Will in Scarlet Read Free Page A

branch caught him on the shoulder and spun him around and off the saddle.
    The trees, the ground, and the night sky suddenly stopped flying past him as he hit the forest floor. He tried to breathe, but the air had been knocked from his lungs, and panic grabbed hold of him.
    Where was he? How far had Bellwether taken him in her mad dash, and had anyone watched him go?
    After a few minutes, he found his breath again and pulled himself to sitting. Pain radiated down from his left shoulder, but he could still move his arm, flex his fingers. His face felt wet and sticky from a gash along his right cheek, but otherwise he didn’t seem seriously hurt, which was lucky.
    He stood to get his bearings. The path was nowhere to be seen, and at this edge of the woods one tree looked like another. He and Milo had never ventured as far as the moor, and regardless, a deep woods looked nothing like itself in leafless winter.
    Bellwether had disappeared. Will whistled for her, but she was long past hearing or caring. He felt a sharp stab of alarm atthe thought of her alone in these woods. She wouldn’t last the night in this cold, with the wolves.
    Neither would he if he didn’t act soon. The way he saw it, he had two choices. He could set off in search of his uncle or stay put and try to get a fire going and wait for dawn. If he started marching off blindly, he might take himself in entirely the wrong direction and get even more lost, but it didn’t feel right not to try. He decided that if no one had answered his calls by the time he’d walked a hundred paces, he’d stop and try to start a fire. There was flint and steel in his belt pouch, and a warm fire would help signal his uncle while hopefully keeping predators at bay.
    He’d barely counted twenty paces when he heard something approaching. At first he thought it might be his uncle, but the sounds were too subtle for Samson’s hooves. Nothing moved in the trees that he could see. But he
heard
.
    It was the padding of soft feet on crackling leaves. Getting closer.
    He grasped the hilt of the broadsword at his waist and found it frosted over. It took an extra tug to clear the blade from its frozen scabbard. When he hefted the heavy sword up, he winced in pain as fire shot down his shoulder to his fingertips. But he didn’t release his grip. Besides the broadsword, the only weapon he had was a long hunting knife at his side—his own spear was still strapped to Bellwether’s saddle, wherever she was.
    The wolf emerged from the trees directly in front of him, teeth bared in a snarl. Will brought his sword’s point down to prepare for a charge, just as he’d been trained. But his arms were already shaking, and the heavy blade quivered in his hands.
    The beast took a step forward and then paused, its headtilting slightly toward the ground. That’s when the real attack came, as the big black one came bounding out of the brush to his right, a barking growl in its throat.
    Will had just enough time to pivot and bring his sword to bear, but the giant wolf dodged the point easily and clamped its jaws over his left wrist. Will dropped the blade when the beast’s mouth closed over his arm like a trap, but the metal gauntlet held, keeping his wrist from being crushed in the monster’s mouth.
    The black shook its head and pulled Will off his footing and down onto one knee. His right hand searched his belt as the wolf released him, freeing its teeth to make a lunge for Will’s unprotected throat.
    It found the tip of Will’s hunting knife instead. The force of the creature’s own leap managed to drive the knife’s point home. Will was shoved backward, landing with a crash into the brush, a dead wolf sprawled across his chest.
    While he struggled to roll out from beneath it, the first wolf found his shin, and this time sharp teeth pierced flesh. But the armored greave saved him from the worst of it. He kicked with his free leg and hit the beast squarely in its muzzle, but it didn’t let