Where the pile used to be Charles now stood. The all-black werewolf looked exactly the way he should have. His black fur was pristine in the white light of this place. He stood tall and proud the way he should be. William was glad that nothing had happened to him and was about to say so when William met his friend’s eyes. They were the same blood shot red that Achelois’s was. Charles snarled silently and lunging forward grabbing William by the throat.
The Tracker had a rabid look to him and applied a solid pressure around William’s neck. There was none of the man that was William’s friend left in those eyes. These were the eyes of a blood thirsty predator and William was its prey. He wasn’t going to go out like that. William reached up with his legs and wrapped them around Charles neck. With that he wrenched his whole body around and down around Charles arm. Charles’ arm was not up to the challenge of this maneuver, and he fell over on top of William, who was in a perfect grappling position. Using the leverage he had already gained with his legs, he gripped Charles’ arm and pushed up with his lower body. Charles was flipped over William’s head and crashed to the ground of the Whyte Plain.
William got up and started to straddle Charles to punch some sense into him. He felt himself being heaved up from his position over Charles and was thrown backwards. William landed on his shoulder blades at the base of his neck. He took the moment of respite and was able to take a look around. His friends had not done very well against Achelois. Nicolas was on his side struggling to get up with cuts and gashes all along his arms and legs. Katherine was on her back trying to get herself up, her wounds had not had the time to heal properly, and they were now openly seeping blood once again. She had one leg propped up and was rolling onto her side. Aceso was in bad shape too. Her whole body was crisscrossed with cuts and blood. William wasn’t sure if it was all her blood or not. She was crouching over Katherine helping her to get up while keeping a wary eye on both Achelois and Charles. William raised his head up and rolled over into a sitting position as well.
The shadows that formed their arena were not moving any closer. They maintained their distance. If anything, the shadows had moved back and increased the area they were fighting in. The grinning mouths of the formless observers were disconcerting. He looked at Achelois and Charles. The two stood side-by-side. They were both snarling. There were no thoughts that he could read in their expressions except hatred and hunger. There was a mindless quality to their stares. This place had done something to them. They were nothing more than mindless apparitions of who they used to be.
William didn’t get a chance to stand up. Charles and Katherine rushed forward, silent as death, and grabbed his arms. Lifting him up in the air they slammed him back down on the ground. The shuddering impact jarred his teeth and his brain. Black dots exploded into his vision, and he couldn’t catch his breath. He was raised again and slammed down. He almost bit his tongue off as he could taste the warm copper of blood now filling his mouth. He didn’t have time to prepare or fight back as he was slammed to the ground again and again. His brain felt like it was breaking loose from the inside of his head. His body couldn’t take much more of this and he was sure that his ribs were now fractured if not broken. The pain was becoming less intense though. Suddenly his arm was free and in a pure reflex action he swiped it at the face of whoever had his other arm. He was able to focus his blurred eyesight to see that he had hit Charles across the snout, leaving thin lines of red where his claws had connected.
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Charles didn’t seem fazed by the attack. He heaved his body weight in the opposite direction hurling William toward the blackness that encircled all of them. William skidded to a halt on his side. He looked up and the shadows grinned down at him. Leaning back, he thrust his legs up and out in a sweeping spin kick. His legs passed through air, and the shadows only seemed to grin more broadly. William turned away from the things and focused on the fight at hand.
Nicolas had engaged Charles and was getting beat down easily. Charles was moving faster than William had ever seen him in their training sessions. The wounds that Nicolas was able to inflict on him seemed to do nothing to Charles. Aceso was busy trying to protect Katherine from Achelois. The rabid, black, white, and tan werewolf knew to get rid of the injured female before trying to take on the others. He knew that Katherine was in that state of helplessness because of him but at the time it was the only way to save her. Far off in the distance just within earshot he heard that laughter again.
This is what the Whyte Plain had intended all along. They had never had a chance to save Achelois. Nicolas’s vision was part of the trap. Now instead of one, the Whyte Plain would be able to claim six. A fresh werewolf pack to bolster their numbers. He knew that even if they were able to subdue Charles and Achelois he could never bring himself to kill his friends. But he wasn’t going to let that stop him from trying. If he was going to die here today than he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
William threw himself at Charles and caught the other completely by surprise. Charles was lifted up of the deck with the force of the impact. Nicolas was still standing there as William tried to wrap his legs around Charles. Achelois can’t help you, Charles. Now you deal with me on your own. In their practiced grappling technique William was able to land a series of hard blows to Charles’ snout and sides. Just when he was getting comfortable, Charles heaved upward and forcibly threw William off of him again.
Charles whipped his body around and springing off all fours, slammed into William’s side and snapped his jaws forward ripping off a chunk of his flesh. William would have screamed but the pain was so intense he couldn’t do anything for a few moments. Charles wasn’t finished with him. He pummeled William with kicks and claw swipes. William covered his body and protected his wound as best he could. He was not prepared for the ferocity of Charles’ attacks. William was in a pure defense posture.