Strangely, Ben understood that the fox was trying to defendhim. One tiny white fox against six black wolves.
“Holding our ground it is, then,” he said beneath his breath as he slowly unsheathed the sword strapped to his back and another at his side.
Good thing Cloud had trained him to be ambidextrous with weapons. He could wield both swords equally well.
“You ready, little buddy?” he asked of the white fox.
In answer, the fearless furball launched its attack at the nearest wolf, leaping straight for the throat.
Ben brandished his swords as the wolves attacked in tandem.
He had the advantage on top of his steed; they had to leap high to get at him. Those that lunged, he fought back with slashes of his swords. Those that tried to bite the steeds’ legs, the horses held their own by using their powerful hooves to stamp and kick the beasts in the head or sides.
A cacophony of yelps, snarls, growls, neighs, and whinnies erupted in the once silent forest as Ben and the white fox fought back the pack of wolves.
Ben reared his horse to stamp its front hooves at two wolves that leapt at them. The hooves caught one in the chest, and it went flying with a pained yelp. While Ben slashed the other in the neck with his sword, splitting its throat wide open.
Meanwhile, another wolf launched itself at Ben from the side, managing to push him off his seat and down onto the hard ground.
Ben tucked himself into a tight ball as he fell, and upon landing with the wolf on top of him, he kicked his feet into the beast’s belly, throwing it a good distance overhead. He was up on his feet in a blink, but he’d lost one of his swords in the tussle.
Three wolves surrounded him now and attacked him all at once. He slashed and kicked, punched and jabbed. He skewered one wolf through the belly with his sword, but it was caught too deep to pull out easily.
For the time being, Ben was swordless.
Ben reached for the knives in his boots as he crouched, preparing for the remaining wolves to attack.
But, fuck! There were too many of them.
Were there more than six after all? Where did they come from?
He kicked and slashed, trying to get out of the tangle, trying to keep the beasts at bay. But two jumped at him at once, and he could only beat back one of them, the other getting a hold of his tunic and dragging him down.
This wolf was the alpha, he knew, for its much larger size and aggression. It bore down on him as Ben caught its jaws in his hands and fought to keep them from closing around his neck, all the while kicking back other wolves that came at him while he was down on the ground.
The alpha wolf snarled and growled, pushing its jaws closer to Ben’s neck, mere centimeters from its target.
Just when Ben’s grip was slipping, and another wolf bit down on his thigh, weakening him further with pain, a flash of white shot into the black, pushing the larger mass off of Ben.
He arched up and punched the wolf biting his leg repeatedly in the head with his bare fists, until the wolf finally let go and shrank back, yelping.
Ben ignored the fiery wound in his thigh and harnessed his adrenaline high to stand up and keep fighting. He picked up a sword and cut through the nearest wolf, picked up a knife and tossed it into the chest of another. He fought with deadly precision and focus until all of the wolves lay dead.
The alpha though was still alive. Tangled up with the white fox. It was bleeding from multiple wounds, but it had the fox’s throat in its jaws now.
It bit down hard, and the fox gave an aborted yelp before losing its voice. The black wolf snarled and shook it in its jaws like a ragdoll.
Until Ben heard the crunch of the fox’s neck. Its spine had clearly been broken, for its head now drooped awkwardly to the side while its body went limp.
Ben roared and charged the wolf, picking up his second sword as he went.
The beast dropped the fox’s body from its jaws and leapt to meet Ben’s attack.
But it was no match for Ben’s fury. And finally, Ben thrust one sword though the beast’s belly, all the way out its back. The wolf crashed to the ground, its red eyes rolling into the back of its head, tongue lolling out as it breathed its last.
Ben immediately rushed to the white fox lying limp and broken on the ground nearby. He held it in his arms as a rush of…somethingfilled his heart.
It wasn’t sadness, precisely, but it was close. Something acidic that made his heart clench and ache.