Into the Woods
The wizard turns and strides off through the graveyard. You follow him; after all, he is your master. Though he only seems to be walking, you find that you have to run to keep up with him. The grass of the graveyard passes silently beneath your paws, soaking your fur with dew up to your four ankles.
Running turns out to be surprisingly fun. The ground whirls away beneath you, and your paws whip the fog into swirls as you pass. You feel like you could run forever. The air is cold, but your fur keeps you warmer than the clothes you left in shreds behind you. You reach the edge of the graveyard in a minute or two. A tall iron fence surrounds it, topped with sharp spikes, and you slow down, searching for a gate.
The wizard doesn't. He simply crouches in mid-stride and leaps, making an impossibly high arc over the fence and landing softly on the other side.
You see no reason why you shouldn't do the same. You get a running start and leap, punching the ground away with your powerful legs. It's like flying. You soar easily over the fence with a good two feet to spare; your paws never touch the spikes. You land softly on the other side as the wizard strides off into the trees.
You'd never have been able to make that jump as a human. Is it muscles? Magic?
Who cares?
The woods beyond the fence are dark and misty. Trees loom black out of the fog, crusted with moss and lichen. Your nose picks up the scents of deer and rabbit, fox and housecat, but you have no time for such distractions now. It's all you can do to keep up with your master. Despite the darkness and tangled underbrush, he hasn't slowed down at all; it's almost as if the forest gets out of his way as he goes. The trees get larger as you run after him, gnarled trunks looming between outcroppings of rock.
Something is strange here - besides the obvious, of course. The woods are not this large. You've walked through them before, and a human taking a casual stroll would come out behind the grocery store in two minutes. You've been running for at least ten, with all the speed of a wolf, and the trees are only getting thicker.
This is confusing, of course, but none of it worries you. You're following your master. He knows where he's going.
Sure enough, it's not much longer before the two of you arrive at your destination…
Written by Chrysalis on 25 December 2010
The end (for now)