Sweet Dreams

Wolves of the White Forest

       
Snow fell down on the Earth as gray clouds hung in the air for what seemed like years. The only warmth inside the little tent was the fire that cooked her next meal.
       
Nadia held her hands in front of the fire and then placed them on her shoulders, trying to heat up her heavily clothed body. Her breaths came out foggy like a dragon.
       
Nadia checked the tin pot of boiling stew. There were barely any carrots popping up from the broth. She exited her tent and headed outside to a box camouflaged in the snow. When she unlocked the box, Nadia reached for the carrots but suddenly stopped. She felt like someone was watching her.
       
She glanced around at the White Forest around her, which was quiet and lacked any action. Seeing no sign of a threat, Nadia shrugged and turned back to what she was doing.
       
All of a sudden, howls came from the forest. Wolves jumped out from the bushes and closed in on her, barring their razor-sharp teeth.
       
Nadia stepped away from the box and grabbed the knife at her waist. "Get away!" she demanded, stomping in the snow.
       
One of the wolves, who had black fur and amber-brown eyes stared at her, then at the box behind her. The wolf gave another howl and charged at Nadia, the other wolves going for the box.
       
She aimed the point of the blade at the stomach of the black wolf as it was already in the air, ready to pounce on her. The knife pierced into the wolf's fur as it landed on it. The black wolf let out a sharp yelp. Nadia tackled the wolf to the ground and pulled the knife out, leaving it to bleed out.
       
She glanced at the box just in time to see wolves searching through her winter rations and running back into the woods with sacks of food. "No!" Nadia cried out, running to the wooden box. The remaining wolves retreated back into the forest with her hard-earned food.
       
Nadia fell on her knees and sifted through the box, looking for anything that they left, any scrap of food.
       
None.
       
"No, no, no, no! My rations!" she quivered, tears escaping her eyes. All of her food was gone. There was no getting it back. The wolves were probably already eating it by now, enjoying the frozen deer meat.
       
Nadia wiped her eyes and went back to her little tent. Tonight, she was going to have to eat small, so she could save food for later. But what if she didn't have to save food? What if she could find where the wolves usually hung out and take back her food...if they didn't eat it all already.
       
Nadia scooped some stew into a tin bowl and devoured it, not leaving anything to waste. She was going to have to eat up because, in the morning, she was going to hunt down the wolves...and take her food back.
       
After cleaning up dinner, Nadia started to pack the tools and equipment she needed for early tomorrow morning. That's when she realized she didn't have any other weapon other than her knife at her side. She needed something that could take on all of the wolves.
       
Nadia hunted by setting up a slingshot somewhere and placing her knife in it. When her prey came into range, she would pull a rubber band back that held the knife and release it, sending the blade through the animal. Nadia used to have a bow and arrow two years ago, but she lost it while running from a furious ice-breathing dragon she tried to steal an egg from.
       
Her gaze swung over to the wall across from her in the tent, gazing at the abandoned cot under a wooden shelf. The cot used to belong to a friend named Petya, who Nadia met when they were both children. They lived with each other for seven years until he unexpectedly went missing late at night. She remembered him grabbing his black and red bow and arrows to head out for a hunt. She hadn't seen him since.
       
Another hunter in the area reported that Petya was pulling an arrow out of a wild boar when a pack of wolves approached him. Petya grabbed his hatchet and swung at a few, but one grabbed him by the leg and dragged him into the forest.
       
The hunter did not see anything else because he raced back to his cabin to get help from his family. When he returned to the site where Petya was attacked, only his black and red bow was left behind.
       
Nadia peered at Petya's bow that hung over his cot. She never used it after he went missing because it was his favorite bow, and it was the only thing that was left of him. Petya's life was the bow. Nadia felt close to him when the bow was in the tent.
       
But she was going to have to use it to defend herself. Petya was going to have to defend her.
       
Nadia's hands trembled as she lifted the sacred bow off the mount with such carefulness and examined it. Her fingers trailed down the upper limb and then found herself clutching the grip. It felt weird to be holding something that belonged to someone else. She didn't think she deserved to hold it. Petya was such a skilled archer. Nadia hadn't shot an arrow in two years.
       
"Be with me, Petya," she whispered. "Give me your power and strength to help me defeat these wolves."