The Winter Wolf (6 page)

A
melia sat on a fallen tree and watched Frost sniffing about in the fresh snow. He had eaten the scraps that Noah had given her and then he’d looked at her hopefully, nosing at Amelia’s pockets as though he thought she might have something else hidden away.

“Noah’s right,” Amelia murmured, as she watched Frost look suspiciously at his own tail, and then start to whirl round and round, chasing it with fierce little growls. “You do eat a lot. Noah said he’d go and check his snares later.” She shuddered at the thought of the poor rabbits, but Noah’s family lived by hunting. She knew they only caught what they needed to survive, but she still didn’t like it. At least Noah hadn’t asked her to go and check the snares for him.

“And now he’s got to feed me as well as you. I think between us we got most of his breakfast.” She sighed. “I wish I could do something to help.” She sank her chin into her hands and stared down at her
snow-soaked
boots. She still wasn’t sure why she had come here. It must have been for a reason – to help, somehow. But Amelia wasn’t feeling very useful.

Frost stopped dancing after his tail and padded over to her. He rested his heavy muzzle on her lap, and Amelia swallowed hard. Even yesterday, she would have been terrified. His mouth was open a little, and she could see his teeth. Frost was far from fully grown, but his jaws were strong. Deep down inside, she was still scared of him. But he was so warm against her knees, and his eyes sparkled
with mischief. He seemed to know that Amelia was sad, and he waggled his whiskers at her. She giggled and gently cupped her mittened hands on either side of his head. “You’re funny. Funny little wolf.”

There were flakes of snow caught in the grey-white fur round his muzzle, and they glittered in the faint sunlight – he looked like he had been dusted with
sugar. Amelia brushed them away gently, and Frost slumped on to her feet with a contented little
oooof
.

“That’s nice,” Amelia murmured. “My feet are damp. I wish I’d come
time-travelling
in snow boots, not slippers. Grace’s boots are good, but they don’t keep the snow all the way out.” She shivered. It was growing colder – the light was fading. She’d have to set off back to the stable soon. Noah had piled up more straw for her to hide behind, even though he’d promised Amelia that it was almost always him doing the stable chores. Then he’d looked sideways at her. “You can’t just disappear, then, if my pa turns up?”

Amelia had shaken her head. “I’m not a … a fairy, or something. I don’t even know how I got here. I definitely don’t know
how to go back again.”

She had slept last night curled up on the straw, wrapped in layers of blankets. Noah had explained that the stable was one of the warmest places to be – probably warmer than his loft bedroom. Ruby, Russet and Lucy warmed the air, and Amelia would be cosy. She hadn’t quite believed him, she was sure she’d be frozen, but it was true. She hadn’t been cold at all. She hadn’t even woken until he’d come to feed the animals in the morning.

Frost was lying across her feet now, with his nose settled on his paws, and Amelia eyed him regretfully. He looked so comfy, and he really was helping her feet. She could almost feel her toes again, for the first time in an hour or so.

“I have to go,” she whispered, but Frost only grunted and didn’t move, even when something rustled among the trees across the clearing. Amelia was sure she saw a rabbit peep out at them, but Frost didn’t look bothered. He was sleepy after his meal, and his game.

“Oh, well… Maybe just a few more minutes. It’s getting darker, though. I suppose it does get dark early here, in the winter.” Amelia squinted up at the scrap of sky she could see through the trees. It was yellowish, now the sun had disappeared, and there were heavy clouds gathering.

Frost looked up, and sniffed curiously at a fat white snowflake circling down towards his nose. His jaws snapped together sharply, and he looked up at
Amelia in surprise as he felt the cold on his tongue.

“Snowing again…” Amelia stood up, looking around worriedly. It seemed even darker than it had done seconds before, and there was another snowflake, and another and another. And now they weren’t just floating down out of those yellowish clouds, they were whirling and gusting all around her.

She would never be able to find her way back to the cabin in this blizzard. Amelia glanced down at Frost, who had laid his ears back, and looked just as worried as she did by the sudden storm. She didn’t want to leave him out here on his own, either.

The pup let out a tiny whimper, and pressed himself against Amelia’s legs. Even though she was frightened by the
storm, Amelia felt herself smiling. He trusted her. He was scared and he trusted her to help! She stared determinedly around at the clearing, squinting through the snowflakes as she tried to work out what to do. “I’m not going back to the stable,” she murmured, rubbing Frost’s ears gently. “I’m not leaving you behind. So it’s the hollow tree or nothing. Come on. It’ll be a bit of a squash, but at least we’ll keep each other warm…”

She hurried him over to the tree and crouched down, trying not to think about what else might be sharing the hollow with them. It was too cold for spiders, she told herself firmly, as Frost wriggled in after her. Then he turned to peer out of the opening and whimpered.

“I know,” Amelia whispered to him. “It’s horrible, isn’t it?” She loved snow, but she had never seen it like this. The snowflakes were falling so thickly that she could hardly see across the little clearing.

Frost stepped away from the jagged opening in the tree and whimpered again, curling himself against the back of the trunk. The wind had shifted, and now the snow was starting to blow into the hole, stinging his eyes.

Amelia sucked in an anxious breath. The hollow tree was a wonderful shelter, even though it was cramped with the two of them in there. But it would be no good at all if it filled up with snow. She looked doubtfully at the thick woollen blanket that Noah had given Frost to sleep on. She wasn’t sure if it was much use against snow, but it was all they had. Wriggling it half out from under herself and Frost, she held it up against the opening, tucking the edge into a useful crack that went higher up the tree trunk. She wedged it with a couple of slivers of bark, too, so that the blanket hung down across the hole, shielding them from the worst of the snow. Then she edged back next to Frost and ran her hand gently over his twitchy ears.

“You don’t like it, do you? Maybe you’ve never seen a big snowstorm. Or if you have, you were huddled up in a nice cosy cave with your mum and you didn’t mind.”

Amelia unwound the green and red checked muffler that Noah had given her. He’d had to show her how to wind it crosswise over her chest and tie it at the back – Amelia had never worn anything like it before. She laid it out on her lap, and patted it hopefully. With the blanket hung up as a curtain, Frost was sitting on a cushion of dried leaves and pine needles. She was sure that snuggling up with the muffler wrapped round them would be more comfortable. And they needed to keep each other warm.

Frost lifted his nose from his paws and looked up at her worriedly. She could see
his eyes shining in the shadowy dimness of the hollow tree. The whirling madness of the snowstorm had clearly upset him. But at last he wriggled forward a little bit, and very gradually, he climbed half into Amelia’s lap. There was too much of him to curl up like a cat, but he slumped across her knees, and sighed contentedly.

“We’ll just have to stay here till it stops,” Amelia whispered. “I wish I hadn’t given you all the food, but I didn’t know this was going to happen…” She wrapped her arms round Frost’s neck, and he made a happy grumbling noise. “The snow’s too heavy for Noah to come and find us,” she murmured into his fur. “I hope he doesn’t try. We’ll be all right till morning. He’ll come and find us then.” She was trying to sound determined and hopeful, but her voice wavered a bit, and Frost nosed gently at her cheek.

It was eerie, in the dark. She could see the odd flake of snow settling on the edge of the blanket here and there, but that was all. The snow was silent, but that only seemed to make it more frightening. Amelia sat in their hollow, peering out at
the little smudge of snowy darkness, and stroking Frost’s silvery fur over and over again.