kingdom of nations

Chapter 26 Wolves and Jackals (Part )
"Come closer! Come closer! Don't disperse!" the count shouted loudly. Rather than reminders and orders, these shouts were more like an outburst of fear and a bit redundant.

After all, those who could follow him all had good martial arts skills, including the monks - they could also gallop on horseback and swing hammers at the same time.

When there was no war, the knights had the opportunity to kill time and hone their skills, apart from tournaments, by hunting. Although there was not much difference between the two, the prey in hunting was wild beasts, while the prey in tournaments were knights like themselves - but there were not many tournaments after all, and hunting was one of the knights' common tasks. In order to entertain Count Etienne, the castle steward of Sainte-Croix had urged the knights to go out hunting more often.

Because of this, when everyone heard the long, shrill, blood-boiling howl, their first reaction was to quickly return to their companions.

Count Etienne and his knights did not make a mistake. They did not enter the dense forest. Although the darkness was so quiet and warm, they knew that it was just a trap set by the devil.

They only rested in the bushes at the edge of the pine forest. Even when a knight later suggested looking for grouse and rabbits, several people showed unusual caution. With every step they took, these experienced hunters would look back at the flickering firelight, carefully judging whether they had gone too far.

They had some gains - they dug out a squirrel's nest, which contained many plump pine cones, hazelnuts, chestnuts and shriveled fruits that were difficult to identify; the knight's footsteps startled a rabbit, which ran out and bumped into his calf, knocking the knight off balance and successfully making him faint.

Another attendant found a few brown fishing owl feathers on a shimmering spider web. He looked up and observed the movements above carefully. He soon heard the bird's unique chirping sound. Brown fishing owls either breed in June or December. If they encountered a bird that breeds in December... He quickly found the nest, which was not far from the ground. He climbed up, grabbed the bird that was incubating eggs, broke its neck, stuffed it into his coat, and descended the tree with the nest of eggs.

The brown fish owl's partner, not sure whether it was a female or a male, screamed and circled above the humans in fear. It might not have known that it had actually avenged its family - between the cobalt blue sky and the silhouetted black pine forest, a dancing bird attracted more than just the attention of humans.
About two or three leagues away from Count Etienne and his party, there lived a pack of gray wolves. The unusual movement of the birds caught the attention of the leader of the wolves. It raised its head and stared at the place where the movement occurred, with its long snout open and its eyes narrowed. The wolf's sense of smell was limited to half a league. Logically, it should not be able to smell anything, but as a leader with rich experience, an intuition unique to wild animals forced it to act.

It stood up and howled in a low voice, urging the second citizens in the wolf pack, that is, the young and strong adult wolves to stand up - they were the "pathfinders" in the wolf pack, responsible for finding traces of prey before hunting. They stood up and were a little at a loss at first because there was no smell of deer or wild boar in the air, but under the constant urging of the head wolf, they still ran out.

As the light grew dimmer and the wind grew stronger, an adult wolf that had been exploring the way came back first, having found nothing. Then came the second and third. They circled around the leader, expressing their dissatisfaction, but the leader just waited firmly and patiently. Finally, an adult wolf came back, bringing good news.

The leader wolf let out a long howl, and the wolf pack woke up. The adult wolves were in front, the old wolves were behind, then the sub-adults and the little wolves, and the leader wolf followed closely behind. As it walked, it raised its head from time to time to sniff the air. Small snowflakes fell on its black nose, and were melted by its hot breath before it settled.

This kind of weather with alternating snow, cloudy and sunny weather brings great trouble to humans, but for wolves, it is a rare benefit - their toes are webbed, covered with hair, and their claws are slightly blunt, which allows them to hold on firmly and not fall whether they encounter almost frictionless ice, slippery mud, or thick moss.

The pads on the bottom of wolves' feet are covered with special blood vessels that can regulate temperature independently of the rest of the body, so that they will not easily get frostbite; they also have an innate "cloak", and the thick fur can almost completely isolate the sharp cold wind, snow and rain.

Apart from the first few howls to urge and summon the wolves, the leader made no other sound. Twenty or thirty wolves walked quietly and orderly in the dense forest and along the river. Apart from startling some rabbits or birds, they did not cause any trouble - the bear was still sleeping in its den, the wild boar was awake but just waiting for the wolves to pass by, and there might be deer and leopards watching them, but no one wanted to provoke such a tricky enemy.

When they had walked about two miles, they could already smell blood and feces. The adult wolves were visibly agitated. Winter had arrived and snow was falling, which meant that the food supply for the wolf pack was no longer as plentiful. They were looking forward to a hearty battle, filling their empty stomachs with the flesh and blood of their prey so that they could survive until spring.

The alpha wolf stopped, and there were angry or uneasy howling sounds from the pack - a pack of jackals suddenly emerged from the depths of the forest across a nearly dried-up stream. Wolves are the natural enemies of jackals, and they fight and devour each other, especially their cubs. The alpha wolf's gaze met the alpha jackal's, and the gray-furred leader faced the reddish-brown-furred leader.

They should have started a fight. Although the wolf pack was huge, the jackals here were also a rare large group, with a total of more than forty people.

After a moment, the leader jackal lowered his head. The wolf leader hesitated for a moment, then turned and continued forward with the pack. The jackals were also searching for food. They moved forward in tacit understanding across a stream. The smells in the air grew stronger and clearer: those of humans, horses, fire, and those pungent spices and wine...

------

The attendant on guard let out a sharp cry, "Who is it?"

Count Étienne, his knights, his squires, and the guide, who had at last regained some consciousness, or rather had been lured awake by the smell of the broth, immediately jumped up, weapons in hand.

A few breaths ago, they had eaten and drunk their fill, and heard from their guide that they might be north of Antioch. He was very familiar with this place and knew where the nearest village was. After they rested for the night, he would take them there, and they could meet the steward or priest there as they wished, and have a good rest before setting off again.

If they didn't want to, and wanted to go back to Alasa Road, that wouldn't be a problem. He knew several ships, and there would always be a captain willing to take the guests of the Lord of the Holy Land.

After he said this, Count Etienne and the others finally felt relieved. The Count allowed the guide to sit next to him, and let him eat and drink like a knight. He also gave him a bottle of wine - at this time, this bottle of wine was almost worth gold. The guide enjoyed it respectfully but comfortably, and the smug look on his face was disgusting to see.

They had no idea what the guide was thinking. Although Count Etienne had promised to give him ten silver coins as long as he could bring them to a Christian city - God bless, if it were under normal circumstances, he would have to kneel down and kiss the Count's boots for these ten silver coins, but he now had a hundred gold coins bulging in his waist bag, as long as he brought these people to Mule's territory... Of course, if he just drove the beasts into the trap, it would not be worth the four hundred gold coins later. He also had to try to contact the traitor of the Knights Templar, the shameful coward, and the despicable thief - Prince Mule of Armenia, to ensure that these people fell into his hands and suffered torture and hardship.

But after waking up, he had already taken a rough look at the surroundings and was pleasantly surprised to find that this was a pine forest that he was quite familiar with. He even saw the secret signs he had made, which only he could understand and no one else could find - this was none other than Mule's territory, which meant that one-fifth of his work had been completed, and he just had to call a Turk.

So when the guards shouted, the guide, in contrast to the nervous crowd, was ecstatic. But then there was a wave of trepidation. He was worried about what he should do if the Turks didn't want him to see Prince Mulai. Should he just expose the Christians' identities? That would be like handing over his biggest bargaining chip.

Say nothing? He was afraid that those savage and ignorant beasts would cut off his neck with a knife, leaving him unable to utter a word, and all his gold coins would become the property of these robbers.

But only a moment later, he didn't know whether to expect to see a beast standing on two feet, or a hunter on all fours...

It was a pack of wolves coming.

In the dark night, these eyes reflecting the firelight looked like white clams and white fluorite inlaid on a black lacquer plate.

They did not give humans much time to react. After a long howl like a horn, a huge gray wolf jumped into the light circle. It was like a strong calf, its body length including tail was about as long as a spear, and its shoulder height was higher than the knight's thigh.

The servant facing it let out a cry of fear. He really shouldn't have exposed his cowardice so quickly and easily, although it wasn't his fault—but the giant wolf, which had originally focused its gaze on the horse, immediately turned its head, its long snout spread open, as if revealing a ferocious smile—Etienne only had time to let out a cry before the servant was already thrown to the ground by the giant wolf.

This servant was none other than the illegitimate son of Count Etienne's brother. Count Etienne rushed forward without giving it much thought. He gripped the dagger tightly and stabbed it into the wolf's shoulder blade. When the wolf twisted its body to bite him, he had already nimbly jumped over its back and pressed his elbows and knees against its ribs.

The knight on the side also ran over and hit the gray wolf's head with a short axe. The huge head fell to one side. The gray wolf let out a crying whine, and the count could clearly feel the body under him quickly going limp.

He stood up and pulled his nephew up, and in just a short period of time, the battle between humans and wolves had broken out completely.

Wolves weren't creatures that liked to fight alone. They were the devil's army, skilled at deception and sneak attacks. They even knew how to lure their enemies. Chasing, intercepting, and dividing them were their specialties. They split into several teams: one to tear apart the horses, and three to deal with the most dangerous enemies, the knights and their squires...

There is another team, which are the real hunters.

Their target is the old, weak and sick in this team. The weak ones are of course the young attendants and servants, and the disabled ones... are of course the guides whose heads are still buzzing from time to time.

This detachment of the wolf pack was not in a hurry to kill these people - it was not easy to kill a person.

They attacked in turns, dodging the waving sticks and swords, grabbing their feet, tearing their clothes, and constantly baring their teeth to intimidate them. Once they lost their reason and balance due to fear and fell suddenly, the prepared members would rush out from the darkness, bite their hands, feet or shoulders and drag them deep into the pine forest. In such a chaotic situation, as long as they were dragged out ten feet or so, the people who were still fighting with the wolves would no longer be able to take care of them.

The guide was the second to fall. Although he didn't have a father who was the Count of Champagne, considering that he would be needed to lead the way later, a knight rushed over and waved a burning pine branch to burn away the wolf that was biting his shoulder. He grabbed the guide's hood and tried to pull him back to the firelight...

More sharp claws stretched out and hooked the guide's clothes and flesh. He screamed in pain, and the knight couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine and couldn't help but yelling, "Devil!" Isn't it? He had always found it strange. He had been in this world for more than 30 years, but he had never seen a large pack of more than 50 wolves.

The ones who originally caught the guide were only two sub-adult wolves that were obviously smaller than the other wolves, but when he drove them away, the ones that pounced on him again were... jackals. The relationship between jackals and wolves is like that between pagans and themselves. When they meet, they will fight to the death and will not stop until the last one is dead. And what did he see now?
The wolves and jackals have formed an alliance and are hunting them together!

If a person encounters a wolf, unless the wolf is too old to move or too young to understand, the wolf will definitely not be able to defeat the person. The wolf only has one mouth to bite, but the person has two hands. He can throw the wolf to death, crush it to death, strangle it to death...

But there is a pack of wolves here. If there were only wolves, they might still have a chance of winning. At that time, the wolves would become their food and clothes. But now, in addition to a dozen wolves, they also have to deal with jackals whose number is definitely not less than the former - jackals are smaller than wolves, and usually can only hunt rabbits, chickens, some birds and even insects, but numbers can sometimes overcome strength!

(End of this chapter)