A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Fortunately, Astrid, as a Runebound vampire, was far faster, allowing her to quickly appear behind Emily, and knock her unconscious.

Before Emily could sag to the ground, Astrid gathered her up in a princess carry and looked with some concern at the enslaved Victor, but he seemed to remain the same, causing her to sigh in relief.

She then turned to Emma, and said, "Let's go!"

Emma was looking at Astrid with a face full of gratitude, as she had felt utterly helpless when Emily simply took off running.

When they were about to take off into the wilderness outside of Frostvik, Astrid suddenly thought of something.

"Wait!" she said to Emma, and quickly crouched down with her back turned to Emma. "Climb on my back," she said hurriedly.

Emma understood that, as a human, and a first-rank at that, she would never be able to move as fast as a second-rank vampire, even if that vampire was carrying both her and Emily.

So Emma climbed on Astrid's back, a little awkwardly, and Astrid quickly jumped into a sprint.

As for Victor, his last order was to follow Emily, so that is what he did, the fact that his mistress was unconscious didn't seem to bother him.

*****

Shaking himself free from thoughts of his mother, Erik refocused on Frostfang.

He shortly considered mentioning that he and Astrid were planning to take down Sigurd but decided not to in the end. The two most likely reactions were ridicule for thinking too highly of himself as a mere second-ranker, and an only increased desire to keep Erik with him, for fear that he would get himself killed.

"It doesn't matter," Erik finally said as he shook his head. "I refuse to wait around for Mom to come back, assuming she even does. When I'm done in these lands, I'll leave in search of Edda and hopefully find my mother along the way. I won't be stopped by the likes of you!"

Frostfang was about to retort when they heard a female voice yelling, "I won't let him!"

They turned their heads to the right, just in time to watch Astrid knock Emily out with a well-placed chop to the neck.

Seeing Astrid's following actions, Frostfang naturally realized they were about to leave.

"Oh no you don't!" he growled. "Erik I just want to keep safe, but you all are going to help the Enclave survive. I won't leave this place with nothing!"

After today, Frostfang felt he had a decent grasp of Erik's character, and didn't think the man would leave his companions behind. Thus, he felt secure in leaving Erik to stop the other members of his group from leaving.

Yet, just as he started moving toward them, lightning flashed where Erik just stood. As it turned out, he had used the time he was talking with Frostfang to charge his second lightning rune up again.

*Bang*

Erik checked Frostfang with a lightning-flash-powered shoulder tackle.

Pain shot through Erik's body, as he felt like a normal human running straight into a brick wall. He knew the result would have been much better if he had had Elora with him, but without her reinforcing his body, the only advantage his body had over other second-rankers was the two powerful bloodlines mixed in.

It was a powerful advantage to be sure, but not enough to match Frostfang's third-rank Runebound body. Then again, even with Elora there he would still be unable to match a third-rank Runebound's body, but at least he would have felt like he was simply running into a far more buff person, rather than a brick wall.

Luckily, the extreme speed that came from the lightning flash skill did allow his efforts to have the desired effect, as Frostfang grunted and staggered a little, causing him to halt.

Erik used this time to position himself between Frostfang and the leaving women. He took his hammer from his storage space and took a defiant, combat-ready stance, as he glared at Frostfang. At the same time, he began to charge up his lightning flash skill once again, just in case Frostfang tried to use his superior speed to go around Erik instead of through him.

Despite the obvious seriousness of the situation, excitement and a lust for battle once again twinkled in Erik's eyes. "I didn't fare so well against the last third-rank Runebound I fought," he began. "But she was truly near the top of the food chain among third-rankers, so I'd love to see how I do against one so far below her."

Frostfang didn't seem bothered by the insult. In fact, personal insults were very low on his list of reasons to get angry. Besides, if the occasional battles he had fought against Liv Frost had taught him anything, it was that he was far from the strongest third-ranker around.

But that didn't mean he believed an uppity little second-ranker, even one as powerful as Erik, could stop him.

"Get out of my way, boy," he growled menacingly. "That shoulder check was impressive, but you lack the power to stop me!"

"You're probably right," Erik nodded, with a shit-eating grin. 'But all I need to do is stall you for half a minute at most,' he thought to himself, excitedly. Although he didn't say that last part.

Frostfang, expecting Erik to move aside after his words, quickly noticed that he had no intention of doing so.

"Having it your way then," he scoffed and charged at Erik, intending to bowl him to the side and stop the people behind Erik from leaving.

Erik howled and swung his hammer as it crackled and popped with the concussive lightning blast charging right on top of it.

Frostfang didn't use any of his abilities, as he didn't think he needed them. Plus, he still didn't want to actually harm Erik.

Fist met hammer, and Erik's lightning blast exploded with as much power as he could pump into it.

Yet, even so, Erik nearly felt his hammer being ripped from his hands, as he desperately held on to it and skidded back a few meters.

But, his goal was reached, Frostfang was halted and looked at Erik with narrowed eyes. "Well…" he began. "At least you do your mother proud."

Then he charged again, and Erik began a difficult fight into which he poured every single ounce of his power. He could only count his lucky stars that Frostfang wasn't trying to use his third-rank pressure again, as Erik no longer had a third-rank body merged with his.

He could truly feel her absence and wasn't sure how to feel about it. 'Have I become too used to her presence?' he thought to himself. But he quickly threw those thoughts to the background. He had other things to focus on.

Luckily, he didn't have to think about his stamina, as he didn't need to last very long.

Elora was almost ready.