Ch. 8 - The Wolves

Jessica could hear the creatures in the woods around her as she darted through the trees. The beast she had seen looked an awful lot like a wolf, only it was larger – maybe the size of a bear. Its yellow eyes and blade-like teeth impressed themselves on her mind, urging her legs to run faster. Andrew was a little bit behind her, and she dared to glance back at him. Five wolves were at his heels. Their jaws were open, revealing terrible fangs ready to devour her friend. Their long, dog-like faces were pulled tight in desperation, their tongues lolling out in front of them and drool dribbling down their fur. They looked hungry.

“Come on!” Jessica urged Andrew as she stooped to pick up a rock. She spun around, took aim, and hurled it at one of the beasts’ heads. Without looking back, she continued running, listening for the yelp of pain soon to follow her action.

Andrew soon caught up to Jessica. “Faster!” he shouted. Jessica could hear them behind her. Their howls grew ever closer. She could hear their clawed feet tearing the earth underneath them. “Don’t look back!” Andrew commanded.

Her heart was beating too quickly, and her legs weren’t moving nearly as fast as she wanted them to. Andrew began to pull in front of her. Jessica struggled to keep up. The roots and bushes at her feet made her focus constantly on the ground beneath her, and she had trouble weaving in between the trees as quickly as the boys.

“Come on!” Benji yelled, from up ahead. Jessica’s lungs constricted. She wasn’t getting enough air inside her. Her legs started aching, but she kept on running. She could almost smell the wolves’ breath behind her. She could almost hear them snapping at her heels and missing. Jessica gasped and wheezed, begging her legs to keep running.

She hadn’t let go of her dagger, but she refused to throw it and waste a weapon. Something zipped past her right ear. A wolf howled behind her. Andrew was throwing rocks at the brutes like Jessica had done. She could hardly see him; he was so far ahead of her. Another rock rushed past her and felled a wolf, hitting it squarely in the face.

There were still three wolves following them. Jessica’s legs felt as if they could run no more. A low growl behind her suggested a particularly speedy wolf was moments away from its meal. A hand grabbed hers and jerked her sharply to the right, so hard that she stumbled.

“Run, Jess!” Andrew said, pulling her behind him. She felt like she was suffocating. Her legs were sore and stretched. She didn’t remember how long ago she had started running, but surely she had been at it for hours and hours.

“Come on, Jess, don’t give up. Come on! Faster!” Andrew urged. He continued to drag her along, yanking her arm so hard she felt like he would rip it off her body.

“I. Can’t,” she panted. Something sharp bit into her ankle. With a shriek, she toppled to the ground, face-first. Something heavy landed on her back, and it felt like crude nails were being pressed into her shoulder blades. She screamed, rolled over, and punched upwards.
Her fist sank into something fleshy and soft. Blinking, she found herself staring into a hungry wolf face.

Andrew beat the creature’s side with his hands, and it offered a growl before sliding off of Jessica. A mass of mud-colored fur jumped on Andrew’s back, pinning him against the earth. Benji tacked the creature, knocking it off Andrew. It flipped over, whimpering, and ran into the nearest bush. A growl to Jessica’s right startled her.

Jessica sat up, gasping for breath. The sight before her sent her heart into panic mode. This wolf walked slowly toward her. Its fur was black, and it met her gaze with unblinking, golden eyes. Its mouth was pulled back in a snarl and its tail impatiently beat the ground behind it, as if it was eagerly anticipating something. It was tall, rising a whole head above Jessica, and its body was covered with dark fur. Its dog-like ears flattened and it let out a blood-curling yowl. Then, it opened its mouth and spoke. Its voice was like metal spikes dragging across blocks of granite.

“Cease!” it commanded the wolves accumulating in the shrubs. They peeked out at the trio through narrowed eyes, yapping their jaws and snapping dangerously. It was apparent they were exercising an immense amount of self-control to keep from attacking their dinner.

“Two-legs of the earth,” it rasped, “Long has it been since your kind has crossed the trees of the Moon Wolves. Why have you come?”

Andrew, Jessica, and Benji drew close to one another and stared at the wolf. It waited patiently, though they could plainly see the hunger in its tinted eyes. “Someone speak…say something,” Jessica tried to say, but the words didn’t rise past her throat.

Andrew said in an uneven voice, “We travel to the city Darwol.”

The wolf growled and paced like a dog, its eyes never leaving the companions. “What do you seek there?”

“Our friends wait for us there,” Andrew said. His eyes flickered between the wolf leader and the wolves surrounding them in the bushes. Jessica wondered how long the wolves would obey their chief’s authority before they lost their self control. Her flustered heart and the leaves rustling under hairy paws were the only sounds she could hear.

The black wolf lowered his tail to the ground and sat, staring up at them curiously. “The only other two-legs to have traveled through these woods of late are friends with the Moon Wolves.”

“You’ve seen them?” Andrew asked anxiously. “A tall man and a woman with dark skin?”

The wolf’s tail swished back and forth on the ground, leaving a clean spot where it had brushed away all the leaves. “They passed through not two days ago. They are the friends you seek?”
Andrew nodded.

The wolf rose up on its haunches and resumed pacing, squinting at them curiously. “I see the truth in your eyes,” it stated in its harsh voice. “The ones you speak of are friends. They fight those who have forced us into these woods. I remember the days when we were free to roam like the birds in the air. How things have changed,” it murmured, its eyes staring past the young humans before it.
Focusing on them a moment later, it pledged, “We will let you safely pass as long as you give us your word that you will do all in your power to make us free.”

Andrew, about to accept the wolf’s offer, was interrupted quickly by Benji, who stepped forward and questioned, “Make you free? You just tried to eat us – why should we try to free you?”

Jessica gaped at Benji. Andrew whispered, “Benji, when the flesh-eating wolves offer to let you pass through their forest alive, don’t question their motives, just do it!”

“Eat you?” the wolf repeated, staring at the bold young man. A grin spread across its face, making its thin lips part and expose needle-sharp teeth. It barked out a laugh, and the other wolves joined in. Its eyes lost their hungry look, replaced by amusement. “No, young two-legs. We do not eat children of the earth.”

Andrew turned from berating Benji with a bewildered look. “What?” he asked.

The wolf grinned again. “We eat that which grows from the ground. Blood is bitter to us.”

Andrew placed a hand on his hip. “Then would you mind explaining to me why your pack was after me and my friends?”

The wolf lowered itself to the ground, sitting yet again and wrapping its tail around its legs. “To run. To chase. Do we not all need something to chase after?” As he spoke, the wolves burst through the trees as if an unheard signal had been given. Before Jessica realized what was happening, a tawny-furred wolf licked her hand and rubbed its face against her palm. Another large wolf wound itself around her legs. Teeth snapped in a wolfish laugh as one of the beasts ran around her in a circle, energetically jumping and growling enthusiastically.

She wonderingly glanced up to see Benji ruffling the fur of a few wolves nearby the way one would play with a household pet. Andrew gasped as a wolf knocked him over, pinned him down, and smothered him with licks. “Ugh,” he muttered. Jessica giggled. She glanced down at the gentle dogs pressing against her. Tentatively, she reached down and stroked one’s fur. It tickled the skin on her fingers, but its texture was thick and soft.

She peeked up at the black wolf, who watched the trio with careful, calculating eyes. She took a deep breath and then ventured to ask, “What is your name?”

“The two-legs called me Moon Shadow,” he said, his raspy voice less threatening now.
Jessica rubbed the ear of a different wolf, grinning as it crouched down and wagged its tail in pleasure. “Do you all have names?” she asked the wolves. They didn’t reply. The tawny-furred one sat down and looked at her, a trace of remorse evident in its yellow eyes. Confused, Jessica glanced up at Moon Shadow.

His tail twitched. “They have forgotten their names. They have lost their voices.”

Jessica observed the wolves moving around her. They were very beautiful, and kind, and strong. Their lean bodies were graceful and powerful at the same time. They terrified her and made her want to dance at the same time. How could they have no voice?

“How did this happen?” Benji asked, his face reflecting the sadness he felt for his new, four-legged friends.

The wolf rose and began walking. “I know the path you must travel. Follow me and I will lead you to the edge of our forest. I will tell you the tale of the Moon Wolves.”

Jessica, Benji, and Andrew followed the black wolf, their hearts aching for the silent creatures encircling them. Jessica realized the pain in her foot was nothing more than a sharp rock she had tripped over. Limping slightly, she swallowed a lump in her throat. The wolves wrestled each other as they walked, then remembered their guests and returned to smother them with affection. Their attitudes were playful and happy, but in their eyes a profound sorrow was held. It was like staring at the sun while it rained.