It all happened very quickly. At first, I would see him prowling outside the limits of the fence, gazing hungrily towards my flock of sheep. Since Ram has mysteriously vanished, it was all up to me, a skinny and a rather new Tamer, to fend off one of the most cunning and powerful wolves in the area. Last summer, Ram and I managed to ward off a violent pack of seven using hand-made guns, albeit with severe losses on our side…
After, Ram even faced off with Wolf, one of their strongest wolves, though I had no idea what happened. I woke up one night to find Ram leaving our bed carrying a dagger I have never seen before, a long steel blade with many scratches and dents, and I found myself tiptoeing after him, wrapped in a thin blanket. I remembered being extremely disgruntled as I walked down stairs, trying not to trip in the dark and wondering what on earth was so confidential that he had to hide it even from me. He was already halfway across the yard when I arrived at the kitchen window. By now, I was furious. I opened my mouth to swear at him when a pair of luminescent, green eyes shone from the forest. I was shocked into silence and could only watch helplessly as Ram marched with Wolf into the dark depths. I did not sleep the entire night.
He slid into bed next morning while I feigned sleep. Later on I found the dagger buried hastily at the edge of the field. It was still sheathed in blood. A few days later, we could spot Wolf roaming the forest alone. It seemed that he was kicked out of the pack.
Or did he abandon it?
To this day, I still wonder what happened in the forest with Ram and Wolf.
But I have more important things to worry about now.
It was around dusk, and I had found some half-dug pits shoveled by large paws around the fences. The cursed Wolf had dug multiple holes around the blasted field, as if mocking my lack of experience. I took a deep breath, remembered what Ram had taught me about emergency situations and after cursing all the members of the Canidae family, I set out to fill the pits before night truly came.
First, I decided to get the sheep out of the pastures and into their stalls immediately. I shepherded the flock in with a deal of great effort; they were unusually edgy today and glared at me as if I were the source of all their troubles.
Little rascals, I grimaced as one trotted on my toe and gave a bleat that sounded suspiciously like laughter, I'm denying your grazing time for your safety!
I closed the door shut with a sigh as a wicked howl rang through the air. My horns tingled as I located the howling to be somewhere west of the field. I redoubled my speed in burying the holes outside.
The two moons had nearly flitted into the sky when I was beginning to fill the last damn hole-
"Hey there Noa."
I turned my head. Char the fish Tamer loomed in behind me, blocking out the last of the sun's rays. He had a strong build and was famous for his unscrupulous vocabulary. Out of all the men down in the village I dreaded seeing him the most. He even leered like a wolf. My eyes darted around and I spotted the source of my grave error: a gate half-open. In my haste to finish the job I had dashed in and out of the pasture without properly locking them…I gulped.
"What are you doing here, Char?" I shuddered, uncomfortably aware that he was closing the gap between us. Fear was making me immobile…
Learn from your mistakes, Noa, don't just sit there!
Too late. Char smirked down at me, rubbing his dirty hand up and down on my neck. I shivered involuntarily at his touch and stumbled away. "P-please stop. It's gross." I turned and tripped backwards. "I don't like it…Ram wouldn't be happy-ah!"
"But he's gone, isn't he, Noa?" He crooned, kneeling down behind me to cup my chin while taking deep breaths against my neck. I gave a whimper of fear. "And thanks to me, the villagers think you're a dirty, little liar, and no one will be able to save your…" he slid his hand into my pants, "sorry, smooth ass."
I gasped, partly out of shock, the other out of anger. "You t-told them! You started the rumors, didn't you?" Tears pooled in my eyes. Ever since Ram's vanishing, the kind people have suddenly been avoiding me and who knew it was because of… Char. Wolf, sensing the lack of people, popped up even more frequently as if to further fuel the disbelief of the villagers. Char was right. Ram was no longer here to protect me from the beasts and dirty men. I felt a dreaded hardness grind into my lower back and I froze. There was no way out of this. The villagers would only think of my cries as another refrain of my lies. I could only shudder and sink deeper into horror while one hand traveled up my torso, the other to my groin, successfully trapping me in my place.
"You're reacting quite nicely, young lamb," he purred, rubbing my nipple in a dizzying circular motion, and I moaned against my will." We didn't get to finish it five years ago. Maybe I should bring you to the townsfolk and earn myself some big bucks. You'd be a great catch at the Seaside Tavern…"
His other hand traveled lower and lower.