Raoul stumbled and fell to the dirt ground, a jolt of pain running through his body, reminding him of how exhausted his body was, even after the short sleep.

He pushed himself up, ignoring his body’s plea for rest.

“Can you get up?” Alwig asked, his voice barely containing any emotion. Agnes was on the young wolf’s back, her body small, her breathing unstable.

“Don’t mind me, Al,” the boy replied, getting to his feet. “We need to move.”

Alwig didn’t continue forward, instead, he stood still amidst the forest. They were in an uncharted part of the biome, and the moon was their only source of light. Raoul couldn’t see the expression of the young wolf well, but he knew without needing to look that anger was simmering underneath the darkness that covered his face.

“Al, we need to move,” the boy enunciated. “We need to find a resting place for your mother.”

The young wolf looked down, and the sound of canines grinding with each other could be heard. “I know… I know,” he said as he looked up and started running.

Raoul rushed after his friend, struggling to keep up, willing his body to move despite all signs his body told him. After Agnes collapsed, Alwig was intent on taking revenge on the soldiers and villagers, and Raoul did his best to calm his enraged friend. The boy even had to latch onto the wolf’s leg while getting dragged along the dirt ground at one point. The wolf wouldn’t listen to a word he said, not until he mentioned Agnes and how she needed time to recover herself.

Even without much thought, they knew that the soldiers and villagers would come back to exterminate the wolves after gathering reinforcements, and they were sure to come back to the cave soon, if not immediately. There were endless soldiers constantly coming to and going out of the village, and the boy did not doubt that they could join forces to hunt them down tonight.

They ran for what seemed like hours before finally, Alwig stopped.

“Al?” the boy panted.

Then, he saw them. Endless pairs of yellow eyes glowed all around, the coyotes sauntering out of the dark with caution and hostility. They might be opportunistic predators, but they were still predators, it seemed.

Alwig growled, making all coyotes freeze for a moment, but when one of the beasts took a step forward, so did the rest of them. Raoul looked back and noticed glowing eyes behind them as well.

“Raoul,” Alwig said calmly. “Hold your hands out.”

The boy blinked but did as he was told anyways. Suddenly, ice started condensing above his palms, shaping, elongating, hardening until a spear made of ice fell into his hands, the coyotes stopping briefly in caution.

“It won’t last long since I didn’t have time to imbue more mana into it,” the young wolf said. “We need to finish this quickly.”

Raoul gripped the spear tight, feeling the coldness rising up his arms, sending shivers down his spine. He had barely used spears before. “I understand,” he said, leaving his back to the wolf and brandishing his weapon. “I’ll try to take as many as I can.”

Alwig let his mother off his back, gently placing her on the ground, and at that moment, the coyotes lunged at them all at once.

He roared.

Raoul also screamed his lungs out as he dashed forward, ducked under the coyote in front, and plunged his spear through its abdomen while it was still mid-air, its body limp and following the spear’s trajectory. Other coyotes landed on nothing but instantly charged at the boy. He counted four of them.

He thought the spear would be lodged into the coyote’s body, but surprisingly, the spear’s sharpness made it so that not even bones could resist it. Raoul swung his spear as he whirled around, keeping the other coyotes at bay out of his range. The beasts, however, crept closer step by step.

The boy couldn’t fit them all into his vision and had to turn his head left and right, frantically pointing his spear at the one taking a step forward at the moment. He could feel his heartbeat betraying him once more as he realized that he could die at any second.

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A coyote out of his vision jumped when he was the most distracted, and Raoul reacted too late as he was unable to turn the speartip in time, and the coyote was hit by the spear’s handle instead. The coyote whined and landed past the boy, though that one coyote was the least of his concern.

Turning around, Raoul saw the three coyotes jumping him all at once. The boy knew he couldn’t dodge them all, but he also didn’t plan to be the only one at a loss, so he stepped to the side toward the collapsed coyote and swung his spear at its neck, almost beheading the animal.

The nearest coyote dashed as it landed on the ground and bit Raoul’s dominant arm. The boy couldn’t feel the pain, and though he doubted it was a good thing, he was thankful for it. He let go of the spear in his right hand and caught it with his left before driving the speartip into the coyote’s head, its maw releasing in an instant.

Then, the two remaining coyotes pushed him to the ground, his spear flying away, and blood started spraying.

Pain overwhelmed him in an instant, every nerve in his body screaming at him, burning sensations erupting from his shoulder and left arm. It hurt so much that he could do nothing but scream, his mind mere moments away from shutting down.

“Raoul!” Alwig was far away, trying to shake off at least five coyotes that were mauling his body.

Funnily enough, Raoul thought back to the countless times Alwig had run toward him. The wolf’s enthusiasm, gait, and even expression; he could see everything vividly. Every time they met each other, he would hug Alwig while feeling his fur, and warmth would exude from the wolf to him. Even now, just seeing the images overlapped, he felt discomfort leaving his body.

“What are you making that face for?” Raoul said, smiling.

Tears streamed down Alwig’s eyes, trailing in the air behind him, his expression in horror. “Raoul!”

“Even if you can’t do it properly…” Raoul whispered, strength leaving his body. “You were the coolest when you smiled…”

The boy closed his eyes, all sound dying down.

And everything was finally silent.

Yet somehow, he felt warm liquid dripping onto his face. He strained his eyelids and saw a coyote’s face right above him, its snout almost touching his nose. There was a blade penetrating its head.

Raoul blinked, the sounds coming back, the pain reemerging.

“Boy,” said Sir Valent. “I can’t let you die. I won’t be able to face your parents otherwise.”

Only then did Raoul notice that all nearby coyotes had already been slain. Only the ones fighting Alwig were left.

“I’ll be back,” the soldier said, pulling his sword from the coyote’s corpse. “Your friend seems to need help.”

The highborn then ran into the battle, and Alwig, after seeing Raoul out of immediate danger, went back to rip, bite, maul, and tear the coyotes apart. The trees, the bushes, the dirt. Everything was dyed red, and with the help of Sir Valent, the crimson only spread further.

Soon, only a small number of the beasts were left, and they scurried away the moment they realized they stood no chance.

“Raoul!” Alwig rushed to the boy’s side, tears still flooding out of his eyes, green light gushing out of his body to Raoul. “I’m sorry, Raoul. I’m so sorry…”

The boy felt warmth entering his body not unlike what he felt moments before. He could feel the wounds closing, though he still felt light-headed.

“What are you sorry for?” Raoul said, reaching his hand out to touch his friend’s bloody fur.

“Don’t you resent me?” the wolf murmured, looking down with tears about to burst out of his eyes. “I was inconsiderate, I pushed you even though you were already exhausted, and deep down, I was blaming you for what happened to Mother… just because you are human… I am a bad friend, Raoul.”

“Please don’t say that, Al…” The boy rubbed his friend’s fur, feeling strength rising in his body. “I understand how it feels… when someone important gets hurt… Do you remember a few days ago when I made you and Agnes worried? You could also say that I am a bad friend…”

“But that’s—“

“No different from what you are experiencing,” Raoul insisted, locking eyes with the wolf. He sat up despite jolts of pain hitting his nerves and held his friend’s head to his, touching their foreheads together. “But you were there for me, and I will also be here for you. That…” He smiled. “… is what friends are for, isn’t it?”

Alwig sobbed as he hugged Raoul. “I don’t know what I would do without you, Raoul… I really don’t…”

“Come now, you will do fantastic with or without me.”

The wolf got down to the ground to give Raoul something to push himself off of. The boy stood and almost fell down again, but he got a foothold thanks to him leaning on Alwig.

“I would have loved not to say anything,” Sir Valent suddenly said, “but you need to move.”

“What do you mean?” Raoul asked, walking with the help of his friend toward the soldier. “Don’t tell me the soldiers…”

“That’s correct,” Valent said as he leaned against a tree and cleaned his blade, not looking either of them in the eye. “They gathered enough people for a medium-sized company, and they have already started their search.”

“I see…” the boy mused, trying to think through the pain. Then, a realization flashed inside his mind. “Ah!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t properly thanked you yet, Sir Valent!” Raoul bowed as he had been taught. “For saving my life and assisting us, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“I thank you, soldier,” Alwig added, bowing in his way.

“Save your thanks. I have no need for them,” the soldier replied coldly. He sheathed his blade into the scabbard and strode away. “I did what I did only because I was indebted to your parents. I will now consider myself free from it.”

“A-ah, sure,” Raoul muttered as he straightened himself. “Y-your help so far is greatly appreciated.”

Sir Valent looked back at them with eyes full of hostility. The boy could see it clearly, even in the night. “My opinions on that beast over there have not changed from what I thought before,” the soldier said, tapping the hilt of his sword, his voice low. “The next time we meet, consider ourselves enemies.”

With that, he disappeared into the dark of night, his words lingering in Raoul’s head.