The trek from the road was peaceful as they entered the first towards the spring. The forest floor was tiled with decaying pine needles and mud, squishing softly under their boots. Almir took the point while Heron flanked him to the right. Alessia stayed close to Heron, her eyes darting between the tops of the trees.

  The others fanned out behind them, keeping enough distance to act as a safety net without crowding the vanguard.

  Ten minutes in, Almir raised a fist, signaling a sudden halt.

  He pointed to a patch of disturbed earth near the base of an oak. "Tracks," Almir whispered, crouching down. "And... leftovers."

  Heron stepped closer, wrinkling his nose. A pile of scat lay steaming in the air.

  "Fresh," Almir noted, his voice barely carrying over the wind. "I think these may be less than an hour old. They’re close."

  "I don't see them," Alessia whispered, her grip tightening on the sword handle.

  "That's the problem," Heron murmured. "It just seems too quiet."

  It may be his response that jinxed them, but the atmosphere changed. A resonant thrum seemed to emanate from the bushes all around them.

  Heron felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Do you hear that?"

  "Steady," Richard commanded quietly from the back. "Take formations. Move with extreme caution."

  The humming grew louder, coming from multiple directions until the forest seemed to vibrate with it. As they moved, it seemed vibrations did too. Ahead of them, the trees cleared into a small, rocky glade where the natural spring bubbled up from the earth. The water was indeed sparkling, catching the weak sunlight, but the serene image was broken by the shadow looming over it.

  Perched atop the largest boulder overlooking the spring was a beast the size of a draft horse. Its fur was matted and dark, with a glowing horn atop its head. It didn't snarl; it simply stared down at them, its throat vibrating with that same frequency hum.

  "The Alpha," Almir said, shifting his stance. "But I still don’t see the rest."

  Before Heron could respond to Almir, the humming behind them spiked into a cacophony of distorted snarls. The brush they had just passed exploded outward. A dozen Ulvs landed with heavy thuds directly into the gap between the vanguard and the rear guard, effectively cutting off Heron, Alessia, and Almir from the others.

  "Support, let us fall back!" Richard’s voice cut through the hums, signaling the support team to retreat further. He caught Heron’s panicked glance and shouted over the din.

  "They’ve cut the line! This is your fight now! Focus on the pack!"

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  Three of the Ulvs, sensing the movement of the larger group, turned their glowing eyes toward Richard and the others. With a synchronized shriek, they launched themselves at the support team, aiming for the kill.

  Icarus didn't flinch. He simply raised a hand, his fingers twitching in a sharp, upward motion.

  Crack.

  Thick, thorny vines burst from the ground, weaving together in the blink of an eye to form a dense, living barricade between them and the beasts. The leaping Ulvs slammed mid-air into the wall of thorns, yelping as the wood held firm against their weight, blocking their path completely.

  The beasts clawed at the vines, trying to find a gap, but a sudden clatter drew their attention.

  "Eyes on me!"

  Almir had scooped up a handful of loose gravel and flung it, hitting many of the beasts. The stones struck the Ulvs squarely on their snouts and ears, stinging them enough to break their fixation on the wall.

  "Your meal is over here!" He continued to mock the pack.

  “Heron, Alessia, get behind me,” Almir yelled.

  The pack didn’t wait for an invitation. They lunged in unison, aiming to overwhelm Almir.

  Almir didn’t retreat. Instead, he gripped the haft of his sledgehammer that had been resting across his back. As he swung it down, the white fractal crystals embedded in the iron head flared with blinding intensity.

  BOOM.

  He didn’t strike the ulver; he struck the earth. The hammer slammed into the muddy ground, and the crystals discharged a violent burst of archaic wind. The impact turned the soft soil and dust into a pressurized shrapnel wave, blasting the attacking Ulvs backward in a spray of brown sludge and debris. The force of the wind pulse cleared a ten-meter circle around them, buying them a precious few seconds.

  He spun the hammer, the residual wind whistling around the weapon. He looked up at the boulder where the Alpha still sat, vibrating with that maddening hum.

  He turned to Alessia, a wild grin on his face. “You’re lighter than Heron. You’re up!”

  “Wait, wha—?!”

  Almir didn’t wait for consent. He dropped a hand to her belt harness and, aided by a secondary burst of wind from his hammer, literally hurled her into the air.

  “Aim for the face!” he roared.

  Alessia flailed momentarily, the world spinning, before gravity and momentum carried her toward the top of the boulder. She scrambled to grip Richard’s sword with both hands.

  The red crystal. Push the red crystal. She was remembering what Richard mentioned to her before they departed.

  I didn’t have time to practice. What is it supposed to do? She was panicking.

  She saw the Alpha looming closer, its glowing eyes returning to normal as the small human flew toward it. She mashed her thumb against the ruby stud on the crossguard just as she swung.

  HISS-CRACK.

  A nozzle at the tip of the blade sprayed a jet of pressurized oil that instantly ignited as it passed over the crystal's heated enchantment. It wasn’t a graceful strike; it was an explosion of flame. A chaotic burst of fire erupted right in the Alpha’s face, searing its nose and whiskers.

  The beast shrieked. It reared back, blinded by the sudden flash and the smell of burning fur, falling off its perch.

  Instantly, the low-frequency hum that filled the clearing vanished.

  Below, the pack stumbled. The coordinated precision was gone, replaced by confusion. The wolves shook their heads, looking around wildly as if waking from a trance.

  “The link is broken!” Almir shouted. “It’s up to us to finish them off.”