A quest

After what seemed like no time at all, Emma felt herself being gently shaken awake. A low groan escaped her lips, and she opened her eyes to see Auntie Sun was leaning over her.

"What's up?" Emma croaked, sitting up and rubbing her sleep-filled eyes. The sky was a soft greyish pink, indicating that it was just before dawn.

"You promised me yesterday that you would go and get some cuttings of wuweizi for me. I heard from some of the villagers that there is a clearing in the woods further up the mountain, where some of it grows wild. Apparently the efficacy of these particular specimens are really good."

Emma groaned. She had promised.

Wuweizi berries that were very helpful to easing wheezing in lungs and Auntie Sun regularly drank infusions containing the berries. The old housekeeper wanted to get some cuttings to plant in her garden, and Emma had agreed to go pick some. But she couldn't remember any mention of going at the crack of dawn.

"Does it have to be right now?" Emma begged. She would not say no to a few more hours of sleep.

"Yes. Now get dressed. Quickly."

With that Auntie Sun left the room, leaving a defeated Emma behind. Auntie Sun could be very resolute, and Emma saw no hope of changing her mind.

Throwing a forlorn look at her lovely, warm bed, Emma got dressed and pulled her messy hair up in a bun.

Auntie Sun was waiting outside in the garden with a basket, which she held out to Emma when she approached.

"Here you go. Breakfast will be waiting for you when you get back."

Emma grumbled to herself, but took the basket from Auntie Sun.

"It better be a nice breakfast."

Still felling like she had not woken up properly Emma set off.

She had to laugh a bit at herself. There she was, on her way to gather herbs on the mountain. It was like some wierd quest of a fantasy novel. But she knew the hike was too much for Auntie Sun, and she would do what she could to help.

She turned right and began her trek along one of the narrow paths leading up the mountain.

Some twenty minutes later, with flushed cheeks and slightly out of breath, Emma reached the place Auntie Sun had described to her. It was a small clearing not far from the old temple ruins. Some of the way here had been steep and difficult to navigate, and Auntie Sun would not have been able to make the hike up here by herself.

Emma's gaze swept over the clearing, searching for the plant that Auntie Sun had described to her, but she couldn't see it anywhere.

She moved closer to one side of the clearing, where there some thick growing bushes, still searching with her gaze. As she was about to move to search a different corner of the clearing she heard the loud snap of a twig breaking, coming from her left.

Emma's head whipped towards the source of the sound. She instinctively went still as she caught sight of a dark shape enveloped in shadow at the edge of the clearing.

Squinting, she tried to make out what the shape was. Leaves rustled, as something moved out from the shadows into the soft glow of first light filling the clearing. Emma gasped as the light hit the shape, and she felt herself freeze in fear.

Her eyes first fixed on a large black paw emerging from the shadows, then on the other that followed it, and then on a large black furry body.

Still frozen in fear on the spot, Emma's eyes met the glowing green eyes of an enormous black wolf.