23

Clear.

The door opens before I get to it and a wolf is standing there, holding a wooden box.

The injured stranger opens it, then turns to me.

At first I don't know what that pile of metal is, but it doesn't look threatening, so I just watch as the Prince kneels and passes two rings around my ankles. He barely closes them and then I understand: they are to arrest me. He's holding me like a real prisoner!

Reflexively I slap him hard across the face as he starts to stand, then move forward and try to hit him harder.

The wolf in black at the door drops the wooden box and tries to hold me back, but the stranger growls a harsh sentence at him, making him back away. He himself holds me by the arms. When he speaks he's very, very close to me, and I see that his teeth are huge fangs, all of them, like a real wolf, and it's hard to admit, but it really scares me for a moment.

I scream and so does he, even though neither knows what the other is saying.

For a second I think the foreigner is going