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Chapter XIII: Howling, running, running and Howling.

So they ran.

In her weakened state it was difficult for Sonja to hold on to the pony, so every now and again, Andrew was having to stop and help her read adjust her seat. As he did, she’d catch him looking back behind them trying to pinpoint how far back the howls were.

“What’s making those howls?” she asked at one point.

“Uh,” he looked at Raven. “Not sure. Not really.”

“Uh-huh.” She replied. “You have a theory?”

Andrew tightened the makeshift belt a bit. “We really need to keep moving. Not a lot of time for just chatting.”

“Cause the thing you are not sure about is chasing us?”

He nodded and started the running again.

When they came to a small stream, Andrew stopped and let the pony get a drink. The howling still seemed a ways off, but it was still following them.

“For no particular reason,” he asked Sonja as he helped her of the pony to stretch, “how tough is a dire wolf?”



The look Sonja gave him was withering. “Really?” she asked. “Really? You stole a pony from a Plains Hunter?”

“I needed a way to move you. They had a spare pony.”

Sonja moved back towards the pony. “They??!! There was more than one?”

“Well, there seemed to be a meeting going on or something. I didn’t think they would really notice.”

“Help me back on that silly beast and get us running again.” She said.
Andrew held out his hands and gave her a boost back onto the back of the beast. “Just because you are a silly mush doesn’t mean you have to prove it every chance you get.”

“I needed a way to move you,” he repeated.

“Yeah,” Raven chimed in. “He needed a way to move you. Besides, no one got killed.”

Sonja sighed realizing the futility of arguing with people who didn’t understand the premise.

“No one got killed yet.” She corrected.

Andrew smiled, full of confidence that came from somewhere Sonja couldn’t even fathom. “That’s right.” He said taking pride that no one had gotten killed yet.

The pain in Sonja’s side and in her shoulder made it hard for her to talk when they were moving at full speed, but the sheer stupidity of Andrew’s action wouldn’t sit inside her.

“What made you think that stealing from a Hunter’s clan gathering was anything close to a good idea?” she asked. Her voice was quivering slightly from the bouncing of the fast moving pony.

“We got the pony. No one got killed. It was a good plan.” He said between gasps for air. Andrew wasn’t terribly used to running.

“They will track us until they catch us. It’s what they do. They are hunters. It’s what they do.”



Andrew stopped running and came back to her.

“You are hurt. You need help. I needed to find a way to move you.”

“But Hunters are…”

He interrupted her quickly. “I needed to move you. What I had to do to do that doesn’t matter. I did what needed doing.”

Andrew turned back and grabbed the pony’s lead and started running again.

“And I would do it again. Damn the consequences. ” He tossed back at her and while he couldn’t see it and would probably be annoyed at it, she was smiling.

And the howling was getting closer and they kept running.

“How much farther to the forest,” Andrew called up to Raven who served as both the guide and the lookout.

Raven circled down and dropped into a glide next to Andrew. “We are not far from the tree line, but…”

Andrew’s lungs were burning from the running. He tried to ask, but couldn’t get the words out.

“How close, Raven?” Sonja asked.

The large black bird circled out in front of Andrew and turned back to perch on Sonja’s outstretched hand.

“They are close. Closer to us than we are to the trees.”

Sonja closed her eyes and shook her head slightly.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking, Lady.”

Suddenly the pony stopped running and she and the bird looked up to find that Andrew had stopped running. They had stopped altogether.

“Well, stop that thinking, both of you. I’ve got another brilliant plan.” Andrew said grinning ear to ear.