Plague of Ice

7

The emotions felt by the other members of the party ranged from amazement to shock to fear. No one, not even Hennet, had ever seen her do this before. They all knew, of course, that some druids were capable of making such transformations, but they didn't know that Sonja could.

Anxious to assuage their fears, Sonja approached her companions. They instinctively pulled back, but she kept her tail low, her face open and docile. She approached Hennet and rubbed her furry cheek against his leg. Hennet cautiously ran his hand over her head, tousling her ears and feeling the contours of her doglike skull. Her hair was soft and silky and her eyes, now shaped like a wolf's, were still Sonja's soft blue. Some ineffable essence of Sonja shone through them still.

"Foolish hound!" Savanak roared. "Do you think your cheap magic trick impresses me?"

Sonja, now capable only of wolf language, snarled back.

"This is no trick. I command the forces of nature, the same forces that hate you and that you despise. My challenge stands." She cast a glance at Savanak's wolf minions, standing attentively on the sidelines. "They accept it, so you must as well."

"You are beneath me, runt human." He spat out the last word with particular venom.

"Prove it," said Sonja. "Do it without your breath weapon."

"And you without your degenerate spells."

"So let it be," said Sonja, "for the leadership of your pack. Your pack may not intervene-"

"Neither may yours." Savanak pointed with his muzzle at Regdar, Hennet, and Lidda.

Unable to speak Common in this form, she turned to the others and pointed as a bird dog might to an area farther away. The wolves ringed this exposed area, marking off something like a crude arena.

"I think she's telling us to back off," said Lidda. "She wants to fight this creature alone."

Regdar protested vehemently. "Sonja, don't do this! It's almost twice your size. Fighting together, as a group, we can beat this monster. You don't have to do it alone."

The wolf that was Sonja shook her head and turned her back on them. Reluctantly they slipped back. The wolves parted to let them through and closed the line behind them. Several wolves broke ranks and settled into the snow next to them, silently and calmly staring at them, almost daring them to interfere with this battle over honor.

Sonja stalked the makeshift arena, eyeing her larger adversary. "If you should violate our agreements," she reminded the winter wolf, "know that you risk bringing your pack down on your head."

"Quiet yourself and fight," said Savanak. He lunged at her with all his weight. The wolf was fast but not as maneuverable as the smaller Sonja, who nimbly dodged the attack and raced off to await the next assault. She hoped she could tire Savanak enough to gain an advantage, but it was a risky endeavor. She was tired from the long march with the wolves, and even now she was beginning to pant. Fortunately she knew enough about the winter wolves of the Endless Glacier to improvise tactics.

Winter wolves were usually barding natural pack animals, individually powerful but usually banding against more powerful foes. The few remaining mammoths still wandering the icy tundra were hunted mercilessly by winter wolves, less for food than for the challenge of bringing down the largest animal of the far north. Soon, Sonja knew, there would be none left, and humans wouldn't be to blame. Fortunately, this winter wolf was on its own, and they were less adept at fighting alone.

Growling softly, the winter wolf kept its ground. Its otherworldly, blue eyes glowed in the cold, taunting her from across the snowy arena. It bared its teeth ever so slightly, and froth started to spill from its mouth.

"Keep the lines around us," said Sonja, casting a sidelong glance at the wolves surrounding their arena, and Savanak snarled in agreement. She charged straight toward Savanak but swerved to the right at the last second, giving the winter wolf tempting access to her undefended flank. The wolf took the bait, snapping at her as she passed. Sonja was faster and evaded his jaws and used the opportunity to make her own attack. She jumped against Savanak's white flank and slashed her claws into his flesh. Her teeth cut into the wolf's back. But the larger wolf whirled, shaking her off before her fangs could cause real damage. Sonja swiftly withdrew to the sidelines. Dark, red blood trickled down Savanak's white fur. He twisted back his head in frustration. The wound was placed just so that Savanak couldn't lick it.

Sonja had drawn first blood, and she could hear Lidda's excited cry, but Sonja was disappointed. She'd hoped to bite the wolf's spine, paralyzing it and ending the match quickly. Savanak was now wounded, angry and twice as dangerous. Saliva dripped from his pointed teeth. Sonja snarled at him from the sidelines, luring him forward, praying Savanak would commit a reckless act.

She hadn't lied when she said she'd killed winter wolves. Her parents waged guerilla wars against them on the stark tundra, separating them from their packs and slaying them without mercy. The young Sonja occasionally participated in these campaigns, and once or twice she was even allowed to make the death blow. But to tackle a winter wolf in battle alone? Her parents were stronger druids than Sonja was now, and a winter wolf was a difficult kill to make even for them.

Savanak thrust forward toward Sonja, tearing up the snowy ground as he went. He anticipated Sonja's dodge and met her with all his weight. But he hit an icy patch and his speed was so great that even the sure-footed beast of the tundra could not stop himself. Sonja lowered herself to the ground to snap at the tall wolf's legs as he skidded past, hoping to sever a tendon or cripple a joint. Instead, Savanak's massive paw caught her hard in the face. Sonja tumbled away, and the winter wolf plowed through the pack members lining the sides.

"Keep the lines," Sonja barked to the surrounding wolves.

The winter wolf bounded back into the arena and the ring closed again.

All the while, Sonja planned. If she couldn't best the wolf in strength, she thought, she must find another way. She knew winter wolves were hotheaded. Perhaps she could drive him to a reckless rage. A blow made in anger might be a careless blow. Sonja and Savanak kept to opposite ends of the arena, staring at each other across the snow, waiting for the other to charge.

She taunted Savanak in his own language: "What troubles you, Savanak? Can the mighty wolf not defeat the runt human? You are not a fit ruler for this wolf pack. The winter wolves of the Endless Glacier were mighty, noble foes. You are a short-furred lapdog next to them!"

"Human bitch!" Savanak roared. "I could shatter your skull with my jaws."

"Step forward and prove it!"

Sonja raced toward the middle of the arena, and Savanak sprang forward to meet her. The winter wolf swatted at her with its huge paw and caught the side of her neck. She landed on all fours and sprang again, but Savanak was ready for her. He caught the ruff of her neck in his teeth and bit into the loose flesh. The powerful creature swung his head, throwing Sonja, who seemed no heavier now than a child's doll, through the air. She landed hard in a splatter of blood.

Lidda shrieked from behind the ring of wolves, but Sonja barely heard it.

The wolf approached her slowly, not cautiously but brazenly, lording its power over her. Sonja turned her head to face it, and from her supine position she gave a defiant snarl. Savanak took a slow, deliberate step forward, jaws positioned to snap her neck. He closed in and Sonja could feel his frigid breath.

At the last second, Sonja pulled away and sprang into air, sailing clear over Savanak. Drawing on her last reserves of strength, she became a whirlwind of fur and teeth. She kicked up large amounts of snow until one entire side of the cleared space was lost in a white cloud.

Savanak reared and scanned for her through the haze. Even the enhanced senses of a winter wolf could not find her now.

"Do you think you can hide from me?" he asked with a soft growl before plunging headfirst into the snow. But he could not gauge the other side properly, and once again he disturbed the lines of the arena. Crouching in the settling snow, Sonja was reassured by the growls of warning that drove Savanak back into the arena. The pack would enforce the terms of the challenge. Alone, perhaps she could not defeat this winter wolf, but with help…

The cloud of snow she had kicked up was nearly gone. Sonja leaped out at Savanak, catching his flank with her claws and tearing a red line down his ribs. When Savanak turned to snap at her, she was gone again, taunting him from the far side of the arena. When he rushed toward her, she used her speed and maneuverability to hop away to the opposite side.

Both wolves were wounded and trailing blood across the snow when they leaped at each other. Both were tired and weakened. Anger rose in Savanak. Sonja could see the change in his eyes when she stared at him from across the arena. Again they traded sides, but the druid refused to get close enough to attack or be attacked. She was no longer trying to end the challenge at all but to drag it out.

"Craven human!" Savanak growled. "Fight me! Fight or yield." Sonja didn't return the taunts or respond in any way. She stared at him from across the arena.

Savanak's blood boiled. The winter wolf howled shrilly to the heavens. Summoning his energy, he sprang forward at Sonja with all the speed he could muster, teeth snapping, blue eyes flaming. Sonja pushed off the ground and only barely sailed clear of Savanak's mighty jaws before the juggernaut stumbled through the wolves forming the arena's outer lines.

One bold wolf, offended by Savanak's repeated violation of the confines of the challenge, offered a warning by nipping the winter wolf on his rump. This proved a bad idea. Savanak reared back instantly and crushed the wolf's skull with a clamp of his mighty jaws. Outraged at the needless slaying, another wolf jumped in for Savanak's throat, hut the winter wolf struck it in the chin with a paw. The force of that blow snapped the wolf's neck and flung the body backward into the pack. Other wolves stood their ground, jaws open, backs raised in anger, but Savanak ignored them. He turned his attention back to Sonja, who stood at the center of the arena, a lupine approximation of a smile crossing her snout.

"The lines must not be disturbed, Savanak," she reminded him.

Rage blinded the winter wolf and all reason left him. He reared back, mouth opened wide. A high-pitched sound emanated from Savanak's mouth, and a few cold, blue streamers began issuing forth. Instantly, the wolves on the sidelines broke ranks and rushed forward at their leader. The winter wolf's attack was cut short by a dozen wolves' slashing jaws tearing at his flesh. Savanak howled as they bore him down, tearing chunks of meat from his flanks and snapping at his neck to make the kill.

Sonja issued a single, sharp bark and all of the wolves stopped where they stood. Limp and bloodied herself, she struggled to her feet, then slowly transformed back to her human form.

Hennet, Regdar, and Lidda rushed to her side. She was bruised and cut, and she limped, but the glow of victory shone from her.

"You won, Sonja!" Lidda shouted. "You're the pack leader now!"

Hennet closed his arms around Sonja. She stiffened slightly as he touched a delicate spot.

"Thank all the gods you survived," he said. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"How did it work?" asked Regdar. "Just because the winter wolf was about to use its breath?"

"That was a clear violation of our conditions," Sonja explained. "It didn't hurt that Savanak kept breaking the enclosing lines, too. I won by default. Not the most glorious way to win a challenge, but it did work."

"You taunted your opponent into violating the rules," Lidda said, "and that disqualified him, or it, or whatever. In halfling society there's no more noble victory."

Sonja smiled at that thought. "Let's see what's left of Savanak." She gestured for the wolves to back off her opponent then picked up her cudgel from where she'd dropped it earlier. The winter wolf was a bloody mass. His belly still heaved, but he was completely incapacitated. Savanak would soon bleed to death, Sonja knew. She could only guess whether a winter wolf in such a state would answer questions truthfully, but it was worth a try.

"You traitorous runt!" the winter wolf swore at her in Common. "You won through deceit. Allow me the dignity of death."

"Not yet, Savanak," Sonja answered. "You are bested and, yes, you are dying, but you will answer my questions. How did you get here?"

"I don't know," the wolf spat. "A magical force ushered me here while I slept. I considered it a blessing from the gods. The Frozen Drifts of Daak were far behind me, a new pack followed me, and no others of my kind were near to compete with. Bliss." Savanak's upper lip curled high above his teeth.

"What destroyed this forest?"

"It was stumps when I got here. The wolves said the first blast of this cold took the trees but left them. It is strange magic."

Sonja eyed Savanak suspiciously. "Where did you arrive?" she asked.

"At the core-the center of the area, or so I took it to be. It's the coldest there, and there the towers of ice reach to the sky."

"Towers of ice?" asked Sonja.

"The dragon keeps its lair there," the wolf explained. "The white. I saw it when I arrived. It stared at me like it wanted to fight, but then it flew away. I wandered through the forest of stumps until I found this pack, killed its leader, and made it my own."

"What has caused all this?" demanded Sonja. "Where is the ice coming from? How can it be undone?"

"I don't know, druid bitch!" the wolf snarled. Its voice was fading. "The wolves tell me that a few humans passed through the forest some days before the ice began. Perhaps it was they who did it. Go to the towers of ice if you feel the need. Fouler things than wolves lurk there. I hope they rip the frozen flesh from your bones!"

The ice druid gestured with her cudgel, inviting the wolves to finish off their fallen leader. They rushed forward and tore into the shaggy body ferociously, swalling hunks of meat as the winter wolf howled his last.

Sonja turned to the others. "The towers of ice-that must be the zone's center. We might still reach there today if we hurry. We must get moving."

"You can't travel like this," Hennet said, wiping away blood from her.

"Don't worry," said Sonja. "I can heal myself more swiftly than I can heal anyone else. I'm not even that badly hurt. I made it look worse than it was for Savanak's benefit."

"What about your new friends?" asked Lidda, gesturing toward the gruesome spectacle of the pack devouring the winter wolf.

Sonja made a wolfish bark, and all the wolves turned their attention back to her. She uttered a few more noises until they lowered their heads in reverence and returned to their meal.

"What did you do?" asked Regdar.

"I relieved them of my rulership. It's up to them to select a new leader by ordinary wolf means. They'll trouble us no more."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Lidda. She looked around at the forest of frozen stumps stretching in every direction. "Do we even know in which direction these towers of ice lie?"

Sonja pointed. "This way. The wolves say so. I'd ask them for an escort but…"

"I think we're doing just fine on our own," said Regdar.

"I'd agree with Regdar," said Hennet, adding, for once. "I've had quite enough of wolves for one day."

"Have you?" laughed Sonja, smiling to bear her teeth.

"I didn't know you could do that when we first met," said Hennet. "I might have been a little more careful with what I said."

"It's not just her, you know," Lidda told him. "Every woman is a wolf."