Howling, the largest of the wolves issued two sharp barks and leapt backwards. He stumbled a bit but managed to keep his footing - Er, pawing - and stayed withing leaping distance of the freshly dead horse lying on the roadside. He growled, eying the horse-mounted humans on the road, but didn't move to attack.
Even as Jane smoothly holstered her staff, quietly thumbing a switch and powering up the runes in her armor to give an extra surge of strength behind her fists, the other wolves obeyed in unison, leaping backwards and reatreating as one unit. The closest wolves all scurried behind the alpha, forming a V shape facing the group of fighters, though the one Jane had stunned into near paralyzation and the near-dead one Franklin had blasted simply ran into the woods, hurrying to the safety of the shadows and trees. They stayed in a holding pattern, not willing to back away from the horse carcass, but also unwilling to reenter the fray and take any more injuries than they already had.
Taking this time to regroup, everyone took a beat. David poured energy into his light spell, maintaining it for the group's benefit, Korus wiped a bloody arm against the dispenser of the engine to supply it with a little power, and Simo started taking aim with the second bullet loaded in his pistol.
Franklin wasn't content to simply wait and watch, though. Raising his wand, he channeled energy into it until the runes glowed white-hot and the implement was charged to the breaking point. Shouting a word, he unleashed a spell with all the power he could muster. It wasn't a complex working, as far as things went, but it was difficult spell nonetheless simply due to the sheer energy needed to pull it off. His magic faltered, just barely, and though he managed to keep the spell together it dissapated a bit further than he had intended.
The wolves dug their claws into the dirt as gravity suddenly shifted, pulling them backwards as though they were suddenly on a steep incline of a hill rather than flat earth. It wasn't a strong enough tug to pull them off their feet, but it took some deep clawing at the dirt to keep from stumbling backwards.
The wolves didn't attack, instead taking a single step further backwards, cautious. The Alpha was clearly focused on the prize of meat lying in the road, but it wasn't worth it to lose one of the pack. Four wolves eyed the group with wary looks and hungry ferocity, but the growling and snapping instructions the alpha gave warned them from moving in or doing anything reckless. Jane raised her fists in a defensive manner like a boxer, albiet one armed with metal gauntlets heavy enough to crush skulls in one blow.
David drew his sword, and Simo fired his pistol in hopes of finishing off the wolf who had injured him. The wolf was ready, though, watching the fire-stick that the human was holding with caution, ready to jump away. It was a near thing, and the bullet grazed fur, but the wolf managed to duck away from the bullet. Doing so cost him his footing and he tumbled backward several steps, leaving him vulnerable, but without any other enemies moving in to strike immediately this didn't amount to much.
Korus tried to strike, but the Alpha wolf was far enough away that trying to land a hit was difficult at best, especially without entering the gravity-warping field of Franklin's spell. His hammer went wide, moving in a wide arc that made the wolves shy away but caused no real harm.
That's when Franlkin struck again, snarling ferociously as he pumped more energy into his wand and channeled the spell once more.
The wave of gravitational energy went off flawlessly, and as gravity nearly flipped upside down the wolves found themselves thrown helplessly up and backwards. No amount of clawing at the dirt would help without anything substantial to grip, and even if there had been good handholds the wolves had no hands to grab with. Flung up and away, even the Alpha went tumbling backwards, crashing into the treeline with four heavy thuds as the lot of them landed. Trying to move forward was futile, and the notch-eared wolf who tried it only found himself pushed up and backwards again, knocked off his paws like a child caught in a windstorm.
The Wolves broke. The Alpha, who had been holding them together, turning in panic and ran, recognizing the greater threat. As tantalizing as their prize was, it wasn't worth fighting a being who could twist the forces of reality so heavily. The other wolves, the ones not already lost in the trees, saw their leader running and fled after him. It was a scrambling effort, the distorted gravity making their fleeing rather confused and their footing uncertain, but the spell was built to keep the wolves away, not to keep them from fleeing.
The group seemed to collectively take another breath, all taking defensive stances. Simo had to draw his sword, his pistol empty, but David, Jane, and Korus all simply held up their weapons to ward off any attack. None came.
Even so, Franklin wasn't about to have any wolves sneaking up on them as soon as he let his guard down. For a third and final time, he raised his wand and all but screamed a magic word, releasing the spell that sent a wave of rippling gravity coursing into the forest. Whimpers and yelps came seconds later as the distorted gravity sent the fleeing wolves in a disgraceful tumble, though it was difficult to tell exactly the effects without being able to see the wolves themselves.
