Running Red

Chapter 17 - I Bind You

Writing this chapter was torture. I think I wrote three different versions of that fairy tale, but I am pleased with my results. I had TheMiddleChild edit this one for me, so that's why it's better than normal.

Enjoy! -FlyOn97

Once upon a time, there was a storm. The storm was great and fierce and rain and wind tore apart the forest for endless days.

And it happened that there was a man travelling through the forest making his way to the Great Walled City, and when the storm met land, he became trapped. He stumbled blindly through the storm, pelted mercilessly by wind and water, until he found the Granite Mountains, though he knew not that he had wandered miles away from the correct path. He followed the mountains, finding shelter where he could, until finally he stumbled into a place where the wind’s grabbing fingers could not reach. In this place he found two caves facing one another. He fumbled weakly into one of the caves, soaked and freezing, but he was out of the rain and he was glad for it.

And so it was that in the cave was a wolf.

The wolf growled and spoke. “How came you by my cave? Begone, manling! This cave has room only for one!”

“Oh, great wolf!” the man cried, half paralyzed by fear. “Have you a heart of ice? You would not send me back into the weather? I implore you! Let me stay and be dry.”

Now the wolf was crafty. He had not eaten in many days for the storm and the man suddenly looked like quite the feast to the starved animal.

“An icy heart I have not,” the wolf replied. “You may stay, but only until you are dry and no longer!” In actuality the wolf thought that the man might taste nicer if he were not so soggy.

And it rained and the rain did not stop. Water crashed off the Sliding Mountains and fell making a dozen tiny streams where it passed. The soil soon reached its limit and water seeped up from the over-soaked ground and, much to the alarm of its occupants, the cave slowly began to flood.

“Come, manling!” the wolf said. “We must get to higher ground!”

“But where can we go?” the man replied alarmed. “The forest will be no better! And, even if I could manage to climb a tree in this weather, you would have nowhere to go yourself!”

“No matter,” the wolf said. “The cave across from this one has an exit.  Follow me, manling!”

The wolf spoke true, and the man and wolf crossed across the clearing and found their way into a tunnel. There was an incline, and the two climbed up it until they reached a flat stretch of granite that jutted out over the forest. It was not dry, but the man and the wolf were able to rest easy knowing that they would not drown.  

But the rain continued to pour and the granite on which the man and the wolf perched was slick.

And the wolf, his claws finding no traction on the wet surface, slipped and fell. But he did not fall away because just as he was sliding away, the man caught him by his two front feet and, with the man’s aid, the wolf was saved. And when both the man and the wolf safely back on the ledge, the two huddled next to one another for warmth.

            Much time passed. And it continued to rain. The wolf spoke first. “What is your name, man?”

 “Hlagol,” he replied. “And yours, wolf?”

“Syntrian,” was the answer.

And a strange thing happened between the wolf called Syntrian and the man called Hlagol. They found that, as they talked of small things, they quite liked one another. Syntrian, hard and fierce at first, was very wise and clever. Hlagol, seemingly desperate and weak, was quite the character, quick to laugh and unfailingly friendly. Syntrian found that his hunger for the man had quite lessened, and the man found that his fear of the wolf had almost disappeared. When the storm stopped, which was well into the next morning, the two agreed to travel with one another.