[This is a short story I wrote for my nieces for Christmas. Just a little something to tide you over while I put the finishing touches on the latest chapter of Maker’s Ark and take care of some other work. Other stories link here. Next chapter should be up in one week, around January 5th. I also hope to have some more concrete news for everyone who has been patiently waiting for an ebook version of Fall of Doc Future.]

Once upon a time, there was a Wolf.

He was feared, as a monster out of legend and prophecy.

So feared that the Wanderer, the ruler of the world where he lived, tricked him, and bound him, and now he lived his days chained to a huge rock, near a cave. Prophecies foretold disaster if the Wolf was freed before the day of Ending, when the ground shook, the water burned, the sky broke into pieces, and all bindings were undone.

He had been bound for a long time. He was not a happy wolf.

But he heard rumors, and sniffed the wind. And finally, one day, Flicker came to his world.

Flicker was fast.

She was so fast no one saw her do anything before she was done.

She was so fast everyone and everything else seemed like a museum display to her: Fixed, posed, caught forever unmoving. And fragile.

She was so fast, she had to be careful. Else wherever she hurried, the ground shook. And the water burned.

And the sky broke into pieces.

There were prophecies about her, too.

The Wolf saw clouds of a distant storm, and heard echoes and rumbles of thunder, then the sky parted, and a single bright cloud rose, shaped like a hammer. The Wolf felt the world shift, and knew the bright cloud for the death-pyre of the Thunderer.

The day of Ending drew close.

He wondered whether he would finally get to eat the Wanderer, before the world was gone. He would like that. But just to be unbound again, free for one moment–that would be enough for him to end happy.

“Who are you, and why are you chained to that rock?”

The Wolf blinked. The speaker had not been there the moment before.

She was a young woman, small compared to him. Her skin had perhaps once been fair, but was now burned dark like something left too long in an oven. Her hair was burned away as well. She wore two pieces of dragonhide as a garment, and they glowed red from heat.

She smelled of fire, and lightning, and anger.

“I am the Wolf,” he replied, “and I fear no one. I am chained here because someone feared me, and I was tricked, long ago. Who are you?”

“I’m Flicker. I don’t like chains and bindings much. Who tricked you?”

“The Wanderer.”

“That’s who I’m hunting. I’m here to kill him, for what he did to my father, and me. He bound me once–my mind, because no one can hold my body. But I broke my last chains yesterday. If he bound you, too, then I have time to try to free you.”

“Do you? Can you? It was said that none can, before Skybreaker the Destroyer comes to end the world.”

Flicker scowled. "I don’t like that name. And I’m not here to end the world, just the Wanderer and anyone else here who tries to hurt my world at his will.“

The Wolf laughed. "Then break the chain, as Skybreaker or Flicker, I care not. Will I live?”

Flicker took the chain in her hands, tugged at it, and frowned. "I don’t know. It’s pretty strong–I’ll have to take a run at it. Do you still want me to try?“

"Yes. Oh, yes.”

“Then I will.” She seemed uncertain for the first time. "If you don’t live… I’m glad I met you.“

"Likewise. And regret nothing. I don’t.”

The Wolf moved as far away from the rock as he could, pulling the chain taut. And then waited. He didn’t have to wait long.

Flicker traced out a path as flat, straight, and open as she was able to find, then stopped. She looked up at the hazy sky and thought of her father, who lay in an unnatural sleep back at their home. No one had found a safe way to free him yet. But she couldn’t help that. She could only hunt his attacker–and free others.

She started to run.

She ran so fast she parted the air, sending shockwaves in all directions. And the earth shook.

The air turned to fire, burning everything. Even the water.

When she hit the chain, the sky didn’t break.

But the chain did.

The Wolf was knocked flying. Burned and blinded and deafened. Battered and bruised.

But he lived.

And as the steam rose from his fur, after Flicker brought water to put out the fires, he laughed and laughed.

“You have freed me,” he panted. "And asked nothing. You hunt the one who chained me. I would hunt him too. But I must heal first.“

"I don’t have time to wait. He’s hiding and I can’t find him. But I can’t stop searching or he might get away–he’s good at that.”

“He is. But I know hunting, and him. What is your greatest fear on this hunt, other than his escape?”

“Well if I don’t find him in two days, my friends will get worried. And they might come here if I don’t go back. I’m worried he might be waiting to ambush them.”

“Yes, that is what he will do. Be ready–when your friends come, he will appear.”

“Okay, I will. Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

Flicker turned to go, then stopped.

“Wolf?”

“Yes?”

“You need a place to be, where no one else lives, so people won’t be so afraid. You can have these woods–the Wanderer and his warriors used to hunt here. Now you can. I’ll tell someone to put up warning signs, and if anyone comes here without your permission, you can eat them if you want. You can go other places, but I’d like it if you don’t eat anyone anywhere else without a good reason.”

“What of the Wanderer, if he escapes or returns?”

“Those are good reasons.”

The Wolf laughed again. "Very well. Good hunting.“

"You too,” said Flicker, and she was gone.

He heard the story of what happened, later. How Flicker’s friends came, and the Wanderer tried to strike at them. One insulted him, and the other took his eye, and a new name for herself. Then Flicker came, and took his head, and presented it to her father when he finally woke.

The Wolf smiled. He was free. He had his woods. The world hadn’t ended after all.

And the Wolf lived happily ever after.

