Crimson eyes took them in as the creature lowered its head, sniffing at the air.
“Wulfwir,” one of Hróarr’s men gasped, adding something in Valdari.“Wulfwir!”
“What is it?”Brynn asked, her voice coming out as little more than a gasp.
“It can’t…” Hróarr trailed off.“It can’t.”He slipped back into Valdari, speaking to his men.
Brynn’s throat went tight.She could swear those eyes were focused on her.Whatever this creature was, it was staring at her.
The creature lumbered toward them.
Guin growled, shifting in Brynn’s arms.Her fierce snarls turned into frightened whimpers as she snuggled closer against Brynn’s ribs.
Hróarr drew his sword as did his men.“Use your sorcery on it,” he ordered Brynn.
Brynn was already drawing on her power, but in truth she wasn’t sure if she would be able to stop this thing.Itskawas wrong.Whatever it was, this creature was not meant to exist.“There’s another one,” Brynn gasped, glancing over her shoulder.“Somewhere close.”
There were two others, one much larger under their feet and another smaller, but seemed to be moving quickly.Brynn could not see either of the other two, only this frightening lupine aberration.
The large wolf monster broke into a gallop, springing across the ground far faster than its awkward body should have been able to.It did not seem to run so much as to pounce.It bounded across the open space, springing around the tree stumps with an unnatural speed.
Brynn lashed a spell at the creature, creating a whip of power.Her blow hit the creature in the face, making its head snap to the side.Blood splattered, but then the creature spun back around.
Before their eyes, the creature’s skin bubbled and popped as it mended, seeming to boil back into wholeness.Brynn had never seen anything like it.It was much like seeing a wound healed withka,but alsowrongin some way.
Regardless, the creature was upon them within a few thundering beats of Brynn’s heart.The creature lunged for Brynn first.
Brynn slashed at it with another spell, stabbing for its soft underbelly this time.She struck, though the hair hid the sight of her strike.
The creature coiled, howling as it shrank back.Because of the creature’s unwieldy proportions, it had to crouch down to use its jaws.The motion was awkward, strained, and the creature stumbled as it tried to bite her.
Hróarr and his men set on the creature with their swords, stabbing for its flanks and legs.They were brave, if nothing else.
The creature batted at Brynn with its forepaws, trying to knock her over.It smacked her in the back and Brynn went down, gasping as the air was knocked out of her.
She just managed to keep from crushing Guin as she went down.Brynn struck a stump, but rolled onto her back, facing the creature once again.
The jaws came down, diving straight for her.
Brynn blasted straight up with her power, straight into the creature’s face.Her power hit the monster in the side of its jowl, and it shrieked, squalling with a sound like a thousand dying pigs.
Blood splattered as the creature backed up, away from Brynn.It must have decided she wasn’t worth it.
Hróarr stabbed at the creature’s flanks.The monster spun around, diving for him.It caught his arm near the shoulder and lifted him off the ground.Hróarr yelled, but it was like seeing a crab in the beak of a seagull.
Hróarr spouted a slew of Valdari words Cenric used only when he was particularly angry.Hróarr stabbed furiously at the creature, flailing in its grip ineffectively.
The monster turned and bounded away.
Brynn sent lashes of power after the monster.A spell caught the creature in the back, ripping through its fur and leaving a bloody gash along its spine.
The creature stumbled but kept its hold on Hróarr.
The two remaining men raced after the monster, but it was too fast.How did it move so fast with that crooked gait?
The monster raced away, eating up the ground with its misshapen limbs.The monster slowed and disappeared, diving downward into the earth.Hróarr’s bellows of fury echoed across the empty clearing.
Brynn’s heart raced.Should they go for help or chase after Hróarr?They didn’t have the numbers to fight that thing, but Hróarr would probably be dead in moments.
