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The wind blew sharply, whipping at the hair of the lone girl walking down the lonely road between two rows of dense trees. She squinted to see through the low branches at her side of the road, but the trees were too tall and she was too small to really see much of the way ahead.

Gritting her teeth and rubbing her arms, the girl tried to keep from crying as she walked. It was cold, very cold, but she considered tears as a sign of weakness. She thought perhaps that her father might hear. She thought perhaps he might be following her.

She did not know where she was going.

The trees were nearly barren of leaves so winter had already won this year. And there was no one on the road to share the shelter of the branches. She shivered harder than she had since she had left the house. To make matters worse, she had lost her hat that morning. Her father had given that to her, so she knew that he would be upset.

Wiping her nose with the palm of her hand, the girl looked over her shoulder. There was still no one around. She then continued to walk, picking a direction casually, making the decision to balance her need to warm up and her fear of being found.



Her father would have found her hat eventually. It wasn't the only one, it was just the one he had chosen for her. She had wanted a lucky rabbit's foot, but her father had been clear on the choice. She couldn't refuse him. He was her father.


She shivered again and kept walking.

She wondered how many days it would take for her to be missed. She wasn't sure why she was running away. She decided she had done it for her mother. Her mother would have left first, had she still been alive.

The girl snorted and continued walking.

She had no real name. Most of the children in the town called her many names, preferring nicknames of things she was not... things she was.

She was without magic. Her father was a magician. He made things disappear and reappear with the flick of his finger. Her father said he would teach her that trick when she turned six. She had waited two weeks with no sign. She finally asked and her father had refused. He grew angry at the question, and it turned out that he was angry because he did not know that trick. It was not fair that all children had magic.

He was wrong. It was not fair. She was not the only one without magic. She knew of many other children. She had begged her father to go find them, to find another magician to teach her. He had not. He considered himself a magi, and only those destinies could be corrected.

Her father said he would never forget her, no matter the distance between them. She trusted him, and so she still had some faith in him.

Reaching into her dress pocket, she quickly found the last penny she had and tossed it into the air. She caught it neatly and held it up to see if the wind would steal it. She saw it flap in the air and realized that it had snagged in a low branch. She reached out, toeing off the penny. The branch swung free. She watched the coin fall from view and then lifted her hand to her ear, listening for the sound of the coin landing. She heard it and smiled. The coin had fallen in the middle of the road.

Looking around again, she thought she heard a noise from somewhere close. Looking to her right, she saw a huge grey wolf trotting toward her from the trees. She froze, hands up to stop that wolf. He acted almost like a human. This was the second wolf she had seen in a day.

It walked like a man, too, but it stood only four feet at the shoulder. And it had four legs. She saw its ears perk up and jerk her direction. She then again heard the sound of heavy footsteps. The wolf growled and turned to her as the footsteps grew louder.

Looking behind her, she saw a man walking toward her. He walked with a staff in his left hand while he held his cloak in place with his right.

The wolf growled loudly and broke into a run.

The girl gasped and turned to run. Her dress was too long for her to run very fast, but she tried. She started to run toward the man, but the man would be nowhere near her in time. He was too slow. She would have to run past the wolf to reach him.

Looking behind her, she noticed the wolf charging into the trees. The man would have to be far behind to reach her before the wolf. She sighed and turned back to the man.

The man had stopped and now turned to face her.

She knew he was a Guardian. He stood with his legs slightly apart, his arms swinging loosely at his sides. His staff was held up to the sky by both hands and his feet were angled in a fighting stance. She had seen him fight in the fields of the town before.

The wolf stopped in a large clearing to the side of the road, red eyes and teeth showing brightly. He stared at the Guardian. The man lowered his staff and held his left fist up in front of him. The wolf did not move.

The girl stood frozen on the side of the road, watching this. The wolf was growling, pacing back and forth. She noticed that the man's horse stopped to stand guard behind him. She had never seen a horse allow itself to stand guard before. The girl shifted from foot to foot, her breath coming fast and hot against her face.

She took a step forward to try and see the wolf better.

The man snapped his eyes in her direction and snapped the staff forward. The wolf whipped around quickly and ran at the Guardian.

The man turned and stepped aside, letting the wolf race past him. As the wolf passed, the man swung his staff out in a smooth, straight line downward.

The Guardian's staff caught the wolf in the side of the head with a grunt. The wolf went to the ground with a whimper, lifted into the air, and then sent flying by the incredible force of the Guardian's staff.

The wolf spun, faced the Guardians fighting staff, and then turned its back. The wolf turned to run away. The Guardian brought his staff down again quickly, accurately, and too fast for the girl to see. She heard the wolf yelp a second time and then fall to the ground. The wolf lay still in the place where the Guardian had struck it.

The girl took a step forward from her rigid position on the side of the road and watched the Guardian move. The man held his right arm out from his body and his staff caught in the air as his left lifted up.

There was a rush of air and the girl was knocked to the ground. The wind of the Guardian's blow caught her and lifted her up in the air. She hit the ground with a grunt, not feeling the pain of the fall.

She heard another wolf snarl and turns to see the second wolf bounding quickly toward her. She closed her eyes. She didn't want to see.

She opened her eyes when she heard the man call out her name. She turned to look back toward him. He was coming toward her.

The second wolf was on her in an instant, knocking her over before she could move. She heard his teeth snap, but she felt no pain, just a scream catching in her throat like a bad taste. She heard the Guardian drop his staff and draw his sword from the holder attached to his belt. She heard the hiss of the sword as the Guardian drew it. She saw the flash of the blade in the bright sun as he swung the blade down.

With a scream, she tried to roll away.

She heard the snap of teeth again. She felt a new weight on her as the Guardian pushed her away from the dying wolf. His arms lifted her high and he let her go. She fell to the ground to land next to her father's horse.

She gasped and then began to sob, tears rolling off her nose. She kept her eyes closed, afraid to look. She held her hands over her ears to try and block the rest of the sounds. She could hear her fear in the sound of her own breathing.

A moment passed and then she heard the newcomer's voice.

"Fetch the boys!"

She heard hurried movement.

She heard the sound of skipping boots. There were rivers of leaves, and then more bodies.

She fell asleep.

She dreamed of swords, and fire, and monsters.

She dreamed that she was with an old magician. He called her 'Dreaming Girl'. She thought he meant the name. He called her Dreaming Girl.

She dreamed of mountains of gold and green berries.

She dreamed of great monsters of stone.

She dreamed of an old magician with hair like fire. He did not speak her language. He called her Dreaming Girl.

She dreamed that she was a little girl who feared the dark. She was told that the night was full of monsters who wanted her. A woman called her Dreaming Girl.

She dreamed of a dream that she was a one-eyed monster that scared people. She had no ears or tongue. She was a monster in the night and people called her Dreaming Girl.

She dreamed that she was a great monster. She was bored with monsters. To get relief she did not want, she became a great monster.

She dreamed of a wagon car. There was great danger inside it. Great danger called her Dreaming Girl.

She dreamed of being a great monster that scared people. She was lonely for her friends who had been taken. She dreamed that she could be a great monster. She had the night things in her dreams.

She dreamed of being a great monster. She was afraid in the dark. She was lonely for her friends. She was afraid. She dreamed that the night things hunted for her. She dreamed of monsters and laughed because she was one. One that sometimes woke. One that was sometimes a strong girl. One that was a big monster. One that sometimes was a great girl. One that was sometimes a monster. One that was sometimes great. One that sometimes dreamed. One that was a monster...was scared of the dark. Was a great girl. Was a dreamer. One that once was a great girl. One that was sometimes a monster. One that was a one-eyed monster. One that was scared. She was afraid. She was a lonely one. She was a lonely great one. She was great. She was a girl. She was a one-eyed monster. She was a girl. She was a great big monster. She was a lonely monster. She was a one-eyed girl. She was a lonely girl. She was a lonely girl who was sometimes a great big monster. She was sometimes afraid. She was sometimes a monster. She was sometimes a great one. She was sometimes a great girl.

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