Flash Fiction #405 -- Lost in Elsewhere/15

You know that moment when you think things are starting to look better?

Never, ever think that -- especially in Elsewhere.

Five screamed what I suppose was her battle cry.  I shouted as I tried to leap and grab her -- but she sailed over my head.  She had wings, and I did not.

I heard something growl behind me.

I spun and found a large white wolf.  He stared at me, dark eyes intent, and his lips drawn back.  I'd had no idea he was coming up behind us.

I don't think the wolf ever knew what hit him.

Five had apparently learned something from her father -- though not how to land.  She grabbed the fur on the wolf's head, startling him before she bit his ear.

Hard.

The wolf yipped and shook his head with enough force that Five lost her hold and tumbled off into the snow.

That saved her.  Five was so small that the snow-covered her and the wolf looked around with a howl of anger, finding no enemy.

Maggie shouted, and magic formed into a bright ball in her hands.  The wolf growled again, but he did take a step back.

"We are not easy prey," Lord Snow said, coming out of the haze of snow.  The wolf put his ears back, one of them bleeding a bit. 

I saw Edmond bounding over to where Five had fallen in a snowbank, and I trusted he would get her out and make sure she didn't become a wolf snack.  I also realized that Five had acquired the chihuahua syndrome: she had no idea that she was so small.

Edmond, full-grown, had much the same problem.  I didn't know how we were going to break either of their habit of attacking things.

Maggie took a step closer to the wolf, and I kept pace with her.  This creature was larger than me, and I had the impression of more than canine intelligence in those eyes, even if it hadn't spoken.

I also had the feeling that Lord Snow and the wolf had met before, and not in any useful context.  The snow leopard's ears were back as he walked past Maggie and me, moving with that sort of stiff-legged step that a cat gets when it is stalking something.

The wolf held his ground.  I heard Maggie take in a quick breath.  The magic in her hand swelled a bit, and I prepared to bring up my own magic.

"You do not want part of this one, wolf," Lord Snow said.  "The boy is not what you think.  He is a friend of Lord Ice and the son of Lord Cayman."

The head came up, and eyes blinked in what could only be surprise.  He took a step back and started to turn --

Unfortunately, that was the moment Edmond came up out of the snow with Five by the scruff to the neck.

I think the wolf must have caught the scent of his own blood on Five.  He might not even have seen the kitten up against her father's black fur.

The wolf howled and leapt at Edmond.

"ACK!"

Edmond dropped Five straight back into the hole and spread his wings, flapping furiously to get into the air.  Maggie and I charged toward the wolf, and Lord Snow did the same.
The wolf made a swipe at Edmond and knocked him down.  Lord Snow caught the wolf by the leg and dragged him backward away from Edmond, who had stood and shook his head, dazed.

Lord Snow dragged him back --

And Five popped back up out of the hole.

"I fight!  I fight!"

She threw herself back at the wolf and swiped his nose this time.  The wolf -- I was starting to feel sorry for him -- howled and tried to snap at her --

And that's when he learned that you don't mess with one of Edmond's kittens. 

"Don't you dare bite her!" Edmond yelled just before he changed into a howling, ball of black fur. 
I had never heard Edmond make that kind of sound before as he hissed and leapt straight at the wolf's face.  Lord Snow still had his leg, and Five was going for his ear again.

"We need to stop this!" Maggie shouted.  The four of them had formed into a melee that sent plumes of snow up so that we couldn't see anything.


I thought of something I sometimes did to break up kitten fights when they got too serious.  I had to get closer, and I feared Maggie might grab at me -- but there was no time.  One of our guys were going to get seriously hurt --

I leapt at the fight.  Maggie gave a shout of shock, but she didn't have time to stop me.

I lifted both hands and clapped once, calling up far more power than I used with the kittens.

"Everyone apart!"

And they tumbled in the snow in four different directions.  Not very far, but Edmond and Five landed near us.  Lord Snow was to the right, and the wolf rolled away straight ahead.

Maggie grabbed Five.  Edmond was still hissing, even at me when I reached for him, though he calmed a moment later.

The wolf sat back up.  He looked dazed.

"What do you say we just all walk away from this, wolf?" I said.   "Seems to me that none of us really want this much trouble, do we?"

The wolf snarled.  Lord Snow sighed and stepped forward again.

"Or we could call Lord Ice in to help settle things," Maggie suggested.

The wolf snarled and stomped away.

"I'll keep watch behind us," Lord Snow said.  "You keep that hell kitten out of trouble."

"You are the one who brought her," Maggie pointed out.

"Nowhere to leave her," Lord Snow admitted. "And I didn't think she was that crazy."

"She talks, she has wings, and she's Edmond's daughter.  What part of that doesn't say crazy?" I asked.