A Daughter of Silvaris

Chapter 6 - Run

“What is it, Mama?” Orion asked quietly, his hand finding hers, not completely oblivious to the tension I could feel fizzing in the air all around us, then.

“Hush, Orion,” Mama clipped. The females all listened intently, three sets of keen eyes darting through the trees all around them now, seeking the dark thing, hidden and unseen. The air chilled.

I looked too, scanning the dense undergrowth for any sign of what could have plunged this patch of paradise into a pit of pure tension. Sweat beading on my forehead with the effort of it, but I saw nothing except the same lush greenery, moss-barked trees, and boulders as before.

“We should head back, Luna,” said Volive as she took slow, calculated steps backwards towards us, her eyes never leaving a particular spot in the forest, a different one to Elizebett, that she had been staring at for those last few, tense minutes.

“Yes... Let’s go. Now.” Rhett’s mother sounded equally as tense as she examined that spot intently. Mama nodded and turned to me, her face pale, lips drained of all lustre. Her eyes met mine—they were filled with an unease that set the hairs of my arms standing on end with new vigour. Elizebett and Volive hadn’t moved an inch except to widen their stance and crouch slightly. Mama took Orion’s hand, I took Gretta’s, and together we slowly, cautiously retreated towards the opening back onto the trail, as though any sudden movement might ignite the tension crackling around us.

Back by my mother’s side, I let out a slow, near silent breath, not sure how long I’d been holding it whilst I’d strained my ears. Mama pointed with her chin towards the trail home, the smallest movement, but I understood. Mama and I stood side by side, each ushering our respective younglings along with us, as we stalked out of the wondrous, but now terribly eerie clearing. I hardly breathed during the first few steps, my heart thundered in my ears and it was all I could do to keep my knees from quaking, but as we reached the trail’s edge untouched, I relaxed slightly. Two birds chirruped overhead, breaking the deafening silence that had befallen us, and then it was as though the woodland seemed to breathe again, came back to life. I glanced at Mama, her face was still taut, but her shoulders relaxed a touch, her eyes fluttered as she took a few deep breaths.

“Come, children. Let’s go,” she said, tight-lipped, trying her best to sound cheerful again, but it was still strained. Forced.

I looked back to our guard and saw them take one last sweeping look at the now rejuvenated woodland and undergrowth, before their brows and shoulders finally relaxed. Volive’s face was still stern, but she gave a small nod to Beta Elizebett, who broke her fighting stance too. They both let out small sighs of relief and turned to follow us out.

Wild and savage snarls ripped through the clearing and from all around us. We spun back to the clearing in unison, Orion and Gretta screaming in terror as five massive wolves leapt from the forest in blurs of black and slate-grey. No, not wolves—lupen. We hadn’t seen them, hadn’t smelt them. The foreign lupen surrounded the clearing and edged towards us, heads down, teeth bared and eyes glowing with deadly intent. We could run down the trail—we had to run down the clear path and the way home. Why weren’t we running?

Volive and Beta Elizebett stood their ground and let out predatory snarls of their own, crouching back into a fighting stance, baring their now elongating teeth. They wouldn’t shift yet. Even the fastest of us took a half a second to shift fully, and a lot can happen to a defenceless body in that time. Our stalkers let out low, rumbling growls as they stepped forward. We stepped back—step for step.

Why weren’t we running?

As the children clutched at my shirt and Mama’s skirt, I realised. We would never outrun them. The guard had known it from the start. I couldn’t shift yet, Gretta and Orion certainly could not, and they would be and cumbersome to carry as they undoubtedly screamed and cried. Two wolves? Our guard could have killed them or at least held them off until help arrived. Three wolves? Maybe... There could have been a chance... But five, massive wolves who were now beginning to foam at the mouth? Not a chance.

“Luna, go. Take the children and run,” Volive spat out, her voice half human, half beast. Copper fur sprouted from her arms as her nails turned to claws—she was shifting as much as she could without leaving herself vulnerable, cutting that exposed half a second as far as she could before she would unleash herself.

Mama didn’t move. I could sense her fear, but also her loyalty, and her extreme sadness. They were her guard, but also her friends, and her heart was breaking with the knowledge she would need to leave them to fight alone. For she was no fighter, no warrior. She never had been.

Another prowling step forward, another retreating one back.

“Mari!” Elizebett roared over a shoulder, but she did not look away from the advancing, deadly intruders. She too was half shifted, crouching—ready for the imminent attack. These lupen did not want to talk, negotiate. None of them shifted to engage in discussion. They gave no indication of why they were here beyond the obvious. They were out for one thing—

A tear slid down Mama’s face as she looked at me, her brows knitted, lip trembling. “Run, Olena!” She half cried, half shouted. The lupen farthest right snarled wildly and launched towards me. I froze, my feet rooted to the ground like the ancient trees of these woods. My ears rang. Time slowed as death hurtled towards me—yellow fangs dripping with foamy saliva headed straight for my throat.

I could not turn. I could not run. I could not hide.

I only stood wide-eyed, frozen, as the gaping maw that would end my short life flew closer and closer—

Time returned as the teeth were tackled away by a blur of copper fur. Volive had shifted, and now grappled with my attacker—a mess of snapping teeth and ripping claws. My senses returned. Muffled sounds turned into cries—Orion’s, Gretta’s.

Mama was shrieking at me from a few feet down the trail, Gretta held to her hip by one arm, dragging Orion by his hand with her other. “Olena! Move!”

I gasped for air; I hadn’t been breathing in the moments before my death, and I ran after my mother as fast as my legs would take me. Elizebett shifted on the fly to intercept another attack aimed right at me. She took it by the neck and tore it to the ground. There was a yelp and the ripping of flesh. Another wolf crouched, and I didn’t wait any longer.

I turned from the ensuing c*****e, and I ran for my life.