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detached from the shadows of the forest.   The beasts caught sight of the men and made directly for them.   The two gargantuan creatures converged on one
of Yukio’s men.   Before anyone could do
anything to stop it, they ripped the unaware soldier in two.   They tossed the torn man to the side and
inched closer to the group of men who were now standing in front of them.
    “Get
them!” shouted General Yukio.   Two more men
were dead within seconds after Yukio ordered the attack.   Roaring in rage, the general jumped in front
of the rest of his men and cut off the two beasts’ heads with two fluid swings.   As he stood there panting, a sixth sense
warned him that there were more of the massive brutes within the vicinity.
    “Ambush!”
the general yelled.   As he shouted his
warning, a pack of enormous wolves that had sent the two scouts to their
location detached from the eaves of the forest right behind them.   They had blood-red fur that was standing on
end as they growled menacingly.   As the
predators slowly approached the men hemming them in, all escape routes vanished
as they closed in on their prey.   As the
general looked closer at these foul creatures, he noticed blood dripping from
their massive maws.   He knew that the
detachment he had sent to the west bank never made it to the other side of the
river.
    “Everyone
stand back to back and form a circle!   We
do not want to give them an easy target!” General Yukio bellowed.   There was no point in whispering now that
they were surrounded.   This would be a
fight to the death. They were going to show these brutes how much they had
underestimated their prey.   They had
never lost a fight with their general in command, and he was not going to let
the men down when they were fighting such an indomitable enemy.
    The
red wolves crouched one by one into their attack position.   The general’s men shook slightly as they
waited for the inevitable.   A look of
fierce determination came across Yukio’s face as he stared back at the enormous
beasts.   He was probing the minds of his
enemies, which required eye contact in the case of non-sentient beings.   He was trying to force doubt and trepidation
into their cruel and uncouth minds.   If
he was able to get these foul creatures to lower their guard for an instant, he
and his men would stand a chance of surviving this deadly encounter.
    General
Yukio reared back and flung his sword with both hands at the wolf nearest him
after his failed attempts at mind control.   The red-bladed sword buried itself to the hilt right between the beast’s
fierce eyes.   His men sprang back into
action just as the wolves began their attack.   Both sides were fighting with a fury that filled the air with fur,
blood, and the piercing sounds of death.   The general retrieved his bloodied blade and began such a furious
assault on the wolves that they began to back away.   The Nairian soldiers formed a circle again
with their backs to one another as their leader went ballistic.   Ten of the gigantic beasts lay dead or dying
at their feet as the remaining predators continued to creep away.
    There
were about twenty of the blood-red beasts left, so now there was one man for
every wolf.   The general looked over his
shoulder at his stalwart men and gave them a devilish grin.   It all happened in a blink of an eye.   One minute the wolves were preparing to
pounce again, and the next they were sniffing the air as though they had lost
sight of their quarry.     It was as
though the Nairians had vanished into thin air from the wovles’ perspective.     Their heads snapped back in the direction
of where the men had been standing in a circle.   They were looking in the general direction where their meal should have
been and saw nothing.
    Move toward the water, slowly. General Yukio projected this mental
command into the minds of his troops.   The general did not understand who was hiding them from the beasts.