A.N. Normally I never up-load a chapter this quickly. Please, if you have time, leave a review.
Rosalee and Nick promptly ran out of the cottage and to the sheep pen. It was empty.
"He must have walked the sheep over to the hills!"
"But why?" asked Nick, "why would he do that? Wasn't he meant to just watch over them in their pens?"
"It's what we would normally do at this time of year," she spoke quickly looking around trying to catch any sign of Freddy's whereabouts, "we keep them out during the warmer weather because they can eat more and become fatter, which is good for us. It's only in winter that we pack them away so closely to the house. Oh goddess, I don't know which hill top he's taken them to!"
There was another terrible, pained howl of a wolf, which made Nick draw his sword and Rosalee to grip an axe she had grabbed from near the fireplace.
"It sounds like it's hurt," Nick muttered.
"I recognise the kind of wolf it is, and if it is hurt, then it will be just as likely to rip our faces off if it finds us." She sniffed the air for a while before ordering, "come, this way."
"What, you can smell your brother?"
"Yes."
"How?" Nick was amazed, he hadn't known anyone to have a sense of smell that good...
"Just shut up Nick!" she snapped, stress lines showing on her face. Nick was sure that for that moment, Rosalee's face changed slightly, changed into something more animalistic, but he shook his head and ignored his innate feelings screaming at him to run away from her or to run her through with his sword, maybe it was just the lighting of the moon or something.
They ran up one steep hill which was closer to the Royal forest; Nick was pretty healthy - his aunt had made sure of that- but as they ran he could feel his chest hurting as the cold wind he sucked in made his lungs ache. He couldn't believe that the Calverts considered this weather to be 'warmer'; it was very cold to him! Soon they began to see traces of the sheep, their dung had been left in various places on the ground and it wasn't long before they could hear terrified baa's calling out into the night sky.
They reached the peak and looked down, the white fluffy creatures could just be seen in the darkness, they were huddled closely together and making a lot of noise. The wolf howled again, and Nick saw the sheep shuffle nervously, they were uncertain of which direction to run in and he could understand why; the howl echoed in such a way that it was impossible to tell where it originated.
Rosalee let out a feral growl as she scanned the ground for her brother.
"Rosalee I need to tell you-"
"Stop talking Nick!" her voice sounded violent and animalistic, but he continued on.
"I need to tell you that I think Freddy is wearing red."
She looked at him suddenly, her eyes wide and round and her teeth looking unnaturally sharp, "what did you say?"
"I'm not certain, but I think the cloak he wore tonight had red colouring underneath, I only saw for a moment before he went out the door. I'm sorry."
Rosalee began to sniff the air again, before running down the hill at break neck speed. Nick followed her at the same pace, but his eyesight wasn't as good as hers. He tripped and fell, hitting his head on a boulder. There was a moment of silence and darkness where he was temporarily unconscious. During this time Rosalee had continued to make her way down hill, having the scent of her brother, she had completely forgotten about Nick.
After a few minutes, the Prince groaned and touched his head, he could feel the sticky wetness of blood. Muttering under his breath, he tried to stand but a wave of dizziness made him fall back on to his knees, his head hanging low.
Then he remembered that there was a wolf nearby. "Damn!" he muttered, ripping his shirt sleeve off and using that to tie around his head in order to stem the bleeding. His vision cleared enough for him to look down the hill again. The sheep were still there, though they seemed slightly more dispersed, but he couldn't see either of the Calverts.
A tingling sensation prickled the back of his neck and sent a shiver up his spine; someone was watching him. Someone or something.
Nick turned around quickly. He could see something move quickly out of his line of sight, but it was so dark he couldn't make it out. But whatever it was it was low to the ground.
Nick swallowed down the growing panic and fear. It was like when Juliette attacked him, he just needed to stay calm and focused. He pulled out his sword and forced himself to his feet.
A low snarl answered the sound of the sword being released.
Nick gripped the blade, remembering that the creature had sounded in pain before so that there was a chance it was injured.
He turned around in a circle, awkwardly because he was on the side of a steep hill, but sure enough, to his left two red eyes were watching him with a disconcerting level of focus. As their eyes met the creature growled again, and Nick watched his horror as the eyes drew up higher and higher as the wolf stood up on to its hind-legs. At its full height it stood against the large, white face of the moon and Nick could see that it was a hulking monster, part humanoid, part wolf.
"What?" gasped Nick, "what is this?"
Its drooling jaws snapped, showing Nick's it's many teeth.
He pointed the sword at it and let out a war-cry.
Nick ran towards it, the wolf letting out a monstrous roar that was so powerful it almost knocked the Prince back on his ass. Luckily Nick held fast and drove the sword into the beast's side, barely grazing the tough, rough hide of the wolf, just as it grabbed his stomach in its mouth and flung him to the side.
The monster then began to scamper away.
Bleeding heavily from both his head and his side Nick looked up in shock; the creature was afraid. It easily could have killed him but it chose not to. He looked down at his sword and saw that it had snapped in two. It had barely touched the wolf yet it was so damaged; he could see why the others had laughed at it. But he also knew that the wolf couldn't possibly be afraid of it. If it had been afraid of Nick it definitely would have killed him once the weapon was destroyed, and if the wolf was out to cause mindless violence it still would have killed him out of spite. It didn't make sense for the wolf to run away.
Nick got to his feet and ran in the direction the wolf had gone. He suddenly felt confident that the Calverts were probably fine, and that there was definitely something strange and unusual happening here that perhaps the Calverts knew of but weren't telling him. All evening, it seemed they had been dropping little hints; and he knew that this creature was no ordinary wolf.
He had to get to the bottom of it!