He lunged forward and grabbed the pole arm weapon by the metal blade. The guy was shocked and gritted his dirty teeth trying to regain control of the weapon. Javier toyed with the man for a few seconds. He actually felt a bit sorry for him. Javier ripped the pole arm out of the guy’s hands and broke it in half. Then he swung the wooden handle in a vicious arc that connected solidly on the side of the guy’s head. He dropped instantly.

  Keva hurled herself through the air, shifting in mid jump as she came down on two people, one man, one woman. The woman had light brown, knotted hair, while the guy wasn’t much better. Her claws raked along the face of the woman and her legs drove deep into the man’s gut. She stood up and, lifting the two of them in her claws, she crushed their throats and tossed them aside.

  A gunshot rang out and she felt a bullet whiz past her, as nearby tree bark suddenly exploded and splintered. Keva turned around and watched the one who had fired frantically slide the bolt of the weapon back and try to reload.

  Keva sneered and flexed her neck as she turned her head to the left then back to the right. She howled loud and strong. Her howl echoing into the dimly lit woods. It was a purer, cleaner sound than the battle cry from their attackers had been before the battle. Every one of her pack mates smiled at the familiar sound. Keva turned around and charged at the man.

  The snow caught up her paws, so she wasn’t as fast as she would have liked to have been and the guy was about thirty yards away. The man stared at the beast who was coming for him. He gritted his teeth as he watched the monster. He tossed aside his rifle and pulled a simple wood cutters axe from his belt. He threw off a layer of skins and charged forward towards Keva.

  Michelle was tackled from the side with such force that it made her lose her breath. She was pushed hard into the snow and all she could do was try to relearn how to breathe.

  She didn’t get an opportunity, as the guy who had tackled her was bringing an axe down upon her head. She raised her claws just in time to stop the blade. But the force that was pushing the blade down was not what she was expecting. She pushed back with all her strength, but the axe blade kept coming down.

  Suddenly a heavy stick hit the man in the face. It couldn’t have hurt that much but it was enough to let Michelle reassert herself and push the blade and the guy off her. She rolled away from him and kneeled in the snow taking deep breaths before standing up.

  The guy shook his head and checked to see if his face was bleeding. Michelle had had enough of this. She charged at him full speed, at least as fast as she could go in the deep snow and plowed into him, driving him to the ground.

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  Yrsa was lost. Where had she just been? Where was she now? Was she in a dream? Was this a nightmare? She looked around and saw monsters killing monsters. This was something out of a fantasy, not something she ever would have guessed to see in any reality of hers.

  The sudden strike came swiftly and knocked her across her face. She went sprawling, face down, into the snow. She looked up, a bit dazed, and her vision was blurry and images were swimming around themselves, like her eyes were trying to learn how to work together again.

  She heard a voice and it spoke in her own language, “Is that our own little lost cousin? Finally come back home to us?”

  She shook her head, cousin? What was he talking about?

  “Mmm, tsk tsk tsk, traveling with monsters and nightmares, now, are we? How far you’ve fallen. But we will welcome you back with open arms, little Yrsa.”

  Yrsa’s eyes finally refocused on the man who was speaking. The color of his hair and the shape of his chin made his features vaguely familiar. The age worn lines around his eyes were carved deeply from years of harsh winters but the similarities were incredible. He looked almost exactly like her father.

  “Uncle Jorian?” Yrsa asked with shock and horror.

  The man smiled and swept his long chestnut brown hair back from his face. His blue eyes gazed down on her, “And here I thought you had forgotten about your uncle. Come, take my hand. Let’s go home.”

  Yrsa rolled over onto her hands and knees. She propped herself up and tried to think. This couldn’t be her uncle; he had died years ago. Her father had told her that he died protecting him from a bear attack in the woods. He couldn’t be here now, he just couldn’t. But if he was here, then her father had lied, or been mistaken, or deceived. Either way, this man was not her family and she would never go with him.

  She stood up slowly in the snow. Her clear blue eyes looked into his, “where have you been all this time, uncle?”

  Jorian looked around at the fighting that was going on all around them. “I wanted to live a better life, little Yrsa. I am the clan chief and my people follow me. I have real power and freedom now, and I like having it.”

  He turned to look at Yrsa about ready to say something when her fist caught him across the jaw, sending him sprawling into the snow.

  “You wanted power and you let your greed take hold of you. My father mourned your loss for weeks. I didn’t think he was ever going to be the same again. You took our happiness away, you bastard, and for what? A tainted clan that are abominations to our people?”

  Jorian got up gripping and rubbing his jaw, “Well, I was hoping we weren’t going to have to do it this way, but you’re just as stubborn as your father!” With that he swung a huge haymaker at Yrsa’s face that she was barely able to block. What she wasn’t able to block was his sharp knee that he drove into her gut, knocking the wind out of her lungs. He swung again and caught her with a vicious uppercut that sent her sprawling back down into the snow.

  Javier found himself facing three of the Northmen at once. One woman was charging at him from his left, and two guys were charging from his right. He looked back and forth and charged at the woman to his left.