The Winter Wolf by Holly Webb Read Free Book Online Page A

on top of the grey wool. Even so, there was an awfullot of snow left. A wall of it, built up in front of the hole in the tree, white and rippled and slightly glittery. Amelia gaped at it. The hole in the tree was at least a metre tall, and it was almost all covered up. There was just a patch of light coming in at the top. Had all that snow fallen in one night?
    Frost whined anxiously, and clawed at the snowdrift with a cautious paw.
    “I think we’re going to have to dig our way out,” Amelia agreed, pushing at the wall of snow with her mitten.
    “Amelia! Is that you?” called Noah.
    Amelia giggled suddenly. “How many other friends have you got buried in snowdrifts out in these woods?”
    There was a scuffling, and the patch of light got larger as two grey-gloved handsdug into it. “Very funny. I was worried about you! Real worried. I tried to come and find you last night, but Pa wouldn’t let me leave the house in the snowstorm. I imagined you freezing to death out here. And then… Well, I wondered if you’d gone back to wherever it was you came from.”

    Amelia smiled up at him. “Hopefully that won’t happen until we’ve taken Frost back to his mother. And you didn’t need to worry about us, we kept each other warm. Warmish, anyway.” She rubbed Frost’s soft head thoughtfully. “It would have been worse for him if he was all on his own. The snow would have blown in and swamped him.”
    “You did well to pin the blanket up,” Noah told her gruffly, as he worked away at the wall of snow. Frost and Amelia helped from the inside, scrabbling and digging, until at last Frost could scramble out into the clearing again. Noah then hauled Amelia out and they watched the little wolf race around, sinking chest-deep into the soft new snow and yelping like a mad thing.
    “I don’t think he liked being shut up,” Amelia said, laughing.
    Noah grimaced. “It’s good he’s got some life in him. He’s going to need to make a trip. The Wrights came by our cabin early this morning, to warn us. I’d have been here before if I hadn’t stayed to listen to what they were saying. They heard a wolf around their house last night.”
    “Frost’s mother!” Amelia gasped.
    “I think so.” Noah nodded. “There can’t be two lone wolves hunting around here all of a sudden, can there? Samson Wright says he thinks he knows where she’s hiding out. There are some caves along the bank of the river, like I told you yesterday. Mr Wright reckons she’s there, too. He came by to see if we’d heard her. He said he was going back home to…”He swallowed. “To melt down some lead and make more bullets for their guns. And then he and Joshua are setting off to follow her tracks – they say it shouldn’t be too hard, with the fresh snow. I think they wanted Pa to go with them, but you know he’s not sure there even is a wolf.” Noah glanced sideways at Amelia. “They’re going to shoot her.”
    “No!” Amelia whispered. “We can’t let them.” She crouched down as Frost came skittering up to her, tail whisking delightedly, and brushed the snow crystals from his muzzle. “I don’t care if it’s dangerous, Noah. Surely if we take Frost back to her, she’ll know that we aren’t mean like the Wrights? She’ll be too pleased to see her pup even to notice us.”
    “Let’s hope so,” Noah said grimly.“But we have to get going now, Amelia. Look, you eat these.” He handed her some pancakes, wrapped in a cloth. “And I’ve brought some scraps for Frost, just to give him the energy for a long walk. As soon as he’s eaten, we’ve got to go. The Wrights could have set off already. They mustn’t find his mother first.”
    He pulled out a little tin pan, full of breakfast scraps, and set it down in front of Frost, who started to gobble them up eagerly. Amelia leaned against the tree and watched the pup, frowning worriedly. He was still so young. Would he be able to manage the long walk to the river? Would