"The forest!" he shouted, before galloping for the village gates.
"Wait, where are you going?" Hunter asked.
"The forest is on fire! Come on!" Butch bellowed.
Hunter gave an exasperated growl, then pulled her reins around to follow him.
I ran to my horse and mounted quickly. Many of the villagers shouted questions at us as we left, but none of us answered. We all rode our horses toward the dark columns of smoke now climbing high into the sky.
"Wait for us!" Stitcher screamed ahead.
But Butch only ran faster.
I pulled up to Crafter's side. Smoke from the forest fire was now blotting out the setting sun, erasing the rosy-red sky to the west and replacing it with a sad gray haze. As the sun sank behind the horizon, the biome in the distance gave off a flickering orange glow stretched from one end of the spruce forest to the other. It was a huge fire, but as we rode, I realized it was not getting brighter: it was growing dimmer. Clearly, it was burning itself out.
We rode hard into the night, pushing our horses to the brink of exhaustion. Finally, I put out my hand. I refused to drive the horses any harder, so I pulled back on the reins, slowing from a gallop to a trot.
The others slowed as well, except for Butch, who continued to pull ahead. But none of us cared anymore. We could feel the strain in the animals and knew we had to slow down, or we would end up killing our mounts.
"Herder, I think you should send your wolves out with Butch," Crafter said. "He'll be alone out there now, and it's getting dark; he may be in trouble."
"It serves him right," Hunter snapped.
"Yeah!" Stitcher added.
"We don't abandon our friends, no matter what," Crafter replied.
"Yeah!" Stitcher added.
"We don't abandon our friends, no matter what," Crafter replied.
Hunter sighed and nodded her head as Herder leaned down and spoke to White.
"Hey White." he said. "Could you go with the other wolves and protect Butch? That would be much appreciated. If you are in trouble, just howl."
"Hey White." he said. "Could you go with the other wolves and protect Butch? That would be much appreciated. If you are in trouble, just howl."
))
I fly beside them moments after.
"What's the hold up?"
"What's the hold up?"
((ha ha! And White, it is ur choice to go with the other wolves 
))
))
The other wolves take off running. They become ghostly specters as they shoot off into the darkness, quickly fading from sight.
"I will even stop the man's horse. Or it'll stop itself because he's going to kill it. Stay safe, and call when there's trouble." White sighs and takes off like a bolt of lightning, dirt being kicked up behind them.
We continued at a much slower pace. Eventually, we found ourselves at the edge of the forest, a full moon high in the sky. The square, pale face shone a silvery light on the Overworld, giving us just enough light to see what was before us. We all dismounted and approached the disasterous scene. Herder placed a fence post into the ground and tied all the horses to it so that they would not wander off. I cast the lanky boy a smile, then scanned the surroundings looking for Butch's horse; it was nowhere to be seen.
I stared at the devestated biome in shock. As before, many trees lay on their side, their scorched remains an ashen gray. They were nearly all composed of ash, just barely holding their original long, rectangular forms together. They reminded me of long gravestones, marking the burial place of the once-proud forest. But the most eerie thing was the silence. Not a single animal made a sound: no moos, no bleats, no clucks. It felt as if I had something in my ears, blocking out the always-present sounds of the Overworld. There was nothing left alive. All the animals had either run away or perished. (i don't mean the wolves.)