Chapter 2: Wolves
I barely had time to feel the snow that Rhydian kicked up as he ran past me before Geraint pulled me to my feet and took off after him. The howls grew louder and closer together the farther we pushed into the forest. Sharp barks pierced our ears, every one sending a chill up my spine. Sheer terror seized my pounding heart. Before long, I could see grayish-brown streaks soaring though the brush beside us.
And when one of the wolves jumped out and cut off Rhydian, who came sliding to a stop, I screamed. Geraint tried to turn around, but more wolves sprang from behind the trees and stopped him.
We were surrounded.
With shaking hands, Rhydian scrambled for the crossbow he had strapped to his back and loaded it with a click.
"Put that down, boy," one of the Wolves growled. "You don't want to hurt anybody."
Rhydian opened his mouth to retort, but fear choked his words from his throat.
The Wolf chuckled. "Oh, come on," he taunted. "You and I both know you don't know how to use that thing."
Trembling violently, Rhydian voicelessly raised the crossbow to his shoulder.
"Your mother told me to tell you that you've got two options," the Wolf roughly informed us, pacing back and forth, his eyes not once leaving Rhydian's. "You can either come back and answer for your treason like a man, or you can die like a dog. Your choice."
Panic shot down to my feet in a hot, stinging streak, hissing at me, telling me to flee. But no matter how badly I wanted to run, Geraint's tight hand around my wrist kept me cemented in place.
The crossbow clicked. "You'll take me back when I'm dead," Rhydian answered sharply, though his words were seeped in terror.
The Wolf nodded, and one of the other wolves behind us snapped at Geraint's heel. He yelped; I shrieked. Pulling a short, dull sword from its sheath, Geraint pointed it at the wolf, who just snarled in response.
I could feel someone shaking, but I couldn't tell if it was me or Geraint. We heard a hissing sound, followed by a muffled thud and a loud yelp from the Wolf that had just threatened us.
Rhydian, bravely yet stupidly with his back to the first Wolf, reloaded his crossbow with quivering hands and declared, "Try to come at them again. I dare you."
"Rhydian!" I cried. Surely he had lost his senses!
But the clever gleam in his eye almost lead me to think otherwise.
Maurgrim, as my terrified mind had finally registered the first Wolf as, laughed cruelly. "You should listen to you sister, boy," he spat.
He continued to talk, but none of us were really listening to what he was saying. Rhydian had silently caught Geraint's attention, and I was busy trying to decipher what he was trying to converse. Quick glances their only form of safe communication, they silently began to formulate a plan. In my naivety, I anxiously looked back and forth between the two, wanting to know what was going on.
Geraint dropped my wrist and wiped the sweat off his jittering hands. An odd euphoria enveloped him as he slowly loaded his crossbow. They exchanged silent plans, brother to brother, until they had come up with what seemed to them like a good one.
"…and now that I've got you where I want you, you are all going to die." Maurgrim finished, looking smugly satisfied as he taunted us.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rhydian nod.
One arrow whizzed past my cheek and struck another one of the wolves. Then another. And another. One of the last wolves charged at me, but Geraint shot if down before it could touch me.
Rhydian wheeled around to face Maurgrim, but the Wolf had disappeared. For a moment, I thought that one of the boys might have shot him, but when a lone howl rose into the night, I knew that he had survived.
"We'd better get out of here," Rhydian said quickly. "Maurgrim will be back soon, and he'll have more with him next time, no doubt."
Geraint nodded. "Come along," he whispered, lovingly putting his arm around my shoulders and leading me on.
And with that, we slipped away into the night.