Commander Redbeard wrote:Location: Crusader hillside
The Fellowship all emerged alive from the avalanche, although Luxus did not recover immediately, and Bjarn needed many days before he was the same again. He and Sir Dractor had managed just in the nick of time to leap from their stifling prison under the buried sled; after the joint efforts of them pushing from underneath and Anardan pulling on the rope from above managed to push the four feet of snow aside for just long enough to scramble out; before the hole collapsed in on itself. The sled and virtually all of the supplies were lost for good. Anardan, Dractor, and Reno still had their backframes intact, but out of the three, only two were filled with food. The other, by an amazing stroke of luck, held the dry tinder and kindling they needed to start a fire, as well as most of the tools and supplies the group carried. While Dractor started a fire, Anardan and Reno took dry cloaks from one of the backframes and returned to the scarred hillside. They returned an hour later, again covered with snow, but dragging with them two of the leather-wrapped supply packages from the sled.
"Here are the only two we could save. This one has some food, but the other is just clothes."
"Better cloths than something useless, like books." muttered Voolmark, who had joined them five minutes ago. He had been the only one not harmed by the disastrous slide, which was luck, for from his vantage point on the hill he had been able to sight all the them and bring the Fellowship back together.
Bjarn looked over the supplies in the firelight, shaking his head.
"We don't have nearly enough to get us even halfway to Yellow Castle!" he bemoaned.
Reno hunched around the crackling but pitifully small fire and rubbed his exposed hands. "We need to go a-hunting if we're ever going to survive this."
Bjarn nodded, and withdrew his aged and scarred yew bow from it's sling on his back.
"Come, Dractor, let's go see if we can find something..."
"Alright..." the knight stood and brushed snow off his behind, "But why do you need me, Bjarn? I have only mediocre skill with a bow."
"I need your strong back if I actually hit something." smiled Bjarn as he tightened and waxed his bow.
Dractor grunted and smiled back.
"Don't take too long," cautioned Aros, who was returning with more wood, "It'll be dark soon and the temperature will drop even more. Plus the last thing we need is for your two to get lost."
"Right." affirmed Bjarn over his shoulder.
As the duo set off, Reno slumped back to lean against Shainya, who was cradling the small and still blue form of Luxus.
"How's he?" Reno asked.
"Not good." Shainya quavered, "He's deadly cold...and there's nothing to warm him..."
Reno wrapped his arms around Shainya and Luxus.
"He won't die. I'll make sure of that." he replied.
They remain huddled together while Aros and Anardan took turns bringing wood and guarding against anything unwanted.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Nothing disturbed the little camp, for, unknown to them, 'anything unwanted' was hunting the party of two who were now tracking through a small wood.
As Bjarn and Sir Dractor examined tracks, they talked quietly.
"Dractor, when do you suppose you will go and continue your original quest that you came to Dametreos for?"
"I don't know Bjarn, I really don't know. I'm not even sure if I am needed anymore. Perhaps my only role to play in the Old Man's mission was to distract the Crusaders at Leidenheim..."
"From what you've told me, I doubt that very much. I have a gut feeling that you'll come to play a major part in this Old Man's quest, whatever it may be."
Suddenly Sir Dractor straightened and gripped Bjarn's arm. A growl tore threw the freezing air. A growl that was not human...suddenly broken by a chilling howl
"Wolves!" Bjarn swore.
"Even worse..." Dractor muttered, "Timberwolves..."
"Those tycos are far too south!" swore Bjarn, "Timberwolves rarely leave the upper Black Falcon forests..."
Eyes began to glow in the fading light...they were slitted eyes, and there were many pairs..."
"Oh bloody megablocks..."
"I hate to sound like an old cliché shouter...but, Dractor, we're surrounded..."
Dractor drew out is sword in a flurry, and Bjarn nocked an arrow.
"Whatever we do," cautioned the knight, "We must now lead them back to the others."
"Agreed." said Bjarn, flexing his fingers.
The eyes were multiplying, and were drawing nearer. Not waiting for the beasts to entered the fading ring of light, Bjarn took aim at the spot between to red pupils and fired. The green-fletched arrow sliced the air and thudded through skull and into brain. One wolf down.
The timberwolves howled angrily at the loss of their comrade and leaped forward, teeth gnashing, tails swishing, claws digging.
Sir Dractor spilt the next blood, diving forward and slicing through a wolf's ribcage with a swift uppercut. Bjarn managed to take down two wolves and wound another before they pressing in too tight as so the long range of the bow was useless.
Bjarn jabbed one end of his bow into the eye of one of the frontrunners and then snapped it back into it's sling before killing the half-blinded wolf with a stab of his saber.
Dractor moved like lightning, sword gripped in both hands, cleaving timberwolf after timberwolf through with the sheer force of his swings.
Bjarn preferred a two-handed, two-weaponed attack, with the bloodied saber in one had and his think spear in the others. He would alternately cripple a beast with a slice, then finish it off with either a jarring knock to the head or a quick stab.
At first the two men had the advantage, but suddenly exhaustion hit then, for they had not rested in over a day, and Bjarn at least was not in his ideal fighting environment. The snow clung to his breeches and he twisted an ankle badly when he slipped into an unseen hole. Even Sir Dractor, who had experience in battling in wintry conditions, knew the terrain was against them.
Bjarn didn't tire as fast as Dractor due to the lack of heavy armor, but he sustained more gashes and bites.
The wolves kept falling and coming and bleeding and dying and attacking and biting and clawing...and Bjarn and Dractor were slowing loosing energy and hope.