[The Barrow-Wight]

The pack of thieves fleeing Edoras was so intent on the icy crossing of the Snowbourne that they never knew a pack of another sort had found them, until it was too late. As Utha cursed and shivered, as Sadiya and her baby suffered, as Gormel grumbled, a noose encircled them, tighter and tighter, until it finally snapped. Kane felt the pressure only as the trap door fell out from beneath them.

For hours, a group of hungry wargs had been waiting on the eastern bank of the river, lying in wait for the horses and men their scouts had alerted them of. After watching them cross the water, they had waited for the perfect moment to spring, the moment which had come as each human turned to the one closest to the river.

“Halt!” hissed Kane, ear to the wind. He had heard an unnatural noise and needed silence to pick it up once more. The others did not stop, but turned to stare at the young man.

“It’s me that gives order around here,” said Gormel fiercely, “so you’ll keep moving or I’ll…”

He did not finish his sentence, but instead looked with wide eyes toward a stand of trees just beyond where Utha and Sadiya rode. “Beware wolves!” he shouted, and drew his sword charging.

The drunken Utha slurred in indignation and took a moment to consider what Gormel had said, a moment that cost his life but spared that of his woman and child. Before he had the chance to even turn his head, he was ripped from the saddle by a huge wolf and pulled to the ground. Another beast savaged him as he lay kicking and punching.

Sadiya’s wits were about her, though, and by quick action she missed the fate of her husband by spurring her mount forward and then pulling him quickly to the right. Gormel rushed past her to attack the beasts, Kane and Rhana close behind him.

The three Easterlings charged into the three wargs, for these were surely no ordinary wolves, that ripped and tore at Utha’s bleeding body. The animals fell back quickly and ran into the trees, but it was then that the trap of the wargs was truly spun. Horses screamed in terror and dismay as another six of the great wolf-beasts appeared from the high grasses nearby and sprang into the stolen horses left unprotected by the rush to save Utha.

Seeing Utha dying and a new threat appearing, Gormel, Rhana, and Kane charged to drive the attackers from the prized horses. Sadiya turned to aid her injured husband, but as the warriors left the wounded man to protect their stolen treasure, the three wargs again jumped from the trees, dragging Utha, who no longer struggled, away. Sadiya smartly chose not to follow.

The battle that followed was quick. Two of the horses were already dead and another was injured, and the Easterlings rode hard into the wargs to protect it and those that remained alive. Claws and teeth met hand and sword, and blood, fur, and flesh flew, but finally the creatures withdrew, dragging the carcass of one of the dead horses with them. Kane and Rhana were both clawed and scratched, but neither had taken a serious wound. Sadiya remained unharmed with her baby, but Gormel was in bad shape.

As the wargs had fled, two of them had turned suddenly and caught Gormel off balance. He had been thrown from his horse and had barely survived, killing one of beasts but taking a terrible wound to the shoulder. As the remaining wargs departed, Gormel lay on the cold ground, his lifeblood streaming out of his wound.