The wolf Scâir

Chatper 4 - Wolves

The gates re opened and the lady, that slack informed Minerva was called Tess, walked out again, this time she didn't have two stags as body guards.

"The last wolf was seen by hawk 3, a few miles north from here. It was a pair of wolves 2 men. That was 3 weeks ago." Minerva nodded taking in the information.
3 weeks ago. Those wolves could be anywhere now.

The lady, Tess walked forwards a little.
"There is something you should be careful of."

Minerva was confused now. What was to be carful of about finding a pack? A family who would protect her.
The wolf part of her heart ached to find a pack, it was painful spending the nights alone.

"Your the first female wolf I've seen in 14 years." Tess looked at Minerva with a worried expression painted all over her face. "Have you ever seen a male wolf Scâir?"

Minerva shook her head.

Tess swallowed trying to find the right words. "Their wolves are almost twice the size of your dog." She said looking at Minerva's feet where her wolf was laid.

"What do you mean?" Minerva stuttered, "I.. I don't understand."

The lady laughed sarcastically.
"Female wolf Scairs are rare now. Your wolves are small and get killed easily. A males wolf is the size of a bear."

Minerva looked down at her wolf that was looking up at her. She thought her wolf was large, it stood hip height with her. That meant male wolf would stand taller than her.

"Why?" Minerva questioned, she didn't understand.

The lady shrugged. "I don't know. But you need to be careful. Your nothing compared to a male wolf, you wouldn't stand a chance. Why do you think we built our walls so high?" The lady said turning and pointing to the cars stacked on top of eachother.

Minerva was lost in her thoughts. How could a wolf be the size of a bear? Why was a female wolf half the size? She had to many questions she knew that the lady Tess couldn't answer.

Before she  turned to walk back inside the gates Minerva jolted forward with one last question.

"What are you linked to?" She called out curious.

The lady smiled and pulled her hand out of her pocket and held out a tiny brown mouse. "Good luck." The lady said smiling. "Slack. Come get your supplies."

The lady put the mouse back into her pocket and walked inside. "I'll see you again no doubt." The red haired girl smiled at Minerva before they both disappeared behind the huge metal gates.

Minerva and her wolf walked off into the trees. She pulled out a compass and spun on the spot, checking she was heading in the right direction.

North.

They walked for days. Only stopping occasionally to drink. Her wolf could go up to a week without eating, but her weak human body had to eat almost everyday, eventho she'd tried to train herself to ignore the hunger. But the hunger always took over. It was like a growing demon inside that could control her.

She picked berries along the way but it wasn't enough to satisfy her.

They were both waking up a steep hill, the trail they were following was a like a tunnel through the tall hedges shading her from the soft sun.

They reached the top of the hill and stared down. There was a small town off in the distance that looked abandoned, Minerva estimated it was about 2 miles away. They could make it their by nightfall if they didn't stop. But she was hungry.

A stomach cramp hit her like a punch in the stomach and she bent over in agony clutching her waist. Her wolf looked at her knowing what was wrong. There would be no food in the town.

She scanned the landscape and saw a group of trees to the left of the town - perfect - they were used to hunting in the woodland, it would be cake.

After another long walk, Minerva could hardly stand the hunger was so engraved in her mind. She swallowed the last of the strawberries she'd picked off a plant a while back and the sweet flavour felt glorious on her tongue. But it didn't last long.

They both jogged into the woods exited to be back in their prime environment and nervous they wouldn't catch any food.

They were both walking quietly, making no sound, both listening, and alert ready to pounce at the first sign of a deer or Muntjac.

The forest suddenly cleared away and they found themselves in a small grassy clearing and then she froze.

A large black wolf rose up from were it was laying and turned to face them.

Minerva was terrified she couldn't move, her feet stuck to the floor, her wolf then snarled back at the beast.

It's lips pealed back to reveal large fangs that looked to be as large as her finger. It barked loudly and another wolf sprinted over to its side. This wolf wasn't as large, and had a light creamy colouration to it.

"Hey!" A man shouted from behind the wolf.

Without having a chance to react another wolf crashed through the hedge line behind her, next to the wolf a tall man with black hair held a wooden pole.

She was trapped between 3 wolves, the size of bears.
The human part of her wanted to run, but the wolf part of her wanted to submit to wolves and hope for mercy.

Mixed feelings between her human part and wolf part had confused her, then she noticed the largest black wolf was running at her. She ducked to the ground and it leaped over her locking its jaws around the dark wolf behind her.
Minerva glanced up and saw a man running towards her, she let out a small whimper of fear but the man ran past her tackling the man behind her.

To much was happening for her to keep up with, her wolf snuggled closer to her trying to protect her.

The black wolf had drew blood, she could see the red stains in the black wolves mouth as it snarled and snapped at the dark wolf.

"James!" Shouted one of the men who was mid fight, "grab her!"

Minerva looked over at a boy who was stood next to the creamy wolf, he looked almost as scared as she was, he locked eyes with her and ran at her.

She held her hand up submissively, the wolf part of her had won.
The boy grabbed her rucksack and pulled her to her feet, she looked back and froze again when she saw the wolves fighting.
The black wolf had pinned the dark brown wolf to the ground, but it was snapping and snarling aggressively trying to break free. She looked over at the men and they were in the same position.

The boy tugged her, "Quick." He said urgently. He pulled her and they both broke out into a run, until they came to a campfire In the middle of the grass area.
"Stay here!" The boy snapped at her.

He ran with the creamy wolf at his side back to the fight, and stood closer to watch.

Minerva looked at her wolf terrified and confused. Why were they fighting?

She knelt down one knee in the ground, and her wolf sat beside her, the men had broke up the fight and were now stood talking. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could see the two wolves snarling at eachother, so she guessed it wasn't anything good.

Then all 3 wolves and people looked at her, a man pointed her direction and she froze.
"Oh Shit." She whispered.