Page 47 of The Shadow of Polaris

I started for the lakeside, confused and frantic. Maybe higher ground would give me a better vantage point to locate Arcturas. My ankle pricked against splintered fur as I continued to swim, pumping my legs as fast as my muscles would allow.

Before I realized what was happening, claws pierced the bony flesh of my foot. I was thrown into the air. The beast resurfaced, dangling me like a rag doll.

“Elpis!” Aryx called, flying to the water’s edge. His arrow was knocked and ready to fly. Before he could find his aim, the beast stretched his arm and hurled me into the air. I skimmed across the surface and crumpled onto the shoreline. The sheer force of the impact stole breath from my lungs. Aryx sprinted to my side, the point of his arrowhead never leaving the beast’s chest.

“Find Arcturas. She’s still in the water,” I wheezed, cradling my right side. Bullets of pain shot through my body and red stained the edges of my vision.

He dropped his bow and dove into the lake, paddling faster than a shark chasing its prey. My vision blurred. The pain was taking over.

I was dying. This was the slow sink into oblivion, I was sure of it.

My eyelids were heavy, too heavy. I fought to keep them open as I stabilized myself against the sandy ground. Roars of battle, both man and beast, echoed in the night air. Get up, Elpis. Get up, Polaris whispered in my ear.

“I can’t,” I cried, my voice a mere murmur in the moonlight.

Get up, Elpis. You need to get up.

I tried again, once more pushing against the sand. My elbows gave out under the crackle of agony on my ribcage. I’d broken a rib, maybe two. Maybe all of them. My abdomen felt swollen, too full of fluid that I prayed wasn’t blood.

She needs you. He needs you. Get up.

A wolf whined in the distance, yipping at the crunch of bone. My body fought against me with every attempt to move. Another whine, a man’s cry, two splashes.

I took a deep breath, focusing inwards. She needed me. He needed me, too.

The tingles were faint. I took another long inhale. One more time, lungs expanded, that’s it. As the tingles grew stronger, the pain subsided. Bubbling up from my toes, to my knees, to my chest. Shards of bone mended themselves back together, blood receded back into veins.

With fists clenched, I rose on shaky feet. Long strands of hair hung over my face as I straightened my spine and let my demons take over.

With dagger in hand, I stepped into the lake. Rather than toes touching the rocky bottom, they floated on the surface. With each step, the glow of the borealis rippled across the lake. Starlight fizzled out, leaving an unending stretch of night.

I charged for the beast, tearing into its flesh with my blade. A guttural scream escaped my lips as I sunk through its muscle tissue, straight into its bone.

Snap.

It flailed beneath me, but my grip was too strong to escape this time. Retracting the dagger, I dove on to its back, wrapping my thighs around its neck to block its airway. It flung me back and forth, blinded by the black night I created.

Squeezing my knees further together, I plunged the blade through its skull, piercing grey brain matter until the tip protruded from the beast’s opposite temple.

With one final jerk, it exhaled its last breath and sank into the disturbed water below.

A small, black mass of fur floated limply beside me, its thick tail rocking with the motion of the waves. Throwing my wolf over my shoulder, we made our way to shore.

A faint heartbeat knocked against my palm. She was alive. I placed her back on solid ground and smoothed back her ruffled fur. A tear streamed down my face, landing silently on the crown of her head.

“Elpis! Are you hurt?” Aryx sprinted from the shallows, his bow knocked and loaded for another attack.

“I don’t think so, but she is.” I stroked Arcturas’s head, watching as warmth returned to her fragile body. Her muscles twitched and contracted, as if healing their internal wounds.

She let out a soft grumble, stretching her mended legs.

“Shh, you’re safe. Don’t move now. You need to heal,” I whispered, running my palm down the length of her spine. She whimpered against my touch and opened an eye. The knot in my stomach unwinded as I watched life return to her body.

Aryx dropped his bow and rushed to embrace me, wrapping himself around my shaking body. The tingles receded with his touch, and twinkles of light returned to the sky.

“I’m sorry, Elpis. I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

The carcass of the creature lapped against the shore, still warm and steaming. Its silver blood muddied the surrounding waters.

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