Chapter 21: Dividing Spoils
The wind carved across the frozen expanse in long, hollow gusts. The sky above shone with a white light, causing the snow to sparkle.
Blake walked at the front, with Cecilia and Dolin at each of his sides. Apparently, he had some sort of detection ability. It only made Dolin even more curious about what type of aspect and nightmare Blake had gotten.
They were currently following tracks.
Dolin's eyes narrowed.
They aren't human tracks. It's a group.
"You see the tracks right?" Dolin announced.
"Yeah. How many do you think it is?" Cecilia asked.
Blake glanced down briefly before looking forward.
"Not sure," Dolin said.
They continued forward, but with caution.
The terrain dipped ahead, forming a shallow depression between jagged formations of ice and rock. Dolin approached carefully, then stopped at the edge.
Below them….
It was a pack.
Wolves.
The wolf pack circled a large carcass, their translucent bodies tense as they fed. Most of them were smaller, but others were larger. Their presence alone set them apart.
Dolin's gaze lingered on those, before settling onto the carcass.
"What should we do?" Dolin asked.
Blake's eyes were on the carcass.
"There's a soul shard in that carcass. The corpse seems to be from a fallen nightmare creature. We should take this chance to get some gains."
Dolin didn't respond immediately. It was a good chance to obtain some gains, but it was dangerous. There were around eight wolves in total, with five smaller ones and three larger ones.
"We can go around," Dolin said after a moment.
Blake let out a scoff.
"And pass that up?"
Cecilia stayed silent for a moment, and then spoke.
"If we avoid them, they could catch up to us later."
Dolin exhaled slowly.
She's not wrong.
He looked at the pack again.
"We should come up with a strategy. We can each handle one of the larger wolves. The problem is the smaller wolves backing them up."
Cecilia nodded.
"We should force a split. We should each come in from an angle."
Dolin considered it. It could work.
Blake spoke. "I'll take the ones closest to the carcass."
"I'll go and take the ones on the right," Cecilia said.
Dolin exhaled.
"Then I guess I will take the left."
"We should move together first," Cecilia said. "We shouldn't separate too early.
Dolin nodded.
"Once they react, we will split."
No one argued.
The plan was simple.
***
The group moved along the ridge instead of descending immediately. Their movements were quiet and precise.
Snow crunched softly under their boots, but the wind helped mask the sound.
The wolves hadn't noticed them yet.
Good.
Blake slowed, then stopped.
"Here," he whispered in a hushed voice. He looked at Dolin and let out a remark, "You better not fuck this up for all of us."
Cecilia let out a sigh.
"Are you ready?"
Dolin ignored Blake's remark.
"Let's move," he said.
They descended.
They could not mask their movements any more. Perhaps it was the sound or the scent that they gave off, as the wolves closest to them noticed immediately.
The closest wolves broke off first, exactly as expected.
Blake stepped up to meet them.
Dolin and Cecilia didn't hesitate.
They moved past him, angling off toward their respective targets.
***
The first wolf lunged.
Dolin shifted to the side, letting it pass instead of meeting it head-on. His blades moved in a short arc, forcing it to veer off further.
A second wolf came from the left.
He adjusted again, stepping aside to keep them both out of range.
A third wolf, much bigger than the other two, finally came.
They tried to flank him.
Dolin exhaled slowly.
The first wolf lunged again, this time committing fully.
This was the opening he needed. He adjusted his stance and stepped into the lunge.
A single strike of the Traitorous Edge brought it down, a wave of blood and internal organs jumping out of its now cold corpse.
He turned immediately, waiting for the other two wolves to engage.
To his far right, Cecilia had already engaged.
Her movements were sharp and precise. She always found the perfect weak points of her prey, with each motion having intent.
Blake's fight was a massacre. He pressed forward, not allowing the wolves any time to breathe. It wasn't reckless, but confident. Each move was deliberate, and his sudden and unexpected attacks were deadly.
The remaining wolves were more cautious now. They circled Dolin instead of rushing in.
The smaller one darted forward. The larger one followed, taking advantage of the smaller one's distraction.
Dolin adjusted, avoiding the attacks.
A sharp echo rang out through the depression.
Cecilia had forced her final opponent, one of the larger wolves, off balance. She didn't hesitate, taking the opportunity to press the advantage immediately.
Blake wasn't far behind. He was also on his final wolf, with the large wolf already bleeding in several places.
The smaller wolf in front of Dolin lunged. It had made a mistake. The larger one had just been wounded by Dolin's blade earlier and wasn't taking risky moves any more. Thus, the smaller one had no backup once it lunged.
Too direct.
Dolin stepped to the side, sliding his sword forward right into the wolf's lunge. The exchange ended cleanly. The final larger wolf was staring at him with a ferocious gaze.
It circled around Dolin, looking for an opening. Dolin opened his guard for a moment, setting a trap. The larger wolf fell for it, barreling toward him with a howl. Dolin immediately razed his guard, delivering a devastating blow to the wolf's legs as it flew past him, barely missing him.
The wolf let out a snarl. Even though it was wounded, its battle strength seemed to surge from its rage. It blindly lunged at him. This quick speed was unexpected, and Dolin was sent flying from its charge.
His armor was struck, causing him immense pain. He quickly regained his focus, staring dead at the injured wolf. The wolf did not let up, charging at him again. It barreled into him, but this time, it had fallen into Dolin's trap.
Dolin grabbed at the wolf, activating his aspect. Instantly, alien emotions surged in Dolin's mind. Emotions that were not his.
These emotions were suppressed, with a grim and dark emotion surging up like a tidal wave. It was his aspect. He was creating doubts within the wolf.
The wolf cried out in mental turmoil.
Dolin did not waste this opportunity.
With this opening, he drove his sword right into the wolf's translucent hide. The blade cut through it like butter, ending its life in an instant.
Silence settled over the battlefield. Dolin straightened his hurting body. He wasn't badly injured, as his armor had taken most of the impact. He would have to let it rest within his soul sea later to heal.
Blake's fight had ended first. The corpses of the wolves on his side were unrecognizable, taken down in a bloody massacre.
Cecilia's fight was the second to finish, the corpses dealt with in a clean manner with only their weak points targeted.
Dolin's battle was the last to finish, only taking a couple minutes longer than the other two.
***
Dolin exhaled, unsummoning his dirtied weapon.
Blake glanced at him briefly.
"See, nothing we couldn't handle."
Cecilia stepped toward a carcass.
"It was definitely worth it," she said.
"Yeah, I guess," Dolin responded.
They approached the carcass together.
Up closer now, they could sense the intensity of the protruding soul shard. The corpse was definitely one of a fallen beast.
Blake crouched without hesitation, already pulling it free.
They already had absorbed the soul shards from their respective wolf groups, strengthening each of them.
"Who should absorb it," Dolin asked.
Blake glanced at his two fellow sleepers, "I will."
It wasn't aggressive, only having a hint of certainty behind it.
Well, not like I expected any differently.
Cecilia's expression turned contemplative, as if she was deep in thought.
"That's fine for now. But we fought together," she continued. "If we are going to keep going like this, we need a structure."
Blake went over her words for a second, then let out a sigh.
"...Go on."
"If we ever come across a situation like this again we will rotate," Cecilia said. "You can have this one, but the next one goes to someone else."
Dolin was surprised at her thinking.
Fair.
"Fine," Blake said after a moment.
Blake didn't add anything else, crushing the soul shard in his hand.
It dissolved into an ethereal light before dissipating.
A low howl swept across the icy plains, carried on by the wind. Dolin glanced up at the horizon.
The sky had darkened slightly. It was the first hint of a snowstorm rolling in.
"We should move. It looks like a storm is coming soon," Cecilia said quietly, her eyes directed at the distance. "Staying here for too long is dangerous."
Blake adjusted his pace, scanning the distance as well.
"Agreed. Let's get a move on it."
Dolin felt the wind biting at his face.
The three of them set off once again, their silhouettes cutting across the snowy stretch.
A storm was coming…