Hello everyone! A new chapter to this story, and so soon as well! I've never updated this quickly with my stories. And what brought on this sudden need to update this particular story. Well, actually I was about to start working on another chapter for a different fanfic before I returned to this one, but then I looked at the reviews for this story.
I only got one review, but it was the most enthusiastic review I've ever gotten and it inspired me to right this chapter so quickly. So I'd just like to say thank you to Bluedog197 for an awsome review. Oh and Happy Birthday!
And to anyone waiting for the next chapter of my other story, 'hint, hint' take this guy's example and review please.
Ulrich's POV
Ulrich found himself in a small underground pool on the inside of a cave. He swam over to the edge of the water, and hauled himself onto the rock. He took large breaths of air as he fought to regain his breath. Swimming down that flooded tunnel had almost made him run out of breath.
For several minutes he just laid their, then he sat up and turned to the rest of the cave. It was small, and dark, and wet. He stood up catching sight of an opening in the cave wall. That was most likely the way out.
He set out down the dark tunnel. Even though his werewolf eyes allowed his enhanced vision he still found it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of him.
He must've been walking through this cave for half an hour by now, and he still had yet to find another cave or exit. He was starting to think there was no exit at all. He shook his head in annoyance. Of course there was a way out. He'd found it before, and he'd find it again. Even if he couldn't remember doing it before.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind did he stumble into a large cavern. He continued walking, but tripped over something on the ground. As he hit the ground he found himself face to face with a skull. He froze, before jerking backwards. He became aware of dozens of bones littered across the floor of the cave.
His hand landed on something, as he jerked backwards. He looked down to see it was another bone. Upon closer inspection he noticed something wrong with it. Something that wasn't normal.
He picked it up studying it closely. The bone had small marks and cracks in it, as if it had been gnawed on. A quick inspection of several other bones showed that all the bones had bite marks on them. Most of the bones were animals, but do to the skull he'd seen earlier he knew that their were human bones as well.
For a second the thought that some of these bones might be his parents remains crossed his mind, but he dismissed them immediately. His parents had not been with him in this cave. They had not swam through the water with him. None of the bones were their's.
Then the question as to why the bones were there at all crossed his mind. Obviously the bite marks meant an animal of some kind. Most likely a wolf. Ulrich stood up eager to leave this place and the bones behind.
A scent hit his nostrils making him wrinkle his nose. He tried to identify it, but the musty smell of the cave, and the stale smell of the bones made it impossible. He lost the scent standing very still. After a few seconds he relaxed, and began walking through yet another tunnel.
He failed to notice the quiet growl that came from the shadows as a wolf stared at him hungrily.
He walked quickly through the winding tunnel ducking as he came to a particularly low part of the tunnel. Something scraped against the rock floor behind him. He whipped around his eyes glowing yellow in the dark tunnel. A growl escaped his lips, as he bared his now sharp teeth. Nothing.
His eyes faded back to their normal color, and he stood up from the crouch he'd dropped into. After a few seconds when nothing happened after he lowered his guard he turned and continued walking.
The wolf continued to silently follow him. Staying back in the dark, unnoticed.
The tunnel branched off at one point and Ulrich was forced to choose which path to take. As he went further down the tunnels he met at least a dozen more of these branches of tunnels. He was now helplessly lost with no way of tracing his way back. He must've walked through these tunnels for over an hour. Maybe several.
He had no way of telling the time in the tunnel. He was getting hungry so it must've been a while by now, since he'd eaten before he left the pack.
He reached another fork in the tunnel, and stepped towards the left one when something leaped at him from behind. What ever it was it landed between his shoulder blades knocking him down. He gritted his teeth in pain as he felt claws digging into his back.
He pushed up off the ground using his werewolf strength to throw the creature through the air where it hit the rock wall with a yelp. Turning he just managed to glimpse a wolf before it ran further down the tunnel into darkness.
He crouched down, his fingernails lengthening into claws, and his eyes turned yellow. He didn't move for over ten minutes. He didn't leave his crouch, and he never stopped looking into the darkness.
After twenty minutes of nothing he slowly stood up. The wolf was probably gone by now, but if it was still out there somewhere he'd be ready this time. He kept walking, but his eyes never changed back to normal.
He'd barely taken three steps when he saw a shape leap at him. This time he was ready. His hand shot up, wrapping around the hilt of his sword, and whipping it out in an arc through the air.
It's blade connected with one of the wolf's legs making a deep cut. It let out a yelp of pain before attempting to run away. He dashed after it. The wolf was moving fast even with it's leg wound, but he kept up with it. Still, it took him more than a few minutes to catch up all the way to where his sword was within reach.
He veered off to the right, his feet meeting the wall in a wall run. In the split second before he lost his balance he jumped across the tunnel his path taking him over the wolf, and his sword swung down further injuring it. They came out into a cavern, and he was surprised to see it was the same from before with the bones all over the cave floor.
The wolf came to a halt, and he stopped a few feet from it. It snarled at him, and he let out another, louder snarl in return. The wolf crouched low making ready to leap at him, and he held his sword ready.
His foot slipped on a bone, and he fell onto his back. The wolf launched itself at him. It's claws and teeth ready to kill him. His eyes went wide as he saw it moving at him through the air, and then he heard another snarl to his right.
Another wolf came into view as it leaped up in the air intercepting the attacking wolf, taking it to the ground. They pair of wolves rolled, turned, slashed, and bit. Ulrich sat up watching the wolves fight it out. The wolf who had saved him leaped at the attacking wolf, but it was fast and it moved out of the way letting the wolf fly into a pile of bones behind it. The wolf that saved him, the gray one as Ulrich now saw started to get up but fell to the ground.
The attacking wolf, the brown one, prowled up at the helpless wolf as it tried to crawl away. The brown wolf snarled in triampt as it closed in for the kill. Ulrich's hands went out to find his sword. He saw it a few feet away. He stretched out grabbing it. The gray wolf had saved his life, and now he would save it. Scrambling to his feet, his arm came up, back, and then forward as he hurled the sword through the air.
The sword turned end over end making a 'whomp, whomp, whomp' sound until it buried itself in the wolf's side. The wolf stumbled to the left a bit, then back to the right as the sword hilt weighed it down. It collapsed the sword hilt pointing up. It took one giant breath, and then died. Ulrich walked up to the wolf.
It didn't snarl at him, or try to bite him. Of course, he was a werewolf. He would think that that would make wolves like him. His eyes fell onto the brown wolf. Well then what was up with that one? Turning back to the gray wolf he checked it over for injuries, but found none.
When that was done he retrieved his sword. By the time he was done cleaning it the gray wolf was up and beside him again. He sighed as he looked around at the cave. He still didn't now how to get out.
The wolf made a barking sound. He looked to see it was now at the tunnel entrance looking back at him, as if it wanted him to follow. He stood confused before he started following the wolf. Maybe it knew the way out?
The wolf picked up speed as it broke into a full run and Ulrich ran to keep up with it. It led him through the twisting tunnels in what seemed like random directions, but within minutes he saw a light at the far end of the tunnel. Laughing he speed up to where he was running beside the wolf until he clear the tunnel, and came out into the woods.
He stopped to catch his breath and the wolf stood in front of him waiting. He reached out, and scratched the wolf's head. It licked his hand.
"Thank you my friend. You can go back home now." he said to the wolf, but the wolf just sat there looking at him, it's head tilted to one side. Still breathing hard he looked at the wolf. "I'm stuck with you aren't I?" he said. In response the wolf barked. Whether this was due to his words or his voice he didn't know. Smiling he stood up looking down at the wolf. 'Ok'. he thought, 'I can deal with this.' After a few more seconds he took a look around the woods remembering why he was in them in the first place. Motioning for the wolf to follow he set off in a random direction, the wolf right behind him.
