Truth

Chapter 4

"Turn around, the view's nicer" Aspen said, and he in fact was right. The view spread around Amesty like a painting that was on cloth, wrapping around her body as she settled down for bed. Rivers, there were tons, or maybe it was the same one? It zigzagged across the field, trees arising from the thick forest in the background. A waterfall flowing dramatically down the side of what seemed to be the same cliff, but the waterfall was a couple miles away. In the center of all that, lived a village. It was small, humble, and alive. Amesty could barely see the shops and people running around, eating their delectable meals as they reconciled with their loved ones.
"It's beautiful" Amesty breathed through her moment of awe, she could barely speak. It was for the better, and at that moment Aspen walked into the cave only to be surprised by the body of a suspectidly dead wolf. "How?" He said, as he leaned down to inspect to body, it wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before. The wolf was unnaturally large, and it was laying down on the ground as if it had been human at some point. It was badly wounded, a hole in its left shoulder. The injury was very deep, prone to kill off anyone and anything. What could have caused it? Perhaps the claw of a larger, stronger animal? But how did the wolf get here in the first place?
"Amesty.. I think you might wanna check this out" Aspen suggested, as he kept inspecting the wolf's carcass.

Amesty turned around, as she saw the poor wolf she felt significant grief. "The poor kid.." She said, before she could realize that she was treating the dead wolf with kind regards.
"I think he's much older than a kid, Ams" Aspen said.
"No, he's a kid. I bet he ran off from his pack and tried to hide here but ran into an adult rival on his way, and he reached here slightly too late." Amesty predicted.
"He's way too big to be a kid, though!" Aspen deciphered.
"Maybe he's a werewolf" Amesty joked.
"... " Aspen store at Amesty, "Are you kidding me?"
"Maybe, maybe not" Amesty shrugged.

The wolf did slightly resemble a child though, he was unnaturally thin, and had very fuzzy fur. His fur was brownish-grey, though it was hard to tell with all the blood.
"I think he's still breathing.." Aspen said as he investigated more.
"Then we have to get him help! Here, I have an idea!" Amesty ran to the wolf, unwrapped the yellow cloth she had around her waist, and tied it around the poor creature's shoulder.
"We should take him to the village." Aspen suggested.
"But how are we gonna get down there?" Amesty questioned, being genuinely concerned for the wolf.

Aspen moved his body to reveal a tunnel she did not notice before, it seemed to move down and had torches lining the walls. They seemed freshly lit. The tunnel itself was wide enough to fit the wolf, about as thick as three children. It wasn't too tall, oddly enough. It seemed like the wolf himself had carved the tunnel.

"You shouldn't take that tunnel" Said a child's voice, "There's bad guys in there"
"Who said that?!" Aspen shrieked, as he stood up and reached for his knife. 

"I did" Said a child who was in the place of the wolf, and he had the yellow cloth around his shoulder. He appeared to be around the age of 7 years old. He looked at Amesty, "Do I know you?"

"I'm afraid not, " She said "But I'll be here to help you." She walked up to the kid and got on her knees. She held out her hand, "Do you trust us?"

The wolf-child stood there for a moment, hesitating. But then he looked at his badly wounded shoulder and put his smaller hand on Amesty's. "I trust you, but not the mean guy" The little boy said.

"How am I mean?!" Aspen cried.
"You reached for your knife, I'm not blind ya know"
"Oh.."