Ye Shin silently cursed when she noticed that they were followed by two of the five wolves. While running, she cut the trees on her way, keeping her promise of leaving a trail.
"Do you think we can outrun them?" Ylvis asked, feeling the wolves hot on his trails.
"Not likely", one of Rose's men said.
Then, suddenly, Aldryn stopped and turned around.
"You guys go ahead, we're an easy target now", the blonde said gripping tightly his spear.
"I agree", Ye Shin said and stopped near him.
"Are you joking?" Yvlis said, "If anyone should stay behind it's me. I'm stronger than you", he told Aldryn.
"And I have more battle experience" the blonde argued back.
'Don't make this difficult' the Oracle of Light frowned at the other man.
"You guys get out of here as well" Ye Shin then said to the assassins.
"We will wait for you at the river" one of them said and then looked at Ylvis, "We should go. We don't know each other well and will only get in each other's way if all of us stay to fight two opponents."
Then, he turned around and the others followed him. With a sight Ylvis looked at Aldryn again.
"Will you two be all right?" he asked the other two apostles.
"It's not my first time encountering those wolves" Ye Shin confirmed.
"Same for me", Aldryn nodded.
'Though last time I was in a much bigger group' he decided to not mention the fact.
The blonde's answer surprised the Oracle of Earth, but he could only nod and follow the assassins.
Being left alone and knowing that the two wolves have also stopped, assessing the situation.
"Did you lie?" Ye Shin asked, glancing at Aldryn.
"Not exactly... Did you?", the blonde said.
Before the Apostle of the Harym could ask for an explanation, the two predators finally stepped forward. The wolves growled as they approached their prey. They displayed their sharp fangs and crouched a bit, ready to pounce at any moment.
As they approached, Aldryn's hair turned snow white, while the red stripes around his body became more pronounced. The transformation surprised everyone. The wolves now sniffed the air, trying to understand what happened. While Ye Shin was lost for words. She, of course, heard about the fox Thrae that resided within the blonde apostle. But hearing and actually seeing it were two different things.
"Did you?" the now white-haired male asked again, glancing at her with ruby red eyes.
"I'm an apostle. I will be fine", Ye Shin then said with confidence, looking at their opponents.
"Aim for the eyes", the fox then said suddenly, "No matter how tough their bodies got, the eyes remained soft"
It made sense, the apostate of Harym nodded. She never thought about it before, but the eyes were indeed a weak point for those predators.
Without a delay, the two wolves pounced, noticing that their targets are not running away anymore. Ye Shin dodged and took out the small dagger that was usually tucked in her boot. She regretted it that moment... mostly training to use arrows and small weapons. Ye Shin glanced at Aldryn then, noticing that he wasn't more successful even while using the spear. She jumped to a side and crouched, ready to dodge at any time and looking for opportunities to aim for the eyes.
The fox, meanwhile, was facing its own opponent. Were it in its true form, its hackles would have been raised. Aldryn's face was also in a deep scowl, while his mouth was twisted and sounds were emitting in what could only be described as a growl. It caused the wolf to pause for a bit, sensing that it faced a dangerous opponent. But then, their pack spent too much time to simply let their prey go. And so, it decided to jump, its mouth open in a snarl with the fangs bared.
Unlike Ye Shin, the fox didn't dodge. It raised the spear and parried the wolf, using the momentum to leap in another direction. The fox glanced at the other apostle to see if she needed assistance and was glad to see that she managed to hold her own. Seeing her successfully dodge any attack, his gaze returned to his own opponent. The growls coming from the wolf became louder. In his second attack, in place of pouncing , it ran toward Aldryn and tried to tackle him.
Seeing this, the fox quickly stuck the spear into the ground and jumped upward using the weapon to swing his body and crash on top of the wolf. He hit its head with all his might, hearing something crack. The wolf whimpered in pain, but quickly recovered. It took a few minutes then to assess the situation. The crack was heard loudly and made the fox wonder if it was the skull of the wolf that suffered damage, only to see that it was actually a fang that broke due to the impact. Quickly grabbing and sheltering it in his robes, the fox crouched to face its opponent.
"We should finish this quickly. I can stay like this 10 minutes maximum and we already wasted 4", the Thrae said in its mind, looking at Ye Shin from the corner of its eye.
"Even if we switch back, the most important is to deal with at least one wolf. I can then manage with Ye Shin", the blonde then assured his companion, knowing fully well that he cannot win by himself.
Noticing the missing fang, the wolf snarled enraged, howling and attracting the attention of its friend. Who, seeing the missing fang forsake Ye Shin and decided to attack Aldryn as well.
"Great", the blonde muttered from inside, "Now both of them are after us."
"Shut up", the Thrae then snapped, thinking how much time it had remaining, "We really should work on your magic", it then said as an afterthought.
The fox kept glancing between the two wolves and then would quickly look at Ye Shin, noticing that she was trying to figure out the best angle to attack from.
"Girl", the fox said causing their eyes to meet, "Take out your arrows, I will lead them to you and aim carefully."
With a hesitant nod, Ye Shin did as instructed. She was not sure if he Thrae could face both wolves at the same time.
"Are you sure about that?" she asked, "Can you face them both?" she added then.
In place of replying, the fox made its move. The time was running out and it couldn't wait for idle chat or for the wolves to decide upon a strategy. It tried to attack its new opponent, thrusting his spear at its muzzle. The wolf, despite being surprised, quickly dodged and bit the spear after the sharp part ended. It planned to hold the weapon, while its pack mate attacked. Unfortunately, they didn't know that the oracle had a knife hidden upon himself. The Thrae swung his body and hit the wolf's back, aiming the small dagger in its face.
This action caused the Nehringi to quickly let go of the spear and turn its face in the opposite side, in an attempt to protect the eyes. The caused the dagger to gaze its open mouth and cut deeply in between two teeth. Blood started to pour out of the wound and soak the snow beneath them.
Howling to each other, the two wolves decided that this opponent was far too dangerous to face alone. Despite it being a single man, he managed to injure both of them. One of the wolves lost its fang, while the other would most likely loose a few teeth if it tried to bite anything in the near future. Admitting their loss, the second Nehringi quickly shook off the Thrae and the two of them ran away into the woods, howling and trying to re-join their pack.
"Just in the nick of time" the fox sighed in relief.
Those words confused Ye Shin, but in the next moment, the while hair and the markings faded. Aldryn came back in possession of his body.
"A minute more and we would have been their dinner", the now blonde apostle sighed defeated.