In The Shadows

-THREE-

The day went by fast. Night had fallen in what seemed to be a matter of minutes. I had two full piles of wood yet to go and my body was already screaming for a break. My hands were raw and blistered and my feet were heavy like twin blocks of cement had been glued to my feet.

My small frame struggled helplessly to drag the large pieces of wood to the timber pile several hundred yards away. Deep rivets had been left in the ground where the boards dragged behind me. The morning dew on the ground had made it easier to drag the boards across the wet grass when I had first began but then the water had evaporated and I was left to stumble and trip as the boards got caught in the ground and pulled up chunks of turf. Now the rivets made it easier to drag the timber along, but it was a struggle none the less.

No one was allowed to help me with my task, not that they would have anyway. I could sense all of their stares as they watched a small human try to deliver wood four times her size to the timber pile. I heard the snicker of the apprentices and younger warrior wolves too. I tried not to let it bother me. In truth my anger seemed to help me. But now I was alone with nothing but my determination to help me complete this nearly impossible task.

I didn't see the point in it, other than perhaps to give me a taste of what was to come and to be expected. If he was trying to make me quit, he was wrong. I would finish this task and the next one or hundred he gave me. I would do this and I would prove to everyone that I was as good as them. Although Coda was the harshest teacher he was also the best teacher. His way of teaching was bitter and cruel but I would learn things through his methods that no other wolf would. There were some lessons that could only be taught and learned through pain and tears and although I was still struggling to understand the lesson of this, I knew I would discover it eventually. Right now the important thing was that I finish this task even if it took me till morning.

Coda would make me cry, bleed and hurt but in the end, the pain would smooth, broken bones would mend, blood would clot and tears would dry. Then I would only be left stronger than the time before with a new sense of resolve and determination. Call me ambitious for an almost thirteen year old but I knew what I wanted, what I was getting myself into and I would not shrink away or back down from whatever was to be thrown my way. Because I was determined to take down a wolf in their human form or wolf pelt and lead this pack after my father. I would be the first human to lead a pack of wolves and nothing was going to stop me short of death.

I would fight and lose and fight and lose until I won. I was willing to lose a hundred times for one win but I would fight and give it my all until I couldn't any longer. I wouldn't train until I got it right, I would train until I never got it wrong, I would learn because to be wise you had to know that you still had everything to learn.

Dropping the board into the pit before me, I trudged back to the docks where the last light of day was fading. I had a good fifty boards left to carry and it being night would make the trek to the pit even more difficult. So as the hours went by I continued to drag the boards to the pit, taking small steps, following the path I had taken all day. It was grueling work, soon it was just a repetitive action that required no thought. My thoughts seemed to have backed into a corner of my mind and now the only thought was how heavy my limbs and eyelids were.

The bright light of the moon was hidden behind the clouds, not helping me at all. The temperature dropped and the wind picked up, making me shiver, the cold seeping into my bones. My stomach was clenching from hunger pains but I ignored them and continued on. The last five boards were the hardest. My arms barely held the planks of wood, and I had to continually readjust the wood when it slipped. When the last board hit the timber pile my legs collapsed from underneath me and I laid in a sprawled mess on the ground, staring up at the sky. I only have five hours until dawn, five hours to sleep and rest my aching body. I knew hell would await me in the morning, so I forced myself up, making the trek back to my house through the night.