by Guy Antibes
“That is a good idea. Your wizard bolts might scare them off.”
“You need to do more than scare them off,” the woman said. “Our men are currently trying to keep them at bay. When the sheep are gone, the wolves will be coming for our children. It has happened before. Don’t worry, we will pay.”
“It isn’t a matter of money,” Lark said.
“But we would appreciate whatever you feel we deserve,” Tanner said. “Let’s get started.” He gave Jack a warning look before he smiled at the woman.
They ate a hasty breakfast, since dawn was an hour or so away, and left the village behind. They were surprised to be surrounded by ten armed men, but most of them talked about the dangers of raising livestock at the higher elevations. They all seemed to know the woman and each other, so Jack hoped they weren’t being waylaid.
“Normally, we couldn't bear to have wizards on our lands,” one of the men riding beside Jack said.
“Your lands? Are you all related?”
The man laughed. “More or less. We are a tight group in the mountains and have learned to depend on each other. Wizards are better fighting a pack of wolves than archers. Big mountain wolves will shrug off most arrows unless you shoot them up close.” he said.
Jack wondered if he should tell him about the Black Finger Society, but decided to hold off until he knew more about the people they had volunteered to help.
“I doubt if any of us have fought wolves before,” Jack said, “but I’ve used magic to fight human wolves.”
“Don’t go mistaking any of us, then. We are partial to leathers and furs.”
“As long as you don’t run around on all fours, you won’t have to worry.” Jack wondered if they had gone from one predicament to another as they rode on into the dawn.
~
The woman who fetched them, Amee Newbright, led them to a broad meadow. A large herd of sheep crowded into each other in a corner. Dead sheep were scattered around the meadow. It was easy to see the wolves had had their fill. Jack noticed dead sheepdogs scattered among the sheep.
“This is how I found it yesterday morning,” Amee said, as they looked down from their horses at a cluster of carcasses. “There were three hundred sheep alive the day before. The wolves killed thirty.”
“How big is the pack?” Tanner asked.
“Packs,” Amee said. “Looking at the tracks along the edges of the meadow, perhaps seven or eight. My son estimates over one hundred wolves.”
“Your flocks won’t last long if those numbers are correct.”
“Then they will come for us,” Amee said. “You can appreciate our desperation. We hate wizards up here, but this…this is too much.”
“Have you asked other wizards, like the Black Finger Society?” Lark asked.
The men chuckled, but it was Amee that answered. “They would never lift a finger to help the likes of us,” she said. “But you are here. What are you going to do?”
Tanner stepped up. “I’m the strategist for these matters,” he said, putting out his hand. “Tanner Simple. Let me introduce us. We left so quickly.” He proceeded to exchange names. Jack would never remember them all, but he did remember Amee. She acted like someone’s tough grandmother.
“We will need your help,” Tanner said. “The wolf packs will need to be bunched up so we can take them out with wizard bolts or fire.”
Jack might have found a use for Takia’s fire, after all.
“We can track one of the packs for practice,” one of Amee’s companions said.
“Better twenty than one hundred,” Helen said.
Jack dismounted and put his armor on. He wasn’t about to be clawed to death. Besides, he only had two changes of clothes. It wouldn’t be polite to ask Pakara Jimaroon to lead him to the sanctuary if he wore shredded clothes.
“Heavier clothes are better,” Tanner said as he followed Jack’s lead.
The shepherds already wore layers of leather. “Follow me,” one of them said. Amee stayed behind with some of the men as the rest of the group plunged into a thick forest.
“What do these mountain wolves look like that set them apart from normal wolves?” Helen said.
“Size, mostly. The Mountain wolves have light blue eyes, but their coats are a mottled gray like most of their kind,” he said. “They are fast and vicious.”
Tanner leaned back and snapped on metal bracers. Helen often wore her thick leather ones. Jack was without that kind of protection, and at this point, he regretted not having something to protect his arms. He looked over at Lark and Ralinn and even they had leather bracers. He felt left out.
“Here are the tracks of a pack,” a shepherd said. “Following them isn’t easy.”
They rode for an hour before one of the men tracking raised his hand. “We are close,” he said.
Jack touched the Serpent’s Orb and let it top him up with power. He held the sword in one hand, and after he felt energized, he drew the wand.
They rode slowly, two by two in the forest, their horses picking their way through clumps of ferns and over pine needles. Jack noticed movement upslope from him. He poked the shepherd at his side and pointed out where he saw movement.
Jack heard a gasp.
“We are surrounded,” the lead shepherd said quietly. “Wizards, spread out.”
Jack faced up the slope, Ralinn faced down to the rear, and Lark was closer to the front. The worst possible scenario was the wolves spreading out around them, and it appeared they were at a disadvantage.
Jack flinched at the first howl. He spotted more wolves up on the hill. A clump of ferns barely rustled in the windless forest. Wolves were hiding. “Watch the fern clumps,” he said to anyone listening.
More howls from different points. A huge wolf came close and howled, then growled. Jack aimed his wand and shot it in the eye. The beast dropped. A few high-pitched wails punctuated the scene, and then the pack attacked.
Jack aimed the wizard bolts into the eyes of the wolves. He dropped three more before Ralinn cried out. A group of five snarled at the rear of their group. Jack wheeled and pointed his sword at the one on the left and said “Fire.” He was careful not to yell. They might be lost if he conjured real Takia’s fire since it would destroy the sword’s guard and he would lose the ability to project any kind of fire.
Jack swept the flames, amazed that they obeyed his will as they licked real damage on the wolves. He had to be sure he didn’t miss, since they were in the middle of a forest.
Lark cried out trigger words, but Jack could hear the distress and fear in his voice. Jack led his horse to the front and used his wand to end another two wolves. He turned his horse around but didn’t see another threat.
The shepherds didn’t waste any time in dispatching the wolves the others had injured, but Jack had killed all he had dealt with except for those still burning where he had painted them with Takia’s fire. Soon they returned to the meadow with eleven wolf heads. Jack was surprised at how large they were.
A camp had been set up in the meadow and had grown in size. Men and women milled about dragging poles just cut out of the forest, setting up a piked defense. The heads were piled up outside the perimeter.
“One-tenth of the job is complete,” the lead shepherd said to Amee. “The boy is the real deal. I’ve never seen such a thing.”
“Only because the wolves fought as a pack,” Jack said. “If they had scattered, we wouldn’t have escaped unscathed. The burned ones clumped up.”
“They did group together,” one of the men told Amee.
She sighed. “It is only the first battle. We were lucky, but you will see more wolves when the sun goes down.”
“We don’t have enough people to take the fight to them,” one of the shepherds said. “We will stay here tonight.”
Jack could see others making a corral for the sheep. Someone had brought more dogs, who, he guessed, would alert them to a wolf attack. They were shown a spot to camp down for the night.
“We will be cooking soon enough. Rest up, for it may be busy tonight,” Amee said to Jack. “I heard about your contributions, today. I only hope you can keep it up. It is dangerous out here.”
“What about your villages?”
“Don’t worry about them. Everything is stockaded.”
“But you talked about your children being eaten.”
Amee smiled. “I did, didn’t I? That was just to get you here. Our babies and our old people are protected, except for me, of course.”
“Of course,” Jack said. “Are you a village leader?”
“Kind of,” Amee said. “Where did you learn your wizardry? From what my men said, you are very accomplished.”
“I’m just my master’s servant,” Jack said. “I’ve picked up a few tricks, but accomplished? Not me. I don’t know much, but what I know, I know pretty well.”
“Keep at it, my lad. We are counting on you.”
Jack hadn’t realized how dire the situation was until he had fought the first pack. If there were ten, now nine packs, roaming the woods around the meadow, he could see how the villagers would think they were in trouble. He wondered how the wolves perceived the people in the meadow. More meat to eat?
With that thought, he went to sleep before dinner was served.
Chapter Fourteen
~
D ogs barked, sheep baaed, and horses neighed, waking Jack up.
“The lamb stew is simmering,” one of the men said. “Get something in you before it is gone, and then it’s time to work.”
Jack donned his armor and found himself in a line of men rushing to eat before the wolves attacked. He gobbled down some stew and figured if he ate any more, he would get sick. Jack didn’t even know how the stew tasted.
He heard the bleating of a sheep and ran into the corral. Wolves were beginning to jump over the fencing. It was dark, but soon torches were lighting up the area. Jack waded through the panicked sheep, finding wolves and dispatching them with his wand. He didn’t want to use fire among all the sheep. Lark and Ralinn stood within the stockade watching Jack struggle among the shifting sheep.
He was able to get another wolf, but there were more of the huge animals jumping into the corral. The conditions couldn’t have been worse. Jack had no help. He turned to see if anyone had entered the corral, but all he saw were faces on the other side.
A ram butted him in the side. Jack lost his wand. He was left with his knife and his sword. He turned around. It was too dark on the ground to retrieve his best weapon.
The ram was pawing the ground. Now the sheep were after him. He used his sword to shoot a bolt into the head of the animal. It dropped to the ground.
Jack heard a growl and turned to see a wolf in the air after him. He stuck out his sword, just like he had when Penny attacked him, and let the animal impale itself on his sword. This time it took him down as well. The sword was stuck underneath the heavy wolf.
Jack had his knife at his disposal, and the weapon wouldn’t be very useful against all the wolves in the pen. The warded boxes were in his saddlebags behind the stockade. All he had was the Serpent’s Orb around his neck. He whipped the leather thong of the necklace around his hand and hoped he wouldn’t kill himself with what he did next.
He took the orb off and wrapped it in the leather thong that held around his neck and held it out, the slit facing a wolf creeping up to him.
“Fire!” he said.
A thin stream of liquid fire shot out from the orb, painting the wolf. The animals ran away from the burning wolf. It howled as the fire quickly consumed it. Jack spotted his wand and ran to pick it up, but another wolf ran into his path. It advanced on Jack. He had nowhere to go this time. The wolf leaped into the air. Jack said “shift” and ended up behind the wolf. He picked up his wand and shot a bolt into the back end of the wolf. It whimpered and then went still.
Men began to leap into the corral carrying swords and long pikes. Tanner and Helen rolled the wolf that Jack had impaled and handed his sword to him as wolves began to retreat back into the woods. Out of energy and about out of power, Jack climbed wearily over the corral fence and sought out Eldora’s box to recharge his magic. He was exhausted.
The shepherds patted him on the back as he sat down on his blankets. He shoved his hand in his pack and grabbed the box, feeling Eldora’s power flood into him. Someone shoved a mug of ale in his hands. Jack took a deep draught as he began to figure out what he had done with the orb. The fire was different than Takia’s fire. He pulled the orb out of his pocket and sensed that power was still within the orb. The magic of the liquid fire had come through him, not the orb. At least his hand hadn’t burned off.
“You are bleeding!” Ralinn said, letting a bright pinpoint of flame illuminate the immediate area. Jack wished he knew that spell.
Jack looked up. “I am?” She pointed at his upper arm. Jack had no idea how that happened. He took his cuirass off and then his shirt. Two gashes had ripped the skin open, and the blood was streaming down his arm.
Ralinn put her hand on Jack’s bicep and muttered healing words.
“You can heal?” Jack asked.
“You can spit fire out of the ball that hangs from your neck? What was that?”
“The Serpent’s Orb. I didn’t know if I could get it to do anything. I have learned a few things, and one of them is don’t try to shoot anything out from your hand. Use an object of power.”
“A good piece of advice that Lark continually gives me. You do learn a few things for a country boy.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jack said.
“I’m no ma’am. There.” Ralinn pulled back. “You shouldn’t need stitches. Don’t get impaled like that wolf. I don’t have the level of skill to do a lot of offensive spells. The sisters are taught to heal early.”
“And you really aren’t a priestess?”
Ralinn snorted. “As good as, but no. I trained with them, as I said. I needed different experiences, so Lark took me under his wing.”
“Did any wolves enter the stockade?”
“Two,” Ralinn said. “They jumped in from the corral. Lark took care of one. Tanner and a shepherd with a pike killed the other. I’m afraid I’m not up to killing animals. I did much more than I wanted yesterday when we fought the wolf pack.”
“You are up to healing,” Jack said, gingerly testing out his repaired arm. He pulled out his sword and inspected the blade. “I was worried it would be bent,” Jack said.
“How would you bend a sword blade?”
“I couldn’t pull it out under the circumstances.”
“Have you recovered yet?” Amee said, walking up to the pair.
“Just about. Are there more wolves about?”
“Still. We won’t know how many you took care of until tomorrow. Can you return to watch?”
“Don’t I get any rest?”
Amee looked at Ralinn with appraising eyes. “The way I see it you were resting.”
“Is there any stew left?”
“Are you kidding?” Amee left them, merging with the rest of the shepherds. “You are lucky you got anything to eat at all. If it is any consolation, breakfast will be in two hours.”
Jack donned his armor and finished off the ale after Ralinn went looking for her mentor. He spotted Tanner talking to a few shepherds.
“Are you all right? That was quite a performance,” Tanner said. “What was that fire all about?”
“I found a new use for the orb. It was that or start jumping around. Invisibility probably wouldn’t keep the wolves from smelling me.”
Tanner laughed. “I guess not. You killed quite a few on your own. You showed up the shepherds so badly they had to jump into the corral. Most of the wolves had retreated by then.”
Jack looked into the corral. Torches lit up the corral, now. Men and dogs walked among the sheep. Animal bodies were stacked just inside the stockade part of the corral.
“How many wolves?” Jack asked.
“Eleven, again
. At least you let some of the rest of us join in your heroics,” one of the shepherds said.
“One got to me,” Jack said. He showed them the shredded cloth on his arm. “For a moment, I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I’m sorry about the ram.”
“Ram?” the shepherd said. “We wondered why it wasn’t bloody. Rams are important to the flocks.”
“He knocked me down once and was about to do it again when a wolf showed up. I wasn’t going to fight two animals at once,” Jack said. “I’m sorry about that.”
“I understand. You faced them all without any help.”
“My magic is the help,” Jack said.
“You possess the foolish bravery of youth.”
“He does at that, and that foolish bravery has saved my life,” Tanner said.
~
As the sun rose, Amee called the watchers back into the compound. Most fell to their bedrolls and slept through the morning. Jack was up before many of the others and made sure he was one of the early ones through the food line.
He looked at the pile of sheep bodies and the pile of wolves. Four men and two women were already up working on the piles. Amee walked up to him.
“Too bad about that ram,” she said, “but I guess you paid us back for him many times over.” Her eyes turned to the workers. “We won’t let the sheep or the wolves go to waste. There are hides to make, and there is meat to be cured. If you and your friends hadn’t shown up one of those piles would be much smaller and the other much bigger.”
“What about the sheep from yesterday?”
“They were being salvaged while you followed the pack. Are you ready for another foray in the forest, young man?”
Jack nodded. “I guess. I got enough sleep, and I was up early to eat my fill.”
“Then our best trackers will take you to another den.”
The next three days were much the same. On the fourth night, the wolves didn’t attack. When they went out with the tracker, they found an abandoned den. The wolves had moved on, it seemed.
“Hopefully they won’t be back,” Lark said.
“Not a group of packs, not here, but they didn’t disappear. They went somewhere else,” the man said. “You can’t get rid of wolves, just hit them in the nose so they will be gone for awhile.”