Chapter 3 - Wolves

I had never actually seen a Timberwolf before, but of course I'd read all about them and been warned time and again to be wary in the woods as a young colt. In appearance they were said to be fearsome creatures assembled from broken branches and other pieces of forest rubbish, but of the malicious magic that drove them next to nothing is known.  When asked, the master had once said he thought they were the manifestations of a sentient side of magic, suggesting that the roughly assembled bodies were only avatars which allowed this strange form of magic to interact with the physical world. Then again, some books suggested that they were ghosts of evil ponies doomed to haunt the dark forests forever. Whatever the truth, it seemed well outside the reach of reserchers; despite many attempts one had never been captured for study. Not even the famous beastmaster Iron Hide had managed the feat, making it one of the few beasts in his guide that he hadn't been able to conquer.

Beside me Vair seemed to deflate at the sound, sinking low against the rock as if trying to become a part of it. In hushed tones he told me that a pack of Timberwolves had found him the night before, but that they hadn't risked approaching the vines to get to him. His absence, it seemed, had been noted. The irony of helping him escape the Plunder Vines only to be eaten by Timberwolves was not lost on me. Or that I myself was now on the menu.

A grown unicorn such as myself should have little to fear from a lone Timberwolf, according to my books, but if encountered in packs or caught unaware the danger is very real. As several more howls went up my mind slipped back to the darker spells I had read about and I wondered if the master would approve of their use against wolves... Being magically pure is all fine and dandy, but it wouldn't do me much good if I was dead.

Fortunately Vair interrupted me before I could waste any more time exploring that line of thought and we cast about for somewhere to hide. Nothing suggested itself. Remembering the loose mason and rough wall I had noted before, I ran back to that side of the rock and found what might once have been part of a reinforced corner or maybe the base of a tower built along the wall; taller than any two ponies with straight sides of stacked stone, it was a rough cube of narrowing mason and rock whose top was only reachable along the top of the ruined wall stretching from it to our rock. We could have tried to run for it of course, but if caught with nothing at our backs defense would be all but impossible against a pack. At least here we would only have to watch one direction.

Fear makes for fast hooves and within a few heartbeats I had reached the top of the crumbling tower and was busy lifting loose stones into place to repair damage and add to the remains of a low ring wall around the top. Vair ran down the rock to check the base of the tower for weak spots and direct my efforts, making sure nothing could climb up the sides by filling in holes and hastily adding what we could to strengthen the position. Just as he called up that it looked good, I saw my first timber wolf.

In comparison, Vair was positively cuddly.

The creature was as tall as I am but much broader, it's body clad in what looked like wooden armor rather than the broken twigs and leafs I had been led to expect. Its face was a twisted wreck of sharp amber spikes with hateful glowing embers for eyes, and a greenish fog seemed to flow down through the gaps in its twisted body like a heavy mist fleeing the sun. It's legs were solid and long, the feet a collection of sharp splinters and hooked barbs that tore at the ground as it ran.

The beast lunged into view and was on us almost before we realized it was there. Reacting instinctively I reached out through my horn and bodily grabbed Vair, lifting him straight up into the air just as the monster reached him and slashed out with its claws.

As I lowered Vair onto the remains of the tower beside me the wolf howled in rage and jump straight for my throat with its mouth wide and its claws flashing. I threw up a magical barrier between it and us only to watch in stunned horror as it smashed right through it.

Had we not added to the tower the wolf would have made that first jump and I do not think this story would have ended well, but as it was it only got one clawed paw over the edge and its jaws snapped shut just short of my face before falling back down, unable to get a grip on the worn stone.

Howling in anger it tried again and shattered the remains of my shield along with much of my confidence, but again it was unable to make the jump. Reaching out I tried to grapple with the beast through magic to keep it at bay, only to learn that I could not get a firm grip on it. It was like trying to pick up a greased rock or one of those curious crystals I had spent so much time studying, there was a queer slipperiness to it that made it all but impossible to pin it down.

Vair finally recovered from the shock of the attack and being jerked off his feet, and crying out in his strange language he ran to the edge and sent a blue-green blast of hard magic arcing down at the wolf, only to jump back as it stepped to the side and lunged for him. Part of my mind noted that this was the first time I'd seen Vair perform a spell, and that he seemed somehow harder and sharper than before, but such thoughts were drowned out as the beast got both front legs over the edge this time and didn't fall back down.

Half panicked I cast a powerful push spell that should have send the beast and half the tower soaring back into the trees, but it only just managed to knock it back down to the ground. As it crouched to try the jump again Vair braved the edge and started sending blasts of magic hurdling down towards it as fast as he could, forcing it to dodge back a few paces as I struggled to find a spell that it couldn't shrug off.

Then one of Vair's castings clipped it and sent the beast spinning to the ground, and for a moment it seemed that we might actually win this thing!