Hard Vacuum: Short Episodes In The Future

The Maw of Death

The wolves surrounded Belith. Out of the shadows now, they formed a cautious ring around her. Each one was a giant, as high as her head at the shoulder. They were snarling and bearing sharp teeth, grey fur bristling.

Belith cast her cloak onto the snowy ground. She didn't need it tangling on something while she fought for her life. Naked now, she bared only her weapons: The flint-tipped spear and the copper blade, its fiery edges dim in the starlight.

She found herself constantly spinning to face the nearest wolf. One behind her would tentatively step in, testing her, only to back off and growl when she faced it. Now another would advance from behind and she would spin to face it in turn. It wouldn't be long before they'd have had her measured out for the kill.

Then one stepped out. The ring had parted to let it in, and closed behind to form an arena around her and the beast. The pack leader. It was an old one. Huge and scarred from the challenges to its place in the pack. Its head held low as it growled, stepping to the side of Belith and she circled with it. The others seemed to hold back now, none daring to step in on the leader's claim.

It was a cautious beast. It tested her with a false lunge to see her reaction. Belith leveled her spear, point in its face, daring the creature to fall on it. The two of them circled for a time in this way, each testing the other to see if there could be an opening.

Then from behind, a bark from the circle as one of the spectators pounced out a step. Belith kept her spear in the leader's face and opened her arms, arcing the sword back so that she stood sideways between the two: Spear pointed at one and sword lashing out to nick the snout of the interference.

With a yelp the intruder backed off, but the leader took its chance. A quick step to the side and a lunge and Belith had to bring her spear back for a parry.  Wild jaws snapped down on the shaft and the leader shook its massive head, wrenching the weapon from her grasp. Before she could bring the sword back around for a strike it was on her.

It had flung the spear away once it got her to let go, and pounced on her again. Belith got the sword up as she was knocked to her back in the show. The creature was on top of her, its front paws on the flat of the blade, which she held before her with one hand on the hilt and the other arm bent and bracing the blade. Her muscles bulged against the great weight of the beast, fear at the jaws of death pushing her to a strength beyond what even she thought capable.

She pushed harder but could not move the beast. It bent its head down to get a bite, but she braced with back against the ground and held it just out of reach. She prepared for the snap of the blade but it held. No stone had she ever seen could bear such weight without breaking. The copper sword truly was superior in more than just appearance.

The monster was pushing down on her, snapping, trying to get a bite. Belith struggled against its weight, and twisted the blade so that the sunrise-colored edge bit into its paws. The pain only drove it more mad for her death, but once she got it's edge bit in, she rolled, dragging the edge across the pads of its feet for a deeper cut.

The beast howled with rage and leapt from her. When it landed, the pain on its paws caused its front legs to give out and it fell face first into the ground. It recovered quickly, but Belith recovered faster. Once its weight was off her she launched to her feet like a cobra strike, and with a growl of her own threw herself atop the wounded dog.

With Belith on its back, the creature could not get at her for a bite. It fell to roll and nearly crushed her, but with fists full of its hair she bit down on the scruff of its neck and held on with grip and teeth. When out from under it again, she pulled the copper sword around to the front and grabbed the end of the blade with her other hand to form a deadly harness.

The dog tried to roll again, but she pressed her knees into its back and drew the blade to her, burying its edge deep into its throat. Again, she dragged it to the side, sawing away at its neck and shooting its blood, painting the snow.

With a final yawp, the monster died. The copper sword, the snow, and Belith all covered in red.

She stood and looked around at the circle of wolves, all quiet and sitting, heads low. She spun, looking for the next to try to take her, though she knew she had not the strength to face another.

One by one they left her. Quietly into the night until she was alone.