Chapter 14 – Fight Back

Syl didn’t hesitate.

“Behind us!” she shouted and spun with her bow drawn. Even with her eyes still closed, she knew exactly where it was. A split-second of doubt went through her mind; if it was all her in her head, she’d look the fool.

But if it wasn’t her imagination—if the Lake-Wolf really was behind them—then it would kill them all if she didn’t act. Her first arrow was away before she even finished the thought.

She heard the others rise and draw their bows. As her first arrow buried itself in a tree near where she felt the Lake-Wolf, her second arrow was already streaking right for it. Five other arrows followed it almost perfectly.

The Lake-Wolf’s hate turned to surprise, to concern, as it leapt to the side to avoid the barrage. Six arrows struck where it had been only a second before.

Syl didn’t need to vocalize as she shifted the angle of her bow and the trajectory of her third arrow. With her eyes closed, she wasn’t sure how the others managed to follow her lead, but follow they did. Another volley of six arrows cut through the foliage to unerringly strike. Yet the Lake-Wolf somehow managed to dodge to the side again, and the only victim of the volley was a thick tree.

The Lake-Wolf’s concern further turned to confusion. It didn’t know how they were suddenly able to track it. How its prey was able to fight back.

“Spread!” Syl shouted as she nocked and released her fourth arrow.

Unlike the previous volleys, this wasn’t a pinpoint strike. Upon her command, the others instinctively aimed around Syl’s target.

The spread shot was almost random, but Syl was somehow able to track the flight of each individual arrow through her connection with the Lake-Wolf. Whatever was letting her detect its presence was also tying her to its senses, and she instinctively flinched as the arrows shot towards ‘her’.

But the Lake-Wolf was unnaturally fast. Faster than anything should be, and the arrows seemed to be floating rather than rocketing. It dodged the first arrow by ducking its shoulder, the second by lifting a paw, and the third by leaping to the side. By then it was out of the danger zone.

“Again,” Syl shouted, her fifth arrow aimed and ready.

Just stay still for one second! she screamed in her head at it. As her arrow left her bow, and five others followed, she felt the Lake-Wolf freeze. A moment of panic washed through it—and over her—as its body ceased to obey it. It was the same sensation from her dream.

It wasn’t for long, barely more than a heartbeat, but it was long enough. Two of the arrows struck true, and Syl felt outrage entwine with the fear.

Syl’s pulled back on her sixth arrow, but she didn’t loose it. The Lake-Wolf had already turned and dashed away through the forest the moment it had its freedom back.

So fast…

“Hold!” she shouted. The Lake-Wolf was outside the range she could sense it within seconds, and she didn’t want the group to waste the arrows.

“Did we get it?” Rogar asked.

“With that last one. I think so,” Syl answered.

“Is it dead?” Leeze asked.

“No,” Syl said.

“Are your eyes closed?” Dena asked, from very close.

It wasn’t until that question Syl realized she’d kept them closed the entire time.

“Just closed them to calm myself down,” she lied, and opened them. The look on her friend’s face, even in the darkness of the woods, told her Dena didn’t believe her.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Dena mouthed, so nobody else would hear.

“Where’s Reylo?” Edar asked. “Does anybody see him?”

“If the Lake-Wolf was behind us, maybe Reylo’s in that direction?” Rogar suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Syl said slowly. “I think Reylo was bait, he’s probably still ahead of us.”

“Bait?” Edar asked incredulously. “It’s a beast. Why would it use bait?”

“We chased it out here, didn’t we?” Syl asked, but didn’t turn to look at Edar. “Then it circled around behind to ambush us. What would you call it?”

“I’d call it scary,” Kule answered for everybody.

“Let’s worry about this after we find Reylo,” Dena told the group. “And after we’re not in the middle of the woods with the Lake-Wolf still out there somewhere.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Dena’s right,” Syl agreed, and turned towards where she last heard the Lake-Wolf. It wasn’t much further ahead of them. “This way,” she said.

“Did you see that shot?” Kule asked behind her as they walked. “I’m sure it was my arrow that hit the Lake-Wolf.”

“How could you see anything in this darkness?” Leeze asked.

“Same way Syl knew the Lake-Wolf was behind us,” Kule answered, and Syl’s ears perked up. Could somebody else sense it too? Maybe it wasn’t just her imagination after all…

“Pure hunter instinct,” Kule said, and Syl’s hopes fell.

“Kule,” Leeze said flatly. “You’re an idiot.”

“Reylo?” Syl called for her friend.

“He better not be taking another leak,” Kule grumbled. “That’s gotten us into enough trouble for one night.”

“Keep it down, Kule. And keep an eye out for him. The Lake-Wolf could’ve dropped him under a bush or something,” Syl instructed.

The group fanned out behind her as they moved forward, but they didn’t have to go far.

“Got him,” Edar called from Syl’s right, and the whole group converged on his voice. “I think he’s hurt Syl, going to need you on this.”

“How bad?” Syl asked as she found Edar leaning over a prone Reylo.

“You tell me. Arm looks chewed on… I can’t tell you much more than that.”

Syl crouched down beside Reylo, but the lack of light in the woods made an accurate diagnosis impossible. “We need to get him back to the waystation,” she said. “I can’t see a thing out here. Rogar, think you can piggyback him?” she turned to the biggest member of their group.

“Yeah,” Rogar said, unstrapping his Sho-Val and handing it to Leeze. She reluctantly let go of her pendant to take it from him.

“Edar, Kule, help me with him. Careful, we don’t know if he hit his head. Dena, hold his neck steady while we…” Syl instructed as the group worked together to get Reylo up on Rogar’s back. When he was firmly in place, they retraced their steps back to the waystation.

Everybody was on alert for the Lake-Wolf’s return, but Syl didn’t sense it anywhere nearby.

Is it really gone? Did we injure it enough to chase it off?

“Gently. Gently!” Syl said as they got back into the building beside the fire and lay Reylo down. Syl rolled up an extra blanket it and put it beneath his head, but he didn’t wake up. That likely meant some kind of head injury. The only question was how serious it was.

Syl started her inspection with the arm; it was the most obviously injured. The Lake-Wolf had clamped its jaws down on the limb and used it to drag him through the woods. There were deep lacerations from where the teeth had punctured the skin, but miraculously, the bones didn’t seem broken.

“Those are some… very large… teeth marks,” Kule noted. “How big is this thing?”

Kule was right. By the spacing of the bite marks in Reylo’s arm, the Lake-Wolf’s head was at least as wide as Reylo’s shoulders.

“I thought Lake-Wolves had long, narrow mouths,” Syl whispered to herself. If this was considered narrow, the beast was a monster.

“What was that?” Dena asked.

“Just talking to myself while I work. Helps me think,” Syl said as she stitched up the worst of the puncture wounds. Would she have enough thread?

“While I sew up the arm,” Syl said without turning. “Dena, Leeze, I want to you run your hands along his chest. Gently, but not too gently. Look for any obvious breaks or a feeling of pressure. If something feels like it’s bulging, tell me right away. It might be a sign he’s bleeding inside.”

When neither of them moved immediately, Syl spared a moment for the best Enna-glare she could muster. “Now’s not the time to be timid, girls,” she said. The responding looks on their faces told Syl her mother would be proud.

“Rogar, Edar,” she continued. “Keep an eye out. We don’t want the Lake-Wolf sneaking up on us again.”

The two boys took up position without a word, one by the door and the other by the only window.

After an exhausting hour of stitching, Syl finally finished. The other girls managed to check the rest of Reylo’s body for breaks or injuries, with a little too much giggling, but they didn’t find anything life-threatening. There were minor scrapes and bruises, but the boy was in surprisingly good shape.

“It’s almost a miracle,” Syl said as she sat back and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “The teeth didn’t hit anything major in the arm, so the blood loss was minimal, and nothing else is serious.

“As long as he wakes up soon, I don’t think we’ll have to worry too much.”

Syl turned to look at Reylo, but his eyes were still closed, and he hadn’t moved. “You sure?”

“Oh yeah,” Kule said. “As soon as Dena’s hand found the inside of his thigh, I saw him smile. He’s awake.”

“Whaaaaat?” Dena said and jumped back. She looked at her hand like it belonged to somebody else.

“Reylo,” Syl said very evenly. “If you can hear me, I suggest you open your eyes this instant.” When Reylo didn’t immediately respond, Syl reached over and drew her Sho-Val. The unmistakable sound of the blade leaving its sheath filled the waystation.

“Wh… what happened…?” Reylo predictably said as his eyes fluttered open. “I… I… must have been knocked out,” he wheezed. When he tried to bring his right hand up to his head, his eyes bulged open, and he groaned in pain. “That hurts!”

“I see you’re awake,” Syl said, the Sho-Val still in her hand. “Besides your arm, does anything else hurt?”

“Everything hurts,” he groaned softly.

Syl nodded. That was to be expected. He’d been dragged through the forest at breakneck speeds. It really was a miracle he wasn’t dead.

“We should get him back to the village,” Leeze said from behind her.

Syl didn’t answer immediately. Leeze was right. Reylo needed to be monitored to make sure Syl hadn’t missed something important. On the other hand, that would be a full two days lost looking for her father. And as soon as the villagers realized how Reylo was hurt, they’d never let Syl leave a second time.

Reylo must have seen the internal battle on Syl’s face because he was the one who spoke up. “No, I can keep going,” he said. “It’s just my arm that hurts. The rest, well, I’ve felt worse after Ka-Sho matches. I’m fine. Let’s keep going.”

“He’s just saying that because he has a thing for Syl,” Kule pointed out what everybody knew.

Syl met Reylo’s eyes as she considered it. Everybody was waiting for her to give her decision. Would she be selfish and continue on, or go back? Could she compromise?

“There might be another way,” Edar said from beside the window. “Lake Cashin has several homes around it, and it’s on our road to Teb’s farm. All of them have wagons. We might be able to borrow one for Reylo if he needs it.”

“No, really, I’m fine guys,” Reylo said, and tried to sit up. The tip of Syl’s Sho-Val, which magically appeared right in front of his face, kept him lying down.

“Did I say you could get up?” she asked him.

“No…” Reylo gulped.

“Right. Stay there,” she told him in no uncertain terms. “We’ll continue on to Lake Cashin tomorrow. If Reylo’s condition worsens, we’ll ask for one of those wagons to bring him back to the village. If he seems fine by the time we get there, we’ll consider continuing on.

“Any concerns or questions?” she asked the group.

Kule raised his hand. “Can I have Leeze and Dena check me for injuries too?”