Remnant of Power

Chapter Nine

Mal

Once Yavenna was out of sight, the stray dog ran up to Mal, barking and wagging its tail furiously. Mal shoved a hand through his hair. Did the dog want him to follow it? He shrugged his shoulders, he didn't have any better ideas.

The dog led him into the woods, but then the moon went back behind a cloud and it was almost impossible to see where he was going. The trees were alders and silver birches - thin and spindly, and very close together; the undergrowth was thick and prickly. Mal was tired and hungry. Why was he following a stray dog into a wood in the pitch black when he should be trying to find Yoldas and working out how to rescue Gared? He kicked a birch, angry with himself for wasting time. Just in case, by some amazing miracle, the stray dog knew where Yoldas was, he would follow it for five more minutes. Then he'd give up and turn back.

He struggled on.

A couple minutes further on, the dog stopped in a clearing. He sat down and looked back for Mal. Mal stepped out into the clearing and wearily walked up to the dog.

"Good dog." He absent-mindedly stroked the top of the animal's head. "So why did you want me to follow you then, dog? Do you know where Yoldas is?" The dog lay down.

Mal heard rustling in the trees around him. His skin prickled. There was someone there. His hands moved silently to his daggers, and gripped them. Every fibre of his body was alert, and listening. There were noises all around him. More than one person then. Or thing. Why had he wandered into a wood on his own in the middle of the night? He knew better than that. All his life his mother had told him stories of nightclaws and giant wolves and enormous lizards that slipped across the border from Tarhasta. He knew non-humans with magic powers were banned from Arvad, but that didn't mean there weren't any.

Shadows moved out of the trees and into the clearing. Huge shadows. He saw eyes. Heard breathing. His jaw tensed. A cloud blew away from the moon and the clearing was lit up. His belly contents nearly emptied out of his trousers.

Four enormous wolves surrounded him. Their backs stood as high as his chest. The biggest, a huge gray wolf, with cold, hard eyes, bared its teeth and started to pad towards him.

Mal forced himself to look at the wolves. He knew there was only one thing he could do – run. Stand and fight; a voice whispered in his head, but what was the point? It would be useless trying to fight them. There was no point trying to be brave when faced with wild animals. He was too young to die. Gritting his teeth, he tried to estimate if he had enough time to get back into the trees before the gray one could jump on him. It licked its lips.

With all the strength and speed he had, Mal spun round and leapt towards the trees. He pushed the spindly branches out of the way, ignoring the scratches and cuts. He jumped through the undergrowth, paying no attention to the thistles scratching his legs and the broken branches ripping his trousers. Why did he care about a few cuts? He was running for his life.

He didn't dare to waste time looking behind him, his only hope was to try to get back to the city. Because the wolves were so big, it would be difficult for them to run through the closely packed trees. If he could get through the wood first he stood a very slight chance of making it back to the city.

"Stop," Mal heard a low voice shout as he ran frenziedly on. Startled, he tried to look over his shoulder as he ran back, was there a man in the woods? He glanced behind him, then wished he hadn't. Two wolves were pushing through the thicket after him.

Feeling as though his lungs would burst, Mal put his whole strength into a surge of speed that propelled him forwards. He burst out from the trees - and his heart plummeted.

"No!" he yelled, in despair.

Tearing around each edge of the woodland, charging at a furious pace towards him, were the other two wolves.

Mal skidded to a halt. The wolves bounded up to him. Then stopped. Behind him he heard leaves rustling. It was probably the other two wolves. Mal waited for them to pounce. But they stood still.

Why hadn't the wolves started to attack? They didn't look like they were about to attack. But what else would they do?

Mal saw the gray wolf's eyes watching him. Its eyes were light brown. They were almost the same color as Yoldas's eyes. How strange. Mal had thought it unusual that his beloved dog had light brown eyes, all the other dogs he'd seen had dark brown eyes. Perhaps lots of animals had light brown eyes. What was the wolf waiting for? It wasn't even moving. Mal wanted to look behind to see what the other two beasts were doing, but he didn't dare take his eyes off the two in front.

Passing his tongue over lips cracked from thirst, he looked over his shoulder. He was right, the other two wolves were behind him, but they were standing motionless, staring at the two in front.

"Do not run from us," it was the same deep voice as before. Where was it coming from? The gray wolf's muzzle was moving.

Mal looked beyond the two wolves in front. There was no sign of any man. Or anyone else. There was only the wolves, staring at him. The wolf opened his mouth again, and Mal gaped, transfixed. Its mouth was moving like it was going to speak. There was no way a wolf could speak.

"We need to hurry," said a grave voice. Mal couldn't believe his eyes. The wolf's mouth was moving and words were coming from it. It was the wolf speaking!

The two wolves who had been behind him, padded round to stand by the gray wolf. A black wolf, who was an inch or two shorter than the others opened his mouth.

"I'm happy for him to ride on me."

The gray wolf nodded.

"Get on me, Mal," the black wolf paced up to Mal.

Mal looked on in amazement as the wolf called him by name. Not only was the creature speaking, but it actually knew his name. How could this be possible?

"Climb on me and hold onto my mane."

But Mal stood still, his hands folded across his chest. "What do you mean, climb on you?" tension made his voice harsh. "The only place I'm going is back to my village, now. This evening. I've got to find my dog, Yoldas. He disappeared last night. He's disappeared before, but this time I think something's happened to him." His eyes flickered to the other wolves. "And then I'm going to rescue someone from the King's prison."

The wolf leader turned and looked at Mal.

"Mal," he growled quietly, "you must stay with us. The reason we're here is because of Yoldas."