The Hunted

Now There's Six

Lyra

The sun sits just above the trees, a sign that the young girls' advantage of light is quickly fading. Behind me, I hear the footsteps of the wolves and girls. I hear the wind brushing the very tops of the trees. I hear silence from the lack of wildlife surrounding us, and sometimes, I hear a bloodcurdling scream from off in the distance.

I sigh as the day begins to weigh on me. I hadn't even been through anything worth being exhausted by, still, my shoulders sag in defeat from the girls who didn't deserve this.

I glare at the ground.

Elias.

What a pathetic piece of dog shit. Kidnapping defenseless women, throwing them into the woods, and having wolves hunt them down, he's a monster. His mother must have dropped him one too many times when he was a baby.

"We have to find a place to camp," Rika says from behind.

"We should find a good tree to climb! I'm surprised we hadn't thought of it before." Philia adds jokingly.

"If it were that easy I wouldn't think we would hear screaming go off in the distance. Look at the size of that grey wolf, I wouldn't be surprised if he could knock down half the trees surrounding us."

Then we hear a sharp scream not far from us and without hesitation I begin to march forward. Weaving through thinning trees we find ourselves in a small field. In the middle, there's a woman on a boulder pacing back and forth to get away from two wolves snapping at her feet. Even though I don't know the way wolves act and their personalities, I know they're toying with her. With a sneer, I continue.

The need to help others seems to have surged since I woke up on this godforsaken land.

I take off my pack as I reach midway, taking out my trusty rope and glance back at everyone to see their in toe with my plan. Philia looks nervous, Rika seems to love the thrill as she gives me a mischievous smile, and the wolves seem to not like us doing this as I practically see the grey wolf glare at me.

I crouch down to begin stalking through the uncut grass and weeds. The girl's sobs are the only thing that can be heard as we make our way closer. The wolves seem to snip and chomp into the air, purposefully missing her feet before circling the rock and doing it all over again.

When I'm only five feet away I launch myself onto the back of one of the wolves. A startled yelp comes from his partner in crime as Rika and Philia jump the other. I try to wrap the rope around the mouth of the wolf but I hear the ripping of fabric change that plan.

It was only cloth, not like it was going to work long anyway.

I'm thrown off the wolf as it starts bucking me left and right. I grunt as I smack the ground a few feet away. My lungs scream for air but my back contracts and curls as pain slices through my skin. My vision blurs from the pain but I can see two large masses collide like two stars in the universe.

I'm pulled up from behind by Rika and Philia. "Sunny and Crow practically shoved us out of the way to fight them, so we came looking for you." Philia rushes out while Rika checks for injuries.

"You named them?"

"As of right now, they're saving our asses so I think they get a name," Rika says annoyed.

"You name it you get attached. I don't think with everything that's happening, they deserve a name."

Once I've gotten my bearings I look back to the fighting wolves. Sunny sunk his teeth into the thigh of one of the wolves and immediately blood spurts out, coating his muzzle and chest. He yanks the wolf back like a rag doll, lifts it into the air, and flings it multiple yards away. A dissatisfying crunch can be heard when it lands on the ground. The other wolf sprints off as Crow follows closely behind, snipping at his feet.

I stare in horror at the scene in front of me. Blood, fur, bones, the sounds, all of it sending nausea to my empty stomach. I glance at the grey wolf to see him already looking at me, sadness in his animalistic eyes before turning toward his friends. A silent communication spread amongst the tense air until they grouped up and made their way into the forest, leaving us behind.

"That was crazy! Thank goodness you guys were there for me. I don't think I could've made it much longer with those wolves snapping at my feet."

I hear Rika grumble and make her way back into the woods where we were beforehand. Philia simply smiles at the woman before taking her spot next to Rika.

"Don't mention it. Those wolves were dicks anyways."

"I'm Natalli. Natalli Prong Colt, nice to meet you! You are?"

"Lyra. Just... Lyra. Let's go."

Making my way back towards the girls I feel an empty feeling fill my stomach, churning and pulling me towards a certain nameless wolf.

"I like them, by the way." I look at Rika and Philia with a smile.

"Like what?"

"Sunny and Crow. I like the names."

Rika smiles a genuine smile, one that isn't full of blood lust or is being forced. She smiles like just for a moment, we aren't at war, so I smile back. A real smile as well.

"Yeah well, if we bump into those wolves again, that large grey one needs a name as well."

I hum.

"True. I suppose I gotta think of a good one then."

There's a small opening with larger mystical trees than the others before us. In the middle of the opening was a small pond. It practically glowed as we stepped near the trees that seemed to welcome us to what felt like historical grounds. The ground became jagged with broken carved concrete as we stood next to the entrance. Some pieces had words from an language ancient that looked vaguely similar to Latin. Not that I understood Latin to begin with, but still, I recognized how Latin looked enough to know what an older form looked like.

"Look," Philia said. I glanced over to see her glancing up at the setting sky. The full moon looks almost magical as the watercolored clouds make way for her glow to reach the water at our feet. Suddenly, the water ripples from the point the moon reflexes onto it and stills just as fast. 

"We should get inside the water," Natalli murmurs but not one of us moves. I shift my focus toward the cluster behind me and look around to see if there are more pieces of broken history here. My eyes catch a bundle of vines and leaves. It is shaped as if it is covering a figure like a snug blanket. 

"Rika will you go see what that figure is?"

"Sure?" She says as she swiftly moves her way toward the clump of nature that sticks out of what looks to be a worshipping ground with how beautiful and remote this area is. She begins ripping off the vines, revealing a large stone wolf looking toward the pond.

The wind picks up and swirls around the wolf, removing the dirt and muck that could easily be brushed away. Once the wind settles and the wolf is mostly cleansed of the natural elements that cover it, silence envelops us as we redirect our attention to the pond. 

I can't shake the feeling that we've awakened something dormant for a very, very long time.