The footsteps sank into the mud, soaking shoes and ankles. In the middle of the forest, the five teenagers ran aimlessly until Elidana pointed to a hill surrounded by a mountain ridge. Aran nodded, fists clenched. "We need to get as far away as possible," he said to the group. They struggled up the hillslide. Marmorel cursed as a branch caught her silk sleeve. Fez went back to help her, pulling hard until the fabric ripped, but at least her arm wasn't hurt.

Cora slowed down, exhausted and out of breath, dragging his legs as if he were walking with weights on his feet. He wanted to orient himself somehow to understand which direction to take. He stopped, put his hands on his knees and his back responded with a sharp pain. "Damn it..." he muttered. His shoulders burned as if he had plunged hot embers into them, a sensation he had carried with him since the moments after the accident, and it was getting worse.

"Where are we going?" Marmorel yelled, panting among the trees. Strands of her red hair moved disheveled.

"I don't know!" Aran quickly replied. "I see some train tracks at the bottom of the valley. I hope by following them we can get to Clodia." He removed a small branch in front of him and let Elidana pass.

"But..." Fez gasped.

"Hey! We have no other options!" Aran retorted.

"We can explain everything. It was a misunderstanding!" exclaimed Fez, leaning on a rock.

"Let's go back home. I don't believe is real," squeaked Marmorel, her voice trembling, still looking around and jumping at every rustle of the wind.

"Do you think I'm stupid? We all want to go back home, but right now I'm interested in saving our lives, including yours! Walking in the forest is the best solution, at least until we are far enough away. We will get to Clodia and talk to the Order of Knights of Lamia." Aran fell silent immediately after. He seemed to want to say more, but just shook his head and took a deep breath. "Let's go," he finally muttered to Elidana.

Cora waited for the others to walk past him and closed the line.

Elidana kept pace with Aran, with Fez and Marmorel following close behind, tracing their footsteps on the ground. They crossed over a horizontal tree trunk covered in mushrooms and filled with worms. Marmorel brushed her leg against a large block of moss and let out a disgusted sound. For once, Fez didn't rush to help her. In fact, he couldn't be seen anywhere.

A dull thud was heard, followed by a groan of pain. Fez had rolled and hit a tree. The others stopped, and Marmorel went back to check on him. She touched the moss again but seemed not to notice it. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked him, as he continued to feel his chest. "Yes, I just stumbled over something soft," Fez replied. The girl froze, turned pale, and let out a scream that echoed through the forest. Fez hurried to cover her mouth and followed her gaze down to her abdomen. "Blood?" A large red stain had stained his shirt and pants.

Cora ran up to him. "Are you injured?" he asked. "No, I'm sure I'm not," Fez replied, his eyes wide. He had no cuts on his face or chest.

Aran and Cora looked at the spot where Fez had fallen. He had sunk his foot into the fresh carcass of a gutted deer. Marmorel shuddered, her breath stuck in her throat.

"It must have been some predator," Aran whispered. He looked around and put a finger to his lips. "Don't make any noise," he whispered.

"Let's get out of here," Cora said, his voice barely audible. Marmorel squeezed Elidana's hand and flattened herself against the bark of a tree.

They exchanged glances of understanding and terror. They hardly dared to move their heads until Elidana motioned to continue on their path. The silence was interrupted by the chirping of birds. A guttural sound, hidden by the underbrush, made its way through the shadows and the greenery of the bushes. Cora's legs trembled.

The beast's snout lifted a large branch. Fez looked at Aran, who was petrified.

"We can't escape all at once... we'll hold it off, you try to flee," the young Allet said with a broken voice. His gaze went to Cora, who had to gather all the courage he had left to stay calm. The two of them? Against a wolf of that size? What had they done to deserve such a series of misfortunes?

He bent down to pick up a stone and glanced at Aran. The boy responded with a nod and also armed himself. One on one side, one on the other, they took slow steps until they flanked the animal that was approaching their friends with drool at its mouth. It didn't seem to be paying attention to them. Perhaps it was only attracted by the blood, or perhaps... Cora struggled to swallow. Perhaps the wolf had already spotted the live prey, the weaker and easier ones to overpower. The beast moved. Cora couldn't wait any longer. He gripped the stone and hurled it with all the strength he had in his body. He hit the wolf's flank. The wolf stopped, turned its head, and advanced slowly, this time towards Cora, who was now unarmed.

"Run!" the young boy yelled. His hands were sweating and he couldn't keep them still. Fez and the girls retreated behind some bushes and disappeared beyond the vegetation.

The beast's drool dripped from its mouth like a stream. Its wild gaze became a pair of slits and the wolf sniffed the air, its muzzle raised and its fur standing on end. A row of fangs reflected the sun's rays filtering through the leaves.

"Aran!" Cora took a few steps back, filled with fear. He knew he wouldn't survive that situation. At that point, he might as well surrender to his fate as a pile of bones to be gnawed on.

The young Allet shouted and aimed carefully. He threw the stone and hit the animal's leg. It whimpered but continued its advance.

"Hey! Bad dog! Over here!" Aran yelled. He grabbed another rock from the ground and shook the branches nearby. "Hey!" he shouted, repeating the blow.

The animal didn't seem to notice him, but then again, Cora was closer. It lunged at him in a progression that ended with a long leap. The boy closed his eyes and retreated with his arms covering his face. His foot caught on something resistant, and the weight of the beast made him fall backwards towards the abyss.

Cora breathed the animal's putrid breath and collapsed without any support. Between rocks that penetrated his sides and branches that scratched his neck, he slammed his back against a trunk and the claws sank into his shoulder. Both of them began to roll down the slope. A tilted tree separated them, and Cora heard the animal's whine continue throughout the fall. Above him, Aran slid down to reach him while holding onto branches and foliage.

Cora was alive, the beast and its jaws were far away. He reached out his arm and grabbed onto a bush. It wavered, but held his weight. Now he swayed like the pendulum of a clock as the wolf continued to slide towards the valley. The branch creaked, his fingers lost their grip. Soon, Cora would meet his end too.

"Come on!" Aran yelled. Cora looked up and found his friend's hand reaching out to save him. "Are you okay?"

"No! I'm not okay," Cora said. "He wanted to eat me, damn it! You saw it too!" He grabbed Aran's forearm, planted his feet on the rock, pushed, pulled with his arms and legs. Another arm grabbed him and helped him up. It was Elidana, pale-faced with wide-open eyes. She pulled as hard as she could until they reached the top of the cliff.

Once safe, Cora gestured his thanks to Aran. Elidana threw herself into his arms. She hugged him so tight that the pain of the wound made him groan, but at that moment, he didn't care. A sore back was better than the wolf's jaws or the bottom of the ravine.

"Let's not waste time," gasped Aran. "If there are more of them, we're screwed."

They found Fez and Marmorel, who seemed one with the vegetation and were shaking more than the leaves themselves. It was only when they rejoined the rest of the group that both of them started breathing normally again.

"Let's move," said Cora. The trauma he had just experienced had driven away his fatigue. The wound on his shoulder was bleeding, so he took what was left of his shirt sleeve, made a bundle out of it, and used it to stop the bleeding.

"I'll do it, stay still," Elidana murmured as she tore a strip off the sleeve. He watched her the whole time she took to tend to him. If he died there, he wouldn't regret Ethan Standford, or even Aran or Fez. While he hung from the branch, there was only one thought in his head: the gaze now focused on his wounds, the scent that could brighten even such a desperate situation.

"What a situation!" exclaimed Fez. "I want to go home!" He ran his fingers through his hair, his face pale despite his dark skin. He sat down with his back against a tree. He ran his hands over his face and slumped.

A moment later, Aran was by his side. "Hey..." he said. "Can you make it?"

Fez raised his head slightly. "Yes, no... I... I think I'm about to-" and he trew up.

Marmorel looked away and Elidana went to help him, but Fez wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stood up. "No, I'm better, really," he muttered. "Let's go."

The group continued their march through the woods, their ears perked and their eyes vigilant in case there were other predators. They moved in a tense silence until they reached a clearing. Marmorel collapsed to her knees, both hands covering her eyes and mouth. Her sobs echoed throughout the clearing, and the entire group came to a halt. Aran, who had already ventured into the tall grass, turned back and knelt in front of his friend. He waited a few seconds, but she didn't even move her head. "Hey, look at me." He shook her arms. Marmorel relaxed her shoulders. Aran placed a finger under her chin and gently lifted her face. "Look at me, please."

She raised her eyes, veiled by tears.

"You know I wouldn't lie to you, right?" He asked calmly.

"Yes, I know," Marmorel replied, wiping away her tears.

Fez and Cora stood behind them without a word. Even Elidana approached. Aran looked at the three of them first and then at Marmorel again.

"Whatever happens," he said in a low voice, "I won't let anything or anyone hurt you. I promise you."

Marmorel swallowed. She inhaled and nodded in agreement. Cora didn't know whether it was Aran's feelings for Marmorel or his ability to lie that convinced her, but she grabbed Fez and Elidana's hands.

"We'll solve everything," Aran continued. "I want that to be clear." He clenched his jaw and tilted his head back to peer through the leaves. "We need to be strong, and we need to be strong now."

During the following half day, they diverted even further south. They needed rest, and Cora's back pain, which he had never experienced before, was getting worse and worse. He could have kept going, but the others were not in the same condition. And then, the night would only make them easy prey.

When they tried to orient themselves, Elidana pointed out a large maple tree with branches large enough to straddle. "Can we climb up there?" she asked.

"Okay, but if we spend the night outdoors, Cora, Fez, and I will take turns keeping watch," added Aran. "I don't trust this silence." He looked exhausted, his pants encrusted with mud at the base and torn at the sides.

Despite their exhaustion, with pushes, helps, and slips, the girls climbed up to the first secure branches. "Fez, your turn," said Cora. He shifted his weight to his arm, and a sharp pain in his shoulder stole a groan from him.

Aran frowned at him. "Do you have a broken bone?" he asked in a low voice.

"No, I'm fine, don't worry," he replied, with a forced smile.

"Are you sure?" added Elidana from above.

Before she could finish the sentence, a rustling caught their attention in the direction of some bushes not far away. Another wolf? Cora stiffened at the mere memory of the danger they had escaped. "Quick," he said.

Elidana and Marmorel pulled Fez by the arms. Cora put his foot on Aran's clasped hands, ready to grab the first hold, when a voice interrupted him. "Which one of you is Aran, Aran Allet of Lud?"