The Maiden and the Wolf---- *A Fantasy Romance Story*
*Chapter 2*
Dakota POV
I've found her, after three hundred years of searching, waiting, praying; it has finally happened. My heart ached with it. She was the one.
I followed silently behind her as she carried on back through the forest.
A small voice inside of me was saying I should leave that other man alive. He would talk and whether or not they believed him it would still be in people's minds. There was a huge black wolf in their forest.
With that fear and question in their minds people would notice this they wouldn't have normally. Things that would but me in danger. Hunters would come and I would have to leave yet another place and journey far away like I had been forced to do countless times. That wouldn't happen this time though, it wouldn't, I won't let it. Nothing would ever make me leave without her.
I stopped on the edge of the trees and watched her walk down the slope towards the village at the bottom of the gully between the forest and the mountains. She weaved around the collection of buildings then stopped by a small cottage looking house slightly apart from the others.
Elena POV
I paused by the front door of my house, my hand on the doorknob, I turned around to look up at the forest back on the top of the hill. Sighing with disappointed that I couldn't see the wolf standing watching me I turned back. I could have sworn I saw him out of the corner of my eye.
The warmth of the fire burning softly in the main room soothed me as soon as I had opened the door and stepped over the threshold.
My father appeared, his worried eyes growing huge as they saw my bloodstained face and mug splattered clothes.
"Elena what happened?" he boomed, rushing over to me.
"I fell, "I said quickly, "over a tree root and landed on my face," gesturing to my bleeding nose.
My father examined my face quickly.
"I don't think you've broken your nose," he sighed at last, stepping back from me.
I smiled half heartedly, my eyes holding the lie that I didn't want him to know of but so desperately wanted to tell him.
"Are you sure you're alright, darling?" my father prompted, eyes filled with so much concern that it hurt me to meet his gaze.
"Yes just a little shaken up that's all," I murmured, rubbing my eyes, "I think I need to go to bed."
My father nodded in unspoken agreement, "get a good night sleep and you'll feel fine in the morning," he paused, pain flickering across his face.
"I love you father," I whispered, kissing him swiftly on the cheek then hurried upstairs to my room.
Carful not to wake Ren as I passed her closed bedroom door, I slipped gratefully into my dark room and shut the door behind me.
I crossed the floor to my nightstand, my hands dancing over the objects on it until I found the candle holder. Fumbled with the tinder box in the darkness, I froze as I heard the barking of a dog in the village outside my window.
The small flame cut through the blackness, the sharp hiss snapping me out of my trance; I quickly lit the cantle then snuffed the match out.
I put my finger through the small round metal ring on the candle holder then carefully lifted it off the stand.
The flickering orange light from the one candle lit up my small room effortlessly, its heat pleasant against my fingers.
I didn't own much material things, just a small pile of clothes that were in the draw in my nightstand, a bow along with a matching quiver of arrows were hanging on the back of my door, in the corner was the washbasin and opposite my straw mattress bed; a small stand sat next to my bed and on it the only book I owned.
I placed the candle next to the book on the stand, crouching on the floor I reached under my bed. The cold metal hilt of the sword that I hid from everyone brushed against my palm but I ignored it. Pushing the wrapped sword aside I found what I was looking for.
Lifting the wooden box onto my bed I straightened up and sat down beside the box on my bed.
The box had been a gift from my mother, its make was simple but on the lid was a beautiful carving of a wolf standing proudly, head and tail held high, ears pricked, the wolf had been carved so it looked out at whoever was about to open the box.
"The loyal wolf will guard what ever special things you put in there my darling."
I remembered my mother's words to me when she had given me the box, a sob rose again in my throat but I pushed it away.
Running my fingers over the carving I closed my eyes and recalled the feeling of the black wolf's fur brushing against my arm as he leaped to my protection. He had guarded me just like my mother had promised so would the wolf carved on the box lid.
Sighing I opened the box and moved the cloth I had laid over my possessions aside and looked down at the jumble of things many people would call junk. Stones and pieces of wood I had found and thought looked like something, a poem from Ren, the letter my mother had left for me if ever she died, a feather the colour of snow, shells my uncle had given more, a bone handled hunting knife that had belonged to my great grandfather and finally the silver necklace that had belonged to my mother.
Looking down I plucked a tufted of thick black fur from my cloak and laid it gentle next to my other memories.
Closing the lid I returned the box back to its normal place under my bed.
Washed the blood off my face in the washbasin then changed into my night gown and slipped into my bed and relaxed into my soft feathered pillow.
Sleep quickly pulled me under and at once I dreamt of my black wolf.
Dakota POV
Finally I found a safe enough place to sleep underneath the roots of a giant tree half torn from the ground. Curling up into a tight I tucked my nose under my tail and closed my eyes. Almost at once I fell asleep and dreamed for the first time in over two hundred years.
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