Quest for the Rickie

Chapter One

"The legend of the wolf girl is quite a wondrous tale to be told." The trees swayed in the soft winds, the sunrise had casted long shadows across the forest floor. A mother wolf took care of her and her mate's five pups. But a cry of an infant pierced through the silence of the forest. "This story starts when a mother wolf had heard the cry of a month old infant." The graceful silvery-grey female wolf with glowing golden eyes had ran towards where she heard the cry and had came across a basket that has a baby with a patch of golden hair and sparkling blue eyes. The baby giggled and reached out towards the mother wolf, she wiggled in her white blanket. "The infant has been named Accalia." The mother wolf picked up the basket carefully and took the baby back with her. In the next few years, a regal and sleek female white wolf with sparkling blue eyes ran through the forest and up to a hill. She raised her head and had let out a powerful, but musical howl. "And she is the first human to become a Rickie with no vulnerability." Late in the evening, Accalia had came across a shivering and injured young man. "She had helped those who were lost or injured." She placed a gentle paw on top of his injury and lifted her head as she howled, a sparkling golden swirl of magic had came and healed the young man. "She protected those in need." Accalia was snarling at two wild boars, a pair of human siblings were behind her. "But one day, she had almost lost her life to save a friend of hers from an attack of hyenas." A heartbroken howl filled with both love and grief had echoed throughout the forest and a downpour of rain had came from the dark gray clouds. "After that attack, she had never showed her face to any sort of human society again." An outlined figure of a teenage girl with ponytailed hair and dressed in hunting leathers, along with a bow and a quiver full of arrows was slung over her shoulders and held a staff decorated with feathers and roped wolf teeth, was watching a village from the top of a hill in the distance. "In the morning mists or the wild whiteness of winter, you might see a ghostly spirit of a white wolf that melts into the whiteness in the early mornings or in the late evenings." Accalia had ran through the morning mists in the forest, then she had jumped from one snow-covered ledge to another from the top of a couple rocky hills.
"What is Accalia like, Elder Talia?" a six year old girl asked.
"Have you seen her before?" asked a ten year old boy.
"Nobody truly knows," said the elderly woman with her silvery tied up in a messy bun and her hazel eyes twinkled like stars. "She's unpredictable as the wind. At times, she's kind and brave as well as she is loving and caring. But when angered, Accalia can become wild and fierce as well as protective and terrifying."
"Have you ever came across her, Elder Talia?" asked a eight year old girl.
"Not exactly." Elder Talia was had searched for any herbs in the snow when she saw a pair of hungry-looking hyenas coming towards her. She gasped and hid behind a log she tried to hide from the hyenas. "But I did heard her." A sharp howl cut through the grove and the hyenas started growling angrily. She heard the sounds of a fight: angry snarls, growls, and yapping as well as the sound of rapidly crushing snow and hard thuds of animals have been heard. "She said, 'Away you vile beasts, you had done enough harm.' But when I came out of hiding, she and the hyenas were gone." The elderly woman had looked around in surprise and confusion. "At first, I thought I had strange dream of a sort." The woman soon gasped when she saw something unbelievable. "But that's when I saw her paw print and knew she wasn't a made up fantasy." A single paw print of a wolf had been placed onto a snow-covered rock that almost seemed to be shining in a faint outline of glory.
"Wow," whispered all of the children.
"Okay, that's enough stories children," Elder Talia said as they gotten up. "We need to help out with the harvest."
All over the village, many of the people had started work on their harvest and were collecting their crops. A fifteen year old boy named Savva was helping collect the corn and placing it into the horse-drawn wagon, while his fifteen year old black-haired girlfriend named Nanty were turning sheep wool into cotton and placing it in a basket. They continued working till the sun had set in the horizon and they had all went into their cottages to rest, but Savva hesitated when he saw the dark clouds forming in the night sky. He had a bad feeling when he saw those daunting clouds looming overhead, it reminded him when those hyenas had invaded his village when he was twelve years old.
"Come on Savva." Nanty's voice made him come back to focus and had went back inside his family's cottage.
But as night fell upon the land, the clouds continued come across the night sky and had started blocking out the moon and stars. The wind started to shake through the tree branches and the air had became cold as ice. It wasn't long till it had started to snowing hard and it had started to cover up the land as well it had brought flus to many of the villagers inside and many crops have been destroyed from the harsh winds and hard snowing. Many of the villagers heard the high and cruel crackle of a sorceress in the northern mountains. The sorceress' minions - a pack of hyenas and a group of bears - had started to surround the village and had started to drag the villagers out of their homes.
Savva had woken up to the crackling and saw what was happening outside, he saw that Nanty and his mother had woken up too. He could see that were equally horrified to see what was happening outside as he is.
"Oh no," said Savva as he stole a glance at Nanty. "You don't think—"
"It's the Ice Sorceress," Nanty whispered. "I've heard stories about her, but I've never seen her before."
"You two must get out of here and find the wolves before the sorceress or her minions does," said Savva's mother.
"But mum—" Savva started to say, but his mother stopped him with a raised hand. "No, you both must go. She mustn't know who you two are before she arrives."
The two of them had both went through the secret backdoor, but Savva's mother kissed Savva's forehead and gave Savva's sword to him for any incoming fight, which he had strapped onto his back.
"Good luck you two," said Savva's mother.
The two of them both stepped into the shadows as a pair of hyenas marched past them. Savva took Nanty's hand the two of them continued hiding in the shadows. When they saw the bears and hyenas' backs were to them, they both ran into the forest.
"We have to split up," Nanty whispered to Savva.
Savva could see that they were about to be cornered. But if they had split up, they might be able to split up the hyenas and bears just as well.
But they soon heard from the hyenas, "It's them! Get them!"
It wasn't long till they were being chased by the hyenas and bears through the forest. A white wolf named Anggee and six other white wolves had ran towards the minions and had managed to fight them off. Nanty sighed in relief as she went to greet Anggee and the other white wolves.
"Anggee," Nanty breathed as she looked down at the wolf.
"Where's Savva?" asked Anggee, his blue eyes filled with worry.
"We had to split up to separate the hyenas and the monkeys," Nanty explained, but she looked around in concern. "I thought he'll be here by now."
But Savva climbed up a tree and swung a vine onto the other side of a ravine, causing the hyenas and monkeys to come into a stop. Savva looked over his shoulder, panting, to see how much distance he placed himself between him and his enemies. The hyenas gave angry growls and the monkeys screeched fiercely before they left from the other side of the ravine. Savva sighed in relief, he soon saw Nanty on a familiar white wolf coming towards him.
"Savva!" Nanty hopped off the wolf and they both hugged each other.
Savva smiled at Nanty as she stepped out of the way as he approached the white wolf with a hopeful expression.
"A-Anggee?" Savva whispered. "Is it really you?"
"Savva." Anggee smiled at the young teenage boy that he thinks as a son. Savva got up and wrapped his arms around Anggee's neck in a hug, the white wolf lowered his head and nuzzled the boy's brown hair. "I'm so relieved to see you two are okay."
"We're okay," said Nanty with a worried expression. "But our village isn't. It has been taken under seige from the Ice Sorceress and her minions."
"Oh no," Anggee moaned. "The Ice Sorceress must want her revenge on us and the Northern Rickies."
"Why though?" asked Savva.
Anggee looked at Savva, with a weary sigh and pushed back the bush. What he saw, was enough to blow him away.
In front of him was a grassy field, and a lot of white wolves. They were of all ages, from adults to pups. They were doing an assortment of things. Many adult males and females were bathing in the sun not too far from the rest of the pack, some were just drinking in a nearby spring. Some teenagers and pups were chasing each other and playfully wrestling. Some mothers were feeding their pups with freshly caught meat.
"The Ice Sorceress is jealous of us and wants us to be in chains, since we're considered to be dangerous half-beasts," explained a teenage white wolf with gleaming blue eyes when he had came over and overheard the conversation. "Plus, she fears us since she consider a lone Rickie is more powerful than she is based off the stories of her."
"Who?" Savva asked.
"Accalia, the beta," explained the teenage wolf. "She's just like us, but she was taken in by the wolves up north as a human pup. She's one of the few wolves who is part of the Alpha's family Pack and the stories about her are endless. Everyday, a new story or myth seems to keep coming from up north. Some are harder to believe than others, while others are unknown to be either confirmed or denied."
"We should meet the Northern Rickies and see if they could help," Anggee announced.
The white wolves had overheard the exchange and were in a neat circle as they watched them. Most of the white wolves nodded understandingly, while the rest were uncertain about leaving the territory.
"I'll organize some wolves who'll come with us," said Anggee determinedly. "Let's hope they're everything that we had heard about the Northern Pack."