Fight and run

Allyssianne froze as she felt her hands being untied. She pretended to be unconscious as she felt them come free, slumping forwards into the snow. Two guards came round, pointing guns at her. Thinking that she was unconscious, one of them slung his gun back over his shoulder before picking her up.

The sorceress opened her eyes a fraction, and saw that the guard’s arm was in a prime position. Her eyes glittered evilly as she bit down hard on the offending limb. The guard let out a yell of pain, dropping Allyssianne as he clutched the bitten arm. She sprung back up to her feet before staggering slightly until they held. She drew the hunting knife that Natalie had left behind, adopting a fight stance. She lunged at one man, swinging the short blade against his chest. She didn’t, however, see the other man grab his gun, load, c**k and aim. When she turned round, she realised, and jumped out of the way a split second too late. The shot echoed through the silent trees, and Allyssianne fell to the ground, blood staining the white snow.

Marny and Natalie trudged on through the snow, trying to convince themselves that they were going in the right direction. The previous footprints had been covered up by the newest layer of snow, and all they had to go on was their memory, until a shot rang through the trees.

It sounded distant enough, but the two girls knew that there were no hunters around here. Quickening their pace, they hurried to the origin of the noise.

Allyssianne looked up at the man before she faked death. It wasn’t that hard to be honest. The bullet had embedded itself in her shoulder, and it was painful as hell. Her shoulder felt as if it was on fire, and as if it had just been torn apart. One of the guards knelt down warily and checked for breathing. She listened to them talk in Russian.
“You know we get it in the neck if we bring her back injured.”
“I know, but what else do we do?”
“Say that we fired a warning shot, she got in the way and say that she was killed and that we burnt the body.”
“Ok.”

They turned and walked off, leaving Alyssianne there, bleeding and in pain. She waited until they were out of earshot until rolling back onto her feet with a low moan. The shot to the shoulder wouldn’t be fatal unless it became infected, or didn’t stop bleeding. Thinking that the best course of action was to find the others, she closed her eyes and reached into a more feral part of her mind.

Once she opened her eyes again, she swayed a little for a few steps until she was confident enough on her black wolf paws. Keeping her injured leg off the ground as much as possible, the hunting knife between her teeth, the wolf set of at a steady rhythm, planning to stick to it until her weary limbs couldn’t carry her any more.

Marny and Natalie reached the clearing that Allyssianne had not long vacated. All that remained was the cloak, and a small trail of blood leading away. Marny’s face was set hard in determination as she picked up the cloak, and headed along the trail.

It was by chance that Natalie spotted the black wolf lying in the shelter of a hollow tree trunk. Its fur had frozen into icy spikes, and those stained with blood glittered red. Marny and Natalie lit a fire and lay the wolf beside it. After a few minutes, when its fur had started to thaw, fresh blood started to leak out of the wound again, and she gradually began to move.
“Ally?” Marny asked as her friend morphed back into her human self. “Are you ok?”
“What a stupid question.” Allyssianne mumbled as she gingerly touched the wound on her shoulder. Natalie smiled slightly.
“Never mind Ally, you’re with us now.” She said comfortingly. “We’re resting tonight, and we’ll continue tomorrow. We should go on four feet though, it’ll be faster.”
“No problem.” Marny said, stretching lazily.

The trio slept peacefully through the night, not one stirring. Thankfully, no one came to disturb them. It took some poking as usual to arouse Marny from her sleep before they morphed into their respective animals and loped off. The black wolf, the Manticore and the doe.