Page 16 of Yuletide Orc

Hell-wolves.

CHAPTER 7

One of the wolves lunged for Bikkar. He kicked outward, slamming the canine in its jaw. It whimpered as it crashed to the ground. But between the attack and the blood pouring from his open wound, Bikkar didn’t see the other two squaring up to attack in unison.

“Watch out!” I screamed as I tore through the snow in nothing but Bikkar’s oversized shirt. Not even shoes. I threw out my hands, Bikkar’s knife still in one palm, and shot a torrent of fire toward the pack of animals, trying to scare them off.

“Get back in the cabin!” Bikkar yelled as his fist sailed to attack again. “They’re hell-wolves!”

“I can see that!” My magical flames slipped between his hand and the wolf. Bikkar pulled back as the wolf did, neither finishing their attack. If Bikkar were bit again or if I didn’t stop the venom churning in his arm right now, he’d die within hours.

The hell-wolf reared back. I squeezed my free fist tightly, pulling ropes of fire around it until the wolf burst in a shock of shadow and demonic energy. But even that much magic sent wind out of my lungs. I pressed on anyway, clearing the distance between me and Bikkar and the wolves in a few quick boundsas my lungs screamed. Bikkar took advantage of the hell-wolves being distracted by my fiery attack to grab one by the nape of its neck and chuck it across the clearing. As soon as its back hit a tree, it fell, bursting as mine had.

Just one hell-wolf left. One wasn’t as big of a challenge, but its demonic bite was dangerous all the same. Bikkar went to attack it, too, but the wolf moved fast. I lunged forward, nearly as quick as the canine, and sliced with Bikkar’s knife. A split of blood and the hell-wolf’s demonic connection to this world was severed.

I stood there, chest heaving, before Bikkar as we both recovered from the fight.

“What the hell did you do that for?” he shouted suddenly, breaking the newly found silence.

I glanced down at the fists I’d almost set ablaze, convinced I’d actually burned him. But aside from some blood from his wound, he seemed fine. Minus the hell-wolf venom anyway.

I bunched extra fabric from the shirt I was wearing. “To save you, asshole. Let me see the wound.”

Bikkar huffed loudly. He clutched his injured arm to his side. Blood poured from between his fingers. “I can handle a few hell-wolves.”

“Oh, I bet,” I said with thick sarcasm. “Especially with one arm out of commission. Can you even swing that axe with one hand?” I shot a pointed look to where his woodchopping axe was still struck into a log. If he’d even tried to dislodge it, it hadn’t moved an inch.

Bikkar grunted his response.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “And did you plan to also attack the venom with brute strength?”

Bikkar pulled his arm closer into his side. “Get back inside. It’s freezing cold and you’ve got nothing on.”

This bravado bullshit was too much. He’dneededhelp in that fight just as much as he did now with a venomous ticking clock in his arm. I grabbed Bikkar’s hand and pulled it away from the wound enough to get a sense of the damage. And shit, it was bad. Bone was showing, the muscle above shorn by the wolves’ sharp teeth. Blood still oozed.

“Enough,” Bikkar growled. “I’m capable of bandaging myself.”

I shot him an incredulous look. “You’re going to bleed to death if you don’t let me heal this for you.” Maybe not now, but he would. And if he didn’t, infection would surely take him. This wound was too deep and violent to leave to simple bandages. And that wasn’t even counting the venom, which Bikkar seemed insistent on forgetting about.Everyoneknew hell-wolves were fucking deadly. “I know you know your healing salve won’t even touchthis.” It’d numb the pain. Maybe stitch together some skin if he were lucky. But that was it. Only healing magic could cure that venom.

“Fine.” Bikkar pushed off the tree he’d had his back against. “Butinside.”

“Sure, inside.” My sarcasm knew no bounds. “Whatever works for you as you bleed out.”

Bikkar trailed blood back the house ahead of me. I grabbed as many logs for the fire as I could before following him into the warmth of the cabin. Bikkar made it as far as the table tucked near the fireplace before collapsing. At least he’d landed in a chair. His skin had become pale green and sweat had broken out on his brow.

I fed the fire first so tea could brew. I added a bit of magic to the flames along with the kettle while Bikkar applied pressure to his wound. Quicker than it would have taken without magic, the tea was ready. I grabbed some clean cloths at Bikkar’s direction and brought my supplies to him.

“How’d they get the drop on you?” I sat opposite Bikkar and pulled his arm gently over the table so I had a clear view of the venom-laced wound.

“I don’t know,” he grumbled as he poured tea for us in our mugs from earlier.

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?” His wound looked even worse in the light of the cabin. Already the hell-wolves’ demonic venom coursed through Bikkar’s veins, darkening them to black. “You don’t have to put on a brave face for me, Bikkar. I don’t know if I’ve seen something this bad on you before. I’m going to heal it, so stay still.”

Bikkar made a noise in his throat that caused me to meet his gaze, but I was immediately distracted by the scar over his eye.That’dbeen a pretty bad wound too. My party and his soldiers had clashed so many times.

“It’s just a bite wound,” Bikkar argued.

“Yeah,” I said as I hovered my hands above the wound, “from a hell-wolf, Bikkar. I had no idea they were in the area.”

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