Whispers on the Wind
The rough net hurt my skin.
I couldn't breathe well.
I felt like screaming, but no sound came out.
Above me, the hunter laughed loudly.
It made my stomach feel sick. He thought he had caught an animal.
He didn't know it was me.
My fingers tried to pull the net apart, but it was too strong.
I spun around, hanging in the air. The ground looked blurry below.
Inside, I was fighting to stay calm and think.
"Got you, you beast!" the hunter yelled, closer now. "Thought you could hide in my woods, huh?"
My heart beat really fast. Beast.
He hadn't seen me clearly yet.
That thought gave me a little hope.
Then, I heard a low growl, closer than the hunter.
It was the creature.
It was reacting to the hunter being mean, to me being caught.
I felt something strange – like we were both in danger together.
It hadn't run away. It had stayed.
"What was that?" the hunter said, sounding less happy.
He looked around the trees carefully.
This was my chance. If I could talk if I could make him understand…
"I'm not a beast!" I called out.
My voice was rough and shaky. "I'm Elara!
From the village!"
The hunter stopped and looked at me quickly.
He didn't say anything for a moment. Then, he chuckled.
"Elara? Little Elara Thorne? What are you doing caught in my trap?" He laughed, but it sounded like he didn't believe me.
My voice, trying to ask for help, just made the forest seem even stranger.
"I… I was looking at the plants," I said, my words stumbling.
It sounded like a bad lie.
"I didn't see your net."
His eyes looked closely at me. "Plants, huh?
That's a fancy way of saying you were looking where you shouldn't, girl."
He took another step closer, a shadow over me.
The creature growled again, warning him.
The hunter looked at the sound and put his hand on the knife at his side.
"Something else out there," he said quietly, looking around nervously. "A big one."
Inside me, I was trying to think fast.
I needed to make the hunter believe me and stop him from hurting the creature before anyone got hurt.
"Please," I begged, my voice getting a little stronger.
"There's nothing out here. Just… animals."
Another lie, but I hoped it would make things calmer.
He looked at me like he didn't believe me, then looked back at where the growl came from.
It felt tense. The hunter didn't know if he should believe me or be scared of the creature.
The forest held all of us in its strange net of secrets and dangers.
"Hold still," he grunted, finally looking at the net again.
"Let's get you down, then you can tell me what you were really doing in my woods."
As he came closer, I saw something that made me feel very cold.
There were deep scratches on the tree where the net was tied.
They were too high for a normal animal. Claws.
The same kind Thomas talked about at the well.
My breath stopped. The hunter hadn't set this trap for a fox or a deer.
"Be careful!" I said quickly, my voice was scared.
"There's something else here! Something… with claws!"
The hunter stopped and looked at the scratches on the tree.
He looked a little worried now, not just suspicious.
The creature growled again, closer now.
It sounded like it was getting impatient.
The wind changed, and I smelled something strange – wild and musky, but also a little like metal?
The forest was like a stage, and we were all acting in an old, dangerous play.
Then, I heard a sound I had never heard before – fast clicks, like rocks hitting each other, but with a strange beat.
It sounded like it was coming from where the creature was growling.
The hunter's eyes got big with a fear I hadn't seen before. He took a step back from the net, holding his knife up.
"What in the world was that?" he whispered, his voice shaking.
I didn't know. But the sound made me feel even more uneasy.
It felt like we had found something we didn't understand, something the villagers' scary stories hadn't even talked about.
The creature growled again, and the clicking sound answered, closer and faster.
It felt like they were talking, in a language from the Blackwood that the hunter and I didn't know.
The hunter's face was white with fear.
He looked at me stuck in the net, then at the dark shadows where the creature was, and then back at me.
He held his knife tightly, his body stiff with fear.
The forest was showing its real voice, a language of growls and clicks that told of a world we didn't know.
Suddenly, I saw a pair of eyes, bigger and shining brighter than before, looking through the thick plants.
They weren't the scared eyes of an animal in a trap.
They looked smart and fierce.
The creature stepped out into the sunlight, and I could see it clearly – strong, with muscles, and it looked like a wolf, but its face was strangely almost like a human's.
The werewolf.
The hunter gasped, his brave face turning into pure fear.
He knew what it was, the creature from the stories, the thing he was afraid of.
But it wasn't attacking him. Its shiny eyes were looking at me, stuck and helpless in the net.
And then, it did something I never thought it would. It talked.
The sound that came from its chest was low and rough, but it was a word.
One word, said quickly, with a little bit of… knowing?
"Elara."
The hunter stepped back, his knife falling to the ground.
His eyes were wide with the same fear I felt.
The creature knew my name. How?
And as it took a step towards me, its shiny eyes looking fiercely protective, the clicking sound got louder, closer now.
And a new shape started to come out of the shadows next to the werewolf – smaller, smoother, with eyes that shone with the same strange light, and sharp claws that were out, ready to attack.
We weren't just dealing with one creature of the Blackwood. We had found a family.