Author's note:
Hey guys, sorry for the extremely long delay on this chapter. My living situation has changed which means I have significantly less time to write now. I'm still committed to this story, so don't worry about me stopping, updates are just going to be less frequent from here out. Thank you for understanding and for reading!
End author's note
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Alanna whispered to Nywen. The two of them had reached the village with the warg problem and set out the bait, a big hunk of red meat that was now just sitting in the sun, attracting flies. They had been watching it from their vantage point beneath a bush for a few hours now. Alanna thanked her lucky stars that it was still early spring, in a few weeks the both of them would likely have gotten eaten alive by mosquitoes.
"I've done this before, so yes, I'm sure," Nywen retorted.
"If the wargs have been eating cattle won't they be too full to take the bait?" Alanna complained.
"The reason this strategy works isn't because it plays into their hunger," Nywen said. "Sure, that's what gets them here, but wargs are way more territorial than normal wolves. They'll eat that meat even if they aren't hungry to keep other monsters away, and because they know this area has food they'll stand and fight to protect it from anything they see as an invader."
Alanna mulled over Nywen's explanation. wargs looked so much like normal wolves it was hard to attribute them with that much intelligence. She was about to continue her line of reasoning when Nywen pressed her gloved hand on Alanna's mouth.
"Shh! They're here," she whispered.
The pack of wargs, five strong, carefully stepped out of the surrounding foods, sniffing the air. Nywen had impressed on her how important the wind was when it came to their vantage point. If they were upwind, the wargs would know they were there as soon as they got close to the bait. If they were downwind of the bait, they could end up directly between the wargs and the bait as the pack approached. Nywen picked a spot off to the side instead.
"Go, go! Now!" Nywen whispered, urging Alanna up. The two split up and began sneaking up as the wargs dug into the food.
Beforehand, Nywen had asked Alanna if she knew how to sneak, and she had to admit that she didn't, so Nywen gave her the basics: Move slowly, strike the ground with your toes, then roll your feet, and pay attention to your surroundings. She did her best to keep her eyes on the wargs and on the branches and brushes around her, avoiding every obstacle slowly and deliberately.
Alanna was forty feet away from the wargs when an audible snap broke her out of her concentration. Looking down there could be no doubt what caused it, she broke a twig beneath her foot. It was one thing to hear someone explain how to sneak effectively, it was another thing to do so effectively. The wargs now had their yellow eyes fixed firmly on her, their jaws still red with the remains of their recent meal. As one, the pack broke away from their meal, barking and howling, and charged Alanna.
Holding her sword steady, Alanna tried to keep track of each warg as the pack approached, but they were intentionally using the cover of the woods to confuse her sight. They would dart in and out of direct line of sight, making it hard to track where all of them were at any time, until one leapt out of the underbrush from her side, taking advantage of her distraction to attack her unprotected flank.
Immediately, Nywen leapt out of the shadows like a pouncing cat, stabbing the warg in quick succession along its flank as she passed the flying warg. It landed awkwardly, rolling several times before coming to a stop, unmoving. Alanna had no time to admire her companion's precision as another warg charged rapidly towards her from her front, ready to avenge its fallen comrade.
"This is the reason these things were considered monsters, not just large wolves," Alanna thought. They had a cunning beyond mere animal intelligence and they used it to kill things no ordinary wolf would tackle.
She had little time to think before another warg charged her directly, likely sensing Alanna as the weaker link between the two adventurers. However, Alanna would not be taken out that easily. As the warg came in to bite her, she sidestepped the large creature, allowing its momentum to carry it past her as she slashed at its face. The creature yelped as the blade connected, a large gash being cut across its muzzle. It bled profusely and backed off in pain, but Alanna noted to her annoyance it was neither a lethal nor a debilitating wound. It hurried into some shrubs, forcing her to focus on the next warg as it came in for the attack.
She knew she had to land deadly blows, as Nywen had done, but to do that she had to get much closer.
Another warg dashed out of the undergrowth towards her. She could see its intent, attempting to make use of its companion's most recent attack to try and catch her offguard. She dove, but rather than try to jump out of the way, she met the creature's attack head-on. She ducked underneath the creature's terrible jaws and rammed her sword into its ribcage, using the creature's own weight against it. She knew she struck the heart when blood gushed out of the wound like a geyser.
The creature screamed, a sound no canine should be able to make, then spasmed as the last of its life left it. Alanna was ready to gloat over her latest victory when she realized that the creature had turned into dead weight almost directly on top of her. She was stronger now, but not strong enough to move the horse-sized wolf fully out of the way as it collapsed on top of her. It landed on her legs and groin, pulling her embedded sword out of her hand.
She fought against the creature's dead weight, but she was only barely shifting it. She heard something approaching and noticed the wounded warg from earlier approaching. It sensed weakness, as well as a chance for revenge.
She struggled as hard as she could, wobbling the dead warg side to side, but there was no way she'd be able to free her legs in time. "Nywen! Help!" she cried out, though she could not see the Rogue from where she had fallen.
The creature's slavering jaws opened wide above her head and lowered to close around her skull. It would be a tight fit, but when those jaws closed, she knew it would be the end of her.
A dagger flashed through the air, glowing blue as it struck the warg in its throat, a tell-tale sign Nywen used one of her Class abilities to intervene. Its yelp came out as a gargle as the weapon had embedded itself deep. Alanna saw her opportunity and grabbed the dagger's handle, ripping it free with a wild slashing motion. The warg may have survived the original puncture had it managed to escape, but not after Alanna tore the wound open entirely. Blood sprayed. The warg tried to run, but as it drew close to the forest's edge it slowed and fell, a pool of blood growing beneath it.
Nywen's head soon appeared over the side of the warg pinning Alanna down. She gave her a coy grin while Alanna continued to struggle. "You know, the rumors made you seem like you were much better at this than you actually are." When she noticed Alanna's sour expression, she gave her a thumbs up. "Still, good job on your first quest as a real adventurer!"
