Soft sun rays were shining on a treeless plateau. The crushing sound of snow underneath his paws made the young wolf being noticed by the bunnies in front of him as they quickly disappeared beneath the snow. The wolf was panting from his fruitless hunting. Seeing that the fresh snow from the last days made it simply impossible to hunt for small animals. The fact that he was passing these mountains in the middle of winter made it also harder, but he finally reached the peak. The evening sun lighted the landscape in a gorgeous yellow-reddish ocean sky as even the snow reflected in a shimmering flame color. The wolf was memorizing the breathtaking view, while he was looking for which direction he should take next on his vagabond journey. The yellow sparkling snow was suddenly broken by a dark green pine tree forest at the base of the mountain. It was a big forest extending all the way through the valley, only a wide river seemed to break the sea of trees. As the last sun light finally declared the start of the night, faint orbs of light forming a circle were flaring on one of the rivers meander.

‘Finally.’

Lindvald sighed with relief that he would have cover from the weather again after two weeks of crossing these barren mountains.

‘How can a village even survive in these harsh Fjords. That alone is very impressive. Tomorrow though.’

The wolf started to dig a hole in the snow just enough so that he could get sufficient shielding from the freezing wind. Even though Lindvald was used to being awake at night, wandering in an unknown terrain during the night is not the smartest thing one should do, so better just use the time to do what most beings do. Sleep. The grey wolf curled up into a hairball and covered his face and ears with his bushy tail.

Even though the sun reached the zenith, the forest was still shrouded in darkness. Lindvald spent the morning running the mountain down as he was very eager to finally have an easier hunting ground than an open field covered in thick snow. Half starving from his mountain time, he couldn’t wait any longer to get some meat in his belly as he only ate bird eggs and frozen plants. Remembering where the village was located, Lindvald wasn’t too worried to come across any humans as he was still far from the river bank. Strolling around to get familiar with the vibe of the forest, Lindvald finally decided to look for something to bite his fangs into. The rustling of leaves caught Lindvald’s attention and as he sneaked around a couple of trees he found a herd of deer. Not thinking too much about it, he launched forward. After an exhausting chase, the grey wolf ended up enjoying his meat after weeks of half fasting. Getting sluggish after overeating, Lindvald searched for a place with a little more natural cover nearby and just ended up napping. At midnight, his ears twitched at the sound of branches cracking. Lindvald stood up to hide behind trees as he noticed the light of torches in the distance. He heard human voices mumbling. Trying to listen in while not getting spotted, the wolf could understand.

“We finally found it. How does it look, was it from the annoying ones again?”

“I don’t think so. These bite marks look different. They are definitely not from them but it also too big to be from the bobcats.”

“Don’t tell me another beast appeared. We already have enough problems as it is.”

“We need to warn the others. Let’s go back before it comes back and attacks us.”

“You are right. Who knows what it is, let’s just hope it isn’t worse than the one we are already struggling with.”

The torch lights slowly fainted alongside their footsteps.

‘Who would have guessed that the humans would scout so far away from their village to find out what happened to one deer. Hmmm, on second thought... It might be their only source of food in these snowy mountains. Better be wary of the prey I hunt around here.’

Not knowing if the two scouts would come back with reinforcements, the grey wolf moved further into the forest to find a new sleeping place. The wolf was traversing a portion of this dark forest, he stopped at a creek to moister his tongue and take a short rest. When Lindvald heard a bleat downstream. Curious as he was, he sent his raven shadow to see what was the deal. Through the eyes of the bird, he saw two deer wrapped around in a net trap hanging mid-air, while a child was trying to loosen the rope to let them down. Observing as the kid struggle with the knot for more than ten minutes as the small one ever so often heated his fingers with his breath. Feeling bad from stealing on of their rare food supplies, the grey wolf emerged out of the woods to help the kid. The boy scared at the site of the beast in front of him, grabbed his walking stick and hold it like a sword. Not afraid from getting hit by the branch, Lindvald stepped closer to the boy as this one charged forward and attack the wolf with a big swing to the head. The wolf lowered his head to avoid the hit only to get hit on his shoulder instead. Not expecting it, the boy lost his footing and felt on his knees, looking up he noticed that he was on eye level with the wolf and seeing that it started to move, he closed his eyes in fear before feeling a soft bump on his nose.The grey wolf gave a small nudge to the child’s nose, then he shifted his focus on the rope. As he bit on it until it snapped and a loud pop was echoing through the trees. The previously hanging deer started to bleat again as they were still stuck inside the net. Lindvald gave a last glance at the boy who was still baffled by what just happened. The wolf bowed and disappeared the same way he came.

Some days later, Lindvald was wandering around the forest, avoiding all the areas he noticed hunting traps. Sleeping underneath the roots of a big tree, Lindvald heard humans shouting into the forest. Confused why they are giving themselves away by calling out, he concentrated to hear what they were saying.

“Ydis! Ydis! Can you hear us?”

“Where are you?”

“Ydis!!”

‘Apparently they are searching for someone. I guess someone got lost.‘

Lindvald was about to ignore them and getting further away from the searching team as he spotted several torch lights scattered in all directions.

‘That is a lot of people only to find a single person.’

“Ydis! My boy, when you hear us, give us a sign.”

‘Boy. That makes more sense.’

Lindvald avoided the searching party and kept getting away from them. Since they were also hunters, he knew they had weapons on them and the moment they spotted him they would attack. To find the safest route out of the searching area, Lindvald used his raven shadow to get himself an advantage. As he was running away, he suddenly heard a faint sobbing. Stopping to double check and as he readjusted his ear and then followed the sound of someone crying. He found a crouching boy wiping his tears away while hiding underneath a fallen tree. Lindvald looked around him, no light sources. The humans were searching the wrong area. He wouldn’t have a quiet night as long as people kept searching for the boy. The wolf growled, should he risk it again. He tried so many different ways to approach villages but they just kept being afraid of him and attacking him. He started to think that only big cities know that there exists spiritual animals. He was about to step away from the child when he heard him sneeze from the winter cold.

‘What is the worst that can happen then getting some more cuts and arrows shot at you.’

Taking a deep breath, he changed course towards the freezing child. Only when he got closer did he recognize that it was the same kid he helped with the rope. The boy looked up as he saw a shadow emerging from the woods. He held his breath before he released it again when Ydis realized it was the same creature that helped him. Ydis stood up and ran towards the wolf to give him a hug. Totally surprised by the child’s embrace, Lindvald didn’t know what to do, he just stood there. Thirty seconds, one minutes and three minutes later, the grip of the kid loosened up as he started to mumble something.

“They said I lied, that I was seeing things, that a kind bear doesn’t exist.”

Lindvald wanted to reply to the kid who misspoke by calling him a bear but immediately stopped himself from saying anything. If a child can’t distinguish a wolf from a bear then a speaking animal would just make him believe in deities. The grey wolf lowered himself to the kids height and bumped his nose against his again. Ydis half chuckled, half sobbed at the wolf’s greeting and gave him another hug. Still not knowing how to react to hugs, the wolf just waited for their release before noticing that the child was gliding down to his paws. Concerned, Lindvald inspected Ydis who just felt asleep ... or rather unconscious. Lindvald was sure that the kid was freezing as his lips were already turning purple. The wolf grabbed the boy by his jacket and swung him onto his back and made his way towards the biggest light source he could find. The searching team became quiet as soon they saw a big shadow appearing in the distance. Lindvald’s shape in the dark could be confused with that of a bear, thus the people draw their weapons and bows. They were holding their action for any hostile movement, only when the wolf was lightened up by the torches where the humans were concerned and confused. The leader called out to hold their attack as the wolf warily and slowly stepped towards the man giving the commands. Only an arm swing length away, Lindvald crouched in front of him when the leader noticed a child on the wolf’s back. The people behind the leader were about to warn their leader but he already stepped next to the wolf to lift the child from his back. Seeing that Ydis wasn’t injured but also not moving, the leader put his hand on Ydis’s forehead to check if the boy had a fever which was the case. The leader turned his back to the wolf and called out to one person drowning his bow.

“Borgar, he is feverish. We need to get him back to Grandma Brigrit immediately.”

Relaxing the bow string and putting the arrow away, the archer took Ydis from their leader and ran back to the village as he was the fastest runner from the group. The leader looked back at the wolf who was already almost out of their touch light.

“Wait.”

The leader said to the wolf as if it would understand the human language.

The wolf stopped, looked at the leader, bowed his head and kept walking into the darkness of the forest.