No matter how much Blanc thought about and worried about his father's words, nothing bad seemed to happen or stop them from advancing steadily towards the mountain's base.
No sounds indicated anything near them that would pose a real danger to them. No tracks or signs on the ground offered Blanc any clue as to what sort of danger might lie ahead of them.
However, it might not have been accurate for Blanc to look for such signs. The rain from last week, as well as the carpet of leaves from last autumn, could have very well hidden these as long as the beast was not too heavy enough to press them hard into the ground.
Something like a bear would surely be capable of doing. Or any creature of True Vita, like the three from before.
Once Blanc realized that his thoughts began running amok again, resurfacing things he wanted forgotten, he stopped and refocused on the surroundings as they were now, perhaps, only minutes away from the base of the mountain.
"It's weird," said Celine.
"What is?" Blanc asked her, startled by her sudden statement.
"Well, the forest," began Celine, "It feels so quiet all of a sudden. No birds, nothing. Only the wind in the distance. But even that feels more silent than usual."
"Yeah, I was wondering about that as well," Kael interjected.
"I did not, I liked it," added Lune.
"Silence, you say?" Blanc muttered, focusing on the surroundings with all his might.
At that moment, he realized. This was yet another failure of his. And it angered him deeply. How could he be such a fool, not to notice it?
He had overestimated himself. Instead of hearing everything, he had focused only on the sounds that were present. And not those that were missing.
And when a forest falls silent, no good things follow.
"Stop," ordered Blanc, "Draw your weapons, and do not move."
"What is happening?" Lune panicked, hearing his words.
"Do it now," Blanc growled. "And check our surroundings."
At his words, Celine and Kael drew an arrow from their quiver and nocked it silently, watching everything around them.
Lune did not, though. She began trembling slightly.
"Lune," whispered Kael, "Do it."
"I… I can't, I'm scared," she replied in a whisper.
"Do you want to die?" Kael asked her.
"I want to go home," she replied to him, tears forming on the corners of her eyes.
"Then draw your arrow," Kael said, but a sudden shush from Blanc closed his mouth and made Lune finally cave in and draw an arrow from her own quiver.
Yet, even focused as they were, with three of them with arrows ready and Blanc with the sword in his left hand, nothing seemed out of the ordinary around them.
The silence still stood. As if holding its breath for something. But it seemed that only the forest knew the reason for it.
Until they found out as well. But not in front of their eyes, but all around them, howls began resounding. Far away, and close enough. Wolves. And a lot of them.
How could they surround them so well? Since when have they been… Ah, since then.
Blanc bit his lip as the howls continued, regretting that one hour of rest more than ever.
"My love," began Celine, "What do we do? How many do you think there are?"
"Enough for all of us to get a black Mark from their Raw Vita, I assume. If we do not die, that is," Blanc replied to her second question.
"What do we do then?" Kael asked that first question of Celine's again, louder this time, as he spoke over the howls.
"We are surrounded. We cannot retreat. So, we fight." Blanc began, "Wolves are intelligent beasts. They fight together, but they also know when to retreat if they see themselves losing. Hopefully, after we kill a few of them, they will let us off."
"Very well, but how do we fight them off?" Celine asked.
After a few moments of thinking, Blanc came up with an idea.
"You three keep shooting arrows at them, and keep them far away from us. All those who get past that will get stopped by me. Celine, you keep our backs. Kael, you keep our left and Lune, our right, understood?"
"Yes," Celine and Kael nodded, as sweat poured down their forehead.
But Lune was shaking heavily. Not answering him. Not until the first of the wolves was finally seen approaching in the distance.
"I'm sorry, brother, I'm sorry. I really cannot do it." Lune cried out, letting go of her bow and arrow.
"Lune, hey, pick it back up." Replied Blanc, seeing her collapse to her knees.
The wolves were hundreds of feet away, but were steadily approaching them. There was no time for such bullshit happening now. When all their lives were in danger. So, he planted his sword on the ground and knelt in front of her. Grabbing her face with both hands, ignoring the pain that shot up in his right hand, and made her watch his eyes.
"Lune of Blood Denegis. Daughter of Elion and Auren. Do you know what our parents are doing right now? They are fighting a war. A war for their lives. A war for us to have a home to return to. If they can do it there, you can do it as well. You are of Noble Blood. You have to kill to grow stronger. Do you think you only get to kill whenever you want? No. That time may come at any moment. And the moment is now. Make your choice, Lune. Fight and become stronger, or die. Useless and weak."
"I-I will fight," Lune replied, convinced by her brother's words.
"Then pick up your bow!" Blanc said, returning to his feet, and breaking free the sword from the ground.
Twenty-four wolves surrounded them.
Each step they took was with purpose.
Silent.
The wolves all had a combination of black, white, and brown coats, with two in the middle different than the rest.
One was larger than the rest, having a coat of deep black, and the wolf next to him was smaller than him, but still larger than the rest, having a coat of snow white.
They were the leaders of this pack. And they were approaching them from the mountainside. On Celine's side.
"Celine, my love, try to kill those two," Blanc instructed, pointing towards the larger wolves.
"You think these are the leaders?" She asked him.
"Mhm," Blanc nodded, "If they die, it might change the mind of the rest."
"I will try," she nodded back, "Good luck."
"You too, my love," Blanc replied, then turned towards his younger siblings, who, even though they were scared, made up their minds to fight.
"Kael, Lune, ready?" Blanc asked.
They did not reply. They kept exhaling loudly, trying to steady their hearts, but both managed to offer a nod as a response.
Their own battle was nigh upon them. The wolves were now less than a hundred feet away. Prime range for their arrows. And with the wolves' growls and barks, as the signal, they loosed their arrows upon them.
Two fell.
One from Celine's arrows that found its heart, and one from Lune's arrows that planted itself in the wolf's neck.
One of the wolves began running towards them, as Kael's arrow missed him by a small distance, placing itself on a tree.
It aimed its wrath at Kael's leg, but Blanc's sword planted him on the ground, his head pierced by it.
Instant death.
Another one fell by Celine's arrow, as she picked at the wolves who stood guard between her arrows and the larger wolves.
Lune missed, the arrow finding the ground, near the leg of another wolf who, taking a larger approach, circled towards Celine's leg but met with the same sword, which detached his head from the rest of the body as it slumped to the ground.
Kael found more luck this time in his aim, as his arrow found one of the wolves' legs, which made him slow enough for a second arrow from him to finish the job.
Eighteen left.
But these deaths only enraged the survivors; their barks grew harsher, louder. And their growls more crazier, as saliva began dripping from the corners of some of them.
But five others fell in the next moments, all the arrows and Blanc's sword snuffing out life one after the other.
Thirteen left.
Two wolves on Lune's side began their sprint towards her direction, but at the last moment, as Blanc's sword cut horizontally, severing the front legs of one of them, the other abruptly switched direction, aiming for Kael's unprotected back.
"Kael!" Blanc yelled.
By the time Kael turned around to see what was happening, the wolf lay dead at his feet, an arrow planted in its side, piercing its lungs. As Celine heard, Blanc spun around and snuffed out the life of the poor beast.
A deep growl, followed by a bark just as deep and loud, made the other wolves stop on their feet, allowing Lune to hit one.
The white wolf approached Celine as the other wolves stopped their attacks and watched.
"Celine, can you handle it?" asked Blanc, but just as he asked that question, the black one barked as well, moving aside and looking at Blanc's eyes with hatred and bloodlust.
Blanc understood what this meant. So, as the wolves, he spoke as well.
"Kael, Lune, stop firing. But if the others attack you, put them down."
"Blanc?" asked Kael.
"Not to worry. I am fine over here. Celine, you?" replied Blanc.
"I like closer battles more," she said, throwing the bow on the ground and unsheathing her sword. "Come at me," Celine growled back at the wolf, taunting her.
The black wolf did not wait for any taunts as it began barking and feinting every time Blanc swung his sword.
Blanc knew what the wolf was trying to do. It was not looking after the openings. But after the weaknesses in Blanc's attack. Weaknesses it could exploit.
And there was a very obvious one. That Blanc was using a sword with his left hand. His non-dominant hand.
That is, until the white wolf's head fell beside him.
The black wolf saw it. It saw its partner not just defeated, but dead. And lost control.
It got enraged and was about to launch itself at Celine, disregarding Blanc completely, which was his deadly mistake.
The mistake that allowed Blanc to swing his sword widely, over his head, and split the wolf in two down the middle.
Eight left.
But the eight remaining wolves, seeing their leaders falling so easily at the hands of Blanc and Celine, began retreating in a sprint.
"What do we do, Blanc?" asked Kael.
"Kill them."
With his instructions, four more fell at the arrows of the twins and Celine, who picked up her bow before the remaining wolves got far away, running in every direction they could.
Twenty wolves lay dead before the feet of the four. A bountiful harvest of Raw Vita.