Raven crashed through the woods, sticks cutting into her face as she clambered further up the hill, further away from Awan and the pursuing wolves.
She was able to pick up speed as her paws found the snow-covered, yet the still familiar path of the midden. She swerved to change to the hidden path leading to the old cabin, but no matter how hard she tried, her pawprints clearly exposed to her pursuers where she was going.
Raven jumped onto the log laying across the gushing stream below. A layer of ice broke away under her paws and disappeared into the depths.
Raven's paws slipped on the icy trunk. The water spraying up was unusually high and had coated the log in a layer of ice. She turned around, thinking she rather face the wolves than the frozen deathtrap.
Two of the wolves stood at the end of the log, barking and snapping their jowls.
Raven whimpered and slowly took a step closer to the other side of the log. Her legs shaking in fear and from the cold water that was damping her legs.
The group of wolves started to growl fighting over who should go after her.
Raven took another step and turn around to see the smallest of the four wolves climbing up after her.
Raven growled, trying to turn around and snap at the wolf, but she couldn't. She took a careful step forward, she had to get to the other side if she wanted to defend herself.
The wolf leaped at Raven, locking his jaws around her leg trying to pull her back.
Raven yelped and shook her leg causing the wolf's teeth to tear at her fur.
The wolf pulled back again-only harder this time- and he lost his balance.
His back legs slipped off the log and for a moment he dangled over the ledge, still gripped onto Raven's leg.
Then, he fell and he didn't let go.
She fell with him.
Raven gasped as her body went rigid, the freezing water soaked her fur. Her paws slapped at the surface as she held her head up, gasping for air.
She was being pulled down-stream, fast. She caught a glimpse of three wolves standing on the edge of the ravine, staring down into the water. She was swept back under.
Raven panicked, her paws lashed out, looking for something- anything - she could grip onto.
Her claws scraped at the bottom of the creek - if she could only stand up.
Her paw disrupted the rocks along the bottom, then she was whisked away again.
It felt like hours, her legs no longer ached as the water numbed them. The water tinted red from the blood seeping from the leg the wolf had gripped onto.
Raven cried out in gratitude to the Great Wolf when her knees skinned along the bottom of a shallow area and she was able to stumble out of the water.
She collapsed on the shore, she wasn't even strong enough to lift her head to see where she was.
She heard paws thumping in the snow. She didn't care to know who it was as blackness washed over her vision.
YOU ARE READING
Great Wolf Children Book one: New Beginnings
General FictionRaven was never fond of Fawna and her father being together, but she held no grudge against her younger half-sister when she was born. She'd do anything to protect her, but the wilderness doesn't discriminate on who lives and dies.
