Chapter 14: The Chain
Danny stared at the eyeless wolf.
The creature was slowly circling the grey-haired man, its huge blind head moving from side to side, sniffing the air. It didn’t need eyes. Every breath, every heartbeat, it could hear.
The grey-haired man tightened his grip on the chipped sword. His breathing was becoming heavier, ragged. Blood ran down his arm from the claw marks and dripped onto the snow, sizzling slightly in the cold.
The thin prisoner stood several steps behind him, trembling so hard his teeth clacked.
"We have to run," the prisoner whispered, grabbing Danny’s sleeve. "We have to run now, while it’s focused on him!"
Danny looked at him and pulled his arm away.
"Can you fight?"
The man shook his head immediately, eyes wide. "No. Are you crazy? No!"
"Then distract it."
"What?"
"Be the bait."
The prisoner’s face turned pale, then red with anger. "Are you insane?! You want me to die! Like you almost did!"
Danny pointed toward the monster, his voice low and fast. "If it follows you, he can attack it from behind. We need time."
The prisoner stared at him as if Danny was the monster. "You do it! You’re the cursed one anyway! You survived the worm, you do it!"
Danny said nothing. He knew the prisoner would never do it. He was a coward who had already pushed Danny into a worm’s mouth.
"You want me to die!" The prisoner stepped backward, away from Danny, away from the fight. "I’m not doing it. I’m not!"
Danny looked toward the grey-haired man. The old mercenary was struggling to keep the monster away, his sword shaking. He was going to fall in seconds.
The eyeless wolf suddenly lunged, silent despite its size.
CLANG!
The grey-haired man blocked its claws with his sword, but his knees nearly buckled. The force sent him to one knee in the snow. He grunted in pain.
Danny’s eyes moved frantically toward the ground. Rocks. Chains. Trees. Snow everywhere, but what could he use?
Then he noticed something half-buried beneath the snow, a few feet to his left. A long, thick iron chain, the main prisoner chain. One end was still attached to the broken caravan’s heavy wooden wheel, frozen into the snow. The other end was loose, coiled.
An idea formed. Fast, desperate.
He picked up a rock, his chained hands making it awkward.
The thin prisoner stared at him. "What are you doing?"
Danny didn’t answer.
He threw the rock with all his small strength.
THUD!
It struck the eyeless wolf on the back, on its matted fur.
The creature stopped circling. Its head slowly turned, blind face twitching, listening to where the sound came from.
Danny’s heart pounded so loud he was sure the wolf could hear it. His marks, under his dirty sleeves, suddenly felt warm again, pulsing.
He picked up another rock, larger this time.
"Hey!" he shouted, his voice cracking.
He threw it.
THUD!
It hit the wolf’s leg. The creature turned completely toward him, its tooth-filled mouth opening slightly, sniffing his fear.
Danny froze for half a second. Then he knew it had locked onto him. The weakest heartbeat.
The eyeless wolf lowered its body, muscles coiling.
The grey-haired man looked at Danny, shocked. "What are you doing?! Kid, run!"
Danny didn’t answer.
He ran.
The monster chased him instantly.
BOOM!
Its claws smashed into the snow exactly where Danny had been standing a second ago, sending snow flying.
Danny jumped forward, almost slipping, chains clanking.
BOOM!
Another strike, closer. The ground shook. He could feel the hot breath of the creature on his back.
Danny ran between two thin pine trees, breathing hard. He could hear the monster behind him, not growling, just breathing and running. Closer. Closer.
His legs were beginning to weaken. He was still exhausted from being inside the worm.
Not yet. Not yet.
He looked ahead. The chain. It was exactly where he needed it, stretched low across a small gap between a root and the caravan wheel.
Danny jumped over it, just barely clearing it with his short legs.
The eyeless wolf, focused only on the sound of Danny’s running feet and pounding heart, didn’t notice. It was too low, covered in thin snow.
It continued charging, blind.
Danny suddenly threw himself sideways into the snow, rolling hard.
The monster slammed directly into the thick pine tree Danny had been running toward.
BOOOOOOM!
The impact shook the whole tree. Snow exploded from its branches and fell like an avalanche on top of the creature.
The creature staggered, shaking its head, disoriented.
But it wasn’t finished. It turned around, growling low, trying to find Danny again.
Then— CLANK!
Its hind leg, as it stepped back, had stepped directly onto the loose loop of the heavy iron chain.
The chain tightened with a sharp metallic scrape.
The creature tried to move forward.
Nothing. Its leg was caught.
It pulled harder, confused.
The chain, which Danny had kicked slightly when he jumped over it, wrapped around its leg and pulled taut against the frozen caravan wheel.
Danny’s eyes widened from where he lay in the snow. "It’s stuck."
The monster roared, a horrible, blind roar, and pulled again with all its strength.
The broken caravan, heavy with wood and iron, shifted slightly but didn’t move - it was frozen solid into the ground. The chain tightened even more, digging into the wolf’s fur and leg.
The eyeless wolf lost its balance, its other legs slipping on the snowy slope.
BOOM!
It crashed onto its side onto the snowy ground, legs kicking.
Danny fell backward, chest heaving, unable to believe it worked.
For several seconds, nobody moved. Only the wind and the monster’s struggling.
The grey-haired man stared at the creature, sword still raised, panting. Then he looked at Danny, lying in the snow ten feet away.
The thin prisoner slowly walked forward from his rock, mouth open. "You... you actually did it."
Danny didn’t respond. He was breathing heavily. His hands were shaking violently, not just from cold. He had been one mistake, one slip, away from being torn apart.
The grey-haired man finally moved. He raised his sword and approached the trapped creature, his steps careful. The eyeless wolf struggled against the chain, its claws digging deep trenches into the snow, but it couldn’t free itself. The more it pulled, the tighter the chain wrapped.
The old mercenary raised his sword high with both hands.
Danny watched, his marks finally cooling down.
The blade came down.
SLASH!
The monster roared, blood spraying black onto white snow. But its thick hide kept it alive.
The grey-haired man raised his sword again, his face grim.
SLASH!
Again.
SLASH!
The creature finally stopped moving, its blind head falling still, its breathing stopping.
Silence returned to the forest. Heavy silence, broken only by their panting.
Danny stared at the second dead monster in one day.
His chest continued rising and falling. He had survived. Again.
The thin prisoner looked at him differently now. Not with pity. Not with disdain.
With fear. Real fear. As if Danny was scarier than the wolf.
The grey-haired man lowered his sword, blood dripping from it. He looked at Danny for a long, long moment, at the small boy covered in two different monsters’ blood, chains still on his wrists.
"You..." He paused, his old eyes narrowing. "...you’re not an ordinary child, are you?"
Danny looked away, toward the dark trees. He didn’t know what he was.
He only knew one thing. If he wanted to survive this world where worms ate people and wolves had no eyes...
He would have to keep thinking. Because strength wasn’t something he possessed. Not yet.
But perhaps... his mind could keep him alive long enough to find it.