Hey there Spice and Wolf fans!

Got a new chapter for you all as a Christmas present and I also have good news, I passed my EMT course! The good news for you is that I have more spare time to continue on with the story.

Have a Merry Christmas!


Chapter 24

Wolf and the Art of War

"And it came to pass that as the multitudes fled from the wilderness into the valley of Amaron, the dragon Shalal did cut them off and confronted them.

And behold when the people saw their awful fate they did mourn and cry exceedingly unto Avon for deliverance from their own condemnation.

And when Shalal saw it he did laugh and spake unto them saying, "Did ye not suppose that I would not find the remnants of Nephilai, or that your feet could carry you away from my wings? Behold you have been delivered into mine own hands to do with as I wish. And I wish for nothing more than for your own destruction."

And behold these words did cause the people to cry out harder and with more conviction until one among them stood forth among them, Behold it was Lahundai who approached the black dragon and spoke, "Shalal, I have a proposal if ye seek not to destroy these people."

And the dragon said unto him, "What do you propose?"

Lahundai then spoke unto him saying, "If you spare us, these people, we will be your servants in hunting down the last of your enemies."

And Behold when Shalal heard this he was astonished and said, "You wish to trade your freedom in escape from the fire I would wrought upon you?"

"Yea, you have my sworn allegiance from this moment on. I will be your slave in exchange for my life."

Angered, Shalal said, "I accept not your terms!"

And Behold when Shalal said this he smote Lahundai with the fire of his mouth.

And Shalal then spoke unto the multitudes with a voice of thunder, "Woe unto this foolish and vain generation! Did ye all suppose that I wanted anything less than your own destruction? Foolish and stupid creatures, did ye really suppose that you could barter with the hands of fate? All that I demand is for all of you to kneel before your gods and cry unto them for repentance so that when the fire and ash consume you, ye may find mercy at the seat of judgment."

And it came to pass that as Shalal had spoken these things another voice called out, "What if we contend with the hands of fate?"

Behold when Shalal had heard these words he bade for the one who spoke to come forth. And it came to pass that as he did, Rabana stood forth to confront the Dragon.

"How is that ye are alive,' said he, 'for had I not contended with you in the mountains of Sheroth and the city of Nephilai?"

And Rabana said unto him, "Verily, so long as so much as one righteous being dwells upon the earth, then so long shall the blessings of the gods reign down from the heavens giving him strength."

"And so long shall iniquity abound, shall the land be cursed for their sakes and they shall be utterly smitten." said Shalal.

"Speak not the ancient words, thou creature of darkness. For no unhallowed tongue may interoperate their meaning."

And Shalal said, "You forget Son of Europhan, that I am among the ancient ones who was there when they were written."

"Then ye should know the fate of those who bring ruin upon the land.' and Rabana did show his sword as a testament to his words, 'for verily your brethren before you are bound in this sword."

"My fallen brethren, whom have been slain, scattered and smitten by the Lesari, lacked the strength and fortitude to prevail. Behold ye are the last of your people and will not prevail against slaying me."

And when the people heard this the began to tremble and murmur. And it came to pass that when Shalal saw this he spoke to them saying, "People of this lost and doomed generation, look upon this man who supposes he is mightier than I. He supposes that ye are not lost and that he can slay me. I say unto you to look upon this last remnant of hope ye had before I utterly destroy him so that ye may see how ye shall look when ye are damned."

And it came to pass that when Rabana heard these words he rose his sword and addressed the multitudes and spoke with a loud voice, saying, "People of Nephilai, long have ye been bound down by iniquity, yea long have ye been cursed and smitten on the left cheek and on the right. Yea long have the gods suffered you to to dwell in the mists of darkness with their hands outstretched still. And Lo, this creature of malice hangs over you and threatens you with your final hour, and yea he hath convinced you that he doth the bidding of the gods and that he serves out their sentence.

But I say unto you that the gods chastens those whom they loveth. For of all the countless that have been slain, you all remain for you have been spared. You have been chosen to rise up a new generation, a righteous generation, one free of evil and tyranny. But only if you stand now and prove your salt before Avon, Eloran and Esaiye.

Though the dragon stands before you, make a covenant before the Holy Council and prove them now herewith that they who stand for you are greater than they who stand against you. You have been labeled with a title of filth and iniquity but I say unto you, make yourselves a new title, a title of liberty!"

And it came to pass that when the people heard these words they were comforted and did collect their courage and girded up their loins and did follow Rabana into combat. For there was none greater.

Yea if all men had been and were and ever would be like unto Rabana, the gates of hell would have been closed forever, yea the devil would never again have power over the hearts of men"-

-These words being read from Holo's beloved novel were not being read from the eyes of the fair heroin nor were her slender and delicate hands holding the binding open. Instead it was Ranger who, as the she wolf slept, observed the script and reflected.

The blizzard had quelled its rage in which the man withdrew from his resting spot and built a fire while Holo slept. The caribou meat and small ration of vegetables were used to create a few skewers which were now resting over the blaze. It was still dark out with a glimmer of celestial light beginning to crest over the eastern horizon, dawn was not too far off.

He began to hear Holo rustling and making agonized grunts in which he replaced the novel to where it had been discovered. While he stirred the winter fuel Holo shot up from slumber with a loud gasp with a hand to her face. Kaytaff jumped and made a small bark of protest.

Ranger spied her for a moment before re-attending to his task. The scent of meat betook her like the sight of flesh to a whoremonger in which she was quickly moved to the fire and observing the meal being prepared.

"How long have I been sleeping?" she asked when seeing the starry sky before sitting across the pit from him.

"Perhaps five hours." said he.

"How long have you been up?" she asked with inquisitive innocence.

"I cannot say." he replied while turning the skewers.

She warmed her palms by the fire and commented, "Did you need to build a fire to get warmer?" she asked in question as to why he arose so much earlier than she did.

Without even looking up he replied with simplicity, "You snore in your sleep."

She threw her hands down in rage, "I do not snore!"

He picked the skewers off and tested the tenderness and quality of the victuals and handed her one in which she looked away with arms folded before sliding her eyes back down to the alluring charm of the meat that overpowered her stubbornness and took it up and consumed it with ravenousness.

Ranger kept his eyes affixed on the fire then said, "However I am not the only one who had a night without rest."

She flexed her shoulders and replied with callousness, "I do not know what you mean."

"Holo,' he said with a tone of deep stillness, 'I do not need ears like yours to know when one is not being honest."

She looked dolefully upon her skewer and replied, "Some of these past few nights I have been having this terrible dream. Though it varies, it is the same. I am walking through a frozen wilderness with my baby when something unspeakable happens. At times I am being pursued by hordes of faceless men or I am surrounded by fire…"

Ranger raised up his eyes when noticing her silence as she trembled with discomfort.

"…but always in the end there is this black being with horrible eyes of red and it takes my baby from me…"

She used her hair to hide her face from him as he honed in that perhaps she was interpreting this dream as a type of premonition.

"You believe this dream was a precursor to what has happened?"

"I know not." she replied, "It very well could be considering…"

Ranger then spoke abruptly but with modesty and respect for a woman's function, "Holo, since yesterday when you had become vexed, was there any blood that followed?"

She stared at him blankly, not knowing how to respond that it left her in a state of near comatose.

Looking down then turning her thighs away she said, "No, umm, no…"

He nodded and said nothing more.

It was silent for an uncomfortably long period before Holo finally stammered, "Exactly what did that have to do with anything?"

A slow yet composed sigh escaped his nostrils when replied, "Before Fivel was born, we had a few unsuccessful attempts, stomach pains and bleeding were indicators on both occasions. That is all."

"'We,' as in,1 you and your wife?"

He nodded with such stillness it was as if Holo could feel the anguish of what he was thinking.

"So what you are saying is that perhaps I did not lose it?"

"It is a possibility."

She turned her lips to a contemplative pucker before saying aloud to herself, "Then again I have not fallen ill this morning."

Ranger became slightly more aggressive, "All I am saying is, leave room for hope."

She huddled in a little closer to the fire and contemplated her situation.

"Was Fivel your only child?" she asked cautiously.

Ranger assented with his chin, "He was."

Then, with even more exercise in fabian policy she asked, "Your wife, what was her name?"

He peered straight ahead and penetrated her eyes with his pupils which was near impossible to translate. Then he spoke in a tone of one who just finishes collecting his strength, "Abish."

Holo mused over the fire and said respectfully, "That must have been difficult to endure, losing the fruit of your loins."

"She was devastated, and more so with the second."

"Does it trouble you to speak of it?"

"To some degree. The rent of her spirit was not wholly over the children she potentially could have born, but how she internalized it all."

"How so?"

"She feared how her inability to create and maintain life would impact her standing with me."

Holo slanted her head with an inquiring mind, "She believed you would consider her an unworthy vessel of your affection?"

"Indeed,' said Ranger who looked up to the stars, 'Why she ever felt that way is beyond my reasoning. At times I reflect and curse myself if I there had been anything I had done or said to have ever given her that impression."

"Having a family must have meant very much to her." said Holo.

He brought his line of sight back down to ground level, "One thing to understand with my lot is that the men are usually off engaged in other tasks which takes them away from home, therefore they are not seen by their wives as often. It can become quite lonesome."

"Loneliness can be a deadly disease." said Holo with a sympathetic undertone in her reverent manner.

"Oft times the laughter of children can remedy that, but in my household there was only silence."

"But it did not remain that way forever, for Fivel was born."

Ranger stirred the open flame and began accounting, "When Abish discovered that she was with a child a third time, she approached me and feigned excitement, however I knew she was not entirely thrilled."

"I believe I know why." said Holo with gloom.

"As did I, though she was hopeful that this one would work out, she also accepted that this could be yet another doorstep that led into the house of disappointment. Optimistic yet grounded in reality."

Holo gave off a fervent smile and said aloft, "You must have been one of the very few men in this world to have actually known what a woman was thinking."

He flexed his eyebrows and said in the same spirit of that humor, "Perhaps, but I was just like every other man in the world who would fail at keeping her happy constantly."

"Tis true, for it is the job of a man to make a woman happy while being entirely up to the woman if she chooses to be happy with him or not. Yes it is a cruel game where a man can never win, yet he can still lose."

Ranger glanced up at her and said, "I do recall a book I had come across proclaiming it contained all the things men knew of women."

"Oh I am sure that must have been a good read." she mused.

"Hardly, all the pages were blank."

Holo was dumbfounded for a moment before realizing he jested unlike any other. She held her stomach and became stricken with laughter, "Ho-ho! My it appears you came across the most correct of any book!"

Once the hour of merriment had run its course Holo had looked to the sky when seeing a dazzling display of the heavens that caught her interest. Up in the cloudless black of night was a streak of wonderful colors painted across the starry canvas with a celestial paint brush of blues, greens and pinks.

Holo jumped to her hands and knees while her ears perked atop a fascinated face and a hind that shot forth a bounding tail of excitement, "Sky fire!" she proclaimed with giddiness.

Ranger stood to have a better look, what they were witnessing was the spectacled phenomenon found in the lands at the apex of the globe, the aurora borealis.

She looked back at him with tears nearly welling, "Me and my pack mates, when we were pups, would oft times play at night when the sky fire was out. It would light our world and we would run and chase in its omnipotent glow. I had all but forgotten about this beauty of my homeland. If only I can describe what it feels like to see it again!"

Ranger was silent as was his nature, his eyes only reflecting the spangled rays with a respect for the world. It was as though that even if they could be impeded by the hands of doom at any hour, there was still slivers goodness in the world that could visit them.

He stepped forward and said, "Come then, let it light our way now."

Together they went forth into the tundra that was overlapped by the shimmering beauty of the eternal cosmos while shuffling along the wares they could scavenge. As Holo walked behind the sled she had become somewhat quarrelsome within her bosom. That though her lifelong desire to once return to the land of her nativity was fulfilled, she was in enemy territory, or so it seemed.

These emotions quelled her tongue and kept her silent for nearly two and a half hours. It was not until the northern lights had extinguished and the eastern sky was set ablaze with the dawn that Ranger had taken note of her silence and remarked, "It is normally when you are grooming your tail is when you speak so little."

She shot a dagger into his back with her piercing red eyes and replied, "You normally prefer it do you not?"

Holo quickly refuted herself when realizing that perhaps he was simply concerned with this breech in character on her behalf.

Before he could make a comeback she quickly spoke up again, "It is just that I feel somewhat violated to be hunted like prey in my homeland."

A prolonged puff of steam blew from Ranger's mask before saying respectfully, "Yes, it is a feeling unlike any other, almost as though the very foundation of your heart has been uprooted from you."

"You speak as though this feeling was wrought onto you by experience." said the she wolf.

Shifting the line over his shoulder more comfortably said, "Experience is the harshest teacher of all, you are tested before educated."

Holo looked down at the snow passing betwixt her feet, "Yet despite my age, wisdom and experience I wish I could stay more composed in the face of travesty."

Ranger suddenly stopped to turn back partially to see her who likewise stopped and arrived five feet shy of him.
"Tell me,' said he, 'what was it you had done in all your years of living?"

She pondered before stating, "Oh, played, sported and hunted before traveling the world and eventually settling in Pasloe to serve out the remainder of my current life as their harvest god."

"And in your eight hundred years had you ever experienced the depth of sorrow you are experiencing before now?"

"Not to this degree."

Ranger straightened his posture to where Holo could hear the joints of his back pop, "The reason you cannot stay composed during these trails is because they happened to you directly and not from afar."

Holo went to protest, "I have always known of such calamities as these, how else would I…"

"What I am saying is that most of your time was spent observing the world without actually living in it. You could have seen a thousand wars and witnessed the birthing and withering of society grand and small. Yet none of it prepared you for this, for you have only seen others fall from grace but had yet to take the decent yourself."

"Hmph, I believe you are too quick to judge." she replied.

"We live in the same world you and I,' said Ranger, 'yet our differing upbringings cast us in a different light."

Folding her arms in defiance she said while turning her face from him and towards the morning firmament, "Yet as always it changes around me without my consulting."

"Consult?' he said with some disbelief, "You are as powerful from stopping the evolution of the world as much as the sky has ability to thwart the comings and goings of the storms. The world changes whether we wish it or not, yet we can change as well. So the advice I say to you is this; if the tide turns from a calm to a raging tempest then learn to swim or you will drown."

Her eyes stubbornly slid back to meet him while her cheeks were puffed following her puckering lips, "Tell me, was it your father or your brother who taught you to be so abrupt? Here is a lesson on women you can add to that book. When a woman complains, she does not expect nor want the man to cut her off with mounds of dally, she only wants him to listen, she is not a fool and will agree whole heartedly to the voice of reason, but that is not what she is wanting, she wants an ear to rest her burden. For instance in this conversation, you assumed I had not come to the conclusion of the issue myself and saw it fit to turn my head to the solution I already saw. What I wanted was someone to talk to and not have the same conclusion repeated back to me in lamens terms. Otherwise it will only make you sound unreasonable."

Ranger threw the line back over his shoulder and said condescendingly, "It may surprise you to know then, that out of me, my brother and father, I was considered the more reasonable of the three."

She pushed past him with that vehement stride of hers and muttered, "Then your mother must have been the strongest woman in this world."

"Holo,' he called to her, who stopped to see him, 'the sorrows and afflictions of the woman who bore me were great, and deserves more respect than a callous remark stemmed from the lips of the ignorant." he said with a tone that demanded reverence from a tongue that spoke too loosely.

A ping shot through her chest for her trespass being addressed, but as always resorted to her usual ways to come at terms with it, "Well that was not very fair, now I am the one who sounds insensitive."

He lifted a brow in a curious angle and replied as he began walking, "And why do you suppose that was?"

She was left alone for a brisk moment as the crunching grind of the sleds acoustics faded away with each passing moment. She was not accustomed to be bested in the battle of remedial wits. Words were as playthings to her who found great amusement in the sport of tying one up with them.

Yet in the end she knew she was the one to take it that step too far. She could not bring herself to apologize therefore settled by saying when she caught up to him, "In the end, all I wish is to have someone to talk to, it can get quite lonely you know."

Without looking back she heard the backside of his head say, "Then let us double our efforts to reunite you with Lawrence."

The mountains were then suddenly resonating with the echo of Holo's enraged, "Ugh!"

The commute that led ever onward through the frozen landscape went as typically as any one with a traveling sense would expect. To stave off the frigid air, Holo had transformed one of the blankets into a robe that shielded her senses but then attempted to stowaway on the sled in which Ranger was quick to shoo her off.

It was not until midday that Holo's nose and ears were presented with a delectable find that scurried off in a hurry. She pointed off into the direction from whence it originated and said, "Over there, a hare is late for its winters sleep!"

Ranger dropped the line from his hand and took in place of it, his bow, "I saw it as well, stay here with the sled, Kaytaff and I will see if we can track it down."

The hound and its owner followed the tracks into the woods leaving Holo alone. She sat upon the sled and wrapped her finger tips over her knee while she waited. The presence of danger did not seem as imminent yet despite this incalculable security Holo withdrew her dagger and began examining it.

She gave it a few practice swings before watching a handful of dainty snow flakes rest on the motto before transfiguring into liquid pebbles. Her amusement, that same amusement that causes the magic of imaginary life to be breathed into objects inanimate, caused her to stand and began having a mock battle with illusive foes.

"Ha! Have at you!" she said before plunging her blade into the heart of a wretched being, felling his foul schemes for time and eternity.

This bout went on until she had lost track of time and turned to see Ranger starring at her with a dead hare in one hand, bow in the other and disobliged impatience in his eyes. Even Kaytaff gawked at her with a queer expression.

Ranger typically had a ridicule for everything, but for this he was silent which gave Holo reason to defend herself, "I was simply practicing my skill. I had not much time to become acquainted with your human tools of death and destruction and simply thought it a sound idea to do so."

The man remained absolute, then put himself to the side of the sled to relieve himself of the hare. Holo stayed her position, blade in hand and perched awkwardly with the same type of embarrassment associated with one caught in the carnal act of a salacious deed.

Her attention was called to when Ranger turned abruptly to her, with a dagger himself wielding, and advanced closer with purpose. He then displayed his grip in front of her eyes while instructing, "Clasp the handle within the mid knuckles of your fingers and allow your thumb to push against it, like so."

After adjusting her grip to one lesser known yet more effective he was ready to move on with the lesson.

"Hold it out in front while keeping your free hand guarding like this."

His left arm was flexing in close proximity to his torso with his free hand protecting his throat. When she had done so he sounded, "Be wary of any and all openings that lead to your vitals. The backs of your arms are very durable, use them as shields to the blows, never the fronts lest you desire to bleed and die. Protect your stomach and your chest and most importantly your neck, for these are the most sought after targets of any swordsman worthy of his stripes."

"Then I should seek these out as well." commented Holo.

"Before you do, there are proper techniques for engaging." said her instructor.

"It surely cannot be that complicated." commented Holo with some bafflement.

"It is not as simple either."

Ranger then stood beside her to have her mirror his movements, they began with a simple slice that was designated to lacerate the torso area, then redirecting and so forth at different heights.

"Think of a slice as pulling the blade across the flesh of your enemy, keep the wrist straight at all times. Bending it can cause either a sprain or the blade to get stuck."

She went through the motions while undergoing that unrelenting call to correction that Ranger bestowed, yet despite his many critiques, she was finding herself becoming more coordinated.

"Lastly, there is the stab. Same rule applies with the grip and keeping the wrist straight."

The stabbing attacks he demonstrated however were not what she would have expected, they came in laterally with the intended targets being either side of the neck where the jugular vein was housed and the soft section below the ribs. None demonstrated were a straight on thrust.

"Would you not attempt to thrust it into your opponents heart or gut?" asked Holo with curiosity.

"You could, if you were intending to leave it there."

"What do you mean?"

"The gut tends to pull the blade in and is not considered the most fatal of blows. For should your opponent be resilient to pain and injury he can still fight back while your weapon is still buried within him."

"That is what happened when fighting off Alexandre…" said Holo with slight terror of the harrowing memory, "What of the heart?"

Ranger beat himself lightly upon his sternum, "The heart is the most crucial part of the body and the most protected. To get to it must break past the bony area of the chest, and I will say this to you now; that you lack the physical strength to do so."

Holo huffed with a frown, "You men are always so quick to judge."

Tapping the point of his blade he went on, "There are other ways, if you can slide it just under the sternum or between the ribs you could make the mark there. Then again the length of your blade must be factored in, tis why a prefer a length of at least over half a foot or more. Also remember that the where of the heart determines success. I have noticed if I can cut through where the apex lies, a man will drop nearly instantly. Yet it is difficult, for each body is aligned differently and it is always a blind target. If you wished ultimate and rapid success of a fatal blow then sever his head or at least break the bones of his back neck. This way you may-"

The cause of his silence was in tandem with the stunned yet somewhat horrified expression gracing Holo's face. He had gone on a tangent which was rare if not impossible for his character to endow this upon him. She would daresay to feign that he had become excited about the topic.

"Is there more you wish to know?" he inquired while professionally masking his chagrined emotion.

Holo followed up after a humorous guffaw, "Fear not, it is not as though you talk too much, in fact I would say you talk too little."

A heavy wheeze passed through his face mask before saying, "It has been some time since I had such a discourse as this. To me this is more than survival, it is a form of art."

She looked upon her blade, "I could see it that way, for here is my brush,' then poking the tip towards him, 'and there is my canvas to decorate with the oils and paintings of your innards."

His eyelids squinted some, "If you feel confident, you may try."

She let out a slight gasp, "You must be joking."

"If you can draw blood, the hare is yours."

She licked her lips but shrunk away, "I do not know, this feels reckless."

He backed up and squared up, "Shall the wise wolf of Yoites shy away from a challenge?"

"Oh now you've done it!" she snarled while readying herself, "Just know that I will not apologize for anything that may happen."

A scoff so discrete yet so tangible escaped his throat when he said, "Believe me Holo, when any person takes their liberties with a blade on me, the do not get the chance to apologize."

She huffed and moved in prematurely to attempt the upper hand by calling upon the element of surprise. She maintained most of the posture thus given her but before she could so much as comprehend her outcomes he manipulated his body to check hers, wrung her wrist and had her legs kicked out from underneath with unbearable might and swiftness.

She fell but did not land as Ranger had already caught her by the scruff of the collar and hoisted her back to her feet.

"Let us focus on your footwork." said he.

Wide eyed and gawking about, Holo stammered, "V-very well…"
Though no stranger to physical confrontation, this brief encounter left her bewildered at his swiftness. Before she could ponder upon it more he was spreading her feet further apart with his foot while stating, "Feet roughly a shoulders width apart, now put one behind the other in a way that feels comfortable and would grant freedom of movement."

She adjusted the footing and looked down to check but he put his hand on her collar and pushed up, "Keep your back straight."

He was rather meticulous if not persistent to detail.

"When you move always return your feet to this stance, it will grant you the ability to move quickly while also providing balance, stability and strength to your strikes and defense."

"What of arm strength?" she asked while attempting to focus.

"That is an added bonus, however the fundamentals of offense derive from the feet. Your foot work will be the primary factor in determining your victory or defeat."

"The legs do feed the wolf." remarked Holo in agreement.

Suddenly he took his scabbard and gave her a swat to each calf, "Bend your knees slightly, if you have not a proper foundation there is little to build on."

Wincing in pain she said, "Could that not have settled for a visual aid?"

"Pain makes one wise."

"Hm, that is normally my line."

Ignoring her he moved on to maneuvering, "When you must move, try to keep the balls of your feet on the ground at all times, like a bird that skims upon water."

He then had her work on that technique starting linearly front to back then side to side, switching feet and so on. Advancing, retreating, coordinating hands with feet, it was nearly overwhelming for Holo to comprehend how they all intertwined into a single motion. Most stunning for her is when she realized she was only learning the mere basics.

When it was all said and done he invited her to engage him once more. She presented herself to him with much more confidence, however unbeknownst to her his aim was to destroy any false sense of confidence and restore humility anew.

At first she moved in and was met with a swift stiff arm that staggered her back.

"Be mindful of your guard and my guard when you attempt to overtake your enemy." said he.

She focused more on his positioning and was looking for opening in his defenseless when suddenly he overtook her and thrust her back with push of the palm.

"Do not just hold still."

After resetting, Ranger moved in again and Holo jumped out of the way, he quickly reverted and shoulder checked her in mid air in which she stumbled and fell on her rump.

"Keep your feet on the ground." he ridiculed.

She arose and attempted a hunting strategy among wolves, and that was to circle him. She only mustered a few steps when he took advantage of the means in which she circled. She was crossing her legs and in which chose that precise moment when her feet were intwined to move in and thwart her tactic.

Holo tripped over her own feet and could sense his scabbard hacking all over. She could not even keep up and recoiled back in fear, "EEK!"

He let off and replied, "Do not cross your legs. And never show your back, stay squared with your opponent."

Frustrated she pouted, "You could go easier on me!"

"I thought I was." he retorted, he had another lesson in mind and that one would be the maintaining of mental composure in combat. He would just need to wear her down a bit more.

Holo checked her knife for blood but found a clean silver surface void of any crimson. Ranger was armed with his scabbard and awaited. Taking more of his critiques to heart she was much more prudent in her offensive tactics. It was a game of who had the best maneuverability, coordination and foresight in which Ranger was ruling supreme.

They clashed again but Holo relied more on her feet to evade his counters and though she faired well in the beginning, Ranger moved rapidly around her migrations and swatted her in the rear with his scabbard.

"OW!" she yelled while hopping around.

"I believe you are getting better." he teased.

Overcome with rage she moved in violently and began swiping with reckless abandon to get the mark. Pride and ego were the greatest undoings of anyone and Ranger was about show her the error of her ways.

He moved back from a backslash then quickly stepped in when her arm was fully extended out, grabbed the wrist then took the scabbard under her armpit then up and around her shoulder ending the move with it hooked under her chin and wrangled around her shoulder blade causing her to get torqued backwards. He had her tangled in such a peculiar manner that she could not help but try and look to see how it was done. She grunted in discomfort as he was backing her arch behind her and stopped once she was nearly parallel to the ground.

"Never attack in rage or anger,' he whispered, 'many emotion run strong in conflict, he who looses control runs himself blind and is as dangerous as he is useless."

"Th-this is m-my first time!" she sputtered while grunting through torquing pressure.

"That is a circumstance that will feign no mercy from your enemy. Combat is not a game of chance it is a game of strategy. Think further ahead than your opponent."

He then released her in which she staggered to regain balance. He had broken her, now she could learn to be useful.

"What say you then,' replied Holo with more respect, 'would make one the best combatant?"

"Footwork, timing and coordination." he replied without prolonging a single beat.

She picked a few snow drops from her ear and replied, "What of strategy?"

"It all coincides within those three, however I will show you a technique that seems to have worn off on the world of modern soldiers."

"And that is?"

"There are three types of mindsets when fighting, the simple one thinks, 'what shall my opponent do to me?' the ruthless one thinks, 'what will I do to my opponent?' But the wise one thinks, 'what will I make my opponent do?'"

"You mean you put your enemy in a position of folly?" she asked.

"Precisely, there are the opportunities you see and the opportunities you create."

He beckoned her to go on guard in which he approached and said, "If I wished to strike your face yet you have it too guarded, I strike low."

She saw him drop his shoulder in which, by dictates of natural influence, lowered her guard to defend her exposed trunk, but he did not commit and in a flash redirected his arm around and had found its fist a minuscule distance from Holo's face.

"Then I go high." he remarked.

"Ah…" she observed and pushed his knuckles away.

"The same can be done for footwork and positioning." he said while proceeding to lecture.

He then side stepped while throwing his hand out into a back fist that was aimed for her temple, and as before, she pulled away from it. This turned into a spinning back kick that stopped nigh of her navel and left her panting in fear. She had but a lick of his power and feared that if he had made full contact not withholding any might, she would have landed in another continent.

"You are setting a trap and baiting me into it." came her observation.

"Indeed so, the true mastery is to have countless traps to be laid and disguise them all as simple attacks that would require logical defense when in reality that logic is the bait."

"It is like hunting,' said the she wolf. 'the pack forces the prey into a corner by thinking it is running to safety."

"Consider the pack the appendages of your body in this case." said Ranger while tying his scabbard to his waste.

"That is all?" she said with a wanting to learn more.

"Yes, it is impossible to master these skills in a single go. It would be as foolish as to think one could contain an entire river in a single vessel."

"I am sure it must have taken you decades to get to where you are." said Holo.

As he sheathed his blades she heard him whisper something so discretely, it sounded as though he said, "Centuries."

As the fair woman went to re-clasp her dagger she coughed intentionally and presented the point to him. The tip had been ornamented with blood. He investigated his person and found a small slit on back end of the forearm.

"The hare is mine!" she proclaimed while slamming the blade back home.

He gave a humble bow of the head, "A deal is a deal." said he.

He went into the woods and collected kindling and set them ablaze while Holo was skinning the small beast. Once cleaned she took it over to the blaze but Ranger stuck out his hand to stop her, "Build your own fire."

She trembled at his idea of sport and was about to fight the issue until there was a soft growl coming from her stomach. She bowed her head in defeat and offered, "If you share your fire, I shall share the rabbit."

He sniffed through his nose and responded, "A fair trade."

The duo were thus proceeding through Yoites once more, yet this time instead of silence there was talk. Oddly enough, Holo and Ranger were having a conversation over this and that.

"If my memory serves me well, there should be a lake around here somewhere." observed Holo as she was panning the scenery with her piercing red eyes.

Every now and then Ranger would stop to collect kindling or send Kaytaff to haul in a stray rodent while Holo would sniff out the terrain and collect wild berries. At one point Holo suddenly found herself compelled to say, "You know, though the feeling may not be mutual, I am glad I met you."

He gave her a back way glance and said with total simplicity, "I have a certain level of regard for our relationship as well."

After plucking a few berries into her mouth she replied with a snark, "However let us hope we do not run into anymore blizzards. For if we spend anymore nights together like the one before then I may end up carrying your child instead."

Ranger stopped dead in his tracks. It was topic that was bound to come up and this was her way of decrying that situation. He looked to her and replied rather reservedly, "The alternative would would consigning yourself to a frozen corpse. Besides that will never be a possibility between you and I."

"Oh of course, such gentlemen must never take advantage of such opportunities." she teased.

"I have no desire for those things anymore." he interjected while quickening the pace.

"Do not be so embarrassed. But on that note, have you ever thought of having another family?"
"I cannot." he grunted.

"What do you mean?" she laughed.

He stopped to look at her, "The days of my fertility are behind me."

Her ears spiked into spires of absolute incredulousness, "Wait, you mean to say…?"

"I am sterile."

She blushed tremendously, "Was it an injury?" she asked with regrettable imprudence.

"No, it is inherited in our blood. The men, like women, eventually have their seed sealed up. It is simply a symptom of our aging process. It happened to my father, brother and me."

"You must be joking!" came the exacerbated tone from the defiant lips of the she wolf who was loathed to accept that which she could not believe.

"Nature, as always, finds a way to maintain balance between the weak species and their betters."

"Your civilization was not grand then?" she asked.

"My entire race, combining each differing tribe and faction, surmounted to a population that could fill Ruvenhaigen at least three times over."

"Compared to the rest of the world that is practically nothing!" she stammered.

"Yet compared to the military might of the parts of the world that knew us, we were scarcely referred to as 'nothing.'"

Holo rubbed her scalp with quivering ideals in her head before she asked, "And how do you think your people could fair against say, the gods?"

His eyebrow raised in that dark intrigue that captured his near morbid delight, "The animal deities…were our speciality."

A chill, that was not of the cold winters air, wrapped around her skin before she shrugged it off, "What say you then, to another round between us in my wolf form?"

"Do you have a stake to offer?" he quickly rejoined.

"Humph!"

He looked on to where their journey would take them, "Let us press on, the day dawn vastly fleets from us."

She followed and scarcely resisted the urge to comment, "A man who looses his function; the sympathy I have for your women is great."

He turned, "We could still perform!' he growled, 'it is simply that our seed no longer carried the essence of life."

He hastened his stride and aggressively fortified his attempts to haul the sled while Holo pumped her fist by her side. She was able to strike back in the game of crafty dialect.

Eventually after twenty more minutes of travel of the same routine they came to a large clearing. There was a large white blanket before them that was perfectly surrounded by a radial gate of thickets and shrubbery. It nearly appeared as though an entire circle of forrest was cut from the landscape. The way before them was flat and fine while snow seemed only ankle high.

"At last, an easy stretch." said Holo while taking the lead.

Ranger breathed heavy and called out, "Seeing how we were on the topic of procreation and the discourses of the flesh. Do you not suppose that you and Lawrence could simply have another go at a child should this one be what you fear? Frankly, your casualness when regarding the satisfaction of the loins makes me wonder how you could not have spawned hundreds of offspring in your times of travel and at least not half a dozen in your half decade with Lawrence."

She turned quickly in a snap to face him, "Oh believe me, me and Lawrence tried! And I am sure there were times when our guests were awakened by a peculiar clatter coming from the inn keeper's room."

Then raising her hands towards the sky she proclaimed, "And our days were full of love and our nights with lust!"

"And yet this is your prima gravida." he interjected once her echo fainted away, "Was your sympathy with the women of my people, say, caused by Lawrence's inability to perform?"

She coughed, "No! It was me!"

That was an answer neither of them expected as Holo turned red and put a hand to her mouth and looked away.

"You see,' she rejoined, 'Though I walk as a human woman, I do not function as constantly as one. Like wolves, my loins are only fertile during two seasons of the year and the time frame for each is only a few weeks."

She turned away from him in shame and said, "Me and Lawrence can have another go if this one has gone the ways of the earth. But with conditions that play into ours, who is to say when I would become pregnant again..? That is what makes the fear of miscarriage so agonizing for me, the only way I can be sure is if I proceed with the signs of a growing baby. Whereas human women would know in a month, I would have to wait much longer to know the truth. Can you even imagine that type of future? Eyeing your stomach, hoping, waiting and praying for the signs of life? I do not know if I can bear it."

"I can imagine, those months when Abish was expecting Fivel, were the months that I was loosing my ability to procreate. If Fivel did not work out, there would be next to no chance of having another child." said Ranger with sorrowful anger.

There was an awkwardly painful silence that ensued them both, with both of them thinking that perhaps, they had escalated their charades too far.

Ranger then spoke with a gentle tone that would warrant an apology to the wisest of ears, "I must say though that your husband has my envy."

She turned around to see him who went on, "During the early years of our marriage Abish did not feel ready to have a child and did not want to become pregnant at first. So there would be times when I wished to express my love to her…she would make me wait at least a week. At least Lawrence was granted more leisure with you."

She giggled softly and said, "Yes, for the custom of women to befall me biannually did have its advantages to our relationship. Yet, I also would make Lawrence wait from time to time, only because he was being a fool."

They both nodded as a thin sheet of snow was blowing off its particles around their feet.

"My, what on earth are we talking about!" she laughed.

Ranger humorously shook his head as they reengaged their commute.

As they got to the midpoint of this grand opening there was a strange roar that bellowed and echoed all about them that stayed their feet instantly. Kaytaff began whimpering and began backing away before sprinting closer to the trees. Ranger looked around as Holo took another step which caused another persistent muffled grumble that fluctuated and sounded like supersonic whistles zinging underneath them.

"Holo, do not move!" he coached.

The rumbles and pinging whistles continued and were soon followed by a crackling tear that seemed to be muffled by water. Water that was underneath them.

To Holo's horror she had just realized that they had just found the lake she had made mention of.

Then with a terrible break and a loud shriek, Holo dropped below below the line of sight and was swallowed into the frozen bowels of ice water. Ranger turned and began sprinting for his life as he heard thundering cracks following his foot prints. His footing lost their platform as the ice gave in beneath him and he fell in, but to his relief he fell only knee deep near shore and was able to trudge himself out.

He turned to see if Holo had surfaced from anywhere. Yet he found her not, nor did he see the sled. He paced around agonizingly, thinking that going after her would be suicide.

Ranger then ran around where the dexterity of the ice would be greater and laid down to disperse his weight and crawled to the hole that swallowed up the she wolf. From there he began slapping the water in hopes that she could hear it and know where to tread. For the dangers of falling under ice include the inability to see which cavity lead you there. Holo could be feeling around the ceiling, desperately trying to find the escape.

There was nothing.

The ice began to crack further in which he shimmied back and sat on the slope pondering what to do. He balanced his options and they were slim. He could dive after her, yet may not find her in the endless black nor find the opening from which he entreated. Then the sled was submerged as well which meant his fire starting kit would be useless along with the blankets. This would mean that even if he rescued her from drowning, there would be the cold that could not be staved off.

That was when he noticed something floating towards him between the cracks of the ice plates. It was Holo's novel that was only half soaked. He picked it out and shook it free. Roughly a third of the pages were still dry which gave him one idea which would save both their fates should he choose to dive in, but it all hinged on the improbable success that he could do so.

He then opened the pages and saw a single quote said by the hero, "Wherefore let us be strong in the face of adversity."

His eyes raised towards Holo's icy prison and likely death chamber and put the book aside. He stood and brought his hands clasped together to his face and said something in a foreign tongue that had long been forgotten by man. He then began to strip off his raiments.

The next thing that disturbed the ice encrusted water was a nude man diving in with only his sword.