Standing in the cascading rain as the storm raged around them, Haarn prayed to Silvanus. Steeped in two schools of thought, Haarn had often found himself conflicted. He didn't know what he might have chosen had his mother not stopped coming to the forest years before, but that conflict was fading. The outcome of the battle before him resided in the sphere of his mother's teachings, not his father's. His father's skills had brought him to the wolf, but they couldn't save him. The druid gripped the club and knife as the driving rain sluiced blood down his body. His stomach, back, and thighs bled profusely, but the muscle walls holding his internal organs remained intact. Liquid fire ran through his shoulder and neck where Stonefur's fangs had torn into him. He kept his feet apart in the manner his mother had taught him, left foot forward and right foot back, perpendicular to his forward foot. He kept his knees slightly bent, weight balanced. It was the most basic martial arts stance, the position everything else evolved from. Haarn breathed out in slow deliberation, focusing his thoughts and quelling his fears. In doing that, he lost some of the perspective his father would have wanted him to keep. The wolf was no longer a part of the forest or of the world Haarn had sworn to protect as a druid. The wolf was an enemy. Perhaps, Stonefur said, I should let you live. No, Haarn said, standing his ground and no longer mirroring the wolf's movements. He became the center of the world-as his mother had taught him. As the center, all things would come to him. That kind of thinking was foreign to druids, who believed they wove through the cycles of nature without creating ripples of their own. If it doesn't end here, Stonefur, I will track you down, and I won't hold back the powers that are mine to command. You might not see me coming. I'll see you. Haarn raised his voice so that the other wolves could hear over the din of crashing thunder tearing through the heavens so hard it seemed to shake the ground. I swear to you by Silvanus's blessed eyes that I will kill all that run with you. Cunning and vicious, the wolf kept trotting, waiting for the moment he judged proper to strike. Lightning seared the sky, whiting out the world, and Stonefur chose that moment to attack. Haarn had only a momentary glimpse of movement, then the lightning blinded him as the ensuing thunder deafened him. The whirling winds and the cold rain deadened his skin. His heart thudded in his chest. Stonefur launched at him, jaws wide, blood leaking into his mouth from the stub of his ear. Moving with a grace that surprised him in the condition that he was in, Haarn slammed his club into the side of the wolf's head. The shock rolled along the druid's arm, but he kept his stance tight, following up with the knife still held along the side of his arm. The blade sliced into Stonefur's flank. Blood poured down the wolf's side as he landed in a rolling heap. No mercy in his heart, Haarn went after the wolf. Stonefur rolled to his feet and pushed up only a step ahead of the druid's arrival. The wolf raced away, muscles bunching under bloody fur. Haarn stood his ground as the wolf cut in a semicircle, as he knew it would. He'd observed the movements of too many wolves over the years to be taken by surprise by the feint. By the time Stonefur reached him again, Haarn was set. The wolf tried for Haarn's wounded ankle again. The druid swung the club into Stonefur's head, connecting with the animal's bloody ear. The impact of the wolf's body crashing against him knocked Haarn from his feet. Haarn rolled, controlling his body and coming to his knees. There was no hesitation within him as he struck, no more confusion over what he was supposed to do. His knife blade flicked across the wolf's withers, opening a long cut over his hipbone. Coughing, fatigued, and hurting, Stonefur yelped in anger and rolled to his feet while Haarn was still on the ground. Haarn focused on the wolf's great body, knowing Stonefur outweighed him. The druid poised, on one knee and the other foot beneath him, watching as the wolf recognized the opportunity. Muscles rippled under the wolf's bloodied fur. Claws dug for traction on the muddy ground. Clods flew behind Stonefur as the wolf hurtled toward the druid. Haarn waited then shifted to the right and ducked. Still moving, he ripped the blade across the wolf's exposed abdomen. Thick, salty blood poured down onto Haarn. Graceful in spite of the mortal wound, Stonefur landed. His ribs flexed, and the gaping wound in his abdomen showed. The wolf's entrails started to spill from within. You've killed me, Stonefur snarled. He lapped at his wound but gave up the effort. His muzzle came away stained and dripping crimson that washed away in the stormy downpour. "Yes," Haarn said in his own voice, knowing the wolf would understand just the same. At this moment of death, there could be no lies between them. "You disrupted the balance. There was no other way to end this." Weakened and hurting, Stonefur came at the druid again. His clawed feet dug into the earth. Haarn tried to dodge out of the way, knowing he only had to stay alive a little while longer before the wolf's life played out, but in his weakened condition he couldn't move as fast. He shifted, intending to throw himself to the side, but his right foot slipped in the mud and went skittering away beneath him. Instinct made him drop the club and try to catch himself. When he made a frantic grab for the fallen weapon, he realized it was too late. Stonefur crashed into Haarn, knocking the druid back, slavering jaws reaching for his throat. The foul stench of the wolf's breath invaded Haarn's senses and seared his cheek. The rough, raspy tongue raked along Haarn's jaw. Shifting to protect his wounded midsection, Haarn brought the knife up in a short, tight arc. He felt the tip glide along the wolf's ribs, then sink home. Pain froze Stonefur as he lay atop Haarn. The druid felt the blood-slick and rain-matted fur against his hand where he'd driven the knife to the hilt. At least two or more inches of steel had pierced the wolf's heart. Blood leaked from Stonefur's flaring nostrils and mouth. A choking sound rumbled in his throat. Lightning strobed the heavens again, but there was little left in the wolf's eyes to light. Rattling sounded in his lungs and the great beast grew heavier. I die, Stonefur gasped. Yes. Sorrow and pain ached in Haarn's chest. He no longer tried to hold the wolf from him, and knotted his fingers in the bloodied fur to hold him close. No! the wolf bitch roared. Not kill Stonefur! Not let! Knowing the wolf was coming from the slick spatter of paws against the stones and mud, Haarn tried to push Stonefur's great weight from him. The wolf's ribs trapped Haarn's knife, leaving him unarmed as he shoved to his feet. The wolf bitch leaped the last six feet, aiming herself at the druid. Haarn reached out and caught her muzzle, trapping it in his hands. She has life within her, he thought. They are Stonefur's get, and they hold the promise of greatness. The wolf bitch's weight pushed him back into the mud. She snarled and growled, but the effort came out strangely through her trapped muzzle. Wounded and battered as he was, Haarn wasn't certain he could survive her attack. Her grief and hunger, and the protective urges that filled her from the pups being so close to being born, made her overpowering. She squirmed and struggled to get her jaws free. Her claws raked at his chest, then a shudder passed through her and she stopped. Staring into the feral eyes only inches from his own, feeling the strength drain from the wolf bitch, Haarn felt a new fear dawn in him. "No!" The wolf bitch slumped to the side, propelled by a booted foot. A long sword jutted from the wolf bitch's side. "No," Haarn repeated through a dry throat. He stared up at Druz Talimsir. "Do you know what you've done, woman?" She frowned, leaning on the long sword and twisting it to widen the wound that had killed the wolf bitch. "I saved your life," said Druz. "Get away from her. Now!" Confusion darkened Druz's rain-soaked features. She withdrew her sword but remained close by. "By Tymora's skirts, but you are a hard one to understand. She had you. She would have killed you." "No, she wouldn't have. I could have handled her." Haarn took in a deep breath as he forced himself into a kneeling position. Dazed and bleeding, Haarn stared at the dead wolf as he rolled to his knees. He stretched his hands out, calling on the power that Silvanus had entrusted in him. Many druids had the power to heal wounds. As he laid his hands on the wolf, he felt and heard the last breath go out of her. The convulsive shudder that shook her shivered through him. "What are you doing?" Druz sounded incredulous. "I would heal her if I could," Haarn said, "but she's beyond anything I can do." "That's stupid," Druz said. "Tymora's blessing on fools and children. Even if you did heal her, she'd only go for your throat again." Haarn ignored Druz's words. Saving the wolf bitch was beyond him, at least in his present condition. He stared at her sides, seeing the movement caused by the pups struggling in her womb. Making his decision, he forced himself to stand, placed a boot on Stonefur's body, and yanked his knife free. Turning, he crouched, struggled with his balance and unfocused vision, and plunged the knife into the wolf bitch's body.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Brother Tohl held fast to the side of the small wagon he and Effrim had liberated from the meager resources the Temple of the Trembling Flower had at their disposal. The wagon, though serviceable, had seen better days. The rudimentary spring struts had long since given out, making for a rough ride through the pitted back roads Tohl directed the younger priest to follow. A lantern mounted at the side of the wagon swayed as the ironbound wheels crashed over the rain-filled potholes, and still more rain came down in solid sheets.