I stilled at the way he squeezed me, squeezed me hard like he wanted me to stop moving. I lifted my eyes and looked at where his face would be. I could make out no details in the darkness, but I could picture his angry eyes, visualize the warning he gave as if I’d seen his face a million times, as if I’d known him for years rather than days.
Then I heard it, the sound of a low growl.
“Grooowwwwllll.”
A flurry of bumps spread over my arms instantaneously. I didn’t know what to do, not when I couldn’t see a damn thing, when I could grab my sword but had no idea where to swing it.
Morco quickly reached into his pack, not bothering to be quiet as speed became more important. He must have grabbed the torch because he lit it a second later, and then in the distance, I saw the pairs of eyes reflecting the light, circled around us.
“Shit.”
He shoved the torch into my hand. “Be my light.” He dropped the pack and unsheathed his blade in a second. He turned his back to me and blocked me from the pairs of eyes that crept closer. More growls ensued, coming from different directions in the forest, the number of opponents unclear.
Then they stepped into the ring of light, gray coyotes with teeth bared, lean like they were just as hungry as we were. Their tails flicked with hostility. If it were just one coyote, this would be an easy situation to revolve, but as more of them stepped out, it became clear there were at least a dozen. Their eyes were glazed over, like they’d adapted to eternal night.
I reached for the sword Morco had given me and held it with a shaky hand.
Morco stood firm and stared at the sea of hungry coyotes, waiting for the first one to strike.
“Hooowwwl.”
“Howl.”
Their calls erupted around us, coordinating their attack. They added growls and snarls, their fangs dripping with saliva.
“Come on.” Morco slammed his fist against his chest. “Let’s do it.”
They lowered to the ground, paws digging into the earth, getting ready to pounce.
Morco spun his sword around with his wrist, and the blade caught the light.
Then they pounced, and it was mayhem.
Morco swung his swung and decapitated one with the first strike. He sliced another across the throat and the next across the chest. The dogs yelped in pain. Some fled, and others dropped dead. Then more converged, coming at Morco from all sides.
One pounced on his back to bite him on the neck. Morco flung him off, and he slammed into a tree and went still. Then he cut down another one that came, handling the attack on all sides like he had eyes in the back of his head.
They all came for him, as if they understood he was the threat that needed to be neutralized and I was the second meal they would enjoy afterward.
He cut another down then faced off with three that came at him at once. Then he screamed, releasing a war cry so loud and vicious that it echoed through all the trees and made them scurry back in fear. All the veins in his neck popped, and the anger in his eyes burned a hundred degrees hotter.
There were more wolves now, at least two dozen, replacing their fallen foes.
They started to come for me. One growled and lunged at me, and I instinctively shoved the torch right into his face.
He screamed in pain then took off.
Two coyotes jumped on Morco’s back, and he threw one off.
I ran to the other, shoved the torch into his fur, and charred his flesh and hair, making him jump off and cry out.
Morco spun his blade at another set of wolves and cut them down like rats rather than hungry dogs. It was pandemonium, the wolves surrounding us, lunging and trying to bite us, but Morco moved across the entire area and cut down one and then blocked the other that came from behind, like he’d done this before.
Only one would come at me at a time, so it was easy for me to scare them with the fire then stab them with the blade.
Morco released another blood-curdling scream, the sound belonging to a monster more than a human man. It was raw and vicious, scary enough to frighten me, even though we were allies.
This time, they scurried off into the forest, yipping like frightened dogs that were retreating from the greater opponent.
