was surprisingly light for its size. But I wasn’t sure if I could carry it for four hours.

“Five people died and the rest ran off. We can’t go back empty-handed.”

He sighed. “True.”

Once things had settled down and the adrenaline had worn off, the soldiers exhaled loudly. One shook his head in disbelief.

“We’re alive. I can’t believe it.”

“Mr. Alster, you had a spellcard. I wish you’d mentioned that from the very beginning!”

I spoke up. “We survived. These things are useful. I can’t imagine why the margrave would ban them.”

“Well, it wasn’t the margrave,” one man corrected. “The emperor and the church grant the right to use spellcards. If anyone found out you were using one, well—”

“No one will find out,” I blurted out with an intense glare. “I saved your lives. You can thank me by keeping quiet.”

Silence and nervous glances followed. This was a big secret. Could they keep quiet?

Elfindor backed me up. “Yes. Alster’s spellcard is useful to us. If you breathe a word to anyone, it’s all of Big Tree that will pay for it.”

At that, they nodded quickly.

“We won’t say a word, chief. I swear.”

All the men abandoned their gear and committed to carrying one wolf each, except the one with the wounded leg. It took some effort but he was able to walk by putting most of the weight on his other leg. Elfindor carried two, leaving only two to be left behind.

We trekked back. I gave them all as much water as they could drink and splashed their faces at their request.

On the way, we managed to regroup with ten of the soldiers who had run off within the first five minutes. They hadn’t gone very far and had felt guilty for running. We told them to carry the wolves as a punishment.

“But how did you all survive?”

“Well, you see these shirts wrapped around my leg? There’s a huge chunk missing under them. Wasn’t easy, but we got ‘em in a surprise attack.”

The others nodded.

“Wow….”

I said there were two more wolves we’d left behind. I ordered two of them to fetch them. And four more to fetch the gear we’d left behind.

As we walked we found more of the deserters and about half an hour in, we had thirty of the original fifty. By this point, none of the men who had fought in the battle carried a wolf. They were regarded as heroes.

Six hours later, we arrived at Little Rock, famished and exhausted. Families of Big Tree had waited by the gate as the sun started to go down. Luckily we had left early so we hadn’t trekked through the night. We broke the news of the ones who died after some Big Tree soldiers pointed to their families. Some of them had wives and kids who cried as we spoke. Grief turned to curse words and angers, but Elfindor and I couldn’t do anything but say they died fighting bravely. About fifteen men were missing and we explained that we got separated in a horned wolf attack, but that they were okay.

“If they don’t return, we’ll send out a search party in the morning,” Elfindor declared.

“We should go now!” the wife of one of the missing said. “It’ll get dark soon, and the Holy Knights—”

“It’ll be past curfew,” I said gravely.

“Yes! That’s why—”

“Let me make one thing clear, miss,” I snapped. “We said we got separated, but what actually happened is those men ran off and left the rest of us behind during the fight. I will not stick my neck out for cowards. If they’re caught, we will deny being associated with them.”

She fell silent. The other deserters looked at each other nervously.

“Joey,” Elfindor whispered. “Don’t you think that was too harsh?”

“No. I won’t put the rest of us at risk. You said the lord made it clear there wouldn’t be another chance if we broke curfew.”

“Yeah….”

“Then those guys are on their own.”