Empty as my Heart

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The screams shocked me more than the beast that loomed above.  I could only lie there, fear-struck, yet sensitive to the world around me.  A deafening crack surrounded the air, and I looked upwards in time to see a tree decending where I layed.

The wolf had little time to react, and I noticed it bearing glances at me, swiftly and panicked.

It howled, this time sounding more like a whine, and gripped my arm with its painful teeth.  I couldn't help it, I screamed.  The helplessness of this act blinded every motive of escape I'd filtered through my mind.  Then I saw them.

The hooded figures.

They crowded the forest floor, shooting glares in every direction.  I saw their faces, their frosty eyes glinting like the moon.  Mouths open in a despairing cry.

I watched them, head limp in the snow, the wolf dragging me away before the tree fell.  It splintered for a few moments, then hit the ground.  Limbs and branches littered the ground, snapping like fire.  I couldn't hear James's voice anymore.

I felt a nudge on the palm of my hands, and I looked away from the inhuman beings in the snow.

The eyes were inches from mine, now, nose sniffing my face like there was no tommorow.  There probably wasn't.

Seeing the creature so close to me broke the frozen barrier I'd placed before me.  I found my throat, welling up so that sound may be filtered out once again.  Then I screamed again.

"JAMES!"

The name hung in the air, a bubble that burst from its precious source.  The wolf growled at me.  I lost my voice again, my world growing dark.  For some reason, I fought for conciousness.  I wanted to hear James call back.

I wanted to hear his voice before it ended.

To know he was okay.

But I could only hear the screaming, and I knew I wouldn't be able to hear him anyways.  Even if he was crying out my name.  Telling me to hang on.  He would come.

I hoped he wouldn't come.  The giant dog lifted me higher, letting my arm go and resting its nose just enough to catch me to fall onto its back.  I found the strength to hold on, tightly, eyes squeezed shut.  And it moved.  I felt the air sweep past, and my senses seemed to gather again.  I dared not lift my head, but inched my eyes apart, slowly.

Hours seemed to have past, because daylight drifted with its usual haze that gathered over the branches.  I was riding.

My head bobbed, resting heavily on the thing's neck.  My arms were wrapped around it, holding on to it instinctually.  Yet they longed to let go, my fear of this animal certain.  As I woke, other things broke through my consciousness.  The hoods, the fearful cries.

And James.

Was he alright?  Obviously this creature only had me in mind, but what about those blind little beings?

 Where they even dangerous to him?  I could only hope.  Light streamed overhead, just barely, and I knew that dawn had just arrived.  It was seeping, slow enough to count the stars that faded just abroad the horizon.  They cowered from the rising sun, noticing how they were no longer needed to light the sky from darkness.

I left my body limp, arms locked tight, and waited out the swift ride.  The thing was soundless, gliding on thin ice and snow like a ghostly shadow.  Without leaving so much as a mark on the glinting white.

After another hour, I guessed sleep ruled me once more.  The fall from the steep hillside had jarred my senses, yet reason and clear thinking had returned.  Not fully, though.  I was weak.

My arms and legs far from ached, and my head pounded with every step.  Sleep only numbed me, making my reality somewhat less frightening.  Where I knew where I was, and where I was going.  Life could only go so far.

The wolf kept going, and I wondered if it would ever slow.  My eyes grew heavey, more and more.  All too vulnerable.  Maybe that was it.  It was waiting for me to become as vulnerable as possible.  Then it would have no problem, eating me.  But I was weak, anyways.  So what was this?

I fought for my eyes to open, and almost gave in when the pawing decreased.  It settled on, seeming to sniff the air for familiarities.  Then it dropped.  Literally.

I fell, sliding off the thing's back, as it resumed a sitting position.  I stayed where I was, legs crumpled below me, alert now.  My gaze drifted, only for a moment, to the place where I was.

We were in a field.  No, more like a grove.  Evergreens cloaked the perfect oval of snow in a deep green garment.  By now, the moon had risen, full and bright, directly above the silent hiding place.

Then my eyes flickered back to the animal.

It was watching me, its face all too..

familiar?  smart?  knowing?

Human.

Its gaze was all of those, but human made me light-headed.  I had to brace myself, and forced an arm to the ground before I collapsed.  Then I was scrambling away, legs kicking at the dying underbrush while my dress dragged beneath my back.

This wolf wasn't ordinary.  Probably wasn't even extraordinary. 

Because it wasn't even a wolf.  The words formed on my lips, yet sound was impossible.  I cowered as the beast loomed above, headed analyzing my next move.

And I found it, my voice.  The steadiness of the world sputtered, but my own rocked in shadowy currents.  I lifted my tongue. 

"You're a Hunter."