There’s no fear quite like running for one’s life. The spike in adrenaline that’s so primal that all thought and pretense of high-level thinking abandons you. That was the fear that gripped the child as he ran through the forest. He didn’t look where he ran. He didn’t figure out where he was going. He just ran as far as he could away from the high pitched laughing.
He jumped over a large tree trunk and stumbled, his shoes catching on the ground. He ran to a tree and dove forward huddling down. He covered his face hearing the laughter echoing through the darkness of the forest and tried to hide himself in the foliage. Tried to make himself as small as possible.
But he heard a branch snap and his head jerked upwards. He stared into the shadows of the forest, low hanging branches casting long shadows. He saw a pair of yellow eyes approaching letting out a cackling laugh. His heart skipped a beat as he watched the beast pad forward.
Its mouth was half open, saliva dripping as it approached. Staring at it was like being frozen in place. As if it was using magic on him. But the only thing that broke him out of it was another snap. Another hyena approached from the otherwise equally amused and equally slavering. And then there was third. And a fourth and a fifth. Not only was he surrounded there were likely not enough of him to go around.
He couldn’t hold it back anymore and started crying, tears pouring down his face as he called for his mother.
A tree branch above him broke like a crack of thunder and crashed into the ground. He screamed jerking away expecting teeth to tear into him and rip him to pieces. But he didn’t feel any pain. He heard more thrashing around and breaking branches and finally looked through cracked eyes.
That’s when saw a giant of a woman with pale skin and white hair. One of the hyenas had its mouth lodged around her ankle and another at her forearm. The others were watching and yipping to one another looking for their chance to jump in. She turned grabbing a hyena with both hands and turned throwing it into the trees.
She looked over her shoulder and grinned at the child but her grin was all teeth and her eyes were a bright yellow. Despite her appearing every bit a person when he looked into her face he saw an animal and he paled to his core. “Shouldn’t you be hanging around with friends doing dumb stuff or something? Hey. Hey kid you with me?”
Her voice was rough but he blinked quickly and nodded quickly. “Y-Yeah.”
“Great! Take this and run that way,” she tossed an old cloak at him and he barely caught it as it hit him. “A woman is on her way here. She’ll take care of you. Oh, by the way, tell her this doesn’t count. Get running!”
He jolted to his feet at the shout and nodded. Stumbling around he held onto the cloak and darted in the direction that she pointed as best as he could. As he ran, he heard a roar echo amongst the trees that was nothing like the laughter of the hyenas. He ran as far and long as he could holding the cloak to his chest like his life depended on it.
In his mind he could hear the branches snapping behind him, he could hear and feel the hyenas closing on him and getting closer. He brought the cloak down and ran right into something solid. He looked ahead and saw a pale white mask. He shirked back then looked up and saw a woman with glowing silver eyes and a face covered in shadow. He screamed finally losing all strength in his legs.
“Stop screaming child,” Ryza picked him off the ground and forced him to stand. She glared slamming her glowing shovel into the ground and grabbing his attention. “My name is Ryza and that belongs to me.”
She grabbed the cloak from his shaking hands and wrapped it around her shoulders. The familiarity of it made her smile but there was something more. She could smell something warm and heavy and she knew it was Snow. Taking a deep breath, she hid her face and then looked at the child.
“Where’s the woman who gave you this?” she asked sharply.
He pointed behind him into the forest and she looked there and nodded her head. “Okay. Come on then.”
She started walking back the way he’d come and he tried to say something but lost his voice and chased after her. He ran after her stumbling along and Ryza didn’t break her pace. Her shovel served as a beacon for him to keep track of. They broke through the edge of the forest and he looked at the open field and looked toward his home.
Ryza turned on her heel and shook her head. “Run home Luke. Your mother is likely going to be worried about you.” Before he could talk to her she had already disappeared back into the forest, the hood over her head.
It was like being a little girl again running through the forest by herself. Hearing the sounds of the native animals scattering at her intrusion. But beyond that, she could hear the end of a long drawn out fight. The ending whimpers and heavy breathing of a job completed. Ryza continued forward and came through the clearing.
She watched as Snow stood, her fur sticking up and blood soaked. She could see the effort that she had gone through and the damage she’d caused. There was one dead hyena on the ground but the rest were scarce. She turned her head, resting her yellow eyes on her. Her lips pulled back in a slow growl and Ryza slowed in her tracks.
“Snow,” she said calmly. “It’s me. Just Ryza.”
She lowered her hood and stared at her. Snow blinked slowly the yellow eyes holding a savage intelligence. But there was a human one underneath that as well. Her silver eyes could see Snow within the beast, almost as if she were sleeping. But as Ryza stared at her she could see her beginning to wake up from within the embrace of the wolf.
She went down onto her knee growling and chuffing. She hit the ground, digging her claws into it, and shut her eyes even tighter. Snarling loudly, she barked once and then pressed her face to the ground bending over double. And there was that flash of light. Ryza covered her face looking away. When she turned back toward her, she was there kneeling on the ground naked again.
Ryza rushed to her side and wrapped the cloak around her shoulders. As she did, she saw a marking on her back. A trio of vines interlocked was embedded in her skin like a tattoo. And in the center was something like a flower except it was wilted. There were cuts within the circle, segments broken off. Ryza stared at them confused and then looked back at Snow.
“This is becoming a habit Snow,” she said wryly. “I can’t always keep clothes for you.”
“Don’t worry. The cloak is more than good enough,” she panted and raised her hand grinning at her. Her hair stuck to her forehead and Ryza could see the sweat on her face. She was exhausted, Ryza could see that. But she was still joking around. “Didn’t sneak a peak did you?”
“What? Of course not!” Ryza shouted but blinked and glowered at her laughter. “I should just leave you here to struggle.”
“You wouldn’t do that,” Snow whined stumbling to her feet. Ryza caught her and held her up while looking at her.
She felt unsteady and that worried Ryza. “Are you alright?”
“Sure. Just need to catch my breath. Hyenas are annoying pains in the asses,” she said groaning. “But I’ll recover. Don’t we have some kinda funky tracking spell to do?”
“Yes I do,” Ryza said sighing and looked at her. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah. I even remembered to toss my clothes,” she pointed and sure enough, her clothes were scattered around the grove. “So I’ll get dressed and you do your thing. Sound good?”
Ryza glanced at her face then nodded slowly, “Okay. Just don’t fall over.”
“If I do I’ll have you to help me back to my feet,” she winked and Ryza looked away finding a relatively empty patch of grass.
She looked to the darkness of the forest but there were no eyes watching them. The hyenas knew better than to hang around them. Finding her own place to be comfortable, she stabbed the shovel into the ground. Pressing her hands together she rested them against the shovel and took a slow breath.
She chanted under her breath letting the runes glow to life. A small pulse of magic flowed outward, coming out like a held breath. She raised her hand, lifting it up to the sky, and watched her magic coalesce there. She watched the silver light come together and form into a small creature that clung to her hands. Not the first time that she had called this bat to her side. It yawned letting out a translucent tongue and turned its head back and forth.
Smiling she scratched its head lightly and then glanced at Shriek. He scurried down to the bat and sniffed at it. The bat sniffed back and the two enjoyed each other’s company for a bit and then Ryza shook her head. “You know your purpose little one,” she said to the bat raising it to eye level. “Creature of my being. You know what I seek. We are close to our goal. Take wing and tell me where I am to go.”
Tossing her hand up the bat jumped, flapped its wings, and took off. She watched it dart through the branches and leaves before going over the treetops and disappearing from view. She watched for a moment longer than closed her eyes and established her link with the bat.
Letting it go she turned around and watched as Snow finished pulling the vest over her head. Adjusting it comfortable and brushing back the cloak she waved at Ryza. “So, you make animals now?”
“No. Just the one,” Ryza turned to face her and picked the shovel out of the ground. Turning it around quickly she rested it against her back and nodded. “Let’s head back to the village. Get our horses and be on our way.”
She swept her hand forward then winced, “After you Ryry.”
Ryza raised her eyebrow and finally nodded working her way out of the forest. Once they were back on the path they worked their way back toward the town. The sun was on its way down casting long orange shadows. She could feel her bat fluttering along the wind like a nagging thought. Her eyes glowed for the barest of a second and she could watch it fly. One day she’d have to seriously look into a way to fly.
When they entered the village again they could tell there had been some commotion going on. Lots of footsteps in the dirt and the majority seemed to be converging around the inn. Ryza glanced at it but didn’t linger instead walking to the center of the town and then heading south toward a stable.
They didn’t get far as a voice shouted, “Wait! Miss!”
Being the only miss’s around they stopped and Snow turned around quickly. She was surprised to see a child running toward her followed by a woman, the inn owner behind him. He stopped looking at them and raised his hands and wiped his face.
“You. You saved me,” he said panting.
Ryza looked at him and she could see that his eyes were red meaning he’d been crying still even since coming back. But as she looked past him to his mother he saw the same worry, stress, and fearful relief of knowing a crisis was averted. She looked at the two of them, mainly Ryza, and frowned.
“You were the two staying at my inn,” she said and stepped closer wrapping her arm around Luke’s shoulders tighter. “And you saved my son.”
“We were just in the right place at the right time,” Snow said smiling. “I’m glad we found him though.”
“Why were you out there anyway?” Ryza asked.
“I wanted to help my mom. I broke some things and I wanted to pick some flowers from the forest to make up for it,” he said looking down.
Ryza nodded remembering her shouting at him. But she focused on him and crouched going down to eye level. “Wanting to make up for your mistakes is admirable but you should be careful. Your mom would rather have you alive and no flowers, than flowers and you dead. Losing family is something you don’t always recover from.”
He blinked quickly shocked at her words but nodded. “Try to make some friends,” Snow said quickly. “That way you can get into trouble in a safe way.”
Ryza stared at the child a moment longer before standing and facing his mother. She was looking at Ryza oddly as well but Ryza was no stranger to strange looks. Instead, she motioned to the road behind them, “We’re glad he made it home safe but we need to be on our way. We need to find a horse for travel.”
“You’re on the right path then,” Leah pointed almost directly at the stable. “Old man Andrew raises good horses. Don’t worry about the price on them. Tell him that Leah will cover the tab for the horse.”
“What? We can’t do that,” Snow said quickly already shaking her head but Leah held her hand up to stop her from continuing.
“You saved my son. This is the least I can do.”
Snow made a face but Ryza put her hand on her shoulder then glanced at Leah. “We appreciate your kindness. Come on Snow. Let’s go. We can’t wait too long.”
She kept making a face but followed as Ryza had already started walking. They procured an auburn-haired stallion and the works. Ryza sat at the head with Snow behind her, her arm around her waist to keep her up. Hitting the reigns, she guided the horse out of town and on the track of her bat.
“You know, we could have stayed for a meal. Or something for the road,” She was pouting.
“We can find something along the way. I don’t want us to get caught at night with something else out there,” she replied. “Plus, I think I’m a pretty good cook for rabbit.”
“Rabit. What do I look like?” Snow asked pretending to be offended.
“You look like a shapeshifting not mage wolf woman,” Ryza replied not looking back at her. “Also looking very good in my cloak.”
“I do don’t I?” Snow teased doing her best to pose and maintain her balance on the horse. “So how far away is your bat thing?”
“It’s about three towns over and it’s not done yet. We’re going to have some time on our hands so get comfortable.”
Wrapping both her arms around Ryza she rested her head against her back and shut her eyes, “If that’s so I’m gonna nap. Wake me up when we make camp for the night or if something goes horribly wrong.”
Ryza smiled getting comfortable in the saddle as well and let herself relax. She could get used to this.
The Harlequin Library 