Princess in the Rough
Chapter 8

Echo

“Um, Amber. I don’t think this is a good idea.” She just challenged the alpha to a battle. What was she thinking! She was going to get herself killed, which will result in a wolf ripping my throat out! Which is not something I want. The rest of the wolves that weren’t guarding Green Paw and Night Cry went to help the alpha prepare.

“The challenge has already been set, there is no backing out unless you want to be killed.” The wolf that had been guarding Amber and I, Mud Mane I think, growled at us.

I wish there was something I could do! But I was as useless as a pile of dirt. All I had was a book, which was no help at all!

“I will give you five minutes to prepare, but no longer.” The alpha retreated back into his den. I sat down on the dirt and stared at my shaking hands.

This is all my fault, I thought to myself in despair. There was no way Amber could beat this guy. If I hadn’t said yes to her going with me, none of this would have happened. Amber, Night Cry and Green Paw would all be safe with the Moon Claw clan right now if I hadn’t said yes.

“It’s not your fault.” Amber said to me, as if reading my mind and put her hand on my shoulder. “I want to thank you for bringing me on this adventure with you. I haven’t done anything this exciting, well, ever!”

“But, why? This adventure has been a disaster since we left, first the corrupted unicorn, and now this.” Why was she thanking me? All I’ve done was lead her to her death.

“Because you gave my life purpose. I couldn’t live with wolves forever. Somebody would reject me or I would get bored and I would have to leave! This has been the highlight of my life. Now cheer up and follow me. I have a plan.”

I was about to say something, but I stopped and hugged the useless storybook to my chest. If we were going to die, might as well die fighting.

“Can I borrow this?” Amber asked me and touched the storybook.

“Uh, sure.” I wonder what she was going to do with it. I handed over the book and waited.

“Thanks. Follow me as quiet as you can.” She whispered and walked towards the side of the den. Hanging out with wolves must really help when walking because if she wasn’t right in front of me I would’ve never been able to tell she was there.

She walked until her back was pressed up against the wall of the den. She slid inside and before I could enter inside as well I heard:

Thunk, whimper, thunk. Thunk, whimper, thunk.

When I saw Amber she was standing between the two now knocked out guard wolves.

“Remind me not to get on your bad side.” I whispered to her, stepping over the limp, but still breathing, wolf bodies. She handed the book back and hopped on Night Cry’s back.

“Get on Green Paw and hold on tight!” She ordered.

“We’re riding wolfs?” I asked, approaching Green Paw.

“Yeah.” She said plainly like it was normal. “Oh yeah, your not from here. Well, you ride cars where your from, here, one of the things we ride are wolves. You do have wolves where your from, right?” She asked as Green Paw and Night Cry sprinted away. It felt like riding a short, very hairy horse with no saddle. In one word, difficult.

I wanted to scream, but I knew we shouldn’t, in case I alerted the alpha. I gritted my teeth instead and tried not to bite my tongue.

“I really hate this.” I said under my breath. I felt like throwing up, but I don’t think Green Paw would appreciate that.

“It’ll be over soon.” Green Paw assured me. Why did I always have to be stuck with the best listener? Behind us I heard howls and growls and soon, the entire Night Walker clan was after us.

“Can’t you go any faster?” Amber asked Green Paw and Night Cry.

“Yes, if we didn’t have anything on our back!” Night Cry growled. We ran and ran until we broke the forest line and were running along a sandy beach but the Night Walker clan kept following us. The alpha was only about a wolf away from us. That was concerning.

“The beach? Ugh! We went too far west! We need to head east! Go back into the forest and try to go east. Maybe we could lose them in there.” I suggested to my companions. Green Paw started turning to the right, heading back into the dangerous woods.

“I don’t want to concern anyone but I’m getting pretty tired.” Green Paw whined.

“They can’t keep running forever.” Amber told me. I bit my bottom lip as Green Paw began to slow down, towards the angry alpha.

“No matter what happens, keep running and don’t look back.” I gripped the storybook tighter to my chest.

“Echo Kaya, what are planning to do?” Night Cry asked, slightly out of breath.

“Keep going and don’t look back.” I let go of Green Paw’s fur and went flying off the running wolf. Something soft broke my fall, the alpha.

“ECHO!” I heard Amber scream at me. Something growled underneath me. I hopped up and started to run, but something landed on my back, I fell on the ground again, hard, sand shouldn’t feel that way. I tried to get up again, but the thing on my back was too heavy.

“Chase the others down! I’ll deal with this one.” The alpha growled from a top my back.

“Can you get off me?” I asked, trying to breath. The alpha huffed and got off me. I turned around so I was sitting on my bottom and waited for the alpha to say something.

“Your friends won’t escape.” He said, sitting down as well.

“That’s what you think.” I said, putting on the same brave face I had when talking to the Moon Claw clan.

“Oh, and how will they escape?” He asked coyly.

“They have something that will keep them going, something that you’re wolves don’t have.” I said, gaining courage with each word.

“And what’s that?”

“Your wolves chase them with fear of you, my friends run because they have hope. Hope that they’ll make it and hope that they’ll be able to rescue me.” I smiled smugly, confident my friends would make it.

“That is a false hope.” He growled. “Your friends are better off without you. You, you have nothing to contribute, you know nothing of this world, I can smell it on your clothes. You cannot fight, you are nothing. I doubt they will come back for you.”

My face remained the same, but my heart ached. What if they didn’t come back? I barely knew them, why would they come back for me?