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Summer 1730

Somewhere near the colonial homesteads boarding native territory.

There was so much screaming

Samuel couldn't remember if it was him screaming or his mother. The man who claimed to be his father was shouting, but he was so furiously drunk that no one could understand what he said. The little 10 year old fox cowered under the table, covering his ears, screaming in terror as the man repeatedly stabbed his mother with the kitchen knife.

Samuel's real father died sometime last year. Not long after, the man, an ugly fat brown dog, walked into their home and declared himself the man of the house. Samuel's mother resisted at first, but he proved to be ruthless in exerting his authority for her to remove him. The man never revealed his name to either of them, insisting to referred as "Husband" or "father" and while his mother would address him in this matter, albeit unwillingly, Samuel never called the man "father." He drank constantly, and was always angry. He would beat Samuel and his mother on a regular basis, regardless if they did anything to provoke him. He seldom worked around the farm, although he would go hunting occasionally, he never shared the meal that came from it.

At times, Samuels's mother would tell him to go out and play and not to come inside for a while. He did as he was told, and would come back sometime later to find the man passed out in bed and his mother trying to hide the fact he had been crying. On one occasion, Samuel peeked at what they were doing. They were in bed, and the man was doing things to her, things that made her cry. Samuel didn't understand what was happening, and when he was alone with his mother on one occasion, he asked her about it. She slapped Samuel across the face and told him to never peek at them ever again.

Samuel had had such a wonderful day; the man kept to himself mostly and didn't bother him or mother. While he was playing in the woods, Samuel was able to capture a fat turkey. He was so proud; it would make for a great dinner for all three of them. He was sure that the man would be proud of him. When he showed the turkey to his mother, she was so proud of her son. She got to cooking the turkey straight away, oh how good it smelled to Samuel.

Just as his mother laid out the turkey on the dinner table, the man staggered in, drunker than usual. He had vomit stains soaked into his brown fur, and reeked of ale. He stared at Samuel and his mother for a moment from the doorway into the cabin, and then turned his eyes to the cooked turkey on the table.

"Were tha hell di tha come fra?" the man slurred, with a tone of contempt.

"Samuel caught this turkey all by himself" his mother said matter-of-factly. She wasn't going to let this man ruin this evenings dinner, not after all Samuel had done.

The dog turned his gaze to Samuel

"Dija now?" he said, almost mockingly "well, thank ye for my dinner 'oy."

The dog sat down and pulled the turkey toward him, not bothering with a plate or utensils; he begins ripping the meat with his bare paws. Samuel sits up so fast that he knocks over his chair. He took firm hold of the serving plate and ripped the turkey from the dog's dirty paws.

"I CAUGHT IT!" He shouts at the drunken dog "I GET TO SAY WHO GET TO EATS IT! AND I SAY YOU WILL HAVE NONE OF IT!"

Samuel had never spoken to anyone this way before; both the dog and his mother stared at him with shock. The dog's shocked expression morphed into one that displayed hellish fury.

"wha did you say to me?!" The dog says, almost inaudibly

What courage Samuel had a few seconds before was gone in a flash as he looked into the dog's burning eyes. Now he was more afraid than he was before, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move or speak.

"I..." was all he could manage before it all started.

The man leapt over the table and crashed into Samuel, wringing the fox's neck. The air left his lungs and couldn't breathe. He clawed at the dog's paws but this did little to loosen his grip. His mother was screaming and trying to shove the dog off her son, only to be violently shoved away. Just at things began to blur and he was sure that he was going to die; there was a great cry of pain. The weight on his throat was gone and air filled his lungs once more. His sight returned and saw that his mother stabbed the dog in the shoulder with the serving knife. Samuel crawls under the table, the only place that appeared to be shelter to the struggle.

The dog pulled the knife from his shoulder, ignoring how bad he was bleeding; focusing on the woman he called "his bitch." He lunges at her and drives the knife in over and over, ignoring all the screaming. He kept this up, even after she stopped moving. When he was too tired to keep going, he stopped. He sits up, staring into space for what seems like an eternity.

Even though he was no longer being strangled, Samuel couldn't breathe. The dog just stood there on his knees, not saying anything. His mother was lying in a pool of blood...she was gone. Samuel puts what little will power he has into his legs and tries to climb out from under the table. He doesn't see the cup next to his foot and when he bumps into it, it makes only the smallest of sounds, but it was the loudest sound in the whole cabin. The dog slowly turned his head and faces Samuel. He was covered in blood, his face expressionless; the knife still in his hand. They stared at one another for the longest time, and then Samuel noticed the dog tightening his grip on the knife.

Strength came back to Samuel in a flash; he was crawling away towards the cabin door as fast as he could crawl. He felt something grab his leg and looked back to see the wolf crawling after him, gripping him by the ankle. Samuel tried kicking to no avail, and the wolf drew closer. As he raised the knife, Samuel reached for something, anything he could find, that's when he felt the cup from earlier. Samuel grabbed the clay cup and flung it at the man's face with all his strength. The cup shattered on impact and the man grasped at this snout in pain, releasing Samuel from his grasp. Free from the man's grip, Samuel got to his feet and flung open the cabin door and ran as fast as he could into the night.

Samuel didn't know where he was going. He never knew where the nearest homestead was, but it didn't matter to him. He was running as fast as he could, so fast that he lost one of his shoes. He dared not stop to retrieve it, and kept running blindly into the night. He could hear shouting behind him, he tried not to listen, but could tell that they were threats of what would become of him once the man caught him. It was so dark, and he felt so cold. His bare foot pranged with pain from the all the sticks and rocks he treaded on. He couldn't see where he was going, and the tears in his eyes made his vision worse. So worse, that he didn't see the low branch in front of him and ran straight into it, striking him in the forehead. There was a great rush of pain in his head and the whole world appeared to spin, the trees, the sky, and the stars all appeared to shift from their natural domains. The shifting stopped with a crash as Samuel fell upon his back, then all was still, save for the clouds drifting slowly across the sky. Then the whole world turned to darkness.

Samuel wasn't sure how long he was out, but when he came too, he was still looking up the night sky. The moon was hidden behind a great cloud, shrouding the whole forest with only the most minute of light. He was at a complete loss, Samuel could barely recall his own name, let alone how he came to be here. That was, until those terrible eyes suddenly appeared over him, burning with malicious hatred...and intention.

"Gotya now, ya little bastard!" he growled down at the cub

Samuel scurried backwards and found himself backed up against the tree he ran into, he couldn't stand, and there was no were to go. The wolf staggers slowly towards him; his once white shirt was now dyed red from all blood. Samuel pulls his legs to his chest and covers his head with his paws; it was all he could do. The wolf raised the knife.

There was a thrusting sound, a scream, and Samuel felt blood hit him...but none of these came from him.

He looked up to see the wolf, still standing over him with his arm still raised, only with the knife at his feet. There was something protruding from the dog's chest, something sharp. Before Samuel could get a better look at it, it disappeared back into the dog's chest, and the he sunk to his knees and then fell face first into the dirt with a loud thud. Samuel stared at the dog, his eyes were still open. They didn't have the anger from before; instead they showed shock and disbelief. Samuel too was shocked with disbelief, he couldn't believe he was dead, but he was. Not only that...he wasn't alone.

The moon had finally come out from behind the clouds and its light flooded the forest floor. Out of the darkness came a woman. She was a dark grey wolf. She was tall with a curvy, well-toned body. The only clothing she wore was a long loincloth covering her privates and buttocks with her breasts were unashamedly exposed. She had long braided black hair, adorned with beads and colorful leaves. Around her neck were several necklaces adorned with feathers and precious stones. The spear she held was long and was adorned with a large obsidian head tied to the end. There was also a bow slung across her back and what appeared to be a dagger sheathed into the binding that held her loincloth. Samuel, in his young life, knew only a few women apart from his mother. But to him, savage or not, this had to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

. . .

Love Sky, as her mother named her, cautiously walked closer, spear still pointing at the dead dog's back. She prodded at the corpse, making sure he was dead. When she was sure that he would never get up again, she turned her attention to the poor cub cowering against the tree. He had blood splattered on him, but she was sure that none of it was his. He just stared up at her, as if he couldn't believe she was real. She knelt down in front of the boy and slowly extended her paw.

. . .

The fear had returned to Samuel as the native moved closer to him. She may have saved him, but for all he knew, she intended to kill both of them. He remembered that his mother and father told him to never go too far into the forest; the natives were extremely territorial and were never to be disturbed. He had heard stories of raids on other homesteads within their territory, whole families butchered, scalped, with homes burned to the ground. He didn't know how far he had ran, but to have a native standing before him told him that he must have been running for some time. She knelt down in front of him and slowly raised a paw to him. Samuel buries his face in his knees and whines, not wanting to see his death.

"Please" he whimpers

A soft paw landed on the boys head and petted him gently. After a minute or so, Samuel looked up at the native smiling down at him. Her sky blue eyes conveyed an overwhelming sense of comfort and sincerity.

. . .

"Fear not, little one. No one will harm you." She tells him in her own tongue.

. . .

Samuel didn't understand what the woman said to him, but there was a degree of comfort in how she said it. She slid the paw down from his head and cupped his cheek, the same way his mother use to do. The tears returned, and he lunged at his savior and buried his face in her breasts and sobbed uncontrollably. He couldn't think, he was tired, cold, and hungry, it was too much. After what seemed like an endless river of tears, he was quiet and fell asleep in the wolf's arms.

. . .

The boy had lunged at the Love Sky so hard that she almost fell over, the act was awkward and unexpected, but she understood. She laid down her spear and wrapped her arms around the boy, doing her best to quiet him. She looked at the dead dog behind her; he reeked of the laughing drink the settlers bring with them to trade with her people.

"Why would a man try to kill an innocent cub?" she asks herself.

The boy had fallen silent; she finds that he had fallen asleep in her arms. She was thankful that he was at peace, at least for the moment. She laid the fox down on the grass and turned to the dog. There was one thing she needed to do before they took their leave. She unsheathed the large hunting knife from her strap; she traded it for a gold nugget she found in the riverbed a few moons ago. She took firm grip of the dog's long greasy hair and carved his scalp from his head. She raised her prize to the moon shining down on her and whooped in triumph.

She secured the scalp to her strap on her waist and secured the fox cub onto her back, she was pleased to see that he was still sleeping peacefully.

"Sleep deep little one" she tells him "but worry not, home isn't far away."

She took up her spear and the two of them disappeard into the dark forest.