A Trapped Beast

Harley Snow said nothing, gazing down at the little girl, whose beauty seemed almost unreal.

The crust of mud she had used as a disguise had dried and fallen away. Though she was still young, she already knew how to disguise her appearance with crude means. But even from the parts that had been revealed, one could see how breathtakingly beautiful she would be when she grew up.

Her long platinum hair hung in silky strands, and her alabaster skin had a soft, lustrous glow. She had a small, high-bridged nose, deep-set eyes beneath crescent brows, and long eyelashes that made her eyes look all the more like emeralds treasured by a noblewoman for a century.

Her lips were pink as cherry blossoms, and her face was small and lovely, small enough to cup in one hand. The corners of her mouth tilted slightly upward, as if she were born smiling... She was like a Winter Rose just beginning to bloom in the North. Though its petals had yet to open, it had a beauty all its own, poised to blossom.

Even a bastard like Harley, who considered his heart as hard as iron, instinctively softened at the sight of her.

"How old are you?" Harley suddenly asked a strange question, surprising even himself as the words left his mouth.

The little girl froze. "What? What are you playing at?"

Harley leaped down from the tree and brushed the snow off himself before cautiously sounding her out.

"I don't want to make things hard for you either. Tell me what kind of skinchanger you are, and I'll let you go."

Ghost grew wary. Did he know something, asking a question like that? But she was not a skinchanger like Bran, who could enter an animal's mind and control it. Perhaps she had been born an animal... for some reason?

"I don't know what you're talking about. Where are my uncle and aunt?"

"Tsk, then let me put it another way. What animal can you turn into?"

Ghost surveyed her surroundings out of the corner of her eye and gave two hollow laughs. "I think you've got the wrong person. I can give you money, or go with you. Just let Bill and Mesha go first."

Harley shook his head, drew the longbow and an arrow from his back, and slowly pulled the bowstring. "I don't usually get rough with girls..." Then he roared, "What animal are you?!"

"I'm not..."

With the sharp twang of the bowstring, Ghost's whole body jolted, and the force of the impact sent her staggering back several steps. Then a tearing pain spread from her shoulder through her entire body.

She screamed and fell to her knees, trembling as she reached for the arrow in her wound. Blood gushed out, blossoming into vivid red flowers on the snow.

Harley's longbow was made of fine yew, and the arrow, fired from that distance, had nearly pierced through Ghost's delicate shoulder.

Tears streamed down Ghost's face. Her left shoulder could no longer move. The agony instead stirred her defiance, and the anger and hatred in her eyes were almost tangible.

Harley was somewhat surprised, inwardly scoffing that she truly was a beast. If she were human, she would have burst into tears and passed out from the pain long ago.

He drew another feathered arrow and nocked it. This time, he aimed at Ghost's right shoulder...

His vision suddenly blurred, and he felt a gust of wind sweep past. The fragile girl had vanished...

Harley showed no sign of panic. Holding his longbow ready, he cautiously surveyed his surroundings. He slowly walked to a certain spot and called out:

"Old Bill was such a fool to be kind. He was already so poor he had to scrape by, yet he still took in a menace like you..."

"If he loses his life, he has only himself to blame. In this world, good people simply can't survive!"

Before he had finished speaking, a huge white shadow abruptly flickered into existence at a point in midair. In an instant, it was in front of Harley, pouncing on him and knocking him down. It was as if it were not simply a beast, but some kind of ghostly creature with strange magic.

It was a dangerous, beautiful giant silver wolf. Harley felt unable to describe the creature before him.

A direwolf, a creature said to be nearly extinct.

Most beautiful of all were those round, emerald-green eyes, each ringed with gold. Its fur was pure white, without a trace of another color, and had a faint silvery sheen.

In the sunlight, it almost blinded Harley.

If its mouthful of sharp teeth had not been poised at his throat, Harley would almost have wanted to stroke her.

Though an arrowhead was still lodged in her foreleg and blood was pouring from it, the white wolf pinned Harley down effortlessly, a low growl rumbling from her mouth. The white wolf's nostrils flared fiercely, and Harley had no doubt she could easily bite through his neck.

The next moment, the white wolf spoke in a young, lovely voice. "If you don't want to die... tell me, where are Mesha and Bill? What exactly are you after?"

The change had come so suddenly that Harley was stunned. Roose Bolton, hiding behind a snowdrift far away in the woods, felt his heart was about to leap out of his chest.

He covered his mouth and buried his head deep in the snowdrift, hoping to cool his mind, which was on the verge of boiling over...

Only when he was nearly suffocating in the piercingly cold snow did he lift his head, a little calmer.

In all his years, he had never seen anything so wondrous!

A girl had turned around and become a wolf... A little girl so beautiful she hardly seemed real? Who would have thought she could turn into a wolf??

So those stupid stories Old Nan had told might be true...

Fortunately, he had cleverly chosen to leave his men guarding the entrance while he came ahead to spy on the situation.

He had to have her. He had to!

When Ghost took wolf form, her senses, hearing, and agility sharpened dramatically, while her sensitivity to pain dulled considerably.

The burning pain throbbing with her pulse in her wounded shoulder gradually eased, giving way to a slightly numb, cool sensation. That was not quite normal.

Was there poison on the arrow?

The red before her eyes gradually spread. The hurt and fear in her heart... all turned into a devil called rage.

A faint, illusory whisper seemed to sound in her ears:

Kill him...

He'll threaten you, expose you...

Kill him, or you won't be able to turn human again...

Everyone will know you're a monster...

Kill him!!!!

Ghost threw back her head and howled mournfully, like a human crying. Then her great jaws snapped down hard, her gleaming white, sharp wolf teeth sinking deep into Harley's shoulder and neck.

Harley cried out in agony, his arm falling limp. He raised his other forearm to brace against the wolf's jaws, his hand groping beneath the rotting leaves and soil...

The human's scream brought Ghost slightly to her senses, and her clenched teeth loosened involuntarily...

Feeling Ghost ease her grip, Harley's expression grew complicated. He had not expected this wolf cub, who looked like a little woodland sprite, to actually bite him.

But she... had missed the artery and major blood vessels, biting into muscle instead.

A young wolf... being this softhearted won't do.

Harley was just about to speak when the shrill whistle of an arrow suddenly rang out through the woods. A black feathered arrow flew out of nowhere and buried itself in Ghost's back...

"Awoooo!!"

More arrows followed, shrieking through the air. Ghost had no time to bother with anything else. She turned and fled deeper into the forest.

But she did not see that several of the arrows behind her were not aimed at her. Instead, they struck true, burying themselves in Harley's chest and abdomen...

Harley gave a muffled grunt. More blood welled from the corner of his mouth, and he collapsed limply to the ground.

Roose emerged slowly from deep in the woods with his men and dogs, and they calmly surrounded Harley.

"Well, look who it is. Harley, the Dreadfort's finest hunter?"