[Kath]

Lommy stepped forward, brandishing a piece of paper with two names written on it.

“Right here!” She cried out triumphantly, slamming the paper down in front of the eyes of the villagers. “Look! The names of the final wolves.”

As she stepped back everyone else crowded round it to get a look.

“Lhuna and Nogrod are the wolves!” Yelled Caran. “Get them!”

“Wait, wait.” Said Nogrod calmly. “You’ve got it all wrong. I’m not Gifted but I am the Seer and I can tell you that Lommy and . . .”

“Excuse me?” Came morm’s incredulous voice. “You’re not a Gifted but you’re the Seer? Incredible!”

“Well what I meant to say was that I am Gifted of course but, I mean, you know what I mean surely.”

“Oh yes, of course we do.” Lommy laughed. “Look guys just lynch me and then you can lynch them tomorrow. Won’t do the village any harm. I’ve already got you the last wolves.”

She sauntered over to Nogrod.

“Come on Noggie, give up. You have no way to win now.”

Nogrod bowed his head, eyes casting desperately around for Lhuna, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Damn this timzone-itis!” He snarled, rising to his feet. “You think you’ve won, Seer? You don’t know what you’re up against. My partner in crime may not be here, but I have many others who will assist me with your deaths.”

Throwing his head back he howled, and as he did so his body began to change into the familiar shape of a wolf. Snapping his jaws he leapt at Lommy who screamed and turned tail, fleeing into the relative safety of the rest of the villagers. Wolfgrod approached the group, eyes glinting with malice, and tried to move in toward Lommy. His attempt was thwarted by two villagers stepping forward; one brandishing a sword and the other the dust that had prevented him from killing before.

“You won’t harm our Seer.” Durelin spoke softly but firmly, throwing the dust in a circle around Lommy who was standing behind her.

“Or any of the rest of our village.” Caran agreed, directing the point of her sword at Wolfgrod’s chest.
The resulting lack of anger from the wolf in front of them confused them all. He simply stood there, watching them, seemingly waiting for something. Frightened and unsure the villagers huddled behind their protectors, relieved that the animals behind them would warn if Lhuna arrived from that direction.

Slowly realising what they had just been thinking, the village turned as one to meet the eyes of the animals lined up at their backs. The ferocious glares of a boa constrictor, a cat, numerous Pokemon, a penguin, a dog, a panda, a raven, and a mongoose stared back at them.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place the villagers turned to their Gifteds.

“What do we do! We’re going to be slaughtered!”

“Yes you are.” Came a growl from their right. Dreading what they would see the villagers reluctantly turned toward the source of the noise, and met the gaze of the once lovely Lhuna, now fanged and furry as Nogrod.

Giving up on any idea of unity the villagers screamed and ran. An each man for his own mentality broke out, with fellow villagers treading on each other in an attempt to get furthest away from the dangers on all sides. Only Caran and Durelin stood strong, trying to stop the beasts from attacking. Seeing this Lhuna and Wolfgrod leapt at them.

Quickly Durelin spread her dust around the two of them and Caran met Lhuna’s outstretched claws with her sword, forcing the wolf to fall back. Wolfgrod was luckier, as he leapt he snatched the mongoose from the ground and threw it into the dust, which scattered as it was hit. Landing inches away from Durelin Wolfgrod grinned, baring his teeth and snarling into her face. Dancing backward Durelin continued to protect herself and Caran with the dust, but Wolfgrod continued to break her lines with various animals, as the dust did not protect against them.

As Durelin played tag with Wolfgrod, Caran was still fighting Lhuna. The wolf had seemed surprised to find open war when she arrived, but she had soon accepted the situation. Caran parried as claws came at her again, ducking to avoid the heavy weight of the wolf on top of her. The two circled each other, jumping back and forth as Durelin’s lines of dust would appear between them, stopping the fight for a moment as Lhuna manoeuvred round them.

Suddenly, with all the moving around, Lhuna and Wolfgrod found themselves back to back. Snarling they whirled round to mutilate whomever it was behind them, and hissed when they found an answer, turning back to their battles. The process only took a few seconds, but it was all Caran needed. As Lhuna’s faced away from her, she took her sword in both hands and aimed it, waiting for the opportune moment. The great head swung back, neck taut and visible for just a moment, and Caran took it. Slicing her sword down she severed Lhuna’s neck from her body with one quick stroke.

As the separated halves of his comrade fell to the ground Nogrod yelped as if in pain himself. Howling again he doubled the strength of his attack, until Durelin could no longer defend both herself and Caran.
In the background the villagers had been fighting their own battle with the animals not being used by Nogrod. The boa constrictor was silently squeezing Cailín, who couldn’t make a sound or a movement due to the crushing pressure all around her. TGWBS was involved in an intricate battle with the Pokemon, who were clearly winning. Lommy was protecting her eyes from the sharp beak of the penguin that was after them. Mith was struggling with a panda, which was attempting to stab her with sharpened bamboo sticks.

As Nogrod’s howl went up the fighters looked toward the source. Seeing Lhuna’s head on the ground gave them the villagers the kick they needed to fight back. Mith darted behind the boa constrictor, causing her panda attacker to trip over its tail. The snake turned on the bear for a moment, giving Mith enough time to pull Cailín free. The same teamwork was going on with the other villagers, and while they weren’t winning, they weren’t in such dire straits as they had been.

Free of Lhuna, Caran turned to help Durelin with Wolfgrod. The wolf leapt and twisted and turned, and the fight was evenly matched. Soon Durelin was running out of dust and Caran was tiring, but Wolfgrod just kept coming. A sudden yodelling yell from behind them caused all three to jump and turn to locate the noise, spotting Cailín heading towards them, a cat in one hand and an arctic loon in the other. The cat she threw at Wolfgrod, causing an immediate spat as though they were technically on the same side no dog-like creature likes a cat. Just as he was finishing dealing with one nuisance, Cailín threw the artic loon at him, hitting him square on the nose. Wolfgrod howled in pain and reached his paws up to cover his snout. Taking advantage of his distraction Caran plunged her sword through his chest, leaving it embedded there as she leapt backwards to avoid the claws that came down in defense.

As Wolfgrod staggered, the animals stopped attacking the rest of the villagers. All eyes turned to the great wolf and watched as he slowly fell, impaling himself further on the sword. A gasping breath was heard, as though he was trying to growl but couldn’t, and then a gurgle, and then silence. The villagers watched as the animals they had been battling with moments before slunk off back into the woods, and realised that it was over. All the wolves were dead. They had won!