This is another Tracy and Wolf story
Her straining eyes could barely make out the still form at the bottom of the cliff, its arms and legs twisted into impossible positions like those of a broken doll. Beside his unconscious form she could see the two young boys he had been searching for, scared and hungry. They appeared to be throwing stones at something she could not see in the thick forest not far from where Wolf lay.
With a cry she started down the face of the cliff, crawling, sliding, jumping and climbing, doing things that no sane person would ever think of doing, but at that moment she was not sane. That was her man down there, and he was hurt, and there was no time to waste. Amidst a clatter of falling stones and rocks he landed on her hands and knees beside Wolf, startling the two small boys so much that one burst into tears.
For three days they had stayed with Wolf, defending him from wild animals by throwing rocks as they came near. They had been living off the dried meat that Wolf had been carrying with him on his search for the two, and even as she tended to Wolf, they were trying to drive off a large puma, that appeared to be more interested in biding its time than it was scared of the rocks.
Tracy immediately began to tend to Wolf, and it was soon obvious to her that he was in a very bad way. One leg was broken in multiple places and his right arm was broken as well, and she suspected from the amount of dried blood in his hair, that he might also have a fractured skull.
She kissed him softly on his forehead, and wished that she could see the big, embarrassed smile that washed over his handsome face every time she did that, and then began to bind his arm and leg tightly with strips torn from his shorts and her own shirt, so the bones would not further tear the skin.
As she worked, she took the time to praise the boys for their heroism, and was rewarded with sheepish grins from the pair, and she smiled to herself. At 15 she was not much older than the boys, and she knew well the feeling of being given honest praise. She had had been given so much by Wolf herself.
She would have liked to wait until help arrived, but she knew that if she did, Wolf would almost certainly die. So, she pushed Wolf's long knife into her belt beside her own, and with the help of both boys, she lifted Wolf onto her back. She staggered under his weight, and her knees started to buckle, but she would not allow herself to give in. With a grunt she straightened, and with the two boys warily eying the waiting puma, they set off towards home, slowly, but steadily.
As they had almost disappeared from sight the puma picked itself up from where it had been sitting, and stealthily followed the small group.
Tracy began to whisper into Wolf's ear as she half carried, half dragged him down the worn track. Words she knew he could not hear, but words that needed to be said just the same.
"So many times I have tried to run away from your love, to find other boyfriends so that you would be free of me, but, always in my heart, I expected you to be here for me with your never ending love. With your big arms opened wide to welcome me home, and those big, green eyes, that never seem to see my scars as others do, but instead, look right into my soul and like what they see. If I were to lose your love, I know I would never find anyone like you again, with your ready laugh and silly jokes, that always make me feel included in your life, with your pride over even the smallest things I do, and with your love. A love that washes over me from head to toe, making me feel I can do anything as long as I have you to do it for. If only you knew, that, despite my foolishness, my heart beats only for you, and everything I do is done from love for you. Don't leave me now Wolf, I have so much more to share with you."
As she turned her head to kiss his cheek, she noticed the puma steadily approaching. It had decided that it's hunger was greater than its fear of the man smell, and it was preparing to attack.
The boys saw it as she did, and face to face with the snarling beast their courage fled and they cowered near the base of a nearby tree, to scared to move further.
Tracy looked at her approaching death, and was surprised at the calmness with which she faced it. Almost moving in slow motion she slid Wolf gently to the ground, and drew both knives, as she faced her stalker. Teeth bared as her lips drew back, her face becoming even more savage as the scars on her cheek tightened and pulled at the skin, and, as her eyes stared deep into those of the puma, they glowed red and dangerous in the light of the rapidly setting sun.
The circling began, slowly to the left, each holding the other in its sight, neither giving ground to the other. Then, suddenly Tracy leapt, slightly to the side of the puma, so it missed with the great paw that was swiping at her, and rolled, coming to her feet behind the great cat, and throwing herself onto its back.
The snarling beast rolled and flipped trying to get its massive claws into her soft flesh, but she had her legs locked around its belly and was wildly slashing with both knifes. Blood and fur covered the ground as the cat snarled in pain and fear and Tracy screamed and slashed.
One of her wild slashes cut the big cat deeply across its nose, and its scream of pain was so great that Tracy relaxed her grip for just a second, and that was long enough for the puma to escape from the hold she had on it, but it did not even try to pursue its attack, choosing instead to head for the quiet of the trees where it could lick its wounds in safety.
It would not die from its wounds, but it would be in pain long enough to forever remember the lesson it had learned this day. Never come between a woman protecting the man she loves.
As she stood panting and dripping blood, mostly the puma's, in the distance she heard the sound of baying dogs, and with a sigh of relief she realised that it must be one of the search parties looking for the missing boys.
Slumping in exhaustion beside Wolf, she cradled his head in her arms and softly stroked his cheek with her fingertips, and as sleep overtook her and her head slumped on Wolf's broad chest, she never noticed the looks of awe and admiration on the faces of the two boys, or heard the first telling of the story that was to spread across the country.
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Somewhere in the mountains a wounded puma grunted in pain as it tried to sleep, and immediately the howling of a distant wolf pack followed the sound, almost as if they were laughing at its foolishness.
