Territorial

Its jaw snapped shut, biting empty air—a flash of iron cleaved through, separating the head. A rush of barking and growls took charge as the other dire wolves attacked their prey.

Ethan drew back the arrow nocked on his hunting bow, loosing once to catch a target between the eyes. He paused in surprise before snatching another arrow, quickly readying it to fire again. The shot grazed the dire wolf, leaving a streak of red in its grey fur, but not enough to deter it.

“Shit!”

He swore aloud, nocking another arrow, before Vaelara’s words registered.

“Drop!”

Ethan went down, hands and shins touching the ground fully. The dire wolves missed him by inches, leaving the Dark Elf’s blade to tear into two of their bodies. Blood rained down on the human’s back before he stood again. His eyes surveyed the situation, counting three dead, with four more circling them.

The creatures prowled outside of Vaelara’s range, eyes gleaming in the forest’s dark air. Ethan readied another arrow, hitting the ground as the dire wolf dodged the projectile.

“Stop wasting arrows, boy!” Vaelara shouted. “Dire wolves are smart, capable of learning. Just wait after I move.” She instructed, charging out from the Human’s side.

Her sword extended, she charged to attack a wolf head-on, forcing two of them to attack. The two moved quickly and coordinated their maneuvers, one dodging Vaelara’s arcing strikes while the other took a snap at her. The Dark Elf moved her sword in a way that allowed for her strike to give her a wide berth, missing one, while carrying the momentum to defend behind her. She spun the hilt of the blade so the flat end of her greatsword provided a convenient shield against the second wolf’s attack.

Two dire wolves charged Ethan in a diagonal pincer strike. He dove forward, missing their teeth by inches. Quick to recover, he caught the back of one that moved more slowly. He nocked, aimed, and fired with a speed he was not used to and missed. The moment was gone for him, but not for the Dark Elf.

Vaelara’s sword spun through the air, sharp end catching the dire wolf on the side. It kept spinning a ways out before impaling into the ground, hilt end in the air. Ethan turned his attention to his comrade, realizing with horror that she risked her own weapon to kill his foe, leaving her defenseless.

Another bark caught his attention as his second target rushed towards him. Still quick on his feet, Ethan sprang from the ground, clearing the snap of the wolf’s jaws. He retrieved an arrow, counted four more, readied it, but froze.

His very bones shuddered as a guttural roar boomed through the forest clearing. Ethan’s entire body shook with fear. His heart skipped a beat, his ears rang, and his skin tingled from the reverberations. He spun about, his eyes wide, searching for the beast that demanded attention. The dire wolves made no such sound but were also stunned by the call.

Their legs trembled, their ears held back, and their tails tucked as fear overcame their territorial instinct to attack. And between the two shaken predators, the Dark Elf held her head high, mouth agape as another roar cracked through every eardrum. The corners of her mouth were pulled back, revealing her teeth, grinding together as she snarled and growled like the very animal they were attempting to survive against. Her eyes flared with a magic that encompassed her pupils, reshaping them into slits made of green flares.

Her hands rose, though unchanged, appearing to possess a layer of light that formed around her limbs; thin and translucent, with a faded green hue of magic that engulfed her limbs up to her shoulders. It took the form of another hand, a massive paw with claws extended. The magical blades tore through the air, raking through the dire wolf’s torso. It cried in its final moment before falling lifeless in a red pool. Vaelara’s feet kicked off from the ground, bolting to strike the next wolf, ending it the same way.

The final dire wolf, the fight gone from it, decided on self-preservation. It disregarded Ethan and fled into the mist, leaving the clearing and the threat now that it was alone without its pack.

Ethan watched it escape, but a growling still echoed nearby. He turned to face Vaelara, the woman who had cleaved two dire wolves like a large wild cat, moving towards him with the same speed as before. Her clawed hand dissipated into nothing as she snatched Ethan’s bow from his hand and relieved him of an arrow. She nocked the projectile in place, her wild eyes narrowing in concentration, nose flaring, before releasing it into the mist at a velocity that made no sense to the human. A second barely passed before a sharp cry was heard, echoing the fall of another dire wolf.

Ethan could hardly process what had happened. This woman’s beastly rage, the magic she wielded, the precision of her strikes. His mind scrambled to make sense of it while she took a breath to calm herself. Vaelara’s eyes reverted to normal, her pupils turning dark and rounding out. Her muscles relaxed, and her grip around the bow loosened before she shoved the weapon back into Ethan’s hands.

He stared at her while she kept her eyes out towards the mist. She moved to retrieve her sword, sheathed it, and returned to where she and Ethan had come from. He walked slowly and carefully before catching up to travel beside her. The silence came heavy, while his bones still shook and his ears kept hearing a roar that no longer called.

Vaelara glanced back at Ethan. She didn’t speak. The old road came into view, as did the town. Approaching the gates, Ethan finally stopped, prompting Vaelara to come to a halt. She looked at him, expecting his slack-jawed face to question her on what he’d witnessed. To regard her as that Dark Elf that he should have been wary of from the beginning.

Their eyes meet. Ethan opened his mouth, shut it quick, gathering his thoughts. He opened it again, his voice calm and collected after everything.

“Can you teach me archery?”