The New Wolf

Chapter Eight

The moment finally faded and we were reminded of the bear. We held our own necklaces and the air whirled around us, transforming us back into wolves. 

The sky darkened soon after, and thunder claps rose in the air, filling the empty space with lightning bolts. The temperature dropped as night rolled in, and rain splashed down from the clouds. Suddenly a bolt of blazing white energy struck a tree and sparked a fire. Rain could not stop the spreading of this forest fire, it only made it worse. The bear's roars grew louder, but more muffled by the water, his brown pelt matted from the rain.  

It became hard for me to see, the moon was nowhere to be found. The fire crackled from the tree tops down to the bases of the bark on them. I was running out of options, let alone time at all. 

"Come with me," I pleaded again. 

Riptide didn't answer me, and avoided my eyes. Then he turned the other way to face the incoming bear. "Run! Go!" 

"No!" Anger and fear coursed through me, but 'no' was not an acceptable answer to him. I dragged him along with me, a slight running water sound increasing. I could barely hear it over the storm and fire surrounding me. A river. 

The bear was closing in, and my companion said to me, "If you won't leave, I will have to force you." He glanced at the river for a split second as if hinting at something.

The bear targeted me, and I backed away, attempting to remain safe. My hind paw sloshed in mud, and I realized it slipped off the edge. 

In a flash, Riptide jumped between the bear and I, and the bear lashed a massive paw at him. He took a blow to his face, then backed up purposefully and shoved me too close to the ledge of the bank. The fire had caught up to us and now blocked every escape route we could think of. I felt the heat of the fire and heard the breaths of the bear and Riptide. 

He shoved me back farther, forcing me off the side into the rushing river. Icy, cold blue swallowed me, and my head could not be brought back to the surface. I tried to see through the cloudy and dark water, but it was no use. 

Panicked, I tried to push off the bottom of the river to force myself up to the surface. Despite my best efforts, the river threw me in a million different directions and I couldn't control my movements. I needed to breathe, and was running out of options. I wondered if Riptide was okay, and why he forced me away. But I knew he had explained why. All I could think of was that I could have been there to help him right then, but he wanted me to nearly die in a river instead. 

Looking ahead through the churned up water, I could see that the water would end soon. Like there was a drop off or something where the water goes away...wait a minute. That's a waterfall! The water brought me almost to the edge now. I needed air soon, or else. 

Mist from the waterfall sprayed from either side, and the blue blurred by brown water foamed white at the bottom, which I was about to see for myself. I couldn't hold my breath any longer, and took in a huge breath of water. The rocky, muddy floor of the river disappeared, and from the river, so did I.