The next morning led into the afternoon before Lark, and The Captain finally came within sight of their goal.

They could see three more hills in the distance and then straight down to the valley where the road and river would converge.

Fallston seemed to slow once the ending was in sight; truthfully, Lark did too. She was trying hard not to spiral. In the Centaurs camp, when she had felt threatened and frightened, all she wanted was to get away at any cost. Now, Fallston had been her constant. She knew him as her only contact in this world. Lark had grown to think of him as an annoying teacher who was there for her because he felt bound by some professional duty or obligation. Lark could see through that guise; she knew the Centaur was as harmless as a pussy cat.

“Goblin attack!”

The Goblins shot arrows from the opposite hill as Lark and Fallston made their way into the valley. Only one more hill and they would have been downhill to the road, and in sight of the City, perhaps she could still make a run for it and wave her arms frantically for help. Would anyone save them?

The arrows rained down around them, but the Captain never showed any signs of fear.

“Lark, take cover!”

“Where?” She screamed at him as he rode forward, arrows flying from his bow faster than she ever would have believed possible. She felt numb. Why was this happening again? The screams filled the air. Screaming and crying and blood.

A fly landed on her. Like everything in this world, it immediately tried to inflict some pain on her as it bit her hand; she looked at it. It was a horsefly, just the regular winged asshole variety she was familiar with from her world and nothing more. Almost immediately, she knew she was wrong. Her hand tingled and went numb, then the swelling started, and her hand became tinged with streaks of purple and blue; she was bleeding beneath her skin. Bruises began appearing as she stared at the fly, was it eating her hand?

“Enough!” She screamed. Something in her brain snapped, like a rubber band that had been stretching and stretching before it snaps and stings your fingers. She had been mauled, threatened, stabbed, chased, and her horse gored. And now this! Some freaking fly was not about to take any more pieces from her.

She brought the staff down in a motion to dislodge the fly attempting to worm its head into her hand like a tick.

The fly fell off but returned to its meal immediately, flying at head height and waiting for an opportunity to get in closer. Lark didn’t know why she did it. Maybe she was just breathing in too much of the local air and was going crazy like the rest of the inhabitants.

“Circle of protection!”

Lark spun in a circle, the staff stretched out, trying to hit the fly as she whirled.

“This is my circle of protection!” She screamed defiantly, slamming the staff into the ground to face the deceiving Diptera.

And then it happened.

A soft golden light erupted from the bottom of the staff where she had struck the earth and spread around her in a circle, growing from her feet to her waist height and then crawling upwards to encircle her head. She was in a dome that shimmered with green from the earth and then turned to gold. Lark imagined the first rays of the sun touching the tall grass in these plains as they glistened with morning dew drops.

“Beautiful,” She choked and outstretched shaking fingers, stroking the dome as the gold and green light danced in waves. It was warm; her fingers felt like she was reaching into a lamp to turn the light off, but her dome remained, glowing and comforting and… what was that? Howling?

Things appeared; things that Lark knew immediately were created to hunt and kill.

Four of them, her eyes darted back and forth as the creatures crested the hill, running full speed at Fallston. He had seen them, but he did not retreat. He drew a sword from his back and rode forward to meet the onslaught, right into the path of the goblins reigning arrows down onto his head.

“Dire wolves!” The Captain’s voice bellowed from the valley as he tried to keep the four creatures at bay, but they kept circling him. The wolves seemed to come from all sides as they growled and snapped at his haunches.

Still, The Captain held his own. Lark had never seen anything like it. The speed at which he moved, the twisting and the turning while still shooting arrows at the remaining Goblins. Then he used a skill, it was the first time she had had the chance to watch it happen, and it was undeniable. The Captain flipped two knives into his hands and held them at a point, then he threw them at his target, and the knife’s point slammed into one of the wolf’s chest and the other the side of its head. The force of the throw sent an energy wave as it rippled through the wolf’s body, blowing back the fur and blood as the two wolves howled and clawed at the daggers protruding from their bodies. The injured wolves ran. The one with a blade lodged in its skull stopped on the rise of the hill and scooped up a body. Lark watched in horror as a dead Goblin was carried away in its massive jaws. Apparently, the alliance was only good while either party had a pulse.

The battle ranged on, the two remaining Dire wolves attacking with renewed ferocity while the Goblins volleyed arrows down on Fallston.

“Run!” Lark screamed at him as a massive pair of jaws came within inches of his neck. Fallston reared, deploying a skill that caused a crack in the air and the earth to rumble and break around him as his mighty hooves hit the ground.

She knew her mistake would be costly as soon as the word had left her mouth as she sounded the alarm for trouble. The wolves, tiring of the prey that was too difficult to take down noticed her and blurred away in her direction.

Fallston turned to pursue, but the arrows were never ceasing, and he took three to the back and his legs crumpled.

She ran. What else could she do? The wolves were coming straight for her as she ran to meet them.

“Lark! Run!”

It was the last thing she heard before the claws and teeth smashed against the dome, but it flickered and held!

She tried to advance, but the weight of the wolves was like pushing against a wall, and she was tired! An immense sense of fatigue came over her, but she didn’t understand why her adrenalin wasn’t mitigating the effects; was it from all the walking? Could it be something else? The exhaustion was as overwhelming as it was debilitating. She nearly dropped to her knees but knew if she did, her death would come swifter and more ruthless. She was in a cruel world, and the only person who could save her was crumpling under the oppression of her own physical limitations.

“Fuck this!”

Lark raged and took a step forward, a foot from the wolves as they slammed against the magical barrier, repeatedly testing its limitations and perhaps sensing the magic beginning to falter as her strength waned.

Their eyes met, and Lark looked at the giant wolf. In another light, she would have thought of him as a stunning creature with black fur, white-tipped ears and a white blaze down his chest. His eyes were onyx, with depths of confidence and intelligence. You must be the Alpha, but unfortunately for you, I don’t break so easily.

Lark thought of her skill, wild animal instinct. She hadn’t known how to activate the skill and had been meaning to ask Fallston, but it turned out she didn’t need to. Lark thought,t about the skill, and it came to her, a surge of power in her fingers and lips; it was like filling a cup of water right to the top, the surface tension taught as gravity tries to pull the clustered molecules over the edge, one small movement of the wrist and the water trickled down the cup, tension lost and gravity won. This is how activating the skill felt to Lark. She held it, letting it dwell in her fingers and on her tongue before exhaling and releasing her will. The skill burst forth and Lark could feel the animal's intention, but it also felt hers.

The wolf was Alpha. He had taken the pack two moons ago and was fighting to impress his female and increase confidence and loyalty from the other members. And they needed food. The male wanted to spread his seed, it was the way all great wolves left a mark, but his female needed to be ready, well fed and healthy. He wanted the girl, to tear her and rip her apart; he could feel her fear and smell…something. The Dire wolf paused. He felt confused; the smell was strange…wrong? His female sensed his discomfort, and hesitation paused too; her male was a formidable hunter and in his prime. Why was he stopping? Then she also sensed it, the prey…something was wrong with it.

Lark thrust her will out to the wolves. She did not want to die. She was not food. Trying desperately to tap into the instincts of the wild animals, Lark met the giant wolf's gaze once again and thought of herself as a Queen and her royal sovereign as was not to be chewed on.

Another howl, more wolves?

Lark broke the spellbinding gaze of the Alpha and looked to the South, her eyes making out an orangey figure streaking through the long grass.

“Albus!” Lark screamed with horror as the puppy came into full view of the battle, not slowing for a second, he raced toward Lark and the two wolves circling her.

He came closer, closer. His little legs churned across the ground, tongue lolling and eyes filled with intensity as if he were chasing a ball.

Awoooo!

The little dog sent out a bark that boomed and pulsated, shattering the dyeing golden orb around Lark as the wolves stopped circling and fled back several steps.

Albus stood between Lark and the wolves, a small figure before two mighty beasts and sounded another bark. This was small, lacking the skill behind it and making the gigantic Dire wolves cock their heads to either side as if assessing a very feisty snack.

Lark, gathering her courage, attempted to project her skill on the Alpha again but felt too weak to call to it, her fingers and toes too numb to contain a shred of magic. This was it. She had nothing else up her sleeve.

The Dire wolf made a decision, and he turned, his mate following and trotting away loyally at his side.

“Albus!” Lark threw her arms weakly around the puppy's neck as his tail wiggled, and he washed away the tears. His human smelled of fear and tasted of blood and sweat, but he was here for her now. Her Guardian.

“Have you gotten bigger?” Lark ruffled the puppy's fur as he rolled onto his back for belly scratches, feet kicking the air when she found the right spot. “What was up with that bark? It felt like a shock wave!” No answer, just a licking and kicking puppy. Well of course, she hadn’t really expected him to talk back to her, but so much had changed in the last few days, a talking pet wouldn’t be all that surprising.

A sound of hooves, Captain Fallston, galloped up to her, sweat sheening on his body that was streaked with dry blood but devoid of any arrow markings.

“Are you alright?” He inquired, sounding strange to her, a tone in his voice that she couldn’t place.”

“Me? Well, I wasn’t the one with an arrow or a dagger protruding from my body for once. How are you?”

“Fine, that was nothing, I used a potion and then made short work of the remaining Goblins. I suspect this group was sent out after we killed the scouting party. It’s curious that my danger sense didn’t alert me to their presence. Perhaps one of them has an artifact. That is highly unusual for Goblins but not unheard of, and the wolves! I have rarely seen such large creatures outside of the mountains.”

Lark listened as Fallston droned on, her eyes beginning to shut from the waves of exhaustion coming over her.

“Here.”

“What is this?”

“A potion, drink a few mouthfuls.”

Lark swallowed the bitter liquid. It tasted like tabasco sauce and made her splutter and choke. The warmth from the bitter liquid spread through her arms and legs, renewing some of her strength and banishing the numbness she felt. Lark flexed her fingers and toes, feeling as though she had chugged pre-workout followed by a hit of expresso.

“Wow! That is some powerful juice!”

“It won’t last long; your body still needs to recover naturally. You need to eat and rest as soon as possible. It will give you enough energy to walk out of here and make a camp, and we need to have a discussion before I take you to the City.”

“Agreed! I would love to discuss why you didn’t intervene with the wolves immediately after consuming your healing potion.”

The Centaur flared his nostrils, and Lark knew after she accused him that she had bruised his precious ego. Centaurs! They could be so ferocious and then so delicate in only a few minutes!

“I had my arrows trained on those wolves almost the whole time, had you stayed where I left you while I fought them off, none of that would have happened.”

The Captain's voice had taken on an edge that was both haughty and icy in the same breath, warning Lark not to push him further.

“What! Do you think those gigantic, nightmare wolves were my fault? You are a self-centred, self-righteous jackass!”

Fallston levelled an angry gaze on the woman who met his eyes, equally as angry and defiant. “You are acting like a…Ow!” A sharp prick to his knee made the Centaur move back in surprise.

“Why is your dog biting me?”

The little puppy had latched onto the Centaur and was growling and shaking his head with ferocity as the Centaur looked down on him with curiosity and amusement.

“He is defending me…I think.”

Lark couldn’t help but laugh as Albus shook his head, accomplishing to loose a few of the centaur's hairs as they drifted away in the wind. Clearly, the Centaur had thick skin because not an ounce of blood had appeared, and since the initial bite, he appeared completely unbothered.

“Come here you.” Lark scooped up the growling puppy as it continued to try and bite the Centaur as she held him in her arms.

“Come along, my little protector, let's get some meat that you can really gnaw on.”

The two of them walked towards the treeline, one holding a wiggling and growling puppy and the other trying his hardest not to laugh at the only creature that had gotten a bite on him today. Inexplicably, Fallston was happy that the trio was back together. He had never felt this way after a battle. Normally, the only thing he cared about was the dead and wounded and sending reports to his superiors, all the usual duties of a Captain. What was happening to him? Was he being tamed by a human, by a woman?

“Fallston, I think the mana potion is already wearing off, can I please just give you my backpack to carry?”

He pretended not to hear and trotted ahead a few steps, “no human from this world will ever get me to act like a pack animal.”

Lark smiled and whispered softly into Albuses ear, “but I’m not from this world, am I.”