Not Out Of The Woods Yet

by Kiernan

Chapter the Sixth: The Wolf

The next morning, it was time to begin moving again. Venny was still injured, but they couldn't wait for too long. They were presumably still being hunted, and they needed to find their way home before their pursuers caught up with them. They were now a day behind. Perry made sure he had the knife this time, and Venny kept a close eye on his footing, taking care not to slip. Neither of them was keen to repeat yesterday's incident, so they took it slowly and gently.

Venny was a bit slower as a result of his limp. His leg and head were still in pain, more so now as he was moving around. Still riddled with guilt, Perry kept a slower pace than usual to account for this. He kept glancing back to make sure Venny was still following him. Every so often, they'd take a break, and Venny would lay his arm in the cold water to soothe it.

It was during one of these breaks that they looked back upriver. Approaching them on the south side of the water was some manner of creature. At first, they thought it was a very large dog. Thinking it may belong to somepony malicious, they decided it would be best if they continued onward.

An hour passed, and they looked back. It had continued to follow them, silently keeping pace as it went. It had come a bit closer now, and was revealed to be a solitary wolf. This was confusing to Venny, as he'd always known wolves to travel in packs. Perry knew nothing of wolves, but something about it didn't feel right. He didn't want to wait for it to catch up to them.

The sun was beginning to set when they looked back a third time. Amid the waving rays of the sun, they saw the wolf coming ever closer. They were sure now; it was staring right at them as it walked. Two tiny ponies would be no match for a big, strong wolf, it must have reasoned. Perry has bitten enough times to know that ponies didn't taste very good.

Normally, this late in the evening, he might have begun searching for a place to bunk down for the night, but having a predator at his back made Perry very nervous. Despite his wishes to have Venny rest to keep his injuries from growing worse, he felt that stopping near the wolf was a death sentence for Venny, and a life sentence alone in the woods for himself. Kai wouldn't love him if he was responsible for the death of his real son.

Venny Knew the danger, too, and his fear came to a head when he heard a loud flapping behind them. Turning to look, they saw, in the dying light that their lupine pursuer had crossed the river, and after a shake to remove the water from his thick coat, was once more plodding toward them. By now, he was far too close for comfort. Venny backed away, standing behind Perry, who had already drawn his knife and bared his fangs.

As the wolf approached, it too bared its fangs. It circled around them, pushing them toward the river and away from the trees. It didn't want them running away. It wasn't a big wolf, being one of the smaller breeds, but it was still bigger than the boys were. Its pepper-colored lips lifted into a snarl as it began to inch closer. A growl was heard, though Venny wasn't sure if it had been Perry or the wolf. To be honest, he was a bit scared of both of them.

The wolf turned and began to charge at them. Summoning his newfound ability, Perry spat as much flame as his lungs could hold. At first, the wolf was shocked, stopping its movements and doubling back. Then, as the flame caught hold of its fur, it ran off in desperate fear. The flame didn't stay for long, but the wolf had been driven off for the time being.

They decided that sleeping on the ground was a bad idea tonight, in case the wolf came back. They weren't pegasi, but they decided it would be fine if they slept in a tree, if just for tonight. Perry caught a fish, a very large one, and they started a fire to cook it. After dinner, they planned on making their way up into the tree for the night.

Just as they were about to dig in, Venny dropped his fish and scrambled up the tree. The wolf had returned. With all of his effort, he managed to lift Perry up into the branches with magic, bringing with him the other half of the fish. The wolf looked up at them for several minutes, waiting for them to come down. It was only after doing so that its attention turned to Venny's cooked fish still lying on the ground.

As it ate the fish, the dying fire turned to tiny embers, then went out. It had been a small fire, only serving to cook the fish, rather than to keep them warm. When it was done, it curled up at the base of the tree and resumed watching them. Venny and Perry shared their half of the fish, every so often tossing small chunks over the side to the wolf. Their hope was that, if they fed it, it wouldn't want to eat them anymore. After all, their mother had bears and cougars that ate out of her hoof, and were completely docile whenever she was around. Surely, they could convince a wolf not to eat them.

The following day, they climbed down from the tree. They'd not rested very well, but the wolf had fallen asleep, and they needed to be on their way. They made it half a day before they noticed the wolf following behind them again. They kept going, as they had the day before. By the end of the day, it had caught up with them again. This time, it had no teeth to show, instead opting to brush past Perry and lick Venny's shoulder. Gone was the animosity between them, replaced by an apology. After that short interaction, the wolf returned to the forest, disappearing among the trees.

They slept in a tree again the following night. They were glad the wolf hadn't harmed them, but they didn't want to risk being eaten if it changed its mind again.

Author's Note:

My apologies for the delay in this chapter. I had some real-life health problems creep in. Take good care of your hearts, or you may end up like me. And I don't mean that figuratively, heart attacks are a real threat. Very nearly knocked me out of commission.

To that end, I'm going to slow my roll here, and cut it down from every day to every other day, at least for awhile. If I can keep my health in check, I may come back a little stronger, we'll see. But for now, I'm going to take it a bit slower than I have been, for health reasons.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

sorry to hear that. Get well soon!