I AM YOUR NIGHTMARE IN THE FLESH

It didn't take long for the beast to leap down off of the alien thing and begin snarling words at him again. Ganelon watched it circle him once and then backed up, putting his back to the water again. The lion would have to enter the water to get behind him and he rather doubted it would do that. Besides, this way he still had an escape route, even if it was a highly uncomfortable one. It got closer and closer and he tensed his muscles a few times, warming them up to fight or swim away depending on which seemed like it would have a greater chance of survival.

It snarled at him about manners and he couldn't help laughing at it. Manners? Him? He was a career soldier and the frontier wasn't a place for politeness anyway. It appeared that this creature was grabbing at straws and his silence was making it quite angry. Too bad. The wolf stayed mute, a little grin crossing his face before he calmly and decisively took three steps backwards into the water.

The cold shocked his system almost immediately, forcing a quick breath in before he got control of himself. Also before his feet immediately went numb. Four feet back and he stopped, the icy water slowly drifing around the middle of his legs, gray eyes stoic. WOuld it follow him into the water? If it did it would give him the edge. He'd been in colder water before and still forced himself to function. He doubted the lion had, wizard or no wizard.

He waited for it, normally concise thoughts slowly growing muddled. Temper rising. How obvious did he have to make it that he wasn't interested in fighting? Why was this beast and, apparently, its wizard master, so insistent on it? Had he made any powerful enemies that he didn't know about?