The wind cooled her warm skin as Doris detached her cloak. This time she I didn't hear anyone follow her and there were no signs of life out here-further from the clearing she usually left her cloak at.
Doris still wasn't sure if that messenger boy was following her or if he just so happened to run into her time and time again. It was a large palace, Doris rarely ran into the same servant twice when she was in the halls. His charming kindness was one thing, but it was a much bigger thing if he started to follow her.
"Twice as much as before." Cordelia said suddenly, pulling Doris out of her thoughts. "I want to see if you can handle it. Don't be surprised when I yank it back without warning."
"Okay." Doris breathed. She closed her eyes and let her wolf take over her body. The pain shot through her and didn't stop until it was Cordelia's paws she saw on the ground.
"Remember to let go if you feel it is too much." Cordelia warned. Doris wanted to roll her eyes at her wolf. She wasn't sure if her wolf was trying to scare her or if she really thought Doris would forget her instructions.
All at once, her blood felt as if it was electrified. It went from her head to her toes in a zap that refilled her energy instantly. Before she knew it, she had taken off in a run that made bushes almost rip from the ground when she passed. She was like a storm passing through all of these trees.
Her fur glowed a little, but it was hard to tell in the daylight. It didn't matter, Doris knew that it was shining even if she was the only one that could see it.
Her feet pounded against the ground and left large prints in her haste. "Eventually, you will learn to move without making a single trace." Cordelia said to her unasked question.
Doris knew she had never gone that fast, not even the last time she was allowed a bit of power. It took her almost half the time to reach the top of the mountain where she always liked to stop and look at the palace behind her.
The most surprising part was how her breath was even, it was fine. It felt like she hadn't been running at all.
"Good." Cordelia said. "Your first lesson was to learn how to listen to your surroundings, do you hear them now?"
Doris focused and soon heard the sound of the river, the birds in the trees miles away and the sound of a large animal making its way through the woods. It was calm-not a threat.
"Yes. I can hear everything still. It sounds so far away and so close at the same time." Doris said quietly. She changed to the thing she wanted to focus on several times before she opened her eyes again.
"Good. You'll be able to hear when enemies are near." Cordelia said. "Your next lesson will be the start of how to fight as a white wolf. Many wolves are vicious and will do anything to kill their opponent in desperate measures. Your power as a white wolf makes you naturally stronger than them. You can take them down in one blow while it might take them many more."
"I'm...stronger than an average wolf?"
"You will be. When I'm finished, you'll be able to take down an entire field with your power. I gave you enough today to take down a few trees to start. Why don't you practice on some and see how it makes you feel?"
"Okay." Doris turned and went back down the hill until she found a small clearing with trees around it as if it was in a circle. "What-"
Cordelia released a burst of power that made Doris almost blind from it. Her claws extended and she slashed her paw out at the skinny tree before her mind could even register what she was doing. The tree fell down flat against the earth before she could even blink.
"What was that?" Doris breathed. Tree looked as if it was in shreds and she barely touched it.
"Good. Do it again without my help. It won't take much effort."
Doris slowly turned to face another tree. Her claws extended again and she swiped her paw out towards the tree but it didn't fall like the one before. It only showed the marks of where her claws skimmed it.
"No, try Doris. You can do it, don't be light on it. Pretend it is your enemy.."
Doris brought her claws back and tried again. This time, the tree went down with a thick thump that sent many animals hurrying away from her. Doris heard all of it. She suddenly felt unstoppable when she saw what her claws did.
Doris swung at the next tree and the next until all of them were brought to the ground. She wanted more. She wanted to take down this whole forest and show William how powerful she was.
Doris took off through the trees again. Several more trees came down with a single swipe from her claws. This forest was full of so many trees-how many could she take down?
"Alright Doris, that's enough." Cordelia warned. Doris didn't listen. She had just taken down trees taller than the palace!
"Doris, that's enough." Cordelia said again. Doris slowed a little and the second she did, Cordelia ripped the power from her and made her come crashing to the dirty floor.
"W-why did you take it away? I stopped!" Doris whimpered. She forced herself to stand on her shaky legs but she only fell back against the ground.
"Turn around and look at what you did." Cordelia said.
Doris turned and felt as if all the air was taken from her. She cleared a path of trees that stretched almost a mile long. The forest looked as if it was wrecked, it all looked like a giant mess and it was all her fault.
"Oh... I didn't realize I had taken so many down... I swore that it was only a few."
The power drained out of her as if it was taking her energy with it. The feeling of being unstoppable was quickly replaced by the feeling of emptiness. The hole in her chest felt wider than it did before. It felt as if she would never be able to fill it.
"I... I can handle another taste. Let me have another shot." Doris practically begged.
"It's getting dark. You need to get back to the palace before someone comes out here to see what all this noise was."
"I doubt they even heard me-"
"You may have better hearing as a white wolf, but they still have it pretty good. We will pick up on this soon."
Doris had no choice but to listen to her wolf. Only this time, she still seemed to hear everything in the forest.
Her wolf hadn't taken all of it away. She was finally letting her keep some of it.