C14 Ashes and Shadows

The mountain air sliced sharp against my lungs as I descended from the ridge with Damien at my side. Snow crunched under our boots, the sound stark against the silence of waiting wolves.

They had gathered in a wide half-circle at the base of the steps, a wall of fur and iron, of stares too heavy to ignore. Breath misted from their mouths, hanging white in the night like smoke from a pyre