To Lyger 0: Just a little bit…
To PG.182227: I'm good. I actually haven't missed a day of uploading, though I haven't updated the Wiki or order of stories on my profile in a while. I have been distracted lately; yesterday was actually the anniversary of my wife's death. I think that's part of the reason that for this story the chapters have been half the normal length.
The Knight's eye was drawn down to movement on the street below him, the sound of howling and snarling echoing off the buildings to either side without any indication of the source. His head cocked to one side, as a flash of grey caught his eye, only to vanish once more. To his left, Valkyrie's eyes widened in surprise, and she ascended a little higher, holding her hands out wide. The howls turned to pained yelps and growling, only to suddenly cut off abruptly. The Knight tensed, drifting to one side for a different angle. Out of nowhere, a large grey wolf lunged out from behind a parked car, into the light of the streetlamp, followed by a second wolf, this one brown. The first wolf landed on its front paws and swung around to plant its rear paws, springing back at the second wolf and catching it midjump, its jaws snapping at the other wolf's throat. The two connected in midair as grey's jaws closed on fur, and brown raked its claws across grey front and pushed it away. Both wolves landed on their back paws, and grey batted brown's claws away from its chest, falling forward into brown. Brown lets out a yelp as grey bit into its throat.
"What the hell!?" the Knight yelped, his jaw falling open in shock. Beside him, Valkyrie stared down at the scene below them with wide eyes. The Knight's hand closed instinctively around his sheathed sword. "Wolves? In the city?"
"What do we do?" demanded Valkyrie, not taking her eyes off the wolves as the brown one pushed the grey one away, tensed, and leaped back at it, fangs bared. Grey howled, stumbling back a pace under the assault.
Quickly, the Knight descended toward the ground, his sword in hand, watching them carefully as the fight progressed down the street, past parked cars, between the apartment buildings and bars lining either side of the street. His grip on the sword tightened, his leg muscles tensing. Just above him, Valkyrie drifted after him, dropping down toward the ground, her arms outstretched to manipulate the air currents. Gritting his teeth, the Knight held his free hand out in a warning. "Stay up here, out of their reach."
Her lips pursed, Valkyrie nodded curtly. "Be careful."
The Knight was still three meters above the ground. The grey wolf let out a whine as the brown one clamped its jaws around its front leg. Brown tugged on grey's leg, eyes narrowed, pulling grey out of the middle of the road. Grey's whine suddenly turned into a snarl, and it pulled the brown wolf in closer, biting down on its muzzle. The brown wolf released its hold on the other's leg and batted it away with one paw, pulling back out of its reach, just as the Knight landed with a dull metallic thud a meter away from them.
"Hey!" the Knight roared, clanging his metal gauntlets together with a hollow ring. His stomach tensed. "Get out of here!"
The grey wolf turned toward him, blood dripping from bitemarks along its leg, its bloody teeth bared and eyes narrowed. Dropping lower, it crouched ready to spring, staring unblinkingly at the Knight. A low growl emanated from its throat. At the same time, the other wolf turned toward him, blood pouring from a bite to its throat, its muzzle gashed, favoring one paw.
"Damn." The Knight's stomach flipped under the intensity of their stare, and he tensed, moving one foot back and gripping his sword with both hands, just before the grey wolf pounced, landing against his front and pushing him backward. The Knight fumbled to keep his sword between himself and the wolf, even as the wolf's body pressed against his chest, its jaws snapping at his gauntlet. He could feel his center of gravity shifting backward as he started to tip over backward; throwing his shoulder forward, he pushed the wolf to the side, raising his arms to brace himself and turning to face the brown wolf. Brown hesitated, just long enough for grey to leap at the Knight's exposed side, colliding with him and pushing him back. Jaws closed around his wrist. His feet flew out from under him, and the Knight shouted, "Wehren!" A shimmering white shield appeared around his wrist, inside the wolf's mouth, pushing the wolf back away from him. Hitting the ground hard, the Knight rolled up to one knee.
With a howl, the brown wolf lunged forward.
From above, a massive gust of wind struck the brown wolf, throwing it backward away from the Knight, slamming it into a parked car. The grey wolf backed away from the Knight a pace, shook its head, growled, and jumped on the Knight again, snapping its jaws closed around his sword arm. Scoffing, the Knight braced himself and punched the wolf in the face, swinging it around and shifting his sword to the other hand and pulling it back to strike. The wolf's eyes followed the movement, and it released its hold on the Knight's arm to spring back away from him. With a last glance toward the brown wolf, it turned and raced down the street a block before turning aside into Forst Grunewald.
"One down!" called Valkyrie, intensifying the wind blast pressing the brown wolf against the parked car behind it.
The Knight nodded, striding across the street and up to the wolf. He drew his sword back, ready to strike.
Suddenly, the wolf held its paws up and pushed itself up on its back legs. The fur began to retract into its skin as it transformed into a woman who appeared no older than they were themselves. Her clothing torn and ripped and stained, the bottoms of her pants shredded, her hair a tangled mess of brown hair. Valkyrie froze, her wind dropping to almost nothing. The woman looked down at the ground in front of them and held her hands up in front of her in a gesture of peace.
"P–please," she stuttered. "I–I need your help."