Chapter Three: Into the woods

by Gege16

The wind was roaring like a furious dragon. The coniferous forest, which in the dark drew gloomy figures with its shades, was covered by an immaculate blanket of snow. After so many months the eagle dressed in white: the mighty winter had come to Moskova. This season had a very particular symbolism in the region, because although it had a strong reminiscence of death and silence, many people gave at the same time a sense of hope, overcoming and renewal, since after its rawness the most beautiful forms of nature were brought to life again.
Aliosha kept running with teary eyes without seeing where he was going to. Until he stopped and realized that he had moved far from the vicinity of Barkistan. When he looked around and saw the imposing and old trees covered by snow, too many feelings got into his head. Peace and loneliness Fear and awe. Fascination. Many are the sensations that come from being alone surrounded by the deadly nightly silence of a winter forest. These reach the deepest part of the soul. Is not easy find the right words to describe them, only experience can let you know how they are.
Dylara arrived a bit later at the place where her friend had stood.
" Uff, I got tired running here " she said panting "it's too late and it's cold. Normally your mother would tell us to go back to town early but this time for some inexplicable reason she didn't give a damn. I wonder what she told to my parents..."
Aliosha looked at her, apparently he had dried his tears with his coat and was a little calmer than before.
" I tried to forget it, to not cry, to act in a mature way, to be strong. But nothing helped" he said, looking down " Deep in my soul the sorrow is still alive".
" Do not think I do not feel the same "she replied grabbing one of his hands.
" Something I don't understand is the letter. Why did she hide it for so many years and gave it to me right on my birthday? What did my father mean by the sinister darkness? "The guy asked with a mixture of indignation and worry.
" If he linked the letter with that legend, it clearly has to do with that, right? " Said the young woman looking at the white tops of the tall trees "I have the feeling that this is the beginning of something great".
" I do not know, it seems silly to relate both things " he replied with an incredulous tone " these are stories to scare children. I no longer believe in those magical things. Although I must recognize touching that saber, it gave me a strange feeling".
"What do you mean? " she asked confused.
" When I took that sword, I felt that something of me had been completed, as if it were part of my life a long time ago. Although the only thing I remember how we lived before arriving to Barkistan are vague memories of my father ...
Dylara was thoughtful, because she had felt almost the same. The wind began to blow louder and harder as the snow fell. Some clouds stayed out of position, showing small patches of clear sky in what appeared to be a beautiful aurora of violet and green tones.
" What? This is really weird!, since when are the northern lights visible from this region? I do not..."
"Shhhhhhh Don't speak!" Dylara interrupted when she heard a noise coming from the trees...
Both stopped talking and put themselves on alert, taking the sabers from the covers that were tied in their waists. They noticed their heavy breathing was not the only sound that cut the deadly silence of the forest.The noise was heard closer until bright eyes began to be seen among the dark trees. And finally, a terrifying howl was heard. It was not the typical howl of a wolf or dog, it had a more torn,perturbing and distorted sound, like the sound emitted by an injured animal crying of suffering or dying one. A pack of creatures that appeared to be large gray wolves immediately emerged from the darkness of the forest. They had deteriorated fur, huge bright yellow eyes.The canids approached and the children tried to push them away with the swords, although it didn't work.
"Perhaps it is better to run" they said in a raspy whisper in unison and in a jiffy they began to run quickly through the trees while the wolves chased them trying to lash out at them. They jumped on the fallen branches with impressive and almost supernatural precision. They were open-mouthed, exposing large cracked and sharp fangs that cut the tense air as they growled. Meanwhile, the children continued running at full speed forming zig zag patterns among the trees to mislead the set of animals, which was not going to give up easily. Adrenaline was the dominant factor at this time. Despite slipping in the snow, they did not stop the race, every effort counted to leave those creatures behind.
Finally, there was no place else to run. They reached the clear where the forest sections intersected, which was flanked by a deep cliff that separated it from the valley of the turbulent Jash River. The sky was already completely clear, so the stars and the mysterious light were visible.
The wolves cornered the children, so they used their swords again to keep them away and avoid being directed to the ravine.
" Obviously these are not normal wolves "Aliosha said while fighting with one of the wolves trying to bite his arm "i have never seen anything like this.
They had positioned themselves with their backs when the animals surrounded them and changed places while fighting against them.
Dylara opened her eyes wide and made a wry smile when she saw the brightness of what seemed to be two large emerald green eyes between the trees.
"For the sake of the gods! This must be a bad joke!"She exclaimed in an annoyed and tearful tone.
" Seriously, what's up? He asked in a whisper.
"Do not look behind you " Dylara replied " Do not ask me why, you'd rather not know".
Aliosha turned to see what was happening. The lights were getting closer and closer until the silhouette of a huge animal that was running towards the kozzakhi could be distinguished. In less than a second this silhouette came out of the darkness with a great leap.
" AAAAAAAAAAAH !!!!!!! " the two paralyzed children  screamed when they saw the imposing tiger with bright orange fur and emerald green eyes jumping in front of them. The beautiful feline, with huge claws, long fangs and spectacular fur fell gracefully in the snow next to the children, but surprisingly instead of attacking them, he began attacking the wolf pack!
The twelve years old  Kozzakhi did not give credit to their eyes, however, they began to feel a strange feeling of safety when they realized that the tiger was helping them, so they decided to stop staring at the scene and return to battle.
However, the one who seemed to be the alpha of the pack, stood in front of the tiger to attack him, but then ,it turned to see the children with intentions of throwing them over. When the animal was in the middle of his jump, the tiger let out a shrill and deafening roar that managed to knock him and the rest of the pack down. So strong was this that it felt as if the earth was shaking, the roar even managed to make the owls fly out of the trees. The wolves were left in a state of disorientation, which made them stagger from side to side.
"RUN!!! They won't stay the whole night in that way" shouted the tiger.
"I think I already lost my mind" said Aliosha extremely confused and dizzy, throwing himself into the snow "That tiger ... talked to us ?!"
"You are not the only one who heard it, I warn you!" Dylara replied with the same sensation as her friend, but standing.
Suddenly, the alpha rose from the ground, seeing him, the tiger told the children " You better get on my back if you do not want to end up under the ravine or as dog food" and immediately grabbed Aliosha (who was lying on the ground trying to assimilate what happened) of the collar of his shirt, with the same incredible delicacy that felines have when they take their cubs. Dylara climbed on her own a second later. The tiger gave another raucous roar and the three of them ran away from the place running as fast as possible to the north, leaving the attackers alone and stunned in the darkness of the winter night.

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