Edwin was annoyed and bored, counting the hours until they could return to the village when he heard a sound to his left and he automatically turned his head. On their hunts they regularly saw all kinds of harmless animals like deer or rabbits that usually fled at their approach, so Edwin didn’t really expect it to be anything else this time. He almost turned away again, until his mind caught up with his eyes and he realized that what he was seeing was important. Once that realization had sunk in, it took another second for him to understand the situation and remember the correct course of action.

Edwin finally started yelling in alarm just as the direwolf smacked into him, both crashing to the ground. He had only managed to partially raise his shield, and now it was pinned between him and the monster. His weapons were still sheathed, as walking around all day with a heavy mace in hand was bothersome and had gotten tiring and annoying by the third day. In his current position he couldn’t reach his belt, so he grabbed the wolf’s throat as tightly as he could, holding the snapping maw away from his face while he tugged at the shield to try and free it. He actually managed to keep the monster from biting him, the ground at his back combined with his enhanced strength effectively keeping the wolf at arm’s length. He couldn’t stop it from raking him with its claws, though, the long nails ripping into anything that wasn’t hidden under Bordan’s large shield. Edwin struggled for what felt like minutes, hot saliva spraying down on him from a mouth large enough to fit his entire head. He was starting to panic, flailing his limbs, trying to buck the beast off him, when it yowled.

The direwolf scrabbled backwards, fighting to free itself from Edwin’s grip and the entanglement of his body and shield. Freed from his razor focus on surviving, the sounds and sights of the world returned to Edwin. Bordan was standing over him, the tip of his spear buried in the monster’s flank, trying and failing to pin it against the ground to immobilize it. The wolf pulled free and jumped backwards. It raised its head and howled, though the sound turned into a coughing growl when a bolt sunk deeply into its chest. The beast moving away from the adventurers had finally given Leodin a clear shot, and the wolf stumbled as Bordan charged it with his spear. Waking from his daze, Edwin rolled over and staggered to his feet, drawing his mace. Adrenaline was coursing through him, making his hands shake and the heartbeat pound in his ears. He charged after Bordan, intent on finishing the wolf that had gotten the drop on him.

The monster was retreating from Bordan, although it had lost much of its former speed and grace. It was limping backwards while snapping at Bordan’s questing stabs.

“Stay left!” Leodin yelled from behind, and Bordan stepped to the side, making way for another feathered shaft. Two, in fact, as it seemed that Salissa was also joining the fight.

“Finish it, quickly!” Bordan called as Edwin reached his side. “Before-“

Two large shapes crested a rise to their right, immediately rushing at them in a cacophony of angry snarling.

“Defend!” Bordan shouted, immediately turning to position himself between the newcomers and the marksmen. Edwin threw one last look at the injured wolf but decided that he couldn’t kill it before its packmates reached him. Angrily, he also turned, meeting the wolves’ charge with one of his own. Arrows flashed by, piercing the front wolf’s hide, and the second one veered to the side to attack the ones who shot at them.

The lead wolf had recognized Edwin’s behavior for what it was and had gladly accepted the challenge. Man and monster ran towards each other, picking up yet more speed instead of slowing down. The wolf was massive, maybe even larger than the first pack they’d fought, but Edwin was no dwarf himself. He tucked his head and raised his borrowed shield, concentrating fully on pumping his legs ever faster. And then the time was up. The two adversaries smashed into each other, the wolf jumping high to bite at Edwin’s head but only finding his shield. Due to that last-minute jump, Edwin failed to hit it head-on, impacting its lower side instead. The opponents were within arm’s reach for a single moment, then the shield slid along the direwolf’s furred flank and Edwin shot past his foe. As the expected crash never came, Edwin was struggling to even stay on his feet. The muddy ground made slowing down harder than speeding up had been, and he was worried that his momentum would carry him off into the forest, taking him out of the fight for precious seconds. Instead, he adjusted his course right into a tree.

The giant of the forest shook as Edwin shed his remaining momentum into it, immediately turning around to survey the battlefield. The injured wolf was limping back towards the fight, though it was still too far away to threaten anyone. Edwin’s foe had turned more quickly than him and was already on its way towards him. What caught his attention however was the third direwolf. Bordan hadn’t managed to cut off its path and was now running after it but had no chance of catching up before it reached the squishy underbelly of the adventuring party: Its ranged members. The front of Leodin’s crossbow was in the dirt as he frantically reloaded it, leaving only a terrified Salissa in the path of the charging beast. The young mage was holding a handful of arrows in her left, one of them hovering in front of her. As Edwin watched, it shot forwards at the onrushing wolf, but missed by an arm’s length. Shaking, with only moments left before the monster reached her, she held the bundle in her left in front of her like a shield, her right palm outstretched.

She can’t make the link in time. Edwin realized. She’s dead.

The massive direwolf jumped, its mouth opened wide to tear straight through the girl’s neck. Salissa screamed, and for a second Edwin thought that it was over. Then, just before reaching her, the wolf stopped in mid-air. He hung there for the briefest moment before he was pushed back, rising another meter into the air before bonelessly tumbling to the ground. Edwin didn’t understand what was going on, but he had no time to gawk. The attack had distracted him for a few precious seconds, and the other direwolf was about to reach him. He set his feet, lowered his center and raised his shield, though he remembered to keep a close eye on his attacker. This time he wouldn’t be baited into leaving his legs open to attack. The wolf jumped and Edwin pushed against it. His muscles bunched, his body becoming hard like stone, and for a moment he thought that he had stopped it. Then the soggy dirt under his boots gave way and he slipped.

Had he been prepared for it, he might have been able to salvage the situation and let himself be pushed back. He hadn’t been, however, and the sudden, unexpected movement under his feet startled him enough that his whole body jerked in surprise, trying to regain his equilibrium. With his stance broken, the large Edwin was pushed over as easily as a scrawny child, and for the second time this fight he found himself pinned under a murderous direwolf – Except this time he knew that help wouldn’t be coming, as the rest of his party was far away, battling the other two beasts.

His shield had been raised higher, so instead of being uselessly pinned under the monster’s body, Edwin lodged it between the wolf’s forelegs. Its claws could tear at him all day long for all he cared, but the monster’s powerful jaws and sharp teeth stood an actual chance to crack his spine or sever his head. His bones were like steel, but the connective tissue between them was not, and if given sufficient leverage, they could be pulled or broken apart. Edwin was built sturdy, but not ‘walk-away-from-losing-his-head-sturdy’ and he didn’t plan on dying today.

The second improvement over his first stint stuck under an overgrown magical dog was that he actually had his weapon in hand this time. Edwin swung at the wolf’s head, but from his awkward position he failed to imbue his blow with enough force to do more than irritate the beast. For the first time he desperately wished he’d chosen a weapon meant for stabbing.

The wolf’s fangs snapped closed a hand’s width from his nose. Strangely, unlike when he’d been ambushed by the first wolf, he wasn’t panicking. The situation was arguably more dangerous, but he was calm, analyzing his situation not with Walter’s detached clinical interest, but a different kind of tranquility. It felt like he’d passed through fear and come out the other side, seeing the monster on top of him not as an all-powerful force that held his life between its fangs, but as simply another foe to overcome. To be respected, certainly, but not to be feared.

The wolf leaned over Edwin’s shield again, trying to bite his face while tearing at his body with its claws. The jaws opened wide, hoping to fit his entire head between them, and Edwin rammed his mace down the creature’s throat. The weapon wasn’t meant for stabbing, true, but that didn’t mean that it couldn’t be used that way. The wolf gasped in surprise, and Edwin pushed with all his might. The beast’s mouth snapped shut, its teeth piercing Edwin’s hand and trapping it inside, but he didn’t care. The wolf staggered backwards, and with an angry growl Edwin let himself be pulled to his feet. His foe was throwing his head left and right to clear its windpipe, but Edwin wasn’t relenting, pushing his mace even deeper every time he could move his hand. The wolf was panicking, and Edwin tackled it and clamped his free limbs around it. It threw itself to the ground and rolled around as it choked, crushing Edwin and forcing the air out of his lungs, but he didn’t let go. The direwolf struggled for what felt like an eternity, growing weaker with every second, until it finally stilled.

Edwin lay there in a daze, labored breaths filling his lungs with air. After a few moments of staring up at the canopy he struggled to knees and pried open the wolf’s jaws. He gritted his teeth as his arm flared with the pain that the adrenaline of the fight had helped him ignore. The limb he pulled from between the teeth looked much worse for wear, white bone visible through the rents in his gambeson sleeve in several places, as pushing the mace ever deeper had exposed different parts of his arm to the rending teeth. He tried to move his fingers but they wouldn’t do more than twitch. The wolf was lying before him, almost peaceful in death.

“Edwin?” Bordan’s distraught voice called. Edwin slowly turned his head and saw Bordan and Leodin approach at a run, worry plain on their faces.

“I’mm here, ’mm fiine.” Edwin slurred, though he stopped in confusion when he realized that his vision was starting to blur. He was certain that that wasn’t supposed to happen, but his thoughts were getting muddled, and suddenly he couldn’t remember why that was.

Why was what? What was the question?

Then, darkness.