certain how much time she had left drove her to continue. What little light there was gradually faded away, indicating that night had fallen. The fatigue was now becoming difficult to deal with, and drowsiness was setting in. Jenna shook her head quickly, trying to clear her senses. “No time,” she said to herself out loud. “I can’t stop and sleep. I can’t afford it. No time.” She kept talking to herself like this and she went on at a trot, keeping her voice down to reduce the chance of something hearing her.

Hours passed, dreadful hours of weariness and worry. Jenna’s legs felt heavier with each step, but she made herself keep her pace up, eventually driving her muscles to pain. It was becoming difficult to pay attention to direction; when she had first entered the forest, she had established which way she should be walking, but now she felt like her path was aimless, and the fear of being lost in such a place came upon her. She tried to move faster, but her sore feet and legs refused, so she had to settle for maintaining her current speed. She ached terribly to see Balto again, to know if he was alright. Still unaware of the true nature of the Hushed Well, she could only imagine what the wolves may have done to him, or what they might be planning. “Please hang on, Balto,” she pleaded in her mind. “I’ll be there soon, and I’ll get you out.” As she thought about it, however, Jenna wasn’t truly certain of how close she was to saving her husband; her current destination was only to another that could help her, not to the wolf pack where Balto was. “What if this…creature can’t help me enough to get me there in time?” she thought. She had been trying to keep thoughts such as these out of her head to avoid becoming discouraged, but it worked less and less as time passed. A small amount of light crept into the forest again, hailing the morning. “Just one day…” Jenna thought, pushing her exhausted body on. “Only one day left…I have to hurry…” A wave of nausea broke upon her from the intensity of her hunger, and she sat down hard, taking heavy, rapid breaths, her head held low as she tried desperately to keep from dropping to the ground. She knew if she fell asleep, she wouldn’t wake up for many hours, and that was time she couldn’t afford to lose. “Even if I make it, how am I supposed to fight in this state?” she thought. Balto would surely need her help to escape from the wolves, but Jenna didn’t know how she could possibly give any help. In fact, she didn’t even know how she could go on any farther. However, the few moments of rest she had just taken made her feel much better. She decided it would be best to reduce her pace to a fast walk and take small breaks periodically, in order to conserve what energy she had left. Just as she got up, she heard a noise from in front of her, and she looked to see a bizarre animal walking toward her. It was somewhat like a dog, shorter in height and length than she but very stocky, with fat legs and virtually no tail, and shaggy gray fur. It had a wide face and a rather large mouth, with a pair of large nostrils just above its upper lip. Its eyes were small and bulged slightly out of its face, and it had short, skinny ears. “Well, you weren’t too easy to catch up with,” it said. Now, Jenna didn’t have to wonder any longer whether someone had been tracking her. The creature continued. “Picking up the smell of your blood early on was easy, but staying with you…that was much harder.” Jenna looked back at her right hind leg, observing the cut that she had barely noticed before. There had been a stinging sensation, but she had been too preoccupied with getting to the mountains to pay attention. The cut was only a small one, and the blood was dry, but apparently, these creatures had a good enough sense of smell to trace it anyway. The creature chortled. “You are one lucky animal. I can’t believe you survived the Raptoredes. No one knows about them until they actually try to enter the forest.” With a sudden burst of dread, Jenna realized there could only be one reason a creature would smell blood and track it all night long. “I have to get out of here!” she thought, her heart beginning to pound. She tried to start walking, but suddenly, more creatures appeared, seven in total, emerging from hiding places behind several trees one by one until they surrounded her. She swallowed hard and spoke firmly to the creature in front of her. “Please let me by. Someone needs my help and I only have until tonight.” “Is that right?” the creature said. It smiled nastily. “Pity…that someone is going to be disappointed.”

The creatures started closing in, stepping forward slowly. “We just can’t let an opportunity like this go. We’ve never seen something like you in here before. We’d like to find out if you taste good. Stuff in the forest gets so boring after a while…” Jenna looked around, breathing hard with fear, watching the creatures come closer. She considered trying to knock one down and run…but how far could she get? She hadn’t seen these things run yet. Still, the alternative was to stand still and die, so with a yell, she charged into the one in front of her, biting its neck and throwing it off its feet. With an opening now present, she leaped forward and sprinted away from the group, adrenaline giving her the energy she lacked. Unfortunately, that energy was only temporary; her head spun from lack of food, and she was forced to slow down. She could hear them chasing her, and she looked back. They weren’t fast runners, but at the current time, they were faster than she was. She slipped on a small rock, stumbling as she tried to keep running, and one of the creatures slammed into her from behind, knocking her off her feet. She got up, and one of them bit her shoulder, injuring the muscle. She reciprocated, biting the creature on the neck and forcing it to back away. Another clawed one of her hind legs, and she cried out, losing her balance. They tried to pounce on her, and she rolled to the side, letting two of them smash into each other. She bit one of their legs, pulling hard and ripping the skin, and it yelled, wrenching its way out of her grip. She tried to keep fighting, but now that she was down, it wasn’t possible to hold off the amount that were attacking her. One of them pinned her down, snarling into her ear. “The only way you’re leaving here is in our stomachs!” Shaking, Jenna shut her eyes, hoping she wouldn’t have to feel too many bites before she died.

But no bites came. Before any of the creatures could get their teeth into her, one of them gave a frightened call. “Dakaitra! There’s a dakaitra coming!” The creature that was holding Jenna down released her, and she opened her eyes and stood up. Judging from the way the creatures were running around in a near panic, Jenna knew that whatever was coming was probably not something she wanted to meet, and she was about to run away when she saw it coming. The dakaitra, as the creature called it, was running toward them with long, powerful strides. Jenna had seen many sled teams moving at full speed, and many competitive races between individual dogs, but this creature ran at least twice as fast as any of them. Its body was formed almost like an antelope, although it had more muscle all over, especially in its legs, which weren’t as long and thin as those of such an animal. It was lithe and strong, with short, shining black fur. Its feet were relatively short, but each of the three toes on each foot had a long silvery claw extending an inch and a half forward. Its head, attached to a slightly long and skinny neck, was also somewhat like an antelope, but the nose was not nearly as long, making the jaw shorter and stronger. Its mouth was filled with large, smooth teeth that flashed within its drawn lips, making it look like it was grinning as it charged. Its eyes were the palest blue Jenna had ever seen, and that color seemed to fill its entire eye, leaving no white. It had two crystalline horns on its head, transparent like glass, which looked beautiful, but also deadly, sharp as a pair of icicles. Its tail was frightening to behold, three feet long and lined on both sides with bony projections that looked like slanted razor blades.

It was headed straight for her.

Jenna had only a moment to react, but that was enough; she threw herself to the side, landing on the ground out of the path of the dakaitra. However, it seemed that it intended to pay her no mind anyway; it uttered a harsh roar and leapt through the air, biting and clawing one of the creatures, knocking it down. When it landed, it ran forward again, lowering its head and impaling one of the creatures with its horns, inflicting a fatal heart wound. The creature died, and the dakaitra turned around, running at the wounded creature again as the rest retreated hastily. It stiffened its legs, sliding around so its back was facing the creature, and lashed its tail like a whip, ripping the creature’s throat open. As it fell dead, the dakaitra stopped, looking back and forth at its two victims, its eyes finally turning and settling on Jenna. She had gotten up, but had been unable to run, standing there frozen with awe at the beast’s power. They stared at each other for a moment, and then the dakaitra began walking toward her. A chill ran down Jenna’s spine, and she was tempted to run, but she had a feeling that if she did, she would merely be provoking the beast to attack. She stood as still as a statue, the only movement her shallow breathing; she didn’t even dare to blink. At least now, the beast’s lips were closed, so she didn’t have to look at its teeth, but she still could see the blood on its lips and horns. It came right up to her, stopping when it was close enough that she could feel its breath. Everything in her was screaming for her to run, but her mind refused stubbornly. The dakaitra reached its head toward her, and she had to fight violently not to make a sound. It stopped with its head