Chapter 38- A Small Smile

Hearing Alex's shout, Ash whirled around, his gaze stopping on the burly mercenary who just joined the fray.

'It's him. He's the one-'

The large wolf bolted away from where he'd been driving back the horses, his attention tunneling on the enemy who'd slaughtered his siblings.

^Ash, watch out! He's baiting you in!^

Roth seized control of their body for a split second, lunging left and sending their body tumbling away from Jorg.

'Roth, what the hell?!'

Ash looked up, noticing that Jorg had pulled out a spear at the last moment. Without Roth's intervention, Ash would've ended up as a wolf-kebab.

'Ah. Thanks for the save!'

Ash stood back up, glaring at Jorg's beard-covered neck. The mercenary coughed out a mouthful of phlegm, spitting it to the side.

"Well, if it isn't the rat! Looks like you're nearly big enough to skin now! Old Earl did a great job of takin care of ya!"

A growl escaped Ash's mouth as he searched for an opening. Despite leaning back and speaking with a relaxed look, Jorg kept his spear pointed toward Ash the entire time he spoke.

"Bah, and you are trying to defend him! That's why I hate you stupid animals. A walking pelt thinking it has some other use."

The mercenary's spear waved a bit as he gestured at the wolf, and Ash darted forward.

'Without the spear, I'll rip this bastard to shreds! Roth, pull me away if he tries something again.'

Ash's jaws locked onto the spear just above the bladed tip, before wrenching back and tearing the weapon from his enemy's hands.

Without giving the mercenary a chance to recover, the wolf lunged forwards once more and latched onto Jorg's shin, massive incisors tearing through the merc's flesh.

A bit of panic appeared on Jorg's face as he fell to the ground, desperately swinging his fists to try and dislodge Ash's death grip.

"Damn ankle biter! Trash rat! Get off me!"

Jorg's swinging fish clenched onto a dagger hidden under his coat, but Ash backed off in time to avoid the strike thanks to Roth's early warning.

^Nice! Let's do that again with the other leg! I'll keep an eye out for his weapons, so rip this bastard to shreds!^

In front of Ash, Jorg struggled to his feet. With his left leg now maimed, the merc wouldn't be able to retreat.

"Trash!"

Realizing he couldn't run, the mercenary decided to go on the offensive. Immediately after whipping his dagger at the wolf, Jorg pushed off the ground with his one good leg, launching himself toward his furred enemy.

^Watch out!^

The dagger scraped past the side of Ash's muzzle, drawing a thin line of blood. Startled by the unexpected advance, Ash failed to completely dodge the dagger, and completely missed his chance to avoid Jorg's tackle.

The heavy mercenary crushed Ash's body to the ground, keeping an arm braced against the wolf's neck to keep his snapping teeth away. Jorg drew back his free arm before slamming it into Ash's side, grinning as he felt Ash's ribs creaking under the pressure of his punch.

"Die, rat!"

Stifling Ash's futile attempts to struggle free from his grip, the mercenary's fist repeatedly slammed into Ash's ribs.

The word started to go dark. The arm pressing tightly on Ash's neck. The piston arm hammering away at his side.

Then, a wooshing noise. The same one from earlier, the one that stopped the previous mercenary's attempts at crawling away.

A dull thunk sounded as the pressure was finally relieved from Ash's neck. Jorg staggered back, an arrow having found a gap in his leather armor, sneaking past his coat to pierce the flesh under his arm.

Ignoring the source of the arrow, the pain in his ribs, and the rapidly recovering yet still dark vision, Ash bit forward, his teeth finding the soft tissue of the man's throat.

Terrible ripping sounds were accompanied by a sickly gurgling, masked by vicious, angry growls.

Blood splattered on Ash's face, painting his grey fur a sickly crimson.

From behind Ash, hooves could be heard pounding on the ground.

Shouts rang out from the remaining mercenaries, and they quickly retreated from the carriages, some of them fleeing back to their blockade while another group just surrendered and waited for their enemies to arrive.

Freidrich and fifteen of his men galloped back to the carriages, having easily destroyed Ignar's forces with their charge. Half of the guard remained back at Ignar's camp. After the initial charge, most of the conscripted soldiers surrendered, throwing down their weapons and begging for their lives.

Wanting to end the fight as fast as possible and return to the caravan, Friedrich left behind a few men to sort out Ignar's surrender and returned to help Earl.

"Earl! Ignar has surrendered, and we have no casualties among our men. Three of our horses received minor injuries."

Friedrich's eyes scanned the defensive side of the battlefield. The battle at the caravan hadn't lasted long. There were seven dead mercenaries, and another fifteen who were either too injured to run or surrendered on their own as they saw Friedrich's return.

On the guards' side, four were injured… and two were put to rest for good.

Chris's eyes had already glazed over. Jorg's random throw into the cluster of guards had found the rookie guard's throat, and the guard's life expired before the fight ended.

The second guard to die was Tanya, who'd been the third archer amongst the guards, fell after taking an arrow to the shoulder, then was trampled by a mercenary's horse.

Friedrich bowed his head. If they'd left more guards behind to defend, maybe his companions wouldn't have died.

The returning guards circled around the bodies of their friends, bowing their heads and paying respect.

"Is everyone ok? Dad, did we win?"

The somber moment was interrupted by Alice as she poked her head out from a carriage. Looking up, the girl quickly noticed the depressed look of regret on everyone's faces.

A sinking feeling tore through her gut.

'Dad… no!'

Earl, standing on the opposite side of the gathering, wasn't visible to the girl.

She hopped out of the carriage and ran to where the fighting had occured, pushing through the guards to see the bodies of the fallen guards. A tiny smile appeared on her face, disappearing the next instant.

'At least it wasn't dad… No, what am I thinking?!'