The Light Keepers - a YA Epic Fantasy - Prequel to the ShadowLight Saga

by Mande Matthews

Chapter 6

 

  Three nights had passed, and still Astrid did not risk sleep. Her limbs bowed like green wood, wobbling with each step. Forcing her feet to obey her command, she trudged onward. The lower rim of the Skagg Mountains sprawled above the treetops. Astrid used their white peaks to guide her journey toward Hallad.

  If I do not sleep soon, I will faint from exhaustion, yet I cannot sleep without the ward, nor can I seek the young man.

  Thoughts of Balin's task attacked, but she pressed them back, not wanting to consider the consequences if he failed. The stillness unnerved her, reminding her that she was truly alone. Though she had dreamed of life without isolation, she never thought the price for freedom would be the loss of her mother.

  Nightfall threatened as she continued deeper into the towering timbers. A reddish-pink blaze seized what remained of the overcast sky. Her nerves bunched her muscles. Her inhalations resounded in her ears. The entire forest around her quieted, but her intuition cautioned her.

  I am being followed.

  Astrid steadied herself, holding her breath in her lungs. She shifted her gaze, searching side to side. Shadows threw long stretches of the woods into darkness. She felt eyes upon her, watching her from behind.

  She removed her pack from her back, and assembled a make-shift tent from raw hides stowed within her belongings. She slipped inside the structure, but quickly exited out the back under the cover of an evergreen.

  Working her way through the woodland, she stalked amongst the pine without a snap of a twig to betray her. When she neared their position, she leaped out, drawing her blade, landing on the trail behind her pursuers.

  Two oversized wolves—one silver, one black—spun around with their hackles raised. Astrid flinched. She had assumed her trackers were human; the sight of the predators alarmed her.

  Growls rumbled from the throats of both the creatures. Their lips pulled back to reveal sharp white teeth. The black hunched his shoulders into a crouch, ready to spring. Astrid leveled her sword to the height of their heads, slowly backing up.

  Astrid's heart banged against her chest. Her perception of time slowed. The black wolf hunkered down to leap, but he stopped abruptly, tucking his tail.

  A sensation caught the back of her neck. A warm, intense breath covered her. It wet her hair, penetrating to her scalp. Steam rolled around the side of her head, spreading into the night air in front of her.

  Both wolves cowed, slinking backwards.

  Slowly, she turned to face the beast behind her. Its palmate antlers stretched twice her height; its brown eyes stared at her, unblinking. The moose's massive, muscled body quivered with raw energy. The beast was an anomaly, both in size and the fact that its antlers remained long after winter had settled across the land. Astrid's head thundered with the sound of her thumping heart until all she perceived was the pulse of her own blood pumping.

  Another heartbeat joined hers. Astrid realized the beast's life force pulsed along with hers, and together they formed a rhythm, a song. She stared at the beast, and recognized the deep, rich color of earth in the moose's gaze. For an instant, she shared a common bond with the beast, an unbreakable tie.

  Then with a snort, the animal turned and lumbered back through the trees. Astrid watched, unable to move, listening to the heart song that played within her being. She swung around to search for the wolves, but they had vanished.

  Astrid returned to her campsite, built a fire, sought the warmth of her tent, and settled down under her fur-lined mantle.

  Sleep will take me soon, and I must face the Shadow without the ward for protection.