[OLD] Flight By Firelight

Chapter 9- The Wolf in a Cage

 It's been a while since I've hung out with my friends. I've just been travelling around on my own for the last month. Which is fine, I like the peace and quiet and having the time to think.

I was heading to a new village just out of pure curiosity.

As I entered the village I was really curious about their choice of building materials; mostly Cobblestone and Stone bricks with the exception of a small percentage of the houses and markets being made out of dark thick wood. I actually asked a salesman why the main choice of materials was stone? He replied with "This village was originally built on a mountain side so in order to build solid and stable structures they had to mainly use stone as it was a easily attainable resource and was very strong".

The wood stank like a wet dog, maybe that was also a reason they limited the use of wood for building materials.

Suddenly I heard a group of people yelling. I looked behind me at the entrance of the village and I saw a group of people pushing/pulling an enormous metal cage on wheels into the village. Inside the cage was a equally huge, probably the size of a bear, wolf-like creature; Blue and brown fur, dark red eyes, huge fangs and claws. It looked more bipedal than a quadruped, and its body shape looked sorta like a human body, just covered in thick fur with a wolf's head, claws, paws and tail. The wolf was bashing its whole body into the cage, obviously wanting to get out. Its great strength was obvious as well, as it's tackles were shaking and nearly tipping over the cage, the people carrying it were having a difficult time keeping it steady. One of the hunters stabbed a sword through the bars of the cage and into the shoulder of the wolf, it howled out in fury and threw its head forward, biting down on the man's shoulder, and locking it's jaw shut. From there the wolf thrashed its head in all directions and completely tore off and apart the man's entire arm. Understandably he screamed out in pain, and the other hunters all started punching and stabbing the wolf all at once. It was horrifying to watch. I Couldn't help but feel sorry for the wolf. And the man, but he shouldn't have stabbed the wolf in the first place. So out of sight of anyone, I transformed into a mouse and snuck to the cage and broke off the lock. As I was doing so the wolf noticed me and took a few sniffs. When the lock broke, the door swung open and immediately the wolf jumped out and bolted out into the forest faster than a speeding bullet. After that I had to dart away fast so I didn't get stepped on when the hunters all ran after the wolf.

Anyway, after that i gat bite to eat of a wonderfully roast meal, and potatoes :P I hired a room to sleep in for the soon approaching night. I would have happily decided to sleep for free outside in the fresh air, starring at the beautiful stars but tonight I sacrificed a beautiful view for a warm and comfy bed.

As the sun faded over the horizon, I settled into my temporary accommodation. It was nice. It wasn't very big, no larger than a walk-in closet.

As I laid down and closed my eyes I slowly drifted to sleep. And by slowly I mean in a hour cause my mind doesn't stop thinking when I try to go to sleep.

As I slept I had a weird dream. Although to be fair all my dreams are weird. But this night's dream was especially memorable.

I was in an empty space (in human form), all around me were grey clouds. I could feel a gently breeze blowing up from below me. And though I couldn't see any light source, the clouds had light reflecting off their surface, highlighting their shapes. I kept walking forward confused, I stopped when I felt tiny droplets of water on my face. Before me was a wall of water. Still, as an untouched pond. I touched it and the water rippled. I stared at the water in a trance, and as I looked loser I saw something within it; a silhouette of a Serpentine Dragon with glowing red and green eyes staring at me from a distance away. I don't know why, but as the silhouette walked closer and closer to me, it made me afraid. I turned and ran. The wall of water collapsed and reformed into an enormous wave that came charging towards me with the silhouette within it. I turned my head as I ran desperately to see the monstrous wave tower above me. I kept running in full panic, as fast as I could! No matter how hard I tried I couldn't escape, and i was stuck in human form and the wave was gaining on me. I could feel the ocean spray soaking my back.

The Monster of a wave finally caught up to me and swallowed me whole. I spun and twilled under the water out of control.

I instinctively held my nose and mouth closed with my hand to try and hold onto my breath. When i slowed down and stopped spinning I was able to gather enough courage to open my eyes.

And it was right there in front of me.

The terrifying shadow of the beast glaring at me.

I couldn't move. I was frozen. The beast sat there and stared at me for a moment before it charged straight at me with it's jaws wide open.

I woke up just as it hit me.

I bolted up in shock, covered in sweat (ew) and my heart racing. I got freaked out when I noticed I was sweating, mistakenly thinking I was soaked with water and what I dreamt about was real. But I quickly realised it wasn't. I sat there staring at the wall as I slowly settled down and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes

I looked to the window that was above the bedside table. It was very early in the morning; the sky was a dull grey-blue but still had a few stars scattered.

I sighed and laid back down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. My mind was racing.