Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [10]
From the corner of his eye, Abdel noticed Jaheira had met the charge of a third wolf by cracking her staff down on its brow, caving in its skull with a single stroke, but the momentum of the brain-dead beast was unabated. The disease-ridden body bowled Jaheira over, burying her beneath a tumbling mass of filthy, vermin-ridden fur and flesh.
Unable to immediately aid Jaheira, Abdel kicked Imoen in the back with a heavy boot, sending her stumbling back off balance and pushing her out of the way of the snapping jaws of a fourth attacker. The wolf, deprived of its initial target, spun to face the new threat, its powerful hind legs propelling it up at Abdel's unprotected throat. Its teeth sank deep into the warrior's windpipe, and the creature wrenched its head hard to the side, ripping his throat open.
The weight of the wolf attack knocked the big man over, sending him toppling backward to the hard earth. As he fell, Abdel brought the point of his weapon up, wedging it into the fold of skin between two of the beast's ribs. The creature was too close for Abdel to get any leverage into his thrusting attack, but when the combatants struck the ground the force of their momentum and the wolf's own mass impaled the beast on Abdel's blade.
The injury to Abdel would have been instantly fatal to any mortal on Abeir-toril-but Abdel had ceased being a mortal long ago. Even as he worked the point of his sword deeper into his foe, Abdel could feel the flesh of his savaged throat regenerating. Momentarily trapped beneath the weight of the wolf, the warrior twisted his blade, tearing cartilage and snapping bone as he opened a fist-size hole in the chest of his opponent. The diseased wolf died instantly, and in the scant second it took Abdel to roll the corpse off to one side, Abdel's own wound had completely healed.
Drenched in gore, Abdel jumped up to meet the next attacker, only to find the fifth and final wolf feebly twitching on the ground. The hilt of Imoen's dagger protruded from between its haunches. The beast had been killed by a single well-placed strike at the base of its brain.
Beside him Jaheira had already managed to crawl out from under the foul corpse of the wolf she had killed. The druid was on her knees retching uncontrollably, physically sickened by her close contact with the unnatural monstrosity that had attacked her. Apart from her obvious discomfort and embarrassment, Abdel could tell she was unharmed.
Then he noticed Imoen, curled up near the corpse of the first wolf and clutching at her arm, feebly trying to staunch the flow of blood. Abdel crossed the clearing in a single bounding stride, and dropped to his knees beside his half sister. He glanced at Jaheira as he did so.
"I'm all right, Abdel," Imoen said, trying to give him a brave smile, but she could only manage to grit her teeth in pain. Abdel gently took her wrist and turned her arm so he could examine her injury. The underside of her arm was torn open from the wrist to the elbow. Sinew and muscle spilled out from the wound.
Imoen winced and paled at the sight. In a shaky voice she whispered, "Guess I don't heal as fast as you, big brother."
Jaheira dropped down beside them, still wiping away the last vestiges of vomit from her lips. "Horrible," she said simply. "Those things were once animals, and something turned them into those.. .perversions of nature. We should burn the corpses of those abominations."
Neither Abdel nor Imoen replied, and Jaheira suddenly seemed to notice the vicious gash in Imoen's arm. "I am sorry, child," she said as she quickly examined the damage. "I did not mean to let my outrage over nature's defilement interfere with my attending to your suffering."
From a pouch at her belt Jaheira pulled a handful of small, blood-red berries. She held them in a fist above Imoen's torn flesh and squeezed, letting the crimson juice dribble down into the wound. Imoen grunted in shock and tried to jerk her arm away, but Jaheira's sure grip kept the girl's limb immobilized.
"Does it hurt, child?"
Imoen nodded, but she was gritting