Behind Crystal, the Memory disappeared into a cloud of sparks. She didn't notice, however, because her attention was fully focused on the remaining Wolf.
There, just in front of her, the Wolf was slamming itself into a singular shield, which was somehow withstanding the devastating blows. Around the fight, 2 bodies were lying on the ground, their blood already drying on the burning sand.
Crystal charged towards the Wolf, brandishing her sword. As soon as she did so, the Wolf spun violently in the sand, turning to face her.
Her eyes widened, revealing her surprise. The other Wolf hadn't been able to detect her approaching, how could this one? Was it different from the other, or was she just unlucky?
She stopped her charge immediately, taking a defensive position, with her sword in between the Wolf and herself. The man behind the shield stumbled backwards, seemingly relieved that the pressure had disappeared. Crystal noticed that he still held onto his sword, despite the harsh attacks from the Wolf.
Her eyes switched back to tracking the Wolf. It snarled at her, but also seemed to be breathing heavily. Was it tired? She watched it warily, but it made no move to attack.
Suddenly, it lunged forward, drool trailing off of its muzzle. Crystal stepped back, and on some instinct, raised the sword in front of herself. The Wolf slammed into the weapon, its claws screeching against the metal blade. Crystal pushed back against the charge with all the force she could muster, just barely keeping the back edge of the sword from cutting open her face.
The Wolf ceased its attack, taking a step backwards. Crystal took that as an opportunity to attack, lunging forward with the blade. Although she had never picked up a sword, or any weapon, for that matter, she had an instinct of how to use it. She couldn't explain it, but it felt like a part of her.
And following that internal instinct, she swung the sword down, straight into the Wolf's muzzle.
The blade bit deep into the Wolf's face, drawing forth a cry of pain from the creature. Crystal's eyes widened in surprise, mostly because she hadn't expected to land her hit.
The Wolf snarled, then launched itself at her again, this time aiming for her legs.
Crystal didn't think. She just swung her sword wildly, hoping to hit something.
She was rewarded with another yelp of pain, and another wound on the Wolf's face.
The Wolf was in pretty bad condition. Crystal's first attack had left a wound straight down, between the Wolf's hungry eyes. Her other attack had just barely missed over the top of the right eye, but managed to close the left eye. Blood was flowing into the Wolf's good eye, blinding it anyways.
A pathetic whimper came from the Wolf, but Crystal paid it no mind. Behind the Wolf, a boy staggered towards Crystal. His sword was dragging on the ground, but she noticed that his face was determined anyways.
She looked him in the eye, and immediately understood what to do. It was quite simple, really. The Wolf didn't know he was there, so he could hit its weak spot while she distracted it.
Crystal lunged forward, and the boy followed half a second later. From the moment the Wolf cowered backwards at Crystal's attack, it was already doomed.
She swung her sword once more to deflect the savage claws, and the boy slammed his sword into the underbelly of the Wolf.
By the time Crystal had stepped backwards and caught her breath, the Wolf was dead.
She didn't get any message this time. Was it because she didn't directly kill the Wolf?
"Hey. Thanks, uh, for the assist."
The boy's soft voice startled Crystal. It sounded mature, but also shy, almost as if he wasn't used to talking. She looked up, meeting his eyes.
"Yeah. No problem."
The pair looked around them, searching for the other soldiers. The two soldiers that Crystal had saved from the first Wolf were resting in the sand, still catching their breaths. Adding Crystal and the boy, that was 4 people. 7 soldiers had come out, so… Yes. There were, indeed, 3 bodies in the sand. She would have gone to check them, but she knew they were dead. Those wounds were too deep for a human to survive.
"Where's the guy who led us here?"
The boy looked confused at her question.
"You mean the Captain?"
"...Yes, the Captain."
The boy just pointed at one of the corpses.
"...Ah."
They stood in the sand, both thinking about what had just happened. After a few seconds, Crystal turned and walked away, not able to bear the burden of looking at the dead bodies. The boy lingered for a split second, before following her. Soon, they approached the other two soldiers.
"Come on. Let's get back to the convoy."
Crystal's voice was hollow, but full of authority. She didn't know where it came from, but it was enough to make the others follow her.
The group walked in silence, none wanting to disturb the others. Within a minute, they had arrived back at the wagons. As soon as they arrived, a man wearing no armor, a rare sight, ran up to them.
"Who's your Captain?"
The others made no move to talk, simply looking over their shoulder, as if their Captain would walk up behind them, so Crystal took the lead.
"He died. So did two of the others."
The man looked at her for a moment, before fishing something out of his pocket.
"Congratulations on the promotion, Captain."
He handed her the item, which turned out to be a small badge.
"Your team has six hours of rest in the wagon before you're back on duty. I suggest you get some sleep."
He pointed to the adjacent wagon as he talked. Crystal stared blankly at the man. She was still in shock from both the fight and from the desert. Slowly, she nodded her affirmation. The man grimaced, and gave them one last look, before jogging off to another incoming group.
Crystal turned around, looking each of the soldiers in the eye.
"You heard him. Let's go."
She slid open a door on the wagon, before hoisting herself up by a handle. The rest of the group followed her silently.
Inside the wagon, a few cots were stacked against the wall. In a small cubby, food rations and water flasks were stored.
Crystal was both surprised by the archaic feeling of the room, and yet expected it at the same time. The soldiers were clearly not from modern times, so why would she expect modern comforts? Still, it would have been nice.
She grabbed a pack of food and water from the shelf, and sat down in a cot.
The food was bland and tasteless, but she supposed it was better than tasting bad. At the very least, it was filling. The water tasted a little metallic, but that was to be expected.
Feeling a little better, Crystal lay down on the cot. She had had better sleeping accommodations, but in all honesty, she had had worse too. She closed her eyes to sleep, letting the weariness of the day wash over her.
She hoped the others didn't notice the tear trailing her cheek.