The great wolf reared back, lowering its head parallel to the rest of its body so it pointed directly at the bear. It opened its mouth as if to growl, but something else entirely came out instead. A high-pitched shriek sounded, then a few blue-white streamers crept out of its maw toward the bear, followed a few seconds later by a brilliant ice-white cone that burst from between its open jaws. The cone expanded outward, catching the bear and all the wolves that hadn't scrambled away. The bear tried to roar, but no sound came out. Caught in the wolf's breath, its flesh froze within seconds. The wounded bear died quickly, but the great wolf kept exhaling its frigid breath, harder and longer, until the bear was no longer flesh and blood but something as fragile as ice.
Moments after the giant wolf stopped its onslaught, the bear's neck snapped under its own weight. The head fell off and rolled some distance before coming to rest.
The humans and halfling stood still, unsure whether to run or fight. The great wolf turned its blue eyes to them and with a single leap landed before them with such force that snow flew into their eyes. The surviving wolves, many of them battered and bloodied, ran to join it, forming a circle around the prisoners once again. The polar bear had killed many wolves, but enough remained to form a solid ring.
"What is that?" whispered Lidda.
Sonja knew exactly what it was and met its piercing glare.
"This is a winter wolf," she explained to the others. "My parents and I faced them on occasion. We killed them any time we could. They're cruel, wily creatures that operate as scouts for the frost giants. They're powerful and evil. They serve no useful purpose in nature."
"They're intelligent?" asked Regdar. "Could it behind all this?"
"I don't know," said Sonja. "It's possible but not likely."
"What do we do?" asked Hennet.
"Leave it to me," the druid answered, clutching her cudgel tightly.
The winter wolf bared its teeth as it ambled leisurely to the party. When it opened its mouth, it was not to freeze them with a breath but to speak. Its wolfish lips moved as a human's might, and it spoke in distorted Common!
"What have my children brought me now?" it said, its voice a distant growl rising in its throat.
"These are not your children!" cried Sonja. Then she snarled back at it as a wolf might, barking and growling. The other three stared at her, astonished. Of all the things they'd seen this day, this was the strangest yet.
"Let us keep to human language," the wolf said in its own tongue. "Otherwise it would be unfair to your friends."
"No," replied Sonja. "I can translate for them if I must. Your pack must hear what I have to say."
"Impertinence!" the wolf snarled. "I am the First Son of the Cold, the Archhunter of the Frozen Drifts of Daak. I am Savanak! I shall rip your friends to shreds to feed my pack and chew your slender form to whet my own hunger!"
"You shall not!" Sonja barked back. "I am a Daughter of the Endless Glacier! I have faced your kind before, Savanak! I have slaughtered them and removed their hearts for trophies!"
"I know of no Endless Glacier," the wolf countered, "and I know of no human who can make the claims you have."
"I challenge you, Savanak," Sonja said. "I challenge you for this pack, for leadership of all the wolves under your command. I make this challenge against your honor according to the ancient rules of wolf-kind, laws far older than man. You must obey. To deny such a challenge is an admission of cowardice."
The winter wolf switched to Common. "You cannot make this challenge!" it growled. "You are not a wolf."
"Neither are you," the druid spat back. She tossed her cudgel to the ground. Staring down the winter wolf, she lifted her arms so that a strange, shimmering light overtook her. Before the eyes of her companions her form warped. Her face distended, her nose slid forward, and her robes changed from white to gray and from gray to black, the material sprouting thick fur. Her hands shrank and grew claws, and a slender tail sprouted from her back. She slid down onto all fours, fully transformed into a tall, jet-black wolf.
7
The emotions felt by the other members of the party ranged from amazement to shock to fear. No one, not even Hennet, had ever seen her do this before. They all knew, of course, that some druids were capable of making such transformations, but they didn't know that Sonja could.
Anxious to assuage their fears, Sonja approached her companions. They instinctively pulled back, but she kept her tail low, her face open and docile. She approached Hennet and rubbed her furry cheek against his leg. Hennet cautiously ran his hand over her head, tousling her ears and feeling the contours of her doglike skull. Her hair was soft and silky and her eyes, now shaped like a wolf's, were still Sonja's soft blue. Some ineffable essence of Sonja shone through them still.
"Foolish hound!" Savanak roared. "Do you think your cheap magic trick impresses me?"
Sonja, now capable only of wolf language, snarled back.
"This is no trick. I command the forces of nature, the same forces that hate you and that you despise. My challenge stands." She cast a glance at Savanak's wolf minions, standing attentively on the sidelines. "They accept it, so you must as well."
"You are beneath me, runt human." He spat out the last word with particular venom.
"Prove it," said Sonja. "Do it without your breath weapon."
"And you without your degenerate spells."
"So let it be," said Sonja, "for the leadership of your pack. Your pack may not intervene-"
"Neither may yours." Savanak pointed with his muzzle at Regdar, Hennet, and Lidda.
Unable to speak Common in this form, she turned to the others and pointed as a bird dog might to an area farther away. The wolves ringed this exposed area, marking off something like a crude arena.
"I think she's telling us to back off," said Lidda. "She wants to fight this creature alone."
Regdar protested vehemently. "Sonja, don't do this! It's almost twice your size. Fighting together, as a group, we can beat this monster. You don't have to do it alone."
The wolf that was Sonja shook her head and turned her back on them. Reluctantly they slipped back. The wolves parted to let them through and closed the line behind them. Several wolves broke ranks and settled into the snow next to them, silently and calmly staring at them, almost daring them to interfere with this battle over honor.
Sonja stalked the makeshift arena, eyeing her larger adversary. "If you should violate our agreements," she reminded the winter wolf, "know that you risk bringing your pack down on your head."
"Quiet yourself and fight," said Savanak. He lunged at her with all his weight. The wolf was fast but not as maneuverable as the smaller Sonja, who nimbly dodged the attack and raced off to await the next assault. She hoped she could tire Savanak enough to gain an advantage, but it was a risky endeavor. She was tired from the long march with the wolves, and even now she was beginning to pant. Fortunately she knew enough about the winter wolves of the Endless Glacier to improvise tactics.
Winter wolves were usually barding natural pack animals, individually powerful but usually banding against more powerful foes. The few remaining mammoths still wandering the icy tundra were hunted mercilessly by winter wolves, less for food than for the challenge of bringing down the largest animal of the far north. Soon, Sonja knew, there would be none left, and humans wouldn't be to blame. Fortunately, this winter wolf was on its own, and they were less adept at fighting alone.
Growling softly, the winter wolf kept its ground. Its otherworldly, blue eyes glowed in the cold, taunting her from across the snowy arena. It bared its teeth ever so slightly, and froth started to spill from its mouth.