Chapter 9: Thirst

The howl resounded through the trees, causing the leaves to shake and a few to fall. Hurriedly, she glanced up at the sky, seeing how dark it was starting to get.

As she stared up, she began to sway on her feet, before she needed to plop down on her bum. Come to think of it, after having walked all day long, Addie’s throat felt dry and scratchy. She was so thirsty she started to wonder if she could suck on some moss or something. Her surroundings seemed to blur and darken at the edges until an odd sense of humor overtook her.

“Why the laughter, little one?” Squishy inquired.

“It's just... funny,” Addie managed between chuckles. “I’m just thirsty, I guess. And, it’s almost night! That’s not good.” Her laughter turned to a depressed sigh as she realized the gravity of her situation. “We’re going to die, aren’t we? And how come I’m not sweating even though it feels so hot out here? It feels so dry.” She idly fanned herself with the collar of her shirt. She knew they needed to keep moving, to outpace the howls, but she couldn’t find the energy to move.

It was all Addie could do not to keel over right then and there. She felt something warm brush up against her leg, and when she looked down, she saw Squishy’s front paws resting on her leg. A small whimpering-keening sound came out of his throat, something she hadn’t heard from him before.

Another howl sounded nearby, drawing Addie out of her stupor. Despite the weakness in her body, she stood up hastily as adrenaline started pumping through her blood.

“Squishy, I’m scared,” Addie said.

“Don’t be afraid, my lady. Let us continue moving toward the stream.”

“You know, if we make it to the stream, we’ll be safe,” Addie said, trying to convince herself.

“I know. I grew up in these woods,” Squishy replied.

All the water sources in this forest were unanimously treated as safe havens. Addie didn’t know for sure why, but she did remember the time she scraped her knee and her dad brought her to the healing waters spread throughout this forest.

Addie looked to her left, where a giant golden wolf, the same size as her dad rested beside them.

“Dad?” Addie had asked.

“Yes?”

“How come the big wolfy isn’t trying to eat us?”

As if to punctuate Addie’s question, a small silver rabbit walked right up to the golden wolf and continued past to drink at the stream.

“This entire Area is within my domain, Addie,” her dad had said, “I chose to make a town surrounded by these forests because of how peaceful the water is. I thought, if my town could drink from such peaceful waters, wouldn’t my people prosper? If the water is enough to even defang an Aurwolf, then surely it will allow for peace between my people. But, don’t ever come out here by yourself, Addie. The Aurwolves come out at night, and will act viciously if you aren’t near the water.”

Addie shook her head, pushing away the memory. She needed to focus, and they needed to find a stream. The pair continued forward, Addie glancing up at the sky to check on the Binary’s position every so often.

“Have you found anything, yet?” Addie asked between deep breaths.

Even though night was supposed to be cooler, she felt so unbelievably hot. She ran a tongue over her lips, which felt dry and cracked. She hadn’t even realized they were hurting until just now.

“Not yet, but I think something is close. I am starting to recognize some of our surroundings.”

The next time Addie looked up into the sky, she couldn’t see the Binary anymore. It had gotten close enough to setting that the surrounding forest blocked Addie from seeing it.

Then, there was a rustle not far from Addie, just a few meters behind her, punctuated by a howl.

“Squishy!” Addie cried out, her mind suddenly more awake.

“Run, my lady,” he said without sounding panicked.

She almost hesitated, with the way his mental voice seemed so calm, but deep underneath his words, she could feel how worried he was. She didn’t need to be told twice. Addie started sprinting as fast as she could, forest detritus getting in her way and slowing her down.

“Can’t you claw out its eyeballs or something?!” Addie ducked underneath a tree branch coming her way, then continued her sprint.

“Pay attention to your surroundings and run,” Squishy replied instead.

From the few flashes she saw of it behind them, the gigantic wolf had golden fur, confirming all of Addie’s worst fears from throughout the day. She could hear it even now pushing past the brambles in pursuit. The Aurwolf punctuated its presence with near-constant ear-piercing howling.

To find a stream and then recover were the only two things Addie wanted. Instead, she had to run for her life from some terrifying monster. And these stupid thorn bushes were not making things better! Worse, her lungs were burning, and she thought she could taste blood in the back of her throat.

Stumbling, one of the thorny bushes snagged on the skirt of her dress, slowing her down as the bottom half of the plant dragged in the dirt. With a loud tear, her skirt ripped, causing the thorny bramble to slide down her leg. She winced but somehow managed not to fall. She had to kick her leg out a few times to finish dislodging the thorns, but it managed to come free.

Her throat burned as she sucked the air into her lungs. In between breaths, Addie half shouted, “Maybe we can climb a tree or something!” She had to ignore the way the world seemed to spin around her.

Squishy responded quickly, “If we slow down to make the attempt, I fear we will be caught.”

It’s easy for you to say. Addie thought to herself. The silly cat-lizard creature continued to show how good he was at running through the forest. Where Addie picked up every bramble and ran into every little tree branch, or even tripped on the rocks, Squishy dodged each obstacle perfectly.

The two of them were running from the golden wolf monster, but it felt an awful lot more like Addie was running and Squishy was just lagging on purpose so they wouldn’t be separated. Dear Aggan how she wanted some water!

She wanted to give up.

The wolf pounced at Addie from behind, and she barely managed to see it and move her leg out from its jaws just in time.

She did not want to give up. In fact, the close brush with the jaws of death motivated Addie to run even faster. Her increased pace caused her to kick a small stone full force, stubbing her poor toes and squealing in the process.

“Run faster, my lady.” Despite the situation, Squishy’s internal voice managed to come across as calm.

“I’m trying!” Addie barely replied with a lot less poise and a lot more hoarse screaming. She was parched.

“Focus your mind. I can evade this four-legged beast easily. You must learn to run with the forest instead of against it. If you stopped making an enemy of the trees you could escape just as easily as I.”

Squishy’s words filled Addie up with frustration. If she knew how to ‘run with the forest’ she’d already be doing that!

“I don’t know how!” she screeched, just trying to survive for the next few seconds.

Her next footfall landed on a twig, snapping it in two. The distraction cost her a few seconds as she had to readjust her footing.

Addie looked behind her to check for the wolf. All she saw were a few patches of moving fur in between groups of bushes. She turned her head back around to face the front, only to see a big boulder revealed in front of her. She watched as Squishy expertly jumped straight up to the top and presumably landed on the other side. Addie couldn’t do that, so she had to run around the massive thing.

“Remember the gnats from earlier?”

She could see Squishy’s triangular ears in front of her, leading the way.

“Gnats?” Addie puffed out the word as she desperately searched for more air to fill her struggling lungs.

“Earlier, remember when you noticed the gnat without using your eyes?”

“I remember.” Another thorn nicked Addie’s arm, causing her to swerve slightly to the left.

It was getting even harder to see. The forest was already naturally darker due to the canopy above, and now, the binary had started to fall past the horizon. Dusk coming meant Addie seemed to trip on even more forest stuff. The Aurwolf had no such trouble. She felt, more than heard, it run up to her and nip the air just behind her, before slinking back into the bushes to continue the chase.

“I think...” Addie gulped in another breath of air, “It’s playing with me. Why hasn’t it eaten me already!” Though she pushed out that last sentence in exasperation, Addie was glad the horrible thing was playing with her. That gave her more time to run.

“Close your eyes. Trust your new senses.”

“Are you... crazy?” Addie huffed out.

Addie would sooner return to Realmspace to teleport away than try closing her eyes. Even if her soul was still recovering. Better a torn-up soul than becoming something else’s dinner.

Again, the wolf approached her from behind, but this time she could make out a slight difference in its posture. It seemed more serious, this time. Addie gulped and prepared to dodge.

With a roar, the creature leaped straight for Addie’s center, this time not bothering with her legs.

A flash of black scales soared overhead for a moment, and Addie heard a tussle and a canine yelp.

“What,” she gasped, still running, “happened?” Addie looked to her left, where Squishy was already circling around her to lead the way again. Without looking, she ducked underneath another branch.

“I ‘scratched its eyes’ as you so thoughtfully suggested earlier.” His tone sounded sarcastic, but Addie wasn’t sure if the silly creature even could be sarcastic.

“You.. silly.. cat. How come... you didn’t do.. that earlier?” She managed between huffing breaths. Her throat hurt so much it almost wasn’t worth trying to talk. She needed water.

Squishy responded with a question of his own, “How come you didn’t do that earlier?”

“Do what? I can’t scratch out its eyes! I’d die!” Somehow, Addie managed to shout the whole sentence without pausing for breath.

“Just now, you were looking at me with your eyes, but you ducked underneath a branch you could not have seen. Again, I ask, how come you didn’t do that earlier?”

“I...” Addie had to pause and think for a bit while she kept running. She had somehow dodged that branch without looking at it, now that she thought about it.

Dusk was almost over, and Addie guessed she had another five minutes at most until it was completely dark out.

“That most recent.. pounce.” The loam underneath Addie’s right foot gave out for a moment, revealing some kind of burrowing animal’s entrance. She stumbled, then caught herself and kept running. “It was going for.. the kill.. wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Squishy’s confirmation was punctuated by a ferocious growl just behind her, as the Aurwolf made its displeasure known. Again, Addie glanced behind her. She saw a series of three angry red slashes across the front of its face and over its right eyelid; the slashes across its face forced that eye shut. The night started to get darker.

Addie tried to focus and use the ability Squishy was so good at, but she just got flashes of leaves and tiny specks of dirt. She kept running, not daring to close her eyes. She focused on her magic again, but this time she only ‘saw’ a random budding fern.

Checking behind herself, she could still barely see the Aurwolf’s foaming mouth. Despite her desperately pumping heart begging for rest, and her aching body begging for water, Addie somehow managed to speed up yet again.

Turning to face forward again, she could only just barely continue making out Squishy’s silhouette in front of her, and only because he was purposefully trying to stay in Addie’s sight. The fear in Addie’s heart tightened around her as she thought about closing her eyes. But, at this point, the fear didn’t matter much. She wouldn’t be able to see soon, anyway. Nightfall was here.

It wasn’t courage or bravery. Out of pure desperation, Addie closed her eyes.