Axel Barkwood's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Axel Barkwood had tamed every animal on the frontier but one, and that one was killing his neighbors. For three winters he had trained wild horses and gentled wolves with his bare hands. Now the settlers wanted him to catch the legendary beast that burned their barns and scattered their herds. He agreed. He built his ropes and his cage and his snares. Then he stood at the edge of the scorched forest and understood the flaw in his whole plan. He had never seen the beast up close. He did not know its size, its speed, or its temper. You cannot tame what you cannot picture. A small boy dropped out of the sky and landed beside him. His shoes hit the ash first, then his knees. Two thin wings folded against his back like wet paper. "You looked scared," the boy said, brushing soot from his star-shirt. "You're never scared." Axel knew Skyler well. The child followed him everywhere, uninvited and fearless. Axel had pulled him out of three rivers already. "I can't tame it if I don't know what it is," Axel said. "I need to see it. Just once. Close." Skyler grinned. "I can fly. I'll go look." "No." Axel grabbed the boy's shoulder. "It kills grown men." "It won't see me. I'm small." Skyler pulled free and shot upward before Axel could close his fist. Axel ran under him through the dead trees. He shouted the boy's name and got no answer but the beat of small wings above the branches. His heart slammed. He had promised to protect this child, and now he chased him toward the thing that terrified a whole territory. Then Skyler dropped again, fast, and Axel caught him against his chest. The boy was shaking, but his eyes were huge and bright. "I saw it," Skyler whispered. "It's not a monster." "What is it?" "It's like a giant dog-horse. Fuzzy. Brown, with white on its legs. It has a mark on its side, like a curled loop. It was crying, Axel. It stepped in a hunter's trap. That's why it's angry. It's hurt." Axel set the boy down and stared past him into the trees. Everything shifted in his head. He had built cages and snares to fight a killer. But the beast was not attacking. It was suffering, and lashing out because no one had come close enough to understand. He knelt and cut his own snares loose. He would not need them. He needed his knife, clean cloth, and slow hands. The tools of a healer, not a hunter. "Show me exactly where," Axel said. "And this time you stay behind me." Skyler nodded and pointed north through the ash. Axel finally knew what he was walking toward. Now the danger was worse than not knowing. He had to reach a wounded, frightened creature before its pain, or a hunter's blade, killed it first.