The Secret Love of the Wolf Prince

The Hunt

*Dale is an old English name for a narrow valleyThe distant sound of galloping hooves disturbed the deep silence of the night on the prairie, where the tall grass rippled in the cold northern wind toward the trees. The forest poured down from the hills enclosing the only access to the narrow valley, ending at the high plain like a wall of darkness under the clouded moon.Two dozen shadows climbed past the last slope to the prairie, staggering as they tried to run toward the woods, their trembling voices trying to encourage each other.“The Red Woods!”“The Dale is right there!”“One last run!”“Don’t stop now!”The fugitives stumbled toward the other end of the prairie, where the shadows of the forest promised shelter. Men and women, even children, they were all dirty and barefoot, injured, eyes wide in terror. The fittest runners sprinted ahead while families tried to stay together, pulling by the hand the weaker and younger ones.Among them, the smith pressed his wife’s hand, as sh...