Sol stared out across the grassy terrain from her quarters. She hated this life, always on the move and fighting for the enemy, it wasn’t her, she wanted to help stop the enemy, not fight for them. No. She had enough.

Later that night she slipped out of her quarters and sneaked past the general's tent. She slipped a saddle on her horse and hopped on then rode off into the night without a clue of where she was headed. 

“There she is, get her!” the general yelled and charged down the hill towards her.

She called to her horse to run and they flew past the trees, she wasn’t going back, not now not ever, she raced through the dark as fast as her horse could go until the sound of her pursuers faded to nothing.

Days passed and her journey landed her in Alaska, miles away from where she once called home. She now walked on foot as she sold her horse to get here but she wasn’t complaining, at least she left that dreadful place behind. 

Just as she had come to a place to rest, a massive bear stalked out in front of her, rising to his hindpaws to tower above her. She slowly reached for her sword but the bear swiped her with his paw launching her backwards. Her sword was just inches away but so was the bear, he was charging at her, she jumped up and reached for her sword just as the bear came upon her. She awaited his teeth to meet her skin but instead when she looked up there was another animal. His mouth was pulled back in a snarl and his white fur glowed in the sun. He was growling at the bear, daring him to take another step. She stood up just as the bear was ready to attack and swung her sword just in time to slip through the bear's chest leaving a gaping wound to remember her by. He turned tail and fled back into the snowy forest. The wolf stared at her and she stared back, had it not been for him she would be dead.

“Where’s your pack?” she asked, “Great, now I really have lost it, I’m talking to a wolf. But I suppose I should name you. How about Glace?” 

Glace barked his agreement to his new name.

“Well then Glace it is.” she confirmed

She held out her hand for him and he walked closer until his nose touched her hand, and he licked it. She laughed and gave a scratch but quickly remembered this was a wild wolf and with that she stood up.

“Run along now.” she instructed him.

She left Glace there and continued on her journey. Later that day she had settled down in a nice spot, she even built a shelter using what she had out here. 

“First night out under the stars.” she told herself as she settled down to sleep. 

The next morning she woke to a white bundle of fur sitting next to her, it was Glace, he had followed her all the way here.

“I thought I told you to go home.” she told him, shaking her head.

He just looked at her and wagged his tail in response, she was stuck with him but she didn’t mind, she would need the company.

With each passing day their bond grew stronger. She climbed out of her makeshift shelter and stretched then scratched Glace on the head.

“Where to today?” she asked him.

They wandered through the forest for hours on end but suddenly, Glace stopped and pulled his lips back in a snarl. 

“What is it Glace?” she asked.

Just as the words left her mouth a man stepped out, he was holding a dagger and his face was covered. He came at her but Glace stepped in and tackled him to the ground removing the blade from his grip. That encounter was only the beginning, for months they spent their time tracking down criminals and stopping them, she would even steal from the enemy she once fought for.

Years passed and the two soon became a lethal force, one capable of bringing down any enemy but the war was still raging and as she woke and left her shelter, a man stepped up.

“Who are you?” she said as she withdrew her sword.

The man smiled. 

“M...master?” she breathed, then turned and ran. She hadn't been audible, but it didn't matter. He recognized her. Her identity was out. She couldn't keep doing this, then. 

She would join the other army and help them defend the pass. They would need all the help they could get. What about Glace?

She couldn't bring him, for his own protection. She would have to leave him in the woods.

They found the passage as promised. She turned to Glace. “This is goodbye, then…” tears rolled slowly down her face, but she turned and walked in. He tried to follow. “No, Glace. Stay.” He whined. “Stay,” she said firmly.

She turned and kept going. He was following. No, if he came with her he would get killed. She had to leave him. If he wouldn't listen, she would just have to make him want to leave. He was going to hate her. Ignoring the tears biting her eyes, she turned and yelled at him. He watched her, confused and sad. The heartbreak in his eyes was almost too much. “I don't want you!” she yelled. It was a lie, but he understood the words. “GO AWAY! Stupid Dog!” It hurt so much to say, but it worked. He whined, turned, and left.

She went back to the beginning, when she became a soldier. She was on a hill beside a battlefield, 16. Her master was speaking with a man about selling the slave girl. She was roughly grabbed and her master showed her muscles and  teeth like a cow. Then they traded money and she was chained and pulled away to be trained as a soldier. On that field, she had heard the grunts for the first time.

But that faded and she was back in the cellar. She heard her Mum Scream, then a thump on the floor. Sol screamed, but nobody heard it. She heard footsteps leave the house and started crying out of fear. 

Much later, footsteps came back. This time, they heard her. She heard footsteps headed toward her. The cellar opened.

“Mum? Da?”

Two men stood there. She stared at them. Something in her 5 year old mind knew something was wrong. She hushed and backed into the corner of the cellar, but they saw her.

“This ‘un will make a fine slave, don't you think?”

“Aye. We did get some loot. Gotta train them young.”

They started walking toward her. She had nowhere to run.

“MUM!!!” she screamed. “DA!” her voice was hysterical. She started coughing out tears as her arm was roughly grabbed and she was dragged away from home.

“Noo!” Sol broke from the nightmare she had a thousand times. 

A week passed and now she stood at the mouth of the pass with the entire army. Less enemy soldiers showed up than expected. She grit her teeth as the battle began and thought of the heartbreak in Glace’s eyes as he left. It fueled a mad rage as she cut down one after another, barely checking uniforms. 

She didn't use her head though. She ended up in a losing battle with a soldier near the forest. She saw a blade coming. This was it. Suddenly she saw a flash of fur and blood and Glace fell beside her, the sword buried deep in his red fur. Without thinking she stabbed the soldier and collapsed on Glace. 

The soldiers thought her dead. Somehow, through her tears, she heard their words.

“This was a good idea.”

“Yeah, the diversion is totally working. Nobodies over there to keep us from walking through the front gates.” What?

“It was brilliant to ‘accidentally slip’ our ‘secret passage’ to the thief.” It was a trap! But the battlefield was close. She could run there. She didn't have time for anyone else though. But she wouldn't let Glace die in vain. 

She blindly tore through the trees to the last of the skeleton army fighting a massive force, five times the number of those at the pass. She ran to the front and realized she stood alone. 

Her vision went red, and then all she saw was Glaces blood as she killed the entire army, long after her injuries should have had her dead. She just kept moving, fueled by Glaces image, until the final remnant fled and she collapsed on the red earth. She closed her eyes and smiled as she remembered the day she met Glace. When she opened them she saw bodies and blood of the soldiers she killed. She smiled then looked up and told her mother and father that she avenged them then drew her last breath leaving the world to reunite with Glace and forever be known as the wolf and the hero.