Wolves and Men

He braced himself for the pain and moved his legs. He could feel his toes and his legs did respond but the pain that shot up into his body was so intense he had to stifle a yell. What the hell happened? His leg wasn’t broke, if it was, he wouldn’t have been able to move it at all. He wiggled his toes, no pain there. Then he tried rotating his ankles. Pain erupted from his ankle. He must have twisted it. He lifted himself up into a sitting position and felt up and down his legs. There was nothing wrong with his legs and he was able to bend them slightly. As far as he could tell it was just his ankle. That was good but why was he in such pain? He felt down around the injured part of his foot and leg. He couldn’t feel anything protruding or abnormal. Ok he twisted his ankle. He would have to just rest for a while till the pain went away.

His wolf guide was walking around him, she was on guard, watching and listening for anything out of the ordinary. He continued to massage his legs and hurt ankle. His left leg could move without any problem but every time he tried to move his right leg pain shot up it. He wasn’t going any farther today.

He scooted along on his butt till he was propped up on a nearby tree. There was no cover here from that helicopter and he looked around himself for any kind of shelter. The wolf was circling him keeping her head pointed away from him. Did she know how injured he was? He lifted himself on his good left leg into a standing position. Keeping his right leg propped away from his body he hopped on his good leg away from the tree. He needed to find a place to hide and rest. The pain in his leg would go away; he just needed a few hours rest. Just then his foot slapped up against the tree and the pain almost blinded him. Maybe it would take more than just a few hours.

He looked around himself and didn’t see anything that would give them any shelter at all. He looked down at his companion. “You wouldn’t happen to know of a place where we could rest for the night?” The wolf turned to look at him. He could see himself reflected in those golden eyes. She lowered her head toward his outstretched foot. She prodded it gently with her nose. He bit down on his lower lip as more pain surged through his body. Hearing his groan she whimpered in sympathy, at least that’s what it sounded like to him.

The wolf turned and slowly walked off a little deeper into the woods. He did his best to hop after her. This was ridiculous. There was nothing wrong with his leg and yet every time he put any kind of pressure on it, he almost fell because of the pain. Maybe it is broken.

The wolf led him back into the forest and he was leaning heavily on the surrounding trees for support. The wolf jogged ahead of him. He tried to make himself move faster but his useless foot did everything it could to hamper his progress and he was forced to hobble along at a cripple’s pace.

The wolf disappeared from his view but he wasn’t worried he knew that she would be back shortly. All he could do was move along as fast as he was able. He rested for a time against a large redwood. He could smell the bark and the earth around him. It was a comforting feeling being surrounded by the forest. This is where he belonged, this was home. Of course, he had never had an injury like this. What was he going to do if his ankle was in fact more injured than he wanted to admit? He would worry about that eventuality when it was a reality. For right now he was only concerned with moving.

He moved away from the tree trunk and hopped where the she-wolf had disappeared from his vision. He had trouble following her trail through the underbrush. Every branch that swept past his foot was a brush with pain that he wished he could do without. The pain was subsiding slowly but he was still unable to put any pressure on it. He looked around at the sky and the old man was lower than he expected. The sun will set in a few hours. He had to find some shelter before that and he quickened his pace, as much as he could.

After a while the wolf came trotting back to him and staying only a few feet in front of him led him off to the west. The sun was very low in the sky. The wolf was ahead of him trotting along without much concern, though her head was always moving back and forth and her ears were listening to everything. She was aware of what was happening around her but she continued forward with no rush whatsoever.

He admired the animal’s pure instincts of survival. She knew that he was injured and that he couldn’t move or fight so to compensate for that loss of support she moved slower and was listening more intently to the world around her. She was preparing to defend herself and him at any time. She knew that he wasn’t going to be much use in a fight and had taken the full responsibility of their safety on her shoulders.

The cramp in his side hadn’t gone away and every hop he took jolted his side and sent continuous waves of pain along his body. He had tried to tense his muscles his stabilize his side and his foot but that hadn’t done anything except use up energy. So, he just had to live with the pain till they reached wherever the wolf was leading him.

The wolf trotted away from him again. She stopped and turned around looking at him waiting for him to catch up. The sun had started to dip under the horizon and he hoped that wherever the wolf had decided to make shelter for the night was close by. He hopped toward the wolf and saw where she had led him.

The place could be described as a thicket, or a hell hole with brambles. He was standing in front of a massive tangle of thorns and bushes. “You’ve got to be kidding.”