The Maiden's Moon

12

With his nose to the ground, Sterling pressed forward. He had scoured the pine the entire night searching for any trace of Rusalka's scent. Finding what he thought was a good lead, he had walked hours east. He had encountered several more traps obviously set by Heinrich, and thankfully he had avoided being snared in them. After being caught before, he was much more aware of the danger ahead of him. He limped with every step, a reminder of how dangerous Heinrich was. Sterling wasn't sure if Heinrich was even behind Rusalka's disappearance, but he did know the man hated him and had placed traps in the pine to capture him.

The smell of other wolves here and there concerned Sterling. Not for himself. He was confident his sheer size would scare away any other dominant males, being nearly twice the size and strength of a normal wolf. He feared only for Rusalka. If she were truly just lost, she would have walked either north to the mountain, which was always visible, or to the south to the lake to find Ovni. He worried the wolves would get to her, and often his eyes gazed up into the trees, thinking if they had attacked her, she would climb, but he never found a trace of her.

Exhaustion was setting in again, and he wanted to nap, but he pushed onward. His heart would not allow him to rest. He had encountered a search party, but he kept his distance. Ariston was amongst them. but even he was not the friendliest toward Sterling all the time. Though Sterling was very thankful that Rusalka's brother had come to his aid, freeing him from the trap, he was angry the men had given up and gone in the gate instead of staying in the weather. If Rusalka was out there, Sterling vowed he would remain out as well. She was worth it.

He put his nose to the ground and drew in a long breath. The smell of someone's leather was there, perhaps the search party? Not Heinrich's scent. Had he circled back on himself? One thing Sterling hadn't gotten when cursed by the witch was a keen sense of direction. Wolves in the pine knew where they were and marked their path by urinating on trees as they went. Sterling found it a very rudimentary way of navigation and never utilized it, but he was beginning to see the benefits. He silently scolded himself for not employing the tactic sooner and trotted to a tree that was already heavy with wolf scent.

The moment he hiked his leg to mark the tree, he heard a snarl and growl from somewhere behind him. He instantly lowered his leg as the hair on the back of his neck raised up. A cold chill went down his spine, and his tail stood straight out. Sterling squinted his eyes and looked around him. If there was one wolf, there would be more than one. He tried to puff out his chest and make himself look bigger, the bigger the better. He had tussled with wolves in the pine before and always come out on top, but he was exhausted and knew he couldn't let his guard down.

The snap of a twig to his right in front of him perked his ears. A large grey wolf stepped out from behind a tree and snarled at him; its lip raised up revealing a long daggerlike fang. Then movement to his left drew his eye. A smaller reddish wolf hunched down with forelegs spread wide and head held low. The wolves slowly advanced toward him, and Sterling could see a third wolf out the corner of his eye coming from behind him. The menacing beasts growled and crept ever closer. Sterling knew he would have no choice but to fight.

Three? There had to be three! He grumbled in his head. Animal-like instinct took over, and he lunged forward, his muzzle jabbing at the air as he roared out an intimidating sound. The red wolf took a step back and snarled more before looking to the grey wolf who was not intimidated at all by Sterling. He bared his own teeth and growled again at the grey wolf who was now only three human strides from Sterling.

The grey wolf pounced first, lashing out with teeth aimed at Sterling's neck. He dodged the attack and threw his shoulder into the chest of his opponent. The grey wolf yelped as it slammed into a tree and slumped to the ground. Sterling had no time to rest because the red wolf was instantly on top of him. The animal's forearms wrapped around his chest from behind, and he sunk his teeth into Sterling's neck. Sterling winced in pain and loudly yelped as he charged full speed toward the grey wolf. The red wolf's body was light, and he carried it easily.