Runaway Little Wolf

Chapter two

Hours went by, and still the sun had not come up. Just how late did the world think it was to have to sun rise. She felt exhausted since she left with only her dinner in her stomach and a few changes of clothes in a bag, she realised now she should have grabbed some money to barter her way, that's what the normal people do in their communities, bought things with money. 

Thick into the wood the moon could not help Carissa find her way through. It was dark and it had become increasingly difficult to stop the shivers from raising the hairs off her arms. She felt alone, she missed her home, but a brief memory of her husband to be flashed across her mind. Her nonna would have laughed at the thought of this marriage, but she was dead from old age,  and Carissa was  runaway.

"Maybe this was not such a good idea," Carissa mumbled to herself. Never in all her years would she say she wanted her mother, but at this very moment she wanted her more than anything. 

Stumbling on Carissa barely had the time to catch herself as she fumbled blindly in the dark tumbling down a hill of sorts. Rocks, trees, thorns. Many things stabbed into her arms and legs as she rolled down. How long had she been wandering on a cliff face without knowledge of it. 

A scream bubbled up in the back of her throat as she suddenly felt nothing but air greet her. All at once the air rushed from Carissa's lungs as she plunged face first into icy waters as black as the night itself. 

Her mouth opened eager for air only filled with the icy water that seemed to burn her throat as she swallowed. Using her dwindling strength Carissa pushed up with heavy arms. 

When she broke the surface Carissa panicked that she would lose her strength and slip back below the depths. She knew next time she would not be able to fight her way out. 

It was a few desperate moments later before her feet touched a pebbled surface under the water. Grabbing blindly Carissa hauled her dead weight onto the shore line of the water she was drowning in.

Taking in gulps of air Carissa rolled onto her side and coughed up water from her stomach. Overhead soft orange light broke from the heavens in a glorious mixture of colours. Dawn. She lay on the bank shivering as the sun crept above the trees.