Not beta'd. Might have some typos.

Zami furrowed his brow, turning his spindle stick against the fireboard with even more determined effort. His body was hunched over the fire pit to protect the flames. Once they emerged, that is. He'd succeeded once before, but it led to one of his dreadlocks catching fire.

After patting the flames out of his hair, he'd tied his locs up together in a sort of bun. Unfortunately, all that time left the newborn flame exposed to the rain. Which, of course, immediately snuffed it out.

So, now he was attempting to light a second fire. And it was killing his arms. Not to mention his back. After several more minutes of futility, Zami finally growled in frustration and leaned back. He angrily tossed the spindle stick off into snow-covered trees, grumpily crossing his arms.

He sat there grumpily for a moment, letting the icy rain drench him. Slowly, his anger began to wane as he began to shiver. Winterspring was too cold. Rubbing his hands over his bare arms for a bit of warmth, he glanced over into the trees. He'd have to find that spindle, try again. There was still a few days to Everlook, after all. And with this frozen rain, there's no way he'd even last the night without a fire.

Huffing, Zami got to his feet and approached the tree line. It had taken a while to carve a perfectly straight stick to use as the spindle. In theory, it should've really stood out. But when you get enough branches, they all just sort of look the same. Just when he was getting cold enough to be ready to just grab a new stick, his eye caught on the carved stick he'd been seeking.

"Dere ya are, ya dang ting," He chuckled tiredly, stooping over to grab the stick.

When he bent over, he heard a light rustling in the branches and his ears twitched. It was faint enough to be the wind, but something told him that wasn't the case. A primal instinct, maybe. Or a druidic sense. Whatever it was, it told him one thing: danger.

Zami's eye flicked over in the direction of the rustling. A pair of glowing gold eyes stared back. Suddenly there was another rustling to his left. He glanced over, finding a second pair of eyes. Then noise to his right. And behind him. Zami didn't need to look to know there would be two more pairs of eyes watching him.

Remaining perfectly still, Zami breathed slowly and deeply. His knowledge of the wild, combined with the pungent scent of wet dog, thoroughly informed him that he was encircled by wolves. And he was in a bad position to face them, he noted silently. Bend over. Off balance. Unarmed. Cold. Tired. Wet. Surrounded.

He knew how these pack hunting tactics worked, and he assessed his options. Remaining still would only delay the inevitable, and it wouldn't last much longer. The wolves would begin to creep forward and then lunge once within range. If he moved, trying to stand, they'd lunge from the back and keep him off-kilter. If he moved to duck down and crawl away, they'd pile in. If he moved away at all, they'd close the gap. And considering he was surrounded, moving any direction would be moving away from one wolf or another.

Moving directly was out.

So then he went to consider his other options. And quickly, as he heard the soft sound of a wolf's paws beginning to inch towards him with tentative steps. Just as he'd expected.

He could try to stealth. Their prey suddenly disappearing could confuse the wolves, for a moment. Maybe. But they would likely charge the empty space on instinct. And even though stealthing would make him invisible, it wouldn't make him intangible. Nor unscented. Even with the rain diluting his scent, he knew a wolf's sense of smell was too keen. No, hiding was useless.

Furrowing his brow as he heard the second wolf begin to step forward, Zami realized he did have one other option.

It wasn't something he was certain of. It wasn't reliable. And even if it worked, would it be enough? His ears pricked up as he focused on listening. He only heard the four wolves. Most packs consisted of up to fifteen. But right now, there were only four. Maybe it was only a hunting party, or a dying pack.

Still, four?

Four was reasonable.

Taking a deep breath, Zami slowed his breathing. As his eyes flicked around, seeing the wolves beginning to emerge slowly through the trees, he willed his body to obey. He didn't know if it would work, but he had to try. Now or never.

Shutting his eye tightly and praying that Gonk would give him a miracle, Zami threw himself forward onto his hands into the snow. At once, the wolves' slow trot towards increased to a run. Then Zami felt a sudden heat envelop his body. It was working! He was shapeshifting!

But then a wolf's jaws pierced into his side, and his concentration was instantaneously sapped. The magical heat instantly faded, and he grunted in pain as hot blood began to pour from his left side. His eye snapped open and he slammed his elbow into the wolf, hitting it away from him. Only to get his forearm clamped into the jaws of another wolf.

His gambit had failed, Zami realized darkly as he punched at the muzzle of the wolf on his arm. Its fangs ripped free of his flesh in a bloody display. Zami grunted in pain again, wheeling back onto his haunches. The third wolf lunged at his chest, fangs snapping for his throat.

Zami slammed his bloody left arm up into the breastbone of the wolf, pushing his other hand hard into its throat to keep it from reaching his own. The wolf reared back, biting onto his right arm around the wrist.

Zami struggled, his one hand trapped keeping the wolf's body aloft from his, and the other caught in its mouth. With no other options, he brought his knee up, slamming it repeatedly into the stomach and ribs of the wolf atop him. It whined in pain and ground its jaw tighter.

Beside him, Zami could see the other three wolves circling closer. He glanced over at the wolf beside him, which growled loudly in response. Then it lunged towards his face. Pinned where he was, Zami could only wince and turn his head away in vain. Awaiting the inevitable.

But then a high-pitched screech broke through the growling. Zami's eye shot open in recognition. He turned his head back towards the wolf just in time to see Aka charge in, causing the wolf to fly back from the force.

Zami grinned, watching the raptor leap atop the prone wolf and rip its exposed innards to shreds with her razor sharp claws. But then his smile dropped when another wolf lunged for her.

"Aka! Left flank!" Zami shouted to her in Zandali.

Aka turned swiftly in the direction he had called, her tail sliding back out of the way just as the wolf's jaw snapped closed where it had just been. Aka hissed threateningly, before ramming her head into the wolf's and goring it with her nose-horn. Then she whipped the disoriented wolf with her tail, knocking it over.

As Aka proceeded to jump upon the second wolf, Zami turned back to the one atop him. It continued to chew on his arm painfully, but seeing his raptor had renewed his fighting spirit.

"If ya want it so bad, den take it!" Zami huffed, shoving his right arm further against the wolf's mouth.

As that arm held the wolf back momentarily, he quickly lowered his bleeding left arm to his hip. Finding the holster of his dagger, he gripped it tightly, despite the fact that his fingers were numb from cold and blood loss. Hastily pulling the dagger from its sheath, he rose it up and slammed the blade repeatedly into the wolf's neck.

Over and over, he viciously plunged the knife deep into the wolf, ignoring the unpleasant feeling of hot blood spilling out across his face. He stabbed again and again until at last the wolf's jaw fell slack on his arm. Then the whole wolf collapsed upon him, no more than a heavy corpse. Hastily shoving the body into the snow beside him, Zami sat up quickly. Just in time to see Aka finish off the final wolf, her jaw around its neck.

Zami caught his breath, looking at the carnage around them. The one wolf he had killed sat beside him, bleeding out into the snow. The three Aka killed were ripped apart in piles of bloody fur, bone, and sinew. Zami chuckled wearily at the sight.

"Just like old times, eh, girl?" He smiled, before wincing in pain.

Aka snorted, a puff of steam emerging from her bloody nose. Then she hurried over to Zami's side, hissing and clicking worriedly. She forcefully pressed the flat of her nose against the side of his head in an affectionate greeting, nearly knocking him over.

Zami smiled again. It would've been cute, if the two of them weren't covered in gore.

"Hey girl," He said softly as he reached up and stroked her nose behind the horn, "Where ya been?"

Aka just hissed and moved her head away, going to lick his wounded wrist.

"Ah," Zami winced in pain from her rough tongue, even though he knew it was her attempt at a caring gesture, "Yeah, guess I should get dese healed, eh?"

Aka just spun in a circle a few times then sat down in the snow beside him, setting her chin on his knee. Zami chuckled and moved a shaking hand over the injury on his wrist. Closing his eyes, he steadied his breath and began to focus on the healing. He felt heat radiate across his cold, wet, wounded body in response to the healing.

And then Aka gave a confused hiss, moving away her chin.

Zami opened his eye just as he fell back into the snow. He blinked a few times in surprise before going to sit up. He paused when noticing his teal hand was now a blue paw. Groaning softly, he let himself fall back into the snow.

Oh, of course. Now it worked.