Princess in the Rough
Chapter 4

Echo

“Is she alive?” Something poked my side. Probably my annoying younger brother, waking me up on a weekend. I hated it when he did that, and he knew it, that’s why he did it.

“Don’t know. I dare you to lick her to replace out.” A another voice, male as well. Maybe Dad, but why did he want him to lick me?

“Ewww, gross. Do you see how clean her face is, she probably uses soap.” Something next to me shuddered. I opened my eyes a peek to see what was going on.

Wolfs. Two large wolves were standing over me with drool dripping from their mouths and landing on my face. I whimpered. I was going to be eaten by wolves before I got to high school.

“Will you two leave her alone? You’re scary enough when you don’t fight. Even if she is alive, we don’t want to scare her to death.” A girl around my age came into view by my feet. Her amber colored hair was long, wild, and looked like it had never been cut. Freckles were sprayed across her face like she spent weeks out in the sun along with her dark tan skin that’d probably seen to much sun as well, and her blue eyes were as bright as the afternoon sky.

“Hound Heart is the one with sharp teeth. I’m still nearly a pup; but that doesn’t mean I still can’t whoop your furry butt in a fight.” The smaller one growled. Nearly a pup, nearly a pup! It was bigger than a full grown wolf back home!

“Look, she’s awake.” The girl said, bending down so she was in between the two wolves. Man, was she brave. Was she talking to them?

“Hi.” I waved awkwardly, slowly backing up. I did not want to become Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.

“Hello, who are you?”

“Uh, Echo. Echo Kaya Jones. Just call me Echo.” I said, backing up some more.

“Hello Echo, don’t be scared; these are my friends, Green Paw, and Hound Heart.” She introduced her pet wolves. Green Paw was muddy brown with a white spot on his left eye and Hound Heart was deep reddish brown and all of his underside was black.

“Nice names. They’re not going to eat me, are they?”

“No! Of course not! Unless you dare threaten the Moon Claw clan.”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be doing that. You never said your name, what is it?” I was buying time so I could get out of here. Maybe I could grab that storybook, wherever it was.

“I’m Amber Fur and I run with the wolfs. Does that sound weird? I’ve been preparing to meet a human all my life and so I made up a cool thing to say but I guess that sounded better in my head.” She chuckled nervously.

“Run with the wolfs, so does that make you a werewolf?” I asked, generally curious.

“What? No! I think. I’m pretty sure I’m a human.” She sighed.

“So, just to be clear, you won’t eat me. Right?” I asked again. Amber seemed nice, and the wolfs didn’t look as scary as they had been when I was right below them. Right now, I had backed off far enough to be leaning on a tree.

The storybook that brought me here was to my left, so I grabbed and hugged it to my chest. If it brought me here, it could bring me home.

Amber chuckled. “Right, I’m not a freaking cannibal. So, tell me more about yourself!” She said a little too anxiously. “I’m sorry, it’s been a really, really long time since I’ve seen another human.” She sighed and sat down cross legged. Hound Heart laid down and put his head in her lap. She started scratching behind his ears and looked at me intently, as if expecting me to give her my deepest secrets.

“Um, I’m fourteen and I, uh, like the color purple.”

“That’s awesome! I’m fifteen and my favorite color is pale white; like the moon. So, what brings a human to the center of Hunter’s Arrow Woods. The name might seem like it’s okay but hunting is prohibited under law of King Cedric Majesty.”

“I’m not hunting. I sorta got here on accident.”

“How do you come into restricted woods full of dangerous animals and moon wolves, on accident?”

“Good question, but I’ve got no answer.”

“Like my buddy, Oak, would say, not knowing is knowing what you don’t know, so how could you know if you don’t know what you know? You know? He’s funny. What’s that your hugging?”

“It’s called the Fairy Tale Trials. It kinda brought me here. I’m kind of from another world.” I mumbled. Amber seemed surprised, but only a little bit.

“That’s cool.” She said, her surprise vanishing, as she rubbed Hound Heart’s belly.

“Do you know how I could get home? Like, um, doing what the storybook did, but in reverse, so I go home instead of here.” I asked, hopeful. She stared at me blankly.

“Not a clue. That’s the first time I’ve ever even seen a book.” She chuckled awkwardly.

“Can you read?” The hope I had began to shrink.

“Yes, but only the stars and patterns of the moon. I can read trails as well but I couldn’t even read a word for the life of me.”

“Guess living with wolves does that to you. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go replace someone that can help. Not to be rude, but someone that can’t read isn’t much help to me right now.” I got up and brushed of my pants, getting ready to leave.

“Please, take me with you! At least for a short while. I’ve never been out of these woods and honestly, I’ve never seen another human and wolves only provide so much company.” She pleaded. Green Paw growled at her.

“Er, I guess you could come with me. I don’t know the woods very well, and you did say you could read the stars, which would help with navigation.” I said, approving of the idea.

“Is it okay if I bring along my best friends? Or, wolf friends? Green Paw and Night Cry. They can keep us safe.”

“I guess it would be okay, you did say Hunter’s Arrow Woods is dangerous?”

“Very dangerous. Probably the biggest threat is the moon wolves but you already have one clan on your side. Now we just need to avoid the other seven’s territory.”

“How many wolves are in each pack?” I asked, kinda, well actually, really afraid.

“I don’t know for sure. We’ve only encountered three of them. The Cliff Hunter clan, Midday Moon clan, and the Blood Moon clan. Out of those three, the Cliff Hunter clan has seven, the Midday Moon clan has thirteen, and the Blood Moon clan has fifteen. Our clan, the Moon Claw clan has ten but we are the most powerful in the forest. You stay here with Green Paw, I’m going to go get Night Cry.” She ordered and with that she was gone surprisingly fast.

“Hi.” I waved at Green Paw who was staring at me with light blue eyes. Being alone with wolves, such fun. I hugged the storybook tighter to my chest. I had a dog once, his name was Harry, he used to chew up all my favorite shoes, and once even my book! I’ve never trust a dog near a book since then, even if it was a moon wolf that was larger than a full grown wolf at home.