Dragon Lost (Book One of the Dragon Insurgent Series)

Chapter 4: Wolf-Brothers

Wolf-Brothers

I left as soon as the machines were out of sight, taking the one trail that Catherine and I had never taken, the one that led out of our valley. I knew that as soon as I entered the passes that led out of our home, I could only rely on the sun and stars to lead me. To try any other method would only get me lost, and eventually, dead.

I followed the trail until I reached the end of our old home, and saw the passes began immediately upon leaving the valley. The trail entered a thin line in a solid wall of rock. Even from a great distance I could see it would be no more than about six men wide.

"Well." I thought, "At least I can't be ambushed."

I made my way into the fissure, and almost instantly the temperature dropped by at least ten degrees. The shade caused by the high walls prevented heat from entering the pass unless the sun was directly overhead. I knew that if I was not going to freeze to death in these passes, I had better get out of them by nightfall. I could sense that there was something else in these passes besides me, and it wasn't afraid of anything that might encroach in its domain. I could almost hear its breathing, a silent echo that bounced off the walls, just too low to actually hear.

I walked for what must have been six hours, and twice I had to stop to get my bearings from the position of the Sun. The paths split and twisted in unpredictable ways, and had father not taught my sister and me how to navigate by moon and Sun, I would have been lost in a matter of minutes. Even still, I knew that the only way to get out of these passes was to keep going west. Otherwise I would be going in circles and would never escape. All the time the presence still haunted my mind, always just out of sight, but following my every move, waiting for me to weaken and stop for a rest. I knew I had to get out of these passes soon, or whatever it is that was following me would grow impatient and attack.

I did not stop until I could see the light being bounced off the fissure walls, which could only mean the pass had opened up enough to let light in at a more shallow of an angle. I hoped that it was the end of the path, because I was about to collapse from exertion. Suddenly, the presence took on a stronger tone, whatever it was knew I was almost out of the passes, and had decided to attack while I still had no room to move. I could definitely hear it now, hot ragged breaths that grew louder with each passing moment. The fear that had lay low as a mild undercurrent now sprang into a full-on panic. I turned and ran for the end of the tunnel, hoping that with some room I might be able to fight this thing on more even terms.

I burst out of the pass and into an open field, and I turned around to see the biggest bear I had ever seen lumber out of the pass. Its fur was matted with dried blood, though I could not tell from what creature, and its eyes were blood-shot and half-closed in sickness.

"This bear is rabid." I thought to myself, "I won't be able to defeat it in a fair fight, I'm going to need some kind of plan if I'm going to stand a chance."

The bear looked around, and I realized it could not see me through its swollen eyes. It was using its other senses to track me, and now I realized why it had stayed in the passes. It could track its prey with scent and hearing, and once it came upon the prey, the prey had nowhere to go in the cramped tunnels. But out in this open field I had the advantage. I could now move around so the bear would not be able to track my movements, and then I would be able to attack while it was confused.

At that moment its red eyes locked onto my position, and it charged full-on, not giving any room to stop if I was able to dodge. It came with force like a rock-slide, but I knew that at the last moment, I could jump out of the way and it would be unable to track me for a short time. That would be my chance to strike.