Lyka's breath tore through the silent forest, her heart beating to the rhythm of fear as she ran for her life.
Above her, the forest canopy wove a ceiling that prevented what little moonlight there was to illuminate her way.
And with every step she took, she sank into the soft ground, the sound of her footsteps being muffled by the soft ground, but the distant snap of twigs and clink of armor of her pursuers only meant that they were still on her tail.
And that they were getting close.
Pregnant and bleeding, she kept running. The overhead branches bit into her skin, thorns drawing crimson lines of blood across her skin but she didn't register the pain, she didn't have time to.
The air around her was thick with the scent of her own sweat and the musk damp of the earth.
She was tired and wanted to rest, to atleast catch her breath for a few moments but then she heard a shout.
A voice harsh with command echoed behind her which only meant one thing, the soldiers had found her.
She spun, her foot snagging a root and the ground rose to meet her as she fell, the impact stealing the breath from her lungs.
Vines twined around her legs as if the forest itself was against her. She tried to wrench herself free of them, tried to free her foot, her nails clawing at the vines and roots that entangled her foot but then a torch flared in the distance.
It carved a path through the dark, blinding her. She heard boots crashing through the undergrowth as they rushed towards her and as they neared she heard a soldier's breath catch on a curse.
"There's the whore" he sneered.
Lyka tried to rise up, gods she tried but the ground held her down, the roots and vines anchoring her in place.
Her belly ached causing her to arch sharply and bite against the pain.
She could feel the child stirring weakly inside her.
Rough hands pulled her up, then a gauntleted fist cracked across her cheek asa boot slammed into her side.
"You thought you could run?" the soldier said, spitting saliva all over her face.
Another blow landed, this time to her belly.
"Thought you could bring that bastard child into this world?" the soldier spat with menace.
The words blurred around her, all that she felt was pain, pain and shame and the ever fading light of her life.
But then a growl tore through the commotion, freezing the soldiers in place.
From the dark a glowing pair of eyes pulled through, not one, not two but a dozen more appeared shining in the darkness.
Silence hung in the air as they slowly emerged into the clearing revealing the owners of the glowing orbs.
Wolves.
They were massive, larger than dire wolves, even larger than any natural beast they had ever known. Their fur shimmered like smoke under the torchlight, their muscles shifting and rippling with power.
They did not bare their teeth, nor did they snarl, they just watched the scene before them.
The soldiers instinctively drew closer to each other forming a circle around the injured Lyka, already she was forgotten.
The largest of the wolves stepped ahead of the others.
She was immense, nearly the size of a horse, with her coat streaked with silver and eyes shone like mirrors reflecting the moonlight.
She padded to the edge of the torchlight stopped and scanned the scene before her.
She then looked at Lyka who lay there bloodied and bruised clutching her swollen belly. Then at the soldiers who had their blades drawn with their backs to her.
She sniffed the air, a shift in posture, her ears tilted forward as her muscles tensed.
Recognition.
Her gaze turned to Lyka but something flared in that stare. Empathy, sorrow and probably understanding. She took one step closer and let out a low resonant sound that echoed like a mournful song.
The other wolves followed her lead. Then one by one, they circled the soldiers who then began to panic.
"What's going on?" one of them muttered, sword shaking in his hands. "They seem to be planning something " he said as he backed into another soldier. "They show intelligence in their eyes"
"Kill the woman" the captain growled, finally realizing the situation they were in. He wanted to complete the mission he was tasked either way.
One of the soldiers raised his sword to strike and Lyka tried to scream, to roll away but she couldn't.
The blade fell swiftly, whistling in the air but before it struck her a blur of furcollided with the soldier. Fangs tore into his throat and blood sprayed across Lyka's face as the man collapsed beside her, his body twitching.
But it was too late, the sword had already slashed her side. A ragged cry escaped her lips as she clutched her belly.
The wolves then attacked, bodies slamming into steel, their claws shredding chainmail like paper. The soldiers screamed in pain but would soon be silent.
Only when the clearing was still and every soldier lay broken beneath the bloodied moonlight did the she wolf move to Lyka's side.
Lyka was dazed from the blows to her head and delirious due to the gash in her side. She believed the wolves would devour her now that they had taken out the soldiers who had posed no threat to them to begin with.
The she wolf pressed its muzzle against her face, then her stomach, then her ears dropped. She let out a soft whimper, the sound of grief.
She then lifted her head and howled. This was no cry of victory but of mourning, a cry of choice.
Moonlight shimmered across its body as the clouds parted to reveal the full moon, its form beginning to glow. Silver like light poured from her into Lyka, wrapping her in a cocoon of lunar radiance.
Lyka arched but scream never left her throat. Her entire body was now swallowed by the light that surged into her. Bones knitted, flesh mended, somehow her wounds were healing but she could tell it was more than just that.
She could see the wolf fade as the light poured from it into her. That's when she realized what was actually happening.
They were merging, two beings were becoming one and within her three heartbeats pulsed where once there had been only two.