Remnant of Power

Chapter Thirteen

Mal

Rooted to the spot, Mal's eyed widened as he stared at the massive wolf. What connection could there be between this beast, and the beloved dog who'd shared eighteen years of his life? The wolf was huge, almost as big as a horse, and the others were nearly as big - if any of them chose to attack him he wouldn't stand a chance. The gray wolf watched him, ears twitching.

"There's no time to explain now, son of man," he growled. "We need to search as widely as we can. I am Ragnar. This is Kelten, Yxmet and Torun. Quick, climb onto Torun's back and let's depart."

Mal's hands were clammy as he grabbed a handful of the black wolf's fur. There was a streak of blood on the animal's back; he suddenly realized the stray dog had disappeared, when the wolves had started to talk to him he'd forgotten all about it. But the blood reminded him. Had the wolves eaten it? Mal shivered.

As he lifted his leg to mount the wolf, the beast twitched and stretched his massive jaws wide open. Mal braced himself, his knuckles white. But the animal just yawned. Suddenly Torun leapt into a run, and Mal gripped onto him for dear life, bending over to grab more of his mane as the wolf's pace increased. Mal lurched from side to side as the wolf pounded along, and almost slipped off several times. He tried sitting up straighter and gripping more with his legs, but he didn't want to grip too hard. What if the wolf shook him off and pounced on him? He dug his hands into the animal's coarse fur wondering what on earth would happen next. He desperately wanted to look behind to see what the other wolves were doing, but he didn't dare to; partly for fear of losing his balance.

After a couple leagues the ground ahead of them rose towards a clump of dead trees. The wolves slackened off their pace as they climbed the slope, slowed even more as they entered the sparse cover and then stopped. Mal ahead him and released a thin breath. The cottages on the edge of Carthaven were visible through the trees. The village was in silence, villagers resting from their day's labor. Mal slid off Torun and leant against a tree, keen to put distance between himself and the huge beasts.

Mal swallowed and slid his hand down towards the sheath of his dagger as slowly as possible so the wolves wouldn't see. "What do you mean, you're here because of Yoldas?" his voice was low. "Where is he? What were you doing outside the city, and who are you? What's going on?"

Mal looked up at Ragnar, waiting for the wolf to reply. But the wolf said nothing. As Mal stared at him the air all surrounding the wolf started to shimmer. Mal frowned, confused, and as he watched, Ragnar slowly shrank in size. His coarse fur became softer, his legs became thinner and shorter. Finally, his snout altered slightly and became a dog's muzzle. In a few seconds, he had changed into the stray dog that led him out of the city. A rush of relief washed over Mal and he stepped forward.

"You're the dog!" he exhaled, reaching over to touch him.

"Yoldas is our brother, sons of men, and we are Talahund, the race of talking wolves, one of the Thirdkinds created by Esa after Dryads and men. We have the power to disguise ourselves as dogs when we need or choose to," said the dog. "You're probably too young to know that the King outlawed us when he took the throne.

"So Yoldas is a wolf like you?" Mal looked at each of them in turn.

The dog nodded. "Yoldas has been with you all this time to watch over you, Mal, and to keep you safe. You've had a narrow escape from the soldiers. Unfortunately, we think Yoldas wasn't so lucky. He was meant to bring you to meet us at a ford last night but he never turned up. That's why I came to look for you this morning Mal, to make sure you were still alright. We don't know where they've taken him – it could be they've imprisoned him in Gelenburg Castle." The dog scratched his ear with his back leg. "'Or it could be he that they're holding him somewhere here in the village or the woods. We need to look. If we don't find him here we need to work out a way of getting into the city and searching the castle and the prison." He twitched his ears. "But we can't risk you going back into the city, Mal."

Mal stood listening with his hands over his mouth, staring at the dog as he shimmered back to his wolf shape. Yoldas, his precious dog, taken prisoner. Why hadn't he looked for him last night? Why didn't he make sure he found him before he went to bed? How on earth would they get him back?

"Why was Yoldas watching over me? And why has the King got any interest in me? What's going on?"

Ragnar sighed, the soft edges of his muzzle flapping with the force of his breath, but Yxmet growled. "We're wasting too much time talking. We need to search the village. They could even be watching us now." He glanced at Mal. "Perhaps even with eyes that aren't human."

Reluctantly Mal climbed back onto Ragnar. The wolves started to run slowly through the trees. When they reached the road that ran through the village they spread out and ran around the houses, looking behind sheds and outhouses.

Mal gripped the wolf's coat, feeling dazed. Within a day his life had changed beyond belief into a shocking, jumbled confusion. There was only one thing that mattered to him, right now, and that was rescuing Yoldas. He didn't care what it took, somehow, he was going to find his dog and set him free.