Page 3 of Wolf's Whisper

Chapter 2. Howling in the night

The wolf was howling into the night and I could feel my own wolf stirring inside of me. It didn't matter if it was an animal or a wolf stuck inside a human, wolf was wolf and they were all my kin.

I ran into the dark night as I let my wolf guide me towards the cries of the wounded animal. She was like a compass that directed me straight towards his cries.

It was dark and the night was usually not my friend, but tonight it seemed like my wolf was helping me out and improving my eyesight.

I scanned the white landscape for any movement of the hurt wolf but also for any other predators that might roam this hillside. Pumas were very unlikely, but I didn't feel like running straight into the den of a black bear, even though they were supposed to be our allies. I was sure that would cost me greatly.

After running around in the winter night for almost half an hour, I finally saw a heap of fur lying next to a dead tree. I hastily ran towards it, my heart pounding from my chest as I prayed this was the wolf I was chasing.

It was.

He growled as I approached and it became clear he was distressed and in pain.I held up my hands as I slowed my breathing. I hoped if calmed myself, he would know I didn't form a threat.

His lips curled up in a snarl and he flattened his ears as I approached him.

"Calm, boy. I'm not here to hurt you," I whispered into the cold air, hoping that he would understand from my tone that I was trying to help him.

He bared his teeth at me once more but didn't seem to run away. I wondered why.

A glint caught my eye and I noticed the piece of metal clamped around his paw.

This time I was the one growling. Hunters. And not any kind of hunters, cowardly hunters.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Please stay still," I told the grey wolf, asking myself in how much trouble I could get.If he didn't understand I was trying to help, he would lunge at my neck and with his sharp teeth, rip out my throat. Instead of retrieving the Winter Stone, I would bleed out here, all alone in the middle of the Aladwin Forest, miles away from my hometown.

But if he did understand, I could help him out of the trap and maybe this would appeal to the Great Wolf so he'd guide me on my travels.

I threw another look at the grey wolf and the pearls of blood staining the white snow red and I knew that I needed to take this risk. This was one of my brothers and he was in pain.

"Please don't bite me. I'm here to help," I repeated again, slowly crouched down next to his hind legs. His ears had perked up, but his lips were still curled in a nasty snarl. He seemed ready to attack at any moment, but so far, he was keeping still.

I tugged on the metal clasp and as I felt the wolf stir, I quickly retracted my hand before his teeth found my wrist.

"Calm down!" I yelped as I felt my blood rush through my ears. "I know it hurts, I will be more careful. I'm sorry."

The wolf relaxed and his head fell down as he kept me under his watchful eye. I carefully extended my hand again and clicked the metal pin loose, contracting the beak and teeth of the metal contraption.

The grey wolf quickly pulled his leg out of the trap, a splatter of blood painting the white landscape. He howled in pain and tried to run away from me, but to no use. He jumped a couple of metres away from me, but as soon as he was out of my immediate range, he stopped to lick his wound.

I followed the beautiful beast, my hands out so I wouldn't spook him. "Steady, I'm not here to hurt you. Please let me help you. You're hurt."

The wolf jumped a couple of steps away from me, from the twitch in his right leg, I knew he wasn't going anywhere. I approached him and as he tried to run away, he sank through his legs and fell down on the cold snow. He was panting and his ears were flat on his head. He wasn't just in pain, he was scared.Scared of what I might do.

He must not realise I had a wolf inside of me, otherwise, he might realise I was an ally. If I could let him know I was one of his kind, he might be less reluctant to let me help him.

So I dug deep and channelled my wolf. She was already asleep, so I nudged her.

Yes? She answered and as she did, I could see the grey wolf tweak his ears. I didn't know if it was possible but he seemed to react to my wolf waking up.

I approached him again and this time, he didn't run away. Instead, he cautiously watched me from the corners of his eyes. He didn't snarl when I picked him up, so he must've understood something? He was quite heavy and pretty big, so most of his upper body was resting over my shoulder as I carried him to the camp.

Luckily, I could trace my footsteps back into the snow because I had blindly run into the forest without really paying attention to where I was going.

I felt the sweat pearl on my back as I heaved the wolf back to my camp. Once in a while, he yipped in pain, but most of the time, he seemed to be quite happy to be carried.

In my camp, I carefully placed him close to the fire so he could warm up and rummaged through my pack, wondering if I had some piece of cloth that I could miss.Most of the things I brought with me, I really needed, but I decided that the fabric holding my dried jerky together could probably be repurposed. I opened my water bottle, wetted the cloth and carefully tried to clean out the wolf's wounds. He whined in pain but didn't make any attempts to bite me, so I knew he had finally understood I was trying to help him.

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