Erebus first began to climb to gain altitude and slowed down to follow the eagle. It could not immediately understand what Erebus intended to do, but when Erebus suddenly turned and dived toward it, it realized what he was doing. It tried to gain altitude too, but it was too late.
As magic flowed into Erebus's body, his speed and muscular strength increased, and even his feathers began to give off an unnatural black glow. He shot toward the eagle like a bullet; I could now see the whites of the eagle's eyes, a strange sight.
Erebus and the eagle collided. They were almost the same size, though the eagle was slightly larger than Erebus, and the fight lasted only a few seconds. The eagle tried to drive its enormous talons and sharp beak into Erebus's body, but it accomplished nothing beyond drawing a few drops of blood.
Its talons and beak only scratched his skin. In contrast, when Erebus seized the eagle with his talons, he sliced through its body like a knife through butter. He nearly tore the eagle's head off.
(Gornard Tresky's (warg warrior) POV)
The other warg must not have been as strong as I had imagined, because I felt that it had not noticed us following it. The black eagle was still flying in a straight line, and I thought it was returning to its master. But suddenly, it began to climb, then charged toward me.
As it drew closer, I began to make out its appearance. It did not look like an eagle, but what bird besides an eagle could be that big? Apart from two white patches on its wings, it was entirely black, with a straight peak. It looked almost like a raven; it could not possibly be...
I don't know what you are, but if your master sent you charging at an eagle larger than you, he must have overestimated your strength, you poor beast. Once I kill your master, I'll take better care of you than he did.
As the black bird approached me, its whole body began to glow black, looking as though it were wrapped in faint black flames.
The moment we clashed, I tried to sink my talons into a spot that would not permanently harm the little bird, but my eagle could not penetrate its skin. How is this possible? Then a burst of excruciating pain struck my neck, and my connection broke.
"Aaaah!!!"
"What happened to Gornard? Jorin, Benir, hold him! He must have lost his beast. Hold him down until he calms down."
It was unbearable pain, both physical and emotional. Losing a beast was like losing a part of yourself; if the beast died while you were casting, you would feel its passing. If a warg had a weak will, it could even drive them mad.
If you did not enter them, it was easier to order them to carry out suicidal attacks. I had not expected my eagle to die in a single blow.
I struggled to my feet, fury burning inside me.
"We're going to hunt down that warg; I don't care if we have to chase him to the ends of the North. I will hunt him down!"
Benir said:
"How are you going to keep up with him? You don't even have a flying beast anymore. All you have left is your bear. How can you chase a flying beast with a bear?"
"It doesn't matter. Once we catch him, I'll tame his black bird. I've already touched that black bird's signature. As long as it isn't too far from me, I can follow it, and it'll lead us to its warg."
Jorin asked:
"What if he has a larger warband with him? What do we do then?"
(Jorin the Wildling's POV)
Things were starting to go wrong; first, we had lost our spoils and half our men, and now we were going to chase a warg. We did not know how strong he was. Gonard had led us to many victories and was one of the strongest warriors I knew, but this time, he was not acting like himself.
Ever since our defeat in the canyon, he had become extremely irritable and impulsive. For the Old Gods' sake, he had lost his beast before he could even do anything to the other bird, and he still wanted to attack regardless of the consequences.
I wondered whether we should try to find another warband, or, better yet, try to find the so-called King Beyond the Wall. This man had suddenly appeared about four years ago and begun gathering scattered small tribes, becoming a force that could not be underestimated. He called himself the "King Beyond the Wall," yet he still could not contend with the other great families. He might call himself a king, but in the eyes of many Free Folk, he was at most a big shot.
Well, if I joined any of those tribes, I'd have to start at the very bottom. I'd rather be a dog's head than a wolf's tail. Given time, we would find new people and become a sizable warband again.
(Main character's POV)
Although we had killed the eagle, the band of twenty Wildlings was still chasing me, and I did not know how they were tracking us. I did not know whether the Wildlings also had a skill similar to Promodynes (Find Animal). There were about two kilometers between us, but they kept chasing me as though they could see me.
I changed direction several more times, and they were still chasing me. Seeing this, they clearly knew my location for certain, but how were they doing it?
If you want to die so badly, I'll grant your wish. As I planned for their arrival, they kept drawing closer. This time, I wanted to try an ambush method. I had thought of it while waiting for the mother shadow lynx to leave.
First, I used Mold Earth (Formotegon) to make a pit where the wolf cubs, Sith, Berus, and I could all sit comfortably.
"Erebus and Bo, don't make any physical contact when the enemies arrive, especially you, Erebus. You're not ready to fight humans in close combat yet. So your only job is to distract them, make noise, and feint."
"As for you, Bo, don't engage in close combat either, but I want you to use magic to attack from a distance." Digging the hole and covering the top cost ten magic points.
They were almost here, so I began enhancing Bo, Erebus, and myself with strength, speed, and stamina. I even used eludo jelmio (Warding Wind), which could block arrows.
All of this cost me another sixty magic points, leaving me with only a hundred in the end. More than enough to deal with the twenty people I was ambushing.