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not true,” Cam said. “Maybe nothing is ever exactly certain, but you can bend a battle in your direction. Tactics, strategy, positioning, numbers, it’s all designed to give your army the greatest possible chance.”

“And you don’t think we can come up with some strategy to win in a direct confrontation.”

Cam’s eyes swept along the bend in the stream. “I think there’s something bigger happening.”

She eyed him with a tilted head. “What do you mean?”

Cam thought back to the mountain, to Lycanica hanging mid-air, her gorgeous hair waving in the soft breeze.

“Something happened before we left,” he said. “I haven’t told many people about it.”

“If you know something, you shouldn’t keep it to yourself.”

“I’m not even sure you’d believe me,” Cam said.

“What happened?”

He sucked in a breath, but a crashing of twigs and rustling branches made him stop.

Wolves spilled out from the trees.

“Formation!” Brice shouted.

Cam fell back as Brice’s men formed up around them. Three ranks deep and heavy with armor. The wolves tore down the empty streambed and threw themselves at the line of soldiers. Teeth gnashed and claws tore at shields and spears.

The copper smell of blood and gore quickly filled the air.

Cam couldn’t get a good count. He was buried in the back lines. Brice hurried between them, shoving some forward, pulling others back. Cam tried to move to the side to get a better view but one of the senior soldiers grabbed his shoulder.

“Stay here, General,” he said. The man’s eyes shone from beneath his bronze helmet. “Can’t keep you safe if you go running off.”

“I’m not sure I need protecting, soldier,” Cam said.

“All the same, General would have my nuts on a platter if she knew I let you run off.”

Cam grunted in response and let the soldier guide him back into the center of the fighting mass.

Animal screams filled the air. Birds took flight in great black flocks. Rocks and dirt tumbled down into the streambed. Wolves slammed into the shield wall with shocking force and little regard for their own lives.

Cam could hear Brice shouting over the din but couldn’t make out the words.

Ahead, the wall pushed forward. Men grunted and shouted. Cam smelled musky sweat and fear.

He cursed and looked around again. He couldn’t stay safe in the middle of a mass of armored soldiers, not if he could help. More shouting from the front, and the mass jerked forward then stumbled back as more wolves spilled in from the trees to their left, slamming into the front line’s flank.

Brice called up the second line and tried to form a wall.

But there were too many of them and on too many sides. Cam realized that the scouts had led him directly into a trap.

He shoved away from the soldier watching over him. He heard a shout but ignored it as he waded through the bodies toward the left flank. Bodies sliced open and screams filled the air. The wolves clawed at shields and armor desperate to find flesh. Cam shoved out of the column and staggered into the open air.

Only to face a pack of snarling wolves as they threw themselves with berserker rage at the line facing them.

Cam called on his fire. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t bother drawing his sword. It flowed out from his hands like molten water. He thrust his palms forward and released the burning inferno in huge gusts of bone-melting heat.

Wolves screamed. The front line stepped back, away from the fire.

Cam pumped more energy into his attack. The wolves parted before him. Piles of ash simmered on the blackened ground. The smell of cooked meat and burned sinew filled his nostrils as more screaming rang out.

The wolves melted away before him. He dropped his magic as sweat fell down his brow. He swept the field in search of more wolves to kill, but they melted back into the forest.

Armored soldiers marched forward, swinging the line out through the devastation.

“Cam!”

He looked over and found Brice with two soldiers trotting toward him. He recognized one of the soldiers as the veteran that had held him back before.

“General,” he said.

She wore her helmet shoved down over her dark hair, but he could see her bright eyes through the visor. He felt the Need claw at his brain.

“I thought you were told to stay in the ranks,” she said.

“I thought I’d help out,” he said.

Brice got closer. “I agreed to let you come on the condition that you wouldn’t fight,” she said. “If you got hurt under my watch—”

“Then I’m sure there’d be a lot of men and women back at camp that would be happy to see it.”

“And twice as many that would tear me limb from limb.” She shook her head and released a frustrated breath. “You’re too important to go running around fighting like this. You know that, don’t you?”

“I can still fight.” Cam’s words came out in a snarl.

“You can, but you shouldn’t.”

Shouts rang out by the front line. The mass of men shoved forward and Cam watched them break ranks.

“Looks like the wolves fell back,” the veteran soldier said.

“Go stop them from following,” Brice said. “This reeks of an ambush. We’re pulling back.

“Yes, sir.” The soldier jogged off.

“Too damn clever,” Brice said. She pulled her helmet off and threw it on the ground. Her hair blew in the wind and streamed out behind her. She grunted and gripped the pommel of her sheathed sword.

“We’re supposed to be hunting them,” Cam said. “But it feels like they’re hunting us.”

“Turning our own tactics around.”

“Get your men together. We’re going back to camp. We need to figure out what to do with all this.”

She nodded once and locked eyes with him. “You know something.”

Cam turned away from the soldiers. He stalked toward a pair of large pines and tore off a clump of needles. He let them drift down from his fingers onto a group of large grey pitted rocks.

“I saw Lycanica,” he said.

“You did— what?” Brice stood and stared at him.

“I was out climbing with Sirrin,” he said.