Chapter 3 : Flight in the Night

*Lynn*

The sun steadily descended toward the horizon, the first glimmers of starlight peaking out beneath its silhouette.

Gray clouds rolled in, beckoning wind and cold snow as they came. It would only be a matter of time before the storm arrived. We needed to hurry to beat it and escape the nightmare Dryden had promised us should we escape.

When I made it to the cabin, Aldith and Clara were sick with worry. They both pounced on me as soon as I opened the door, each murmuring comments of fear.

“Shhh,” I said to them. “I’m back, and I have what we need…well, most of it.”

Clara took the basket from me and peeked inside. “Bread and cheese? Is that it?”

Aldith took the basket and mirrored Clara’s frown. “What about supplies?” she asked, looking disappointedly into the basket.

I shrugged, hoping they wouldn’t see the fear etched onto my own face. “We’ll have to take what we already have. The bakery charged me extra for the bread for coming in too late.”

“Too late!” Aldith burst out, her face going an angry shade of red. “Was that their excuse this time? Not, ‘Oh, sorry. We don’t sell to ROYALTY!’”

Clara slapped her hand, her eyes scolding.

“Don’t talk like that,” Clara whispered. “We aren’t royalty. Not anymore.”

Aldith let out a loud “huff” and rolled her eyes. “We ARE,” she insisted. “We were born in that castle. Our father was the Alpha. I’m tired of people treating us like garbage. We are so much more than that!”

“Aldith,” I answered in a gentle tone. “Maybe we were all those things once, but now, it doesn’t matter. You’re right, we are much more than who we are perceived to be here. That is why we’re leaving. Dryden will sink his teeth into us the second he gets a chance. He’s promised to use Clara as a breeder, and who knows if he’ll stop there? He’ll go after each of us until we’re nothing more than slaves to his whim. We have to leave now while we have the chance.”

I looked first into Aldith’s eyes, which were intense with fury, then into Clara’s somber eyes. Both girls were as different from each other as snowflakes. Where Aldith had a hot temper and was one to easily get herself into trouble, Clara was calm and cautious, the fruit of our mother.

Aldith was so much like our father that it hurt at times. Stubborn, quick to anger, but just as quick to love and fight for what she believed in.

Aldith and Clara nodded and began packing what little we had. Together, we filled three small bags with food, clothes, and equipment needed for a long journey.

After I relayed the plan to my sisters, we stepped into the cold night, bundled heavily in our warmest clothes.

Already, the wind was picking up, signaling the coming storm.

“How long do you suppose it will take to reach us?” I called back to Clara as we moved along the path.

Clara stopped briefly and eyed the clouds to the east, lit only by the light of the moon. “An hour at the most. The storm is coming in fast. When it gets here, it won’t waste any time.”

I nodded. Clara was the one with the good eyes. Her eyesight baffled me at times, but then again, she was her mother’s daughter.

Nineteen and still far off from her first shift, Clara still had heightened senses I could only dream of. Then again, I could tell if someone is lying by their scent alone. It was my own little secret power.

Aldith, with her wayward ways and extremely energetic prowess, showed promise of a fine hunter one day…. if she didn’t get herself killed first. At sixteen, she could strike fear into the hearts of men and make even the toughest Alpha quake. She was tough, but also careless.

Once, when she was five, I caught her trying to climb a tree and get at a raccoon that had stolen her bracelet. The raccoon was unhappy to have a grubby hand digging into its home. It had launched at her, causing her to fall and break an arm.

The whole time, Adlith never cried but shouted furious insults at the little animal while my mother was busy getting herself into hysterics. Aldith never did get that bracelet back.

We entered the first line of trees that marked the outer edge of the woods.

So far, there was no sign of warriors on the path. Hopefully, they had all decided to take shelter and escape the coming storm. More than likely, however, they were hidden where we would never expect to find them.

Clara, in the lead, stopped to better understand what lay ahead. Her trained eyes scanned the trees and thick underbrush where snow hung in heavy clumps.

“Do you see anything?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No tracks other than our own, not even deer tracks. I think we’re alone.”

“Good,” I said, shouldering my pack. “Let’s keep moving.”

And so, we went on. The trees encircled us, and the moon’s light became blotted out by thick branches and thicker clouds.

I shivered when a gust of wind blew open my coat, my boots sinking into the deep snow. I pulled it closed again when I heard something snap behind me.

I quickly turned around as Aldith and Clara continued ahead of me.

Not blessed with Clara’s keen eyesight, I squinted into the gloom, unable to see anything except for the glittering snow.

“What is it?” Alidith called back.

When I didn’t answer immediately, I heard their footsteps coming back to me.

I heard it again, then a subtle but obvious shuffling from my right.

I shot out a hand behind me, and my sisters halted in their tracks, the creaking of tree limbs echoing around us.

“What is it?” Aldith whispered, sensing my unease.

“Shh,” I whispered and gazed behind the trees, darkness shrouding everything except for a glimmer of gold.

The golden light became two, then four, then six small spheres.

My eyes flew wide when I realized what they were.

“RUN!” I shouted as loudly as I could.

For a moment, Aldith and Clara just stood there, transfixed by my panicked run toward them.

“GO! RUN! RUN!” I shouted again.

At last, their legs became unglued, and they spun around, bolting for the thicket of dense trees just ahead.

“NO! The river!” I shouted, realizing the gentle ‘whoosh’ I had just heard was the sound of moving water.

They turned and headed for the steady stream of water to our right, stopping when they reached the bank.

The river was flowing fast, and I knew it would be deadly cold, but we had little choice.

“Go in!” I urged them. They looked at me with fright, knowing what I was planning. “Just go!” I shouted again.

They removed their packs and carried them above their heads as they slammed into the rushing waters.

Then, the sound of galloping claws scratching the earth sent a flood of panic through me.

I dropped to my knees and reached around to grab my pack. I quickly dumped the contents of it onto the snow just as three massive wolves with yellow eyes and frothing mouths lept out of the undergrowth, teeth born in hungry fury.

Not finding what I was looking for, dread sank into my stomach, but I felt relieved when I heard Aldith and Clara call to me from the other side. They were okay, at least, for now.

One wolf, a good head taller than the other two, came forward, its fur a dingy gray, matted and torn in several places.

The stench of the creature left me reeling. Then, a look in its eyes made me realize who it was. Cole.

The wolf grinned, its teeth a sharp white.

My hands patted the ground as I desperately tried to find the one thing I needed the most at that moment. With my eyes never leaving the wolves, my hand grasped what I was looking for.

With my other hand, I slowly grabbed a nearby branch. One of the smaller wolves stepped forward, hackles raised, and growled a warning.

Cole’s eyes narrowed but showed no fear. He knew what he would do, and he was relishing the moment.

He made one step forward, then two, then three. Soon, the other two followed him, and I knew I had run out of time.

Quickly, I jerked the flint and steel in my left hand and struck them together on the branch I had found to my right. The branch, still filled with dry leaves, instantly took to flame.

With it, I lit more branches and leaves around me, igniting the forest with living flame.

The wolves began whining and backing up, their noses sniffing the air, except for Cole, who stood staring at me eagerly.

In my mind, I saw that man with greasy hair and putrid skin, yellowed and aged with grime. If this was what Dryden had to offer to those who entered his service, I could only imagine what he had planned for Clara.

The fire quickly spread around the immediate area, with trees bursting into crimson flames.

I backed up toward the river, Cole’s eyes following me the whole way.

Just as my feet hit the water, I saw something that made me go limp with terror.

Cole had bided time. As the wind picked up and snow began to fall, the fire slowly began to die. The gray wolf backed up and sunk its claws deep into the ground. A smile. A glimmer of wicked evil. And then, it launched into a sprint, pounding the ground and flying into the sky.

It was coming for me. I needed to move. I needed to get away. It was going to hit me. I had to move. I had to…

But then, my world spun away, and I went tumbling into the ground, the wind rushing from my lungs.

I heard a cry of pain as the massive wolf hit the ground. I turned around and saw scarlet blood covering the ground where I had just been. And, in the center of that ring of blood was Clara.

“Clara!” I cried. She must have come up behind me. Why hadn’t I heard her? Why didn’t she stay like I had asked? This wasn’t like her. What was she thinking?

Cole, eyes filled with the excitement of the hunt, turned his gaze to me, his wolf form menacing under the moon’s light.

The wind began the blow around us, snow hitting my face like dozens of small blades.

The wolf stepped closer, its head lowered as its mouth frothed and foamed.

This is it, I thought. This is my end.

I closed my eyes, wishing I was faster, and had done something more. Now, I would die, despite my sister having just sacrificed herself for me.

Then, I heard a loud, billowing howl of pure anger. I opened my eyes and was stunned by what I saw.

Where there was once one wolf, there were two. One gray and one brilliant silver. One with yellow eyes and one with bright blue. And surrounding them were dozens more wolves, each with the same menacing glow in their eyes and blood on their lips.

I looked to my left, where the flame had died entirely. Two motionless lumps lay on the ground.

Cole’s friends seemed to have fallen to the wolves surrounding me.

With a whine of pain, a call for help where no help would come. Cole’s wolf hung limp in the mouth of the silver wolf.

It dropped Cole’s dead body, which had transformed back into his human form, naked and pale.

Then the silver wolf looked up at me, its blue eyes shining fiercely, and I felt the world slow, and my heart stop.

What…was happening?