Silver Wolf (2)
The moment Ariel cast her defensive skill, Shield, a blue barrier formed around the silver wolf. An orc's axe came crashing down on it, rang off the barrier with a sharp clang, and went spinning away into the distance.
"Kshk...?"
The orc clutched his throbbing wrist and backed away, puzzlement creeping over his face. He had swung with everything he had, fully meaning to take the silver wolf's head in a single stroke, and a blue membrane had appeared from nowhere to stop him. He couldn't begin to understand it.
"Kshk-kshk!"
The orcs beside him, whipped into a frenzy, hurled themselves at the silver wolf. Axes rose and fell in a wild flurry as they tried to smash the barrier around her, but not so much as a scratch appeared. It could hardly have been otherwise. There was no world in which an orc broke a defensive skill Ariel had cast.
"Kshk! Kshiiik!"
Beside themselves with frustration, the orcs stamped in place and tore at their own hair. They had gone to such trouble hunting the silver wolf, and a blue wall had shown up to ruin it—and yet they couldn't simply walk away. The pups were far too small to fill a stomach. They needed at least the mother's bulk if they wanted a proper meal. Still, nothing they did made the barrier so much as shiver. One orc, boiling over, rammed it with his forehead and died where he stood, blood streaming down his face.
Up in the tree, Ariel and Lou watched the whole scene with perfectly blank expressions.
"Sis, are you going to save that silver wolf?"
Ariel nodded. She couldn't have said exactly why. Looking at a mother who had lost her pups had simply stirred something like pity in her.
"I knew it! Our Sis really is the soul of justice!"
The orcs would hardly have agreed, but justice had always depended on where one stood. Right now, saving a dying silver wolf who had lost her young was justice.
Ariel dropped lightly from the branch. The instant her feet met the ground, she loosed Magic Missile—one bolt for every orc. The orcs, still howling their frustration, collapsed where they stood, a hole punched clean through each forehead.
Ariel swept every corpse into her Inventory and approached the silver wolf.
"Grrrr... grrrrr..."
The wolf growled low, wary, her eyes locked on Ariel. She had no strength to rise, but if she had, she looked ready to throw herself at Ariel that very moment. Even so, Ariel asked Lou to heal her.
"Well... I'm scared she'll eat me, but..."
From Lou's perspective, the silver wolf was frightening in her own right. It wasn't only monsters that ate fairies; beasts did too. He flew as high as he could and scattered healing powder. Where the powder touched her, the silver wolf's body began to shimmer, and soon she gathered her strength and stood.
She didn't spare Ariel or Lou so much as a glance. She simply trudged over to her dead pups.
What a mother felt after losing her children was beyond anything either of them could imagine. The silver wolf looked terribly sad. Fine tremors ran through her body; she might have been crying. She gathered the pups' corpses, scattered all around, into a single place. They had already left the world. Lou's healing powder would do nothing for them now.
"Awooo!"
The silver wolf threw her head back and howled at the sky—a cry both mournful and raw. Before she quite knew what she was doing, Ariel walked over and stroked the wolf's jaw. The animal was so large that Ariel had to rise onto her toes. The wolf flinched once, but she did not pull away from the touch.
From a distance the silver coat had looked deeply mysterious. Under Ariel's hand it was wonderfully soft, and the feel of it pleased her.
"Hmm. Now that I look, this silver wolf resembles you, Sis."
Lou circled around the wolf as he spoke.
"The color of the fur, the color of the eyes... hmm. Is this fate?"
At his words, Ariel studied the silver wolf once more. Her eyes were a crimson red, red as blood—exactly the same color as Ariel's own.
After stroking the wolf's jaw for a while, Ariel abruptly sat on the ground and began to dig. She meant to bury the pups. She couldn't leave the bodies lying there. She had no shovel, only her bare hands, but her strength and agility were infinite, and dirt flew at a speed the eye could barely follow. The silver wolf and Lou both wore faintly startled expressions.
Not even a mole digs like that... Lou thought it, but he kept it to himself.
In moments a wide pit gaped in the earth. With dirt-caked hands, Ariel laid the dead pups into it one by one, her manner exceedingly careful. The silver wolf made no move to stop her. She only watched, as if she understood what Ariel meant to do.
When every pup lay side by side in the hole, Ariel climbed back to the surface. Gazing quietly at the small bodies, she began to cover them with soil. Unlike the digging, her movements were slow, as though she were giving the silver wolf time to let her children go.
"Kyeeeng..."
Watching her pups vanish beneath the dirt, the silver wolf scraped at the ground with her paws. The sight was so like sobbing that tears gathered in Lou's eyes.
Before long the pit was completely covered. Ariel leveled the earth and stacked stones on top. It took time, but in the end the pups' grave looked respectable enough. She dusted off her hands and turned away. This was as much as she could do. The silver wolf watched her retreating back for a long while as Ariel walked off without a backward glance.
Ariel kept moving through the forest. The city was still a long way off, so they would have to sleep in the open, but she found no particular inconvenience in it. Washing was a matter of throwing herself into a lake. Meals were handled by taking a cream bun from her Inventory. At night she raised Shield around their camp and slept untroubled by monsters.
Creatures did draw near when they saw her asleep, but no amount of hammering on the barrier did any good. Worn out, they gave up and left. Now and then a more stubborn monster sat in front of the Shield and waited for Ariel to come out, only to meet a swift end when she woke and put a Magic Missile through it.
Today, too, Ariel woke clear-headed and dismissed the barrier. Holding Shield through an entire night was no easy feat even for a high-ranking mage, but it cost Ariel nothing at all. She simply deployed it once, and that was the end of the matter.
"Oh? What's this, Sis?"
When the Shield came down, a rabbit and a squirrel lay dead before her, one of each. Both had been killed by a bite to the throat. What had happened wasn't hard to guess.
"That silver wolf must want to repay the kindness."
Lou murmured, looking at the corpses. There was no question the silver wolf had left them—prey brought to repay Ariel. Of course, Ariel had no intention of eating a rabbit or a squirrel. If someone cooked them and handed them over, that would be one thing. Skinning them herself and roasting them over a fire was nothing but a bother. Still, she couldn't ignore the gesture, so she placed both corpses in her Inventory.
The space was already packed with the bodies of dead monsters and beasts, but its capacity remained infinite. It wasn't a problem. Ariel took out a cream bun, bit into it, and set off.
"This will probably keep up for a few days."
Lou settled onto her shoulder as he spoke.
"Even now, that silver wolf is following us, keeping a set distance."
A small smile touched Ariel's lips. The wolf coming after them was a welcome thing. She might even be able to bring her along on their travels. The silver fur was wonderfully soft and pleasant under the hand, and the wolf was large enough that Ariel could probably ride her. I hope she keeps following, Ariel thought as she moved on through the forest.
In her head she had already settled on a name, but she didn't approach rashly. The wolf might take fright, or grow wary and bolt.
For several mornings after that, Ariel woke to find a rabbit and a squirrel laid before the Shield. Through all of it, the silver wolf never once showed herself. Maybe she'll just repay the debt and leave. Ariel had begun to worry about exactly that when something happened.
They were walking through the forest when a howl carried to them from far off—the silver wolf.
"Kyaaaang!"
It was the same cry as when she had fought the orcs. Hearing it, Lou turned to Ariel.
"Sis, that silver wolf... I think she might—"
He never finished. Ariel launched herself toward the sound.