21 Little Girl with Golden Eyes (2)

Even though she was terrified, A-Narah wanted to see what was happening. She sat, crouched in the carriage and opened the window covering to take a peek at the scene outside.

The guards were standing still, their mussels tensed and ready as their gazes bored into the dense, dark foliage of the forest. Their sweaty grips twisted and tightened on their weapons. They had trained for many years and had fought a few battles, but they had rarely ever had the opportunity to test their skills. They were nervous with excitement for the coming confrontation, but kept calm. They were very aware of the defenseless girl hiding not too far behind them.

A rustling came from the underbrush in the shadows of the forest. The men's gazes locked in on it and they became more focused, their minds clearing of all distractions. The rustling stopped and a large grey paw stepped out. In the distance came a long, drawn out howl that chilled the bones.

First one then two, and then an entire pack of large, human-sized wolves emerged from the dense undergrowth. The size of one of the wolves was equal to that of the guards. The wolves had enormous canine teeth that couldn't fit in their mouths and ran along the outside of their snouts. To call them vicious would be an understatement.

The wolves slowly strode forward to the edge of the tree line, then stopped…waiting. Then out of the forest came the largest wolf yet. Scars riddled this wolf's body and one of its eyes was missing. This wolf had seen many winters and battles having won them all. This was the most powerful wolf in the pack, the alpha.

The alpha was the smartest and slyest wolf of the pack. He was by far the most dangerous one.

The wolves crouched low to the ground, and bared their sharp fangs. Giving the guards a malevolent growl from deep in their throats.

The guards swallowed their fear as they watched this. There were more than double the number of wolves than there were of them. Sweat beaded on the guards' foreheads as they watched the wolves' step by step approach.

The wolves kept drawing closer, but the guards still hadn't yet moved. Once they made to take action the battle would commence. They were currently at a disadvantage and had to wait for the perfect timing.

The wolves had the natural advantage, having sharp, powerful claws and teeth. The wolves were also faster, stronger and had sturdier hides. Added with the fact that the guards were outnumbered; the guards weren't sure if they could come out of this fight unscathed.

What the guards did have besides their armor and weapons was that the guards had trained their entire lives together. The synergy they had was even more cohesive than the wolfpack's. And they were fighting with their lives and A-Narah's life on the line.

No one would know the outcome until the end.

"Elon, Launch, Uri take three, Uzi stay back and guard the carriage. Help us thin them out," Lael ordered as his eyed the approaching wolves and made eye contact with the alpha's. The stare became a battle of wills, of who would make the first move.

They stood frozen, their mussels slightly shaking from holding themselves back as the suspense grew.

Then they moved. The guards and wolves rushed forward and clashed.

Lael's large broad sword was drawn and he slashed across four wolves, keeping them at a distance. He had managed to land a hit on one of the wolves and had drawn the first blood. This only angered the wolves more and their next attack was even fiercer. The four wolves worked together, trying to break Lael's defense, but Uzzi was behind him. And anytime that a wolf broke through Uzzi would be there to pierce it with one of his arrows.

At the beginning of battle when everyone moved forward, Uzzi moved backwards with his crossbow to the carriage, and worked on picking off the wolves from a distance. The wolves' hides were to thick though for the arrows to pierce deep enough to fatally injure them. The only way Uzzi could kill them was if he managed to hit one of their vulnerable, critical points.

The wolves leapt to meet the men in battle. Their mouths aiming to break and tare open the guard's necks. The guards had expected this though and were able to defend themselves, landing superficial injuries on the wolves.

The wolves kept swarming, using their numbers to their advantage. Uri and Launch stood back to back as they worked on taking on six of the wolves together. Finally, they managed to kill one of the six.

The alpha had been standing back this entire time, watching. When he saw one of his brethren fall before him, his eyes seared with murderous intent.

Elon was off to the left side and slowly losing ground to the three wolves he was battling, but he wasn't in any mortal danger yet. Uzzi would send his arrows every now and then to help Elon out, but his main focus was on helping Lael who had the harder task of taking on four of the wolves.

The alpha struck before anyone could blink. He had seen that Elon was in the weakest position of the guards, and had ran up and managed to rake his claws down and into Elon's back. Elon cried out in agony. Blood was spurting from his back and his bones could be seen. The alpha's claws had managed to rip through the armor like butter.

Elon's armor was destroyed and he was now critically injured, one of the wolves seeing this opportunity jumped and clamped his jaw into Elon's shoulder, sinking his teeth deep.

Uzzi's head had turned at Elon's miserable cry. He saw the wolf ontop of Elon, and something snapped inside of him. Suddenly a shot that would have normally seemed impossible became clear to him. He raised his crossbow and pushed the trigger. The arrow flew across the clearing and whizzed into the eye of the wolf. Uzzi impossible shot killed the wolf instantly. Elon felt the life go out of the wolf on top of him and threw it over his back and hit another wolf that was coming at him to attack.

Uzzi had lost his senses when he saw Elon's injuries and madly began shooting at all of the wolves surrounding him. More wolves began to fall and the guards started moving closer together to give each other support.

The alpha hadn't stayed to keep attacking Elon, he knew the greatest threat to the wolves currently was Uzzi. The alpha found a blind spot and began creeping up behind Uzzi, who's attention was taken by Elon.

Knowing the timing was right, the alpha made a sprint for Uzzi. A-Narah saw this happening though and as the alpha closed in, just a hair's breadth away, she let out an ear-splitting scream.

Uzzi was startled by her terror-stricken scream and turned to see the whites of the alpha's eyes on top of him. Uzzi did his best to dodge, his body falling back on the carriage, hitting his head hard.

The jaws of the alpha came down, going for Uzzi's neck. Uzzi raised his crossbow though and pressed it into the mouth of the alpha. And before the alpha could bite off his hand, Uzzi fired his arrow. The arrow went through the back of the alpha's throat and out the other side.

The alpha didn't die right away, but his life was quickly bleeding away.

From the window A-Narah's eyes met the glassy ones of the dying alpha wolf. At first, she had been terrified and then worried for her friend, but now her golden eyes were entranced by the sight of the wolf's painful death.