Read The Companions of Tartiël for Free Online

damage. Whoop-dee-doo.”
    “Guys,” Dingo said sharply, grabbing our attention. “Look, just go with it and don’t worry about everything. Remember, I’m the DM, so I can change rules whenever I want. I realize werewolves are tough creatures. Just remember I like to challenge you guys, not completely fuck you over.”
    We all gave a collective sigh. “All right,” we all said in some fashion or another.
    After writing down our initiative results, Dingo looked at me. “Kaiyr, you’re up.”
     
    *
     
    Kaiyr darted forward, manifesting his soulblade as he closed with Cobain to shut down what was obviously the largest threat. His soulblade gleamed with furious, pure white light reflected from the moonlight-washed room as he took a measured swing at the creature. “Take the others out!” he shouted in Elven. “I will hold Cobain here!”
    “Go!” Caineye commanded Vinto, and the wolf sprang forward to meet one wererat in battle, claws and teeth slashing and biting. The druid muttered a string of brief prayers, and when he snapped his fingers, a ball of fire appeared in the air above his hand. Pointing at one of the other wererats who was still finishing his transformation, Caineye released a bolt of flame that ripped through the air and burned a long black mark down the enemy’s flank.
    “We’re outnumbered seven-to-three,” Wild called, and Vinto let out an angry bark. “Okay, seven-to-four. Still not good.” He flicked his wrist and sent a dagger twirling through the air only to watch it brush by the scorched wererat and clatter against the wall. “Damn.”
    Kaiyr had his hands full defending himself against Cobain. He was glad to have had the wisdom to take only a careful offense at first. With the frequency and lethality of every one of Cobain’s attacks, the blademaster couldn’t afford to be hit even once. Having opened with a strong defense was the only thing keeping him alive right now. As Vinto tore out the throat of the wererat he had been fighting, Cobain stepped forward with a low claw that Kaiyr parried with a deft sweep of his soulblade. But then he realized too late that the strike had been a feint. Cobain’s head snaked in, and his fangs tore through the blademaster’s sleeve and into the flesh between the end of his chain shirt and his bracers.
    Kaiyr grimaced in pain, and for one split second that seemed to drag out into hours, he felt something strange course through him. He felt a sudden longing for the moon, which shone ever-so-enticingly brightly tonight, and he wished nothing more than to run alongside Cobain in a more natural form, hunting prey and living as a predator.
    Then the blademaster’s training took over, and he realized what was happening. He couldn’t afford to become a werewolf himself. Willing his body to fight off the magical disease, Kaiyr felt the mystical influence of lycanthrope leave his body and fade away completely.
    Then Vinto darted in, a gray streak that circled around behind Cobain and nipped at his heels. Kaiyr, thankful for the help, switched from defense to offense when the werewolf mistakenly turned his attention to the real wolf. “Leave him be,” the blademaster growled. “ I am your enemy!” With a precise slice, the blademaster severed the muscles in Cobain’s right arm, rendering it useless. As the other three wererats closed on him and Vinto, though, Kaiyr suddenly did not feel so confident, but he did not let it show.
    Caineye and Wild worked together to take down two more wererats most ungracefully with a hail of slung stones and thrown daggers. Then they turned their attention to the foes surrounding Kaiyr and Vinto.
    The elf and the wolf fought like a pair of old war veterans. Vinto suffered a few minor nicks and scratches from the three remaining wererats, but he kept his attention mostly focused on Cobain and the larger threat he represented. Kaiyr spun and whirled about like an exotic dancer. Trails of blood followed in the wake of