William was shocked at how much push he got from his damaged leg and the grey doubled over with the concussive force of the double punch. William didn’t stop to admire his handy work. He threw his left arm around the grey’s neck and letting his body weight do the work he wrenched the grey onto the ground. William, maintaining the grip on the werewolf’s neck, began to punch at the grey’s face.
The way that William fell to the ground with the grey, left his right arm free to attack, however it also put his side wound on the ground. Every movement from his body sent fresh waves of almost debilitating pain through his body. Werewolves have great healing abilities, but he hadn’t given his body a rest and his side seemed to be a constant target.
The grey seemed to sense his weakness and began to direct his counterattacks and protests toward the open gashes along William’s side. His left arm holding the grey in the head lock was becoming more useless as the nerves along his left side sympathized with his wound. His left arm was going numb. In a panic, William grabbed the numbing appendage and wrenched back on the grey’s neck. His left arm felt a small amount of pressure as William struggled to get more leverage on the grey’s neck to close the werewolf’s windpipe.
The grey struggled and tried to get an arm around the sudden vise grip which was being clamped down on his neck. The grey dipped his chin as best he could, and William could feel the grey’s breathing slow down and become deep, even, and deliberate breaths. William tried to get more pressure on the other’s neck. The grey was grinning up at William as he continued to breathe.
William tried to wrench down harder, to close the airway. But he couldn’t get the leverage that he needed to fight against the corded muscles of the grey’s neck. William pulled at his now useless left arm struggling with the grey. The grey knew that William was losing more and more strength as his blood flowed from his wound. The grey put more of a steady pressure against William’s arm. It was the hardest thing he could remember doing to just keep a grip on the grey. William was yanked up and away from the grey. One moment he was on the ground with the grey in a weakening headlock and the next he was standing upright while his body threatened to over balance and fall over.
William steadied himself and looked around the see who it was that had pulled him to his feet. It was the black and white calico. William tried to steady himself and prepare for the next assault, but it never came. The calico turned around and pulled the grey to his feet. William teetered softly on his weak legs as the two werewolves walked away.
William was confused and he had half a mind to follow them but he knew that in his condition the fight had already been decided against him. He turned around a little too quickly and almost fell as the world shifted beneath his feet. It took a long moment for the world to stop swaying underneath him. William blinked hard to try to regain his balance. He looked to where Katherine had fallen. He took an unbalanced step and nearly fell over. Katherine was being lifted to her feet by Aceso and Charles.
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William shook his head to clear the cobwebs and to focus. It didn’t help. All it did was make the world rotate again and he found himself off balance. It was all he could do to remain standing. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Feeling the ground under him and the blood flowing from his wound he tried to focus on balance. When he was sure that the earth had stopped moving, he opened his eyes.
Katherine was being supported by Charles. He looked around and surveyed the battlefield. The question that rang in his mind was why did the greys and those other werewolves attack us? His mind was sluggish to respond with any kind of hypothesis. It was enough to try to understand the scene around him. Aceso was helping Nicolas who was still on the ground and apparently still unconscious. Katherine, supported by Charles was making their way toward the center of the clearing. He looked around but he still couldn’t see Achelois anywhere.
William turned around. He was mindful of his injury and his claw was pressed against his side trying to stem the bleeding. His tail was upright behind him adding more balance to his off-kilter stance. The greys were standing off to the side of the clearing, not talking, and not attacking either. William noticed that same reddish-brown werewolf that he had seen last night when Charles and Katherine had been attacked. She was standing behind the greys, overlooking the battlefield.
Had something happened that he wasn’t aware of? He saw that the black and white calico was standing among a group of five werewolves. Two of which had grey fur. One of those had a white spiral design on her side. The other two were light brown. William seemed to know that they were a pack but where was the sixth? For that matter where was Achelois?
William turned his gaze toward the forest surrounding the clearing. He couldn’t hear anything. He scanned the trees and the underbrush. He saw a broken shrub lying on its side. If Achelois was out there, that is the way she must have gone. Before William could move toward the sign, he felt a sharp pain in his side. He whipped around and would have fallen over if it wasn’t for Aceso who had grabbed his flailing arm to steady him. Aceso stood there gripping William’s wrist until he had himself under control again. William looked down where the pain had sprung up and saw to his amazement that his wound was already beginning to close. William looked at Aceso. She let go of his wrist and motioned with her eyes toward the center of the clearing. William understood what she was trying to say.
“Where is Achelois?”
Aceso looked out into the forest toward the broken shrub. “She will be brought back here in a few moments.” She motioned with her head back to center of the clearing where Katherine and Nicolas were resting with Charles standing off to the side.