Bearded-man gave a triumphant, “Aha!” when the first, then second dart hit their mark. He readied a third, wicked determination in his pale blue eyes as Byrce nuzzled the narrow wounds the darts had inflicted. His smug expression twisted into a panicked scowl when fog rose around them, preventing him from getting another decent shot in.
	He let out a yowl in a mix of pain and shock when Byrce’s teeth sunk into his arm, the thick leather of his coat the only thing preventing the werewolf’s sharp teeth from penetrating as deep as they could have. 
	Bearded-man released his hold on the gun-sword with that hand, transferring the weight of it to the opposite one. Gripping the handle incorporated into it, his teeth clenched, he moved to swipe the sharp side of the blade at Byrce, but the wolf thrashed his head, the jerking motion throwing him off balance and making him stumble downward with the beast’s tugging. 
	With a hiss of anger and pain as Byrce’s teeth tore at his sleeve and arm, he managed to make a swing at the wolf. But the wolf backed off. His weapon sliced through empty air, and he stumbled back at the sudden release of his arm.
	“What does it take to drop you?!” Bearded-man growled as Byrce bore his sharp fangs at him. Then, a grin spread over his face as he took in the signs of weakening the wolf displayed before Byrce collapsed, the fog disappearing in a swirling burst. “That, I guess,” he answered his own question, amusement in his voice as he moved the sword-gun to point its barrel at him one last time.
	Gritting his teeth as the movement of returning his hand to the weapon irked the bite mark, he pulled the lever quickly once, then twice, but the wolf still had enough strength left in him to call on his unusual power.
	Glittering mist rushed in a wave from the wolf and spread upward as another dart shot through the air with a loud [i]whoosh-bang.[/i] In the time it took for the dart to travel from man to wolf, the mist solidified into a glistening wall of ice, leaving a haze of fog hovering at its surface. The dart, its feathers caught in the frozen water, hung suspended mid-shot in the ice, its tip staring down at Byrce in perfect aim.
	Meanwhile, Thea appeared to have gained the upper hand in the fight against Young-guy, each swing of her burned branch blocked as she directed the steps of her opponent. Trying to not glance at the log for fear of alerting him of its proximity and her plan, she made another swing at him that she hoped would be the last she needed to make him tumble backward.
	Instead of blocking and stepping back as she anticipated, Young-guy ducked beneath her swing, moved to her side, and brought his metal rod hard across her back.
	Thea shouted at the burst of pain that blossomed in the wake of the weapon, the force of the attack making her stumble forward. She tried to clear the fallen tree trunk, but her foot caught on it and sent her sprawling to the ground, her branch knocking from her hand. 
	Trying to collect herself as fast as she could, she reached for her branch, then rolled onto her back just as Young-guy leapt at her, bringing his rod down on her.
	She raised her branch just in time. The groaning [i]crack[/i] she had been afraid of hearing came at last from her branch as the wood gave, splitting nearly in two.
	She kicked up at his stomach, making him stumbled back with an airy grunt.
	[i]Yes![/i] she thought as, at last, he fell backwards over the fallen tree that had felled her.
	She hurried to her feet, but he recovered quicker than she did. Raising his rod once more, he leapt over the log, murder in his eyes as a couple sparks of electricity spat sickly over the metal.
	With her wooden weapon useless, Thea gasped, threw her arms up to protect her head, and tried to step out of the way of Young-guy’s raging path, though she knew it would do little good. 
	But he never collided with her. Instead, a loud [i]thump[/i] rattled in front of her, making Thea look up. A thick wall of ice had spread between the two of them just in time, Young-guy’s weapon, then body smacking into it, hard. His form was warped from the other side of the ice, but she could just make him out as he bent over, a hand on his face where his nose had hit the ice.
	“Byrce!” she called, looking around frantically for her friend. Instead, Bearded-man’s confused gaze turned to her from further down the winding ice wall, the wolf’s form just discernible on the opposite side of the elemental barrier.
	She glanced to Zane, still lying unconscious on the ground not far from her.
	“Well, [i]hello,[/i] princess!” Bearded-man called, slowly aiming his weapon at her.
	She looked once more to the blur that was Byrce, and licked her lips as Bearded-man cocked the weapon. If she could get to safety, she could get help for her friends. But that meant leaving them behind. She swallowed hard as her new opponent readied to fire the weapon, then ran.
	A dart flew through where she had stood just a moment before as she wove through the woods as fast as she could. Alas, she did not get far.
	“ENOUGH!” The annoyed, feminine voice echoed around the trees a moment before bright energy shot at Thea.
	It wrapped over her, binding her legs together and arms at her sides as it formed shimmering ropes. She shouted when it pulled tight, sending her sliding to the ground. 
	A woman in a simple, hooded dress, its colors blending in with the forest, jumped from one of the trees to the top of Byrce’s ice wall as Young-guy rushed toward the weakened wolf.
	The Scientists’ Mage had arrived. 
	The ice began to melt beneath the woman’s feet with a bubbling hiss, turning into steam that billowed around her.
	“Never send a Scientist to do a Mage’s job,” she said through a condescending sigh.
	“[i]We’re[/i] doing all the work, you little—”
	“Silence!” she snapped as she jumped from the break she had created in the ice, water dripping down what remained and pooling on the grass. “Finish off that werewolf.” She jerked her head toward Byrce as she stepped toward Thea, Young-guy keeping a careful eye on the wolf, ready to pounce should he try to attack. “I’ll get the princess back to the Sages.”
	Bearded-man strode beside the woman near the gap, his weapon raised threateningly. 
	“If you don’t give us the credit we deserve—”
	“I’ll make sure they know what happened, and all the work you put into her capture,” she reassured him, a smirk in her voice before she hurried to Thea.
	Grumbling under his breath, Bearded-man hopped over what remained of the ice in the gap, and he and his partner converged on Byrce, weapons at the ready and gazes cautious.