Chapter 1

It was early morning in a quiet forest, soft beams of sunlight filtered through the trees creating long, dark shadows along the ground. A cool autumn breeze gently rustled the turning leaves. In the hushed moment, sudden soft thumping sounded in the forest, a girl was running gracefully through the trees. Her bare feet trailed expertly, her years of running and exploring the forest coated the bottom of her feet with calluses and kept them safe from the sticks and stones on the earthen floor.
    The girl grew tired, she had been running for sometime now; her breath rapid, chest ached and her legs strained, but she felt strong as she ran, breathing in the air, its coolness sharp in the back of her throat. Her love of running and the feeling of freedom exhilarated her and kept her going as long as her body was willing. She slowed down to a steady walk and stopped to catch her breath, grabbing her knees and hunching over as she takes in deep long breaths, until she was able to steady herself, the fatigue that had built up in her muscles eased.
   She took her left hand and swiped it across her forehead, wiping away perspiration from her brow, brushing the bangs of her ebony black hair that contrasted her bronze skin. Her startling grey eyes caught a stream of sunlight, making them bright and almost clear. 
As her breathing steadied, she listened to the forest as the wind rustled the trees. Something felt off about the forest, there was a stillness in the air and she noted that the forest was too quiet. Goosebumps prickled her skin as thoughts raced through her mind.
   Thoughts of wild animals came to her mind, somehow though she didn't think it was a bear or a wolf. If it was a bear she would have heard it far sooner than she would see it, and it's lumbering and heavy thumping on the hard floor can't be missed. Her mind went to wolves next which was highly possible, more than the chance of bears.
   No one really knows why, even the elders in her village can't quite say for certain but the wolves seemed to be increasing in strength and numbers, and aggressiveness. It's true that wolves are naturally dangerous, but normally wolves don't come near people. They would rather flee than come into contact with humans, and if they didn't want to, they wouldn't be found even by the village's best trackers. Wolves also don't attack unless they were threatened, were hungry, or had their territory threatened. But the wolves in this forest as well as the surrounding ones, didn't have that behavior.
   The girl shuddered as she remembered how one of the scouts reported that a village was attacked and destroyed by a pack of wolves, no one sparred, as men, women, and children were killed. There were a few survivors in the village but had been injured badly and those that tried to flee were hunted down by the wolves. The chance of surviving an attack was slim. Some of the survivors came to her village with the scout, their faces held something that the girl had never seen before. A look of lost, and fear. The girl hoped she never had to feel what that would be like.
   The Shaman believes there is an energy, like that before a storm hits, and it's effecting the wolves. The elder also believes this is just the beginning of what the wolves were capable of, a foreboding of something far more sinister yet to come.
   The girl continued walking, keeping her wits about her. She felt her clothing and cursed quietly as she realized she left her blade back home, again. A wave of panic slowly coursed through her veins, the cold rush of fear caused her to shiver. Taking a deep breath to relax her nerves she glanced around and tried to figure out how far away she was from the village. She was running for a while so she figured it was a good distance and not close enough to escape if there were wolves around.
   A bush rustled behind her, causing her to freeze. A branch snapped next, and she took off at a full sprint. Fear made her blind and careless, the gracefulness she had not long ago was gone. She stumbled over rocks and tree roots, trying desperately to flee.
   She tried to make sense of the animal that was behind her, but she couldn't quite register what it was. It stumbled, clumsily chasing her with loud labored breathing, deep and hoarse. Her imagination went wild and she did her best to control her panic.
   Suddenly she lurched forward as her foot caught a raised tree root, her palms splayed out trying to break her fall but she landed hard on the ground with a soft grunt. She quickly bolted to her feet but the instant she put weight on her foot, she stumbled from the pain, grabbing onto a tree before she fell to the ground again.
   Her pursuer was close behind. Tears welled up in the girl's eyes, fear enveloped her like a blanket, as footsteps came near she turned around. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened with alarm, she stepped back but tripped again and plopped on the ground.
   Before her stood a boy, maybe not much older than herself at least for what she could tell. He was covered in blood, some of it was fresh from open wounds, most likely from trying to keep up with the girl. He was breathing hard from the chase and his golden eyes glazed with pain and exhaustion. He coughed, shaking badly as he did and shuddered. He looked at her with pleading eyes.
   The girl didn't know what to make of it all, nor did she know what to do. She let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding, instantly regretting it as a whiff of blood engulfed her nose, she coughed, trying to hold her stomach. Terrified as she was, something inside her grew in a blaze.
   She had no idea how he was alive, let alone the energy to be able to chase, or keep trailing her. Something in his eyes caught her attention. Although she could see pain, she saw a fierce soul, something akin with her likeness for running. The boy coughed again, bringing her back to her senses.
     "Help me. Please." He croaked, she almost couldn't hear him speak.
Him speaking seemed to have taken whatever strength he had left. He stumbled forward and landed hard on his side, laying unconscious. for a moment the girl thought he had died before her, but she focused her eyes on him and saw him breath. It was shallow but still he was breathing, it sent relief through her veins.
   As she tried to figure out the situation she realized she would have to wait for a patrol to find them, she sighed and made herself comfortable as best as she could, holding her knees to her chest. The only thing she could do was sound a distress signal. She made a series of chirps and whistles, as she had been instructed to, hoping a patrol wasn't far off.
   Periodically she would make another distress call, while her eyes glance over to the boy. She took in the sight of him; Tall, even with being crumpled on the ground. His hair was bushy from what she could tell although it was matted, it was short on top and long in the back down to his shoulders, framing his head. She felt her skin crawl and itch as she looked at his wounds, scratches and bite marks. She closed her eyes and shuddered, hoping her ancestors would send someone soon.
   Not far off, a patrol was scouting the area. Three men quietly trekked quietly through the forest, trampling the undergrowth with their moccasins. They whispered amongst themselves.
   "It's too quiet in the forest today, and something doesn't feel right." The tallest man in the group whispered first.
   "I know what you mean, Seta, I feel it too. There hasn't been any wolves for days." The second man paused, listening, "And that worries me." He added, slightly distracted.
   The third man with them, far younger than both, stopped in his tracks as he listened, "Do you hear that?" He asked, breaking their conversation.
   "Do I hear wha-." Seta stopped and covered his nose, "What in the name of ancestors is that?" He coughed and hacked at the awful smell.
   The other two men caught the smell immediately and tried their best to suppress the smell. The young man lead the others forward as he listened, "It's a distress call, and it sounds like Tala, we should hurry."
   Tala was musing herself, somewhat dazed in her boredom, repeatedly making distress calls. With no idea of how much time had passed, which it felt like forever, even though only a short time had passed. Startled out of her thoughts, she whipped her head around as a patrol approached and was flooded with relief as she recognized the three men.
   In the lead was Kitchi, his face hard and expressionless as he approached her. Tala saw him as a big brother, as he always looked after her, and she knew she could depend on him. He was always busy though, trying to keep the village in order. Kitchi took to taking care of Tala, ever since she was born and more so after her mother passed.
   Next to him was Seta, a gruff man, he reminded her of a bear. He even appeared grizzly and rough, but he was actually warm hearted and was the kind of person she could go to for comfort, anyone could for that matter.
   Trailing behind was Lenno, he was short, and his age showed in his face and his black hair was greying at the roots. He was as wise as he looked and not someone to take lightly. Tala managed to escape once with a cuff on the ear after she tried to prank him one morning.
   Tala tried to appear small as Kitchi approached, "Tala, are you-." He stopped abruptly as his eyes landed on the boy, and his breath caught.
   Tala blinked and in that moment Kitchi was hovering over the boy's body, a mask on his face as he searched for any signs of life. The other men with him stood shocked at the sight of the brutally injured boy laying on the forest floor, their bronze skin was ashen grey and Seta was close to loosing his stomach. Tala felt bad for him.
   "He's breathing." Kitchi announced, "Quickly, we need to get him back to the village." He ordered, looking at the older men. They both nodded and made for the boy, they both picked up gently and cradled him in their arms and started heading back. He looked at Tala, causing her to flinch.
   "What in the name of ancestors are you doing here, and what happened? He demanded. His brown eyes bored into her.
   Tala swallowed hard. She hated when he got like this, bravely she said, " I was doing what I always do, taking my usual run in the forest. He came out of nowhere and started chasing me." She pointed an accusing finger in the direction of the two men, who were already deep in the forest in front of them. She continued, "How was I supposed to know I was going to be chased by a rabid boy?"
   Kitchi showed no emotion as he listened to her, but she knew he wasn't happy.
   "First of all, you shouldn't be out here to begin with." He crossed his arms, his muscles bunching up. He never wore a top, even in the colder days. "Secondly, I bet you forgot your blade as well. Like you always do." He scorned.
   Tala rose to her feet and challenged him, meeting his hard stare with her own, "I've been out in the forest everyday, father knows where I am. I don't go off without telling him. He doesn't stop me."
   Kitchi rolled his eyes, "Your father is in denial, he refuses to believe his forest could be so dangerous. That man is going to bring us all down with his ignorance." His expression darkened. He wasn't much fond of Tala's father, he respected him and never would say what he said to his face, but he feared that he was blowing off what was happening with the wolves.
   She hated when he went off about her father like that and she shoved him, her face reddened, "Stop it, stop talking about him like that." she shouted, but she barely moved him an inch. Forgetting that her foot was sprained she had pushed off it and winced, trying to cover her reaction quickly but Kitchi already noticed.
   "You're injured!" His arms rose in disbelief, "Tala, you really need to be more careful, you don't have your blade, you've sprained your foot. It's things like this that are going to get you killed." He was furious as he always gets with Tala when she was reckless.
   She bit the inside of her cheek, her grey eyes misted as embarrassment heated her face up. She wanted adults to see her more than a child, to see that she's growing up, especially to Kitchi and she hated letting him down, "I couldn't really control the situation."
   "There's no excuse. You must always be prepared, if you go into the forest always bring your weapon and your wits. Never let yourself slip or it'll be your life at risk." His voice was hard and he held his gaze.
   He softened then, relaxing his eyes as he placed a hand on the girls's shoulder, " Tala, I'm only hard on you for a reason."
   Tala sighed and lowered her head, slightly ashamed of herself as the heavy weight of Kitchi's words sunk in. She looked up at him and half smiled, "I know." He was just doing his best to protect her.
   He relaxed and looked towards the other men, they covered a good distance as Tala and him had bickered, he turned his attention back to her.
   "Can you walk?" He asked more calmly.
   Tala put her foot down, trying to put pressure on it but it screamed in pain as she tried. She bit her cheek and shook her head.
   He sighed and turned around, crouching down, "Hop on." He said with his back to her
   She chewed on her cheek as she climbed onto his back. He grunted as he stood up and walked back to the village, Seta and Lenno were out of sight.
   "You know, you're a little too big for me to be carrying you like this." He said gently.
   Tala tightened her grip, "I know." She replied back. Kitchi used to carry her on his back all the time when she was little, being adventurous, getting hurt was pretty much second nature. She kept him on his toes for sure. After her mother had died from a rare illness, Kitchi turned to caring for her and protected her. He had no other siblings, and neither did Tala, so he was able to be there for her almost all the time.
   The way back to the village was silent, the only thing heard was the trampling of the undergrowth and a light breeze in the wind with the hint of a rain coming. It lulled Tala. She felt a strange energy sparking in the air, but mistook it as an approaching storm.

Author's Note

Tala's Name Meaning
Meaning:story; bright star; gold; wolf
As Tala traverses the globe, its meaning shifts, encompassing the Persian translation "gold" and the Native American "wolf" in a single bound.

Kitchi is a Native American Algonquian name that means “brave.”

Though Kitchi is another boy’s name carrying an element of innocence and cuteness, it also offers a wonderful meaning of courage and honor.

Reviews

[Throwing Romeo]

You're a natrual.
Enjoying your words.