Three years later
My paws bled and throbbed as I pounded forwards. Gnarled tree branches raked my ribs, but the caws growing louder behind me reminded me I couldn't stop. I could only run deeper into the black forest. It didn't matter what was hidden in its depths; what pursued me was worse.
Thick trees and bramble weaved together tightly in front of me, trapping me at the end of the trail. I pinned my ears against my head to try and block out the cackling, but it still burned its way into my brain. The crow dived towards my face, its wings frayed like the cloak of a phantom.
"Ylvana!"
I jolted awake, gasping for air.
"It's okay!" my mother said. "It was just a nightmare."
I had to take a couple of breaths to calm my racing heart. I am okay, I thought. I'm in my bedroom, on my windowsill. Wait, on my windowsill?
"Have you been sleeping there all night?" my mother asked.
"Uh, yeah," I said, thinking back to last night. "I was up drawing and must have fallen asleep here. You can blame Miria for leaving me like this."
Mom smiled as she sat by my legs. "I'm sure she knows by now she'd have a better chance waking a hibernating bear than you."
"Hey, at least I'm getting a full 8 hours."
My mother scoffed. "Yes, straight through breakfast."
I whirled my head around to look at the clock, and sure enough, it was 1 pm. Geez, I really need to get on a better sleep schedule. I stretched my back, which felt more or less like a wooden board since I used bricks as a mattress last night.
The warmth of the sun poured through the cool glass. Outside, the sky was crystal clear, and the evergreens hid the inch of snow still clinging to the ground. One could almost pretend it was summer.
"I have an idea," I said to my mom. "What if we took a walk to the village and grabbed lunch at The Lodge? We could do some shopping, I could say hi to the others-" I stopped, noticing the frown of my mother's face. "What is it?"
She sighed. "Albin said he wanted us to stay inside today. The Wolves were reporting Crow activity."
I slouched against the bricks. Those stupid Crows had to ruin everything!
"I'm sure they'll be another day we can go out. The weather's warming up. We'll have a lot of nice days in our future."
She seemed to be forgetting how crazy the weather could be around here. It could be decently warm and sunny one day and full out blizzarding the next.
I stretched out my legs as far as the windowsill allowed me, but it didn't help to relieve my restlessness muscles. This was a constant side effect of my shifting power, even in human form, I had the wolfish yearning to run for miles on end. Today it was especially pressing. I needed to get outside and stretch my legs.
"Are you okay?" mom asked.
"I'm fine."
"You've locked yourself up here for weeks. Miria says you barely even talk to her anymore."
I shrugged. "I just miss home."
She stood behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulder, just like when I was little. "I do too. I promise; we'll be back home in no time."
I bit my tongue. We've been stuck here for three years, and this war isn't gonna end overnight.
"Now you better get down to lunch," she says, walking towards the door. "You lose any more weight, you'll be a walking skeleton."
When she shut the door behind her, I rested my head back against the cool glass of the window. I would have fallen asleep if it weren't for the tapping sound that startled me so badly I almost fell backward.
I relaxed when I saw the tawny barn owl outside on the ledge. "Jaelva, Månen! Don't scare me like that!" I opened the window.
Her tawny feathers glowed gold in the sunlight as she flew in and landed on my nightstand. "I'm sorry, dear, I thought you were awake. I should've known better, being only midday."
I rolled my eyes. "So I didn't wait up at the crack of dawn. I was up late last night, drawing."
"Ooh, another one? Can I see?"
I pointing to one of the sketches above my bed: this one of a pure black wolf standing among trees. It was different from the usual grey wolves I drew; wolves that looked like me.
"It's amazing, Ylvana," Månen said. "Makes me wish I had thumbs."
"You could use your beak."
She tried to pick up a nearby pencil but ended up dropping it.
I laughed, picking it up for her. "Did you just come by to throw my stuff around?"
"Mostly I had to get away from that fox of yours. He says hi, by the way."
"My fox? What did my fox do now?"
"Only begged me to bring him here to see you. I said I was not flying his fat, furry behind all the way up here, and he got emotional."
"Can't see why. Not like that was offensive or anything."
"I also wanted to see how you were doing."
"I'm fine. Bored to death, but I'll get through it."
She tilts her head sideways. "Really? I'd think you'd be more distraught."
The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. "Distraught about what?"
"I should have never told you," Månen said from my shoulder. "I just thought you knew." Her words were shaky as I bounced down the tower's spiraling staircase.
"Of course I didn't know," I huff. "The Royals never tell me anything."
I marched through the white castle hallways, past warriors who raised their eyebrows at me since I was breaking a rule by having an animal inside, but I didn't care. I was on my way out.
I came to the top of the stairs in the entrance hall and scooted my butt over the railing.
Månen ruffled her feathers. "You're not serious."
"What? It's fun!"
"Child."
"Yes, I am."
Månen lifted off my shoulder as I slide down the railing. A rush of excitement shot through my body, the perfect thing to wake a person up in the morning. Or, in my case, afternoon. I hopped off the bottom, landing perfectly on my feet.
"If my mother saw you do that, she'd skin you and turn your pelt into a throw-rug," Miria said, walking out of the throne room, arms crossed and frowning; a look I'd grown used to seeing. She always had a passion for fashion, but today I noticed she was especially fancy, wearing a flowing green satin dress and her dark, curly hair half up.
"Who's the lucky girl?" I asked as Månen returned to my shoulder.
Mir rolled her eyes. "I'm not going on a date. Don't tell me you forgot!"
I didn't tell her.
"Come on, Ylvana! The Spring Equinox!"
Oh, now I really felt like an idiot. The Spring Solstice was my favorite celebration of the year and I had completely forgotten it!
"Do you at least remember me asking you to help set things up?"
"Now that you brought it up I do," I said, walking away. "I'll be back in a little bit, I just have to put Månen outside."
"It's starting in a few hours!" she called after me.
The castle ball was usually lame, but Mir and I had a fun time decorating. I felt bad about breaking my promise, but right now, I had bigger problems.
"Forget about this, Ylvana," Månen said in my ear. "Go help her. The village will be fine."
"I can't, Mo. I have to see it for myself." Remembering my nightmare, dread settled in my stomach, urging me to go faster. A warning hung in the atmosphere, and I had to figure out what it meant.
I couldn't just walk out the front door since guards would stop me from leaving without an escort, but there was more than one way out of the castle. So I made my way downstairs to the stables. Most of the stalls were empty, but the musk of horses clung to the air. The gates were open to allow the animals to come and go from the pasture as they pleased. My only obstacle was the two wolves sleeping by the doors.
"Mo, can you get Frostbite for me?" I asked the owl.
"Sure, I'd love to be an accomplice to this stupid plan of yours," she huffed, taking off.
A few minutes later, she returned perched on the back of a pure white mare who clopped by the wolves without trouble.
I patted her nose in greeting. "How are ya, Frostie?"
"Just fine," she said. "It's a beautiful day, the snow's almost gone. Perfect weather for sneaking out."
I glared at Mo, the little snitch.
"This is my… what? Fifth time out of three years?"
Frostbite snorted. "More like fifteen."
"Who taught you to count?" I climbed onto her back and hugged her neck, keeping my body low so her scent covered mine.
The wolves flinched as Frostbite walked by, but didn't even bother opening their eyes. Once clear of the Warriors, Frostbite started trotting to the other side of the field. Now, it's difficult to keep your balance while trotting in a saddle, but riding bareback makes it nearly impossible.
I tightened my knees around her and grabbed fistfuls of her hair. "Take it easy, Frostbite, I'm losing my-"
She stopped, sending me flying over her head into a face-first landing in the grass. Månen laughed from the sky above me.
I looked up to see a pair of leather combat boots. "Someone needs to work on their riding," their owner said.
I slowly stood, wearing an awkward grin. "Hey… what's up?"
Firyali's brown eyes judged my every movement. "A clever trick, but completely unnecessary. You could've asked me to accompany you out."
I dusted my pants off. "I would've gone to you, but A; I didn't know where you were, and B; you might have said no."
"Whatever," she said, grabbing Frostbite's halter. "Wanna help me get tacked up?"