Free Hers to Choose by Patricia A. Knight

the demon-wolves are on your heels for Sh’r Un Kree . Is that understood?”
    “ Yes, sir.”
    “Jon! Capta in Biron!” he called.
    “Here, Commander.” Jon rode up, leading Eric’s horse. He handed Eric the reins, then wheeled his horse and rejoined the ride.
    As Eric swung up he ordered, “Protect Flight Leader DeLorion—to the last man. We are expendable. She is not. Is that clear?”
    A chorus of “Yes, sir!” filled the air.
    Damnation, Sophi, where have you gone? “Queen’s Guard, to me!” Eric spurred his horse into the cavern, clattering through the twisting narrow passage and emerging at the mouth of the entrance. Sophi, Adonia, Layna and Rhea had disappeared. The light of the sun slipping beneath the horizon caught the phosphorescent glow of six sets of eyes floating thigh-level before them. The Fell wolves had found them.
    “ Riccio formation. Back to back,” he shouted. His ride formed a circle, each rider facing outward to meet the nightmare shapes that approached on four legs.
    In the growing darkness, seemingly bodiless crimson eyes slunk toward them, circling the formation of riders.
    “How do we fight these things, Commander? I’ve never faced them. Damn creatures are as big as ponies.” Captain Biron’s low voice carried from his position to Eric’s right. The horses sidled nervously, jostling each other as they caught scent of the wolves.
    “ Gentlemen, listen up! Body blows won’t harm them. They heal too rapidly. Go for the brain. Run your sword through their eyes or behead them. It is the only way to ensure they die.” Eric raised his voice over the eerie growls emanating from the circling horrors. “Did you hear that, gentlemen! The Haarb have engineered them to heal unnaturally fast. You cannot hope to deliver a fatal wound to the body. You must destroy their brain.”
    As the echoes o f his voice faded, full dark descended. Damnation, Sophi, where are you?
    A dark shape detached itself from the circling shadows and he had no more time to think. A huge, red-eyed perversion hurtled out of the darkness and landed on the shoulders of his horse, tearing into its neck with savage ferocity. His steady warhorse, a veteran of many campaigns, screamed in agony and reared skyward, then plunged down before rearing again in an effort to dislodge the great beast. It signaled the onslaught of the monstrous wolves.
    The alpha wolf’s attack on Eric’s horse saved Eric. Effortless horsemanship preserved his balance on his madly plunging animal. Holding his saber high overhead in two hands, he slammed the narrow blade through a phosphorescent eye of the great beast, leaving it stuck fast in the abomination’s skull. The animal howled like the dead come to life and fell back, pawing at and shaking its massive head.
    All around him, his men engaged with the great beasts . Without his saber, he had only his short dirk. Whirling his blood-soaked mount, he sighted Captain Biron unhorsed on the ground, desperately holding off one of the great predators. He moved to his aid, thinking to distract the snarling creature. Before he could shift, indistinct figures appeared from the hillside and the familiar pppfffttt of arrows releasing from bows filled the air. With banshee howls, two Fell wolves careened back, pawing at the arrow shafts piercing their eye sockets. Alerted by the death screams of their pack members, the remaining two wolves snarled savagely and with unnatural intelligence, retreated into the blackness of the night. Silence descended.
    He watch ed as Sophi and the remainder of her flight rode cautiously forward. In their pale robes, atop pale horses, they resembled otherworldly specters.
    She rode up to him in silence. Her face appeared a pale moon in the darkness. “Adonia, Layna, help Captain Biron and the other wounded back to the lake. Rhea, gather our spent shafts from those…” her head swung toward the dark, massive shapes lying motionless, “things.”
    She slid off her