Page 31 of The Wolf and Her Shadows

Clearly the same lies Gwen told the guards, hadn't worked on these assholes.

Having noticed that we’ve changed course, Ashana yells something to the rest of her group and they all slow their horses, attempting to cut us off.

Another arrow flies past my head, courtesy of Vannaria, who calls out, “Fancy meeting you here, Ashana. Guess you’re not as stupid as I’d thought you were.” The giantkin woman lets out an enraged roar, but Vannaria ignores it, instead continuing to taunt her. “Apparently you are more cowardly though. You're so afraid to fight me on your own, you had to bring friends. A bit pathetic, really.”

With another roar, Ashana screams, “I ain’t the one running away! How ‘bout ye stop that horse o’ yours and we settle this like warriors!”

“Have it your way then!” Vannaria lets out what sounds a bit like a sigh of…relief? And in my ear, she mutters, “Do as she says.”

For a brief moment, I’m confused, until I realize her insults had been in hopes of luring Ashana into a one on one fight. Foolish, but smart if she can manage to win. Which, after our fight with the Drithgal, I’d be willing to put money on her as the victor.

Taking a deep breath, I pull back on the reins again. This time Adaman obediently skids to a halt roughly ten yards from the massive draft horse the other woman is in the process of dismounting.

“As soon as she falls, the others will likely attack all at once. Leave none of them alive,” Vannaria whispers, placing a soft kiss to the back of my head before dismounting as well.

She only makes it two steps before Ashana lunges, yet another feral roar ripping from her throat as she spins her greatsword in wide arcs in front of her. Dropping her bow to the ground at her feet, Vannaria pulls two daggers free from the sheaths at her belt. She gives me a quick grin over her shoulder, her canine teeth noticeably longer and eyes now bright red.

Then she vanishes in a puff of smoke.

I’m so stunned by the display that it takes me a moment to realize Rayne has clearly just taken Vannaria’s place. Ashana seems to be taken off guard as well, stumbling several steps before whirling around to face a still-grinning Rayne, who has suddenly rematerialized behind her. She swings her massive sword towards Rayne’s neck, but the smaller woman somehow easily parries it to the side with one of her much smaller daggers, thrusting the other towards the giantkin’s exposed side.

Droplets of blood drip from the as she rips it free, several more falling to the dirt at their feet. Ashana falters for only half a heartbeat before snarling and slashing her blade at Rayne’s legs, intending to trip her. Her strike meets nothing but air, Rayne having vanished in another cloud of smoke and reappearing several yards away from the injured woman.

Using her brief moment of confusion to her advantage, Rayne sends both of her daggers in her hands sailing through the air towards the bounty hunter’s back. Ashana manages to knock one away with her sword, but the other finds home in the woman’s thigh. With a grunt of pain, she rips the blade out and tosses it to the ground.

Muttering voices fill the air as several of the other mercenaries begin whispering back and forth to each other. Unease fills my gut when most of their eyes slowly drift towards where I still sit atop Adaman.

In my brief moment of distraction, I miss the cause of the next cry of pain that fills the air, this one from Rayne. My heart leaps into my throat and my gaze darts back towards the fight just in time to watch Ashana swinging her sword towards the now kneeling elf. But before the blade can make contact, Rayne knocks it aside with her last remaining dagger, her other hand glowing a faint green.

Stumbling to the side with the force of her own missed attack, Ashana’s eyes widen. Tendrils of green flames are now snaking their way around her body, setting fire to any bit of clothing not covered by her heavy leather armor. While she flails about, attempting to extinguish the magical flames, Rayne, or perhaps now Aren, climbs back to their feet, blood slowly trickling from a shallow cut on their upper arm.

A smile curls at the corner of their lips.

Vanishing in another puff of smoke, they reappear clinging to the back and shoulders of the burning woman. With a feral snarl of their own, they drive their dagger down into the side of the woman’s neck, blood spraying across their still-grinning face.

Silence fills the air as the large woman slowly lifts a hand to the wound on her neck. Her knees buckle before she can make contact and she falls face-first to the ground. Rayne immediately disappears from her back, reappearing next to Vannaria’s previously discarded bow. Several loud gasps fill the air, my own included among them.

And then, all hell breaks loose.

The remaining five mercenaries all leap from their horses, weapons raised and rushing towards Rayne and I. Having been warned this was coming, my own feet are already firmly on the ground before the first one reaches us.

The large half-orc man manages to dodge the small ball of fire sent his way, but the move puts him directly in the path of the blade I swing towards his thigh. His cry of pain is cut short when I slip the tip of my other sword between creases of his armor and thrust it deep into his abdomen.

A smile spreads across my own face as blood begins gurgling out from between his parted lips.

Before the half-orc’s lifeless corpse has even hit the ground, another man takes his place. This one human, his large axe aiming to split me in two. I quickly cross both of my swords over my head, catching his much larger blade before it can succeed in turning me into a corpse as well. The force of the strike nearly brings me to my knees, my muscles straining painfully with the effort it takes to stay standing and arms vibrating from the impact.

With a snarl, I sink the heel of my boot into the man’s groin, just like I’d done to his friend, Kelv, back in Brenhill. This pathetic excuse for a man crumples to his knees in the same way too. And this time, I didn’t even have to actually remove his cock to have him do so.

Gleeful laughter rips its way from my throat as I slash the blade of my sword across the man’s exposed throat, droplets of blood splattering across my face and chest.

In my periphery, I see a third mercenary pointlessly batting at the flames slowly engulfing him and a fourth lying dead on the ground with a blood-soaked Rayne kneeling over him, pulling her dagger free from his chest. Five down, one to go. Right as the thought crosses my mind, a bit of movement to my left catches my attention. Clearly hoping to take advantage of Rayne’s brief moment of distraction, the coward has crept up behind her, slowly lifting his sword above his head.

My feet are already moving before my mind catches up to them, intending to intercept his blow before he can strike. I manage to reach them right as he swings his blade down, one of my swords catching his while the other sinks into the man’s armorless belly.

My attempts to save Rayne had apparently been unnecessary, however, because she’s now standing behind him, the tip of her dagger sticking out of the man’s open mouth. To my horror, as the man slumps forward, I realize the tip of my own blade is resting against the front of her armor.

Quickly pulling my sword free of the collapsing corpse, I begin to apologize before Rayne giggles. Smiling even wider than she’d been before, she glances at all the bodies lying dead around us and says, “Welp, that was fun.” Then her red eyes slowly shift back to violet, and I know it’s Vannaria that adds, “That was actually a lot easier than I‘d thought it would be.”