Right Call

Screaming, Mairwen kicked her boot farther into the lizard's mouth. Simultaneously, she slammed the sharpened end of her bow into one of the creature's nostrils.

The metal tip of her elven-made shoe pressed into the soft palate of the lizard's throat, and it choked violently. Releasing the princess, the monster jerked his head away, spittle sizzling from its injured maw. Blood poured from one of its nostrils, adding to the rancid smell of the tainted air. It hissed.

Suddenly aware that an enemy had snuck up on them, Brinn turned her attention from repelling the bats to the much closer enemy.

"Don't. Bite. My. Friend." The elf blew wind at the lizard, but the creature's claws were dug too deep into the bark for it to do much good.

It only served to make the monster angry. It began to claw its way up onto the large branch where the ladies stood.

"Sticking tight to that wood, are you?" Brinn flashed an angry grin.

Having lost her main weapons when Livie lifted her from the ground, Brinn searched for a sharpened branch to defend herself.

"Let's have the wood stick you!"

Rather than keep attacking, the lizard became distracted by a threat from below. The second abomination that had scaled the tree with it was suddenly gone without explanation. The creature was now fighting a battle on two fronts.

"Here!" Nurlan, who was still fighting on the ground protecting them, turned just long enough to launch a sword from a fallen soldier towards the tree. The confused reptile squealed as strong, furry hands appeared from nowhere, grabbed the hilt of the flying sword and thrust it into the reptile's back.

The blade slipped between two bones, disconnecting the spine of the abomination. The creature went still.

Seeing the lizard was dead, Brinn turned to the other princess, whom she had pushed behind her when the elf had gone on the defensive. "Are you hurt?"

Mairwen smiled weakly. "It hurts, but he didn't pierce through the armored boot. I got lucky."

"Let's hope that luck holds. We have a long way to go. How many arrows do you have left?" Brinn asked.

"I have enough for now." Mairwen began scanning the ground. Renat was nowhere to be seen. Had she imagined him there?

"Princess! Wake up! Are you sure that thing didn't get you?" Brinn shook the dark-haired woman's shoulder. The elf glanced at the carnage behind them and shuttered.

Mairwen sighed, "I'm fine, I was just looking for..."

Suddenly the body of the abomination shuddered too. It ripped free of the tree and flew toward the ground, thrashing about until it hit the earth with a nauseating thud. Then it moved no more.

Brinn lifted her branch, only for her to lower it slightly in confusion and relief. "Renat? You killed the beast? For a moment I thought the critter had come back to life!"

But the brown wolf continued to climb onto the branch, his mouth snarling at the two ladies. The elf looked in to his eyes and saw nothing but deep, tenebrous nothingness.

"He's gone feral!" Brinn furrowed her brow. She raised her makeshift weapon again and poked his chest. "Wake up, you idiot!"

The taunt only angered the wolf. As he steadied his feet on the wide branch, he swiped at the two women. Not wanting to hurt the prince, they ducked. Brinn wrapped her hands around Mairwen's waist and tugged them onto another branch.

Seeing the person he had battled through an army to reach slip out of his grip once more, Renat roared. He needed his mate, and no foolish elf was going to keep her from him.

He leapt to the next branch, following the two women who remained just out of reach. The blue-eyed princess pulled away from Brinn. "He saved us from the lizards. I need to talk to him."

"He is past talking. He's gone wild!" Brinn grabbed her friend again and leapt to the next tree. A startled archer tensed then relaxed when he saw his guests were not enemies. His relief did not last long.

A brown wolf jumped from the next tree as well, with no care for his safety. He crashed into the branches below them, stopping before he hit the ground.

"Hold your fire!" she told the archer. "That is the prince, and I am going to talk to him. He thinks you are trying to hurt me." Mairwen told Brinn. "At least let me try to reach him."

Brinn saw no other option. Mairwen would do as she saw fit. The elf took a rope from the archers belt and tied it around the princess's waist. Then she looped it over a sturdy branch above them both.

Below, the brown wolf steadied himself and began to climb, snapping and cursing at the creatures farther up in the tree. His behavior was so unlike the mild-mannered scientist that Brinn believed him to be fully gone.

"I'm ready," the dark-haired woman signaled the elf. Brinn sighed but obliged.

Unafraid, Mairwen was lowered through the tree until she found a branch wide enough for herself and her husband to safely meet. At least she hoped it would be safe...

With an awkward lurch, the brown wolf pulled himself onto the wide, flat bough and leaned against the trunk for a moment of rest. He had an immense amount of strength but his reserve was not endless. With the wounds he had sustained from numerous vicious encounters, the wolf was beginning to falter.

He looked at the woman standing quietly on the branch. His brown eyebrows furrowed. Grabbing his head, he whimpered. A massive headache pressed against his skull.

When he did not immediately attack her, Mairwen sighed in relief. "Renat," she called gently. "It's me."

The wolf pressed his eyes shut. The war within him waged. Falling to his knees, the reluctant abomination growled and groaned. Blood began to stream from his wet nose.

"My love!" Mairwen could resist her husband's struggles no longer. Even though a battle raged below, right now all she could see was him. He needed her.

She rushed forward and laid her hand against his furry chest. Her touch made him flinch, but he did not recoil entirely. Instead, he wrapped his massive clawed hand around her delicate wrist. He was so gentle that Mairwen smiled in spite of herself.

"Renat!" She caressed her husband's face with tears in her eyes.

The brown wolf snapped open his eyes. The blackness had receded. "My love, I am so sorry."

He sniffed and wiped his nose, adding to the blood already covering his skin.

"You saved me from a lizard. It's going to be alright. I'm here." The princess would find a way. She had to.

An arrow came whizzing toward them. Having seen the princess caught by the arm by an abomination, an archer from a nearby tree had swooped in to save her. The arrow lodged in Renat's shoulder.

"No!" Mairwen tugged at the arrow, but the head was lodged too deeply.

Snarling, Renat turned his head away from his wife and blew out a few sharp bursts of breath. "I cannot hold on much longer. The darkness is coming back. I don't want to hurt you or anyone else. You have to put me down. I love you!"

"Don't leave me!" Mairwen screamed, but she could already see the black pupils growing, the last nudge of pain had been too much.

"Help." His final word was little more than a groan. Although he had saved the princess, he was now the one in need of saving.

"Please," Mairwen made a last impassioned plea when she felt the hand around her wrist tighten. "No!"

But the pleasant gaze of her husband was gone, and the murderous wolf had returned. Though whether the wolf was going to protect or destroy the human princess remained to be seen. And to help Renat, Mairwen could not stay there to find out.

"Now!"

Brinn pulled on the rope still tied around Mairwen's waist. Renat held onto the woman's arm desperately, nearly pulling her shoulder out of socket. In the end, he reluctantly released her.

'You are still in there somewhere,' the Princess said silently as she looked at her feral husband. 'Or you would not have let me go.'

The wolf's passivity lasted only for a split second before he chased after the princess by scrambling up the tree. The pain from the arrow wound seemed to have somehow renewed his strength, not lessened it.

As soon as she reached the safety of the higher branches, Mairwen pulled a bola from her belt.

"He is going to hate this so much..." With perfect aim, she threw it and allowed the rope to wrap around the brown wolf's mouth, snapping it shut.

Then she untied the rope from her waist and attached it to a blunted arrow. Sending it through the air, Mairwen expertly bounced it off the tree and had it wrap around the wolf's waist before it entangled with itself.

Renat felt the tug of the rope before he was suddenly dangling between two branches.

Brinn tied off the other end of the cord. "Good shot, princess. Give me a moment."

She glided down to where the wolf was dangling and held up her hand.

"This is going to hurt. I'm sorry"

Brinn slowly pulled the air from the wolf's lungs. He choked and thrashed before growing still. Then with all her might, Brinn hit the wolf over the head with her large stick. The brown abomination easily lost consciousness. The elf released him to breathe once more.

"He's out," Brinn called. Mairwen and the archer began to hoist him up in order to secure him.

"For a moment I thought you were going to kill him," Mairwen said softly, but she knew the elf could hear.

Brinn joined them and prepared to tie the wolf to the branch for the time being. "The thought crossed my mind." Her face darkened. "I hope I made the right call..."