Chapter 15: The Howl of the Pack
The howls started as whispers, distant echoes caught in the fog, but now they pressed close. Each cry was sharper than the last, rattling through the Thornveil until it seemed the trees themselves shook with the sound. Elias felt them more than he heard them, sharp pulses through the Loom, jagged notes scraping along the edge of his Resonance Sense.
"They're circling," he muttered, hand tightening on the spear.
Hale's head turned sharply. "Where?"
Elias's chest tightened, he wasn't sure how to explain, it wasn't sight, wasn't sound, but it was there all the same. "Two coming low from the left. Another behind us. Closer than they've ever been."
Hale didn't question it, only spat into the dirt and snapped the squad into position. "Form line. Elias with me up front. Noll just behind—ward ready. Lysera, left flank. Elvi, right. Thorek anchor the rear."
They shifted with practiced urgency, no argument, boots squelching against damp roots. The morning mist pressed in so thick Elias could barely see ten paces. His Resonance Sense, though, every heartbeat of those beasts cracked through the hum like drumbeats in the fog.
The cub at his heel bristled. Rook's hackles were stiff as spears, his growl low and steady. His silver eyes cut through the dark as though he, too, could feel the shapes pacing just out of sight.
"Finally," Thorek said from the back, hefting his hammer. "A fight worth swinging for."
Elias's grip tightened on the spear, every rib aching from old wounds, every nerve alive with the resonance. He muttered, "Shit, you'll get your chance in about two breaths."
Elvi's lips twitched, her bow string already taut. "Optimistic."
The exchange rippled a faint laugh through the formation, short, rough, but it cut the edge of silence.
The Thornveil answered with another howl. This one closer. Too close.
"They're here," Elias said, voice low but firm. He didn't think. The words came like instinct. "Front low, two left, wait for the charge."
Lysera gave him a sharp look, pale hair catching the faint glow of her weaving crossbow. "How do you,"
But the mist broke before she could finish.
Two shapes lunged from the left, jaws wide, claws tearing at the ground. A third came straight at the front, mist rippling around its shoulders.
"Now!" Elias barked.
Lysera's bolt cracked loose, her weaving bending the shot into the flank of the first beast. It staggered, shrieking as resonance bled from the wound. Elvi's arrow followed a breath later, sharp and precise, punching through the eye of the second. Both collapsed in a tumble of snapping jaws and mist.
The third leapt for Elias. He shifted, spear alive in his hands, the reforged veins glowing faint blue. He met it midair, thrusting deep into its chest. The impact rattled through his arms, but the resonance thrummed steady, biting through bone.
The beast shrieked, its body thrashing before collapsing in a heap at his feet.
"Damn," Thorek said with a grin, "he wasn't lying about two breaths."
"Stay sharp," Hale snapped. "That wasn't the pack. Just teeth to test the wall."
Elias barely heard him. His chest burned with the hum of resonance, but it wasn't only in him. Something rippled outward, faint but real, brushing across the weaves around him.
Noll's voice cracked behind him. "Ward"
The boy's trembling arms moved, fingers jerky as he tried to weave. Lines of resonance sputtered, weak and unstable, barely forming into shape. Elias's gut twisted, too raw, too thin. It would collapse before it caught.
But then Elias's spear pulsed. The hum spread, brushing across Noll's weave, steadying the flicker like a hand pressing a candle glass. The lines stopped sputtering. They shone, faint but solid, a thin barrier flaring up between them and the fog.
Noll blinked at it, eyes wide. His voice shook. "It… held."
Elias's breath came rough. His scars burned hotter than they should. He hadn't done it on purpose, but he knew. It wasn't just the boy, it was him. His resonance bleeding out, catching hold of the threads around Noll and forcing them into rhythm.
The realization left him cold.
Lysera's voice cut through the mist, sharp. "That isn't possible."
Elias ground his teeth, said nothing.
The fog thickened again, the howls rising from every side. Elias's knuckles whitened around the spear, heartbeat syncing with the rhythm of the Loom.
Thorek's laugh rumbled out like a forge bellows. "Finally."
The next howl split the mist open like a blade.
Elias's chest jolted with the vibration. He could feel them now, five this time, circling tighter, their resonance sharp in the Loom. Each step was a pulse in his ribs, each growl a scrape across his teeth.
"Five," he called it before it came. "Two at the rear, one right, two circling back brace."
Hale didn't question, only shifted his stance, spear set. "Hold formation. Don't let them split us."
Thorek chuckled low, hammer resting heavy against his shoulder. "Split us? They'll be lucky if there's enough left to scrape into a stew pot."
Rook snarled, silver eyes gleaming, fur raised in a ridge. His growl was steady, deep, and for a moment Elias thought the cub might leap before the beasts even showed.
Then the fog broke.
The first came from the right, sleek and fast, its body low, jaws snapping with a sound like bones breaking. Elvi's bowstring thrummed—an arrow caught it in the shoulder, spinning it off balance.
"High left, now!" Elias barked.
Lysera's bolt snapped, weaving light bending it midair. It struck true, burying in a lung. The beast crumpled into the dirt, whining.
Another lunged for Noll. The boy flinched, hands trembling, threads sparking faint around him. His ward stuttered, weak, a dying candle, until Elias's chest burned hot and steady. The spear hummed in his grip, resonance spilling outward like water from a cracked jar.
The weave flared. Noll's ward blazed brighter, a thin sheet of light snapping solid before the beast hit. Claws scraped, teeth gnashed, but the barrier held.
Noll gasped, eyes wide with shock, as another weave he knew should have failed had held.
"Brace!" Elias snapped, shoving the boy back with his free hand. He spun into the thrust, spearhead blazing as he drove it through the beast's ribcage. It shrieked, threads tearing in sparks of blue, then collapsed in a twitching heap.
Another shape barreled from the mist. This one hit hard.
Thorek roared, hammer swinging. The impact boomed like a forge bell, bones cracking, mist exploding outward in a spray of blood and ash. The dwarf laughed, mad and joyous, lifting his hammer from the ruin. "That's more like it!"
Elias had no time to answer. His body burned with resonance, the spear thrumming steady in his hands. His sense bled outward again, unbidden. Elvi's arrow flew truer, her aim snapping tighter than it should have in the fog. Lysera's ward shuddered, then steadied like iron under her hands.
They all moved sharper, steadier, like a rhythm had caught hold of them.
"Left flank, two out, front high!" Elias barked without thinking. His chest felt like a drum, each beat a signal.
Lysera shifted, bolt flying, punching through a beast's throat before it landed. Hale speared another low, driving it back with brutal precision.
Noll's ward flared again, trembling but solid. The boy's teeth grit, eyes fierce now. "I can hold it!"
"Damn right you can," Elias growled, spear sweeping wide to cut a beast's leg out from under it. The creature howled, rolling across the ground before Elvi's arrow pinned it.
For a heartbeat the mist was still. Breaths came rough, sweat dripping into the soil. Five beasts lay broken in the dirt, their bodies smoking faint blue where cores sputtered out.
The squad held. Bloodied, panting, but they held.
Then Elias's chest tightened.
He felt it before the others. A new rhythm. Heavier. Each step in the Loom struck like a hammer against stone, steady, unhurried, confident. It wasn't the jittery pulses of a circling predator. It was measured. Commanding.
His grip on the spear whitened. "Something bigger's coming."
Rook's growl deepened, hackles bristling. The cub's silver eyes gleamed brighter, catching light that wasn't there.
Lysera's gaze cut to Elias. "How do you know?"
Elias swallowed. "Because it's walking like it owns the ground."
The mist shifted. The forest itself seemed to hold its breath.
And then they saw it.
A massive wolf shape stepped through the fog, fur streaked with faint glowing veins of resonance. Its eyes burned silver blue, intelligent, calm. Old scars cut across its shoulders and flanks, each mark a story written in survival. It didn't lunge. It didn't rush.
It looked at them. Studied them.
The alpha.
The beast emerged from the fog, tall enough that Elias had to lift his eyes to meet its steady, silver gaze. Broad chest, thick fur streaked with faint lines of blue resonance pulsing under its hide. Its eyes were silver pools, intelligent and calm, no trace of frenzy or hunger in them, only certainty. This was no wild mongrel flung from the Loom's fringes. This was a sovereign predator, the will of the forest made flesh.
The squad held their breath.
Rook growled first, a low rumble that vibrated through Elias's leg. The cub bristled, fur spiked, but there was something deeper in him too, recognition. His body quivered with the tension of both fear and fury.
"Saints…" Noll whispered, voice small, but Elias cut him with a sharp growl.
"Eyes up, boy. Don't you dare flinch."
The alpha took one step forward. Its paws landed without sound, but the resonance struck Elias like a drumbeat in his chest. Slow. Heavy. Confident. The air itself seemed to bend around it, the mist rippling in silent waves.
Hale's jaw set. His voice was low, controlled, but every word felt dragged from stone. "Form line. Same as before. Hold."
"Hold?" Thorek barked a laugh, hammer slamming into his palm. "I'll do more than hold."
"Don't get clever," Lysera snapped. Her crossbow hummed faint, bolt etched with thin lines of weaving. Her gaze never left the alpha.
The wolf moved again. Another step. It didn't rush. It didn't circle. It advanced like a commander sure of victory, silver eyes weighing each of them as if deciding which would fall first.
Elias's grip trembled on the spear. His scars burned hot, his chest thrumming with the beast's rhythm. His Resonance Sense screamed, not with danger, but with weight. This thing bent the Loom simply by existing.
"Shit," Elias muttered, forcing air into his lungs. "This one's smart."
The alpha's head tilted. Not understanding, but acknowledging.
And then it howled.
The sound ripped the fog apart. It wasn't just noise, it was resonance, a deep vibration that rattled bones and set every weave in the squad trembling. Noll staggered, his ward flickering like glass under a hammer. Lysera cursed, her weave sputtering at the edges. Even Elvi's bowstring twitched in her grip.
Elias's chest burned hotter. Instinct roared through him. He shoved his resonance outward, not into his spear this time, but into the squad itself. Threads rippled from him like shockwaves, touching Lysera's weave, Elvi's draw, Noll's failing shield.
The flickers steadied. The wards hummed solid. The bowstring tightened true.
The alpha's howl faded. The mist fell still again.
And Elias realized his breath was ragged. His resonance had bled into all of them, holding them steady against the weight of that roar. His heart pounded like a war drum.
"Fuck," he whispered, sweat dripping into his beard. "That's new."
Lysera's eyes cut to him, wide with a flicker of fear. "You, what did you do"
"Later," Elias barked. "It's coming."
The wolf moved.
It surged with sudden violence, claws tearing earth, jaws wide. Hale met it, spear braced. The alpha's weight slammed into him like a falling wall. His feet dug deep furrows, arms straining, but he held.
"Now!" Hale roared.
Elias darted in, spear thrumming with resonance. He thrust for the beast's side. The tip bit deep, scraping ribs, but the alpha twisted, massive paw lashing out. The blow smashed against Elias's shoulder, hurling him sideways. Pain detonated down his arm. He hit dirt, vision flashing white.
"Elias!" Noll's cry cracked like glass. The boy's ward flared bright as another paw struck, the barrier trembling, spiderwebbing with cracks.
Elias rolled, spitting blood, forcing himself up. "I'm good, hold, damn it!" His spear hummed alive again, blue light crawling steady.
Lysera's bolt shot past him, curving midair, striking the alpha's hind leg. Elvi's arrow followed, piercing just above the joint. The wolf snarled, twisting, weight shifting.
"Thorek!" Hale bellowed.
The dwarf was already moving, hammer raised high. He roared and brought it down like a falling mountain. The impact cracked against the beast's shoulder, a thunderclap of bone and stone. The alpha staggered, but not down.
It spun, jaws snapping, and Thorek barely ducked aside, the teeth closing with a sound like steel shearing.
Rook launched.
The cub tore forward, silver eyes blazing, his small body a streak of fury. He leapt for the wolf's throat, jaws snapping. The alpha jerked aside, but Rook clamped onto its shoulder, teeth burying deep. The massive wolf snarled, shaking, flinging him free. The cub hit dirt with a yelp, rolling before he scrambled back to his feet, snarling defiance.
"Noll, ward!" Elias shouted.
The boy's trembling arms etched threads again. His ward snapped up just in time to catch a claw meant for Rook. The barrier sparked, shrieked, and should have shattered, but Elias's resonance spilled outward again, steadying it, holding it solid. The claw scraped off, leaving Rook alive.
Noll gasped, sweat pouring down his face. "I, I can't"
"You can," Elias snapped, voice sharp, like drill-sergeant bark. "Because I'm holding it with you. Don't you fucking quit now."
The boy's teeth clenched. His ward flared brighter.
The alpha turned its gaze on Elias. Intelligent eyes locked to his, a low growl vibrating through the ground. It had seen. It knew.
"Yeah," Elias muttered, rolling his shoulders, ignoring the throbbing ache. "Come on, then."
The wolf lunged.
Elias met it head on. His spear sang with resonance, every line glowing bright as he thrust. The tip pierced deep into the beast's chest, biting through muscle. The wolf snarled, jaws snapping inches from his face. Its breath was hot, rank with blood and mist.
Hale drove his spear in beside him, anchoring the strike. "Push!"
They shoved together. The alpha reeled back, wounded but not down. Its massive paw lashed, striking Hale's ribs with a crack that made Elias's gut twist. The captain grunted, staggering, but stayed on his feet.
Lysera's voice rang out, sharp: "Strike the seam, now!"
Elias's resonance flared. He felt it, threads stretched thin in the beast's chest, a fault line of resonance ready to tear. He thrust, precise, his spear biting into the weak point. The alpha roared, body shuddering.
Thorek smashed its flank, hammer crunching ribs. Elvi's arrow buried in its eye. Lysera's bolt pierced its other leg.
The alpha staggered. It roared, not in rage, but in defiance. Its resonance battered against theirs, a storm of power refusing to fall.
And then Rook leapt again.
The cub struck the wounded throat, jaws locking deep. Silver eyes blazed, brighter than before. He tore, savage and unyielding. Blood sprayed, hot and metallic, mist hissing as it touched the ground.
The alpha collapsed. Its massive body hit the earth with a tremor. Rook stood on its throat, jaws dripping, chest heaving.
The resonance of its core flared bright in its chest, a glow pulsing like a second heart. Rook's gaze fixed, hunger and instinct burning. He lunged and tore the core free, swallowing it whole.
The forest fell silent.
Elias's chest heaved. His spear sagged in his grip, sweat dripping down his face. The mist hung heavy, broken only by the sound of their ragged breaths.
Then he saw Rook.
The cub trembled, fur bristling, body shaking like a bowstring pulled too tight. His silver eyes glowed brighter, threads flickering faint around him. His growl wasn't cub soft anymore. It was deeper. Stronger.
"Rook," Elias said softly, stepping forward.
The cub swayed, then dropped to his haunches, panting. His body was the same, but not. Muscles rippled sharper beneath the fur, his frame already thicker, closer to a grown wolf than a pup. The glow in his eyes lingered, steady and bright.
Noll whispered, awed: "He's… changing."
Lysera's gaze narrowed. "Threadfang. The first step."
Elias crouched, hand pressing gently to Rook's fur. The cub's resonance throbbed under his palm, hot and steady. Elias exhaled, a broken laugh slipping through. "Hell. You're full of surprises, aren't you?"
The others gathered. Hale clutched his ribs, face pale but proud. "We held," he said, voice rough. His eyes found Elias. "Because of you."
Lysera's voice was sharp, unsettled. "No. Because he bled resonance into us. I felt it. That shouldn't be possible."
Elias shook his head, wiping sweat from his brow. "Or maybe you all finally started aiming straight." His grin was thin, ragged, but real.
Thorek laughed, hammer thumping against the ground. "Shortstack's got jokes. And fire. I'll drink to that."
Elvi only exhaled, shoulders easing as her bow lowered.
The mist pressed quiet again. A howl echoed in the distance, but this one was faint, retreating. The pack was broken.
Elias looked once more at Rook, the glow in his eyes bright as embers. Change had already begun. And deep in his chest, his own resonance thrummed back, low and steady, as if answering.