Three dozen rakkes began beating their chests and thrashing in the snow as they built themselves into a frenzy. The fur on Jir’s back stood straight up and his lips peeled back to reveal his fangs. The growl that emanated from deep within his chest sent shudders up Visyna’s spine. Against a few rakkes she would have given the bengar a better than average chance of defeating them, but there were far too many. He couldn’t kill them all, though he would die trying.
Visyna freed her hands and tried to call up some threads from the surrounding storm, hoping against hope that she could yet weave something more out of the chaos, but her efforts were in vain. She sank to her knees, her energy spent.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Chayii. The elf smiled at her. “I would have been proud to call you my daughter-in-law,” she said, gently reaching down and grabbing Visyna by the elbow, helping her up.
“He would have had to ask first,” she said, wiping away a tear.
“He would have,” Chayii replied.
The rakkes howled and moved in closer, though none yet dared to charge the last ten yards.
“Release the animal!” Zwitty hissed. He stood so that Hrem covered him on one side and Scolly on the other. “He wants to get at them anyway. This is the perfect time.”
“There are too many rakkes,” Visyna said, looking to Chayii for support.
She shook her head slowly. “I can’t hold him any longer, child-his rage grows too strong. He will hunt, and what will be will be.” She leaned down and whispered something into the bengar’s ear, patting his mane as she spoke to him. Jir’s growl turned into a deep, rumbling purr. For a moment, Visyna hoped he might stay with them, but then Chayii stood up and released her grip.
Jir shook his head and brought his left paw up to his eyes and rubbed it across them. He then extended his legs, stretching and arching his back as if waking from a sleep, which perhaps he was after Chayii released her hold on him. His muzzle sniffed the air and the purring grew louder.
“Has he gone stupid?” Zwitty asked. “There are rakkes everywhere. He’s acting like he doesn’t even see them.”
“He sees, he smells. He knows they’re there,” Chayii said, leaning against Visyna. The old elf was even more tired than she was. If the wind got any stronger it would blow them both over.
A rakke charged forward a couple of steps in a show of aggression, throwing its head back and gibbering into the sky. Jir twisted his head around and began to lick the fur around his wounded shoulder.
“I can’t believe I’m with Zwitty on this, but why isn’t Jir tearing into them?” Hrem asked.
“Elves have a great affinity with nature and all its creatures,” Chayii said, talking slowly, “although I suppose my son is not the best example. It is how we came to bond with the Wolf Oaks. It is also, unfortunately, why we face the evil of the Shadow Monarch now. Konowa did, however, bond with this creature. As their spirits are very much alike his influence on it did not materially change its basic personality of a predator.”
Visyna understood at once. “But you did!”
Chayii stood up enough to look at her and smile. “He is still very much a predator, and a wild one at that, but during the time I held him in thrall I was able to impart a certain degree of. . patience. Something, sadly, I had less success doing with my own son.”
“How in the hell does that help us now?” Zwitty asked.
“You will see soon enough,” Chayii said.
The rakke that charged ahead of the others grew bold when no response came from the group. It gnashed its teeth together and bounded ahead another yard. The other rakkes howled their encouragement and began to shuffle forward. Visyna knew a mass charge was imminent. The longer the rakkes remained uncertain the better their chances were of coming up with some kind of plan to save themselves. She raised her hands and began to weave.
“I thought you couldn’t?” Hrem asked, raising his own hands and balling them into fists.
“I can’t,” Visyna said, “at least, not enough to push them away, but they don’t know that.” She made a show of waving her hands about her before crouching down in the snow and scooping up two handfuls of the tainted snow. It burned her hands, but it also warmed them enough for her to be able to tease a gossamer thread of power from the air and create a thin, shimmering wall between them and the rakkes.
Many of the rakkes scurried back a couple of yards. The lead rakke crouched lower and grew silent, but it didn’t retreat.
“We need to stall them a little longer,” she said. “Inkermon, start praying. Out loud. Hrem, if you can keep control of the frost fire, call it up now. Make a big show of it. Grunt and yell. You see how they are. Try to do something similar.”
The big soldier looked down at his hands then back at her. “I can’t act.”
Visyna choked back a curse. “Forget acting. Just get angry. Stomp around. Yell.”
“Imagine someone got between you and a bowl of stew,” Zwitty said, his wheedling tone cutting through the building tension.
Hrem roared. Visyna gasped. The soldier spun on his heel and swung his fist at Zwitty’s head. Zwitty leaped backward, took a couple of awkward steps and fell to the snow. The rakkes nearby howled with renewed fury. Zwitty scrambled back to the group on his hands and knees.
“You could have got me killed!” Zwitty said, jumping to his feet and waving an arm at the surrounding rakkes.
“And?” Hrem asked. “Guess I can act a little after all.” There was no humor in his voice.
“This isn’t helping,” Visyna said.
“What should we do?” Scolly asked.
“Make snowballs.”
“Snowballs?” Zwitty asked as Scolly bent over and began scooping up snow in great handfuls. “You really think that’s going to stop a rakke?”
The temptation to punch the private in the nose now had her clenching her fists until she remembered she was supposed to be putting on a show of weaving. “They might if you toss a few to Hrem and the frost fire lights them and then he throws them at the rakkes.”
“Clever,” Chayii said, patting Visyna on the arm.
Jir padded a few feet toward the closest rakke, but still he gave no indication that he was aware of him. The rakke roared and raised its arms high above its head in a threat display. Jir turned as if noticing the creature for the first time. And then he did the most remarkable thing.
“He’s cowering,” Visyna said, not sure she believed her eyes. The fearless bengar was actually belly down in the snow and slowly slinking backward. The rakke recognized the posture and charged.
“No,” Chayii said, “he’s
Jir’s demeanor changed in an instant. His ears flattened against his skull and his fur rippled as muscles bunched and tensed. The rakke was two strides away when Jir leaped, a blur of black and red fur against the snow. There was a scream that cut off short, the sound of ripping leather, and a spray of blood. Jir landed on his front two paws and let his rear ones softly come down a second later.
The body of the rakke lay sprawled in the snow, its head resting in Jir’s jaws.
The other rakkes retreated several steps and their constant screeching and bellowing calls ceased. Jir had bought them some more time, but how much? More rakkes were appearing who hadn’t seen Jir’s horrific demonstration. Their roars would soon enough encourage the others to move forward again.
“Now what?” Zwitty asked.
“We start moving again toward the fort. Hrem, toss the snowballs about seven yards ahead of us and then a few to the sides. Jir can keep a watch and go after any that come in too close.”
Scolly handed Hrem a snowball. Hrem strode forward from the group and held his hand out at arm’s length. The rakkes fixated on him immediately. Hrem roared, and the snowball burst into black flame. He moved his arm around so that as many rakkes as possible could get a look and then he threw. The ball made a graceful arc trailing black frost in the air. It hit the snow with a sharp crack and Visyna realized it had instantly frozen the powdery snow into solid ice. Black flames and sparks flared for a few seconds before burning out. The rakkes near the flames
