The white wolf's bulk slammed into Kael's black direwolf at the pace of a falling tree. Snow exploded upwards, obliterating June's vision for an instant. She heard the sound of her pack beast's deep, guttural growl, the high, ragged yelps of pain, and the rough bark of Kael's voice.
"Pin him!
But June didn't have time to turn. From the blackness at the edges of the fire's light, the second set of eyes leaped forward, smaller than the white wolf's, but propelling with a speed that blurs its shape. It was not running on four. It was running on two, legs folded in ways that twisted her stomach.
June dodged as it attacked, steel flashing in its hand… not claws, but a knife. She parried on instinct, the force of the blow traveling up her arm. Whatever this was, it was no ordinary wolf… and no ordinary man.
The monster hissed, a dusty, low hiss that could not possibly be made by any living creature, and charged again. June fell, lashing out with her leg to catch at its footing. The kick landed, but it was like trying to trip over a root. It rocked only slightly, then came down with its blade again.
"June!" Kael shouted above the noise. She looked, breaking it. He'd broken clear of the direwolf battle, knives out and upright on his feet. The black wolf was on its feet again, bleeding at the side, jaw-to-jaw with the white wolf in a silent, fury-filled fight. No growling now: only the sound of teeth smashing into bone.
June whirled around just in time to parry another cut. The attacker's face glinted in the firelight: snow-white, pulled too tightly over its bones, eyes the color of dried blood.
Her father's old tales echoed in her mind. Mournspawn. The spawn created when a wolf spirit is torn from its flesh through dark magic, leaving the husk for the darkness within to twist it. Dragon demon work.
The concept settled in her gut like ice. If the Mournspawn were here, this close to the Vale, then the spirit wolves weren't the sole pursuers of her path.
The creature feigned high. June moved to counter, and it spun, slicing the blade through her arm. Her armor took most of the cut, but the impact jarred her shoulder. She pressed in close before it could adjust and struck her sword into its jaw. Bone cracked.
The Mournspawn reeled, giving her space to breathe.
"Back to the fire!" Kael yelled, stepping forward at her with a dripping, dark inky bloodied knife. His black wolf continued to pounce on the white animal, but the pale wolf (June's) darted back to nuzzle it, nipping at its legs to keep it on its toes.
June didn't back down. She bore forward, shoving the Mournspawn towards the trees. Kael's curse boomed across the snow.
The monster withdrew until its back hit the trunk of a gigantic pine. Its red eyes flashed once, and then it dissolved back into the bark as though the tree had swallowed it.
June panted. Her point fell into the snow.
The white wolf's bellow yanked her around. It had thrown the black direwolf onto its side, jaws locked shut over the exposed throat.
Kael had already begun to move. He cleared the firepit in one bound, snow flying under his boots, and plunged both knives into the white wolf's flank. The animal bellowed, bucking to bite at him, but the black wolf exploded up again, seizing the opportunity to seize the white wolf's hind leg in its jaws.
June joined the fight. She came around from the opposite direction, blade glinting in the firelight, and thrust it into the beast's shoulder where the thick fur retreated towards the joint.
The wolf shook, not in agony, but in something colder yet. Its eyes, honey-colored like golden honey, met her own, and for an instant, everything narrowed down to that gaze. She felt weight pressing against her mind, the way the Wolf of Shadows had been talking, but this wasn't speech. This was hunger.
Her knees buckled. She ripped her gaze away from his and withdrew the blade. "Kael-!"
"I know!" His voice was strained with exertion. He sliced again, and the jaws of the black wolf tore the white one's leg sideward with a wet snap.
The white wolf did not shriek. It simply immobilized, then writhed at impossible angles in Kael's grip, vanishing like smoke from fingers. It sprang toward the treeline: limping, but running… and vanished into darkness.
For a moment, all that could be heard was the ragged breathing of wolves and the hiss of fire.
Kael crouched to check the black wolf's flank, his hands quick and sure. The wound was deep but not fatal. He looked up at June. "What in the hells was that?"
She sheathed her sword. "Mournspawn."
His jaw tightened. "You're sure?"
"I've seen drawings. I've heard the stories. Nothing else fits."
Kael cursed under his breath. "Then the demon knows we're moving. And he's already testing us."
They worked in silence for a while, tending the black wolf's injury and keeping the fire alive. The pale white wolf ranged the perimeter, nose to the snow, tail stiff.
It was so low when Kael talked again that the wind almost carried it away. "That white one… it looked at you like it saw you."
June didn't answer immediately. She kept her eyes on the treeline. "Then it'll know I'm not running."
Kael studied her for a long moment, but didn't push. "We'll move at first light."
She nodded, but her mind was already turning over the encounter, the weight of that golden gaze, and the certainty that the white wolf, whatever it truly was, hadn't been there to kill her. Not yet.
Somewhere out in the darkness, beyond the reach of the flickering firelight, a low, single howl arose and fell silent. Not the Wolf of Shadows. Not any wolf she had ever heard.
It was an answer...