Blamed

Chapter 6 - Wolves

I know what you're going to say.

"Mal! What was that?"

I can't let him get hurt. I can't let any of them get hurt.

"Last time you tried this-"

You don't think I remember?
All the times I've attempted to distance myself from people I care about for their protection. All the times it's failed?
I remember. Yet... I have to try.
If there's a chance that I can get him through this unharmed, then I have to take it.

So now it's just me, Evie, Jay and Carlos trudging through the woods in the dead of night.

The three of them are talking, muttering quietly in harsh whispers as if to pass under my radar.
They forget how sensitive a dragon's ears are.
Yet, I can't concentrate on any of it because of the river of ideas and theories rushing through my head.

It's pretty obvious what needs to happen here.

Cruella, Jafar and the Evil Queen need to be hunted down, and disposed of. Pronto.

Then, we need to find out who it was that actually let them out in the first place.

And lock them away. Properly. For good.

All of this - while being chased by the wonderful people of Auradon that currently thirst for our blood in repayment for a. Unleashing some of their worst enemies (which they don't seem to understand that we didn't do) and b. Killing their former king (which we also didn't do).

So, step one : track down the villains-

I was snapped from my thoughts by an aggressive snarl, to my left.

I froze, causing my friends to collude with me, and we fell in a heap on the floor.
Slowly, I got to my feet, eyes fixed on the spot of which the growl was emitted.

"Mal, what-" Carlos began, but I shushed him quickly, still glaring at the nearest possible threat.

"Mal, what's going on-!"
"Be quiet, Evie!" I hissed "didn't you hear the..." I trailed off when I noticed her expression; it went from disapproving to absolutely terrified.
Then, I noticed a pair of lupine red eyes, gazing hungrily at my Blue-haired friend.

Instinctively, I dived forward, knocking Evie to the ground underneath my body as the animal took a swipe at where she had been, moments before.

We scrambled to our feet, our backs pressed together, and I unhooked my blade from my chain, passing Evie my bow and quiver in the process.

The blade extended, forcing the beast back into the darkness of the trees, but others crept out, circling us slowly, and blocking off all exits.

The beasts were wolves.
Their creamy fur was matted, and speckled in spots of tar black.
Their blood red eyes were trained on us, expressing their animalistic throat for blood. The wolf foamed at the mouth, slimy drool dripped to the floor, until it licked it's lips and lapped it back up.

I could see Jay and Carlos out of the corner of my eye, in a similar position to us, Jay holding his gloved fists up, ready for a fight and Carlos sporting a particularly large stick.
I watched an arrow impale itself in a wolf lunging towards Jay. He stared at it in surprise, before yanking the arrow out of the corpse to use as a weapon.

The wolves were slowly pressing us together. More and more were emerging from the darkness. We were getting quickly overwhelmed.
I watched Carlos loose his stick to a particularly hungry wolf, and saw Evie's last arrow hit its mark.
We were running out of time.