Ashes to Ashes

Gentle, soft flakes of snow fell upon my cheeks, waking me from slumber. I blinked several times before I decided to lift my head and look about. I noticed that the walls and ceiling were made of stone, except in the middle of the cave ceiling was a hole, allowing snow to reach me. The stone seemed to be glistening in the moonlight that found it's way into the cave. And the cave floor, covered in dried grass, moss, small twigs, and a bit of snow. I laid my head back down, and tilted it slightly. Soft, white fur met my face, warming it with every touch. I was startled by this, which made me jump to my feet. Sharp and burning pain shot up my legs and into my spine, making me fall to the ground. "Ah!" I muffled my screams of pain. I looked over at the wolf to see if I had awaken him. He was still laying down, but his blue eyes were fixed on me. "I-I'm sorry." I said out of fear. The wolf looked at me, confused. He got up and came over to me. He laid his head on my lap and whimpered. I had calmed down at this point, only a bit fearful. "What's the matter wolf?" I asked as I placed my hand on the back of his head, pushing back the fur on his neck. He tilted his head and whimpered again. "I don't understand?" I paused for a moment. "What are you trying to tell me?" I continued to brush back his white fur. He place his paw in my lap as well, and whimpered. "I don't know." I looked to the ground. He made an annoyed growling sound, but I just kept my gaze down. Suddenly, blue eyes grabbed ahold of my dress and put me on his back. I grabbed ahold of his fur as he stood up and walked out of the cave. The moonlight, shown bright through the flakes, and touched all corners of the forest. And the snow, still falling strong, covered everything. The trees, white as winter, and the grass had been replace with a blanket of snow. Blues eyes sat down, and I slid off his warm back onto the freezing, snow covered ground. The coldness of the snow against my burnt legs was soothing, and helped numb the pain. I looked up at the night sky, but saw nothing but moonlight, and snow. The wolf had also looked up, gazing up at what could be stars. He brought his face down and looked at me. I started to laugh a bit. His face was covered in snow. Only his blue eyes shown through the icy, cold snow on his face. I poked at him, trying to remove a clump of snow caught under his eye. I returned my attention to the forest. Under all the snow, was a black, and burnt fragile forest, well what was left of the forest. "How did I do this? How could my fire do all this destruction?" I looked around at the forest, horrified. Wolf nudged my arm with his muzzle, catching my attention. He began to whimper again, looking at me with his moonlit eyes. "I wish I could understand you. I wish I could. You must have so much to tell me, and ask me. And probably tell me how much you hate me." I turned my head to hide my tears. "I-I mean, Only my mother loved me. The villagers hated me because my mother being a witch. They burned her at the stake for her being what she was. And I hate them so much!" I gripped the snow. " She told me, never harm the animals. They are the guardians of the forest, and watched over all." I paused. " A-And look at me now. I hurt you and your home." I lifted my once snow covered hands. They were warm, and bright. A small flame danced on my palm. "See....I am nothing." The wolf ran over to me and pulled me into his fur covered chest. He placed a paw on my back, and wrapped his tail around me. The fire that once dance on my palm was just a distant memory now. He rested his head on my shoulder. I could hear his every breath, and feel his every last heartbeat. Blue eyes lifted his head and looked at me. I looked up at him and gave a little smile. "Thank you." I wrapped my arms around his neck. I let go, and sat back onto the snow. "My mother would have been so happy to see me out here with you." I looked at the wolf from the corner of my eyes. He had moved over to sit beside me. "Wait a moment. My mother had a book of spells. And if I recall, there may be a spell in there. A spell that will let me talk to you." A turned my head to look at the wolf. He was looking at me, shaking his head with disapproval. "It's the only thing I know to do." I got up and stood on my snow covered feet. The wolf had grabbed ahold of my dress, pleading that I stay. "I'm sorry." I pulled my dress away, but doing this made me loose my balance and fall towards the ground. I expected to hit the snow covered ground, but instead, I was caught by soft, white fur. "Your not going to stop me from going there." I said as I tried to get off of him. He rolled his eyes and push me onto his back. "I mean it wolf." He shook his head and exhaled, a cloud of mist leaving his mouth. He walked forward, through a burnt opening in the forest, towards the village. "Thank you." I said to him. He looked up at me and nodded, then returned his attention forward. He pawed his way forward, clumps of snow flying up with every step. The sound of his paws hitting the snow, the crunching, and the softness, it was soothing. As Blue eyes walked on, I tilted my head towards the sky. The snow had started to fall harder, and colder. The air around us begun to drop, and every breath I took burned. My hair was frozen, and my body was numb. The wolf noticed the sudden coldness, so he lifted his bushy tail, and laid it onto my body. The warmth of his tail helped a bit. I was still cold, but my body was no longer numb. I grabbed ahold of his tail and brought it to my face. It was so soft, like my mothers hair used to be. I remember, my mother used to brush my hair, and tell me stories. So many stories she would tell. And then she would let me brush her hair. It was brown like the dying grass in fall. And softer than the rabbit tail she had brought home for me one day. A sudden stop woke me from my thoughts. Wolf had stopped abrutely, making me fall a bit forward. He lifted his nose up, smelling the air. He stood there, and sniffed in all directions, then he sniffed towards the part of the forest with the most shadows and nearly fell over. He spun around so fast it slung snow flying into the cold air. He lept over bushes and behind a nearby tree. He slid me off his back and gently pushed me against the trunk of the tree. He poked his head around the tree and looked in all directions. Out of nowhere, I hear snarling and growling sounds. I look up at Blue eyes, but he wasn't snarling or growling, he was looking through the shadows, not moving his focus anywhere else. Wolf then looked back at me, fear in his eyes. I knew something was wrong. Something bad was about to happen, and nothing could stop it. Blue eyes pulled his attention away from me and started growling. It was a deep growl that echoed throughout the forest, bouncing off the trees and into the air. He jump out from behind the tree, only to be greeted by a big black wolf. The black wolf was over twice the size of blue eyes. And he had blood red eyes, an unusual color for a wolf. The black wolf was making so many growling and snarling sounds, trying to scared him. But blue eyes stood his ground and snarled back. I peeked out from behind the tree to see what was happening. The black wolf was closing in on him, baring his fangs. He then jumped onto blue eyes, forcing him to the snow covered ground. Blue eyes kicked, and he bit at the overpowering wolf, but nothing helped him. Just as the black wolf was going for his throat, I shoved myself away from the tree, trying to distract the wolf. The black wolf stop before he reached his throat and looked up at me. Blue eyes barked and whimpered, trying to tell me to hide. But I couldn't do that. "Leave him alone!" I yelled at the big wolf. He just looked at me, as if he were frozen, or afraid. The black wolf had taken a step back, doing so opened up an opportunity for blue eyes to get away. The blue eyed wolf lifted his back legs and used all his energy to kick to black wolf in the stomach, making the black wolf stumble to the ground. The white wolf stood up, panting and snarling. The snow covered black wolf had already gotten back up and ran towards blue eyes, but he had lept to the side, causing himself to fall and hit a tree and the black wolf to stumble and fall. Blue eyes fell to the snow, motionless. And red eyes, fall he did, right beside me. He looked right at me, snarling. The black wolf stood tall, coming closer, his powerful paws crunching the snow under him, snow falling from his black fur, red eyes piercing my face. His head reached where I laid, baring his teeth at me. He slung his head to where my arm was and grabbed ahold of it, blood falling to either side of his mouth. I cried out in pain, kicking and punching at his head, but to no avail. My arm would not be released by this beast. In my actions of kicking and punching had made him mad and he bit down harder. The snow on the ground below us was now stained red, blood red. Red eyes then lifted me up by my arm, tearing at my skin as he did so. He let go of my arm, and glared at me. Blue eyes still layed there, not moving, not even breathing. "Blue eyes!" I cried out, tears running down my cheeks. He laid there for moments after I cried out before be moved. He looked up at me with his moonlit blue eyes and lifted his front legs to bring himself up. He was now standing, but stumbled back to the ground. He didn't give up, he got up again, but this time he had jumped forward into a run. He rammed his whole body into the black wolf's side, causing the black wolf to fall to the ground with a thud. I looked at my injured arm and decided to put it into the snow, hoping it would numb the pain, and stop the bleeding. Red eyes got to his feet and walk over to were blue eyes and I were laying. He licked his blood covered muzzle, and came after me "No! Leave us be!" I lifted my injured arm out of the snow and bright flames appeared on my bloody palm. Doing it's little dance of death, but not burning me at all. I couldn't burn the wolf, even though he would kill me. My mother had told me not to harm any animals, so I had to do what I possibly could, without killing the wolf. I lifted my arm up, waving it infront of the black wolf, making him stop in his tracks. His eyes followed the fire watching it's every move. Blue eyes was laying on the ground infront of me, but he got up into a standing position, watching the flames wave back and forth, and eased even closer, just incase he had to protect me from an attack. The fire lit up the bit of forest we were in, casting shadows where ever it may. The black wolf, snarling, bloody and snow covered, backed slowly into the shadows, afraid of the harmful, and bright light. I waved the fire at the black wolf as blue eyes snarled at him. He was completly in the shadows now, only red eyes shown through the darkness, but they soon disappeared. I kept my hand held out for what seemed like forever, until I felt the presence of a warm body. Blue eyes gently pushed my hand into the snow, putting out the flame. He lifted his paw off my arm, now covered in my blood. He looked down at his paw, then back at my arm. Blue eyes grabbed the bottom of my dress and tore off a strip. He placed it in my hand, nudging it towards my arm. "Okay, wolf." I took the strip of my dress that he had placed in my hand and tried to tie it best I could around my arm. As the strip of dress tightened around my wound, pain shot through my arm. I clenched my teeth, trying to keep in any screams of pain. When I finally finished, I hadn't noticed that I was holding my breath, so I exhauled deeply. Blue eyes comforted me by placing his head to my head. Moments later he turned, and sat in the snow, allowing me to climb upon his back. I pulled myself onto his now cold and wet back and placed my head on his neck. He slowly lifted his body up, snow falling from his fur as he did. He placed his tail over me, as he did earlier. He looked up at me, thinking. Then he shook off his thought and began to run through the forest. His running made the snow fly up and land on me, but the wind made sure most of it flew away, and back onto the ground. This time going through the forest, blue eyes was looking around more, making sure to pay more attention to everything, and everyone around him. I looked up at the falling snow, thinking about the road before me.