It didn’t matter. We needed a plan, even if I was terrible at them. “Follow me,” I said, leading my adelphia outside the gate. A lone soldier called out to us, but I ignored him.
We ran to the edge of the thick forest. “Suri, I need a deep pit here.” I took a branch so that I could show her where it should be located and how long it should be. “After you make it, cover it with brush. That’s how we’ll stop the terawolves.”
The howling came closer.
“Io, stay here with Suri and be a lookout. If the wolves come and you aren’t done, run back into the city and have them close the gate,” I said.
“What are you three going to do?” Io asked.
I exchanged glances with Zalira and Ahyana. “We’re going to draw the wolves here and trap them.”
Suri raised her eyebrows at me as if to ask how.
“Io said once the terawolves have selected their prey they never stop hunting. I’m going to go out there and make sure they know we’re here.”
The panicked look on Io’s face wasn’t enough to deter me. If those terawolves got any closer ... they could harm so many people. Everyone at the docks would be at risk.
“Which way?” I asked Suri. She closed her eyes for a moment and then pointed southeast. We ran off in that direction.
We had been running for around ten minutes when Zalira came to a stop. “There. I see them.” The wolves were coming this way and seemed spread out.
“For the trap to work, we need them closer together,” I said. How long did we have before they turned invisible and we could no longer see them?
“I have an idea,” Zalira said. “Dea Maimaktes.”
A bolt of lightning crashed down southwest of us, and then another bolt equidistant in the opposite direction.
She turned off her aspect. “That should drive them straight down the middle.”
“I can help with that, too,” Ahyana said. “Dea Karpophoroi.”
High-pitched shrieks filled the air. Zalira went over and put her hand on Ahyana’s arm to help, to give her more strength.
“The bats can see them,” Ahyana said, slightly out of breath. “They’re herding them this way. No, wait, they’re invisible now.”
“Let’s give them something to follow.” I took out my xiphos and cut my hand as Ahyana shut off her power.
We turned and ran back toward where we had left Suri and Io. My blood dripped from my hand along the ground. I heard the moment when the terawolves caught wind of it. The howls and snarls increased. They sounded close.
Too close.
I felt the air around me shift, as if one of them were leaping at me.
“Dea Erinys!” I turned and used my ability to grab the invisible wolf by the throat and throw him hard against a tree trunk. He turned visible and collapsed to the ground with a whimper. My adelphia sisters wisely kept running and I hurried to keep up with them, shutting off my power. I had to conserve my energy.
I should have taken a fortification potion.
When we got closer to the city, I noticed that there was now only one path. Io had used her abilities to create vine nets between the trees so that the terawolves would have to follow us straight to the trap.
Suri knelt on the ground, tired, and waited with Io next to the city wall. I saw when Io’s eyes went wide. I risked a glance behind me.
There were a dozen terawolves, with their golden eyes and terrible growls. All visible. My heart leapt up into my throat.
“Right!” I yelled to Zalira and Ahyana, and they pivoted at the last moment, barely missing the trap themselves. Suri had made it longer than we’d anticipated. We ran alongside the trap and I stopped at the middle, praying that this would work. That the terawolves wouldn’t notice what we had done.
“Come and get me!” I shouted.
All the wolves barreled toward me and I stood with my sword in hand, waiting. My whole body pulsed with adrenaline and fear. Zalira and Ahyana stayed by my side with their weapons out.
