The Little Wolf

Time to be Free

He danced in the dim of the room, offering colour to the gloom of King's Landing. He was an ashen moth fluttering in the corner. He looked down from his place in the sky and twirled to get his Master's attention.

Lyra was cloaked in darkness, and covered in blood. Yet her mind was so sharp, it would cut through the foolishness of the guards quicker than anyone else he could ever meet. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to the moth, while holding her hand over Wolf unintentionally; she had lost all her trust.

The flame-coloured Direwolf calmed Lyra with a gentle nudge in the arm, and Lyra loosened her grip on her blade. Lev tried to call to Lyra, to speak to her in a thousand silent ways, but Lyra had closed her mind. While imprisoned and during the time her mind was open, a Monster had crawled in, and she was too scared to welcome anything else. Her mind was either like a deep, dark abyss that he hoped to light, or a dungeon with no form of exit. It was dark and dreary and offered no escape.

One day, he would find a way to unlock her from the cage of her mind. First and foremost, he was to free his girl from her literal dungeon, before finding the key and unleashing her from her figurative one.

Though her face was bloodied and battered and void of any expression, her eyes twinkled slightly at the realization her Soul had not left her. He never would, not until it was time for her heart to beat its last, then he would carry her on his wings and they would fly, united, forever.

He had left her once before, during her fourth year, when Lyra broke down after seeing the Monster in the mirror. He regretted his actions, many nights he would stare at her little broken body and beg for forgiveness. "I beg of your forgiveness!" he would cry, and his Master would hold him tightly. Now, it was his turn. It was his turn to hold her tightly.

He had explored King's Landing from its highest high, to its lowest, most treacherous depths. From the Tower of the Hand, to the holdfasts, to the grimy towns he had wandered, across Blackwater Bay he had flown. All of which were too noticeable for a town that was lit like a candle, searching for one person: his master.

He eventually decided on the most impoverished town of King's Landing, Fleabottom. Only the poorest lived there, and they sent themselves to early graves living in squalor and disease. Oft times, he would roam the towns disguised as a rat, to which he found himself frequently shooed and stamped upon. Yet, in Fleabottom, no one cared. A rat was about as frequent as a weed in a garden; no one had the strength to mind.

Fleabottom crept up close to the castle they were imprisoned in, and sewers branched underneath. So be it, he decided, the sewers were the way to go. He peered behind him to see Lyra still following him, leaping from shadow to shadow. Soon they were upon the sewers, and Lev knew Lyra was getting restless with the anticipation of escape. It had been a long time since she had been freed, and the last time she had seen the sun was the day her father lost his head.

Lyra did not hesitate, nor did she screw up her nose at the foul smell. She got on her hands and knees and crawled through the mud and excrement, her eyes determinedly glaring at the end of the long passage, nearly shaking in excitement at the mere thought of seeing sunlight. The blood that soaked her was now covered in mud. Lev watched her crawling off, and smiled to himself. She was easy to convince.

Unfortunately, her Direwolf wasn't. At the edge of the sewer, Chief sat on his haunches, his chin stuck in the air, sulking at the thought of crawling through the filth. Lev fluttered by his side and laughed to himself; Chief was more of a princess than Lyra was.

Time was not on their side, and Chief needed to know this. Transforming into an Owl, Lev snapped at Chief's big tail with his sharp beak, causing him to yowl in pain. It was then that nothing could have convinced him not to enter the sewers. Like a flamethrower or fireball in a tunnel, Chief's red coat was only seen at a blur in his rush. He dashed through the dark tunnels, surpassing Lyra in his flurry, and splashing mud and faeces in her face, mouth and eyes in his panic.

Lev caught up and landed on Lyra's muddied shoulder. She was panting at the effort it took. The product she was crawling through was thick and smelled foul, and it took all her strength to pull each arm out of the mud and haul her legs along. Lev stared at her, proudly, beaming at her determination. She turned her head, and stared at him with intense eyes. Her lip twitched slightly, and Lev knew she was trying to smile but had forgotten how. That was another thing he would do. He would free her, open her mind, and teach her to smile and laugh and love. The list just kept getting longer.

Before long, a slight ray of light broke through the dark sewers. Lyra stared at awe at the light breaking through the tunnel, and Chief glared at Lev with angry eyes.

They sat at the edge of the sewers for a short time, preparing themselves for the mad dash that was to come. Lev snuggled into Lyra's neck, and Chief, still glaring at Lev, plonked himself on Lyra's lap. Lev looked up to see tears glistening in his girl's eyes. Though he couldn't hear her mind anymore, he knew what she was thinking. This was her family. They were now a team, her loyal companions, the only she could trust. Lev looked at his new companions, too. If the worst was to come, if the guards were waiting outside the sewer to ravage their bodies, he would be happy to die. To die with his family.

It was time.

Time to run.

Out in the sunlight Lyra and Chief sprinted, Lev flapping high above in the sky. Lyra closed her eyes and ran faster than she ever had before. Lev squawked and Lyra opened her eyes – the dense forest was arriving. She heard villagers squeal, but she couldn't blame them. Seeing a girl, a wolf and an owl emerge from a sewer would understandably be shocking.

Lev looked down at Lyra as they approached the bush. No guards seemed to be on their trails. He pulled up higher in the sky, and saw their locations. There were guards around every door and circling the main towers of King's Landing, yet none considered the sewer. Again, Lev smiled.

Down below, Chief and Lyra entered the thick of the forest, and instantly they swerved off the main path to avoid being seen.

Crackling through his mind, he could have sworn he heard Lyra's little voice.

"I'm free!" the voice cried in glee.

"I'm free! I'm free! I'm free!"