he Forbidden Woods, the le

little light filtered down from the sky. The path if it had ever truly been a path was bare

nst tree trunks whose bark scraped my palms raw

now where I

d to be somewhere th

almost nothing some clothes, the small amount of money I'd mana

thing

ng with me from the li

snapped t

th catching in my throat

und cam

of

iber

cold air as I turned slowly towar

I he

gro

ard vibrating through my chest and settin

ppeared

el

faintly i

o w

hun

ten amber of

l wo

the shadows with silent precision until five stood

omething wro

ral beyond si

spered to live within these woods

among them

ir a

, revealing teeth dar

dn't

r

tore through the undergrowth, my boots p

forest erupted

ered agains

rasped i

were g

olf, I was no

st

nt down hard, pain exploding through my palm

roll onto my back befo

gs in a sharp, strangled gasp. Its breath was hot and foul aga

eyes and saw my d

ng uselessly against i

ve. Its jaws

ng inside me

shatt

ched too far like a dam finally g

ed through

warmth of a

g, violent racing thr

on flood

en

n Si

ing turn

sible clarity the scars along its muzzle, the way its pupil

ed before I

it should hav

ht its

mered wildly b

ea

as af

f

hrew

t weighed nothing at all, crashing into a t

standing when t

our at

d strike mean

uld hav

uld

ft of muscle, every trajectory of their attack as c

adn't c

h

mov

ortl

lu

adow giv

s leap, my hand brushing its under

d-howl, legs fol

blind side or what should

drove my fist

pped in

ould have shat

lt no

cert

be, some distant voice whis

at they too

ng wolves tr

I watched the attack form bef

anything but air. My hands struck out with precise accura

umpled,

ha had r

hackles raised, a deep gr

d replaced

ea

oo

" I heard

e sounde

yer

than one voice

finish

lu

it he

istering only distantly as my hands

, I didn't

hing pass between us-not physic

mand

sol

ubm

to ripple throu

's struggl

eyes

ed its head wi

d it and s

d away, tail

after their leader until the f

ce ret

ng me

and c