And Bree suddenly discovered that he had not really been going as fast - not quite as fast - as he could. Shasta felt the change at once. Now they were really going all out.

The Horse and his Boy by C.S. Lewis

Kodan

My heart stopped when I heard the voices. No! I screamed inside. There was no doubt in my mind that one of those men was the vet and I could only guess that he and whoever was with him would be armed. Aniu was trapped!

All this passed through my mind in an instant, and one other thing besides: I was trapped in the infirmary, utterly helpless. There was no time to break through the door, and once they dealt with Aniu, they would probably kill me too – unless...

"Aniu!" I hissed. "Hide behind the door; the one you broke through."

"What?!" she asked.

"Hide behind the door. Just be ready to jump them when I give the signal. It's our only chance!"

She hesitated only for the briefest moment, but I knew even that might be fatally long. "I love you," she said through the door.

"Hide!" I hissed.

She didn't answer, but I had to assume that she had hidden. I threw back my head and let out the most wolfish howl I could.

"AROOOOOO!"

Even I was surprised at the sound. This was no dog's howl, but the full, deep-throated call of a wild animal. I think it must have rattled the men pretty badly, because I heard one of them say a word humans weren't supposed to say.

I grabbed a bottle off the shelf and ducked into the best hiding place I could find, under the far end of the table the vet had used to block the grate. Then I let out another howl, adding in a snarl for good measure. My only chance, and Aniu's only chance, was to convince them that the wolf they were after was here in the infirmary, not out in the hall beyond.

For once, things went my way. They believed it. I guess they were so spooked by the howling and everything else that they never stopped to wonder how their quarry got through a closed door - or if they did, they were willing to believe and do anything except stop and think.

"You got that gun ready?" asked the vet.

"I've got it ready. Soon as that door's open, step back."

The door swung open, and another man – the town sheriff – lunged into the room. The table barred my view of him from the waist down, but I could well imagine the pistol held out with both hands.

The vet followed him into the room, turning this way and that as he swept his rifle around. Taking a deep breath, I rolled the bottle out into the open.

Both men whirled and fired. I don't know which of them hit, but the bottle exploded along with a small part of the floor. The men froze for a moment, then closed on the spot.

The trap was set. With a hard jump, I jostled the far end of the table and rattled everything on it, making the men jump.

"Now!" I cried, and charged.

I think Aniu must have already been running, because at the same instant that I collided with the men's legs, she took them in the shoulders with a leap. The men didn't even have time to cry out before they met the floorboards – hard.

"Run!" I barked, whipping around. Aniu shot past me, and I only lingered long enough to pounce on the men as they tried to rise, buying us a few more seconds at best.

"What in the sam hill just happened?!" cried one of the men. I don't know which one it was, and I didn't particularly care. I ran, and I never looked back.

We quickly lost the vet in the streets of Nome, tired as he was. Snowflake must have given him a rough night. The sheriff, however, was as fresh as a daisy and in much better shape.

"What now?" asked Aniu when we found a chance to stop for breath. We knew it wouldn't last long.

I was terrified. Aniu was not only sick, but exhausted beyond words. Seeing her legs shake with the effort of standing, I pushed aside the thought that I should have grabbed her another bottle of medicine. If I couldn't think of something useful, all the medicine in the world wouldn't do her any good. We had gained a lead on the sheriff, but he could follow our tracks in the snow – unless...

"This way," I hissed. I slipped out the far side of the building; we had chosen one with thick skirting that made it hard for the sheriff to spot us. If I was right...

Yes! We had emerged in the alleyway next to the general store – an alleyway with a sizable pile of empty wooden shipping crates.

"Follow me," I told her, "and don't make a sound."

We climbed up the stack of crates. I paused there and gauged the distance. I'd seen this done before, but I'd never done it myself. Yet I knew every moment I delayed put Aniu in danger, so with a leap I crossed the space from the top of the crates... to the porch roof of the store. I almost slid off on the icy slates, but I managed to find my footing and turned to Aniu. "Come on!" I hissed.

She steeled herself, jumped, and landed half on the roof. I had to grab her by the back of the neck and help her drag herself up. The fact that she somehow found the strength to keep going was incredible, but I knew she couldn't last much longer. No matter how strong she was, a wolf was a wolf.

"We should be able to make our way along the rooftops most of the way to Snowflake's house," I told her.

"I'm not at her house anymore," she said, shivering. "She moved me... to a space under the hospital... where I'd be warm."

I was ready at that moment to forgive Snowflake for anything. "Alright," I said, "that's even closer. Are you ready?"

In all the stories I'd heard, people or dogs fleeing from a dire threat ran all the way to whatever safety they could find – a cave too small for whatever was chasing them to enter, or an area too populated for the threat – and didn't stop until they got there. This was nothing like the stories; a lot of slow, furtive crawls and heart-stopping leaps, constantly fearing that the sheriff would somehow find us at any moment. It had one thing in common with the stories, though: the moment we made it back to Aniu's little den under the hospital, we collapsed, too tired to even curl up.

I wanted to reassure her; to say, "We made it; we're safe now." My brain refused to form the words. It just shut down like a candle flame snuffed out, and all I knew was darkness.

My thanks to everyone for being so patient as I finally got this chapter up. I started a new job recently, and while it's truly a Godsend for my budget, it's going to wreak havoc on my sleeping and writing schedules. My thanks to all of you for your patience and continued support, and especially to my proofreader Amelia Valencia.

One other note: Please try to refrain from profanities and questionable references in your replies. I welcome your feedback, but there's no need to compare my teasing to certain other acts.

As always, thank you for reading, faving, and reviewing. Let me hear what you think; I want to know!