Ambush!

I closed my eyes against the biting wind as Makya mushed the team back into motion. Our sled slid along the snow path. We continued north for two more days without seeing signs of a wolf pack in the area and finally turned back southwest toward the village. Makya sent Zophiel to alert Dekota and Eris to meet us along the road. With luck, they would cross our path in a day or two just before the village.

As dusk settled on our fifth day out, I built our cook fire while Makya set the tent up. A creek wound its way through the woods not far from our camp, giving the dogs easy access to the cold water. The embers were finally starting to burn off the damp from the snow when the ears of every dog in the team went flat. A low growl resonated from each of their throats as I scanned the tree line.

“Makya?!” I said in a loud whisper.

He looked over at me, and then to the trees trying to see what the dogs were alerted to. He reached over to the sled and slid out his rifle and was about to toss me mine when five huge black wolves stepped into the firelight, only feet away from me.

“Mother above, protect me!” I whispered, slowly stepping back to put distance between me and the wolves. I needed a weapon!

Makya spoke in slow steady tones, “Your dagger is on your left thigh. If you can get to me, I have your rifle loaded.”

“The battle rifle?”

The gentle rustle of canvas told me he too had forgotten that one. “Ready, now step back, one step at a time.”

I went to step back but the motion must have been enough to trigger the wolves because all five left toward me. Makya screamed behind me and I pulled out my hunting dagger and held my arm out before me. A shot rang out, taking the lead wolf down, but the next was on me. Its powerful paws landed on my shoulders, driving me to the ground. I slashed wildly with my blade, desperate to get to Makya.

A screech above signaled the arrival of Zophiel as he harried the wolves from above. The sled team pulled hard on their harnesses, trying to get free and join the fight.

Another shot killed the wolf that was snapping at my face, teeth inches from me as I tried to stab at it. The deadweight landed on me, making it hard to breathe.

I screamed in pain as sharp teeth tore at my leg and began dragging me toward the creek.

BANG, BANG, BANG. Shots rang out in rapid succession as Makya began trying to unload on the remaining wolves. As the wolf clamped on my leg dragged me free of its dead brethren's corpse, I caught a glimpse of a giant wolf leaping from the shadows at Makya as he tried to aim at the beast atop me. I screamed, desperately pointing behind him but the wolf dragging me into the woods yanked hard enough I thought my leg would detach. Blackness crept in around the edges of my vision as the beast pulled me into the creek. It must want to get me onto the far back. The icy water was shocking to my scenes, at first making every muscle seize in shock.

In my panic I had forgotten I was clutching my dagger still and the fridged water made my hand clamp so tight on the hilt it hurt. I would not die here. Not now. With a streak of defiant frustration, I managed to pull myself upright as the water soaked through my furs. I swiped at the jaws clamped on my leg, drawing a line of blood from its snout.

“So much for being a freaking Luna!” I cursed at the sky as I tried to slash for its eye this time, but the pain from my leg made my strike weak. What I didn’t expect was it’s eyes to go wide at my cursing and fade from yellow to white. Almost… human.

BANG!

Blood splattered my face. I looked away from the mangled head of the wolf as its jaw went slack.

“Thank you for not shooting my leg.” I managed before the cold water and blood loss caught up to me, blackness taking over my world.

***

“Eileen!”

I snapped back to the world as Makya pulled me from the water.

“Eileen! Stay with me!” Makya’s face loomed in my vision as the world swam in swirling circles.

“Damn it, girl. Stay with me!”

I felt warm lips press against mine, and air rush into my lungs. A gallon of creek water bubbled up from some unknown depth. Great, not exactly how you want a kiss to go.

“I will be fine.”

Makya’s strong hands clasp my face and looked deep into my eyes. His chocolate brown eyes searched my soul for life. “You are going hypothermic. The shock is about all that is keeping you going. We have to get you dry and warm.”

            The heavy furs around my shoulders began being tugged off. My boots were slid off and set by the fire. He turned back to me and started working on my knife belt.

            “At least buy a girl a drink first.”

            “Hush, Eileen. You know we don’t have time. If you are not in warm, dry clothes soon, you could start getting frostbite and worse.”

            “And what of you?” I asked, eyeing his own soaked clothes where he must have come into the creek after me. I playfully pawed at his furs but he grasped my hands in his firm grip.

            “The shock is already worse than I thought. Come on.” I was suddenly lifted off the ground and in his arms. I snuggled close to his chest, despite the damp cold on the furs. He set me just inside the tent and found a towel and my spare clothes. Next thing I knew the towel was draped across me, and he had my pants off. I shivered as the cold air nipped at me and stared up at him a bit shocked.

            “Fuck, Eileen. The one shredded your leg.”

            He worked fast, grabbing our first aid kit and wrapping my leg tight. Soon, a new pair of leggings was sliding up under the towel. He then sat me up, and came behind me, my shirt lifting over my head. I shivered, but before I had a chance to think about possibilities a warm flannel was being slid over my head and my arms pulled through the sleeves. A heavy blanket was draped over me before he left the tent, leaving me to stew over the night's events.

            A few minutes later the glow of the fire picked up, and I peeked out of the flaps to see Makya had managed to stoke the fire to intense proportions. He came over to me and lifted me from the ground again, and set me gentle on an oil skin blanket near the fire with a crate of supplied as a backrest. He made sure the blanket covered me completely before ducking into the tent himself.

            He emerged in dry clothes a short time later, lugging our heavy, sodden mass of furs toward the fire. I watched as he set up a stand with several branches and lay out our clothes near the fire to try to begin their drying.

            “Are you warming up?”

            “Yes, thank you, Makya.”

            His eyes were dark against the firelight. “Wolves don’t do that.”

            “Not normally. But they also don’t take out homesteads”

            “True. We were lucky. A few of the team got loose and helped scare one of them off. I guess having six angry dogs on you at once was enough for it to realize it was outmatched. We killed four.”

            “Four? More like you killed three. I might have gotten one.” I winced as I tried to adjust my leg. “The last one about ate me in the process.”

            “Thankfully it looks like fairly clean gashes though. For all his ferocity, he could have done a lot worse if he was intent on dealing damage. All in all, you have some deep K9 punctures but the rest is minimal. Your shoulders look like you were shredded though. Eileen, some of those scratches looked to already be healing. They were scabbed, as if you had gotten them a few days ago.”

            I didn’t know what to tell him. If I tell him I saw the trigod in the flesh, and visited their plane, would he think me crazy or just delirious from the cold and shock?

            “Brigid helped me.”

            “You are alive, so I would say your gods have done what they can. get some rest. We can talk more tomorrow.”

            “I’m cold.”

            Makya sighed and brought his blanket over to me. I was about to protest him only draping the blanket on me when he plopped down beside me and pulled me into his chest. I gladly nestled into his chest, sleep taking me quickly.