Lyam peered out the window. A four-legged shadow was stalking up the stone steps of the entrance where a wrought iron gate might have hung in the past.

The creature moved with a slow, deliberate authority that made Lyam's heart jump from his chest and into his throat. From its silhouette, he could tell the beast had a long torso and a longer tail. And Lyam could hear the click-clacking sounds its claws made with each step as it drew closer to the building. It had to be a wolf. Not a giant wolf from Mamie Alda's stories but it was certainly bigger than a regular wolf. And in some way a freak of nature to be of that size.

Lyam swallowed hard and looked back at Emma. She was whimpering a little on the leather. He had to draw it away from the castle somehow.

He immediately thought of his slingshot. He fished his hand into his pocket and pulled out the steel marbles. They were barely half an inch wide. Even if he were to take a shot, the tiny sphere won't make enough noise to distract the creature. Then Lyam looked at the rib-cage that was still in his hand.

The horizontal bones would make for good darts if he snapped them in half. “Yes! That might work to some degree.”

He set about doing just that while the wolf kept stalking closer. He wrapped the bones in the hem of his shirt as he broke them to muffle their noise. After snapping the bones in at least three smaller sections, Lyam grabbed his slingshot and loaded one of the bone darts on the leather pad. He pulled back the band and let it loose at the stone wall by the entrance.

It made a clattering sound that was just loud enough. The clacking of claws stopped. He had distracted the beast.

Next he loaded two darts on the pad at once. He aimed at the leafiest branch on the tree just beyond the crumbling perimeter wall. He let the darts fly.

There was a loud rustling sound. At least loud enough to draw the wolf away from the doorstep of the castle. Lyam peered over the edge of the window and saw the creature make its way towards the wall. It had taken the bait.

Lyam snapped a few more darts from the rib-cage and aimed his slingshot again. This time in a direction adjacent to the tree he'd shot at. The darts hit the trunk of another tree. The wolf's haunches coiled back a little. The creature was alert of a foreign presence now.

In that instant, it would either get scared and hold down its territory or get hostile and go out to face the threat. Either way the animal's survival instinct had been roused. And the beast chose the latter. The claws click-clacked against the stone floor, the shadow moved across the pavement and exited from the main entrance.

Lyam quickly turned back to his sister. She was twitching a bit in her sleep. “Emma, wake up.” He shook her. “We need to get out of here. Wake up!”

She wasn't responding. She was still breathing but gave no reaction to his touch.

“Wake up, for Fahn's sake!” Lyam snapped in a whisper, shaking her fiercely. The girl still didn't move. He gave up trying to wake her up and lifted her off the floor. He started to make his way back to the stairs. But his legs didn't allow him to get far. His wounded shin kept screaming in agony. His sister suddenly seemed to weigh as heavy as a bag of lead. He fell to his knees, feeling another fresh bolt of lightning in his wounded leg.

He wouldn't be able to get far in this condition. The adrenaline from his near-death experience had carried him this far. But that feeling of desperation had worn off.

And more than anything he felt terrible for Emma. Soon the wolf will come back and find them still here. The animal would do what it was born to do. And Emma would fall into a more permanent sleep from her current one. All because he didn't have enough strength in him. He laid her back down and clenched his fists. He held back his tears.

He wouldn't have loved anything more than just collapsing right there and sobbing till his heart's content. But the desperation was still gnawing at him. He couldn't let Emma die like this. He had to find a way out of this situation.

He looked back at the window. The rib-cage was still by the wall, illuminated by the pale moonlight. He reached out and grabbed it. He snapped another horizontal section from it. This one was roughly the size of a knife. He scraped the sides of the tip on the stone window, sharpening its point until it was good enough to stab through flesh.

He hauled himself up to his feet and began his unsteady hobble again. He knew he was going to die. But he was at least going to try to cripple the wolf in the process (if not kill him).

Lyam left the castle.

###

When Emma opened her eyes, she was alone in a big dilapidated room. And it was late in the evening. Haunting silence hung in the air. Her head was still spinning, still covered with haze of all she had seen before she passed out. The last thing she remembered was being carried by her brother through the dark forest.

She tried to breathe but the back of her throat felt painfully scorched. It hurt trying to swallow even a gulp of air. And she was dying for a sip of water.

After her vision had cleared up, the dead silence of the room seemed to engulf her with unease. She wanted to be with mamie again, be with her brother again. She wanted to be back home again.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

But home had been on fire the last time she had seen it. The silence had wrapped its arms around her now, her entire being seemed to implode in its cold embrace.

The child's eyes brimmed with tears. But then her gaze found something in the dark corner of the room, illuminating itself like a lone star in an inky sky. Emma blinked twice before she focused on the object. It was an oblong shaped thing that seemed to glint brighter the more she gazed at it.

The little girl felt a pleasant warmth in its midst. And as she got even closer, a soft pulsating sound emanated from the object.

It sounded so much better than the cold silence.

Then she heard a familiar voice calling out for her. “Emma.”

The girl blinked, astounded at who she saw in front of her. “M-Mamie?”

“Who else would it be?”

It was indeed her grandmother, sitting less than an arm's length from her. “M-Mamie, I thought you–”

“Poor child, aren't you thirsty?”

Emma nodded. “I am…”

“Come here then.”

She crawled over to the old woman. The gentle buzzing sound she had heard earlier was replaced by something else.

“Can you hear the river?”

Emma's eyes went wide. “I…can. Where is that sound coming from, Mamie?”

“Right here.”

Emma frowned. “That's just a flower, Mamie.”

“Just listen carefully, you'll hear the water in it.”

Emma leaned closer to the flower. She could hear the sound of the stream, clean and pure as a raindrop.

“Go on, quench your thirst. Take the flower, Emma.”

Emma did as she was told.

###

If he really managed to kill the wolf, Emma would be safe. By tomorrow morning she could find her way out of the forest. Maybe even meet Mamie on the road to Eisdel. So even if he dies, wouldn't it be worth it in the end?

He kept walking, following the direction in which the wolf had gone. Even if he didn't have much in the way of strength against a wild beast, he could still take the advantage by blindsiding the wolf. At least he could–

Grrrrrrrrrr…

Lyam froze at the sound of the growl. It came from right behind him. Seemed like the wolf had found him instead of the other way around. For a moment it almost didn't make sense. He was sure that the creature had been ahead of him. How did he come from the rear?

Staring it down, Lyam could tell it was no ordinary wolf. Its canine head wasn't even slightly similar to that of a dog. Half of its cranium had morphed into the shape of a silver dome. Its eyes and ears had disappeared inside it. And the lower part of its jaw now drooled a greyish tar. Its claws had also turned silver and curved downward to make that click-clacking sound when it stalked the stone ground.

No, there was nothing normal about this wolf. Mother nature had blessed it with something hideous and this is what was born from that gift.

Lyam clutched his makeshift dagger and stood his ground (at least as firmly as his injured leg would allow). He tried to appear strong but he was too weak and too stunned to actually make a move.

Then the beast charged at him. Lyam tried to sidestep in his half-dead state but the wolf moved in a blur and hit him straight in the chest with his stoney head.

Lyam felt the air leave his lungs as his back hit the forest floor. The wolf stood over him, its paw pressing down on his chest. Its silver claw dug into his flesh. Blood spewed as Lyam tried to whimper. But his voice had already left him along with his breath. His vision started to fade. And then his mind went completely blank. The next thing he saw was the wolf leaning closer and sinking its teeth into his jugular. There was more blood.

With his last shred of strength, Lyam raised the bone dagger and drove it into the wolf's side. It didn't even pierce through its flesh. The world wasn't just fading now. It was turning black.

The boy almost didn't feel the pain or even his slow death. He felt sad and broken as the wolf dug its teeth deeper into him.

I was stupid, Lyam thought, I was stupid to tell my friends to disperse. I was stupid to leave Emma alone. I was stupid to come to the forest at all. And now everyone is lost from everyone. All because of me.

The teeth tore away a chunk of flesh. There was more blood.

I don't want to leave them alone like this. I wish I could’ve been stronger. I want to be stronger. Please. Please…!

###

Lyam woke up in a bed that wasn't his and in a room he had never seen before. Instinctively his hand reached for his neck. He felt nothing but smooth, uninjured flesh. He gasped and sat up, eager to look down at his leg.

It was all healed.

His clothes still had the same torn patches and damage from the disasters he'd been through. But other than that, they looked completely clean. Even the ash and bloodstains were gone.

His eyes wandered over everything in the room. There was a small nook in the wall half-hidden by a curtain. Clothes were laid neatly folded on the shelves in the nook. There was a bookshelf against a wall on the right, a desk against a wall on the left. On top of the desk sat a quill and a bottle of ink. Several notebooks and also his slingshot and steel marbles. He looked out the window by the bed. Lush green grass covered the ground outside, bathed in sunlight and shaded by several tall trees.

This certainly wasn't heaven. It looked too regular to be a higher plane of existence. He was still in the forest, it seemed. But who even brought him here? Who saved him from the wolf?

And where's Emma?!

He was about to get out of bed and call out for the owner of the place when a woman appeared at the door. He didn't hear her arrive. And now that he thought of it, he wasn’t sure if he had even seen her coming. He looked up and she was just…there.

She had tawny brown skin and long black hair. She wore a loose linen shirt, leather breeches, leather boots and an amulet with a crimson ruby hung from her neck. Her green eyes were warm but also sharp like that of a hawk's and she smiled at him as if she had known him forever.

“You’re awake. Perfect timing!” She clapped her hands. “Hurry up and come with me. Your sister is about to explode. You should at least be there in her last moments.”

“What?!”