WOLVES DON'T TALK

Chapter 11. HE KEPT ME SAFE

A mass of smelly, furry bodies crashed down upon us and a herd of pounding feet slammed into our flesh. I felt a sharp blow land on the side of my head and suffered a wave of indescribable nausea as a drop of blood slid out of my nose. The world started spinning and I saw myself sitting in a puddle of muddy water on the forest floor with an eerie white figure bending over me. My eyes refused to open and I thought the danger would go away if I kept ever so still. Of course, that didn't work. Pythia had been the danger in that memory and she hadn't disappeared. Instead, she'd led a stupid little girl to a warm fire and food and taught me avoiding reality didn't work.

But somehow, fighting for my survival in the middle of that awful battle with all those strange animals, I felt very sorry that I couldn't wish my problems away. I felt sorry about my lost stupidity, but not dumb enough to want it back and suffer needless blows by trying to prove to myself that I wasn't there. No, indeed. Ignorance was dangerous.

I joined in the scuffle with a new fury and smacked the two-faced rabbit in the stomach with a doubled-up fist and had raised my hand to strike again when the white rabbit stood up on its hind paws in the middle of the clearing and let out a long loud snort and continued snorting over the roar of the mob, making sure everyone could hear his call to end the battle.

The angry crowd responded to his command and halted their attack on me and the wolf. I gasped in relief as I reached out for him and flung both my arms around his neck and really started to sob.

"Sssh, little girl," he said. "We're all right. Don't cry now. We must think."

I reluctantly released my grasp. If the wolf could be strong, so could I. I gave him a weak nod and he nodded knowingly back but his eyes turned bright orange as he did so. I repressed a shudder as I looked into those eyes. The other animals shuddered, too, and backed away when they saw the fire in them spitting flames of disgust at them.

The white rabbit kept on snorting at the crowd, towering over the masses, forcing them to form a circle around his mighty form.

Bright moonlight now filled the sky. It reflected on his shiny white coat and dimmed what would normally be a dark night into a cold gray shade of depression.

The wolf began pacing restlessly back and forth. I noticed Pythia in the cool moonlight lying on the ground beneath a tree near the dead rabbit. She looked like a limp rag doll, all weak and sagging.

I saw the evil fox saunter smoothly over to the huge white rabbit in the middle of the circle of creatures and lean confidently against his shiny white fur. The rabbit nodded and bent way over and rested his head for a brief instant on the fox's back. Then he straightened his spine and towered once more over the masses, gazing down upon them with both his sapphire eyes shining with sincerity.

The mob responded by silently directing their attention at the giant. He wiggled his front paws back and forth, gesturing at them as if to emphasize a point, twitching his nose repeatedly at the same time. His long white whiskers whirled as he issued his commands. I couldn't grasp any of it, but his listeners got the message. The whole crowd bobbed their heads in agreement with each wag of his paws, each twitch of his nose.

It was clear. The white rabbit could not be challenged. His sincerity could not be questioned. Things had taken a definite turn. The crowd quickly dispersed when their leader ended his oration. I remained by the wolf, determined not to leave his side.

The white giant hopped over to join us and nodded at the wolf and then the nearby cage, repeating his gestures over and over, making his request clear. My stomach turned a cold flip at his command. I could see the evil fox lurking behind the rabbit, clearly egging him on.

"What?" I choked out in response.

The huge leader glared menacing at the wolf and even raised one of his front paws up and pointed at the cage. I could not question the command.

"Don't listen to him, Car," the wolf barked, dropping Mac's stupid nickname on me, the one I hated so much.

"Never trust a wolf," I said, indicating I understood the rabbit's message.

He bobbed his bunny head in return and seemed to grin at me. I smiled back at him and then noticed how his mouth slanted more to one side than the other, making his face seem lopsided. In fact, his left eye looked higher than his right one when I stared straight on at the jumbo rabbit, leading me to doubt my previous perception of his perfection.

Suddenly, I felt very, very confused. I focused my attention on the wolf sitting next me, the creature with those hateful orange eyes, the ones that had led me deeper and deeper into the forest. I knew that. Well, maybe not Maybe they'd just led me to Pythia, who desperately needed my help. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know.

I stared at the wolf and remembered how frightened I'd been that first night in the forest and how shocked when I awoke the next morning to find a ragged black wolf by my side. He'd mocked me that day when I'd complained of the cold and then almost proudly announced that he'd kept me warm.

"I kept you warm," he told me. "I kept you ..," he started to add before stopping and almost choking on his words.

I finished his sentence now.

"Safe. You kept me safe," I murmured, staring at the wolf but he didn't hear me say it. No one did.

The rabbit hopped over to the cage and pressed the lock with his nose. Its door zipped open. I gently wrapped an arm around the wolf's neck and pulled him along toward the wood and wire box where I knew he'd be safe. At least, until dawn.