Page 8 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
“Sorry if I offended you,” I said quickly.
“You didn’t.” Nya waved her hand dismissively. “But yes, you’re correct. We don’t live here in the city, and that’s the absolute last thing”—here she shot a look at Kieran—“that we’re revealing about ourselves tonight. Now, since Kieran has decided he’snot going to keep watch, we’re in even more of a time crunch. I’m going to request one more time that you tell us how to take down this pack of marsh wolves, and the next thing out of your mouth had better be an answer.”
All traces of laughter were gone. Kieran’s expression returned to being unreadable.
“Okay,” I said, looking back at the map. I went to flatten a crumpled edge and realized my hands were slick with sweat.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I just needed to pretend that this was a Knowledge Center request. Like it was a part of the marsh wolf assignment I was working on.
In fact, regardless of what Nya said, thathadto have been why they were here. They knew, somehow, what my work assignment was. The kind of information I had access to.
“What kind of weapons do you have at your disposal?” I asked in my work voice. I could do this. I could compartmentalize. This was just another job.
“We can’t answer that,” Nya responded quietly.
“Then what is the purpose of this endeavor?”
“We can’t answer that, either.”
I blinked. “How am I supposed to help you if I can’t know any details?”
Nya and Kieran exchanged a look.
“How about this?” Kieran said after a moment, as Nya eyed him warily. “We need to take down this marsh wolf pack. But we need to kill them in the least messy way possible, leaving their bodies mostly intact.”
I considered his words.
“Got it,” I said finally. “You need their pelts.”
Nya huffed and leaned against the wall. Her reaction was the confirmation I needed.
“Their meat has an unpleasant taste,” I explained as I studied the map some more. “So it only makes sense that you need their pelts.”
Silence.
“The problem is,” I continued. “Unless something has changed in the last six months, the pack local to this area has gotten out of control. At last count, there were upwards of thirty wolves sharing that den.” I scanned the lines of water. “Assuming this is the Eridanus Marsh. It is, right?”
Nya nodded. Her full lips were pressed into a thin line.
“The marsh wolves are at the top of the food chain in this area. There’s nothing out there keeping them in check. Again, unless something has changed. Magic makes things unpredictable.” I paused. “Have you gone up against them before?”
“Yes,” Nya replied.
Kieran added, “It didn’t go well.”
“It would really help if I knew what weapons you had available to you,” I repeated, and was met once again with silence. “But I guess, not knowing, I would start by recommending that you catch them in the middle of a hunt. Marsh wolves typically hunt at night, and even though they’re pretty organized about it, they’d still be relatively distracted. If you can take them by surprise, that will give you a small advantage.”
I pulled out my desk drawer and grabbed a pencil. I also grabbed a sheet of paper, unsure if I should mark on their map.
I made a quick sketch of a marsh wolf. The powerful body with rough, scaly skin. The long jaw with intimidatingly large teeth. The massive paws with claws that arced upward before digging into the ground in sharp points. Its eyes and ears were unremarkable, but as intimidating as all of its other physical attributes were, that wasn’t much comfort. I added a few scruffy lines here and there, to represent the smatterings of waterproof fur that stuck out in certain spots against the scales. Around the face, on the back of the legs, a bit on the stomach. And of course, the tail.
“The weakest spots on a marsh wolf are the furry spots,” I explained, using my pencil to point to each in turn. “That’s not to say that you can’t puncture the scales. But depending on what kind of weapons you’re using, you may not have anything sharp enough. Going for the face is risky because their reaction time is already quick as it is, even without them seeing you coming. And their bite, as you probably know, is deadly. There are three thousand pounds of force behind it.”
Nya made a noise in the back of her throat, sounding equally impressed and intimidated.
“Honestly,” I said, playing out the potential confrontation in my mind. “I think your best bet is to observe them for a while and get a good understanding of their hunting patterns. Once you know where they tend to go and how often, you can set a trap of some kind. Again, something that goes for the face would be most effective in killing them instantly, but would be easiest for them to dodge, and therefore most risky. I would recommend something that injures or snares their legs.”
I glanced at Nya and Kieran, and they were both nodding, following my train of thought.
