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Aein rode all day, pausing to walk her horse for only as long as it took for him to recover, and then she pushed him again. No matter how fast they went, the wolf tracked her, a distant spot on the horizon. Never wavering, never pausing, he just continued his inexorable march, stalking her no matter how far away she tried to get.
There was no way she could possibly continue at this pace, she realized. Not if she wished to keep her horse alive to the border. And she had to keep her horse alive to the border.
What she needed was to be able to reason with the werewolf, which meant waiting for nightfall. Perhaps if she stopped now, she thought, she could wait until he turned and then convince whomever it was to wait in that spot until she got a head start. Convince him to always stay behind as long as he was in human form for the survival of them both.
She slowed her horse and looked for a defensible position. She needed something where she would be safe and where she would not have to harm this wolf. Finally, as she entered a grove of trees, she found one that had a branch only accessible if she stood on her horse's saddle. The trunk was straight and true. Surely the wolf would not be able to climb it to get to her this time.
She patted her horse. "I hope with all my heart that Gisla was telling the truth about the wolves' lack of interest in you."
She stopped the horse beneath the tree. She could not afford to lose her belongings if the horse was scared off. She could not afford to leave them on the ground for the werewolf to tear apart. So, carefully, piece by piece, she threw her saddlebag and bedroll over the branch. She reached and pulled herself up.
The wolf was upon her entirely too fast. It seemed like less than a half hour had passed, but there he was. He circled the base of the tree, jumping up the trunk to get at her.
"I am too far up," she said to him. "So you might as well sit and wait for me to come down."
The wolf didn't seem to be of that mind at all. Like a rabid animal, he kept trying to get at her, again and again. His paws left huge gashes in the bark.
Aein opened up her saddlebag to see what had been packed for her. There was some hard meat and cheese. Some old bread from days before. As she pulled the items out, her fingers brushed against what felt like a pebble. She grabbed it with two fingers to throw it away, but she paused before chucking it.
She felt herself wobble on the branch. It was a dried berry. She remembered that she had gathered them and eaten them there in the swamp. She must have missed one and it had transformed from a juicy berry into the petrified lump now in her hand.
She looked down at the wolf. Could she try and feed it to him to see what happened? Would it do something? Or worse, what if it didn't?
The wolf's teeth were snarling and snapping at her. She held her breath, trying to feel if there was any sort of rhythm to his attack, some way of knowing where his mouth might be.
"Are you hungry, boy?" she asked. "I have a tasty treat for you, puppy."
She held out the berry and dropped it down. The werewolf was in such a frenzied bloodlust he snapped at it. It seemed to go down, she thought. She waited, wondering what was going to happen.
The change was gradual. It did not shift him from werewolf to human, but there was a change. Rather than leaping up at the trunk, he sat down on the ground and considered her. His barking and snarling stopped. His mouth opened, but this was so that his tongue could hang out and he could pant away the heat and exhaustion.
"With just one berry..." she said aloud. She sat, wondering if she dared tempt the fates. "Will you eat me if I come down?" she asked.
The werewolf cocked his head as if he was trying to comprehend the words coming out of her mouth.
Her horse came wandering over and placed his muzzle against the nose of the werewolf. He gave a dismissive snort and went back to grazing.
"Perhaps I should listen to the horse," she said. She dropped her saddlebag and bedroll onto the ground. The werewolf sidled away but did not lunge to attack. This felt like a good start, she thought. She wrapped her hands around the trunk of the tree and hug-slid her way down. Her feet touched the earth and she braced herself for an attack.
She stood there regarding the werewolf and the werewolf stood there regarding her.
She placed the back of her hand out to the werewolf. He stood, and then walked over, giving her a sniff, and then pushing his great, furry head beneath her fingers. Slowly, with terror still pounding in her veins, she gave him a scratch behind the ears. He repaid her kindness with a friendly lick.
"I do believe," she said, "that I have a new traveling companion."