WINTERFANG

But death never came. The wolf opened his eyes and lifted his head, and saw another figure standing between him and the elf, the figure was hooded, he had a sword drawn and pointed at the elf, while the elf's arrow was now pointed at the stranger. The wolf heard them communicating with each other, not understanding the language they were speaking, but understanding the stance of the figures, he concluded that the hooded figure was trying to protect him. Just then the wolf sensed another figure, and as he looked to his right, he saw a female human, approaching him, he again bared his teeth, and growled softly, again trying to stand up, and get away, the wolf, very week now by the loss of blood, fell once again to the red snow surrounding him, staining his white fur even further.

The female approached the wolf with much care, she certainly knew how dangerous a wounded animal could be, especially one as advance in age as this one, she kept making comforting sounds to the wolf, trying to sooth him.

 Sensing no immediate danger from the female, the wolf whimpered as he lowered his head into the snow. He closed his eyes, allowing the female close enough to inspect the wound.

As the female approached the wolf she saw that the arrow was deep, it was a shot meant to kill, not wound, this wolf got lucky she thought to herself, she shouted some commands to some of the other humans, curiously, yet reluctantly gathered around the wolf.  The wolf opened his eyes once again to see what was happening around him, and he saw that the once hooded stranger was now standing facing him, the elf was long gone. The hunter kneeled at the wolf's head, gently stroking the fur on his face, the urge to bite something welled up in the wolf, but he simply had no strength left in him to fight.

The female gave the male human some kind of liquid, and gave him some instruction, and he carefully pried open the wolf's muscular jaw, he poured down the hot liquid down the wolf's throat, burning all the way down, the wolf tried to stand up, and the liquid was vile and strange to his tongue. It took about six men to hold down the thrashing wolf, as the female begun cutting out the deadly arrow. Pain once again shot through the wolf's body, and this time it proved too much for the wolf to take, and the dark claws of unconsciousness claimed him.

 CHAPTER 2

It was warm, that was the first thing the wolf noticed as he slowly regained consciousness, and opened his eyes. As the darkness cleared from his eyes, the wolf took in his surrounding, in the middle of what looked like large tent like structure a yellow fire was burning away; the tent had a very earthy feel to it. Warm and cozy, it brought back memories of his home in the northern forest.  He gave a rather loud yawn, and as he tried to stretch where he laid, pain once again shot through his body. Strong memories of the previous day's events flooded back to the wolf. He looked at the spot where the arrow pierced his leg, it was bandaged now. Suddenly another presence alerted the wolf, and as he looked at the place where the noise came from, he saw the female who tended to his wound the previous day; she had just entered the tent. Slowly the wolf tried to stand up, careful not to put too much pressure on his wounded leg. 

The female human heard a slight noise, and as she turned around she saw that the wolf was finally awake, she saw that he was trying to stand up, but at this point it seemed like a lot of effort for the wolf. She slowly approached him, holding two large bowls in her hands, careful not to alert the wolf unnecessarily, but he had already spotted her it would seem. The wolf was beautiful, the female human thought to herself, she noticed that his fur was almost as white as the snow, his eyes was piercingly blue, like he could see right into her soul, as she stared into his eyes, she laid the two bowls, one containing some raw meat, and the other fresh mountain water in front of the wolf. 

He stared intensely at the female, in all his years, he has not come across such kindness, especially not from humans, usually when humans see wolves, they usually make one of two choices, run, or kill, and usually they killed.  The smell of raw meat trailed to the wolf, and then the wolf remembered his hunger; he sniffed the air a few times. Showing the female no hostility, the wolf lied back down again. The female had put down the two bowls in front of him.