The wolves attacked the moment we charged.

  They were normal wolves, which was like throwing a puppy at my brother. His skin was as tough as dragonhide. Maybe if there’d been a dire wolf, an alpha wolf, or even a hellhound we might have been concerned, but this was going to be a one-sided fight.

  “Don’t worry about the wolves!” I pointed at the forest. “Catch the handler and we can end this.” I swung my sword at the first wolf that pounced at me. Its head came off in one slice. I punched the next one in the nose with my left fist, dodged another, and ran my sword through the fourth like a pike.

  “GET OFF ME!” My brother looked like an uncle that was carrying around a mob of nieces and nephews as he ran through the pack. He had three wolves on his back, one biting each leg and his two lower arms. He was using his upper arms to pull the canine’s off, but as soon as he removed one, two more were ready to latch on.

  Vin fell down as he tried to kick off one of the wolves on his right leg and lost his balance. His jeans were ripped off, leaving him wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.

  Nipper tackled a wolf and pinned it to the ground, ripping a chunk out of its throat. She looked over at me and gave me the closest thing to a smile that a reptile with the intelligence of a dog could, then charged into the fray.

  I shook my head and knocked another wolf out of my way. I grabbed the next one by the throat and drained it just enough to knock it out. I threw the unconscious canine at another wolf, then sidestepped the next lunge.

  Most of the wolves were creating a dogpile on my half-naked brother, which gave me a mostly clear path to the woods.

  “You got this!” I grabbed another wolf and pinned it to the ground, draining it just enough to knock it out and give me a little more energy.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Seck! Don’t you dare leave me!” My brother sat up and pulled a wolf off his face. “I swear! I’ll bring a Gorgon to dinner!”

  “I’ll tell Talia you said that about her!” I waved at him as I folded the stolen power into my legs. Our snakeless Gorgon boss was a Mage, but she had scared Vin when we were little and the Camadt still gave her a wide berth despite her magic having no effect on him.

  “SECK!” The rest of the insult was buried under a mound of fur. The wolves could smother him, but I doubted they would be able to. Plus, if the situation got too dire, I was sure that Starna would throw a spell at him. The magic wouldn’t hurt him and it would get rid of the wolves.

  “Alright.” I took off towards the woods. I was running faster than Elf as I breezed by the wolves. Almost a dozen peeled off and chased after me, but they weren’t fast enough to keep up.

  I left the wolves behind as I reached the trees, but I didn’t slow down. Something big was crashing through the underbrush and it was a lot darker inside the forest than it should have been for noon.

  I came to a stop and looked around in the artificial darkness. “You might as well surrender.” I pointed at my brother. “That Camadt isn’t going to take long to finish off your wolves and when he does, he’ll be coming for you!” I heard a twig snap to my left and sidestepped as I turned around with my sword in both hands.

  There wasn’t an attack, just more nighttime-level darkness.

  “If you surrender, I promise not to kill you!” I slowly started rotating. The wolves had almost caught up. While I could still fight in the trees, it was a lot easier to swing a sword in the open grassland.

  “You think to win, young Human?” The owner of the deep voice pushed down a dead tree, which I easily avoided, though it cut off the eastern escape route.

  I turned to the south where the voice had originated. “If you’re so sure you can win, then why don’t you face me?”

  Hooves knocked down the underbrush as an ashen Centaur trotted through the darkness.

  “I don’t have to challenge you.” His backside was very naked, which left me thankful for the darkness.”I just have to keep you here.”

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