Jack half expected the moment he set foot outside the village, the wolgen would come leaping out of the underbrush and tear into them before the plan could get underway. Of course, he knew that was unlikely given that Angela was actively scanning the area, but these things had everyone else so spooked, it was hard not to be a little extra paranoid.

Thankfully the first part of the plan seemed to be working perfectly. Jack, S'haar, and the guards kept an eye on the workers who were busy preparing the area for the fight. The stakes were formed into two arenas, meant to separate and isolate the wolgen long enough to hopefully finish the job, or at least seriously injure the beasts.

As massive as the wolgen were, Jack didn't think the arenas would hold them long, but they didn't have to. If they were held in place long enough to pull off the first part of the plan, anything else would just be a bonus.

What Jack didn't like was S'haar's part in the plan. He'd initially objected to it, but she was right that this was the best chance for the least number of casualties, and she was the only one who stood a chance at pulling it off. Also, there was the fact that S'haar was in charge, and even if she hadn't been, he had to respect that this was her life, and she had to choose how she was going to live it.

Jack tilted his head to the side for a moment as he considered the similarities between that line of reasoning and the current problems between his sister and himself. He shook his head. This wasn't the time to get lost in thought, regardless of how important and impactful those thoughts might be.

Nala'ac stirred beside Jack, drawn out of his quiet watchfulness by the sudden movement. Jack grinned halfheartedly. "Sorry about that. Trying to keep my mind from wandering."

Jack knew the older hunter couldn't understand him, but he seemed to consider his words nonetheless. He turned his attention back to the forest before speaking. "The quiet moments before the hunt are the longest. It's important to keep focus on the present."

Jack didn't know if it was purely coincidental that the older man's response was so on topic or if he was just familiar enough with similar situations to have guessed what Jack was thinking. Either way, he was kind of impressed.

Since S'haar's job required her to be in such a precarious situation, and Lon'thul was out patrolling the site with the other hunters to provide some redundant eyes and ears on top of Anglea's, the older hunter had been assigned to act as Jack's guard and keep him from getting into more trouble than he could handle. They were currently sitting in a tree on the southern edge of the clearing, from which they had good vision of everything going on below them.

Jack was just starting to wonder if they shouldn't have gone with his initial idea of digging pits when Angela spoke up. "I'm getting movement off to the north. I think our guests heard all the commotion and are on their way to check it out."

Evidently, she'd said the same thing to both S'haar and Lon'thul because the former started shouting that it was time for the workers to get back to the village, while the latter responded over the headsets. "Good timing. I was already on my way with the churlish I'd found. I should be there in just a few minutes."

The last of the workers were being escorted back to the village by a couple of guards when the hunter showed up dragging his kill. He placed it in one of the arenas and started draining the blood, which he passed out to the other hunters. The hunters went about spreading small amounts of the blood around to muddle the scents of so many argu'n and laid an obvious trail leading to the carcass itself.

While this was happening, S'haar retrieved Jack and brought him over to the carcass, where he began inserting the explosives and double-checked which detonators they were linked to. With a lot of luck, at least half of this prep work would be for nothing.

Angela's voice was urgent. "Hurry up! They're getting close!"

His job done, Jack backed away from his work and was quickly picked up by S'haar, who ran him to the tree where Nala'ac was waiting. It was kind of humiliating being carried like that, but even with his injections, he couldn't move as quickly as the situation demanded, so he silently bit his tongue and kept his shame to himself.

At the treeline, S'haar shifted Jack to her back and lept up, then climbed to the branch where the older hunter waited to ease Jack safely back onto the branch. She leaned down and kissed Jack quickly before giving him a stern glare. "Stay high, and stay safe. Leave the crazy parts to us for a change!"

Jack returned an equally stern glare. "Alright, but remember, keep yourself alive. You're just buying time. You don't have to go for the kill!"

S'haar nodded and looked like she wanted to say something else. Instead, she climbed down from the tree, a little slower and more quietly than she'd climbed it, and waited.

Jack knew there were almost a dozen argu'n nearby in and around the trees on the south end of the clearing, but at the moment, he couldn't see any of them and suddenly felt very alone despite Nala'ac's presence at his side.

Time seemed to slow as they waited, one moment dragging into the next in agonizing slowness as Jack waited for movement from the north. He was starting to wonder if something had gone wrong when he heard them.

There was a bit of rustling in the brush, then they appeared. As the first head came through, Jack couldn't help but think that S'haar had understated how scary these things were. The first thing that drew his attention was the teeth. It was hard to tell at this distance, but it looked like most of the teeth were longer than his hand, with two more prominent fangs, nearly the size of his forearms, jutting from their lower jaw. They also had four eyes, two to each side, that seemed to move independently of each other, almost like a chameleon's.

It was sniffing around the clearing before focusing its attention in the direction of the churlish. Just as Lonthul had predicted, even a preditor as large and powerful as this one wasn't above getting itself a quick, easy meal. It had two rows of spikes on its back, making any attempts to get on top of the beast precarious at best. It was also covered in thick ratty fur everywhere except its face.

As it eased into the clearing, it occasionally balanced on its hind legs, using its tail for balance, giving them a terrifying look at its front claws, which were half again longer than its fangs. It sniffed high and low, trying to understand what had happened in this part of its territory. Jack hoped the blood the hunters had spread around was doing its job. Even if the wolgen were willing to pick off small groups of argu'n, they were hesitant to approach large groups like villages.

Evidently, it couldn't sense too many threats because it continued forward, the second wolgen appearing from the brush before following. The last thing to clear the forest was its tail, which swished about with every step. At the end was a large barb or spike. Based on the tail's rapidly powerful movements, it could probably hit as hard, if not harder, than the thing's claws.

Looking at the monster, Jack knew that his rifle would probably not be sufficient to finish the thing quickly, though he hoped it would hurt it enough to slow it down for the others to do their jobs. At that moment, Nala'ac was holding onto the rifle for him while Jack held the two detonators in his hands. He checked one last time to make sure he knew which was which before settling in and waiting.

The two beasts approached the first arena slowly, sniffing the spikes splattered with churlish blood for a moment before focusing on their prize. The first continued forward while the second raised itself on its hind legs to look around its environment again.

Jack eased off the safety and the protective covers over the buttons as he waited tensely for the wolgen to get closer to its prize. He cursed silently as the second wolgen entered into the same arena, but they'd planned for that. It just meant that Lon'thul was going to have a job to do.

The beast was right in front of the carcass now, and Jack could feel his hand sweating as he silently urged the monster to just take a huge bite. Apparently unwilling to oblige his silent commands, the wolgen sniffed the churlish carefully for several agonizingly long seconds before it froze then started to rapidly pull its head back.

Jack cursed and hit the first button. Maybe it had smelled the grenades, or perhaps something else had spooked it, but there would be no quick or easy kill today. When the charges went off, it flung viscera and shrapnel into the monster's face. Temporarily blinding it and causing it to rear up onto its hind legs.

As soon as it happened, Lon'thul was running across the field into the second arena. The movement drew the attention of the second wolgen, but it seemed unwilling to leave its distressed partner's side. Instead stood on its hind legs, presenting a threatening display in an attempt to scare off this new threat.

The hunter stopped, then drew his bow and launched an arrow solidly into the exposed stomach of the beast. With a deafening roar, the beast dropped to the ground hard enough that Jack could swear he could feel it all the way up his tree, then charged the hunter.

Lon'thul turned and ran for everything he was worth, but the beast was gaining ground fast. Luckily the hunter didn't have nearly as far to run and cleared the first of the stakes just as the wolgen made it into the second arena. The first wolgen had cleared its face and turned to follow the second when Jack hit the second button.

Two loud explosions sounded as logs soaked in pitch tumbled across the entrances of both arenas, then a hiss sounded as a delayed set of incendiary devices went off, setting the logs ablaze.

That was the signal the rest had been waiting for. All the hunters and guards present charged into the arena with Lon'thul's target, while S'haar ran alone into the second.

-

Lon'thul reached the safety of the stakes just in time. The wolgen behind him took a swipe, knocking over three stakes close enough to the hunter he could feel the vibrations of them hitting the ground.

Rather than run directly away from his opponent, Lon'thul shifted his momentum to run through the maze of wood, forcing the monster to turn awkwardly in place rather than continue tearing through the arena. He could sense rather than see a second swipe coming at him from behind and lept forward, feeling the breeze of the claws passage where he'd just been a second ago.

However, his movement placed him well within the range of another danger as the wolgen's tail now lashed forward. Hoping the beast had slightly less control of the tail than its claws, Lon'thul dropped to the ground, one again coming within inches of death or dismemberment. He knew he couldn't keep this up for long, but he also knew he didn't have to.

Sure enough, he could hear the first jar shattering against the beast as his fellow hunters came within range. As he scrabbled to his feet, looking for where the next attack was coming from, he could hear more jars shattering against the monster.

He started to grin when he noticed he was standing right in front of the monster, looking death in the eyes. The wolgen's muscles began to contract, and Lon'thul's mind raced furiously, trying to decide where to dive, but as the claws raced forward, the hunter couldn't find any path to safety. No better option presenting itself, the hunter lept forward, aiming directly under the beast's head, even though he knew he'd never make it in time.

Just when the claws were about to connect, a loud crack rang out from the southern edge of the clearing, and the beast flinched. It slowed the thing down just enough that Lon'thul was only grazed along the side. He was alive, but his side felt like it was on fire, and he was now laying on his back, directly under the mouth of a very large, very angry predator.

-

S'haar was already regretting her decision. She knew their best chance lay in killing one of the monsters as quickly as possible so they could then focus on the second at a more leisurely pace. To do that, they needed to focus as many people as possible on one, while someone kept the second busy, but this was clearly more beast than she could handle.

The thing swiped at her with its left claw, which S'haar ducked under, then followed with a second swipe from its right. Not having the time to dodge a second time, S'haar blocked with both swords. The upside was that the blades prevented her from being eviscerated. The downside was that she was flung bodily across the arena. Now she was in danger of being impaled on the very stakes keeping the beast caged.

Not having the time to think, S'haar dropped her swords to use her arms to leverage herself away from the tip of the stake at the last second. Her impact was still hard and knocked the wind out of her lungs. Struggling to catch her breath, hand braced against her side, S'haar stood, now staring death in the face.

A voice called out in her head. "Dodge right!"

Not having many options, S'haar dove to the right at the same time a loud crack rang out over the field. There was a deafening roar, and the beast reared to its full height on its hind legs, clawing at its face.

Seeing her swords laying on the ground under the beast, S'haar dove again, grabbing her swords and slamming the ground with her elbow to turn herself over to get a slash in as she passed.

The matted fur absorbed most of the impact, but she could tell she'd done some damage. Even if it was only enough to cause a little pain, maybe that would slow the thing down a little.

Angela was speaking even more rapidly than usual. "Ok, Jack didn't quite take out its eye, but he definitely grazed along the top of it. Between the blood obscuring its vision and some shrapnel damage from earlier, I'd say it has less than half the visual acuity on the left side as the right. Um, left from your perspective, that is."

A few more loud cracks rang out, but when her monster didn't react, S'haar assumed Jack was helping out the other group again. Still, he might have bought her the time and distraction she needed.

Taking advantage of the beast's hesitation, S'haar charged back in.

-

Lon'thul realized that he had to move quickly when he heard a second shot, and the monster over top of him didn't move. He rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a pair of fangs that looked a lot larger this close up, and latched onto the creature's foot as it readied to swipe him. In frustration, the monster flicked its foot, breaking Lon'thul's grip and flinging the hunter away.

Luckily, a couple of guards were there to catch him and keep him from getting impaled in the process.

Two other guards ran forward, holding torches lit from the fire at the entrance. One was quickly batted away by the tail but fortunately seemed to take the brunt of the hit from the meat of the tail instead of the spike at its end.

The second guard jabbed his torch into the soaked hide of the beast. As the flames shot up, the beast screamed. The sound tore at the ears of everyone within range, sending them to their knees as they covered their ears, attempting to shut the scream out.

It was so painful that the guard who'd scored the hit was slow to retreat. The beast flailed its tail about in agony, and Lon'thul could do nothing as it sped toward the unaware guard still on his knees.

-

Both Nala'ac and Angela were calling out whoever seemed to be in most trouble at the moment, forcing Jack to switch back and forth between targets as the current need demanded. It was galling for him to be so far away and safe while everyone else was risking themselves, but he also realized this was more effective than anything else they could be doing at the moment.

Jack knew he was doing real damage with the rifle. He didn't try for headshots with how fast the things were whipping around, but he put another couple of holes into the side of Lon'thul's target just in time to make the beast flinch again and buy the hunter enough time to get in and drag the guard who'd lit the thing on fire to safety. Unfortunately, his earlier prediction proved accurate, and it wasn't enough to put the monsters down. At least not quickly enough.

The fur on the one to Jack's right was now either on fire or wet and matted, preventing it from offering the same protection as before. The guards and hunters took advantage of the fact by tearing into it with spear and sword before retreating away again. It wouldn't last much longer.

Nala'ac spoke quickly and annoying calmly as usual. "S'haar is backed into a corner again."

Jack unfocused from his scope long enough to switch targets, took aim, and fired a couple more shots into his new target.

-

Lon'thul could see the wolgen was visibly slowing. All of its injuries were starting to add up, and even if they backed out now, it would probably die soon. But that also meant this was when the monster was at its most dangerous, and he needed to put it down before it could make things worse.

Letting the guards and hunters distract the thing, Lon'thul drew the bow to its full extension and took aim for the creature's head. He knew from his practice back at the outpost, he could only hold the bow at full draw for a handful of seconds before his aim wavered.

As the wolgen's head came down, the hunter looked it directly in the eye, and for a moment, everything else faded from existence. There was only the hunter and the beast. Lon'thul released his hold, and the arrow flew.

Right away, the hunter realized something had gone wrong. Either he's held the draw too long, and his arm had shaken, or not long enough, and the wolgen's head wasn't in the proper position. Either way, the arrow struck the beast just a little too high and grazed along its skull rather than punching through it.

With a roar of hatred and defiance, the wolgen charged the hunter.

Lon'thul scrambled out of the way just in time, but the monster barreled into, then through the stakes that had held it ensorcelled. Worse, in its blind charge, it continued forward, busting a hole into the second arena.

-

When her target lunged for S'haar again, she ducked under the first swipe, then lept up above the next, getting a quick slash at the nose of the wolgen. Her sword didn't bite deep, but it was enough to make the monster pull back and hesitate. S'haar briefly leaned against the stake at her side, attempting to use the seconds she'd bought herself to catch her breath.

Then she felt the ground rumble, and Angela shouted into her ear. "Dodge left now!"

S'haar didn't hesitate and lept to her left. In doing so, she avoided being trampled from behind, but with a fling of its head, the second wolgen still struck her hard and sent her flying bodily aside. She crashed headlong into the first wolgen, who batted her aside and into the stake wall. As the warrior woman tried to climb to her feet, her legs screamed in agony. Looking down, she could see several large splinters of wood embedded in her leg around her plates and several long claw marks scoring her side armor through which blood was now slowly leaking.

Holding onto the stake beside her to maintain her footing, S'haar stared at the approaching wolgen with all the anger and hatred she could muster.

-

Lon'thul climbed to his feet just in time to see the retreating wolgen crash into the stake wall and send S'haar flying. Its hide still smoldered in places, and it had a number of spears, swords, and even broken stakes sticking out from it. Finally, it shuddered and crashed to the ground, its injuries overwhelming it just a little too late.

As Lon'thul charged forward, he could see S'haar get shakily to her feet, and he knew that she wouldn't be able to dodge another attack. As the wolgen began to close the distance with her, Lon'thul reached for his arrows. In all the confusion, most of them had spilled to the ground somewhere, and he only had two arrows remaining.

Grabbing one, he fired off a quick shot into the beast's side, hoping to distract it from its prize. Unfortunately, the arrow was one of the ones designed to penetrate bone armor, and the fur on the beast's side tangled with the arrow, keeping it from penetrating deep enough to cause real damage. The wolgen shuddered slightly as though bitten by a particularly annoying insect before continuing forward.

Drawing his last arrow, Lon'thul saw that it too was designed for bone armor. Not having a choice, he drew it anyway. He could hear other guards and hunters approaching behind him, but they'd never arrive in time. This time he took careful aim. Once again, the world narrowed down to the hunter and his target, and he loosed the arrow.

-

S'haar held her sword out in front of herself feebly, as though it could ward off the approaching monster. With the other monster down, she hoped she'd be the only death this day. She also hoped Jack could forgive her.

That was when the beast roared impossibly loud, rearing to its hind feet and sending S'haar back to her knees. Looking up with her hands covering her ears and tears in her eyes, S'haar could see it clawing at its front right eye.

As it dropped to the ground, the monster turned away from S'haar, its attention focused solely on the hunter standing off to the side. Without hesitation, it charged the new threat in front of it.

-

Jack fired the last shot into the side of the charging beast and began reloading as quickly as he could. At his side, Nala'ac spoke up. "So those weapons of yours, you just pull the ring out, and they're ready to explode?"

Jack was only half paying attention as he grabbed a new magazine and started sliding it home. "Yeah, but as you saw, they don't do nearly enough damage to their hide. We'd be endangering our friends more than hurting the wolgen."

As he took aim, Jack felt a light tugging at his belt. He lowered the gun just in time to see the older hunter holding two explosives in his hand with a sad grin. "I'll assume that's a yes. Well then, we'd best make sure the wolgen eats them this time, huh?"

With that, the hunter lept down from the tree before Jack could shout at him and ran toward the wolgen.

-

If Nala'ac had known there were wolgen in these forests, he would have never volunteered for this mission. Hunting beasts like this was for the young, the stupid, and the proud. He knew he was no longer the first and hoped he wasn't the latter.

And yet, here he was, running to his death. That young idiot Lon'thul was dropping his bow and grabbing a spear to brace for the charge that was coming his way. As good a hunter as the boy was, he should know better than to do something as stupid as that.

Nala'ac shouted as he ran. "Get out of the way, you fool!"

Lon'thul looked up in surprise, hesitating for a second before dropping the spear and leaping to the side. The wolgen turned its head to the side, nipping at the young hunter as he dove, missing by inches.

Nala'ac popped the pins out of the devices he'd taken from Lord Jack, then shifted them both to his right hand. Leaping toward the wolgen's blind side, he gripped the monster's right tusk with his left hand and flung himself around, shoving his right hand into the wolgen's mouth and releasing the weapons he'd held.

Unfortunately, he was unable to draw his hand out again before the monster clamped down, not entirely severing his arm in the process. The beast flung him to the ground and began clawing his chest to pieces forcing the old hunter to scream out in pain.

As his vision faded to black, he spared the last bit of will to turn his scream into a shout. "PUSH THE BUTTON, YOU IDIOT!"

-

Realizing what the old hunter had in mind, Jack tried shouting at him to come back. When that didn't work, he leaned the rifle against the tree and started furiously digging through the pack he'd brought with him. He found the detonator in time to see the old hunter get flung to the ground.

Looking at the detonator and back to the hunter, Jack switched off the safety, popped the top off, then hesitated before pushing the button. He could see the old man getting mauled and knew there was nothing that could save him now, but still, in his mind, if he pushed that button, he'd be killing the old man.

Then he heard the hunter's death scream. Then he heard the shout. "PUSH THE BUTTON, YOU IDIOT!"

Jack closed his eyes, silenced the arguments swirling around his mind, took a breath to quiet his thundering heart, and pushed the button.