Nike

Ch. 2

As the sun rises in the east, Terra, the young wolf pup, jumps onto Nike's head in excitement.

Nike, still exhausted from the day before, awakes to feel the young wolf pouncing on her head once again. "Wake up Nike! I want to go play."

The others, including the dragon, are still asleep, not even stirring at the loud voice.

Terra lifts herself to see Nike's eyes opening and pauses herself from hopping onto the human once more.

"Who's jumping on me? Just let me sleep." The blind human cries tiredly.

Terra gets mad at this though, "NO! You promised we'd get to play today! If I let you sleep any longer you won't have time to play with me anymore."

Lifting her body from the floor, Nike yawns, "Ok, ok. I'm up. What would you like to play?"

"Chase me Auntie!" The young wolf cries as she runs from the cave and into the forest.

The exhausted blind human follows purely based on the sound made by her niece. She runs into trees quite a few times, but doesn't complain or cry out. She just keeps chasing and playing.

When she notices the eerie quiet, her mind finally awakens fully and her magic naturally searches the area for her little niece.

Magic flows over the small pup crouching behind a tree watching the human with a wolfish grin on her face.

Just to tease her, Nike walks in the opposite direction calling, "Terra? Where are you? My magic is too low to search. Terra!" Her voice becomes more and more scared the longer she talks trying to convince the wolf she really can't sense her.

Right as Terra is about to reveal herself Nike 'falls' to the floor and grabs a glob of mud. The wolf rushes to her Aunt's side in fear, only to have mud shoved all over her face.

Nike laughs hysterically at the pup's misfortune. "Haha you fell for it." She teases.

"I'll get you for that Auntie. Just wait for it." A wolfish chuckle comes from Terra.

"We'll see!" she teases.

Soon Nike is running from Terra much more gracefully than when she woke up this morning. She swiftly avoids trees and leaps over roots and underbrush that coat the forest floor.

Laughs and giggles from the two girls fill the awakening nature.

Although to any other human the sounds would be random yips and barks of a wolf while a young girl holds a full conversation. Thankfully they were far from society and the closest place where humans could be was an old, often unused road that once went between two different countries.

"Nananana you can't catch me!" The witch taunts.

A small teasing growl comes from the pup, "Oh I'll catch you. Just you wait!"

The pair ran for almost three hours.

"Hey Nike, the sun is almost cresting, we should head back. The pack might think we've been taken or something." Terra speaks through her heavy breathing.

"But I was having so much fun!" Nike whines. "This is the first time I've been able to get out and run without a care in forever! They're always so scared of humans being near us.

"I know, but it's because they love you." She sighs sadly.

Nodding her head in agreement, Nike shouts, "Race you there," as she sprints back to her wolf pack.

Back at the cave the rest of the pack is just awakening.

Shadow doesn't even realize the two girls are missing from the cave as he walks to his mate licking her muzzle affectionately. "Darling, it's time to wake up. We have to leave today."

"Ok. I'm up." Aurora yawns as her eyes open.

Once he sees she is really waking up, he moves on to his daughter, "Breezy, wake up baby. We're moving on today."

Breezy places her paw on his muzzle pushing him away from her as she snuggles closer to her own mate. "Five more minutes Dad."

"No, we need to move on soon." Shadow replies, pushing his paw into her shoulder.

"Fine. I'll get the other two up, you wake up our visitor." Breezy replies. Rolling over onto her paws, she mimics her father's method in waking her mate before looking for her daughter. "Dad, have you seen Nike or Terra this morning? They aren't here."

"Noooo," He drags out in a confused voice. "Maybe they're just outside playing."

Shadow and Aurora walk to the edge of the cave searching for signs that the two are nearby, but the lack of sound and movement scares them.

The last time the pair disappeared they had been helping a human who tried to kill them right after Nike finished healing him.

All of the wolves are on high alert now. Soul, the best tracker, starts to search for a trail, but their scents have covered their entire cave.

"Darling, why are you searching inside the cave? You know they're outside." Breezy asks once she notices her mate hadn't scented outside the cave yet.

With drooping ears, the wolf whimpers, "Oh yeah." His whole demeanor is skittish and afraid, "Darling do you think they're hurt or are fighting someone?"

"They're ok Soul. Terra would have howled for us if something was wrong." His mate comforts him as she rubs her calming scent on her mate's fur.

"But what if the humans caught them by surprise?" Soul frets.

Breezy whispers in his ear, "Stop worrying. Nike may try to help a lot of humans but she knows the difference between a bad one and a good one. They're safe."

Along the way the missing duo passes next to the human road, but a loud cry and the clash of metals alerts Nike to the presence of other humans. Terra, knowing her Aunt's tendencies, immediately yanks her into the underbrush to hide out of sight from them and watch the scene.

The wolf pup's fear and adrenaline have skyrocketed after seeing the ten humans fighting two others that stand near horses tied to a tree.

If they're willing to fight each other as simple humans, then they will most certainly try to harm the magical being who's already been persecuted countless times by these unnecessarily violent humankind.

Her instincts are telling her to rush her Aunt away, but her brain wants to watch these fascinating creatures use these sharp sticks to attack each other.

The two being attacked are holding their own very well, but the moment one attacker backs off another is already swinging their stick at him.

Unfortunately for the protective wolf, one of the two defending shouts to his partner, "Noir! Run!"

Nike's head shoots up the second he speaks. "Oliver," she gasps. "Terra, call them."

The wolf refuses her though, "No, We can't get involved with these humans."

"Call them now." She demands angrily. "He is a good human, I've healed him before and he didn't try to hurt me after. We need to help him."

The stubborn wolf shakes her head no again. "I will not let you interfere in the affairs of men. Not with all their kind have done to you."

"TERRA! This is not open for discussion. Call them." Nike whisper shouts at the defiant pup.

She finally lifts her muzzle angrily and lets out a loud howl.

Not even five seconds later the howls of four other wolves came from the direction of the cave the pack had camped in. Then a loud roar from their dragon visitor follows.