Chapter 93: Wolf Challenges
Maddie
I crawled as best I could, moving away from where they were, watching the council men go in every direction. Perhaps the forest and everything that had happened to me had masked my human scent. If I thought before that the forest and its challenges would be my end, I hadn't considered that werewolves would appear, as always, at the worst possible moment.
When I reached the small hill, I was horrified to see that they were already there, searching and surely following a trail.
"How can I outrun them?" I thought. "They are wolves trained in the forest since birth, and I was lucky enough to escape from some villains the night before. In fact, I considered it an incredible achievement. But now this hunt had begun, and everyone thought I was at a disadvantage... even I."
This was no ritual, as everyone in Moonvalley might have thought. The goal was simply to finish me off, and the pack as well, though maybe they hadn't realized that.
Do my mates know what´s really happening? Something inside me told me yes, that they wouldn't fall for this trap, that they would have doubts, and above all that they already knew who the real evil was: the Council, Irina, and unfortunately Logan.
"It looks like she's been here before."
"We have to keep going, she can't be far."
"I still don't understand how that stupid human girl survived!" the angry werewolves sniffing around me as I nearly crawled through the trees and bushes.
I figured the best thing to do was to go up a tree and wait for them to leave. From there I prayed that they wouldn't climb the hill and discover my hiding place, although I watched in horror as one of them stayed out there as if waiting for me to return. I thought about how my backpack and most important belongings were inside; the only thing I had here been the knife.
"Don't fall into their hands, don't fall into their hands," I kept repeating to myself. And as night fell, I felt tired and overwhelmed; I wished I could sleep and rest, but maybe life in the wild world was just that: always on guard. So there I was, eyes wide open, knife in hand, waiting for any sign of danger.
Hours passed, and perhaps sleep and exhaustion overcame me. At one point, I felt myself nodding off, and the knife fell from my hand to the floor.
"No, no! This can't be happening," I panicked. My heart was pounding in my chest. If I had a slight advantage, this was it, and now I had lost it. "Stupid, Maddie!" I scolded myself. As I prepared to climb down from the tree as quietly as possible, it was as if they were waiting for just that: a small movement, a slight change in the surroundings.
"I smell her!"
"She's near!" they growled, and I ran as fast as I could without grabbing the knife, which was a few feet away.
"I see her, run!" they shouted, and I ran, maybe not thinking it through, but I ran like my life depended on it, through bushes, jumping over fallen logs, puddles, and rocks I couldn't see very well where I was going, but that didn't stop me.
I heard frantic growls; I could feel their satisfaction in the air, knowing that not only had they found me, but that in their minds my fate was already sealed.
"Run away as fast as you can, you're stronger than you think," my mate had told me, and I remembered those words, praying they were true.
Suddenly I stumbled, realizing that I had almost fallen into what appeared to be a hunting trap: a large, hollow pit of dirt into which I would fall and, if the fall didn't kill me, the agonizing wait until they found me would.
When the wolf came at me, I just moved, and he falls into the trap with a howl. There would be more, that was for sure, but at least I had dealt with one. I got up and ran; the thought crossed my mind that I had survived all this, and maybe I was faster now.
I wondered if it had something to do with that strange ceremony where my mates had mixed their blood with mine. It had helped me recover when I was attacked by the night wolves. Maybe I wasn't just a simple human, even if I wasn't a wolf like them.
"Over there, go after her!" I heard shouts, and suddenly a terrible growl silenced the entire forest. I saw the shadow of what seemed to be a huge beast. It didn't move as fast as the other wolves, but it was like a giant wolf, standing on two legs and roaring terribly.
"Let the Beast finish her!" they shouted, and I thought that was the end of me.
I began to run frantically, and if I thought I was running fast and with all my strength before, I proved to myself that I could run even faster and better. I could feel the beast running beside me, behind me, like a wolf catching up with me.
I was afraid of the traps, missed my knife, and frankly didn't know where I was going. I had turned back to where I thought the hill was, but I didn't know if I was just going in circles in the woods, much less where I was going to end up.
The idea of escaping, finding the road and heading to the human town seemed forgotten and foolish now. The only goal now was simply to survive. I felt like my lungs couldn't take it anymore, and when the wolf pounced on me, I flailed my legs and arms as best I could while its claws tried to reach my face and its teeth and snout aimed for my neck.
Like a small animal, I fought with all my strength. We rolled over several times until my hand found a stone and I lifted it, hitting its head and knocking its teeth out as it howled and screamed. I hit its eye and kept hitting its head until I got it off me, and it kept coming at me.
Desperately, I grabbed the wolfsbane from my pocket and threw it at its face. The wolf now screamed in pain, writhing as it seemed lost, injured, almost blind. With a larger stone, I struck its head, and the sound that came from its mouth was agonizing and horrible.
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