He shook her. "Elara, wake up!"
Nothing. She was limp.
"She needs help!" Thalos yelled, but no one moved.
A guttural noise cut through the air, he couldn't tell where. Then there was a scream.
Everyone spun toward Torren. Blood dripped from his leg.
There was no sign of an attack, only a large gash across his leg.
Thalos slowly stood up, drawing his fang blade with shaking hands.
"Damn it," Hagan cursed.
Jorn's lynx snapped its head toward the trees, then let out a hiss, lowering its body.
The fairies above them started to move faster. Then the laughter started. High-pitched, playful, almost childlike.
It came from every direction, making Thalos's head spin.
The trees changed, the clearing was gone, the footprints vanished. Beneath them, hundreds of footprints were turning in every direction.
Torren was kneeling, his leg torn by something unseen. "They are attacking!"
"Everyone stay together," Eryndor commanded.
Another scream.
It was Eirik.
Everyone turned to him taking steps backwards, then a large gash appeared across his back, blood shot across the snow. As he collapsed.
"The forest is cursed!" Jorn was helping Torren back to the group. "Everyone eyes up!"
Thalos saw it. There was movement in the trees, and his breath hitched.
Massive, dark-furred creatures were stalking them, slowly moving forward, their icy blue eyes glowing in the darkness.
They were surrounded. He didn't know what to do. He stayed close to Elara, holding his blade outward.
"Frosthounds, damn vermin." Jorn cursed.
The fairies laughed. The Frosthounds charged.
Eirik was the first. No one could get to him in time.
He was trying desperately to crawl back to the group.
He only made it about 3 feet until two large hounds lunged out of the trees and pounced on him, claws ripping at his clothing into flesh, jaws snapping.
Thalos heard gargled screams and bones snapping before he was dragged into the forest.
More were charging.
He had never seen them this close before. They were easily twice his size and moved impossibly fast.
He and Elara were surrounded by the hunters.
Jorn was the first to move.
His sword came up as he side-stepped a jumping hound, twisting and piercing its flank.
It wasn't enough to kill it. The beast turned to attack.
Serren darted under Jorn's legs, pouncing, claws raked across its throat.
He kicked the hound off of his sword and faced the next one.
Hagan, the oldest among them, moved much better than Thalos would have thought.
He barely shifted as a hound lunged for him. It was inches from his face. His axe arched upward, cleaving the beast's skull in half.
Another jumped at his side. He took a single step back and drove the axe back down, cutting through the beast.
Torren and Rurik were fighting together.
Rurik was firing arrows from beside Thalos. Every one of his shots created a loud whistle and plunged deep into their targets.
Torren, still injured, was lunging and driving his spear through every hound that Rurik didn't manage to kill.
"Blood,"
He heard a small voice. He spun to see Elara getting up.
"Elara!"
He rushed to her side and helped her up.
"We got trapped," he said quickly.
"The fairies tricked us, and we got attacked."
He saw Elara trying to calm herself, taking deep breaths, she picked up her bow that she had dropped.
Then a sharp yelp.
They both turned to see Eryndor.
A hound lunged for him, its jaws wide.
Eryndor didn't dodge or step away. Instead, he ran toward it.
His movement was so fast that Thalos barely saw it. His father blurred.
One moment the hound was mid-lunge, heading straight for him, and the next it was lunging at air, its body split in two.
Before it hit the ground, he had already moved to the next one.
Thalos just managed to follow as his father used his sword to pierce directly through the skull of one.
A second jumped at him.
His hand grabbed its snout and drove it into the ground. Loud cracking was heard across the forest.
Before Thalos could register that it was dead, a gust of wind shot past him.
He turned, and his father was on the other side of the battlefield.
And for the first time since the battle started, the laughing stopped.
Through the chaos, he didn't notice the hound creeping up behind him.
"Thalos!" Elara shouted. "Behind you!"
He turned just as a claw raked down his right arm.
The cut was shallow but deep enough to draw blood.
"H-help!" He stammered as he fell.
Around the hunters, the Frosthounds lay dead, blood soaking into the snow.
Jorn spun, ready to kill the last one, but Eryndor put a hand in front of him.
He looked up in surprise. "They are too young!"
Eryndor only shook his head.
He could see his father looking at him. None of the hunters moved.
The Frosthound started circling them, its eyes locked on Thalos.
He scrambled to his feet, dagger raised between them.
He saw the other hunters lowering their weapons.
Did they want him to die? He looked up at his father, it looked like he was expecting something.
Then a noise. He wasn't paying attention, the hound took a step forward, and an arrow hit the ground in front of it.
Elara was standing just behind him, her bow raised, already loading another arrow.
He could see she was scared. She couldn't hold the bow still, and she let go of the arrow too soon.
The hound lunged. It was a blur to Thalos. it came low to the ground, faster than he could react.
Elara fired, but the beast didn't even need to move. the arrow missed.
He dove, but the beast didn't turn and it didn't come after him.
The hound's claws came down. Elara cried out as lines of deep crimson formed down her arm.
She stumbled backward, clutching her arm, the fabric of her cloak already a deep red.
Thalos didn't have time to think.
He got back up, and the instant his boots touched the ground, something changed.
He was moving faster than he ever had before. His mind couldn't even catch up.
It was like the world around him slowed. He didn't have time to register what was happening before his body slammed into the beast's side, causing it to stagger.
He fell into the snow. Tumbling as the wind was knocked out of him. But he held it back and pushed himself forward, driving his dagger into the hound's ribs.
He clenched his chest, heaving.
It snarled in fury and twisted with unnatural speed, yanking itself free and kicking him into the snow.
It was painful to breathe. He looked up as the beast was lunging at him again.
He just managed to roll out of the way, but it was faster. It lashed its claws out. Pain exploded across his side as the claws raked through his cloak into flesh.
He slid back into the snow and lay still, the snow under him turning a deep red.
Then… An arrow whistled through the air, striking deep into the hound's side. It stumbled back, its back legs buckling.
He just managed to look up to see where it came from. It was Elara.
She was kneeling, her wounded arm braced against her leg, her next arrow already being strung in place.
Blood ran down her arm. She pulled back tightly and let another arrow soar.
It found its mark again.
It pierced its ribs, it struggled to stand as blood was pooling in its mouth.
Eyes fixed on Elara. It charged at her.
It wasn't as fast as before. She hastily grabbed another arrow, and in her panic she dropped it.
He forced himself to his hands and knees and grabbed his dagger tightly.
He couldn't think of the pain. He had to move.
His boots started to glow, and he launched himself forward.
Snow from under his feet exploded behind him. He wasn't running, he was soaring, his dagger held out in front of him…
Then a wet crunch. His fang blade tore through the hound's throat, cutting deep and lodging itself inside.
He couldn't hold on.
He and the hound slammed into the ground, collided, and slid a few feet.
The beast choked and convulsed.
Elara shot one final arrow. It struck straight through the chest.
The beast gagged, then went still.
Thalos and the hound lay tangled and unmoving, then a cough, and another.
He reached out, trying to pull himself free.
Elara rushed to help him. "Thalos! Are you okay?"
He didn't respond, breathing hurt, moving hurt, he never felt this light headed before.
Elara helped him up, he could barely stand.
He turned, the entire hunting party was watching.
Why?
Why didn't they help, they could have stepped in.
Then he wouldn't be so hurt. So why?
His breath started to come in uneven bursts, he looked down to see blood red snow beneath him, he was going to yell at them.
Then… He saw it.
For the first time in his life, his father was proud, and he was smiling.
A genuine smile.
And Thalos understood, for that moment in time.
He was a champion.