"This day is improving."
The words had barely left Sun's mouth when the arrows fell.
A black rain hissed down from the ridge.
"Move," said Varen.
Sun was already diving.
The first volley hammered into the trail where they had stood, shafts punching dirt, stone, and tree bark in sharp bursts. One arrow clipped Sun's sleeve and pinned empty cloth to a trunk behind him.
He rolled to his feet, sword in hand.
The eastern trail narrowed here between steep stone walls—a canyon throat with jagged ledges above. Sparse pines clung sideways to rock. Loose gravel shifted under every step.
Bad ground.
Good ambush.
House Teryn had taste, if not imagination.
Above, armored silhouettes reloaded.
A banner unfurled briefly in the morning wind: silver stag on blue.
Varen glanced once at the cliffs.
"Thirty bowmen. Six swordsmen descending. One overseer with more confidence than skill."
"You count quickly."
"I dislike surprises."
A voice boomed from the ridge.
"Throw down your weapons and kneel!"
Sun cupped a hand to his mouth.
"Your speech lacks poetry!"
The answering second volley came faster.
Varen seized Sun by the collar and yanked him beneath a jutting overhang as arrows shredded the air where his head had been.
"You provoke archers?"
"They were already archers."
"That is not a defense."
Sun grinned breathlessly.
"It is spiritually a defense."
Stone chips sprayed them as shafts struck the overhang.
From above came clattering movement.
Six men in light armor rappelled down ropes, blades drawn.
Sun adjusted his grip.
"Finally. People I can insult face-to-face."
The first swordsman landed hard and charged immediately.
Too eager.
Sun sidestepped and cut low.
The runed blade sliced through greave straps and leather. Armor slid apart around the man's ankles. He tripped forward with a scream and headbutted gravel.
Sun pointed with the sword.
"Next."
Two came together.
Better discipline.
Sun parried one strike, nearly lost the blade to the impact, then kicked the second man in the knee. Something popped sideways.
The man collapsed shrieking.
The first recovered enough to swing again.
Sun ducked too late.
Steel grazed his scalp.
Hot blood ran into one eyebrow.
Anger flashed.
The inner doors stirred.
He forced the feeling down.
Not yet.
Instead he drove his shoulder into the attacker's chest, slammed him into the canyon wall, and pommel-struck his jaw until teeth scattered.
Behind him, Varen had not moved.
He merely looked upward.
Three archers on the ridge suddenly screamed and toppled backward clutching their eyes.
Sun didn't ask.
He was learning not to ask.
The remaining swordsmen hesitated.
One shouted upward, "Captain!"
A figure in polished breastplate appeared above them.
Narrow beard. Gold-trimmed cloak. Elaborate helmet more decorative than practical.
The overseer.
He sneered down at Sun.
"I am Captain Deren of House Teryn. You have caused considerable inconvenience."
Sun wiped blood from his eyebrow.
"I can try harder."
Deren pointed dramatically.
"Kill him!"
No one moved.
The swordsmen glanced at the unconscious men around Sun and reconsidered employment.
Deren's face darkened.
"Cowards!"
Then the canyon growled.
A deep, rolling vibration underfoot.
Everyone froze.
Loose stones danced.
Birds burst from cliffside nests.
Varen's expression changed sharply.
"Run," he said.
Deren laughed uncertainly. "What trick—"
The cliff above him exploded outward.
A massive black shape burst from stone in a shower of debris.
Fur.
Fangs.
Yellow eyes large as shields.
A wolf.
No—larger than any wolf should be, shoulders nearly level with a horse, hide streaked with old scars, jaws dripping stone dust and saliva.
The beast landed on the ridge among archers.
Men flew.
Screams replaced command.
"Black Wolf," Varen murmured.
The creature bit one archer in half.
Sun stared upward.
"I would like to revise my understanding of local wildlife."
The beast's gaze snapped downward.
Onto Sun.
It leapt.
He barely threw himself aside as a paw cratered the trail where he'd stood.
The impact shook his bones.
The surviving swordsmen fled instantly in every direction.
Again, often the smartest group.
Sun rose, sword ready, breathing fast.
The Black Wolf circled.
Each step silent now.
Its fur was matted near the flank where an old spear remained broken off inside scar tissue.
One ear torn.
One eye clouded white.
Predator. Survivor.
Its nostrils flared near Sun.
Then it snarled and lunged.
Sun slashed.
The blade scored fur and skin but barely slowed it.
The wolf's shoulder hit him like a falling cart.
He flew into the canyon wall hard enough to see white.
The sword nearly left his hand.
Pain sang through ribs.
The beast advanced.
Varen called from behind, "Its old wounds!"
"Useful timing!"
Sun pushed upright.
The wolf charged again.
This time Sun waited.
Too long.
Too close.
At the last instant he pivoted aside exactly as Ling Han had drilled him against charging bulls in childhood—lessons he'd thought pointless then.
The wolf thundered past.
Sun leapt, grabbed its scarred flank fur with one hand, and drove the runed blade down into the old spear wound.
The beast howled.
Black blood sprayed hot across his arm.
It bucked violently.
Sun nearly lost grip, teeth rattling.
The sword pulsed hungrily.
Something inside the wound cracked.
A hard sphere rolled free onto the dirt.
Glowing dark blue.
The wolf's beast core.
The creature staggered three steps, then collapsed shaking.
Sun dropped clear and stood panting.
The Black Wolf lifted its head weakly.
One yellow eye met his.
No rage now.
Only exhaustion.
Sun approached cautiously.
The beast exhaled once, long and rough, then went still.
Silence filled the pass.
Even surviving Teryn men had fled.
Sun looked at the blue core in the dust.
Then at the dead wolf.
Then at Varen.
"Did I just rob a dying monster?"
"You ended pain and gained treasure simultaneously," said Varen. "Efficiency."
Sun crouched beside the body.
Its fur was coarse beneath his hand.
Scars everywhere. Traps survived. Spears endured. Hunger weathered.
He understood that kind of creature.
"Sorry," he said quietly.
Then he picked up the core.
The moment it touched his palm, icy energy surged into his arm.
System text flashed.
[Beast Core Acquired]
[Compatible for Body Tempering]
[Movement Technique Seed Available]
Sun blinked.
"Movement what?"
Varen smiled thinly.
"Congratulations. You have looted your first dead legend."
They left Black Wolf Pass by noon.
Behind them, arrows, corpses, and noble dignity littered the canyon.
Ahead, the road descended into greener lands.
Sun rolled the blue core in his hand as they walked.
"So how do I use it?"
"Tonight," said Varen.
"Why not now?"
"Because someone has followed us since the pass."
Sun stopped.
"What?"
Varen kept walking.
"Try not to turn suddenly."
Sun turned suddenly.
On a distant ridge, a slim figure in red stood watching.
Long hair in the wind.
A curved dagger glinting at her hip.
Then she saluted mockingly and vanished behind stone.
Sun stared.
"Who was that?"
Varen did not look back.
"Trouble with excellent timing."
To be continued...