Still the wolves stalked closer. She turned and yelled at the wolf behind her, raising her stick, but when she turned back around, the wolves had stalked closer, so close she could see the yellowish color of their eyes.
Suddenly something tugged at her skirt. She screamed and struggled to turn around, slamming the stick against the wolf’s head. The wolf grabbed the stick in its mouth, snarling. She tugged but could not pull it free.
A second wolf moved stealthily forward. It bared its teeth and growled. The wolf let out a bone-chilling snarl. Then he suddenly sprang at her, its eyes locked on her neck.
She let go of the stick and lifted her arm, crouching at the last moment. The wolf sailed by her shoulder, but its claws raked her forearm as he passed.
The pain in her arm barely reached her consciousness. She was surrounded on every side. All six wolves were closing in, their movements as smooth and flowing as a river, snarling and baring their fangs, their hungry yellow eyes trained on her.
This was the end. There was no mercy in their wolfish faces. She had no weapon with which to fight them. Still, she shook her skirts at them, then clapped her hands and yelled, which turned into a scream. They simply continued to stare and move ever so slowly toward her.
Terror gripped her tighter, turning her blood to ice. She shook so hard she could barely stand upright. Would she die of the cold before the wolves decided to kill her? Soon they would go for her throat again, and then her blood would spill on the snow.
Perhaps this was for the best. After all, she had no future. Everyone would hate her now. She had failed. But who would look after her father and little sister and brother? O God, You know. Provide for them.
The wolf near her feet snarled and lunged forward. It sank its teeth into her ankle.
Avelina screamed in fear and pain. The animal held her fast in its jaws.
The animal to her left, the wolf that had already leapt for her throat, suddenly crouched, preparing for a second leap.
Horse’s hooves sounded behind her. The wolf kept its eyes on her, but its ears flattened back against its head.
The horse rode hard and fast. It neighed, high and loud, very close by, then stopped. A loud growl sounded behind her—a man’s growl this time.
The wolf’s eyes bulged as it jumped, propelling itself toward Avelina.
She closed her eyes and waited for the impact.
20
REINHART PLUNGED TOWARD the group of wolves surrounding Avelina. One of the wolves was crouched and ready to lunge.
He unsheathed his sword and leapt off his horse. The wolf lunged at her throat and Reinhart brought the sword down on its head, knocking it to the ground.
Reinhart dove at the wolf that was holding Avelina’s ankle in its jaws. He brought the blade’s edge down on the wolf’s neck, severing its head from its body.
The other four wolves advanced on them. Reinhart stepped toward them, raising his sword. One animal leapt at his head. He stepped to the side and the wolf’s teeth latched on to his shoulder.
Reinhart stabbed it with his sword and it fell to the ground.
At the same time, another wolf caught his sword arm in its teeth. He switched his sword to his left hand and slashed the blade across the wolf’s belly and slung it to the ground.
The remaining wolves backed away, whining, slinking into the trees.
“You’re hurt,” Avelina said behind him.
He turned around. Her ankle was still trapped inside the wolf’s jaws, even though it was dead, and blood surrounded her, bright red against the white snow. Her arm was also bleeding through her sleeve, but she was staring with wide, dazed eyes at his injured shoulder and arm.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
Reinhart dropped his sword in the snow and fell to his knees at her feet. He took the wolf’s jaws in his hands and pried them open, gently removing them from her ankle, then threw the head on the ground.
More blood dribbled down her ankle. He grabbed a handful of snow and pressed it against the puncture wounds, and Avelina collapsed backward onto the ground. Her lips were blue and her face was deathly pale. His heart twisted inside him, as if it were being clenched inside a fist.
“I have to get you out of here, out of the cold, and stop the bleeding. Put your arms around my neck.” He bent over her.
She blinked up at him as if she did not hear.
“You’re hurt,” she said again, reaching toward his shoulder.
He slid his arms underneath her and picked her up, trying to ignore his own pain.
Her teeth started chattering, just as they had after he pulled her up from the edge of the balcony, as he carried her to his horse.