Editor's Note: If you have not yet read the previous chapters to this story, please go to the Fantasy Archive and read those, first. Thank you, TDS.

He took two quick steps back from the wolves, hoping that they would think he was retreating and move forward to follow him. They fell for his ruse and eagerly ran toward Barker, their jaws wide. Barker stepped forward to meet them, his axe swinging up from the ground at one of them and his sword jabbing toward the other. The blunt axe head caught the first wolf under the jaw and slammed its mouth shut, while broken teeth and blood flew in a wide spray. The force of the blow lifted the now unconscious animal from its feet and it sailed several feet backwards to land heavily on the ground.

The second wolf was slightly behind the first, and so was able to nearly sidestep Barker’s sword thrust, but not completely. The blade caught the beast just behind its ribs, but did little more than leave a long shallow gash in its hide. The wolf bounded out of reach and circled around in front of Barker, growling at the man.

As two of the wolves attacked Bastion, the war horse lowered his head and raised one hoof into the air so he could bring it down sharply if either of the animals got close enough for him to use it on them. While one wolf feinted toward Bastion’s legs, the second leaped for the horse’s neck. Bastion’s head alone was nearly as large as the beast which attacked him, and with a flip of his heavy head, powered by thick neck muscles, Bastion connected with the surprised wolf in midair and the impact tossed it back a dozen feet through the air.

The other wolf now raced in and tried to slip between Bastion’s front legs to get at his unprotected belly, but the horse kicked forward with one of his back legs, caught the wolf full in the face with a hoof the size of a bread loaf and knocked it to the ground, stunned. Bastion backed up a little and rose to his full height on hind legs, then dropped his front hooves heavily onto the wolf beneath him, breaking its neck and back, crushing life from the beast.

Sir Humphrey was able to keep the three wolves in front of him at a distance for a short period of time with Star Born’s long blade. Then they all charged him at once, two going for his legs while the third leaped toward his face. A quick sweep of his blade kept the two on the ground at bay momentarily, so he leaned to his right and raised the dagger in his left hand to meet the other beast head on. The wolf attempted to snap at the upraised hand, but Humphrey dropped it just enough to plunge the thick, pointed blade into the animal’s exposed throat. The weight of the animal caused the blade to sink into its furry throat up to the dagger’s hilt, while the momentum of its leap made it sail over Humphrey’s head and the dagger was wrenched from his grasp.

He was pushed slightly backward from this attack, and the other wolves rushed at the dark knight as he took a step to regain his balance. Humphrey was able to fend off one wolf with his sword tip, then he grabbed the edge of his weighted cloak with his left hand and flung it into the face of the second animal. The cloak covered the wolf’s head for just a moment, blinding it, and Humphrey drove Star Born into the beast’s rib cage and the sword tip came out the other side. As he pulled Star Born from the dead creature in front of him, he saw another wolf fly through the air to his left and hit the ground, hard.

Barker flipped his axe around and brought the sharpened edge down on the unconscious wolf which lay at his feet, and the blade cleaved clean through its skull. But during the second it took him to kill that wolf, the wounded one dashed in and bit down on Barker’s left wrist. He wore a leather gauntlet on each wrist which gave him some protection, but even so the sharp fangs drove through the leather and pierced his skin. Barker howled as the wolf began to rapidly shake his arm back and forth, its teeth sinking deeper into the flesh.

Barker dropped his sword from the injured hand, clenched that fist and with a mighty effort lifted the wolf off its feet and into the air. Surprised by this sudden maneuver, but still hanging on, the wolf did not even see the axe swing over the Innkeeper’s shoulder and slice through its neck. The body dropped limply to the ground spraying blood, but its mouth was still tightly clamped around Barker’s wrist.

As Humphrey pulled Star Born free of the carcass, the other wolf leaped over his lowered arm and struck him full in the chest. The beast’s weight toppled the dark knight and they both fell to the ground, the wolf on top of him. The leader of the pack, who had stayed out of the fight until now, took the opportunity of Humphrey’s fall to race around the fallen knight and charge up the rock slope toward Bruce and Isabelle.

Humphrey had hold of the wolf’s throat with his left hand, keeping the slavering, snapping jaws only inches from his face. He brought Star Born’s pommel down against the animal’s ribs as hard as he could, but the strike only seemed to infuriate the beast. Suddenly the wolf was lifted from his chest and he saw that Bastion had grabbed the creature with his mouth by the scruff of its neck, and now held the wolf six feet from the ground as it struggled helplessly. Humphrey rolled onto his left side and with his sword skewed the animal. Once it stopped moving Bastion dropped the wolf and then stomped on its head, just to be sure the beast was dead.