Believe - Chapter 19: Liam

Imya woke up from a movement against her back and when she slowly opened her eyes she saw Red on his paws already. "Ya ready to go?" he asked and she rose to her own paws and stretched. "Are you feeling better?" she asked and he answered her with a smile. "Imma feel good thanks to ya, sure I do, yo!" he replied and Imya felt this warm feeling of pride dwell inside her again. They left the den together and Red was only limping a very bit now. It seemed more to come from a stiffness of his leg than from pain. The snow was falling again and limited the view but the clouds parted right when they stepped out and gave way to the view on her star. Red looked up once and then started to fall into a light jog heading into the direction of the star. Imya followed him without any additional word. A few nights ago, she had had problems to follow him and had been exhausted fast but this night she did not feel any fatigue or pain in her legs. They held strong and moved without complaint. Running through the snowy weather filled her with happiness. It was nice to run free while she was accompanied by a friend. She still thought about her mother in the back of her head and about the pride. She still felt the urge to get back to her home, but it did not cloud her mind anymore. She was fully awake and concentrated on every noise, every smell and every glimpse she could see of her surrounding at all time. She knew that this world, far from her home, was dangerous but at the same time beautiful. She had seen very bad things that had scared her. The trap, the hound, the bear, but she also had seen nice things and she learned a lot. Imya did not notice yet how much she changed from being the scared little pup into a voyager of the wild and free forest. She had fought a big enemy to save her friend. She had hunted her own meal, and that for an injured comrade and she had found the way to a den on her own in the middle of heavy snow fall. The biggest change however was, that she was not dreaming all night long anymore. She listened to the world around. She took in the scents and read them like a book. She learned much more about life than in the last months. The lessons here had not been boring for her but rather challenging. She had been close to giving up many times but she came through. She was proud of her achievements even though Imya did not yet realize how much she had grown up in the few days since she was parted from her pack.

Red stopped put his ears up. Imya did the same and heard heavy stomps on the ground. Whatever this was, it was a very big animal and it was moving fast. Her heart began to hammer strong and fast. She looked to Red with big eyes ready to run at his command but he just smiled and she saw that he was totally relaxed. Red seemed not to fear this big monster that was approaching. The stomps of the animal suddenly stopped very close by and Imya turned around to scan the area and see what kind of animal was creating these sounds. A big shadow was visible through the snow just a few steps away to the side of them between some trees. It was huge. Even with the shadow still being a few steps away it looked like a tree. It had branches on top but it was moving. Imya took a few steps back but when Red called out she stopped and looked to him.

"Hey Liam, ya shadda come here and not scare little pups!" A very deep chuckle came from the shadow and stepped out of the shadow. "It is rare to see you with someone else. Who is the toaty?" the shadow asked. When he came closer Imya could see how big he was. He was a lot of times her height and he had something like branches on his head. His body was long and covered with red fur-brown fur, a bit like Red but shorter. He did not have paws but something hard that Imya did not see before. "Imya, a wolf pup I found a few days back. Kiddo, thìs is Liam. He is a stag, sure he is, yo! Did ya ever see a stag before?" Imya still stared at the stag and shook her head. "I first thought she was your wean." The stag laughed and Red also chuckled. "Ya shadda know that Imma not have a kiddo, sure ya do, yo!" Red replied and they both laughed. Imya slowly lost her fear from the big animal. It seemed friendly and not here to hurt them. "Wit are you doing in this baltic weather with a wolf pup?" the stag asked. Red looked up to him. "Ya shadda know what Imma doing. Ya doing da same, do ya not?" Liam just nodded. "A was just wondering why you brought a wee wolf with you." - "Imma told ya, Imma found da kiddo. She also was following da star." The stag made a deep sound that was like a mix of a hum and a laugh. "Dae you have something against me joining you?" - "Nah, ya can join us. Imma sure da kiddo has nothing against it, right?" Imya felt the eyes of both on her and shook her head still speechless and a bit shy around the much bigger stag. "You dae no have to be scared of me. Am no going to hurt you." The stag said with a deep but soft voice and lowered his head so that she could see the antlers that sprouted out of his head and his deep brown eyes. From close they looked even more like thick branches of a tree. Imya nodded but did not reply. When they continued their journey with the stag she stayed close to Red. This new big animal still looked a bit scary for her. Liam seemed to be nice and gentle but for her he was still too big. "Is your leg gubbed or are you just knackered?" asked the stag. Imya tried to follow their conversation but Lima mixed in weird words she never heard before. For her he was even harder to understand than Red. "No, Imma not tired yet but yes, ma leg is not working good yet. A hound got da better of me. But da kiddo saved ma life back then." Imya felt the warm feeling of pride grow again in her and lost a bit of her shyness. She did not dare to interrupt the talk of the adult though. They went on together until the sky showed the first signs of the morning. The snow had stopped through the night and only a few clouds were at the sky. Red led Imya to one of his dens to rest for the day while Liam ran away to search some place to spend the day and get back to them at the next evening. "Are ya okay?" Red asked because Imya was so silent. "Yes, I am just tired and Liam was ..." Red smiled. "He scared ya, did he?" she nodded. "Imma understand that. He is big. Ya don't worry. He is a good one, sure he is, yo!" Imya smiled and rolled into a ball. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep while dreams of big animals with antlers galloped through the forest and the ground was shaking. In her dreams she was on top of the antlers and saw the ground run away under them from a high distance. Even the trees looked small and she could see their peeks from above. A strange dream but it was not scary. She smiled in her dream and sighed once. Red watched over her for a bit and then he also closed his eyes and went to sleep.