Chapter Five

What was I supposed to do? I couldn't just let him die! No, of course not, I had to play the hero. And like in all fairy-tales, I got beaten and battered and then left to die. But I didn't die, in fact I survived. Painfully, but I survived.

When I awoke, it wasn't to the forest. It wasn't to the bitter cold or the snow, but to gentle warmth and a soft bed. Instantly, I sat up, my eyes wide and my heart pounding. Just as quickly, I wished I hadn't because as the oxygen and blood rushed into my brain, so did a killer headache. A groan came from my lips and I squeezed my eyes shut, raising a hand to the side of my head and desperately hoping for relief.

"Oh good, you're awake."

I jerked my head up when the woman's voice came. Fear instantly pumping through my veins along side what was left of my blood. The room I was in was shadowed but not to the extent that I couldn't see, my eyes being so attuned to darkness it was rather easy actually. The woman sat in a chair to the left of my bed, which was one of the two furniture pieces in the room. She had short auburn hair that stopped at her shoulders, and a kind face that was thinner than usual. The woman looked small and petite, but not in a sickly kind of way, it was more of that was just how she was. All-in-all, she looked like a nice person, but appearances could be deceiving as I kept learning that day. First with the boy, then with the bull, but then again three is supposed to be a lucky number right?

"How are you feeling? Simon told me about how you saved him from the buck. You must be quite a shot." The woman asked in her soft voice. She reached out a hand and brushed some hair away from my forehead, instinctively I shied away with a frightened whimper and the woman jerked her hand back. "Oh, I'm sorry dear. I suspect you're scared sick just wakin' up and with me a complete stranger here watchin' you." She smiled sweetly and a sudden pain tweaked my heart that I couldn't explain. "Here, would you like me to help you out of bed?"

This woman was far from a threat but even the least likely of people could turn out to be your enemies. So, when she held out her hand again and stood up, I quickly yelped and bolted out of the bed, slamming myself against the wall and as far away from her as I could be. The abrupt move-and-halt jarred my wounded shoulder and I gave a pain filled grimace. The woman looked utterly confused and almost sad. "Oh dear, I'm not gunna hurt you! Just calm down and let me help you! Look your legs are near shakin' dear!" The kind looking lady said, her voice rising almost to the level of a normal person's.

Normal. What was normal? I really didn't know anymore, was I normal or the boy? Speaking of whom, where was he? The woman took a tentative step forward, her hands up in a placating gesture. However, it did nothing to soothe the petrified creature I had become. As a result, I did what any normal beast would do and I ran. There was a door to my right on the wall perpendicular to the one I was now leaning on, with a burst of speed I reached it and shot through into the outdoors. It was dark now – that explained the dimness of the room since, looking back, there was a window in there – but the moon's reflection off of the snow illuminated my path more than enough for my eyes.

My head was pounding, but I didn't care as I searched frantically for the tree line. There! I took off running even as the woman came outside and shouted after me to come back. But her words fell on deaf ears as I sped through the trees, finally fading into the forest as if I was a ghost. My feet carried me on in a desperate flight long after I had lost sight of the village. The pain in my shoulder and head was amazing but I couldn't have stopped even if I wanted to, which at that point I most assuredly did not. All I knew was that I had to get away from there. I had to get away from those strange creatures and I had to do it fast.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of running, I fell to my knees in the snow. My breath came in gasps and my eyes were wide from exertion and lingering fear, but I just didn't have the strength to continue any further. At least I'm in the Forest… There should be a pack not far from here. I thought with foolish hope, shifting into the large she-wolf that was my second form. My black paws moved with fatigued sluggishness and I began to wonder if I would make it to the borders of the pack I followed. The answer came quicker than expected when my legs gave out beneath me and the snow covered ground rose to cushion my body. That's stupid, the ground doesn't rise… I thought absentmindedly as I stared off into the forest in front of me. Sometime, I drifted off into a restless sleep.

My body gave a lurching jolt as my mind sprang into wakefulness. I half-heartedly lifted my head and searched around me for what could have awoken me from what must have been a heavy sleep, but there was nothing. Nothing save for the crunching, pounding noise that echoed in my still aching skull. With a muted thud, my head fell back to the ground and my eyes closed; that same obnoxiously loud noise still sounding in my mind. I tried to ignore it, writing it off as the blood hammering through my brain, and eventually I began to drift off into shallow doze.

Everything was fine – except for the loud beating in my head – and I could have slept there all night until once again, my body gave a great heave flinging me into awake-ness for the second time. I couldn't smell or hear anything around me, so reason as to why I would wake up again escaped me. I hadn't dreamed about anything, but there was definitely something causing me to stir so relentlessly. For a second time, I tried to hear or smell anything without lifting my head and for a second time there was nothing. Wait… Nothing? I listened again, harder this time, straining to catch any slight noise I could. Silence. The crunching, pounding noise from earlier was gone. But I'm still alive so—

My thoughts were cut off by the thunderous whooshing sound of an owl's wings as it flew overhead. But owl's wings were usually almost noiseless… Oh gods! With painful suddenness, understanding washed over me. It hadn't been the blood pumping in my brain, it had been footsteps! As quickly as was possible, I forced my unresponsive body into a standing position, ignoring my screaming skull out of desperation to find who or what had been walking around my unconscious body. Spinning around, my eyes found a shadow standing amongst the trees. A menacing growl rumbled in my chest and I lowered my head, my tail swishing with agitation behind me. Unexpectedly, the shadow rushed forward until a ray of moonlight fell on it.

"Wait, wait!"

The boy's hands were raised in the same manner the woman's had been earlier that evening, except for some reason when he acted in this way it had some affect on me. At least enough to quiet my growling. Watching him warily, I cocked my head to the side in confusion. What was he doing out here? And more importantly, how had he found me? Oh well, I was surprisingly happy to see him. My tail wagged and I fell into the snow as I tried to sit. The familiar sensation of shifting spread through my body and I pushed myself up onto my knees, shivering with the loss of my thick fur coat. The young man smiled and my lips curled slightly in a grin. "For a second there I thought you were gunna attack me." He joked, walking toward me slowly so as not to startle me. Each step he took sent another booming roar through my head, but I was glad of his company.

"Too weak." I replied simply, feigning indifference but having admitted to being so exhausted was as good as asking for death in my world. Luckily, in his world that wasn't the case.

The boy had reached me and he took the oddly familiar cloak from around his shoulders, and draped it around my own as he sunk down to his knees in front of me. "Here, you forgot this in my village…" His voice was subdued and he looked away, embarrassment easily perceived from this action. But the reason escaped me.

"Your village? Where I was?" I asked confused.

He nodded his head and gave a small smile. "Yea. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up, but I really had to go back and get that buck you killed. Thanks for that by the way." A light came to his face and he pulled a small leather pack from his shoulders. "Here, there's some food in here if you want it."

A smile came to my face and I gently took the pack from his hands. I opened it – the closing system being a simple string – and peered inside. Many smells came to my nose, the most mouthwatering of which being the six strips of dried meat that rested in cloth wrappings on top of some bread and cheese. The boy gave me a quick nod when I looked up to confirm that this was for me and then I dug in. Within seconds, more than half the meat was gone and a block out of the cheese as well as a large chunk of the bread. When I'd finally eaten my fill, the pack was considerably lighter. I handed it back to the boy and he obligingly ate what was left. He ate much slower than myself and briefly I wondered if should have taken more time to learn some manners, but then he was speaking to me and I needed to listen.

"So do you really not have a name?" He asked with some disbelief.

I laughed quietly, surprised he was still thinking about names after the events of the previous day. "No."

"Wait, no you do have a name? Or no you don't have a name?" Confusion was plain in his voice and his face. I simply smiled wryly, the truth known only to myself and the wolf pack I sometimes followed. "Oh come on! Do you have a name or don't you?" He demanded sounding slightly exasperated.

Shrugging my defeat I gave a simple nod in response to his question.

"Well? What is it?"

"Kaluwa."

He smiled at me, a pink glow coming to his cheeks. "That's a pretty name." His voice was quiet as he complimented me on a curse. However, not wanting to upset him, I merely nodded. "I'm Simon." He said his voice stronger and more sure now. I only smiled again, sad that he couldn't understand and unable to explain that my name was nothing to be proud of. Now it was his turn to cock his head. "Have I said something?" Worry.

I opened my mouth to reply when something came to my sensitive ears. Footsteps? No, the whispers of footsteps. With abrupt awareness, I stood. Why would wolves be here now? They never patrolled in these parts of the woods this late… Did they? I was so weak and bewildered that I could have wandered too far past the territory line; if that was the case, it would be fine for me but since Simon was with me it might spell death for both of us.

"What? What is it?" Speaking of, my first friend – for now I recognized him as a friend and pack brother – stood up beside me and began looking around us, a paranoid look in his eye to match my own.

"Trouble." Was my short reply.

A footfall behind me caught my attention and I spun around, peering into the shadowy forest. Their evasiveness was really beginning to irritate me.

"What kind of trouble?" Simon asked, stepping closer to me.

Another footfall on my right and I twisted to face it.

"Wolves."

Right on queue, three huge male guards materialized around us. I growled angrily at the one standing before me, instantly moving to place myself between Simon and my fellow beasts as best I could. I inattentively registered that my friend had swallowed loudly, the scent of his fear wafting around us. But then, I had bigger things to concentrate on…