Kovak jolted back into his frame, as one might do when awoken from a deep sleep by a loud noise. He let his weight sink beneath him, briefly imagining himself as connected by invisible roots to the ground below. Sensing the air pressure on his right side he allowed his instincts to uproot and pull him into a spring that ended in a forward roll. He both heard and felt two or three of the tiny warriors swooshing past, having just missed him.

  A clang and subsequent ring meant one fairy had found his target only to be thwarted by the wolf’s armor. Kovak could smell the silver of their small blades, foul and rancid, the fragrance meant to conceal it had nearly worn off.

  At the end of his roll the wolf came up on the balls of his feet, shifting like water in the rapids of a strong creek he spun about, his sword appearing in his left hand and cutting a wide arc that sliced two fairies who were too close in formation cleanly in half.

  The queen matron shrieked at the loss of two children as she rose high into the air above the unfolding melee. Her eyes became two crackling pools of blueish-white lightning.

  The two bird-winged fairies hovered between the queen and the fight breaking out below. Each held a long dagger – by fairy standards.

  The female in the multi-colored robe zipped past, out of sword range. She waved a tiny wand in a sweeping motion towards the wolf.

  With his fist and forearm Kovak batted away the larger fay warrior and two more lunging attacks. Suddenly he felt as if his fur were being pulled in many different directions.

  He felt tendrils of magical energy clutching at him. In his mind he saw an image of a baby deer; a small and helpless faun in the middle of the fairy ring.

  Suddenly the image vanished and the pulling of his fur ceased. Kovak knew intuitively the trinket Pidwermin gave him had just prevented him from being shape-shifted into a baby deer.

  Another faint clank alerted Kovak that yet another fairy had slipped by his defenses but found only armor plating with his silver blade. Suddenly the fairies scattered in all directions and the air crackled and popped as tiny streams of lightning flashed about.

  The fairy queen held before her now a great ball of blue fire that pulsed and cracked like some kind of strange lightning. Abruptly the ball dissipated with a deep thumping sound. Claercholybus gave a grunt and sailed backwards into the canopy of a maple tree.

  Kovak knew somehow this had been the work of his friend B’keul, whom he had seen in a vision just prior to returning to his body. Not wasting his mentor’s aid, the wolf dropped to all fours and exploded into a full sprint. He knew he could distance himself from the fairies and buy himself time to calculate a decisive move. His long muscles gave him a decided advantage in take-off speed, and he heard the fairy queen holler like a wild beast as he tore out of the clearing and left them behind.

  With a fiery intensity growing and glowing in his torso he accelerated quickly to his maximum speed. Focusing on the fire within he pushed without pushing and gained just a bit more speed, knowing he could only sustain this additional burst for a short while.

  A seasoned ranger and a wolf, Kovak never entered the forest or any other natural setting without taking note of the details. He always remembered the landmarks, considered alternate routes, paths of escape, and spots that would make good ambush points.

  The humming sound of many fairies in flight began to grow louder behind him. The fairies could not match his initial burst of speed, but they could catch or outrun him once he settled into his sprint.

  The wolf zigged and zagged beneath low branches and whatever foliage he could maneuver to place between himself and the fairies above. At one point he even skidded through a bright red burning bush shrub to obscure himself and keep an obstacle in front of his pursuers.

  Arrows.

  The word reverberated in Kovak’s mind. His instincts demanded an urgent response. He let go of his thinking mind, released his anxieties and centered his awareness within his heart center, directly behind his sternum.

  Calm like an open space of air between the treetops his mind stepped aside to allow his intuition room to work. His body flowed on the currents of that intuition, leaping quickly to his left as he continued to sprint.

  He heard two tiny arrows zip through the foliage where he had leapt from.

  The wolf then heard the twang of another tiny bowstring, then another.

  His mind registered what his senses told him but otherwise remained empty in that moment. He did not form thoughts and act on them, rather his body enacted in unison with his mind’s understanding.

  His body and his mind became a single unified entity.

  Kovak weaved right to let another arrow sail past, then dug his heels in for a split second to slow himself and allow the next arrow to streak past and ahead of him.

  He caught sight of the great sycamore tree covered in the runes of three separate races. Gathering his bearings he slid through another dense shrub, tearing stalks and vegetation from the bush as he careened through it.

  Two more arrows were rebuffed by the shrub’s evergreen leaf cover. One passed close enough to the wolf’s face that he caught the bitter scent of some kind of toxin.

  I just need to make it to the hemlock grove.

  The wolf knew he could sprint at this pace for another ten minutes before either slowing down or needing to rest. Estimating the distance to the thick grove of immense hemlocks he saw on the way to the fairy ring he decided he could make it there in four minutes.

  His mind screamed danger. Without another thought he dove to his right.

  A streak of blue lightning tore into the ground right where the wolf was previously heading, igniting leaves and throwing sparks in all directions.

  Kovak rolled out of his dive. He recovered on all fours back into a dead run.

  The fairy queen cursed under her breath as she watched the wolf roll out of harm’s way.

  She raised a polished wand of pyracantha with razorlike thorns jutting out along the shaft and forming a ring that encircled the tip. A spiral of blue smoke drifted about the ring and rolled off the point of the wand; an artifact of the bolt it had just loosed.

  Hearing a crackling sound Kovak saw the danger in his mind’s eye and veered sharply, using his rear legs to brake and slide as he changed course just before the bolt crashed and exploded into the ground ahead of him.

  The wolf half-rolled his torso mid-stride to deflect an arrow with his spaulder. As he brought his shoulder back down he dove into a lateral roll; two more arrows hit the ground just behind the rolling wolf.

  The fairy queen watched Kovak roll again then recover into a four-legged sprint. She took aim once more but lowered her wand suddenly and swooned from the sky. The world around her had suddenly gone dark and she could see nothing as she landed hard on her feet.

  The bird-winged fairies Zap and Zimb hovered just above the ground and circled their queen. They scanned the forest continually as they circled.

  “Matron, what is it?” Zap asked, his voice full of worry.

  The matron spoke into her consort’s mind: Quiet! I need a moment.

  On another world B’keul focused intently upon the small but awesomely powerful creature, filling her mind with empty blackness that blotted out her vision. Breathing evenly he retained his connection, even as his muscles tensed against her psychic resistance.

  “Fool.” hissed the Mother of Thorns. “You are no equal of mine.”

  She saw the face of the elder wolf in her mind’s eye. Directing her will into that image she heaved a wave of force onto her adversary.

  The yelp of a large canine reached the ears of the fairy queen as the blackness faded into the forest around her. She again took flight, her guards on either side of her, and darted off in the direction her warriors had flown.

  Kovak zig-zagged to avoid another three arrows. He was stunned by how sharp his psychic senses had become.

  This is incredible. I feel as though I could evade these arrows and magical bolts all day.

  Protozoa and Zorlo, along with Briden and Shezaheza bore down on the wolf from above. Another fairy flew with their group. A trio of fairy archers flew behind and above them; three more archers had moved lower and flew almost alongside the wolf to his right.

  Kovak felt the life force of the eleven fairies. He sensed their awareness and their emotions. While he could not have articulated these sensations with words, they gave him a raw, instinctive understanding of each individual.

  Ten of the pursuing fay were warriors, of which six were also archers. All of the tiny creatures were highly magical in nature. One among them – the female in the multi-colored robe – had arcane power far beyond what the others possessed.

  In his mind he saw the formation and positions of the fairies as he ran. He hadn’t sought this information – it simply came to him in the moment.

  I should have joined minds with an evil fairy queen years ago! Who knew such a thing would “quicken me”, as it apparently is called. I could get used to this level of psychic awareness.

  Sororess Shezaheza raised a long whip made of purple light over her head and then snapped the luminous cord down onto the wolf.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The whip struck Kovak in the back with a brilliant flash and unnatural cracking sound. Pain seared through his entire body and the flash momentarily blinded him.

  A sudden rage ignited in the wolf’s chest. He might not have sustained that strike from whatever it was had he not been engaged with his own internal dialog. Stop admiring yourself and be here and now!

  The wolf plowed through a small sapling and two bushes, his vision still a field of purple haze. As his physical eyes failed him, the mind’s eye stepped in.

  Kovak could see the forest around him through the energy center between and above his physical eyes. He shifted left to avoid a large ash tree, then leapt over a fallen maple.

  Three arrows from just off to his left barely missed him as he maneuvered around the tree and over the log. He sensed the archers behind were releasing their bowstrings.

  “He’s about to turn sharp right.” Protozoa announced. “Zorlo, cut him off now!”

  The big fairy darted off to the right. The other three warriors dove.

  The wolf suddenly changed direction, turning at nearly a ninety-degree angle to dart off to his right. Three arrows struck the ground where he would have been had he not turned abruptly. He heard some of the fairies buzz past as they failed to register his turn and overflew.

  From the corner of his right eye Kovak spotted the unusually broad fairy charging like a javelin. The wolf timed the fairy’s interception and snapped a straight right punch directly into the speeding sprite.

  Zorlo realized too late his charge had been anticipated and timed. He saw the punch coming but his body had no time to react. The impact was like striking a wall headfirst at full speed; his head crumpled and his spine buckled.

  “Zorlo!” Protozoa shouted as he watched the smashed warrior drop to the forest floor.

  The sprite’s protest startled the wolf, who had no idea three other warriors were within a few feet of him from behind. He dug his feet into the soil very briefly, just enough to break his speed and enter a forward roll.

  Protozoa, Briden, and the other fairy warrior sailed past the rolling wolf.

  Shezaheza’s whip struck the ground just ahead of Kovak in a flash of purple. He had slowed just in time to avoid her leading attack.

  Coming out of his roll Kovak cut another sharp line as quickly as he had turned into that first angle. This time he turned to his left.

  I failed to register those three fairies and they were right on top of me. Regardless of any quickening it seems I am not as of yet a psychic master.

  Within seconds the four fairies had regrouped and were bearing down on him again. He once more saw their formation and position in his mind.

  The six archers had also regrouped and raced to catch up with the other fairies and the wolf.

  The wolf rose onto his back legs and took two long strides, then leapt forward, grabbing the trunk of a robust sapling in the process. His weight and momentum pulled the sixteen-foot young tree into a bow.

  The wolf allowed the sapling to carry him to the end of its flex. He knew exactly where the flight of fairies would be, and just as the small tree began to rebound from its deep bend Kovak let go; he used his fingers and the flick of his wrist – and perhaps his intention - to influence the path of the trunk’s rebound.

  The crown of the young tree shot directly into the group of four fairies, forcing them to scatter in all directions. The upper branches whipped out like a flail, leaving painful welts where they struck and sending Briden and the other fairy twirling off course.

  Without thinking the wolf quickly swatted an arrow from the air and dove to avoid another. A third arrow sailed through his cloak and into the trees beyond.

  Kovak pushed off the ground with his hands and used the dive to launch back into a four-legged run.

  Three archers flanking him on the right gained speed, arrows knocked and aimed.

  They wish to come alongside me where they can more easily lead me with their arrows.

  He found a long stand of maples with typically low-hanging branches. He darted under the lower limbs and between two trunks. The branches and what foliage remained offered some cover from the archers above. The low-hanging limbs and the maple trunks were between the running wolf and the three archers flanking him. Kovak followed these low boughs like a tunnel.

  High above the pursuit Claercholybus watched the wolf continue to evade and outmaneuver her warriors. ”He must not escape!”

  She reached out with her mind: Krunk, the wolf is fleeing but must not escape. He runs southwest from the fairy ring.

  Looking ahead of Kovak the Mother of Thorns smiled. He is heading right for Rukaloke’s lair’ I believe the fool intends to hide there.

  The fairy queen laughed with delight and added, He has thus far proven crafty, so send warriors to my aid in case he survives his encounter with Rukaloke .

  The tunnel of maple branches came to an end. Kovak exited to the right of the stand of trees rather than darting out at the very end where he assumed fairy archers would be leading him.

  The sound of several arrows smacking the ground behind and to his left confirmed his assumption. The relentless sprites had to correct course to follow his new heading, and he saw the massive hemlock grove not far ahead.

  The hum of twenty fairy wings buzzed louder as the warrior-sprites closed with the wolf. Kovak lowered his head and drew every ounce of speed he could from his burning muscles.

  Something was very wrong. His sixth sense rang like an alarm bell in his mind; Don’t enter those hemlocks.

  The fairies were almost on top of him. He had no idea why they weren’t loosing arrows.

  Don’t go into those hemlocks.

  The wolf cursed. He knew ignoring his internal warning was foolish but saw no choice under the circumstances.

  Kovak dug into the ground and skidded under a massive dead hemlock tree that leaned into a group of very tall, old hemlocks. The sort of tunnel formed by the leaning trunk and heavy evergreen foliage would momentarily confound any fairies who were close to him, forcing them to dart up or off to the side to avoid the mess. The jumble of timber would also briefly conceal his movements as the fairies would not know which way he turned on the far side, or if he continued straight, until they had flown over or around the hemlocks.

  Sororess Shezaheza stopped midair and signaled with her outstretched arm palm down for the other fairies to stop as well. The ten fairies hovered fifty feet short of the hemlock grove.

  Shezaheza laughed. “The fool. He will be torn apart and devoured; we will need only to pick up the pieces thereafter.”

  “Does the matron not want him alive?” Protozoa asked.

  Before the Sororess could answer Claercholybus herself responded as she descended to hover among her children.

  “That would have been ideal. Alas Kovak used his considerable skill to evade capture.”

  “Forgive me matron.” Shezaheza’s musical voice trembled and fell off key.

  “You are forgiven my special child.” the queen said without hesitation. “He is a remarkable beast and skilled warrior. Furthermore, your judgement to not pursue into those hemlocks was sound; I would not lose more children this day if it can be avoided.”

  After a pause she continued. “We may yet have another chance, but for now let us perform a communion of offering to the Great Dark One Below in case the wolf is killed in that lair.”

  “Mother,” the Sororess cautioned. “If the wolf survives, which you seem to believe is possible…”

  “Ah my daughter,” the queen smiled. “Even in your station among your sisters – my thirteen exalted prefects – you still have much to learn.”

  The queen continued. “I have instructed Krunk to send a company of goblins. We will word our incantation such that regardless of the outcome of any battle in the hemlock cave, the one who falls will be devoured by the Dark One. Furthermore if the wolf survives and escapes, a temporary setback at most, the Dark One will have the vital force and spirits of those killed in the subsequent battle, be they goblins or wolf.”

  “Ingenious mother,” said Shezaheza. “Undoubtedly you hasten the rising of our Dark Patron.”

  “I do precisely that my child,” the queen affirmed. “To lead requires wisdom but above all adaptability and what the humans call ‘multi-tasking’.”

  The hovering assembly of fairies laughed with wicked glee. The sound of their musical mirth, bearing the heavy, magical undercurrent of their deep, abhorrent evil caused the creatures of the forest to go silent.

  Once inside the grove of hemlocks Kovak was forced to move much slower. He wouldn’t survive a collision with one of the massive trunks at full speed, and the thick foliage blocked out almost all of the sunlight.

  Moving at a quick walk and as stealthily as possible he continued into the heart of the tree cluster; the crowded branches made standing straight an impossibility. He had to use his hands to feel his way at first. Just enough sunlight crept into the space to allow his eyes to begin adjusting after several seconds.

  The wolf’s heart sank. He had already spent nearly double the amount of time he’d intended in this cavern of evergreen needles and moldy earth. The potential for a quick and concealed exit in a direction the fairies couldn’t immediately identify was all but gone now.

  The wolf blew the air from his nostrils suddenly. He nearly choked on the stagnant, moldy air; or was that something else?

  He expelled the air from his nose again. Something stank horribly and it was more than mold and rotting limbs.

  That rank smell rang a bell in the wolf’s memory but he could not articulate. Once before he had encountered such an awful stench.

  He knew he had to be nearing the center of the grove at this point. He just needed to push a little further and he would leave the putrid odor behind.

  In a near constant crouch, at times walking on his knees, Kovak pressed on. He began to consider his options for exiting the grove in the most strategic manner. He cursed his laxity in not waiting for his own bow to be strung before entering the deep forest.

  Suddenly the wolf remembered where he encountered the rotten stench before. He and Pidwermin had entered an old mine shaft while tracking a…

  Kovak stopped moving. He listened intently and opened his mind to any other presence that may be nearby.

  Like the moon emerging from behind a black cloud another mind coalesced into the wolf’s awareness. A spiteful, twisted mind full of only malice and hatred.

  The warrior immediately moved to draw his sword but the branches overhead were too thick and crowded. His elbow smashed into a limb as he tried to free the blade from its scabbard.

  Kovak nearly panicked but stopped just short. He knew the troll could see him with its dark vision yet he had no idea where the thing was.

  He had to calm himself and pinpoint the creature in his mind’s eye.

  ?