The three stood almost below Karn and jabbered back and forth. And not twenty feet away gray-green eyes watched them intently. Karn saw the wolf’s haunches lower. In a moment three hundred and fifty pounds of carnivore would launch itself upon them.
Claws would rip their flesh, flashing fangs rend and tear them. Karn was quite objective as he thought about it. They didn’t have a chance.
A roar split the air. Karn had known it was coming. But the three below were taken completely by surprise. Fear rooted them and froze them into immobility. Crouching, Karn watched death come hurtling toward them.
But after all, they were his own kind.
Karn met the wolf in mid-leap. No tiger could have made the leap more surely than he. His plummeting weight landed squarely athwart the beast’s back, breaking short the trajectory of its bound.
Together they crashed to earth. Karn’s legs encircled the wolf’s middle with the strength of a python. Steel fingers found its throat.
Claws raked at Karn’s thighs, slavering fangs sought his hands. He
retaliated in kind. His own teeth were at the wolf’s jugular. The animal rolled, taking Karn along with him, but the man would not loose his grip.
Bestial growls rumbled from two chests. Dust-covered and splattered with gore, they fought across the glade. Karn’s legs tightened inexorably and the wolf’s growl became an anguished squeal.