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As I searched nearby for more arrows, a chilling sound sent the hairs on my nape of my neck erect. Low, savage snarls rent the air around me, and I whirl in time to see Ruby attack a surly black wolf. I redouble my efforts.
“‘Row, here, let me-”
“No, you focus on the fire. I got this!”
Will took a brief moment to read the determination on my face, before nodding and returning to fighting the fire.
Grrrrrrrr!
I stopped dead. Another wolf was stalking my way, eyes locked with mine. I could see Ruby was still locked in a deadly dance with the black wolf out of the corner of my eyes. With no arrows nearby, I was going to have to wing it. I palmed my last knife and crouched.
Circling each other, we both sized the other up, searching for weaknesses. My fingers gripped my knife tighter in anticipation as I waited for the large wolf to pounce. This reminded me of when- Oof!
I crashed to the ground under the weight of a startlingly heavy wolf and stabbed into his soft belly, barely moving my head before it ended up between his jaws. Raros take me, that was close!
Rolling, I managed to end up on top and stabbed again. A soft whine and the wolf went limp.
I stood, brushing myself off and mentally patted myself on the back. That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I checked over myself to see if I had any injuries, but only found minor hurts. Fortunate, indeed.
“‘Row!”
“I’m fine! Just a little scuffle, that's all.” I threw over my shoulder at Brex. “Get that fire out!”
“If your lazy ass would look, we’ve almost got it under control.” Will returned.
I looked back, astonished that there were only a few small fires left amidst the blackened rubble. Most of the people of the Greenwood were hard at work putting out smaller flames, with a few standing guard around them fending off scattered wolves.
My eyes caught Little John as he stood guard in front of several small children and young mothers. With the amount of soot on everyone’s faces, it was hard to determine who was who at a distance, but I still easily found Einri across the way. He must have felt my gaze, as he turned towards me, his eyes going wide as he frantically started running towards me. I tried to hear what he said- Argh!
I hit the ground hard, squirming under another heavy weight that smelled like burnt hair and wet dog. I could hear Ruby whining in my ear and realized she had gotten between me and another wolf.
“No! Stop!”
Eerily enough, the wolves above me froze.
Unfortunately, they were still pressing me into the ground, and it was becoming increasingly harder to breathe. I squirmed, trying to get out from under them. I managed to get partially out before hands helped me. I looked around at all the wolves around camp, each unmoving. Turning, I met Einri’s worried gaze. “I’m okay. Ruby saved m- Ruby!”
I turned to my faithful wolf and panicked, searching to see if she was still breathing. “Ruby, no! Ruby!” I frantically began looking for a pulse, noting blood matted in her fur.
“'Row, she’s okay, she’s fine.” Einri called. “I just… stopped her.”
“You stopped her? From what, protecting me?” I glanced at the other wolf, noting it too was not moving.
“No, I just,” he rubbed the back of his head, “commanded them to stop. Apparently, all of them stopped.” He added, glancing around at the other wolves.
I blinked at him. “All of them stopped?” I parroted.
He cleared his throat. “It seems I’m able to Alpha them.” He explained, and I marveled at how sheepish he seemed to be.
“You mean, you could have stopped this whole attack… from the beginning?”
He winced but nodded.
“I - I see.” I may have hit my head harder than I realized, as it took a second for this information to sink in.
“These wolves are also rogues.” Will surmised.
“That would be my assumption, yes.”
