Chapter 26:

When Eres opened her eyes, she hardly noticed a difference. She lifted her head, winced at her sore back, and fumbled around with her hands. A warmth was to her side, pressing against her—Leo?—but otherwise her fingers caught only wet leaves and grass. Hmm. It really took me dying to touch grass.

Eres found her wand laying off to the side a bit, picked it up, and summoned a small mote of fire. The surroundings lit up, highlighting the stark difference of the forest she could see, and the forest she could not.

It was unsettling. Her view cut off at the edge of the light and plunged into night darker than the starless sky. She had the profound sensation that something was watching her from the edge of her vision. 

She gulped. Leo was breathing lightly, his chest moving at a comfortable pace. 

Should she wake him up? No, better to let him sleep. Eres shivered as a gust blew in, breezing past their defense. 

They needed a fire or they’d freeze to death. The ground itself was unbearably cold, leaching heat from them, not to mention the leftover chill from the earlier rain. 

Eres stood, kicked some fallen branches to the overhang, and thanked her lucky star that it wasn’t still raining. 

The deadly silence of night was raising her nerves. Eres even thought she could see shadows dancing in the edges of her vision. 

Damn! Was her sanity meter too low?! Something could kill her before Leo even noticed. Those useless seniors, the least they could have done was leave a sleeping mat for them. They were probably sipping tea and laughing at their unfortunate juniors. 

Ed, Arille, Eliza, and Celise were probably wrapped up tight in their blankets and snoring. Eres suddenly felt hungry, miserable, and lonely. Misery loved company, right? So she’d share hers.

A small spark darted into the stack of fire she’d collected, sprouting into a bloom of flame. She walked over, kicked Leo’s leg, and sat next to him.

She’d freak him out a little as recompense for subjugating her earlier. Eres tapped his shoulder, letting her rousing fear spread across her face.

“Leo…wake up, I think I heard something.”

He snapped awake with a sharp breath. His eyes took a moment to come to consciousness, but when they did, they were surprisingly serious. 

“Eres?”

He gazed out, looking over their shabby campsite. His foot moved toward the flame, seeking warmth. Her words seemed to register in his brain after a moment.

He raised his wand to the darkness, grabbed Eres by the waist, and scooted her behind him, protecting her. 

“What did you hear?”

Eres’s eyes widened. Damn! Maybe he was the protag? What a high-T move! She had to stifle a laugh at his shonen-like action. This young master was getting far too into the role.

“I don’t know…rustling. I saw something move around the edges of my spell…and eyes shining in the bushes.”

Lies. Complete lies. Had her acting improved? She really needed a reward for this level of disingenuousness. 

He stiffened. Eres put a hand to her mouth, not trusting her poker face. 

“I heard a growling when I woke up…”

Leo’s lips twitched. His previous bravery waned, maybe remembering the previous day’s events.

Heh. Young master~ be prepared to stay up all night in fear!

“And…something scrape in the darkness…”

Nonsense. What scrape? She hadn’t even heard the rustle of nocturnal animals, how could she hear anything like that? Her lips curled up behind her hand as Leo grew increasingly tense.

Wait. Why was it so quiet? Was it supposed to be? Her smile froze. 

No, it couldn’t be. She was scaring herself. Eres pushed her fear away, relieved at the fact it was all nonsense.

Her thoughts halted when something rustled beyond the campfire. 

Leo swerved his hand in that direction, his grip on Eres tightening. “Get ready to move,” He whispered.

Huh? Move?! What move, it was a lie! A lie!!

But something appeared beyond the ring of firelight; two glowing eyes reflected light and malice.

A snout was illuminated as it drew near. The silvery-pale fur of a wolf was cast from underneath as it padded into their campsite. Its footsteps were inaudible; the only sign of its presence was a low, angry growl.

It stared straight at Eres. 

She stiffened, flustered.“What the hell?!” 

Why did this thing look so irritated? No way, had it really been stalking them? Had it only noticed their presence when she’d woken and cast a light spell?

She sucked in a breath. Leo stood, drawing her up with him. They exited the overhang, walking to the other side of the fire. The wolf circled, keeping them across the flame. 

They stood still, a quiet standoff. The wolf let out another rumbling growl. 

Leo acted; he shot a stream of electricity in a line towards the beast. The wolf moved simultaneously; it ducked to the side, its haunches tensing before darting at them. Its paw caught the meager campfire, scattering it as it charged them. 

The campsite plunged into darkness, illuminated in a flash only by another bolt from Leo. Without  a proper line-of-sight, his shot missed again. 

Eres summoned a ball of flame to the end of her wand just in time to see the wolf’s maw snapping at her. 

She shrieked, stumbling backwards out of Leo’s grasp, and fell on her backside. She trembled, having only barely dodged the wolf’s attack. It rushed her again, intent on ending her first.

Eres waved her wand out, sending a fireball forward. The light at the tip of her wand intensified, shooting at the wolf. Her side of the forest plunged into dark again as the ball shot forth, detonating a bit too far back; she was too tense to aim properly.

The wave of fire lit the surrounding forest like the sun, the searing blast catching the wolf’s back leg, only to plunge back into near inky blackness. Only a scant few plants caught alit by her spell cast a faint glow over the forest, drawing shadows from the smallest foliage.

The yelp of the wolf sounded from her left, too close for comfort. She lit her wand again and scampered to Leo’s side. 

“Eres, I need more light.”

His voice was serious, but calm. 

Eres bobbled her head, casting her fire-bolt spell in tandem with the usual flame. 

The tail of the beast slipped into the dark.

Leo aimed, ready to attack. Silence fell across the forest, disturbed only by the crackling of the newly caught flames. 

Eres pulled sulfur from her pouch, ready to act. 

Leo turned his back, pressing it against hers. They both held their breath, listening for any movement in opposite directions. 

The light cast from the ignited plants began to dim. It had just rained, and the underbrush wasn’t dry enough to stay ignited without prolonged exposure to a heat source. 

Beyond Eres’s spells, the world drew dark once again. 

Movement. Something rushed from the corner of her vision, moving toward her. Leo noticed at the same time she did. His wand flicked, sending a bolt of electricity at the wolf. 

The wolf was slowed from its earlier burn. The spell connected. The wolf shrieked, stumbled, and tried to limp back into the underbrush. Eres, acting before it could, shot two fire-bolts at it, saving one for illumination.

The fire struck the wolf’s side, the impact causing it stagger, and Leo shot one more bolt to its heart. 

With a whimper, the wolf fell still. 

Leo and Eres breathed heavily, gulping as they looked at each-other incredulously. 

“Ha…hahaha!” Eres slapped Leo on the back. “Not bad, not bad!”

Leo smiled. “I can’t believe you noticed that thing in the first place.”

He shook his head, and hugged Eres tightly. “I thought we were screwed.”

Eres, feeling somewhat guilty that she’d tried to scare him, didn’t push out of the hug like she normally would. 

“Y-yeah. Something as weak as a wolf couldn’t escape my senses…haha.”

He let her go, stepping back sheepishly. He sighed, scratching his cheek. “We’re just lucky you woke up. I fell asleep on watch…”

Eres grinned. Maybe she could wring something out of this young master after all? “Well, you’ll just have to make up for it later.”

Leo nodded, smiling at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but his face went stiff as a corpse. “Ah…”

“Hmm?”

What was up with him?

Eres turned where he was looking, raising her wand to light that direction. 

As the light raised, irises reflecting in the dark peaked from the bushes one after another. 

Her blood ran cold as she realized maybe a half-a-dozen wolves stared at them in the dark.

Her eyes trembled. 

“Oh.”