The Creek

"RUN!" Elara screamed.

The magic took hold.

Kael’s body jerked as if pulled by an invisible chain. His legs moved without his permission. He scrambled out of the hollow, his paws slipping on the ice. He tried to dig his claws into the earth, tried to turn around, but the spell was a relentless pressure in his mind. *Forward. Forward. Forward.*

He was forced into a sprint, his injured leg dragging, pain white-hot and blinding. He was a prisoner in his own body, running away from the only thing that mattered.

Behind him, he heard Elara burst from the tree roots.

"OVER HERE!" she screamed, her voice cracking. "I'M HERE, YOU BASTARDS!"

The horn blasted again. The heavy thud of boots. The wet snarl of the Hounds.

Kael whimpered as he ran, fighting the compulsion with every step. *Let me go back. Please, let me go back.*

He crashed through the underbrush, the branches whipping his face. The roar of the Frozen Creek grew louder.

Behind him, the sounds of the struggle began. The crackle of fire magic. The shout of men.

"Hold her!"

"Burn the witch!"

Elara’s scream cut through the forest. It was high and sharp, and then it was cut short.

Kael felt the magic around his neck snap.

The compulsion shattered. The invisible chain broke.

He tumbled onto the snowy bank of the creek, sliding into the icy water. The shock of the cold hit him, but he didn't feel it. He only felt the silence where Elara’s heartbeat used to be.

He scrambled onto the far bank, shaking and wet.

The iron poison, weakened by the adrenaline and the breaking of the spell, receded for a singular, agonizing second.

Kael’s bones cracked. His fur receded.

He shifted.

For one heartbeat, he was a man again. He stood naked in the snow on the safe side of the water, looking back across the creek.

Through the trees, he saw the orange glow of torchlight. He saw the dark shapes of men standing over a small, crumpled form in the snow.

"ELARA!"

His scream tore his throat. It echoed off the mountains, a raw, human sound of devastation.

The Hunters looked up, peering into the gloom.

"Just a wolf," one of them shouted, dismissing the noise. "Throw the oil on her."

Kael watched as the flames rose.