The Beginnings Omnibus: Beginnings 1, 2, 3 & Legend of Ashenclaw novella (Realm of Ashenclaw Beginnings Saga) (46 page)

“Please step away.” Elec motioned everyone back. “This is a new mixture that I have recently finished. It is untested and a bit unstable.” He revealed a smaller flask, shook it and waited a few seconds. Then he tossed the flask into the fire and a muffled explosion set the branches ablaze.

“Hmmm. Perhaps it wasn’t all that potent after all,” Elec added dejectedly. The flames passed from branch to branch quietly, just as Saeunn was trying to quiet everyone down.

 “What was that?” Saeunn asked, craning her head around and looking off into the distance, while Garius dropped the container of meat near the fire that shone brightly now against the darkness.

“What?” Rose asked “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Hush!” Saeunn hissed, straining to hear. The noise became louder. It was the unmistakable howl of a wolf. And not just one wolf, but several wolves.

Garius gathered the group and removed
The Repentant
from his back. Its runes flickered to life as he invoked a blessing. He held it tightly with both hands and waved his three companions into positions around the flames. The fire, for better or worse, being magically lit with potent oil, would burn long and brightly until they decided to snuff it out.

“Form a circle on me and stay near the fire if possible,” Garius ordered.

Rose nodded and removed her vicious-looking daggers—
Zaedra
and
Avorna—
from their scabbards, poised for an attack. Garius watched Saeunn remove her greatsword from its scabbard strapped across her back. The barbarian woman displayed the weapon before her with two hands in a menacing battle stance. The hilt of her weapon was unusually long, encompassing almost half the entire weapon’s length, and appearing as a spear-sword of some kind. Garius was not quite sure what it was as he had never seen anything quite like it before.

Then he watched Elec quaff a potion…then another and another.  The potions were followed by the appearance of both his magical sword and dagger in his hands. Then he saw that the elf tried to listen, focusing on the source of the howls.

Within seconds they saw the first one.

“Dire wolves,” Garius whispered.

A large, white, fur-covered animal that seemed to be as large as a horse appeared under the moonlight. It came from the south, away from where the wagon was situated.

“Magnificent,” Rose uttered aloud.

“This particular one must be a different breed of worg, having white fur instead of the typical black pelt that I am accustomed to seeing,” Garius mentioned.

It was then that a second, a third and a fourth appeared. They quickly spread out to surround the group. The closer they got, the more obvious it became that they were indeed more courageous than wolves due to their aggressive approach. The fire did not deter them.

“Frost worgs,” Saeunn stated as she must have encountered them before, and confirming Garius’s supposition that they were indeed similar to the dire wolves from his memories.

“And there is one for each of us!” Saeunn added, grinning cruelly and making to run. She broke formation and charged the one nearest her, yelling what could only be praises to The Champion. This resulted in an audible groan from Garius, who understood that these huge worgs would want to divide and conquer them, unlike traditional wolves that hunted in packs.

Rose shrugged and waited, as did Elec, who swallowed yet another potion. The worgs were spread out and seemed to be ready to attack them in the same manner.

“Good luck to you, then,” Rose quipped as she slowly and methodically stepped toward the nearest beast.

Elec looked at Garius and back to the worgs again, his eyes wide and his white pupils dilated so that they seemed to be one shade of white. He appeared to be shaking or quivering a little too much for Garius’s liking. Then he watched as Elec charged toward a worg and shook his head in disbelief. That action seemed uncharacteristic of the timid elf.

“Not as focused a group as I’d hoped,” Garius muttered as he too advanced on the remaining worg.

The nearest frost worg counter-charged Saeunn as soon as she broke away from the group. It bore down on her with its blue eyes glinting in the light of the fire, which had grown in intensity. Its fangs dripped with saliva, obviously hungry to taste the woman’s flesh.

It dove and snapped at Saeunn, snagging a piece of her woolen sleeve and finding a bit of flesh in the process. The bite had an unnatural chill as well as a lingering, numbing effect where it had connected with her flesh. She landed and rolled, removing the torn right sleeve from the woolen shirt as the beast moved in on her again.

The creature snarled as it closed on her and she snarled right back, feeling an animalistic instinct to survive. She swung her sword in a wide arc that caused the beast to leap back and refocus its attack.

The worg came at her again. It leaped straight forward and tried to go right through her position. Saeunn dodged the attack and rolled out of the way, smacking into a tree as she did, not realizing how close they were to the forest’s edge. Rubbing her head and staring at the base of the tree, she had an idea.  She remained curled in a heap, unmoving, enticing the beast nearer. The frost worg circled and let loose a low growl, sensing that she was injured as it moved in for the kill.

Come on…closer…,
Saeunn urged, crouched in front of the tree. The worg charged as if in response, and she stood her ground. The beast closed the gap between them very quickly and launched its full mass at her. She wedged her sword hilt into the base of the tree between two roots and angled the point up at the incoming worg, rolling her body out of the way and to the side of the tree trunk at the last second.

The huge creature landed with a hideous crash directly upon the point of her sword, impaling itself. It continued along the blade’s edge, crashing against the trunk of the tree where she’d been only a heartbeat ago. The worg’s dying carcass bombarded her with blood spatter that were tiny, frozen drops as they collided with her flesh.

After a few moments she shoved its dead carcass away with her boot. She removed her sash from her head, allowing her golden-blonde hair to cascade freely past her shoulders. She wrapped the bite-wound on her right arm with the sash and ran off toward the others.

Elec stood, awaiting the inevitable charge of the fur-covered beast. Elec could not believe its size. He had heard of these creatures from elven lore and writings, but this was the first time he had seen a frost worg up close. It was the size of a horse!

The beast growled and charged him, pulling his mind into focus. Elec rolled to his left into the open, jabbing up and cutting the outer left rib of the beast as it passed and then he repeated the maneuver again. Both times he used the sharp edge of
Daegnar Giruth
to cut the beast, magically draining its strength.
All the while, he used the blade and hilt of
Wyrm’s Fang
in a defensive position to fend off stray swipes of the worg’s huge paw. He felt the intoxication of his potions as they ran hot through his veins.

Elec was moving incredibly fast now as one of his elixirs had taken full effect. The creature launched itself through the air once more and Elec dove under it, timing his roll to land on his back as it passed over him. He was able to connect with three quick jabs as the beast passed over him now. The worg seemed hardly slowed at all, however. Elec’s heart thundered unnaturally loud in his ears and seemed as if it might burst through his chest.

Elec took a deep breath to settle himself. Once more the beast attacked and Elec dodged to his right, slashing with his blade, which met with similar results—two more successful wounds were evident. Each time he struck the creature, the steel blinked in a dark, lavender light, so quickly that it was barely visible to the eye—non-elven eyes, perhaps, though he could see it clearly.

Small, crimson drops of blood dribbled from the worg’s wounds. Though somehow, they bounced off the hard ground as if they were hail, Elec noted
. Frozen blood?

This time the beast slowly crept toward him and uttered a low, deep growl, closing the gap between them. The worg lunged again a few times, snapping its jaws and baring its fangs, all the while Elec was flashing the sharp edge of
Daegnar Giruth
out and scoring hit after hit, draining the strength from the creature and still using
Wyrm’s Fang
in a defensive posture.

At one point during the flurry of bites, Elec threw his magical cloak out just in time to stop a bite that would have bitten into flesh. The enchanted garment hardened on impact then softened again as the worg’s canines released.

The beast slowed more markedly and its breathing was labored. The sword’s magic was finally taking effect. It was slowing under the combination of blood loss and the draining of is vitality via the blade’s magic. It could no longer continue its furiously paced assault. Before it could do anything else, Elec spoke an ancient elven phrase and then blinked out of sight.

He was suddenly on top of the wounded beast’s back. He thrust
Daegnar Giruth
through its flesh and used it to steady himself as the beast thrashed. Then, he repeatedly drove the tips of
Wyrm’s Fang
deep within the worg’s flesh.

Elec noted that the sheer size of the creature was even more impressive as he lay atop it. Elec held his grip firmly as the worg continued trying to rid itself of his weight, yet he held on.

The worg reared and howled, attempting in vain to remove its unwanted passenger. Elec, now using both weapons as handles, held on until eventually it stopped moving altogether. Elec collapsed, completely exhausted as it seemed the effects of his potions had finally worn off.