Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Dancing With Wolves

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Dancing With Wolves

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Know that old saying—out of the frying pan and into the fire? Well, that’s exactly what this was. We’d just escaped a camp overrun by a horde of monsters and were now on our way to safety and reinforcements only to discover that the wolf that wouldn’t die like it was some kind of ‘Terminator’ was now blocking our path.

It was the wolf’s companion, however, who demanded our attention as something about the man in the patchwork cloak seemed even more menacing than the oversized wolves that flanked him.  

The sides of this man’s head were shaved, with a long mane of curly hair fixed in a single braid behind him. He had a curly beard and numerous scars marking the tanned skin of his face and arms. His fur cloak, which was thick and torn and weathered, was a patchwork of grays and browns and blacks layered over each other like the skin of a Frankenstein monster. Underneath all that fur was a naked, muscular form that could have rivaled Doomsday’s rigidness if not his massive bulk.

Dess, who was standing just to my right, whispered, “I’ve never seen a human give off such an ominous aura…”

“I don’t think he’s human,” I whispered back.

My fairy teammate had it right. The murderous aura wafting out of this He-Man wannabee was causing goosebumps to rise on my arms, and that was a reaction I didn’t get from humans. Even strong ones like Red Beard.

Deep-set blue eyes over a browless forehead gazed at us with pure contempt.

“Who are you?” Mistress Lorelai asked.

The man ignored her question while his blue-eyed gaze scanned all our faces—and I could almost swear he spent longer looking at me than the others. Then, predictably, he gestured to his wolves, and these beasts began to take slow deliberate steps toward us.  

“Shield wall!” Mistress Lorelai ordered.

Despite their obvious fatigue, our party’s remaining tanks were quick to move as the dark elf instructed. A wall of shields formed up in front of Mistress Lorelai, with Anal and Morph joining the adult adventurers in raising our defenses.

I noticed that Morph had found himself a new shield. I only hoped that this round wooden shield he’d scavenged would serve the infernal better than its previous owner, Bjorn the Viking, who I’d seen carrying that same shield in our battle against the maenads.

“Lieutenant Doyle,” Mistress Lorelai called, “take a fireteam and deal with the wolf at our backs.”

Yep, none of us had forgotten the red wolf that had dropped our party’s roster down to sixteen, and Lieutenant Doyle was eager for some payback.

“Aye, mum.” After saluting Mistress Lorelai, the LEPRCON agent pointed at Delphine, Tessa, and the brothers Grimm. “Come on, lads and lasses. We’ll keep that beastie occupied while your instructor rains hellfire and brimstone on these godsdamned feckers.”  

I didn’t have time to worry about the team at our backs though, because, as I remembered seeing the gray wolf leaping over a burning tent to attack me and Liara, I called out a warning to my party. “They might jump over the wall!”

“Let them come!” Mistress Lorelai hissed through gritted teeth. “Be ready to cut them down!”

My expectations proved false, however, because the wolves in front of us chose not to vault over our shield wall, but to break it instead.

The first of these beasts—a wolf with patchwork black fur—rammed its head against the shield wall where Anal was positioned near the left flank as if the black wolf sensed what I knew to be fact; Anal with his injured shoulder equaled the wall’s weak link. The beast smashed into Anal’s pavis shield so roughly that the bright elf was thrown back and into the ground beside Liara, who, in a feat of daring, picked up the large rectangular wooden shield from the grass and stepped in to take Anal’s place in the shield wall.

Still, the black wolf might have broken through the Anal-sized hole before Liara could plug it were it not for Mistress Lorelai who drove her spear into the beast’s neck, forcing it back long enough for Liara to move into position.

Hers was a commendable effort to shore up our defenses, although it didn’t matter in the end.

The gray wolf that killed Zen didn’t charge at us as its partner did. Instead, it opened its mouth wide and let loose a torrent of ghostly blue flames that burned the feet of our defenders just like I might have done if I’d been on the other side of the damn shield wall.

“It’s breathing Helfire!” someone screamed too late.

“Vargr!” another adventurer yelled.

One of our tanks—your typical roguish-looking adventurer with weathered gear and the tired-looking face of a twenty-something human female—couldn’t get away in time. She burned alive while the rest of our shield wall had no choice but to scatter as everyone knew that Helfire could only be put out with mid-tier water magic.   

Morph’s new shield served him well by burning up in its wielder’s place. It was a bit of waste though because Morph, an infernal, was the only member of the shield wall who couldn’t die from Helfire. Well, I guess that wasn’t true as Liara just proved. Cold aura wrapped around her gear like ghostly armor that was strong enough to withstand the gray wolf’s ghostly flames.

“Holy Hel…” I frowned. “…the freaking Ice Crown taught her the Armor of Cold Breath?”

A powerful tier three spell from the school of enchantments, the Armor of Cold Breath—ACB for short—covers its caster’s body with ethereal frost that strengthens one’s defense while also dishing cold damage against anything that attacked its caster directly.

I couldn’t help feeling a little jealous of Liara because the ACB was one of Divah’s go-to spells for close-quarters combat. I hoped to eventually steal its scroll from Dwalinn’s study along with the scroll for the Star-Spangled Sight, but now that the she-elf had it, I guess I’d have to let it go as there was no point in me having the same spells my partner had, right?

Assuming we were back to being friends, that is. We never did get to hash it out properly. And working together during this crisis didn’t count as us making up either. I knew that well enough.

Anyways, with our shield wall broken way too easily, both wolves now had free reign to attack us non-tanks with impunity. With only Liara left to stand in their way, I knew I had to step in and help her. Literally.

I jumped over to her right side and slammed my foot into the ground just as the head of the gray wolf came rushing into my personal space. Magic dug into the earth beneath my feet and turned the ground into a fiery pit. Molten fire and volcanic ash exploded from underneath me to engulf the beast whose jaws were now mere inches from my face.

“Burn, you vargr, burn,” I taunted.

I watched the beast get blown a good five yards away. It howled in pain while rolling around on the grass in an attempt to put out the fire coating its body.

“Good luck with that,” I chuckled.

In that brief moment where nothing was trying to kill us, I glanced sideways and flashed Liara a smug grin as my way of saying that her ACB didn’t hold a candle to my Volcanic Step.  

Liara eyed me up and down. “Your boxers are a little tight, don’t you think?”

My cheeks flushed red while the flame magic around me began to dissipate, taking with it much of the fires it had created and leaving the grassy ground relatively unburnt.

With the fire gone, the black wolf attacked us next. It rammed its head against Liara’s body—and was blown back by ACB as the ghostly armor shattered into hundreds of glowing shards. The ice shrapnel that pierced into the beast’s snout caused frost to coat the black wolf’s head, making it howl and back away from us too.  

“Do all your spells have freaking traps built into them?” I asked.

“Yes,” Liara replied.

She was breathing heavily now with streaks of her chestnut hair clinging to her sweat-coated brow, and I could easily guess why. The she-elf had been using spells non-stop since the dungeon break started. I assumed she was running low on magic reserves by this point. Not that I was any different. At most, I had enough magic for two more Volcanic Steps. Maybe.

“We’re still not okay,” she stated.”

“I know,” I replied. “But you gotta admit, we work well together.”

“I guess your fire magic does complement mine very well,” she conceded. “My ice magic’s better though.”

“Please,” I scoffed. “I’ve seen ACBs endure three heavy hits before breaking apart.”

Liara frowned as she heard the acronym that I gave her spell.

“I’ve only just learned… ACB… but once I’ve mastered it, the spell will endure five strong attacks.”

“Then you better survive tonight so you can master it.”

Goading people on was the only kind of pep talk I could give because it was also Divah’s way of encouraging me. It worked well enough with Liara though. I could see that glint of determination in her eyes which helped to lessen the fatigue on her face.

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Our brief reprieve came to an end quickly enough as both wolves had finally shrugged off the ‘Burn’ and ‘Freeze’ conditions our spells had given them. However, only the gray wolf got to attack us a second time as its partner was suddenly surrounded by sharp-edged blades and glowing staves.

Dess, Morph, and the remainder of our fellow novices trapped the black wolf in an encirclement that allowed them to attack it from all sides. Only Anal was missing, and I figured the little veslingr turd had finally shown his true colors and ran away.

As for the gray wolf that was already mid-leap and heading our way, I wasn’t overly worried about it either. See, from the corner of my eye, I noticed a silver spear flying straight at me too. And, if my calculations were right, which they usually were, the spear would reach me right around the time the wolf would. Still, despite my confidence, it was a challenge to just stand there and act as bait while the beast’s open jaws drew nearer to my face. When Mistress Lorelai’s spear impaled the gray wolf right in its neck, I couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

The dark elf’s spear throw must have been crazy strong too because the spear’s impact on the gray wolf’s neck shoved the beast past where me and Liara and sent it tumbling and crashing into the earth a good twenty yards to our left.

However, living up to its ‘Terminator’ vibe, the gray wolf was quick to get back up again like it hadn’t just been torpedoed. It ripped the silver spear from its burning flesh—because silver and wolves didn’t mix—with its teeth and then flung the spear away like a discarded chew toy.

If only that were enough to get rid of a magic spear that seemed to answer its owner’s beck and call.

Behind me, I heard Mistress Lorelai say, “Impale,” and then the spear lifted off the ground, twirled around, and then speeded back toward the gray wolf like a homing missile. As for the beast, it was so focused on glaring at us that it didn’t notice the silver spear drop from the air to stab it right in its spine. The spear plunged deep into the gray wolf’s back with its tip exploding out of the beast’s underbelly to pierce the ground beneath it.   

“Brutal,” Liara whispered, to which I replied, “Groovy.”

Despite getting impaled, the gray wolf still wouldn’t die. The beast thrashed around in its attempt to escape but Mistress Lorelai’s spear proved sturdier and kept the monster locked in place.

“That should keep the bloody thing from running wild for a while,” Mistress Lorelai said as she appeared between me and Liara. Her gaze passed over us next. “I assume you’re both still able to fight?”

“Yes, mistress,” we both replied together.

“Then what are you two standing around here for.” She pointed forward. “Go help your fellow novices slay that other wolf.”

Speaking of our fellow novices, they were doing pretty well keeping the black wolf occupied. Dess had even managed to stop the beast from barfing Helfire on them by stabbing it in the snout with her spear just as ghostly blue flames began to spill from its mouth. No doubt she’d learned her lesson after fighting me.

Now, however, as I watched the savage beast tear an arm off one of our last red cloaks, I realized that Dess’s hunting party was in dire need of reinforcements.

“Let’s—”

I was just about to jump into the fray when Mistress Lorelai grabbed my arm and held me back.

“Ms. Ives,” she called.

The pretty raven-haired green cloak who’d hung out with Anal appeared suddenly like she’d been spit out of the shadows in the grass. She had a stylish-looking longbow in her hand with a green-feather arrow and its cylindrical tip already notched to the bow.  

“You go with Ms. Lockwood and help the others,” Mistress Lorelai ordered. “And wait for it to open its mouth before you fire your explosive arrow. Send it into the beast’s throat and triple your damage output.”

Both Liara and Ms. Ives eyed each other like a pair of cats competing for the same can of tuna, but they followed our dökkálfar instructor’s orders anyway, leaving me alone with the dark elf whose gaze was fixed at a spot a little higher up the hill beyond the black wolf’s hunting party.

This whole time we were fighting his pets, the blue-eyed man in the patchwork fur cloak was battling the few adult adventurers who hadn’t been part of the shield wall. There were three of them. Sadly, the last of those three brave souls had just been decapitated by a thick, curved black blade that seemed strangely familiar to me.  

“You want me to help you kill the boss, ma’am?”

Well, I did play a pivotal role against the maenad queen which is probably why Mistress Lorelai was entrusting me to watch her back. Maybe.

“I prefer we captured him first, Mr. Wisdom… I have questions. Questions that need answering.”

“Questions about how this dungeon break started?”

“Your deduction is proven correct yet again. I’m impressed.”

“So, we’re certain this is an actual dungeon break?”

“It is.” Mistress Lorelai frowned. “However, this new dungeon break shares none of the usual patterns of previous disasters.”  

I raised an eyebrow at her. “There are patterns to dungeon breaks?”

“Regardless of whether they are natural or contrived, all disasters reveal signs of their impending arrival, Mr. Wisdom,” Mistress Lorelai stated. “For example, a contrived disaster such as the advent of a greater demon appearing in any realm is usually heralded by omens such as locust swarms, river water turning into blood, or the sudden death of all the realm’s firstborn children… Meanwhile, a natural disaster such as a tsunami is preceded by—”

“An earthquake along the coast,” I finished for her.

It was remarkable how Mistress Lorelai still found time to teach me something despite how dire our situation was. She was either a very dedicated educator or very a very thickheaded dark elf.

“So, you’re saying, a disaster like a dungeon break should have shown signs that it was about to happen?”

“There are many omens heralding an impending dungeon break… A stark increase in roamers and curses associated with the dungeon in question, unexplained deaths and disappearances, and even the appearances of accursed.”

“Didn’t maenads curse the people of Kells Falls?” I pointed out.

“One curse does not a dungeon break make, Mr. Wisdom,” she frowned at me. “As you can see, there was no indication that such a disaster was imminent.”

The dark elf aimed an icy glare at the blue-eyed man who seemed content to wipe the blood off his curved black blade while waiting for Mistress Lorelai and me to come over and challenge him to a duel. Seriously, people thought I was arrogant.

“I have questions, Mr. Wisdom.” Mistress Lorelai pulled a six-inch golden handle out of her belt. “Questions that need answering.”

At first, I imagined I was staring at a lightsaber’s handle—because that’s what it looked like—but, as she swung her arm down, the gold pipe extended outward at both ends, expanding into a golden spear that looked like a carbon copy of the silver spear she’d impaled the gray wolf with.

“How many spears do you have?”

“Kin and Gin are all I need to engage an army, Mr. Wisdom.”  

Noticing the golden spear in her hand, the blue-eyed man in the patchwork fur cloak raised his curved black blade in a kind of salute. She returned his salute by raising her golden spear high.

“Come along, Mr. Wisdom”—Mistress Lorelai hefted the spear I assumed was named ‘Kin’ over her shoulder—“let’s go get our answers.”

 

Glad tidings, fellow novices!

We're nearing the climax of this first volume guys, and I for one can't wait to leave the Irish countryside behind—gorgeous as it is—to get back to Will exploiting more of the Academy's secrets while dominating its novices... Assuming he survives what's coming, that is. ;P 

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