Wolf Of Fire

17* Mud and Strength

The land was deserted, almost forgotten.
Its history had been wiped off the mouths and the hearts of people.

Those who knew the secrets of the land had faded with time.
It was a silent land. Too silent.
Its inhabitants had almost been wiped out of the face of the Earth--almost.

A woman sat on the bare floor of her thatched mud house staring into space.
Her grey hair and wrinkled face told tales of her wisdom.
Wisdom far beyond the bounds of the earth.

"What do you see?"
A young boy asked her.
"Fear_"
Her voice was cracked with age.
"So much fear."

*
*
*

The forest was quiet. Dead quiet.
The only sounds were the shuffles of the feet of Aira and Dinma on the bare grass.

The silence made breathing a task. They could not afford to be too loud.
But Aira could feel it even without seeing it somebody was at their tail,watching them closely.

She had to lose whoever the bastard was before he got them into trouble.

"Dinma..." She whispered to the small girl with large eyes.
"Somebody is on our tail_"
Panic flooded Dinma's eyes.
She expected them to encounter problems but this was too soon.
Did she make the right decision?

"Do not worry,I plan on losing him. However,who ever he is,I do not think he would make any moves soon. He seems to be out for something other than our heads. Make sure you stay close to me and listen to whatever I say."

Something other than our heads.
So now every body wants a part of us?
Dinma gulped as she pressed her self even closer than possible to Aira.
Even if Aira did not tell her to, she did not have any plans of leaving her side anytime soon...or ever.

Though Aira admired the girl's resilience,the girl looked so vulnerable so prey-like.
She was almost beginning to regret taking her along.

*
Meanwhile behind her,the creature watched keenly.
The creature was fascinated by the girl with two colored skin and scars so intricate, to him it looked like designs.

Mama always told him that he was different.
Only him could see such scars and think they were beautiful.

He knew she could sense him.
It was only so long until their game of hide and seek would end.

He knew he would lose.

*

Aira spotted the tracking wolves two seconds before they saw them.

Those two seconds were enough for her to push Dinma into a bush.
"Stay!" Her eyes commanded.
She regretted bringing the girl.

The brown wolves that stood in front of her numbered four heads.
Their brown coloured fur gave them away as trackers and trackers had powerful sight and smell.

Bending down,she filled her hands with mud, making sure not to lose sight of the wolves who walked menacingly and slowly towards her.

She knew they had ruled her out as a threat.
What could this small girl do?
And honestly,Aira had lost faith in herself...for a moment.

Rubbing the mud all over her would mask her scent for a while.
They noticed what she was doing and charged at her in full speed.

This was no time for fight.
She needed to buy them enough time for flight. Though she was healed, she was still weak and she had never fought without Fire before_it was going to take a little time to get used to being without fire.

She held the trusty mud in the both of her hands and stood, waiting for them to come to her.
The first two were easy to take down as they charged at her without as much as a doubt that maybe her standing there not moving, was a sign that she had something planned.