Ahndrian Archives

Once they were past the tree line, Rei and Thomas picked up their pace. Thomas’s heart was pounding through his chest, but he wore his calm well.

They weren’t supposed to be out here, but he couldn’t figure any other way.

He watched Rei’s back. She seemed so sure of herself. She was always running ahead of him. He wasn’t scared. He didn’t hesitate. He was strong. Yet, he was always behind her. If it hadn’t felt so dumb to be upset over it, he might actually have been sad about it.

She glanced over her shoulder and Thomas met her gaze with a nod. However, his attention was quickly torn when he realized they were being followed.

Thomas caught up with Rei and signaled to stop. They ducked behind the nearest trees and listened.

“Think it’s someone from the city?” Thomas whispered.

Rei peered around the trunk of the tree, “It can’t be. It’s too soon for someone from the city to notice we’re gone. It might be one of the beasts.”

“Rei, we can’t wait here all night,” Thomas put his hand around the hilt of his sword. “I can do this. We have to find Landon’s sword. I know it’s still out here.”

Rei clenched her teeth and turned to him, “Yes, Thomas, I get that. Go. I’ll try and loop around to tail our tail. We’ll meet at the grotto in twenty. Got it?”

“Yeah, sure. Don’t get yourself killed, okay?” Thomas replied.

Rei nodded and her mouth parted in her usual crooked grin. Then, as usual, she vanished right before his eyes. He watched the leaves rustle for a moment before he was sure she ran too far for him to notice anything. Thomas hoisted himself up the nearest tree and scoped out the best path.

“Get it together, Thomas!” he slammed the side of his fist against the tree trunk and took a deep breath.

Next to him, the leaves started to rustle on the forest floor.

“She back already?” He whispered.

To his misfortune, Rei had not yet returned. Instead, he found two beasts, prowling in the buses beneath his feet. He watched them silently— pressing himself against the trunk to avoid an unnecessary fight. It would be easy for him to assume that he was safe in the branches, but he’d seen one of those creatures leap before.

He wasn’t nearly high enough.

Thomas wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold his breath, but he counted himself lucky. A howl broke the quiet of the night, followed by another howl, only this time it was higher in pitch— almost human. Nevertheless, Thomas finally took a breath as the beasts darted off in the direction of the noise.

Right toward the grotto.

What was it? What was it?

The question continued to plague Alice as she tracked the boy’s scent. She hesitated. All she had was a trace to go on and she didn’t get her answer yet.

She had no idea what any of the other smells were. Some of them were reeked of anger— like fire raged throughout the forest. The rest was simply unknown to her. A number of scents she’d never known before. Unfortunately, the same went for her hearing. The more she could hear, the less she wanted to be there.

But she couldn’t stop.

She lost any trace of his scent before she realized it. She’d focused on everything else for too long.

Alice stopped at the base of a tree and took a second to look around her. No matter where she looked, she couldn’t see any human footprints. She walked around a bit further until she found a single set of tracks, but they were dog prints, not human.

The dog’s scent was the first thing she could truly focus on since she got into the forest.

Alice moved quickly, able to find a lot more of these tracks than the human ones. She followed them all the way to a clearing in the middle of the forest. A large, rounded stone buried in the center of the clearing had the appearance of some mystical platform.

It reminded Alice of the books Harriet used to read her— stories full of magic and faeries.

Instead of mischievous beings standing on the buried stone, Alice saw a wolf. Though mystical it still seemed. Alone in the center of a dense green forest, a pure white wolf laid against the smooth stone. At least it should have been white— if not for the abundance of mud and dirt in its fur.

Alice was enchanted the moment she saw him. She took it slow, doing her best not to startle him. As she got closer, his ears perked up and he lifted his head up from the stone. Alice smirked as she watched him wake up. He was just like a dog. The way he yawned and shook his head. The way he rolled slightly as he got to his feet. For a moment, she almost forgot that once the wolf was on its feet, it might not be so docile.

Still, Alice walked forward. She couldn’t help it. She wasn’t scared. The wolf wasn’t scared. In fact, she was pretty sure it was waiting. Simply waiting for her to approach.

The moment her foot touched the platform, he barked. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t a threat. It was greeting— a question.

“I...,” Alice hesitated. She hadn’t spoken to anyone in years. This was the first time she had really heard herself talk in a long time. “Alice. I am Alice. What’s your name?”

She managed to get the words out, but she was struggling to remember everything Harriet taught her. There were rules and ways she was supposed to speak, but she couldn’t remember anything but the words and their meaning.

The wolf barked again. This time even softer. He was calmer.

“Do you have a name?” Alice asked again.

The wolf barked.

“No? Can I name you?”

The wolf looked at Alice, like it was looking into her. Like it was judging her. He walked around her and sniffed her and the air around her. Once he made it all the way around her, he stopped and sat down in front of her, with his head up high. Another sharp bark granted Alice’s request.

Alice stood up and looked him over closely. She thought about his white fur and the dark red of his eyes. She thought about the stories she heard from Harriet and all her favorite ones and her favorite characters.

“I know!” Alice smiled wide and looked down at the wolf triumphantly. “You can be Rabbit. Ok?”

The wolf howled in acceptance of his new name. The sound sent chills all over Alice’s body. In her excitement, she howled too, doing her best to copy the wolf. She laughed and placed her hand on Rabbit’s head.

The more she looked at him, he was incredibly large compared to the dogs she saw in the city. She wasn’t sure how she could have mistaken his prints for a regular dog. She also wasn’t sure why she didn’t fear him. Something about him felt comforting. Like a friend.

However, Alice’s excitement was short lived. That incredible cloud of anger was baring down on her. Something was coming towards her and with it came the air of death.

She grabbed the electric pistol and pointed it out in the trees wherever she could find the smell. One was close. Two were farther away, but they were getting stronger. Nearly half a dozen more were out there, further out than any other scent she could track, but she could smell them.

She wasn’t the only one who sensed that something was wrong. Docile Rabbit snarled in the direction of the scent.

From out of the trees a gnarly blackened creature jumped into the clearing. It circled them, keeping its distance. Alice gasped. She remembered those hollow eyes and that burnt skin. It was the same kind of creature that killed those men the day she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw when she was born into this world. To her, those creatures did not bring death— they were death itself.

The gun in Alice’s hand shook. She’d gotten into a few fights with thieves and bandits, but the scent of these creatures— the grinding hiss of their growl made every hair on Alice’s body stand on end.

The beast pounced at Alice and Rabbit, clearing the distance with a single leap. Alice raised the electric pistol and pulled the trigger, sending a bolt straight at the beast.

It yelped and fell hard back to the ground. The stone cracked beneath its weight. Alice lowered the pistol and let out the breath she’d been holding in to stop the shaking. Rabbit hadn’t let his guard down, but Alice was sure the pistol was at max strength, so at the very least, it wasn’t getting back up. Alice stood up and turned to face Rabbit.

“Come. We have to find-,”

“Don’t look away! It’s not dead!” A girl’s voice called out from the trees. Alice whipped her head around towards the voice. She hadn’t smelled anything new or heard any footsteps, but there was definitely someone there.

“I said don’t look away!” the voice yelled out.

Behind her, Alice heard the sickening growl again. She turned to see the beasts struggling back to its feet. Both Alice and Rabbit readied themselves, but before the creature could stand again, three arrows zipped over Alice’s head. Two found their mark in the beast. The other missed, lodging itself in the stone.

The beast whined. The sound shook Alice’s bones. Black blood flowed out of the wounds made by the arrows and beast collapsed once more.

“Now it’s dead.” it was the girl’s voice again, but she wasn’t in the trees anymore.

Alice whipped around with the pistol at the ready. Rabbit moved around her, standing between her and the disembodied voice.

“Who are you?” Alice asked— only able to see trees behind her despite her efforts.

Alice jumped backward when a girl appeared with an arrow pointed right at Alice’s head. Alice realized that she’d seen the girl before. She was with the boy with the strange scent. This was the first time Alice was able to get a good look at her.

The girl waited to speak. Rabbit’s guttural growling added a soundtrack to their tension.

“You just met this wolf, didn’t you? Why is it trying so hard to protect you?” the girl asked.

Rabbit growled louder and barked.

“Rabbit says we’re friends. Friends protect each other.” Alice translated.

The girl’s jaw dropped as she lowered her weapon. “You can understand the fucking wolf? Thomas is gonna love this.”

All three of them turned to the forest as the leaves broke at the tree line.

“They’re here,” Alice told the girl. “Your friend also.”

“What?” the girl asked.

Before Alice could respond, two more of the beasts rushed out of the trees. Alice shot one as soon as it hit the clearing and it crumpled to the ground. The other one kept charging at them.

“I can’t get a clear shot. Damn!” the girl grunted behind her.

Rabbit rushed forward, pouncing on the beasts, and digging his teeth into it’s back. The black blood splattered on his fangs, steaming as it made contact. Rabbit held it down, keeping it pinned with all his weight.

“This wolf is wicked!” the girl said before releasing the arrow she had notched. It let out a yelp, like the one from before, then stopped fighting against Rabbit’s grasp.

Rabbit ripped a chunk of the beast off in his teeth and started eating what he tore off.

“Oh, fuck me.” the girl turned and gagged in the opposite direction.

The boy rushed through the tree line a few seconds later with a sword in hand.

“Rei! I saw two of the beasts heading this way.”

Rei put her hand in the air and waved him off. “I’m good.”

Thomas looked around and saw Rabbit tearing into the dead beast. He recoiled at the sight of it but brushed it off as he walked towards the stone.

“Other one isn’t dead.” Alice pointed out as the second beast got to its feet.

The beast scrambled to his feet and pounced at Thomas. It bit into his arm, but its teeth cracked against his skin. He jabbed his sword into it— pulling it out as the creature let out one last yelp.

Thomas rushed over to Rei and looked her over, more worried about whether or not she was injured than himself. He still smelled like he did back in the city. He was sad, sadder than she’d ever sensed, but whatever was mixed in there, she didn’t understand.

“Who are you?” Alice asked him.

“Who me? I’m Thomas.” He replied.

Alice took a step closer to him, her hands down at her sides. “You smell sad, but also angry and something else.”

“I... smell?” Thomas asked.

Alice nodded, “Why?”

Thomas opened his mouth then closed it. He didn’t know how to respond to her question.

“How about we all go back to Zeta for the night and talk about this tomorrow? If we stay out here much later, Chief is gonna notice.” Rei spoke up.

“Too late.” a voice from behind them responded.

“Fuck.”