I AM YOUR NIGHTMARE IN THE FLESH

It spoke again, and he sucked in a breath but still didn't respond. Was it taunting him? Where was its master? Ganelon glanced away to check the area nearby, saw nothing, and immediately returned his attention to the cat. The wizard must be hiding in the trees or on the riverbank. Ganelon wondered how he'd missed the presence of another wolf.

Although if said wolf was a wizard, would he have even noticed their appearance? What if they were a druid, and could shift shape? He listened to the beast's talking. Some vague threats and, not unexpectedly, a request for his name. Ganelon couldn't really help smirking a bit. As if he would be caught so easily. A better wolf - a poet or similar - would speak to the cat and try to trick it into saying its own name, or the name of its master, but Ganelon was a simple soldier and not clever enough for that. Best to just keep his mouth shut and his eyes open. He didn't know any counterspells to fend off the demon and he didn't want to let the beast get an edge on him. If it attacked he would defend himslf. Until then he'd wait it out and see if it's master showed himself.

If not he would jump for it, much as he didn't want to and as dangerous as the icy water would be. He'd have to hope he found a dry place to warm himself almost immediately afterwards. It didn't take long to freeze to death in this kind of weather, and the addition of what had to be near freezing water would hasten his demise. Hypothermia would set in within seconds of his hitting the water and death within minutes. He'd have to force himself to make the shore and find some kind of shelter. An old badger sett or a stand of trees. Either one would do. Even a pile of dead leaves under the snow might work well, if they hadn't rotted. Then he'd just have to survive the night. It wouldn't be easy. He might or might not make it.

Or he might end up fighting a lion. His chances honestly weren't much better. Ganelon had come pretty close to freezing to death before, and pretty close to bleeding to death. He preferred the former. For some reason the idea of becoming a frozen carcass until spring, when some random animal would stumble on his thawing corpse, appealed to him in a way that being drained of his blood and left to die on an alien construct in the middle of a river didn't. He'd take his chances with the wizard and its familiar.