ALL RIVER'S FAULT

26 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, CONTINUED

This was all River's fault.

I don't know what I was thinking either, but hearing those two humans scream for their lives, I had just automatically sprang into action and darted into the cave.

Ki didn't hesitate to follow and in a blink of an eye, we were rushing into the dark maze towards the sound where the screaming and gnashing to teeth came from.

The maze itself was no joke. If I had thought before I leaped, I might not have rushed in like that. But even as we ran, I could still hear their screaming interjected with panicked yelling echoing all over the place. It was like they were riding on a roller coaster that wouldn't stop.

I didn't hear any of the snow wolves or Wilhelm. How did the two weakest guys ended up stranded alone in this cave was beyond me. It had to be River's damned luck again.

And if they were in as bad a pinch as they sounded, why didn't River activate this blasted stone?

Wait, but wouldn't he pass out if he "overdid it"?

Maybe it was better to return that stone to the Warlock. River's power was too unpredictable with it. It was like display ultimate power and then pass out. If you don't wipe out ALL the enemies, you'd be as good as dead.

What River needed was to train as Flynn had planned out. Even though he wouldn't be able to take out a wolf in one punch, at least he'd be able to run and hide or something.

Okay, unless he was armed and properly trained to fight like Wilhelm, his chances were dismal, but I still think it beats passing out cold after a single move.

At any rate, it sounded like River and Keanu were very much alive right now. I wasn't sure how far these twisty tunnels ran, it felt like Ki and I had been running full speed for nearly 10 minutes and there was no sight of the two humans.

I almost doubted my lucky sense of direction. Maybe that broke when we fell off the cliff too.

Part of me still hadn't gotten over how we were still alive.

Anyway, I didn't have time to marvel at our narrow brush with death. I was too busy running towards new danger, because even though I couldn't sense any danger ahead, I could hear the roaring that accompanied River and Keanu's screaming.

If I had to guess, I would say River and Keanu were being chased by Gyaara - more than one of them from the sound of it. I'm just guessing it were gyaara because Dad and Beta Lucas had found them in these caves. It could be any other creature cast for a Juressic Park movie.

Either that, or the two boys were really riding a really noisy roller coaster.

After my last encounter, I would definitely categorize gyaara as dangerous, but Boo hadn't felt even slightly alarmed. If I had to describe the feeling my wolf had to this situation, I'd have to say, "Annoyed."

Yeah, if these two idiots weren't screaming from a proper life and death scenario when I found them, I was going to be properly annoyed too.

Ki and I were a nice 30 minutes, straight road run, back to our Packlands before this happened.

Now we were recklessly running into a maze towards what was probably a horde of gyaaras.

Or at least it better be a horde of gyaaras or the equivalent. If River and Keanu had made us lose the path home just to run into this cave and get lost because of a particularly loud spider or something dumb like that, I was going to blow a fuse.

I really would.

So I guess it was just River's darn luck again, that when the two boys stumbled out from the fork ahead, they were being properly chased by gyaara. The gyarra weren't too big though, and there were only a few, each the size of a large bulldog.

They looked like miniatures of the gyaara that lived in our dungeon, and even though they couldn't have been any taller than my knees, their mouths were still huge and full of sharp rows of teeth.

"Run River!" I shouted when one of them charged and snapped at his leg. They even behaved like their bigger dungeon cousin, roaring and then charging mindlessly forward with their mouths wide open.

"I'm running! I'm running!" River yelled back. He managed to move his legs a little faster and keep them both.

Ki once again stood in front of me, he had drawn out his gun, but fat load of good that would do. These gyaaras were bullet proof, remember?

"Help Wilhelm!" Keanu yelled once they reached us.

Wilhelm? Where?

Ki kicked the gyaara who came too close to us, he kicked it hard and it tumbled across the tunnel. Then he shot another in the mouth and kicked that away too. It gurgled on blood but continued to stumble around.

We were in a slightly wider space right now. Like in one of the nodes in the tunnels and broke out into a few more tunnels.

River and Keanu had popped out from the tunnel on the rightmost side. We looked around.

"Where's Wilhelm?" I couldn't see (or hear) him at all.

River pointed to the tunnel they had popped out from, "Wilhelm's holding them back."

I looked at the few Gyaara that Ki was currently fighting off. He had the sense not to shoot. He simply kicked the little monsters off repeatedly. They kept getting up and charging again. And they roared so loudly, it was like they were all mouth and voicebox.

And then Wilhelm popped out of the tunnel. He looked frantically at us, "Run! It's not going to hold them for long."

Wait what? There were more?

"What?" Keanu was immediately concerned, "How can that be?"

Wilhelm had his broad sword drawn, but it was bloodless. He used it to swat off the nearest gyaara. The gyaara flew back into the tunnel it came from.

Wilhelm should consider playing baseball.

"Sam! Am I glad to see you!" River enthused, "I don't know how I'm going to face Savy if anything happened to you!"

First, don't bring my sister into this!

Second, I wasn't the one running for my life!

And third, what made River think we were okay right now?

Did the prince not notice that we were currently backed up against a rock wall? Ki and Wilhelm had some kind of unspoken warrior thing going on, and just by exchanging a look and a nod, they had fenced Keanu, River, and me behind them, while they staved off the mini-gyaara attack.

It was never ending, the gyaara were indestructible and just kept coming at us, and I could see more of them trickle in from the tunnel ahead.

Wth.

"How many of these things are there?" I asked.

"I don't know... We don't even know what they are!" River frowned at the memory, "There were like hundreds and hundreds of them!"

Surely he exaggerated.

"This isn't good." Keanu observed, "We can't kill them, and I don't think the rockslide will hold the others for much longer. Wilhelm and Ki will eventually tire out at this rate."

"I know the way out (probably)! Let's make a run of it." My plan was simple: run back to the entrance and shut the rock column over it.

"Eh...run again?" River asked.

Oh right. These two looked like they were already on their last leg.

"Goddess, we need to fall back!" Ki called out to me.

Wilhelm was slowing down now too, his movement lacked his initial power, and they were getting sluggish at the beginning and end of each swing.

This left Ki opened to field most of the gyaara, which had doubled in number by now.

I could join them, but that wouldn't help our situation, only extend the workout. Ki was right, in such a situation, we needed to fall back. I looked around for a good place to fall back to (that didn't require running.) Of course that was impossible.

"You run, Sam." River decided, "Maybe you'd be able to find the others and bring help."

I shook my head. I couldn't leave Ki alone to protect these three. It'll be a long and angonozing fight to the death for him if I can't bring back help in time. At any rate, I didn't sense any wolves in this cave.

"There's no telling if I can get help, and you guys might not be able to last it out."

"Sam, take Ki and go." River said now.

"Eh, but River!" Keanu protested.

If I took Ki away with me, it'll be a quick and immediate death for the three humans. Wilhelm was a strong warrior, but he was also just human - and he had been fighting to protect the two humans for quite a while now.

"We're just dragging them down with us." River decided, "Sam, take Ki and go...in the first place, you shouldn't have to be in the Warlock lands."

I hated to admit it, but it did cross my mind that I should do just that, but one look at my friends, and I knew I wouldn't be able to do it.

River pressed his mouth into a determined line, "I'll use my stone and buy time for you and Ki to run. Please tell Savy..."

Don't decide things on your own! And don't drag my sister into it!!!

I flared now, "Go tell her yourself! If you're going to say anything mushy, say it by yourself when we get out of here!"

Grrrr... Stooopid River.

"I'm going over there to shift. When I come back, Ki will go shift too. Then we'll give you a ride." I decided.

"You're going to let us ride...on you?" River as incredulously.

"Shut up and do as you're told!" I flared, "I won't be able to talk in my wolf form, so if you dare argue, I'll bite your head off."

"Ah, okay, okay... We'll ride!" Keanu quickly conceded, "Thank you in advance, alpha!"

Humph, now he calls me alpha!

I stalked into the nearest tunnel. I was tired, and grouchy, and extremely annoyed right now. I'm not sure if my bad mood was Boo's earlier annoyance flaring up into a full blown tantrum, or just my own because I was really quite furious at this stooopid place. I hated the warlock lands!

I undressed and shifted quickly. In wolf form, I was even more irate than before.

When I got back to the scene and realised I still couldn't mindlink Ki that it was his turn to go shift, Boo chi-ka-boomed, and my blue fur turned into an armour of metallic blue blades.

"Cool." River said.

"I don't think we can ride on you like that Sam." Keanu pointed out.

"Oh, right." River realized, "Our butts would bleed."

I nearly bit their heads off right then, but Ki had taken this as his cue to pick up our bag and go shift in the tunnel, and I had to quickly step up in his stead.

I took the opportunity to vent some of my anger on the mini-gyaara buffet.

Suddenly, in my wolf form, the mini gyaara actually looked rather delicious. I guess it had to be near to lunch time.

My wolf growled and snarled, and the gyaara suddenly stopped attacking. And then, quite completely by instinct, they freaked out and started tumbling over each other to get away.

No! My lunch! Boo lunged forward, my jaw grabbing onto the back of the nearest mini gyaara.

While gyaara skin was impervious to physical attacks from blades or bullets, they had no resistance to wolf teeth.

It was like eating chocolate, with the foil on.

Boo tossed the first carcass aside. I had never ate in my wolf form before, but it would be nice to remove the foil before eating the chocolate.

Yeah. I'll just catch more chocolate first.

By the time Ki's white wolf returned, the bag for our clothe neatly packed and hanging from his mouth, the gyaara were gone.

And Boo's bad mood was asauged, mostly by the near row of mini-gyaara "chocolate" I had caught. I laid them out in a row like jellybeans.

{Someone peel them for me!}

But of course no one understood me.

"If I had known you could do that, I'd have asked you to shift from the start!" River said.

{You're not the boss of me!}

"You made them run away as soon as you showed up!" River continued to be impressed.

{Of course, they'd run. Even stupid creatures like them know a bigger badder monster when they see it! Unlike you.}

River, completely oblivious as usual, reached out his hands and rubbed my head, "Sam! You're such an amazing wolf!"

{Of course I am! I'm the alpha! Don't touch my head!}

But again, it fell on deaf ears. Even Ki couldn't hear me since the mindlinks didn't work. I hated the warlock lands!