Our Second World book three: Personal Truth

Chapter 41: Wolf

After a few hours of riding, it started getting dark. Miafilellie and I decided to stop for the night before the sun went down. Currently we were located in an open field, but there were a few trees. We made our way over to one and tied the reins of the horse to one of the low hanging branches.

While searching through the saddlebags for something to eat, I found a small bag with a piece of paper stuck to it. The parchment had my name scribbled on it and, after a bit more searching, I found another bag, identical to the first, with Miafilellie's name on it.

"Mia, catch," I tossed the bag to Miafilellie along with a waterskin and half a loaf of bread.

After clearing away some of the snow at the base of the tree, I sat down to eat my half of the bread.

"These must be the gifts that Kyoko mentioned," Miafilellie said, sitting next to me.

I nodded, and, after swallowing my last bite of bread, answered," Probably."

"What's in yours?" Miafilellie asked, opening her own bag.

"Dunno. Haven't looked yet," I replied, doing the same.

When I did, I found two things in the bag. One was a pair of black gloves that had the fingers cut off. I slipped them on under the leather bracers for my hidden arm blades. The second thing in the bag was a small, silver ring. Examining it closely, I discovered a small snowflake engraving on the inside of the band. Looking over to Miafilellie, I noticed she had a similar looking ring.

"Wonder what these are for?" she said, comparing her ring to mine.

"They're probably enchanted or something," I shrugged, slipping the ring over my middle finger on my right hand.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Miafilellie replied, putting her ring on the index finger of her left hand. Looking up at the sky, she added." Guess we should get some sleep now. Won't do any good to be tired in the morning."

She sighed as she leaned back against the tree, closing her eyes. After a few minutes, her slow, even breathing told me she was asleep. Eventually, I found myself drifting off as well.

~

When I woke up it was dark, though light from the rising sun was starting to creep up over the horizon. Looking over to Miafilellie, I noticed she was still asleep. I also noticed I had been resting my head on her shoulder.

I sat up slowly so as not to wake her, and moved to the saddle bags to retrieve the map. While I was planning out a route in my head, Miafilellie stirred and woke up. After a minute or so, I noticed her standing behind me looking at the map over my shoulder.

"Trying to figure out where we're going?" she asked after a moment.

I nodded and pointed to a spot on the map," Next stop is here," I said, showing her the town labeled Exphiria a few miles from where I guessed we were." We'll have to cross a pretty big river, but it should be mostly frozen, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem. If we keep up our pace we should reach the river today or tomorrow, and the town is only another day or so from there."

"Sounds good," Miafilellie nodded." Shall we get going?"

I rolled up the map and stuffed it back into the saddlebag before Miafilellie helped me into the saddle and climbed up herself behind me.

We rode in silence, and, after about an hour or so, it started to snow. True, it was only a light dusting, but still, at the speed we were going, the bitter wind bit at our faces and hands, driving snow into our eyes whenever a particularly strong gust blew. Even with our hoods up and our heads down, we still felt the cold, but we didn't stop for the snow.

When the sun started its slow crawl down the sky and it started getting dark, the cold winds blowing in our faces carried the sound of babbling water to our ears. The river was just ahead; we reached it as the sky and clouds stained dull pink and gold with the setting of the sun.

I had been right in saying that it would be partially frozen; thick chunks of ice stuck to the sides of the banks as the uninviting black water surged by.

"Sh-Should we try and cross?" Miafilellie asked, looking down at me." It's starting to get dark. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow."

Despite not wanting to waste any time, I nodded my head in agreement. Of course, if I was alone, I would've crossed anyway, but Miafilellie was with me, and I couldn't put her life in danger.

We made camp a good distance away from the river where the cold radiating off the ice filled water wouldn't be able to reach us. The river was out of sight, and only the faintest of sounds were carried to us by the wind as Miafilellie and I ate a quiet dinner of bread and smoked boarjerky. When we were done eating, the two of us curled up next to each other to share body heat while we slept.

When I woke up, it was still dark; it took me a minute to remember why I had been woken so suddenly, and, in that time, I heard the noise again. A shuffling in the snow.

I looked to my left to find Miafilellie still sleeping peacefully beside me and to my right, our horse was still hitched where we'd left it.

A glint of silver caught my eye and my hand flew up to my face, catching the arrow a mere centimeter from it's target: my throat. A low growl escaped my throat as I activated a partial shift. My senses sharpened in search of the arrow I snapped in half as wolf ears grew on my head and a tail on my back. My hair stained white as my skill [Night Vision] activated.

Still tensed for another attack, I slowly reached over to Miafilellie and shook her awake.

"What?" She grumbled sleepily." We don't need to go yet. It's still dark out."

"Shush! Don't make any sudden moves," I said quietly." Back up slowly. Get to the horse, quietly."

"W-What? Why?"

"There's someone here, but I don't think they can see us all that well. We should get away as soon as we can," I said." If they're a nocturnal type beastman you won't stand a chance in this dark. Get going, I'll be right behind you."

Miafilellie nodded and slowly started crawling toward our horse on her hands and knees.

As she moved, I kept my ears pricked and my eyes peeled. When she reached out to until the reins, Miafilellie let out a small yelp as an arrow landed at her feet.

"Mia, calm down," I hissed." They missed. That means they can't see you." or they missed on purpose, but I don't need her freaking out right now.

"Ok, let's go," Miafilellie jumped up on the horse and pulled me up in front of her.

"Head for the river, hurry!" I barked as Miafilellie urged the horse forward.

When we got to the river, it was no further than the bank when we were thrown off our horse into the churning black water. As I hit the water, I glimpsed the horse fall to the ground, an arrow protruding from its hind leg. The shock of the frigid temperature of the water knocked the breath from my lungs. Before I knew it, Miafilellie and I were being washed away by the river. The last thing I remember is reaching for each other before my mind went blank.