I

Kate took a deep breath of mountain air and exhaled a puff of silvery mist. The cold stung her cheeks and the tip of her nose in the early morning. Fifteen yards ahead of her, the ferns at the base of a towering pine tree rustled quietly. She lifted her bow from her lap and hooked an arrow into the drawstring. The shaft of the arrow clicked against the bow as she placed it into the groove above her lead hand.

The fern leaves rustled again. She pulled the bow tight, the wooden handle creaking as the elastic pressure built. Licking her chapped lips, Kate rose up into a crouch and leaned forward on her knees, waiting. The carved bone arrowhead was poised just above her index finger.

The fern shook again. Kate exhaled, her breath smoking the air in front of her nose. There was a flash of grey fur and she released the arrow. A hollow smacking sound broke the stillness of the morning as the arrow shot straight through the rabbit and embedded into the soil.

“Gotcha,” she whispered. She stood up, slinging the bow over her shoulder and went to retrieve it. It was a good size. Enough to get her back home. She had been in the wood a long time already and would have to start back as soon as she could prepare the meat. The rabbit twitched as she placed her hand over it and pulled the arrow free. She whipped the sticky arrowhead in the dirt and lifted the dead rabbit by the scruffy fur around its neck.

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s get this over with.”

Over the course of the morning, she field dressed the rabbit with her favorite bone knife and prepared a small fire to cook the meat. Once the meat was portioned and skewered over the flames, she walked off into the wood towards the river with the bloody knife in hand. She washed the dried blood from her hands and scrubbed both the knife and the arrow she had used in the icy water.

She shivered, flinging water from her hands and wiped them over the front of her coat. The arrow, now clean and shimmering from the water, had a chipped tip. She grimaced at it and slid it back into her quiver. The knife, on the other hand, was still perfect. It gleamed pearly white. She had carved it from the antlers of a buck. The bone was strong, pliant, and held a sharp edge for a long time. She slid it back onto her belt and turned to head back to her camp when she heard the soft sound of a far-off voice.

“Over here! You smell that? Someone’s cooking breakfast!” the voice was gruff and his words were slurred in a way. It was somewhere downstream.

“Shit” she whispered, dropping to a crouch beside a group of bushes. Why had she started the fire this deep in the wood? Anyone could be out here!

“Keep your voice down, you idiot!” said a second voice. This one sounded higher pitched but definitely male.

She closed her eyes and listened intently, waiting to hear them coming. Her small camp was only twenty yards or so from the river, and they would follow their noses right to it.

Sure enough, a few moments later, she heard the crunching of boots over the forest floor coming nearer. They sounded clumsy and hesitant, as though they were trying to conceal their approach but doing a poor job at it.

“They’re gone!” said the higher pitched voice. “Let’s take a look around and see what we can find. There might be something good here, and then we will head back and check the traps.”

“Dammit,” Kate whispered, biting her lip. She never went anywhere in the wood without her knife and her bow and arrows with her. But the rest of her supplies were in the camp. She could hear them moving around, searching through her bag.

She pulled the bow from over her shoulder and notched an arrow, making sure to check the bone tip was not chipped or cracked. If she needed to use it, she wanted to make sure the arrowhead was solid and sharp. She crept back into the wood, stepping lightly over the soil and pine needles, holding the bow out in front of her. Soon she could see them moving about within the small clearing.

One was medium height, with greasy brown hair. He had a rat-like face with scraggly hair sprouting from his chin. His clothes were too big for him and covered with old patches, dried dirt, and red stains. He was crouched by her bag looking through her papers.

“Aiden, look at these. Looks like our friend here is making some sort of map.” He squinted at two pieces of paper and tried to arrange them in a way that made sense to him.

Kate pursed her lips as he scattered the papers left and right. She had spent hours organizing and charting those maps.

“Huh?” came a response from the middle of the clearing. Kate could not see the second man, Aiden, from her position. She carefully moved around the large pine tree concealing her and looked into the clearing again.

The second man, Aiden, was prodding the small fire with a stick. He was much larger than the first man. He too wore patched and stained clothes, but they fit him much better. His hair was short and cut sloppily as though he had done it himself without a reflection. Slung over his shoulder was a tangle of grey and white furs. “What do you think this is here, Kane?” said Aiden, pointing to the meat over the fire.

“It’s gotta be rabbit or something.” said the smaller man, Kane.

Kate watched the smaller rat-faced man, Kane, straighten up, stepping on some of the papers he had strewn over the dirt as he did so. Kate bit her lip, her fingers twitching at the arrow notched in the drawstring. She crept a little closer to a large fern bush and peered through the leaves at the pair of men.

“Look here,” said Kane, now standing beside the fire with his companion. Their backs were to her. “Whoever’s stuff this is, is mapping the valley. They must be from that place with the wall. Must be looking for a way out, cuz’ they know they can’t go any further east, and there’s no way they could get past us! Not since all the guys ran off.”

“You know I can’t read,” said Aiden, waving off the proffered charts with a big hand, and then prodding the rabbit meat with his finger.

“You don’t have to read it you idiot!” said Kane. “Look! They’re charts! There’s no words here!”

“Whatever,” said Aiden. “Just toss it on the fire. This is going out and the meat’s not done yet.”

“Stupid idiot…” said Kane under his breath, crumpling up the charts and tossing them down onto the flames.

Kate’s eyes fallowed the crumpled paper as it dropped into the flames and curled into black ash. She pulled the bow tight in anger and had half risen to her feet when she stopped herself. Two against one was a bad idea. And it looked like the big one, Aiden, would take more than just a couple of arrows before he went down. She gritted her teeth and watched as the two men went through the rest of her things.

They tossed aside her tools and continued to burn her carefully plotted maps to help the rabbit cook faster on a hotter flame.

“How far off is the last trap?” said Kane, now sitting by the fire and leaning back on his arms.

“It’s along the river up there. Not too far I think.”

“That’s what you said about the last one and we didn’t find it for hours! Couldn’t you mark the spots or something so we don’t have to guess where the stupid things are?”

“I’ll find it,” said Aiden, fiddling with one of the grey pelts in his lap. “And I think we’ll get lucky with this one. We had a good amount of bait there. I remember.”

“Whatever,” said Kane. “We have enough pelts, for now, I’d say, and we have breakfast here. That can hold us over for a while if the trap is empty.”

Kate’s knees were aching from crouching for so long. She was making up her mind to give up on the last of her supplies and deciding just to turn and go. She needed to get home soon. The days were only getting colder, and seeing these man had her thinking it was not safe to be so close to the edge of the valley. Savage men from the plains like Kane and Aiden would come up into the wood to hunt and trap and were known to have a taste for women that wandered the wood alone.

But her stomach was rumbling. Kane and Aiden were now portioning out her rabbit. She watched Aiden take a toothy bit of the brown flesh and chew slowly, savoring the flavor. She licked her lips, her stomach rumbling again. Kane and Aiden looked relaxed. They lounged on the dirt and talked easily, not in the slightest bit worried that any possible resident of the camp would walk in on them: or be watching them.

They were trapping something though: something that she could take for food. She still needed to eat. And they had taken her food. It only seemed fair. They were just sitting there. If she could sneak back towards the river, she could track her way west and look for their trap. And if it was full, she could take the spoils and head back home. Once she was safer, deep in the valley, she could start another fire and finally eat.

She took another second, watching Kane picking his teeth with a twig before she turned and headed for the river once more.

II

Kate could spot traces of human activity easily. She kept her eyes open for the usual things. People tended to flatten out the earth around them. The ground looked trodden and packed from camps, or continued traffic. Bushes would be parted in the middle from people walking through them instead of between them, small roots would be either pulled up or snapped from being trodden on whereas most animals simply stepped over them, and then, of course, there were boot prints.

She searched for a long time, all the while coming closer and closer to the end of the valley. She had never been this far west. The wood around her was thinning out considerably and soon she felt the river would turn back towards the peaks while her search carried her downhill towards the plains. The afternoon wore on and she had about given up when she finally spotted something.

About twenty paces off the river was the ghost of a campsite. She could still see the circular shape cut into the earth from the heavy foot traffic and the remains of a small fire pit was carelessly scattered around as though someone had kicked dirt over it before leaving. Kate looked around for a while and picked up a trail leading deeper into the wood. She carefully stepped away from the river, between a few scraggly bushes and made her way forward.

A few moment later, Kate crinkled her nose and had to stifle a groan as the sweet rancid smell of decay hit her. She covered her nose and mouth with the flap of her jacket and crept forward. Mingled with the normal sounds of the wood, she heard the buzzing of flies swarming nearby.

The trap had to be close, and whatever was in it must have died already. Kane and Aiden wouldn’t get much good meat by the smell of things. She rounded a thick pine and saw high above her head, the source of the smell and flies. Hooked to a rope and slung over the lowest of the branches was a pale white slab of meat. Kate grimaced at it, seeing flies crawling in and out of the shriveled folds of flesh. A string of fatty substance dangled beneath it like a long line of mucus.

“Yuck,” said Kate under her breathe. And then she heard a high pitched whimper. She jumped back in alarm. It had sounded like it was right in front of her. She peered around the pine tree and saw nothing at first, but then she saw a tangle of sticks, rope, dried leaves and pine needles at the base of the tree. They had all been used to cover a small pit right underneath the dangling meat.

The whimpering persisted and Kate moved forward to look down into the hole. Laying at the bottom was a juvenile wolf. Its fur was a light grey with white speckles. Standing just a few feet above it, Kate could still see the beautiful shade of blue in its eyes. The animal cried out in panic as it saw her and feebly kicked out with its paws as if to move away. But it couldn’t move. It had fallen on two thick wooden spikes left at the bottom of the pit. The whole bottom was lined with the sharpened branches. The first one had pierced the wolf right through the stomach. Red blood matted its grey fur. The second spike had gone right through a hind leg.

Kate just watched, feeling an overwhelming sense of pity stealing over her. The wolf could still move its head and its front paws twitched feebly. Kate pulled her bow from over her shoulder and hooked an arrow. She took aim at the wolf’s neck and pulled the bow tight.

The wolf howled halfheartedly. It was a choked, almost quiet sound. The arrowhead shook slightly above her lead hand as she continued to hold the bow drawn.

A sudden movement from across the pit caught her eye and Kate looked up to see a person staring at her.

Without thinking she shouted, “Stop!”

The boy had already stopped dead, caught halfway through a step. He took a tentative step back as Kate took aim at him.

“Don’t move!” Kate shouted, her voice mingling with the choked howls and yelps of the wolf lying in the pit between them.

The boy slowly raised his hands upward, showing his palms to her. He looked younger than Kane and Aiden, but he had the same wild look. His hair was matted and almost long enough to reach his shoulders. His face was mostly covered by dirty bangs and an uneven black beard. But his clothes looked better, she thought, looking him up and down. He looked to be dressed for warmer weather, as he wore nothing but his boots, pants, and shirt with sleeves rolled to his elbows.

“Are you with the others!” said Kate.

The boy didn’t answer.

“You are crazy to be trapping wolves! I’d leave if I was you. Before the pack picks up on your scent.”

Still no answer.

Kate’s arms were beginning to shake from holding the bow taught for so long. She stared at the boy, frantically trying to think what she should do.

Still holding his palms up to her, he took a step forward.

“Stop!” she shouted, taking a short step back.

He only hesitated for half a step before continuing.

Kate took a sharp breathe and fired. There was an elastic twang as the string flew forward.

The arrow shot into the soil right in front of the boy’s foot, catching him halfway through a step forward with his boot still in the air.

“The next one goes through your neck!” said Kate, pulling a second arrow from the quiver on her belt.

The boy put his foot down, looking at the arrow protruding from the dirt an inch away from his toes.

“If you are looking for the others, they are not here. I left them a ways east of here, deeper in the valley.” Kate was not sure what she was saying, or why. She should just shoot him and run. He would never be able to catch her, especially with the pit between them. And if he had an arrow sticking out of his chest... maybe not his chest. She didn’t want to kill anyone. Just one in his leg or arm, just to slow him down.

The boy was now peering down into the pit at the wolf, seemingly not paying attention to her.

“I am not alone out here!” she said, again not sure what she was saying. “There are others! Just behind me! They should be here any second.”

The boy continued to look into the pit. Kate glanced down as well. The wolf was motionless. Dead. For a moment she just stared at it, feeling again an unexplainable sting of sorrow for the animal.

The boy was moving back now. Kate felt her muscles tighten and she pulled her second arrow back even harder. He was just backing away slowly, watching her again. Kate began to shout for him to stop again but thought better of it.

Kate lowered her burning shoulders, at last, watching him retreat.

The boy lowered his palms as she lowered her bow. He began to turn his back to her just as something jumped out at him from behind a large tree trunk. It was Aiden, holding a heavy wooden club over his head. Kate pulled the bow back once more, watching as the boy was struck across the head and crumbled to the ground.

“I got him!” shouted Aiden, in a booming voice that echoed off the trees all around them.

There was a snapping sound behind her and Kate wheeled around, letting the drawn arrow fly.

There was a cracking sound as the arrow slammed into the trunk of a tree ten feet behind her. It had struck only a foot away from Kane, the rat-faced man from the clearing.

Kane stumbled back in surprise, tripping over a protruding root and falling over. Kate hesitated a beat and then ran.

She sprinted deeper into the wood, hearing Kane shouting swear words at the top of his lungs, and Aiden laughing.

IV

Kate sat atop a large boulder looking out at the golden carpet of grassy plains stretching out to the horizon a hundred feet below her. It was now late afternoon and she was at the end of the valley, exactly where she did not want to be. She needed to be heading back home in the opposite direction. Her stomach rumbled and she put her hand to it and tried to squeeze the feeling away. She groaned a lay back on the boulder. Besides for being really hard and sandy, the boulder was actually somewhat comfortable. It had basked in the sun all day and was now keeping her sore body nice and warm. She felt sleepy.

She wondered about the boy. She had immediately thought that he was with Kane and Aiden, but they had struck him down, just as they had tried to do to her. So that begged the question; where was he from? Obviously not from the valley. It was possible he was from the plain like Kane and Aiden, but something about that didn’t fit in her mind either. He had to be from somewhere else.

He looked to be dressed for warm weather. She tried to picture him again, closing her eyes. She could see his dark matted hair, his brown shirt, his small pack strapped to his back. He looked to have been traveling a while. Alone, presumably. Lightly equipped for ease of travel. And by the length of his hair and the overall state of him, he must have been traveling a long time. Maybe long enough the circumnavigate the mountains through the north? Max had always said that someone might be trying to reach them, just as they had been trying to find a way through the valley to Stonebrook for so long.

Kate sat up, leaned back on her arms and yawned. She watched the churning sea of grass far below her. It was a very nice view. The sun was beginning to go down over the horizon. She could already feel the breeze getting cooler as though in anticipation of the night. She needed to be heading back. She should be able to get passed Kane and Aiden during the night. And maybe get another look at the boy. If he was from some other place besides the plains, he was worth talking too. She had been mapping the valley for so long, trying to find a way out. He may have some useful knowledge.

She heard a wolf howling somewhere in the wood around her. It was almost gentle the way it echoed like a whisper, though it still gave her a small chill. She stood up, dusting off her pants and turned back towards the wood behind her. She took a deep breath and jumped off the boulder, landing softly in the dirt and headed back in the direction she had come.

V

She found Kane and Aiden a few hours later. They were back in her old camp settling down for the night. She had come back to see if she could salvage anything but it looked like they were not going anywhere. They were roasting wolf meat over the fire and the larger man, Aiden, was working on the fresh pelt.

The boy was tied up against a tree. The same tree she had crouched beneath waiting to kill a rabbit just that morning. Was it really the same day? she thought. He was out cold, dried blood trickling down his forehead into his scratchy beard.

“I don’t know, Kane.” Aiden was saying with a sigh. He stretched his arms over his head. “She’s probably halfway back to the wall by now. We should just get some sleep and tomorrow…”

“Shh!” said Kane. “Would you keep your voice down? I thought I heard something.”

“You said that last night as well, didn’t ya’?” said Aiden, not keeping his voice down. He smoothed out the speckled white and grey pelt in his lap and went back to work with his needle.

“Yeah, well…” Kane’s voice trailed off. “I still think she is coming back to find this one.” He jerked his head over to the boy tied to the tree.

“I don’t know…” said Aiden. “They didn’t look much like friends with her pointing an arrow at his face.”

“Well, I just have a feeling she will want another look at him. It’s not often a man comes walking around these woods that’s not with us. She’s probably thinking now’s a good time to… I don’t know… get a look.”

Aiden chuckled. “She’s long gone by now Kane.”

“Shut up, you idiot. Did you ever think she might come back to get some of her stuff?” said Kane, gesturing to the clearing around them.

“Whatever,” said Aiden, looking down at his pelts again. The pair of them fell back into silence.

Kane was sitting cross-legged and examining a long silver something in his lap, he turned it over and over in his hands, holding it closer to the fire to get a better look at it in the darkness.

“Would you stop that!” said Aiden, clenching handfuls of the pelt in his lap. “You keep shining the light in my eyes!”

“Sorry,” said Kane, although he did not stop turning the thing over and over in his hands. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”

“Let me have a look,” said Aiden, holding out a hand. “You still haven’t given me a chance to…”

“No,” said Kane, holding the shiny object closer to his chest. “Finish your pelts and maybe you can have a look later on.”

Aiden scowled, still eyeing the silver object.

“Where do you think a guy like him got something like this, eh?” said Aiden.

“Maybe those blue freaks from the north. They have metal weapons. I saw some of them two winters ago.”

“Yeah but not like this,” said Kane. He held the long object forward over the fire, and Kate got her first good look at it.

Kane was holding a long silver knife. The blade was about as long as his forearm and had a curved tip. The blade looked light and sharp, and it reflected long rays of light from the fire in every direction.

Kate squinted at it with interest. She, like Kane and Aiden, had never seen any metal tool like it before.

Kane put down the knife after a while and picked up a ragged pack sitting beside him.

“What is it with these people and reading?” said Kane, pulling out a square object from within the pack.

“Huh?” said Aiden, not looking up from his pelt.

“Look here. It’s filled with words and stuff. They must know each other. She’s making charts and graphs, and he reads all this junk.” Kane tossed the object over his shoulder into the center of the clearing.

Kate peered at the shabby looking book curiously.

A snuffling noise interrupted Kate’s thoughts as the boy slowly shook himself awake. His head was rocking back and forth and his noise flared in a pained grimace. Even from the shadows across the clearing, Kate could see his fingers flare and stretch as he tried to move his hands.

“Well, now look at this!” said Aiden, standing up. He walked toward the boy, his back now facing Kate.

“Wake up then, boy!” he said, kicking the boy’s feet.

Kate could no longer get a good view of him. Kane now crouched down on his haunches to be at eye level with the boy, blocking her view even more. She squinted at Aiden, who hadn’t moved, and was watching the exchange with interest.

“Where’d you get this, boy? Huh? How about it. You steel it?” Kane was brandishing the knife at the boy.

Kate stole another glance at Aiden, and then stood, reaching for a low hanging branch above her. She carefully pulled herself up the tree, leaves rustling lightly, all the while watching Aiden to see if he would turn and see her. He didn’t. He continued to stare blankly at Kane taunting the boy.

Kate found a perch higher up in the eves that was somewhat concealed, but if either of them looked straight up they would probably see her. She was not too worried about them. They didn’t look much like climbers and she still had her bow. But now she could see the boy clearly. He was looking up into Kane’s face. He did not look scared, or even confused by waking up in a strange situation. If anything, he looked calm. His jaw was set and he looked up into Kane’s face, the silver blade he had carried pointing into his neck.

“…not talking, huh?” Kane was saying. “You from the north boy? You with the savages with the blue painted faces? Is that where you got this?” He pressed the point harder against the boy’s throat and Kate saw a bead of scarlet blood pooling atop the silver blade.

“How about the valley? You come from behind the wall? We thought you all had run off! No?” Kane stood up, chuckling. “We’ll get you talking soon enough, boy. Maybe once that girl of yours turns up you’ll start talking.”

The two of them looked at each other for a moment. Kane wiped his nose with his thumb, and the boy just stared up at him with the same set expression. Then Kane turned away, switching the knife between hands. For a moment, Kane was facing directly at her and Kate’s heart leaped into her throat as she thought he might have looked right up at her.

But Kane spun on his heal and drove his fist down into the boy’s face. Kate heard the hollow smacking sound reverberated around the dark clearing. Kane laughed, shaking his hand out as the boy grunted and coughed in front of him.

Kate watched the boy grimace, slowly opening and closing his mouth, before looking back up at Kane. The boy spat sticky red saliva at Kane’s feet and glared at him.

“Leave him, Kane,” came Aiden’s voice. Kate saw him returning to his pelt, evidently, bored with the exchange. “Just get it over with and cut his throat.”

Kane held his fist with his second hand and backed away from the boy. “Tomorrow boy. I’ll let you have the night to think of something to say. But in the morning…” he chuckled and drew a line across his own throat with his thumb.

Kane held her view of the boy for a moment and as he stepped away she saw the boy’s face again. He was looking right at her. She froze, thinking that it could be a trick of the firelight that made his eyes look like they were zeroed in on her. She glanced at Kane as he sat down beside Aiden with his back to her and flared out his fingers over the fire.

Then she looked back at the boy. He was still watching her. His hair, already filthy, was now matted with dried blood on one side from the blow to the head early that day. And the fresh line of blood leaking down his neck from the place where Kane had stuck the blade, had begun to stain the collar of his shirt. Kate touched the spot on her own neck involuntarily. The boy spat more blood onto the dirt in front of him and finally looked away.

Kate looked back at the two men sitting by the fire. They had fallen into silence. Kane was now tearing up more pieces of her charts and maps and tossing them onto the fire. If the two of them slept, she might be able to make her way down to the boy and talk with him. Seeing how Kane and Aiden were treating him, made he certain that this boy was from Stonebrook. Or at least from some sort of settlement beyond the valley. If he know a way out of the valley, she needed him.

Aiden grunted loudly and tossed his wolf pelt onto a pile of similar pelts beside him and yawned. Kate yawned as well. She shook her head and settled back on her perch to wait.

VI

Kate’s patience did not last. Morning was well on its way and neither Kane nor Aiden settled back to sleep. The small bits of sky visible through the canopy above her were growing lighter now. The two men did not have a good line of sight to her position, or to the boy for that matter. They huddled close to the fire to fight off the cold. Finally, she decided that she had waited long enough.

Kate took a deep breath and slung the bow over her shoulder. Silently, she made her way down the tree. She stepped lightly down the branches, barely letting the leaves rustle until she perched on the lowest of the branches five feet above the ground. Holding her breath, she dropped onto the soil as softly as she could. Heart pounding she jumped against the trunk of the tree and listened for the sound of surprise or suspicion from the clearing behind her.

But nothing came. She let out the pent-up air in her lungs slowly and peered around the tree. Neither Kane nor Aiden had moved. The boy was watching her. His eyes seemed to rest on her waiting for her to catch his gaze.

She felt shaky as she approached the boy and was ready to run at a second’s notice. If either Kane or Aiden looked back they would see her immediately. It was going to take a while to get through the boy’s ropes. She reached down for his hands next to his feet and tried to pull them up. But he resisted. He was tapping his boot softly. She looked at him for a moment. His dark eyes were calm. She pulled the hem of his pants up to reveal the hilt of a small knife. She pulled it out quickly and he held out his wrists to be cut.

The knife was small, no longer than her thumb, but it was sharper than any metal she had ever seen. The ropes were cut loose in less than a minute. As soon as his hands were free, the boy took the knife from her with practiced hands and began on his feet.

She was just about to stand when a voice behind her screamed, “Gotcha!”

She felt a hand seize the bow slung over her back and yank. She screamed as she flew backward, pulled clean off her feet, and slammed into the cold earth. The wind was knocked out of her lungs and dirt was flying everywhere as the momentum of her fall sent her into a backward somersault.

As she rolled over she felt the arrows from her quiver sliding out and rolling away over the ground. Heart racing, head spinning, she struggled to get her footing. She spat dirt out of her mouth and looked around.

Kane was advancing on her, twirling the boy’s knife in his hand. His eyes were wide and his yellow teeth bared.

“Hey there, girly!” he shouted. “We thought you would come back for your boyfriend. Didn’t I say, Aiden?”

She pulled the bow over her head, seeing an arrow a few feet away from her. She dove for it, hitting the ground hard, her fingers closing around the thin wooden shaft. She spun onto her back, drawing the arrow as fast as she could, but Kane was right on top of her. Just before she could release the arrow, the knife came down in a brilliant flash of silver and cleaved through the bow handle just missing her fingers.

Tension disappeared from the drawstring and the arrow fell lamely onto her lap. Kane laughed, towering over her and looking at the knife in his hands. “I like this,” he said. “Never seen metal quite like it, wouldn’t you say so girly?” His yellowing eyes slid back down onto her again. He was smiling a manic, yellow-toothed smile.

“Now,” he said, tossing the knife into his second hand and taking another step closer to her. She immediately crawled back, palms scratching over the hard soil. “You are coming with us!” he said, pointing the knife at her. “I’m thinking winter will be much more comfortable with a pretty thing like you around to keep us warm!”

She was crawling backward as quickly as she could but he would grab her any second. She heard the sound of brawling behind Kane somewhere. Aiden and the boy must have been fighting. There were cries of pain, and cracks of twigs on the ground, but then everything seemed to go quiet in the wood and Kane stopped dead. It was like the trees themselves were holding their breath. The birds were not singing. The bugs were not humming. The wind was not whistling.

She continued to scoot away from Kane whose smile had disappeared. The grunting and shuffling of the two behind him had stopped as well. Kane’s eyes were wide and fixed on a point above her head. The terror in her heart did not cease, but she stopped scooting back, momentarily confused.

Then the wood came back to life with the sound of a rumbling growl. It was right behind her. She froze, every inch of her body stiff as a board. There was a deep, thunderous bark right above her head and she jumped so hard she could have left the ground. Kane was backing away now, the long knife held in front of him with both hands.

She felt hot breath on her neck and she closed her eyes tight, knowing any second teeth would sink into her skull and the world would be crushed around her in a beast’s powerful jaws. Her whole body was shaking now. The breath got closer. She thought she could feel whiskers against her cheeks. Eyes still shut tight, she felt something huge moving around her. Something heavy and warm and furry.

“Get back!” Kane yelled. She opened her eyes a fraction of an inch. A giant black wolf was crouched low in front of her, hackles up, teeth bared, and aimed right at Kane. The animal had strong limbs and fur so black it seemed to absorb the light around it like it walked in a constant shadow. Kane was backing away faster now as the beast moved forward with slow calculated steps, the muscles in its haunches flexing powerfully, ready to spring.

There were more wolves. Grey ones, and white ones. All different shades. All snarling and growling. Kane and Aiden at their center. The two men were now back to back turning round and round as the wolves closed in on them.

She watched, petrified. She could not bring herself to run. The black alpha barked again. She jumped, as the sound thundered through her. She could feel it reverberating in her chest. Then all of them were barking and snarling; snapping their jaws; closing in more and more. Circling their prey. Kane and Aiden both shared expressions of utter terror. She felt a fleeting stab of pity for them as they spun this way and that. And then the alpha pounced.

She shut her eye, but the image of black fur, claws, teeth and Kane’s face swathed in tears burned into her eyes as the sound of screaming, snarling, grinding, and yelping filled the wood.

She had covered her face with her hands and was still laying on the ground motionless. Her breaths were short and fast, and she felt hot tears falling down her cheeks. Then something seized her wrist and pulled. She screamed in terror and pulled away.

It was the boy, he was standing over her with a blazing look in his eyes. She wilted under his gaze, but he gave her no time to react more than that. He seized her wrist again and pulled her to her feet hard, and then they ran. She was leaping over rocks and logs and bushes, crossing small streams, climbing, and sliding down small ravines right on the boy’s heels.

It was a long while before the sounds of crunching bone, snarling wolves, and the deep, low growl of the alpha was swallowed by the normal steady breath of the wood. Birds singing, bugs humming, and water flowing. They had reached the river. Water was rushing east, crashing against large rocks and spraying cold mist into the air. The two of them came to a stop right by the water’s edge.

She fell to her knees immediately, clutching at her side and wheezing, trying to catch her breath.

The boy was a few feet away, hands on his knees doubled over, but still on his feet. They took a long while to catch their breath listening to the roaring water drowning out the rest of the world. But she could not rid herself of the picture of Kane’s face, nor the sound of the screams issuing from that clearing. The cold air took its hold again. While her cheeks and chest burned from the run, cold sweat on her forehead caught the wind and sent chills through her body.

She looked at the boy who was now looking all around, breathing hard, hands on his hips. She could see his warm breath on the air like a faint mist. His eyes found hers. They stared at each other for a moment. She didn’t know what to say. Thank you? You’re welcome? What happened?

“My names Kate!” she shouted over the sound of the river.

VII

He stared at her, hands on his hips, still catching his breath. But said nothing. Then he turned slowly on the spot examining their surroundings. She watched him take in the tall trees and the foaming river and the bank to the other side.

She squinted at him, feeling a little offended. She had just saved him after all, hadn’t she? Or had he saved her?

“Hey,” she said. He did not look at her. He was now brushing dirt off of his pants. “Hey!” she said again over the racket of the river. His eyes flicked over to her briefly, but he continued to look around. “What’s your name?”

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He was looking up at the grey sky now.

“Who are you?” she said. She had finally caught her breath. The boy continued looking around, rubbing his arms for warmth. She squinted at him. “Are you deaf or something?” she said, “Or mute?”

“No,” he said, and then he headed for the river.

Kate felt exasperated. “Who are you?” she said following his progress. He had stopped close to the water’s edge and was gazing downriver to a bend that swallowed the river in trees and rocks.

“Does this river flow east or west?” he said.

“What?” she said drawing up beside him. He glanced at her and stepped away, putting an extra arm’s length between them. His eyes were dark behind sharp eyebrows and a tangled mane of dark hair. Then he pointed downriver and said, “East or west?”

“East,” she said. “The river comes from the top of the mountains and heads down the valley toward Northanger.”

“Where?” he said.

“Northanger,” she said. “That’s where I am from.” But he had turned away and was headed downstream before she had finished. She hesitated a moment and then followed. She had to jog a little to catch up but fell into step beside him. “Are you from the plains? Like those two others?” she said.

He glanced at her but just kept walking. He walked much faster than she did, and she felt pressed just to keep up after only twenty yards. “Hello,” she said feeling even more annoyed. “Anything? Who are you?”

Still nothing. He just walked on, stepping over roots and fallen branches and large rocks.

“Are you from Stonebrook?” she said feeling a little excited. “How did you get over the mountains? Did you have to go all the way around the valley? All the way to the plains?”

He stopped suddenly, staring at her. “What?” said Kate, stopping a few feet ahead of him. His eyes were narrowed. He didn’t look angry, but Kate felt a sort of shiver run down her spine as he glared at her.

“What do you want?” he said after a moment.

She didn’t know how to answer. “Uh,” she said, feeling a little deflated under his gaze. “Well, I want to know who you are. And where you are from.”

“I’m from Burk. A place far west of here,” he said. “I had to cross the plains before I reached the mountains.”

Kate felt like a chunk of ice had fallen into her stomach. She took an involuntary step back from him.

“Why are you here?” she said, unable to hide the sharpness in her own voice.

He didn’t answer, but he looked confused by her reaction.

“Are there more of you?” she said.

“No,” said the boy.

“Why did you come here?” she said. He just watched her. “Stop that!” she shifted around uncomfortably under his heavy eyes.

He brushed by her and headed deeper into the wood, following the sounds of the river. After a moment’s hesitation, she followed him.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” she said.

“What?”

“What’s the rush?”

“Wolves can track prey for miles. I want to get out of here before they are hungry again.” He jumped over a log and continued on.

Kate followed suit and stumbled a bit. “Hold on a second,” she said breathlessly. “Wolves won’t come down this far into the valley. They stay up on the high ground for the most part.”

“How do you know that?” said the boy a few paces ahead.

“I know because I live in these woods. I know all about them.”

“I thought you said you live in Northanger.”

“I do, but…” she scowled. “I just mean I spend a lot of time out here. I’m a mapper.”

“A what?”

“A mapper. I make maps. I have been mapping the western valley for two years now. And I have never seen signs of wolves this far down the valley before, so would you slow down for just a second?”

Kate stopped and put her hands on her hips, breathing hard. The boy continued on, boots snapping twigs and crunching over dead leaves. A faint howl echoed through the air from up the valley behind them. She jumped a little and looked back. The wood was quiet again after a moment. Then she turned and ran to catch up to the boy.

VIII

“I can take you to Northanger,” said Kate. They had been walking a few hours now and the boy had finally slowed his pace. “It is not far from here. If we follow the river we can reach it in a few days.

“I am looking for a settlement to the east of the valley,” he said.

“That’s Stonebrook,” said Kate. “There is no way to get there. Not from the valley at least.”

“My map showed a route,” he said

“The old road is blocked,” said Kate. “We haven’t been able to reach Stonebrook for almost fifteen years. There used to be a pass at the end of the valley through the Boneyard, but we can’t get through anymore.”

“Why not?” the boy suddenly turned off to the right and headed away from the roaring river and into the wood.

“Uh,” said Kate, turning sharply to follow him. “Well, no one has been able to make it through. We are not sure why. It’s possible they just get lost, or that there are more people living there like the people from the plains. They might just kill you on site. Or worse.”

“Have you ever seen anyone?” said the boy, stopping at a somewhat clear patch of earth.

“I don’t know. No, I don’t think so,” said Kate, scowling at his back. “What are you doing?” The boy was digging a small hole with his foot, testing the soil and brushing pine needles and leaves away.

“It’s going to be cold tonight. We need a fire to stay warm and to keep away any wolves or animals.”

“Fire,” she said watching him crouch low and start to pile small twigs and needles into the little whole. “You think that’s a good idea?”

He didn’t answer.

“I usually sleep up in the trees. Smoke can lead people right to us out here in the wood.”

The boy stopped and looked up at her. “You sleep in the trees?”

“Yeah,” she said, “It keeps you out of the reach of most bugs and the occasional bear and keeps you safe from any other hunters or scouters from the plains.”

“How do you stop from falling out of the tree?” he said, squinting at her.

“I have a rope that ties around my sleeping mat and blankets to keep me steady.”

The boy raised his eyebrows at her.

“Well, I had a rope. All of my supplies are up at the top of the valley.” She shuffled her feet uncomfortably, kicking a little rock away from her foot.

“Since both you and I have lost our supplies, I say we take our chances with the fire.”

Kate felt uneasy as she watched the boy go about making the fire. He had no flint or metal of any kind besides his small knife and still managed to kindle a flame. He used nothing but long sturdy sticks, rubbing them together quickly to ignite a couple of pine needles.

An hour later they had both cleared most of the usable fuel from the clearing and piled it near the now crackling fire. The sun was dropping quickly as was the temperature. She could see her breath misting in front of her face and disappearing into the chilly night air. She had thick pants and a wool coat but still felt the sting of cold as night closed in.

The boy had no coat. Just his pants and a shirt with tattered sleeves rolled up to his elbows. She watched him silently poke at the fire with a long stick and gaze into the flames.

“Are you cold?” she said.

He did not answer her. After a long silence, he finally said softly, “The weather here is strange. Winter is coming much faster than I thought it would.”

Kate nodded. “Summer and winter blend together most years. Autumn last only a few weeks at most on this side of the mountains.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” she said watching the firelight dance in his eyes. “It has always been that way. We are expecting snow any day now. I should have returned to Northanger days ago, but… Well, you know.” She expected him to ask what had happened, but he didn’t.

“What is the weather like in the west?” she asked.

“Hot,” he said.

“Do you get snow in winter?” she said, wrapping her arms around her knees and pulling them up to her chest.

“No.”

“Well, we get a lot of snow. We have been preparing for winter for the last few months. Usually, the first snow is followed by the first big storm within a couple of weeks. The whole valley will be snowed in.”

They were both quiet for a time. The fire crackled away lazily and the wind brushed their faces. Kate pushed a small strand of hair behind her ear and looked at the dark wood around them. The fire cast long shadows over the trees nearest them, but the light could only stretch so far. Tree trunks disappeared into darkness over their heads as did the surrounding bushes and stumps lining the floor of the wood.

“How far to Northanger?” said the boy.

“I’m not sure,” said Kate. “I’m not exactly sure where we are right now. But if we follow to the river we should be there in a couple of days. Maybe sooner.” He didn’t respond. “There should be other mappers and hunters from Northanger looking for me,” she said. “Hopefully we will come across some of them soon.” Her stomach grumbled with hunger. Food had been far from her mind, but now the bright fire casting waves of heat over her face and body, the smell of burning pine, and the soft chirps and moans of the wood brought memories of roasts of elk, and bear, and rabbit stew.

She let her mind wander for a time thinking about home. They would get there soon enough. And they would get food. She looked up at the boy again, wondering if he was hungry as well. He was sitting up straight by the fire, looking west into the darkness. She turned around to look, thinking he had seen something, but all she saw behind them was a stretch of trees and bushes slowly disappearing into darkness.

She turned back and wrapped her arms around her knees again and watched him. He continued to stare for a long time.

“Why do you want to go to Stonebrook?” she said finally.

He didn’t answer for a while. She thought that he was not going to and had given up on further conversation when he finally tore his eyes away from the darkened wood and looked back into the heart of the fire.

“It’s where I am supposed to be,” he said.

“Why?” she said, brushing another strand of hair behind her ear. She waited again but this time he did not answer. Cold wind ruffled his long hair.

“Well you can’t get there from Northanger,” she said after a while. “I have been mapping the wood for two years looking for a pass through the mountains. The Boneyard is the only way and you will never make it through to Stonebrook alive.” Nothing. No answer.

“Are you really from the west?” she said. His eyes flicked up from the fire. He nodded at her softly. She felt a chill running down her back. “Are there more of you coming?”

He shook his head.

“Is it true what they say about people from the west?” said Kate, leaning forward a bit closer to the fire.

“I don’t know. What do they say?”

“Well,” she said, not quite sure where to start. “Well, I heard that there are men with metal faces. And that the people out there can bend metal with their bare hands. And I heard that they are cruel. That they kill people with smiles on their faces.”

A half smile touched the corner of his mouth as she finished. “How old are you?” he said in an amused sort of tone.

“What?” she said, taken aback. “Why? How old are you?”

He gave a short grunting laugh and said, “Well, I have never seen a man with a metal face, nor have I seen a man bend metal with his bare hands.”

“Then where did you get that knife there?” she said pointing to his ankle where the small knife rested. “And the big one that that man took from you?”

“I made them.”

“How?”

His eyes fell back to the fire and he remained silent.

She scowled at him. He was a strange looking thing. Most of his face was hidden behind a scratchy beard and long bangs. His lip was still swollen and a little bloodied from where Kane had hit him. His arms looked muscular but had shadows of old cuts and bruises all over them. Seeing him made her feel a lot of different things.

He was a little scary. The more she watched him though, the more she thought it was just that she didn’t know what to expect from him. This boy had an intimidating demeanor, but he showed no sign of wanting to cause her harm. He somehow made her feel comfortable with him. He was nothing like Kane and Aiden. She knew they wanted her for more than a couple of reasons as soon as they laid eyes on her. She shuddered.

But she was still uneasy about this boy. And if he was really from the west then he could be very dangerous. She would have to bring him to Max. He would know what to do.

“What about the last part?” she said quietly. “Do people from the west really enjoy killing other people? And stealing? I have heard horrible things. They say that men from the west burned our woods. And homes. And crops. They say that they killed most of our people and took the rest into the wood and that they were never seen again.”

He didn’t answer. She followed his gaze and looked down into the fire. The flames seemed to lick her eyes with heat.

“They say that you can still hear the screams of little boys and girls who were taken into the woods out here. You can hear them calling for their mothers and fathers. And you can hear those men from the west laughing.” Her voice tapered off.

“Have you ever heard them?” said the boy.

“No,” said Kate softly.

IX

Kate roused slowly the next day. The cold was biting at her fingers and toes. She ached from sleeping on the ground. When she eventually opened her eyes, she saw that the fire had gone out. And she was alone.

She sat up slowly, checking the clearing. There were no signs of the boy at all, except for a small pile of dead grass and pine needles that he had used as a sort of bed the night before. She stood slowly and listened to the whispers of the wood. She could hear the river flowing somewhere off to her left. Birds were calling to one another, their songs echoing off the towering trees above.

There was a cold wind blowing in from the east. Every day seemed to be getting colder.

She rubbed her arms trying to catch some warmth and waited. She still wasn’t sure whether the boy had left her or had just walked off and would return. The fire was still smoking so it must have gone out recently. He can’t have been gone long.

She heard a loud snap from behind her and wheeled around. But there was nothing there. Just more trees, and bushes and rocks. Her eyes scanned everything within sight searching for movement as the normal quiet breath of the wood took over again.

Without her bow, Kate felt exposed and almost defenseless. The wood had always given off a mysterious and oddly ominous aura, but she had never felt it pressing against her quite like this. She felt claustrophobic all of a sudden.

She did one more turn around the clearing, hoping more than anything to see the boy had returned, or that maybe she had somehow missed him sleeping next to the fire. But there was still nothing.

Arms still folded over her chest she headed off towards the sounds of the river. She moved carefully, trying to make a little sound as possible.

She had never tread so lightly before but, without her bow, she felt vulnerable. After walking only a minute or so she saw a crouched figure by the edge of the water examining something in the dirt. It was the boy.

“Hey!” said Kate, forgetting about her attempts to be as quiet as possible. Her voice cracked through the silent wood as effectively as whatever had snapped in the clearing earlier. But the boy didn’t even flinch. As she hurried over to him, he just sat there examining whatever it was in his hands.

“Hey,” said Kate coming to a stop next to him and panting a little. “What the hell! Were you just going to leave me back there? I thought…”

But he just held up his open palm for her. In it, he cradled a dirty scrap of sharp metal. She took it impatiently and looked it over. It looked like steel or something. No way to be sure. It had scraggy edges and was bent at an almost perfect ninety-degree angle down the middle.

“Yeah, cool,” she said tossing it over her shoulder. The boy’s eyes followed its arch through the air to the ground a few feet away. “The wood is full of scrap. We have tons of it.”

The boy frowned at her as he straightened up and brushed soil from his hands. She put her hands on her hips and said, “Well?”

“What?” said the boy.

“You were going to leave me, weren’t you!” she said. “Neither of us has any weapons or supplies, so we stand a better chance if we stay together you know. And you don’t even know how to get to Northanger from here. And even if you did know, they wouldn’t let you in without me so...” she fanned her hands out as if that put an end to it.

“I haven’t left you,” he said, turning his attention back to the ground. “I was just checking some things.”

Kate felt a twinge of annoyance as he circled around looking down into the dirt. “Checking what?” she said, but before she had finished he was already crouching down again and pointing to something a foot in front of him.

She took a few steps over to him and crouched low beside him. He was pointing at a large clawed paw print. Kate stared at it for a moment, feeling a strange tugging in her stomach. It was too big to be one of the wolves. It had five long pointed claws that had punched little holes in the dirt as it walked along and the imprint itself was fairly deep. Whatever it was, was heavy.

“I think this was circling us last night.” said the boy calmly, as if the fact that a giant clawed beast stalking them was not at all frightening.

“What do you think it is?” said Kate, shuffling a little closer to him.

“I don’t know. Maybe a bear. Looks big though.” he said, standing up. “You said we could reach Northanger in a couple of days?”

“Maybe,” said Kate standing up as well. “We are still pretty far off, but it’s mostly downhill from here and we just need to follow the river.”

Without another word, the boy turned and walked away. Kate felt another twinge of annoyance in her stomach and followed.

“You shouldn’t have left me there,” said Kate a few minutes later. She stepped over a couple of large rocks and hopped down causing dust to plum around her feet.

“I didn’t.” said the boy, stepping down from the same rock behind her gently. The walk was getting more and more rocky and demanding.

“Yes you did,” she said over her shoulder. “What if I hadn’t woken up? Would you have just set off?”

“You were alone for less than five minutes,” he said.

“That doesn’t matter!” she said, brushing past a large bush with red berries blooming. “What matters is that I was alone. And so were you.”

“I thought you said you lived in these woods.” said the boy from behind her.

“So,” she said shrugging.

“So what’s the problem? You were doing fine without me.”

She wheeled around, fire burning in her cheeks. “That’s not the point,”

The boy walked right past her sniffing a few red berries in his hand.

“Hey,” she said, “Don’t eat those! They’re poison!”

He put one in his mouth and chewed slowly, not breaking his stride. Kate stared wide-eyed, feeling her cheeks burning hotter still. “Are you even listening to me?” She hurried after him.

He spit out a small seed and licked his lips before dumping the rest into his mouth as she came up beside him.

“Are you crazy?”

“No,” he said, spitting out another seed. “These are not poison. You should eat some.”

“No!” she said, as he spit out a couple more seeds. “How do you know they are not poisoned?”

“I read about it,” he said.

Kate scoffed. “You read about it? Where?”

“In a book,” he said

She glared at him. “Funny,”

He said nothing.

“You can read?” said Kate, tripping slightly over a small root because her attention was on the boy’s face. He nodded, looking straight ahead still.

“Where did you learn to read?” she said, still in disbelief.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes it matters,” she said, sidestepping a large root. “Who taught you how to read?

“I don’t think it matters.”

“Why won’t you tell me? Because you can’t really read can you!” she said sneering at him. But he was unfazed.

“Whatever you say,” he said.

Kate stared at him, feeling annoyance churning in her stomach. “Whatever,” she said and walked faster leaving him behind.

They walked for a long time in silence. Nothing but the birds the wind and the river permeating the still wood. Every once in a while they stopped in sunny spots by the river to drink and try to warm up under the sun. It was still cold no matter what they did because of the chilly winds sweeping around the tree trunks and rustling through the bushes.

Kate’s stomach grumbled more and more, especially when they stopped for water. She would drink, only to feel a sort of empty pain in her stomach as it complained for solid food. The boy continued to eat the red berries throughout the day. Every time she saw him eating them or spitting out seeds turned up her nose and ignored him, while her stomach grumbled in agony.

At the times when they stopped for rest or water, Kate noticed that the boy was always looking back. At first, she thought that he was just looking around, but after watching him for a couple of hours she realized he only ever looked backward.

She sat on a large rock in the sun rubbing her aching feet, and the boy stood a few feet away on higher ground looking up river. Looking back.

She looked over her shoulder, but there was nothing but the woods back there.

X

They made a small camp that night just as they had before. Kate walked around a small clearing collecting good timber and kindling as the boy set about making fire. As night closed in, cold swept over them. Kate sat with her back to a large boulder facing the fire. She wrapped her arms around herself as tight as she could and shivered away.

She had never been in the wood so long and so late in the year. And without her supplies at that. Nothing to keep warm but the clothes on her back, and nothing to defend herself with but her bone knife resting on her belt. And maybe a big stick if she could get one.

The wood breathed heavier at night. At least, Kate felt that way. The songbirds were replaced by hooting owls and the soft breeze sweeping over the leaves was replaced by a low howling wind that pushed against the canopy.

She looked over at the boy who sat quite still by the fire, looking back out into the dark wood behind them. Kate thought he must be absolutely freezing. She had much thicker clothes than he did and her teeth were chattering.

As though on cue, he looked over at her and stood up, brushing his hands on his thighs. He walked over to her slowly and offered his hand. She looked at it, eyebrows raised and feeling confused, but eventually took it.

He pulled her to her feet and placed her closer to the fire before setting to work. She watched him, arms still folded, shivering by the fire. He pulled dead leaves and pine needles and bits of grass and small twigs together and formed a small sort of nest beside her close to the fire.

When he was done there was a good-sized pile lying on the ground between them. He whipped his hands together examining his work and she waited.

Without looking up at her he said, “Don’t lean against that rock over there. It will suck all the heat out of your body. So will the ground if you lie on it.” He adjusted a few of the leaves and pine needles in the pile. “This should be a good buffer between you and the ground. It will help trap the heat from your body and keep it close.”

Kate frowned, watching him fiddle with the nest. He crouched down and glanced up at her. “If you lie down this way you should get the most heat from the fire.” He made a line through the air with his hand indicating the direction she should sleep. “The wind is blowing south by south-east pretty consistently so you shouldn’t have to worry about any sparks lighting this on fire or any smoke hitting your face.” He straightened up again and put his hands on his hips examining his handy work.

“Where did you learn all of this?” said Kate, at last, raising her hands to her lips and blowing warm air over her icy fingers.

He watched misty air pour out from between her fingers and he frowned. “Don’t do that. Keep your hands on your chest and they will stay warm. All of your body heat is in your chest.” he said.

Kate waited for him to answer the question. He eventually looked at her directly and gave a small half smile. “Does it matter where I learned it?”

“No,” she said shaking her head slightly.

“I read about it,” he said, and then he turned away stepping around the fire and sat back in his own spot across from her. Kate lay down gingerly on the small nest he had created and rolled on her side to face the fire. She felt a great deal warmer but not as comfortable as she had been with the rock supporting her. She placed her hands on her chest and settled in as best she could, letting the firelight wash over her. The boy sat very still now, warm firelight streaking through his eyes. She watched him quietly for a time.

Who is this boy? She thought. What was his name? She wanted to ask him again but thought he would not answer. Her stomach continued to grumble painfully but the warmth was sinking in now and her eyes were growing heavy. She felt herself drifting quietly to sleep.

XI

Kate woke the next morning feeling much less sore than she had the night before. The fire was still crackling away beside her, and an early blue sky streaked with pink clouds shone through the canopy of trees far above. She slowly pushed up off of the ground and looked around. The boy was gone. Again.

She scowled but did not feel a sudden panic like she had the morning before. This time she just looked around with a twinge of annoyance tugging at her stomach. A feeling that she was growing accustomed with this boy.

There were no signs showing where he had gone, but there was a large pile of red berries placed next to where she lay. He stomach rumbled pleadingly at the site of the berries but she scowled at them. After a few moments, however, her rumbling stomach won her over and she reached out and grabbed one. She glanced around the clearing and sniffed it. The berry smelled a little sour but not ominous in any way.

She sighed down at it, looked around one last time, and popped the berry in her mouth. It was actually very sweet. She chewed gently knowing that there would be a pit at the center, but she still managed to almost crack a tooth. She winced and spat out the seed. Then she grabbed a handful of the berries and dropped them in her mouth, scooting around to get more comfortable and close to the fire.

After the berries where gone, she stood shakily and stretched. She still felt hungry but at least she had something. She sidled around the clearing for a minute or so, looking out into the surrounding wood for signs of the boy.

Kate reached the far end of the clearing and listened to the river fifty yards off and decided to head that way. She stepped over a log and was about to continue on when something caught her eye.

She whipped her hands on her pants and crouched low to the ground. There was another clawed imprint pressed into the ground. She had only taken a few paces out of the clearing when she found it. She shuddered a little looking at the five long claws that left little gouges in the earth.

She let her eyes wander and found another one a few feet away. Then another. And another. She followed the clawed tracks in a circle around the small camp that they had made the night before. The tracks wound back and forth in long loping strides. The claws would drag through the dirt leaving long scratches in rows.

Kate found a particularly clear track and knelt down by it again. She placed her hand in it, her fingers pressing into the soft, cold earth. Her entire hand fit easily within the imprint. Another chill ran down her spine as she looked at her tiny fingers next to the clawed prints that were as wide as her thumb and long as her middle finger.

She heard a light rustling sound from nearby and her heart pumped a little fast for a moment but she knew what it must be. The boy emerged into the clearing from off to the right, holding a number of scrap metal pieces.

Kate stood up and walked over to him. He sat down by the fire and began examining what he had found. Kate sat next to him a picked up one of the scrap pieces he had placed in the pile next to him.

It was a long hollow tube. One end was bent shut and the other was not perfectly rounded but still in good shape. She brushed away the dirt that covered one side. It looked like it had been half buried for a long time; half stained black with dirt, the other a bright silver color from sun exposure.

“You know, we have a lot of stuff like this in Northanger. And better things too,” said Kate, looking at the boy beside her. He was picking dirt out of a bent piece of metal with his fingernail. “We used to collect all sorts of stuff like this, but we don’t have much use for it. Now we only look for heavy stuff. Thick stuff. Sometimes we find large pegs and rods buried in the ground. We use them for plowing. And carving sometimes.”

He picked up another piece from the pile between them and began clearing it as well. Kate looked back down at the piece in her hands. It looked pretty useless to her. Nobody knew what to do with scrap like this in Northanger. They collected it in hopes some use would eventually come from them or maybe that someone could eventually teach them to make tools or weapons.

“What do you plan on doing with this stuff?” she said glancing at him again.

The boy shrugged. “Not sure.”

“Hm,” said Kate and she sighed. Not a person of many words. This boy didn’t seem to like talking all that much. He didn’t even look at her all that much either. She felt that he almost ignored her for the most part. But sometimes she would catch him watching her. His eyes would dart away every time this happened. But even when he spoke to her, his eyes were elsewhere like he had better things to focus on.

“Did you see the tracks?” said Kate, placing the small cylinder back on the pile between them. The boy nodded silently. “What do you think it is?” she said.

“I think I got a look at him last night. But I don’t know how to name him,” he said. “I have seen animals like him before, but he’s pretty big.”

Kate shuddered. “You saw it? What was it doing?”

“Breathing.” said the boy. “And watching.”

“It got really close,” she said softly.

“He wouldn’t come close to the fire.” said the boy. “He stayed far enough away to stay out of the light.” He was holding a rather large flat piece of metal with a jagged edge up to his face, examining the edges. Then he stood up and walked over to the boulder Kate had been leaning against the night before and sifted through a couple of small rock, finally grabbing one the size of a closed fist.

Kate watched him move about the clearing searching for sticks until he finally returned with two long, thick branches. He placed one down next to his small store of scrap metal and stood with the second one.

“Was it a bear?” said Kate, as he knelt down beside her again.

He shook his head, holding the second branch vertically and placed the flat jagged metal piece on the end of it. Then he used the rock as a sort of hammer and began to wedge the metal piece down the branch, splitting it long ways.

“But you said before that it might be a bear by the way the tracks looked,” said Kate, listening to the high pitched tapping as the rock clashed with the metal over and over.

“Too big.” said the boy.

Kate watched him, her brow furrowed. She was pretty sure it had to be a bear. Nothing else lived in the wood that could make a track like that. She did think it was strange that a bear would be out during the night though.

The boy worked quickly, splitting the stick about five inches before turning the metal wedge ninety degrees at the top and starting the process over again. When he finished, the stick had been split five or six inches down from the top leaving four prongs splayed out.

He pushed thick twigs down split edges so that they stuck out horizontally like little spikes. He repeated all of these things with the second branch.

The whole process took about thirty minutes. Kate just watched him work silently. She fed the fire and huddled up to keep warm. The sun was up fully now but the day seemed to be getting colder.

When he was done, the boy pulled his small knife from his boot and walked over to the closest pine and began cutting away a small section of bark. Kate watched his back for a few minutes as he hacked away until he returned holding a large piece of bark covered with a shiny substance. She looked at it questioningly as he knelt down close to her again, picking up one of the branches.

“This is resin,” he said. “It burns for a long time.” He used a twig to push the sap down the split end of the branch, covering the twigs he had wedged inside the split end.

“Burns?” said Kate.

The boy nodded. “It’s going to be dark today,” he said. He got more resin and filled the second branch. The whole process took about an hour but soon enough he was holding two sticks about as long as his arm with split ends at the top and with twigs, moss, and tree sap wedged in them. Kate stood up, brushing her hands against her thighs and watched him frown at his handy work examining them closely.

“Here,” he said holding one out to her. She took it with one hand and watched him put the spiky end of his into the fire. She followed suit and soon the end of her stick was burning brightly. The makeshift torches held a decent flame and popped and crackled gently as the sap burned.

Kate marveled at the make-shift torch. “How long will these burn?” she said watching the dancing flames at the end of her stick.

“An hour. Maybe two,” he said. “We will have to keep refilling them with resin and more twigs and pine needle and moss.” He kicked dirt over their small fire pit and stomped out the last of the flames. Kate felt the wood become much colder as the last light from their fire went out. The wind had a much stronger bite all of a sudden.

She shivered, wrapping her free hand around herself, and followed the boy who had already begun to head out into the wood. The temperature was dropping fast. It could just be that they had left the shelter of their little clearing, but Kate definitely felt that the air was growing colder. She could see her breath in front of her face again.

The boy showed no signs of being cold. Kate followed a few feet behind him and watched him closely. How did he know all this stuff? How long had he been out here in the wilderness on his own? she thought.

She glanced up at the sky above them and saw grey clouds rolling in. He had been right. The day was going to be dark. And cold.

XII

The flames licking the end of Kate’s torch would bend backward and sputter lamely before dancing back to life with every gut of wind.

The wood was dark. The sky above was turning darker and darker with every passing hour. Kate was having trouble keeping track of time. Between the early darkness, and the constant stopping and going, refilling their torches with tree sap and twigs, and checking the river: Kate was not entirely sure whether or not they had walked the wood clear into the night.

She was fairly certain however that this boy was not going to stop any time soon. She was cold, and hungry, and tired, and sore. Her feet ached. Her legs ached. Her back ached. But he just kept going.

“Hey!” said Kate finally, coming to a stop on a particular rocky uphill climb. She was surprised how quiet her voice sounded over the whirling winds.

“Hey!” she called again, louder this time. The boy, a few yards above her on the incline stopped and looked down at her the firelight from his torch flashing unevenly over his face.

“Maybe we should stop and find shelter,” she said. “It’s only getting darker out here. And colder. You have got to be freezing!”

He just shook his head and turned back uphill and began to walk again, stepping up and over the rocks.

She felt the boiling frustration in her stomach again watching his back and then she looked back down the rocky hill in the direction they had come. They were higher up than she had anticipated. The wood was dark. The tree trunks blurred together and the river that they were supposed to be following was nowhere in sight. She squinted, holding her torch out in front of her, but as hard as she strained her eyes, she could not see the and movement of water off to their left. Neither could she hear the water over the woeful howls of the wind.

Kate glanced up the hill again. The boy was gone. Her eyes quickly scanned the top but she knew his fiery torch would have caught her eye. The frustration boiled even stronger in her stomach. She set off more quickly now to catch up, her feet stinging and knees buckling with every step over the rocks and soil on the hill.

She reached the top breathing heavily and held out her torch looking left and right. The wood was still dark. Trees swayed in the wind with a dark backdrop of greying sky behind them. The bushes rustled as wind rushed through them. Small eddies appeared in the dust. But no fire. She couldn’t see him. She looked left and right, waving her torch through the air. She even looked back down the hill once, but the boy was gone.

A slight panic was building in her. She felt it squeezing like a small lump in her throat. Her heart was beating faster but she fought to keep calm.

After all, she thought, I’ve been alone in the woods plenty of times. Kate walked forward. The wood had leveled off. There was a small kind of crest that led straight ahead with a gradual slope down to the left towards where she knew the river lay. There were more rocks a bushes here and thinner trees with pointy branches. She surveyed the area with slow deliberate focus.

Nothing about this place looked familiar to her. But they should have been much closer to Northanger by now, in a much more familiar part of the wood. She felt her feet moving faster as she looked back and forth, stumbling a little over protruding roots and small rocks.

It was getting very dark now. Her torch was still burning strong but with another surge of panic, she thought that when it burned out she might not be able to see at all. She had an urge to call out, but she didn’t know the boy’s name. How do I still not know his name? she thought.

She bit her lip, thinking hard. He couldn’t have gotten far. She had only lost sight of him for a moment. She turned around in the direction she had come. If she stayed there then he might come back looking for here. She had only taken a few steps back, however, when she realized with horror that she was going the wrong way.

So which way was the right way? She spun around, her torch singing through the air, panic sinking heavily into her stomach now. She felt her lungs burning as she breathed in the cold air and sent out smoky mist like some sort of winter dragon.

In her panic, she slipped on what could have been a dried leaf or pile of pine needles and fell sideways. She hit the ground hard and the torch fell out of her hand. She saw the firelight spinning away into the darkness and then disappear only a foot away from her hand.

It had gone out! She had nothing to light her way! Nothing to help the boy find her! She scrambled to her hands and knees and crawled forward, fingers clawing over the dirt looking for the torch. But there was a faint light in front of her. She moved another foot forward. She was kneeling next to a drop off in the rocky landscape. Her torch had landed fifteen feet below her and was still burning casting an arch of light in the small little cut out in the earth.

And twenty yards away from that, she saw a second torch bobbing through the darkness. The boy was waving his torch left and right, searching for her.

“Hey!” Hey, over here!” she said, waving her arms over her head. Her voice echoed off the walls below her with a hollow sort of ring. She was afraid he would not hear her, but the boy turned holding his torch high. He saw her. He must have seen her. She saw his dark figure hurrying towards her, the fire like a beacon casting large rays of light over the shadowed trees and rocks.

Kate stood and looked around squinting in the darkness, looking for a way down. It looked like there could be a rocky path off to her left. She glanced back down at the boy before heading towards it and saw that he was now sprinting at full speed. The torch flinging long eerie shadows over the wood as it waved along in his hand.

Kate felt a little panic for some reason, as she stood there motionless, but she didn’t know exactly why she felt it. And then she heard a loud grunting snarl from behind her. Kate jumped, grabbing hold of the tree beside her as she spun around.

At first, she only saw the dark wood and heard something heaving crashing through the underbrush towards her and then, out of the churning leaves and vines of the bushes emerged a giant mass of fur and claws.

The bear stumbled a little, hot air snorting out of its nostrils like steam, drool dripping down its bared teeth. The monster’s black eyes were locked onto her. Kate couldn’t move. She was squeezed against the tree trunk, locking eyes with the beast before her, completely paralyzed and heart pounding harder in her ears than it ever had before. She couldn’t move.

The bear roared, lines on drool flying out with the torrent of icy breath. The claws dug into the soil pushing hard and it stood on its hind legs rearing up ten feet tall. Towering over her, it roared again, white teeth shining through the darkness. And then it crashed back down onto all fours with a force that shook the ground and even the tree Kate was holding onto for dear life.

The bear charged at her, claws flinging dirt in every direction, fur flying in the wind, and the crashing sound of twigs and branches under its massive girth muffled by the snorting breathing and growling shook the air.

And then fire appeared out of nowhere. The boy was between them, torch burning brightly through the darkened wood, and he was running at the bear. Kate felt her stomach flipping and jolting over and over, her heart pounding even harder as light washed over the animal’s brown fur and glinted in its black eyes. The boy took the torch with both hands over his head and just before the bear could reach him with its powerful claw, he slammed the fiery end right into its face.

Sparks and embers flew in every direction throwing strange star-like lights all over the wood. The bear stumbled sideways bits of wood and burning embers lodged in its face.

The boy was knocked off his feet in the collision and lay a few feet away from the monster, which recovered faster than Kate would have thought possible for something so massive. The bear was on its feet again, shaking its head roughly, grunting and snarling at the boy before he could even get up on one elbow. The bear charged him.

Kate saw a flash of silver in the boy’s hand in the dying firelight as the bear landed on top of him.

And then Kate was running at them. She didn’t remember letting go of the tree and she didn’t remember thinking about what she was doing but she ran as fast as she could, lowered her shoulder and rammed into the neck of the bear as hard as she could.

For a moment she was lost in a tangle of hot sweaty fur, and she fell sideways. Claws tore at her side and she screamed in pain.

Then she was on the dirt rolling away as fast as she could. She landed somewhere on all fours and snapped her neck up expecting to see the bear charging once again, but its back was facing her. She and the boy had sort of traded places with the bear between them. She could see his white face behind his dark matted hair as he scooted back towards her tree and the drop-off, and the bear shook its head once again and bellowed in anger at him. It charged once more.

The boy didn’t even have time to get to his feet before the bear was on him, and the pair of them fell over the side of the small drop and disappeared.

Kate leaped to her feet and sprinted to the edge. Below her torch was still burning, throwing flickering light over the scene. The massive heap of fur that was the bear was farther away lying face down in the dirt, one arm protruding from underneath it at a disturbing angle. It wasn’t moving.

The boy was lying on his back, closer to the wall of the pit. His hands were on his side but she couldn’t tell if he was moving. But she could see his breath on the air above his head.

Kate ran down the small path on the left side of the little cliff and ran around the bear watching it closely for any signs of movement. But it stayed quite still.

She slid to a stop next to the boy, dirt flying in every direction and tried to take in what she was seeing. She grabbed the torch, still burning fairly strong and stuck the end hard into the dirt beside the boy’s head, casting warm yellow light directly over the pair them.

The boy grunted and winced in pain, his eyes shut tight and teeth bared.

“Shit, oh shit,” said Kate her hands covering her mouth and biting her lip as she saw what had happened. “Shit!”

The boy had fallen right on top of a long metal rod about an inch thick. It had punctured his side right below his ribs, and blood was pouring out of it. Both of his shaking hands were drenched with blood and were slipping and sliding over the metal rod sticking out of his side.

“Shit!” said Kate again, clasping her hands over her forehead as the boy began to howl in pain. “Okay, okay, okay,” she said, looking from the piece of metal sticking out of his side to his face, and then back.

“It’s gonna be okay, it’s gonna be okay, it’s...” but she knew it couldn’t be okay. She couldn’t help him out here. He would bleed out in minutes. Maybe less.

She grabbed handfuls of his shirt with both hands and pulled up, hard. The boy screamed even louder, his scarlet hands doubling their grip on the metal rod.

“Hey!” she said, pointing a finger in his face and surprising even herself with the force in her own voice. The boy’s eyes were still tight shut, but she continued, “We have to get you off of this thing or you are going to bleed out. Got it?”

She thought she saw him nod through all of the jerking and twitching and wincing. She gripped his shirt again and got into a crouch position so she could push off with her feet. She glanced at the metal rod sticking three inches out of his side and then looked him in the face again. He was watching her now, breathing hard through his nose. “You ready?” she said, her voice shaking a little this time. “Hold onto me,” she said.

He lifted his hands off of the bloodstained rod and slapped his slippery hands onto her wrists and gripped hard. She winced as his vice-like fingers took hold and she pulled as hard as she could, pushing off the ground with her feet.

He bellowed into the night as she lifted him off of the spike, his bloodied hands slipping over her forearms and they fell backward. He landed on top of her and rolled over onto his back again. She stood up quickly to take a look at him. He was writhing in the dirt, blood still seeping out between his fingers over the hole in his side.

She quickly ripped off her overcoat, the cold air stinging her skin under the thin shirt she was wearing beneath the wool coat. Then she slid the coat underneath him folding it as best she could so it only covered the hole on the back side and absorbed the blood, and then she used the sleeves to tie a knot over the hole on the top side.

As she pulled the sleeves tight over the wound, the boy screamed louder than he had yet and his whole body tensed and pulled away from her, but his hands pressed the knot deeper into the bloodied hole. Kate’s arms were now covered in blood and her face with cold sweat that caught every small gust of wind from the wood chilling her entire body.

Her teeth chattered as she doubled knotted the sleeves on the top side. The boy was wheezing heavily now. The sound was a horrible, gurgling sound from the back of his throat. He lay as still as he could, holding fast to the knot at his side, breathing in and out through clenched teeth.

Kate stood up and looked around desperately. The metal rod stuck up from the ground and gleamed red in the flickering light from the torch beside it. It could almost be a stick or a root.

A loud moaning snort erupted from the massive mound of fur five feet away from her and steamy air shot out from the bear's open maw. Kate’s heart leaped and she shot back against the wall of the little cliff behind her. The boy lay still beside her now, eyes closed.

The bear moved slowly, groaning at the dark wood, moving its limbs with shaking effort. It slowly turned towards the two of them, nose twitching, smelling the cold air. It saw her and snarled, a low growl emanating from deep in its chest.

Warm tears were forming in Kate’s eyes and her fingernails dug into the limestone behind her. The bear took a wobbly step towards her and then fell forwards yelping. Its eyes were closed. Kate let out a long heavy breath and listened to the animal snort and yelp moving its head slowly from side to side.

Its breathing was labored. Kate peered at it and felt a surge of hope bursting into her heart. The animal’s fur was dirty and bloody. There were cuts and tears in its limbs and she could see small broken sticks protruding from its skin in some places like its neck and shoulders.

It looked like it had been badly injured before they had seen it. It must have been limping around for hours. The animal's breathing slowed and its movements died. Kate watched its eyes close and the bear’s last breath exhaled heavily out in the cold air in a torrent of mist.

All of a sudden the wood returned to its normal breath. The wind, the rustling, and the quiet pressing against the eardrums.

She waited a few moments before she walked forward to the dead animal. She gently reached over its neck and gripped a small stick that had its end snapped off, sticking out if its fur and pulled.

In her hand, she held the end of a broken arrow. The white arrowhead shone red and dripped blood onto the dirt. She immediately recognized the craftsmanship of the carved arrowhead as being from Northanger. This bear was being hunted. Kate laughed out loud holding the broken arrow in her hand. They were going to make it! She looked down at the boy lying in the dirt.

“Hey,” she said kneeling down next to him. She shook his shoulder gently and leaned in close over him. His eyes fluttered open. “Hey,” she said softly. “We are going to make it,” she said unable to stop from smiling. Her heart was still racing and she somehow felt almost giddy with excitement. They had made it! The arrow was still clutched in her hands.

The hunters would be tacking this bear, waiting for it to die so they could bring it back to Northanger. They would not risk losing such a big kill in a snowstorm. They would track it all night if they had to, especially since the first storm was so close. They could be on their way right now! she thought.

The boy coughed, and Kate saw blood on his lips. He grimaced in pain, bearing his blood-stained teeth. Hot tears ran down Kate’s face, but she fought to keep smiling. She squeezed his shoulder gently and thought that in a twisted sort of way the bear might have saved them. They could have gotten lost. And there is no way that either she or he would have survived the first snow without supplies. Let alone the first storm. This bear would get them home. But maybe not both of them.

She squeezed his shoulder gently again and his eyes open shakily. Firelight was still dancing away in his eyes. He had very blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes. She had not noticed before because she had never been this close to him. She placed her fingers on his cheek.

“What’s your name?” Kate whispered. She felt a hot tear run down the end of her nose and it dropped onto his face. The boy blinked and his lips moved. She leaned in closer trying to hear him, but she couldn’t understand. His breath misted on the air between them, and then his eyes closed.

Kate leaned back a little, feeling the icy cold wood against her bare arms and neck. They needed to hurry.

A small white fleck carried on the wind landed on the boy’s chin. She looked at it for a moment and then looked up. Little white flecks of snow had begun to fall through the dark canopy far above.