The Dark Ages of Wolves

Run

Hunter:

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! YOU STUPID IDIOT!' I scold myself mentally without end. I lost control of my inner wolf and scared her. I groan in frustration. Nothing is right, trying to talk to her was an even dumber idea. 'She hates me, she hates me, she hates me,' I note these three big words. She hates me. There's a tap at the door, and then again.

"Hunt-a?" I hear a small voice call for me. My ears twitch at the familiar name. I drag myself out of bed and open the door for the small child with her neck craned up to see me.

"Hunt-a, where mommy-Jade?" Morgan questions. I frown,

"Probably in her cell, she's in the basement," I tell the small girl. 'What an odd name for Jade, Mommy-Jade,' I thought with interest. Morgan shook her head.

"She not there, I don't smell her scent. Mommy-Jade is not there, Mommy-Jade not there," Morgan begins to whine.

"Okay, then where would she have gone," I inquire and kneel down to pat Morgan's head.

"She's probably in the kitchen, or helping out Mother and father, or-" I began to suggest when Morgan cut me off.

"No, no, no, no. Mommy-Jade gone, gone, gone," Morgan rambles on, "She gone, gone, gone. She left the castle," Morgan tells me. I gasped again at this info, and my nose twitched. Morgan was right, Jade's scent wasn't normal. It was faded, very faded, meaning she really did run away.

"I'll find Jade, go back to bed," I tell Morgan. I ruffled up her hair, and she giggled before running back to bed. I walk down the hall and down the stairs when I run into Vincent.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" my father asks.

"Outside, I want to feel the snow in my fur," I lie carefully. My father pats me on the back and lets me pass. I couldn't have been more relieved when I step outside. I cold snow is nothing to me, but would it bother Jade? I look back at the castle, no one at the windows, so I stripped off my clothes and shifted into a large furry black wolf. My brown hair turning into denser and darker fur. I took off running into the forest, carrying my bundle of clothes in my muzzle, trying to find Jade's scent in the cold air that stung my nose. My pace slowed, and I pant harder, but I didn't stop moving. I paw at my nose, which stings from the coldness. I can't catch any scents. I shook off the snow that had accumulated on my back, though it would pile up again. Snow fell heavily from the clouds above. I start walking, although, perhaps, I'm walking in circles.

After walking in circles for some time, I feel hopeless. Perhaps Jade's been buried, or something else had gotten her. Then my paw steps, I notice, began to fall in line with a trail that had appeared. The trail was slowly being covered by snow, but it was present. It was Jade's footprints, and they made me begin to run again. There was a lump of snow, no something beneath it. I sniffed the odd lump in the snow. I sniff it but quickly turn away from it. It was only an old carcass of a deer. I steered away and continued on the trail until I came across something different. A figure in the snow, barely visible and partially covered by a light dusting of snow. I sniff the figure, it was Jade. I shift partially, covering my dense body fur. I kneel down and begin to nudge Jade. A small whimper escapes her mouth, she is still breathing. I tried to pick her up, but she swings her hand at me, blindly trying to push me away.

"Jade, please don't, please don't fight," I murmur. Her eyes flutter. I feel Jade shiver against me, and to my surprise, she even pushes herself closer towards me for warmth. I brush snow out of her hair and face. She closes her eyes as she shivers. I head for home, but it's hard to see and the cold air stings.

"Damn it," I mutter. It was obvious we'll be going to be stuck out here, and the only way to keep her from dying of frost-bit is to take shelter.

Jade: