Heimat

CHAPTER 24

"Let's go I'm don- Sook what's wrong?". Yoonsook simply stared at him for a moment, then looked back. Infront of their eyes, a pack of snow wolves made themselves visible. "Run" Hanbin whispered. The wolf closest to them pounced at Yoonsook. Hanbin pushed him aside and down the animal with his bucket of ice cold water. The wolf howled and the others advanced. The men ran shouting for help, daggers in hand incase they needed to defend themselves.

Someone distance away, the others heard their shouts. The sleeping soldiers were startled awake and all of them immediately produced a dagger from their covers and stood prepared. They saw the two men run towards them soon, followed by a pack of wolves. "WWWWOOOLLLLVVVESSSS" Hanbin screamed as he ran. 

"Oh my god I couldn't see them, thanks for letting me know!" Minho yelled back. Leave it to Minho to crack a sarcastic joke in the middle of a crisis. "Arms up!" Namjoon commanded. "Suho! Light the fire again! We'll hold them back till then".

Seeing such a large group of men didn't seem to faze the animals as they charged right in. Namjoon side stepped a wolf which pounced on his, stabbing it's neck with his dagger before it could get back on it feet. "Suho hurry!". 

"Working on it!" Suho yelled back, furiously trying to light the fire. Another one then just pounced onto him when he was looking at the dead wolf, taking him by surprise.

His dagger clattered from his hand, out of arms length. It was considerably large and bulky, it's mass weighing him down as he struggled to push it away. It aimed at his neck, snapping at it. Despite the cold, he felt sweat slide down from his forehead, breathing ragged. Namjoon lost his balance, falling to the ground, the wolf on top of him. His hand held the wolf's throat, pushing it with all his might. It snarled, face inching closer and closer to his face as it pressed itself onto him. 

Namjoon pulled his leg, closer to his chest under the wolf's body. Taking a deep breath, he kicked it in it's stomach with all the power he could muster and was successful in throwing it off his body. But not without sustaining an injury himself. The wolf's sharp claw had slashed open his sleeve, the marks on his skin bleeding.

Namjoon steadied himself, gazing at the dagger from the corner of his eyes. The animal growled, moving in circles as the knight followed it's movements. Before it could attack again, he was hit by a stick. Which was on fire. Gyeon tossed him the torch, running of in another direction. 

All those who held them formed a boundary along the wagons and the rest of the soldiers, waving their torches at the wolves, forcing them to move backwards. The animals seemed to realize that a big prey wasn't in their destiny today so they began to retreat.

"Hey! Stop them!" Yoonsook yelled. Five of them ran towards the wolves who were pulling an unconscious Hanbin with them, yelling so loudly that they ran off just by hearing the cries. Namjoon heaved a sigh of relief, falling to the ground, heart hammering in his chest. Getting up, he looked around, making sure that there weren't any serious damages.

He had his wounds covered up just like the others and without any delay, continued their journey. That night, their tents braved a frightening thunderstorm, wind howling madly, almost ripping the tents off their fixing. Suho came to the conclusion that no one was going to attack them in these conditions, so they all crashed onto the makeshift mattresses.

As Namjoon pulled the covers over him, shifting onto one side. He extended his arm to put out the lamp when he noticed a shadow. His hand froze, watching it's movements intently. It was the outline of a man, who was walking slowly past his tent. It stopped for a moment, face turning around, the resuming his path ahead. He frowned. "

No one should have been awake right now, there's a storm outside". He put out the lamp, slowly pushing the covers aside and stood up. Putting on his fur coat and covering his face, he cautiously opened the parting, peeking outside. When he saw nothing, he stepped out, squinting his eyes, trying to look in between the storm.