Chapter 6. I find hope unlooked for, aid unexpected

~ S.R. 1419, 14 January, nightfall ~

The Sun is gone, and the twilight is deepening. The howls come ever nearer, no longer needing the wind to carry them to my ears.

Perhaps I have gone far enough that, with a running start, I might jump over the empty streambed to the other side!

Almost instantly, the Voices counter the thought. Stand fast, Greatheart! Inside my head is an image of galloping, leaping the dreadful gap, but falling short.

But now the Voices lash at me like whips, wrenching my attention to the present moment. Stand ready!

As I lift my head higher, I have a perception that the very air is stirring and realise that the wolves' grey hides are one with the twilight. Even though I heard Master tell Youngest that my vision at night is superior to a hobbit's, I have little warning before the first wolf slams into me and powerful jaws fasten on my neck. The fact that I planted my feet in response to the Voices' warning saves me from going down under the attacking wolves.

Maddened with fear and rage, I rear high in the air, carrying that first wolf with me. His mouthful of my shaggy winter coat pulls free, and he falls to the ground. As he lands on his back, and before he can scramble to his feet, I come down hard on him, and he yelps and rolls away, writhing. Several of his fellows leave off their attack on me and close in around him. 

Terrible shrieks rend the air. Some may be my unfortunate attacker's, but some come from my own throat as I rear and strike out. Feeling jaws closing on my hindquarters, I bring my front feet to the ground once more, aiming to come down upon the snarling, snapping wolves in front of me, and once my feet find steady contact with the ground, I kick out behind me, connecting with a satisfyingly solid feeling and more yelps.

I swivel a quarter turn and strike out, first fore and then aft. Feeling more snapping teeth and jaws grabbing at my hind legs, trying to cripple me, I rear high into the air and let myself fall over backwards, crushing several of my attackers beneath my weight, though I know it is a terrible risk.

Somehow I manage to regain my feet, even as I feel the first score of teeth against my skin where my attackers have pulled loose large clumps of my winter coat. I whirl and lash out, and hear a yelp, more yelps, shrieks of pain from multiple throats, some from several different directions at once!

Before me, I mean, and behind me... but what is happening on my off-side?

Even as I lash out with my forefeet and then kick out behind me, I roll my eye to the side and see a larger piece of moving twilight amidst the many smaller pieces that are the wolves. And then I am too busy with my own troubles to wonder further. In any event, that larger body seems more interested in addressing my attackers. I resolve to fight on as fiercely as I may until I see an opening, and then I will flee... if I can flee...

The sudden silence is something of a surprise; I realise that in the past few moments, I heard more cries and shrieks, at first close at hand but then farther away and receding ever farther. But now there is nothing.

This is the time when I should take advantage of the quiet that surrounds me. I should make my way away... I should...

It is all I can do to lift my drooping head. In the deepening twilight, something large is approaching. I cannot see it, for it seems to be a part of the twilight sky, as if the sky itself is moving. But my ears hear the sounds of light, dancing steps, the swish of a tail, the sound of a mane settling after one of my kind shakes its head... an equine snort.

I jump at the gentle nibble along my withers. Well done, little one. It is the whisper of one of my own kind.

I raise my head higher, but it is as if a mist is in my eyes. Either that, or the large, ghostly figure looming beside me is an apparition.

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