TAMMY WILSON - LEGENDARY

Tammy Wilson has been writing since she was 11 years old and her love of the written word has increased with the passage of time. She has had poetry published in national and international anthologies and is currently working on her first book, intended to be adapted to screenplay after the book is finished. Tammy enjoys studying Japanese language, anything crafty like crocheting and making dreamcatchers, and is currently trying to learn how to make homemade ramen. She is a U.S. Air Force veteran and left military service with the Air Force Commendation Medal. She currently lives in southeast Alabama with her family.

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Legendary
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​The little girl awoke with a gasp. As she shivered and trembled, she felt the soft brush of fur against her left hand. Instead of being frightened, she was comforted by the fact that it was there. She brushed a gentle hand over its fur and as she stroked, she began to calm, her trembling eased until finally it stopped.
She stood and went to the window to open the curtains. The night was dark with just a sliver of a moon, but she could tell the animal was large, too large to be a dog. He must be the legendary dire wolf so many people claimed to have seen but could never prove. Every time the creature was mentioned she had absorbed every scrap of information she could glean about it.
“I wish I could see you better,” she said to the animal.
As if by magic, the fireplace roared to life and every candle on the mantle was lit. Surprised but pleased she asked the creature, “Did you do that?”
In answer, the animal pushed his large snow-white head against her hand to be stroked so she did just that, from the top of his head down his neck. She told him, “I will call you Shinha. It means moon in my mother’s native language. My name is Nalla.” He was beautiful, white as the moon and just as huge as she’d thought, with thick fur. He was easily three times her weight.
Shinha responded by leaning into her touch, so she took that to be approval. Suddenly he stiffened and stood to face the door. His fur stood on end and he growled, a hair-raising sound. Nalla tensed and turned as well, her hand on Shinha’s neck. Her door was thrown open and slammed against the wall. An unknown man stood in her doorway and glared at her as if her presence was offensive to him. He was in her room and she was offensive to him? She stood straight and proud, her hand still on Shinha’s neck, and asked, “What are you doing here? Who are you?”
He started to snarl at her but took serious note of Shinha, who still stood growling, He was much larger than an average wolf and as such was much more of a threat. “I’m here to kill a girl named Nalla, the daughter of Mellora, High Priestess of Eirris.”
Nalla gasped but Shinha leaned against her legs enough to calm her. “That might be a problem. My guardian here will not tolerate that. But you’re welcome to try him, if you’d like.”
“You are Nalla,” he said to confirm it.
She only nodded once. His only answer was to pull his sword out of its scabbard and Shinha moved in front of Nalla, his growl now loud enough to make her leg vibrate as he brushed ahead of her.
“This is your only warning, sir. I’d suggest you leave before Shinha makes it so you can’t.”
“There is too much money involved. Your death is worth too much,” he said.
She nodded and said, “So be it.”
Shinha showed every single one of his teeth, bristling, and waited for the perfect time to strike. The man moved further into the room and closer to the pair of them, the little girl with unusual multi-colored hair, which gave the man a moment’s pause, and the giant white dire wolf, her legendary guardian. Shinha crouched and waited, just a moment more, just one more, then at last he leapt straight up it seemed to the little girl. The man barely had the sword raised when Shinha had hold of his throat. The dire wolf stood on his hind legs and easily reached what he needed to subdue the man, his shrieks and screams echoing around the large room and blood covered his snow-white fur. Her attacker tried to bear hug her protector, but it was too late. He had lost too much blood and was about to black out.
He fell to the floor and Shinha kept hold of him. The man tried to fend the dire wolf off, but it was no use. When the intruder’s hands fell away from Shinha he let him go but stayed on guard, teeth bared, and growls filled the room.
“Girl,” he said, knowing he was about to die for a fool’s errand. With that hair she could only be one man’s daughter. It must be why she had been kept hidden, exiled like her father. When she nodded he asked, “Do you know who your father is?”
She shook her head. “I was never told. My mother seemed unhappy about discussing it, so I let it be, but it doesn’t matter really.”
“Are you sure?” he asked as he paused to catch his breath a moment. Then finally he continued, “Not even if your father is the Exiled King? Your multi-colored hair is an exact match for his.”
When Nalla’s face paled and she covered her mouth in shock he smiled as his eyes closed in eternal slumber. Shinha leaned against her legs to remind her she wasn’t alone. She lowered her hands and used one to stroke his head.
“Thank you, Shinha. It doesn’t matter who my father is, does it? It changes nothing. I am what I am, and I have to stay here. This place, this keep is my refuge, my protection. No one will enter here ever again without my express permission. Not ever.”