Read Online A Wolf Story by James Byron Huggins - Free Book Online

Whatever desperate strength had driven it on and on through the endless night was drained, depleted. Age and those deadly wounds had taken their final toll.
    And as the wolf watched, the old hare opened his eyes again, and spoke softly. "I think I shall rest here ... for a while. I have run far enough. And I am growing cold ... with morning so close."
    Aramus felt the hare's deep wounds quiver with his words. He removed his foreleg, shielding the small form as best he could beneath his thickly coated chest, protecting it from the merciless wind that slashed them with sleet and snow. Silently, he studied the hare's condition, wondering how long it would last before death followed those massive wounds.
    "What has done this to you?" he asked quietly.
    The hare breathed heavily, once, his chin resting upon his chest, then fell very still. For a long moment Aramus was afraid that he had died. Then the hare raised his head, as if fighting off sleep, and spoke.
    "There is no time. I know ... that you are here ... for a purpose. I have heard of the gray wolves, and I know that they, too, worship the Lightmaker. But you must flee this place. A great beast is coming. He will kill you, too. So ... leave quickly. Or there will be no escape."
    The hare breathed slowly, quietly, then stiffened, as if to escape some unendurable agony, before relaxing once again.
    "Little time remains. I fear that already … too many have died. It lives only to destroy those who worship the Lightmaker."
    Aramus knew.
    "Baalkor," he whispered
    The old hare looked into his eyes.
    "That is its name?... Yes, so it seems."
    Wounded breathing rasped in the night air.
    "I have led it far from my home, deep into these cursed woods. And Windgate led my colony ... his colony, now ... south to the caves beside the brook. There, they will be safe. And now you must not stay. I sense your faith, and I know that you, too, worship the Lightmaker. But there is no cause for more sacrifice. To stay … is doom."
    Aramus saw tears form in the tired eyes.
    "So much love, yet we were too weak. I heard the cries of the little ones. And I did not see poor Benjamin rise. But for brave Windgate, we all would have been destroyed. It has no mercy. I have never seen its equal. You are young, and strong, but it is twice your strength, and more. Save yourself."
    The hare's words ended with a quiet sigh, and he lowered his head again upon his chest. His eyes were closed and swollen from his mourning, and his breath became shallow and cold.
    Sorrow touched Aramus to know that this small creature had endured such terror. Yet he was also seized by dread to discover that Baalkor, the dark beast who had killed Karidural and fought his father in the frozen North, was stalking through the forest night, hunting this hare to finish a fight that should never have begun.
    Suddenly, a demonic howl hurled from some distant, darkened ridge invaded the night sky. And Aramus stood, startled, recognizing instantly a cry he had never heard. His breath caught in his chest, and if it were possible he would have looked across the endless night to behold the beast. But he could not. He looked again to the hare, his silver eyes searching.
    The small creature gazed back at him, old and prepared.
    "Yes," he whispered with a nod. “It is coming."
    Such death for the sake of death alone made Aramus' mane bristle. And in his mind he could see Baalkor, that ancient destroyer of lives, rushing silently through the night to this lonely place, fangs fresh with the blood of the innocent, dark eyes burning with hate.
    In horror the frightened wolf remembered Lucas's dream: the dream of Death rising from its hellish grave …
    W hispering his name …
    * * *

     
    nine

     
    Aramus studied the haggard moon that hung oppressively above the distant ridge. Everything he knew told him to flee this evil place. There was nothing he could do for the hare. And to stay would mean death. But still he hesitated, his heart touched,