“Run!” Jahrra hissed, barely above a whisper.
The corpse-like wolves hunkered down and started to lope swiftly in her direction, looking like the shadows of demons moving to emerge from the forest.
“RUN!” Jahrra repeated to her fear-stricken friends as she simultaneously kicked Phrym into a break-neck pace while turning him around.
The snarls and snaps of the pack followed Jahrra as Phrym flew down the dirt road, Gieaun and Scede barely a pace ahead of her.
“There!” Jahrra shouted breathlessly. “The road leading to Longuinn!”
Gieaun and Scede turned their terrified horses west up the winding road as Jahrra caught up to them. She didn’t dare look back, for she could hear the blood-curdling howls of the demonic beasts that had been left behind, now joining their brethren for this new hunt.
Just as Jahrra thought they’d make the crest of the hill, one of the monsters leapt up and grabbed Scede’s leg, pulling him as easily from his horse as if he were a sack of flour. The force of the attack slammed Bhun into Phrym, both horses screaming in fear and slowing to a nervous walk. Jahrra grunted from the impact, wincing at the small pain that lanced through her leg.
“Scede!” she screamed as she turned to find the pack descending on her friend.
Without thinking, she slid from Phrym and slapped his rump so that he would run ahead with Gieaun and the other horses. She pulled her bow over her head and an arrow from her quiver. She smoothly nocked the arrow, took aim and shot.
As the missile broke free of the bowstring, a brilliant stream of yellow-orange light flashed down its shaft, speeding its flight and directing it between the ribs of the monster that still had a hold of Scede, hitting exactly where the heart would be, if it had a heart. Jahrra didn’t think that it did. The horrible creature yelped in pain, dropping Scede’s leg and collapsing to lie motionless in the dirt.
Jahrra swallowed hard and strung another arrow, not at all feeling guilty about taking the lives of these terrible beasts. She drew back her bowstring as Scede scrambled painfully towards her, the both of them backing up into the gnarled roots and arms of an oak tree growing along the side of the road. Its heavy trunk and branches grew close to the ground, and Jahrra cursed when she realized it also grew against a small embankment.
“We’re trapped!” she hissed in irritation and fear.
Scede merely gulped and nodded, his ashen face and fear-stricken eyes watching the approach of the evil creatures, some still stained with the unicorn’s blood.
Jahrra took aim and shot, the same brilliant light flaring as the arrow found its mark. Another of the skeleton wolves fell down, but there were so many. One of them howled, making Jahrra’s skin crawl and bones shiver. She backed up slowly and felt for another arrow, but her quiver was empty. She reached down and removed her trusty dagger from her boot, brandishing it as if it were a sword. Her stomach fell even further. There was no way that such a small weapon would be able to defend them against this pack. Her one consolation, however, was the knowledge that none of these animals had followed Gieaun.
Surrounded with nowhere else to go, Jahrra and Scede moved closer to the tree. Perhaps we could climb. Jahrra thought in desperation. But she knew the branches weren’t high enough to escape the reach of the pack. The rough, cool touch of bark shocked her when the fingers of her other hand finally found the tree they were being corralled into. It was over. They had nowhere else to go; they were going to die.
Jahrra secretly prayed that Gieaun would keep moving; hoping that her loyal friend wouldn’t come back to help them. Then she would die too, Jahrra thought bitterly. As the wolves drew closer, the acrid stench of rotting flesh accompanying them, Jahrra flattened herself completely against the oak tree and felt Scede do the same. Her heart struggled to break free of her ribcage and sweat stung her eyes. She reached for her friend’s arm, grabbing it too tightly for comfort. But Scede didn’t mind and for that one instant she felt his muscles relax.
This is it, she thought. She waited for the impact, for the air to be driven from her lungs, for the saber-like teeth to sink into her flesh. She waited to feel the pain race down her nerves until she would feel no more, but all she felt was a warm tingling sensation running up her left arm. The sensation heightened and spread, giving her goose bumps and causing her breath to catch. She opened her eyes and saw that the monsters had stopped their approach, their heads turning and their tails lashing in irritation. My bracelet.
Jahrra eased her stance and held her dagger out before her in a move she would never have attempted if she hadn’t been sure the wolves wouldn’t attack. She bent carefully and re-sheathed her dagger, never once letting any part of her break contact with the oak tree.
“Jahrra,” Scede gulped, his voice heavy with fear and pain, “what are you doing?!”
Jahrra ignored him and reached down, picking up a rock. The beasts snarled and snapped, causing Jahrra to jump slightly and Scede to cry out and slump to the ground. The stone, about the size of a pear, felt right in her hand, and without a further thought, Jahrra drew her arm back and threw. The rock jolted through the air, pressed on by a flash of pink light. It hit the closest wolf’s snout with a nasty crack. The beast yelped and howled, scratching at the hole the stone had left in its jaw.
Keeping her back to the tree, Jahrra picked up several more stones, throwing them with all her might, hardly pausing to take a breath. Some of the magic-enhanced missiles met their targets, some of them did not, but they were enough to drive the wolves away. When the last two beasts limped off into the edge of the forest, Jahrra let out the breath she had been holding, sliding down beside Scede, every last muscle seeming to have disintegrated.
Jahrra looked over at her friend. His face was ashen and his hair was damp with sweat, but it was his eyes that were the most telling.
“I thought we were dead,” he whispered. “I was sure of it.”
Jahrra had never seen her friend so shaken, and she couldn’t blame him. She was also pretty sure she looked about as bedraggled as he did. She picked up her left arm, feeling several pounds heavier than normal, and draped it over his shoulders. Scede let his head slump against Jahrra’s.
“I thought so too,” she responded, her voice weak and raw.
“How did you do it?” Scede asked after a moment of silence. “How did you call on the magic?”
Jahrra took a deep breath. “I honestly don’t know,” she answered truthfully. She took back her arm and held out her wrist. “But I think it has something to do with my bracelet.”
Scede lifted his head and eyed it with renewed interest. “Did you know it contained magic?”
“No,” Jahrra said. “No, I didn’t.”
Before they could consider it any further, the sound of horse hooves reached their ears, and a few moments later Gieaun came trotting down the road, Bhun and Phrym in tow. As soon as she spotted her brother and friend, Gieaun burst into tears, falling from Aimhe and collapsing on both of them, pressing them uncomfortably against the oak tree.
No one spoke for a long time, all three of them glad the others were still alive.