A Wolf's Courage(Tales of Europa Book 1)

Chapter 2-Howls of Flame

I follow Nettle as she glides down the stairway, I and the others scurrying along with quick steps. Brushing by the door, I run after her flapping form, the cries of animals and cracking branches ringing in my ears. I don't stop, not even when my dress catches on brambles or the sharp rocks that dig into my bare skin.

It has been many moons since those cries have pierced the quiet of the woods, sending all creatures, both big and small, from prowling jaws of the monsters. They have been described to me as dark shadows of smoke and fur. Mouths of sharpened teeth and claws that shine like the moon. Their hungry bodies in search of writhing flesh and heated blood.

I gulp in the cold air, the scent of burning wood and grass quickening my heart. I keep my eyes pinned to Nettle's small form, as the ground gives way to the muddy bank of a raging black river. My blood chills as I step into the churning water, my dress growing heavy as I drag my soon frozen body to the other side.

Trudging out of the water I again move my trembling legs, running as fast as I can. The woods soon lighting up with a haze of orange and red. Our path takes us between boulders and downed limbs, across another churning strip of water, and then a bridge of crumbling stone. Beneath it a ravine filled with forgotten husks of trees and animal skeletons.

Our hurried run ends at the ivy covered opening to a cave. A cave guarded by the forest's great protector, Speckled Bear, the biggest and bravest of all the forest creatures.

"Ah, good you have made it young ones."

I hear her say, the gentle tone of her voice whispering through my mind as her large head peers down at our weary forms. The waning moonlight shining on her multicolored coat of brown, black, and white. Her oak dark eyes settling on my frame, my knees quaking from her powerful gaze.

"The child still lives I see, I trust it is from your dutiful care." The muscles of her neck twisting as she turns to Nettle, her small talons gripping the bark of a tree limb.

"Indeed great one." Nettle replies, her wings spread wide as she lowers her small head in a bow of solemn respect. "Our young Ivaine thrives amongst the trees, each day she grows in wisdom and strength."

Nodding her giant head, Speckled Bear then turns and heads into the cave. I dutifully follow, along with the gaggle of mice, rabbits, and birds at my heels. We all hunker down onto the cold floor of the cave, Speckled Bear then turning facing us, her large claws scratching the stone.

"Wait here young ones, I shall divert the attention of these beasts."

Her muscles bulge as she leaves the cave, her large form eminating power and strength. Nettle caws gently in my ear as our protector leaves us in the quiet cave. We all wait patiently through the long hours as the cries of pain soon become more frequent and louder. It all soon becomes to much for some, mice and rabbits scurry from the cave while sparrows and larks fly away in a storm of feathers and wings. Leaving me and Nettle alone, the silence scaring me more than the sounds of the crying creatures falling prey to the monsters. The rustling of the ivy leaves makes me jump to my feet. Nettle shrieking in my ear, as a large black creature enters the cave.

Its fur the color of the night sky is a shadow against the gray stone. A thick tail brushing its thin but muscled back legs, as it prowls towards my quivering frame. Eyes of gold and ringed with red, seem to pin me with a gaze filled with hunger and promise of death. Suddenly it stops, and I watch as the monster's eyes loose their ring of red.

Its body then starts to shake and twist, horrified I shut my eyes tight. My ears filling with the sound of cracking bones and a low moan of pain. When the sound stops I open my eyes and my stomach twists in horror. The monster now gone and in its place a human, its bare skin lean and muscular like a fox.

"'It's a human male, a young one it be."

Nettle says as she settles herself a few feet from the human's form. The human then gazes up from his crouched position, eyes like green leaves staring back at me from a face as smooth as stone. His black locks of hair stopping just above his ears, a straight nose and dark brows outlining his eyes. Eyes filled with confusion and surprisingly, shock.

As if floating amongst the waters of a pond, I walk across the cave in a daze. My body weightless as I crouch down before this monster turned human. I stare in shock as my fingers brush through his hair, the calluses on my skin catching in the fur soft locks. I meet his gaze, an unfamiliar warmth rushing across my frozen skin. My lips part as I croak out a sound that I soon come to regret.

"Mate," I utter, before my limbs grow weak and my world turns to black.