Drake had grown used to using this short moment of inertia to either take some time to recover or to counter his enemy. In this case, he was trying to recover from the sudden attack but that proved to be an error in his judgement.
The wolf planted one paw on the ground and with the other raked the prince to the side.
The nimble prince was viciously thrown away from the wolf, bouncing hard on the ground before slowing to a roll.
Disoriented and dizzy, Drake trying to sit up at least. His vision had gone blurry and he was seeing double.
Pain roared through his body, pulsing in many places. Most of it was coming from four lateral slashes across his back.
The wolf had got him good in the back and the pain was excruciating. Disoriented and barely able to tell up from down, the prince was in the worst shape to face another assault from the wolf and yet the wolf was barely getting started.