One afternoon, Ylwa awoke to a clamour at the edge of their camp. She heard shouts and exclamations of pain. The entire camp seemed to be in chaos. She saw a young female go running by, clutching her young pup to herself as she ran.
"What's going on?" Ylwa asked, fearing the worst.
"Our location has been compromised. We are being invaded." the young mother shouted over her shoulder as she ran.
Ylwa was in a panic. She supposed she should grab the boys and run in the direction that she saw others fleeing towards. She feared that she wouldn't get very far, though. Farkas and Vilkas were over a year old now, and were growing rapidly. It was almost all that she could do to carry one around for more than a few minutes. She ran into her tent to snatch up her two most precious treasures.
As she emerged, she almost ran into a male who was about to enter her tent. "Send your pups with the other youngsters and come join the fight." he barked at Ylwa. She noticed a few older children waiting nearby. At his order, two ran up and took Farkas and Vilkas from Ylwa's arms and began to run off in the direction that all of those unable to fight seemed to be fleeing. Ylwa lingered a moment to watch her sons depart, and then looked to the one who seemed to be giving orders.
"The fight is that way." he gestured. Ylwa, somewhat dazed at this turn of events, stumbled off in the direction that he had gestured – the direction where all of the clamor was originating. It had grown louder and just the few moments that had passed since she was first alerted to the potential danger. She quickly discovered why. Her pack was losing ground. The battle between her pack and the humans that were now trying to kill them had moved from the outer edge of the camp to a little ways in.
Ylwa stopped long enough to shift into her beast form, and then ran misgivingly towards the battle, teeth and claws at the ready. She saw other reinforcements join their side as she hit the conflict. The line didn't seem to be moving any closer to the center of the camp – any closer to her precious pups. The thought of them jerked her sludgy mind into action, and she leaped for the throat of the nearest human invader. He didn't even see her coming, and she ripped his throat out in one swift jerk. This quickly caught the attention of two of his friends, though. They both turned to Ylwa, swords pointed in her direction. She paused, waiting for an opening to lunge at the two men who were nearing her with their swords pointed in her direction. She backed up a bit, before another packmate came to her rescue, lunging at the one on her right. He quickly swung around and stabbed Ylwa's relative. Ylwa was distracted by this encounter just long enough that she didn't notice the other man take a quick but brutal swipe at Ylwa with his sword. He hit her, and sliced her chest open from the right shoulder to near the bottom of the left side of her ribcage. He swung at her once, but she was able to deflect his sword with one of her paws. She then took a quick swipe at him with her other paw, but he ducked and came back up with a quick stab to Ylwa's abdomen. While his sword was still embedded deep in her stomach, Ylwa jerked the sword right out of his hand and jumped in to make an attack with her teeth. She was a little slow from the blood loss, though, and he quickly leapt away from her.
Ylwa was so preoccupied and mentally distant because of her injuries that she didn't even see the second man – the one the friend had previously jumped – finish off her friend and turn his focus back to Ylwa. At this time, her back was to him, so he took a swipe at her right hind leg, causing her to lose all use of that limb. She fell to the ground, limp on the right side, and was quickly kicked backwards by the man whom she had disarmed. She fell backwards, only to see the second man standing over her, sword pointing downwards. He plunged his sword right into the left side of Ylwa's chest. He pulled it out again and moved on.
Ylwa lay there, motionless, as she felt all strength draining from her body. The battle around her began to blur and then fade. Her mind quickly jumped to Farkas and Vilkas. She was supposed to be concerned about them. Why was she worried? Were they hungry? Tired? She really wanted to see them right now. She held on to the image of them for as long as she could, but eventually it drifted away, along with all other consciousness.