How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 15

Run. Run. Turn. Run.

If someone blocked the way, smash them aside—or seize their weapon in his jaws and fling soldier and sword together.

Entering with the combined beastfolk and human forces would have drawn less attention and offered greater safety. Les could not wait. He stormed the castle ahead of the army. But perhaps because the allied forces followed soon afterward, most darkfolk guards were drawn away, and he encountered fewer obstacles than expected.

He wanted to see her.

He wanted to see her, wanted to see her, wanted to see her.

Les had never known an emotion could make him so frantic.

He had been too young when his parents died to retain any memory of them. The rest of his life had unfolded smoothly. His Majesty, General Salman, and his teacher on Wold had all helped him attain his goals and become a true soldier.

For many years, Les had conducted himself as a soldier worthy of His Majesty, his mentor, and his elders. He was accustomed to suppressing emotion, thinking rationally, and preserving a state of steady calm.

Naturally, he was often wounded in battle and occasionally assigned dangerous missions. None of that mattered greatly. At the very least, Les had never again lost someone important to him…

Until now.

The girl had saved him when he was gravely wounded. Whether for the debt he owed or for… his own feelings, he could not abandon her.

Les did not notice that he had become a streak of gray lightning. He wanted only to be faster. Faster still. Never had he been so grateful for the keen sense of smell he had inherited from his parents. It guided him through the labyrinthine palace toward her…

At last, Les smashed through a door.

Almost immediately, he saw the gentle figure he sought—

Collapsed upon the floor.

Empty, open cages surrounded Aisha. Every lock was mangled, bearing the marks of violent force. The window stood open, and a rope knotted together from coats of every color had been fastened to an iron hook on the sill and lowered to the ground below.

The sight shocked Les. Of all the terrible scenes he had imagined, this was not among them. He rushed forward and lowered his nose gently to Aisha’s. Only after confirming that she still breathed did he finally relax.

Her magical power was exhausted.

The cages all around had plainly been blasted open by magic, allowing Les to guess what had happened. After a brief hesitation, he nudged her shoulder and rolled her onto her back.

Aisha still wore her nightgown. It was far too thin. Touching her limbs even this much already felt like the limit of propriety; Les scarcely dared look at her.

But to wake her…

After several seconds of indecision, the giant wolf swallowed. His throat felt dry. As awkwardly as if he had not spoken in years, he opened his jaws.

“Aisha… Ai—”

Aisha opened her eyes.

She found herself looking straight into the giant wolf’s blue-gray eyes. For an instant, she imagined she had awakened from an afternoon nap in the forest. Then she remembered that this was not the forest near Philray, but the castle in Dimska. Everything that had happened returned by degrees.

She had used magic to blow open more than a hundred cages. The freed girls tied their coats into a rope and escaped through the window. Around the fiftieth lock, Aisha began to feel dizzy—far worse than after using her healing power repeatedly. The mage told her it was a sign that she had exhausted her magical reserves.

The final cage Aisha opened belonged to the mage, because the girl had to remain until Aisha could return her wand. Elizabeth, however, was the one who stayed beside Aisha to the end.

After blasting apart the final lock, Aisha could barely stand. She told Elizabeth that she needed to rest. In her present condition, attempting the rope would only make her fall. At first, Elizabeth refused to leave. Only when Aisha reminded her that a princess, more than anyone else present, must not remain in darkfolk hands did she finally go.

The returning memories did little for Aisha’s condition. Magical exhaustion left her weak from head to foot, and her head had never hurt so fiercely in her life. Still, she made herself smile at the giant wolf.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but she thought she saw…

Concern and affection in the animal’s eyes.

Just as, in the second before she woke, she had imagined hearing someone call her name in the empty room.

Aisha’s smile made Les pause visibly. But he knew she probably lacked the strength to speak, and time was short. He could already hear fighting and roars elsewhere in the castle.

Without further thought, Les lowered his head, took hold of her clothing in his jaws, and lifted her onto his back. Once he felt Aisha cooperate by wrapping her arms around his neck, he broke into another run.

…

Leaving was far harder than entering. In little more than ten minutes, the castle guard had fully mobilized. A squad occupied nearly every corridor, and the worst danger was being trapped from both directions.

Les’s size meant he had little to fear from the darkfolk. But a fragile human girl rode upon his back. He refused to let Aisha be hurt, and the need to protect her constrained every movement.

It took an hour to fight his way out of the castle.

Aisha seemed to have fallen asleep again. For the last half hour, Les had felt the arms around his neck weaken. To keep her from falling, he scarcely dared make any large movement. The restriction earned him several new wounds from darkfolk weapons.

But at last…

He had brought Aisha out safely.

After defeating fifteen darkfolk flying spearmen despite his disadvantage, biting through the wings of two sentries, and throwing off a unit of darkfolk cavalry, Les plunged into the forest where the allied forces had lain in ambush and finally slowed.

He breathed softly and found a patch of soft grass, then carefully lowered Aisha from his back.

She appeared to sleep peacefully. Even so, it had been impossible to shield her completely amid such brutal fighting. A cut marked her lower leg, and a shallow scratch crossed her cheek.

Les stared at the mark upon her delicate face for a long moment. Then he slowly bent his neck…

“Major General Wolf!”

Les turned.

A beastfolk soldier approached, covered in blood and plainly just returned from the battlefield. Anxiety filled his expression.

“Major General! We finally found you! The situation west of the castle is unfavorable. Nearly all the troops sent with us are foxes, who lack any advantage in size, and there are scarcely any leopards…”

“Understood.”

Les paused and gave a slight nod. But he looked back hesitantly at Aisha lying on the ground.

The soldier saw her as well. His eyes lit up.

“You rescued this human girl, Major General?! I just heard the humans say that all the abducted women escaped on their own. General Killott has taken charge of them. Only one was still trapped inside the castle…”

Les had no desire to explain. He only watched Aisha.

“We can turn her over to General Killott,” the soldier continued. “A human general will surely look after her. Major General, wait here. I can smell General Killott nearby. I’ll go find—”

“No need.”

Les cut him off.

Before the soldier understood, the giant direwolf turned toward the girl and lifted his head beneath the ghostly white half-moon.

“Awooooo—”

It was the first time the beastfolk soldier had heard the true night howl of an ancient direwolf. He froze where he stood.

Compared with an ordinary wolf’s cry, the ancient direwolf’s voice was deeper yet clearer. Carried upon the wind, it could cross the entire forest. But direwolves were said to howl at night only rarely. To them, it was an intimate and solemn act. The last night howl had sounded decades ago, when Major General Wolf’s parents…

Were courting one another.

The beastfolk soldier was overcome with emotion.

To think the major general would use a night howl to save a human girl he did not even know, without the slightest concern for his image or reputation! What selfless devotion! What exemplary qualities as a soldier! Of course there was a reason he had become major general at such a young age! What a sacrifice he was making! How deeply moving!

The soldier’s blood burned with inspiration. He wanted to race back to the battlefield that very instant and serve his nation and people.

When the howl ended, Les silently lowered his head. He could already hear human soldiers approaching rapidly. They would arrive within seconds.

He leaped through the brush, then glanced back at the soldier.

“Let’s go.”

The soldier hurried after him. “…Yes, Major General!”

…

Around a dozen seconds later, an armored human soldier burst through the dense foliage. He spotted Aisha on the ground at once and crouched to examine her. Once he confirmed that she was alive and merely unconscious, he released a long breath.

Footsteps and shaking leaves passed nearby. The soldier called out hurriedly.

“General Killott! We found the last girl! Over here!”

The brush beside him went still, then rustled several times. A woman in silver armor stepped out carrying a spear. She crouched beside him and took over supporting Aisha.

“What condition is she—”

Tina Killott brushed the hair from Aisha’s face.

The instant she saw it, she went rigid.