Half the patrol had been dead upon her arrival, and the solider in the saddle with the guard to her immediate left was unconscious, perhaps too badly wounded to survive the ride back to the castle. Sonja urged her horse onward, ever grateful at the warhorse being steady and unafraid of the wolves beyond the wall. She could only pray that they would be quick enough, to get back to the fortress gates in time, and that their doctor would be at the ready for the wounded she and her party were bringing back with them.
Her heart thundered in her own ears almost as loudly as the pounding of hooves (and in the distance, paws following after them) against the ground as they raced through the trees. The full moon hung full and heavy in the sky, providing more than enough light for the vampires to see by, enough for Sonja to see the monstrous Children of William close behind, perhaps hoping to catch the remains of her men and turning them into quarry.
Sonja calculated their odds as they went, checking their surroundings and shouting orders, trying to decide what to do to buy the wounded more time. She could order the men ahead, keep only two deathdealers with her and face the pursing wolves, and likely take them down. But that depended heavily upon it only being the three pursuing that she was able to see. The vampiress muttered an expletive and decided she'd made her mind up, and would have to hope that they'd not need to call for reinforcements, and gave the order. She reined in her horse, and drew her sword, charging the wolves instead.
A short while later, she was all that remained of the deatherdealer guard, the other two had fallen, but taken the Children of William with them. And Sonja, now had a bad tear in her armour plate and mail, a laceration in her side from a lucky claw. Bad, but no real threat to her personally. It wasn't just her, that she had to worry about. Sonja pressed her hand to her side, holding both the reins and her greatsword in the other, hissing in pain as she spurred her horse to rejoin where she had ordered the two guard to wait with her, with the wounded they'd been carrying.
A branch snapped and her attention turned to the underbrush, emerald eyes narrowing at the figure of a man approaching. "Identify yourself sir, these woods....they are not safe. If you are a threat to my men, I will cut you down where you stand."
