Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 23

"Aaaaaoooooo!" Branch cried out as loudly as he possibly could, almost sounding as if he were howling up at the moon... "Aaaaaaaooooooooooo!"

The sun had set by this time of day, the stars and moon the only things lighting up the night as the wolf's howls of pure absolute terror echoed loudly through the entire forest...

     He was panicking more than ever, the young boy's heart pounding inside his chest...

     Branch knew... he knew that any minute now... Peppy would be coming back... coming back to kill him...

'HELP!' the survivalist howled out in pure terror. 'Someone! Anyone! Please, help!'

     "Shut up!" a sudden angered shout rung out from one of the pods above him, catching Branch's attention as he stopped howling to listen...

"I'm trying to sleep!" shouted another, all the trolls in the village fed up with the constant screeching of the wolf trapped below them...

With a soft whimper, the wolf's ears drooped at the sound of the angry trolls yelling down at him, realizing with a heavy heart... that none of them were going to save him... he was trapped... and he was never getting out... at least... not alive...

'Please...' Branch whimpered softly in one final attempt at survival. 'Help..."

Loosing all hope of ever seeing the light of day ever again... the heart broken wolf leaned his head up against the bars of the cage as he closed his eyes in despair...

'SNAP!'

The sudden sound made Branch jump, the young boy gasping in horror as he shrunk back, his ears drooping down in fear...

Scared of what was about to happen, the wolf whimpered softly, his big blue eyes scanning the darkness around him...

This was it... he hadn't gotten away... and now the King was here to seal his fate...

Footsteps rung through the pitch black darkness around him, Branch looking around in a panic as his entire body shook in petrifying terror...

'P... p... please...' he whimpered, still frantically scanning his surroundings for his attacker.. 'D... don't... hurt m... me...'

A loud whimper escaped his throat as he finally spotted a figure emerging from the darkness, something looking like a knife in their hand...

Branch couldn't hold in his cries of fear as the figure approached his cage, his eyes wide and full of tears as he shrunk down low to the metal floor beneath him...

"Shhh..." he suddenly heard in a calming whisper, interrupting his cries of terror as the figure finally emerged from the shadows, revealing once and for all who it actually was... "It's ok, bud... It's just me..."

'Poppy!' Branch barked out in excitement, quickly jumping up to his four feet and running over to the edge of the cage to greet his savior. 'Please! You have to save me!'

Again, the wolf began to bite at the bars of the cage, keeping his tearful gaze locked on the young princess, pleading with her to understand him... to finally release him...

"I know... I know, bud," Poppy whispered softly, looking around for a quick moment to make sure she wasn't being watched. "Don't worry. I'm gonna get you out of there..."

It was than that Branch realized... the thing he had seen in the figure's hand wasn't a knife after all... Instead... it was a pair of scrapbooking scissors which the young princess was now using to pick the lock on the cage that he was imprisoned in...