|  Author | Topic: Wolf Pack: Book One: Scout-- NEWER VERSION! (Read 45 times) |
Wolfy
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Do I look like a monster? Then why hunt me like one? Stop the poaching of the wolf
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Karma: 3 |  | Wolf Pack: Book One: Scout-- NEWER VERSION!
« Thread Started on Sept 12, 2008, 5:11pm » | |
Yep, I deleted the older one and started all over again. I probably should have started putting it up before, so now I'm going to put up the world's longest post. All 65 pages I've written. Oh well.
Prologue
This is the life. Beautiful territory, new pups in the pack and the springtime breeze on your fur. What could possibly go wrong?
So thought the young mother as she sat upon a hill in a wide and beautiful valley, the wind playing with her silver-gray fur, her blue eyes closed blissfully- at least for the moment, until she opened one to watch the five mischievous pups playing together below her. Two, Oak and Sea, were her own. Oak was like her father- dark brown fur, amber eyes- and Sea looked like Cotton, her mother, her fur gray with just a touch of silver, her blue eyes lively and forever dancing with mischief.
The other three belonged to the Alphas, Silver and Gold. Timber, the only male in the lot, was golden-furred with green eyes, his sister, Ivy, was the same color as the Alpha female’s namesake, also with green eyes. Snowflake’s eyes were blue, and her pelt was pure white, like her grandmother, Snowdrop, that Silver had long been separated from.
She pricked her ears idly as three howls split the air- one high and light, two deeper. Evidently, Silver and Gold, the Alphas, and Pinecone, the Beta and Cotton’s mate, had returned from their hunt.
She trotted over to greet them, but found them empty-pawed.
“What’s going on? No food?” she asked; these three never came back without food, not with five young mouths to feed.
But then, Cotton grew confused. Emanating from Pinecone’s pelt was alarm.
“Pinecone?” she asked. Silver and Gold had appeared in a similar fashion, and the alarm quickly spread to her.
Her mate whispered one word, “Devil,” ran over to the pups, picked up Timber, and raced off. Silver followed swiftly, and both Ivy and Sea were in her care. Cotton followed suit and carried Oak swiftly away.
Gold bore down upon the one remaining pup as swiftly as he could, but just as he was going to bend his head to pick up Snowflake, a snarl sounded behind him. There stood an arrogant dark gray/black wolf with bright green eyes.
“Devil,” he breathed, even as the wolves of their arch enemy’s pack formed a circle around them.
Devil’s lips curled in a sneer, but when he spoke his voice was quiet and mocking. “Gold. So we meet again.”
Gold set the pup down. “Let me through.”
Devil laughed. A harsh laugh it was, echoing in the valley that had less than 20 minutes ago been utterly peaceful. “What do you take me for? An idiot that got the stance of Alpha by sheer force? Of course I am not going to move and let you go away. This luck is too great.”
Gold pricked up his ears, feeling all his senses sharpen, as they do to experienced wolves in the face of battle, or their greatest enemy.
“So be it,” he growled, and sprang at his age-old rival. He knew the rest of the pack was closing in, and that all that he attempted was hopeless, but he was determined to inflict at least one wound on this wolf before his life ended. Indeed he felt his teeth meet flesh, and felt fierce satisfaction well up inside of him. It was the last positive feeling he would ever have.
Pelts were closing in on him, all round him; teeth were already meeting his fur, his throat. “Snowflake, run!” he heard himself shout. He thought he saw the pup turn and take off as fast as her little legs could carry her, but it might have been a hallucination.
In fact Snowflake did run, she ran as though death was on her tail even though it was at that moment on her father’s. She ran, and collided with Ivy and Sea.
“What’s going on?” she asked tensely.
“Mum’s dead,” Ivy replied, trying to explain rapidly. “Mevil-”
“Devil,” Sea corrected sharply.
“Sorry, Devil--”
“Is here, at this instant. I know,” Snowflake replied. “He killed Dad. Well, not specifically, but…”
Sea winced. “We need to find the others, and quick.”
The trio took off, bounding over surprising ground for three pups, even though Ivy, Sea, and Snowflake had always been swift.
They found Oak and Cotton. Oak was staring down at the corpse of her beloved mother blankly, as though she couldn’t process the thought that she was gone.
Sea bounded over and buried her muzzle in the silver/gray fur, and for a moment it was hard to tell them apart from each other.
“Where’s Dad?” she questioned at last in a low voice.
Oak shrugged.
“Well, come on!” she cried, her voice shrill and high with fear as she sped off. Oak followed close behind, and Snowflake and Ivy ran together.
“No…” They heard the sound before they saw or smelled Pinecone. As they rounded the corner, skidding to a halt beside Sea, they saw him lying limp.
Sea looked up with glazed eyes. “I suppose we’re on our own,” she murmured.
-Chapter 1-
Hosanna
I
t was early still; pale light had just leaked over the horizon. All the rest of the yearling, Snowflake’s, tiny, close-knit pack was still fast asleep, and so she sat there alone with her tail twitching, her usually masked thoughts written clearly on her face- grief, even though it had been six months since the deadly day that stole her parents from her, anxiety, and wonder.
She shivered. Her white pelt had not yet thickened to repel the sharpness of the autumn wind, and it bit and sliced her like the carnivorous teeth of some massive predator.
“Hi, Snowflake.”
The white wolf jumped. She was a bit paranoid these days, and Sea, her best friend, could pad without making a sound.
“Hi, Sea,” she greeted her, turning around. “I didn’t know you were up.”
A wry smile tugged at the other wolf’s face. As it so often did. “I’ m always up this early. I like to watch the sunrise.”
“Oh.”
They sat together; watching the sun go up until it was a smoldering orange ball in the sky. At long last Ivy emerged, stretching so that her claws gleamed in the sunlight along with her silver fur. Oak and Timber, ever the late sleepers, were last.
“Fall’s coming,” Snowflake’s sister remarked brightly. Snowflake resisted rolling her eyes, but it was a close call. Ivy could be so flippant sometimes! Didn’t she know the danger of the harsh winter, the season without food?
Oak glanced at the other wolf. Wolves could speak with their eyes if necessary, and her glance warned Ivy to be careful.
“Wanna go hunting?” Sea asked eagerly. In the six months following the death of their parents, they had taught themselves how to hunt, building off what little they already knew. Sea had really taken to it. But Snowflake shook her head.
“We hunted last week, and ate enough to hold us over for three more. We’d be wasting food.”
Sea snorted. “Your point being…? When the snow comes, we can bury it to keep it fresh, and have food all through the winter!”
Snowflake winced at the mention of winter and snow.
Sea shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I’m going, whether you like it or not.” She was gone with the next breath of wind.
“Sea!”Snowflake shouted, taking off at full speed after her friend.
She did catch her, finally, by colliding with Oak.
“Who do you think you are?” she asked fiercely. “Alpha female? We decided on that a long time ago!”
“Well, I didn’t order you to come,” Sea answered smugly.
Snowflake opened her mouth to argue, but all that came out was, “You planned this!”
Sea’s smirk spread. “What was your first clue?”
“I-I- I don’t believe you!”
“Why not? Does it not fit my personality?”
Snowflake stared at her, baffled. “Why…?”
Sea just wagged her tail, the laughter plain in her eyes.
“We have no time for these kind of pranks!”
“Pranks?” Sea’s eyes hardened. “What’s a little fun? We can still go hunting together!”
“Hunting?” Snowflake spat. “Who would lead it, however? You? And what if it’s another one of your pranks?”
Sea’s muscles tensed. Her blue eyes blazed, and it looked as though she was preparing to spring.
Snowflake drew in her breath sharply. The first time they had picked their Alpha nonviolently. Was Sea about to change it the way most packs did it- contests?
Sea charged, and Snowflake steadied herself, waiting for that torpedo of silver fur to crash into her, but Sea just ran right on past her.
The other three filed past her- first Ivy, then Oak and then Timber, and somehow Snowflake didn’t follow. In the years after she would wonder why she stood there and let Sea gain control, but she would probably never figure out.
The hunters returned around midday, laden with prey. Sea sat down the main catch, a healthy young buck, in front of Snowflake and stood waiting.
Snowflake looked at her quizzically.
“Alphas eat first,” Sea said, a tad bit testily.
“But what about Hunter’s Share?” Snowflake could tell that Sea was trying to subtly give her back her rank, but regardless of ranks it was customary that the hunters, who did all the work, would eat first.
“Already done.”
“You mean you…?”
“Caught two. Yes.”
Snowflake was at a loss for words. Two catches in one hunt was astronomical for a wolf. That was she had always thought, anyway…
“So, dig in,” Sea said, tipping her head towards the untouched food
Snowflake did so almost cautiously, since for some inexplicable reason she didn’t like the wry smile again tugging at the grey wolf’s face. But she did eat, and once she was finished she again saw that wry smile.
“All right, what’s going on?” Snowflake growled.
“We have new members,” replied Sea. Two male wolves and one female stepped out.
“Meet Thorn, Leaf, and Shadow,” she said with a nod; Leaf was a dusky red female with green eyes, Thorn dark gray with amber eyes, and Shadow black with green eyes.
“What’s their age?” Snowflake questioned.
“Leaf and Thorn are three years, and Shadow is one.”
Two three-year-olds?! Snowflake could hardly believe her luck.
“Welcome to the pack,” she said, dipping her head.
Sea nudged her. “Quit being so formal!” she laughed. “Come on; we need a new home. This tiny valley won’t accommodate us all… unless you want us all to be packed together like winter food storage.”
“Will do,” Snowflake replied, “if you have a better suggestion.”
Sea grinned. “Yep, I do.”
They were racing through the forest at top speed; Snowflake could hear Thorn, Timber, and Oak heaving for breath.
“Sea,” she called. “Maybe we should slow down. Some of the more muscular ones are struggling a bit.” Then suddenly they were standing before a waterfall.
The waterfall was massive. It pounded mercilessly into the wide river below, each droplet a tiny rainbow. The river was flowing fast, certain death to the strongest swimmer, and the cascading torrent was even worse. If she squinted, Snowflake could just make out an opening in it. Sea was heading straight towards it.
“What’s going on?” Snowflake demanded, trotting to keep up with her friend. “You’re not… serious, are you?”
“Dead serious,” returned Sea without slackening her pace a fraction of a centimeter. She stopped at the pounding waterfall, tensed, and sprang.
“Sea!” Snowflake called out in panic. The silvery-grey body had just vanished, as though it never existed.
The white wolf gathered up her breath. Her eyes shut tight, she sprang towards the waterfall.
Foam swirled around her head and into her mouth. Behind her was the fast flowing torrent flowing heavily into the river. In front of her was sleek grey stone.
Then she was falling; falling, falling, plummeting downwards like a torpedo. She hit the water and thrashed out, her golden eyes wide, her wet fur weighing her down.
Then sharp teeth met in her scruff. Slowly but surely she felt her drenched body leaving the cold, rushing water. A gap loomed in front of her, and she stretched out with her claws to try and get a grip in it, feeling springy grass beneath her paws. Her claws curved underneath her, just as the weight dragged her the last meter and into the chamber.
The walls were solid gray stone, polished and sleek, without even a notch. Covering the floor was soft grass, surprisingly healthy, seeing as it was fall, rapidly becoming winter. In the walls were tunnels covered in moist sod, and the only background sound was the waterfall pounding relentlessly. All in all, it offered an illusion of peace.
“When did you find this place?” Snowflake asked with effort; it seemed as though if she spoke, it would shatter the peacefulness of everything. The place sort of casts a spell on you, she thought with a slight shudder.
“A few days ago,” replied Sea. “Or rather, a few nights,” she added a tad bit wryly. “There’s little I love more than going out for a midnight run. Especially in the time of the full moon.” She smiled slightly even at the memory.
Snowflake’s tail lashed. “What about the others? They probably think we’ve both drowned.”
Sea twitched her tail. “I’ll get them.”
Snowflake nodded. “I’ll wait here.” Her friend disappeared through the water.
“So,” said Sea after a few minutes, “What do you think of it?”
Oak scanned the place, her amber eyes missing nothing, until she at last murmured, “It’s… it’s… it’s…”
“Yes?” Sea said, a tad bit impatiently.
“It’s wild,” Oak murmured.
Sea’s eyes began to glow at the mention of that word. Snowflake, seeing the posture of her friend, muttered, “I’m gonna go choose a place to sleep,” and headed down one of the tunnels, just as Sea, with the air of a young pup, pounced on her sister, and, as Timber and Ivy joined in the tussle, she disappeared.
The tunnel was easy for her to navigate, if a bit on the small side, and it felt almost as though she was moving down a dream to heaven. After about nine meters, it opened out into a large cave.
The cave was large, with a length of 50 feet and a width of 55 feet. There was a hole in the roof through which came a splash of warm sunlight. Snowflake gasped. The whole chamber was utterly perfect for the pack; there was perfect shelter from the wind, a place to store prey. She smiled, settling down with her paws tucked under her. It was bliss.
Sea padded out to the edge of the Chamber, her footfall soundless across the healthy grass. Ivy was with her, but only Ivy. Sea had decided to go hunting- nothing major, really more for fun, though they would bring back their catches. The other wolves were busy settling in, but Ivy never took too many pains to that sort of thing.
Now, as they approached the edge, Sea murmured, “Stay with me,” and sprang.
The water dragged her under at first, but she had come here more than once during the night and was quite used to it. It was Ivy she was worried about. Having never had to leave the Chamber, she was worried about the shock and the difficulty it would possess for the other wolf. Quickly she kicked out with her hind paws and found herself on the other side of the waterfall, in the fast flowing water.
The water ripped her along, but Sea had always been a strong swimmer, and she struck out in a rhythm that could correspond with the river and eventually bring her to the sides.
She grabbed a branch between her teeth and pulled herself up, then gripping it with her claws she kept a sharp eye out for Ivy.
She finally spotted her with her sharp eyes, thrashing around wildly on the current, and groaned. She was on the other side of the river! Of course she wouldn’t have thought to swim so that she could connect her rhythm with the river’s!
“Ivy!” she called out. “Over here!”
Immediately Ivy turned and tried to fight the flow of the river, which of course made her get battered down and tossed around even more.
“Stop!” Sea called out. Having no other choice, she leapt into the river after her friend.
Many agonizing moments later, they both sat coughing and stuttering on the banks of the river.
“Thanks,” Ivy gasped. Sea rolled her eyes. “I told you to stay with me,” she growled. Ivy’s tail drooped. “Sorry.”
Sea shrugged. “Come on, it doesn’t matter.” She whisked around and took off, Ivy struggling to keep up.
The forest made her forget all her troubles- her concerns about Snowflake’s strictness, the upcoming winter- everything. Her paws fell lightly on the ground, the wind blowing her fur out behind her.
She must have run 7 miles in 10 minutes when a loud howl for help cut through the air.
She paused, going from full speed to a complete halt in less than half a second. Cautiously, she moved back through the woods, her ears pinned to her head, every instinct screaming at her to be careful and walk silently.
She finally found Ivy, who had of course howled for help. She was lying on the ground, her fur tinted red. It took a moment for Sea to find out what had happened- then she saw the deep tear in her throat. With a gasp, she ran forward, nudging Ivy hopefully. For one heart-stopping moment she thought she was too late, then she saw the rapid rise and fall of her chest.
Doing her best to stop the blood flow with cobwebs, she dragged her back to the Chamber. Once she was outside the Chamber, she let out a howl.
Snowflake was just about to drift off to sleep when she heard rapid pawsteps and Oak’s frantic voice calling, “Snowflake! Snowflake!”
She opened her eyes reluctantly. The brown wolf was standing in the entrance to the cave, her amber eyes wide with anxiety.
“Come see! Hurry!”
Snowflake wanted to refuse, but Oak’s voice was too urgent, so she climbed to her paws and ran after her.
“Outside the waterfall.” This time is was Timber who was speaking to her in an urgent tone. “It’s Sea.”
“Sea? Is she all right?”
Timber nodded. “Yes, but Ivy’s not. Come on!”
Snowflake’s heart hammered in her chest. She sprang through the waterfall and into the river, and perhaps it was adrenaline, but she had no trouble getting out. She saw Sea standing over Ivy, Oak standing nearby with her eyes stretched wide. Ivy was bleeding heavily.
Snowflake turned to her beta. “What happened?”
Sea shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard her call for help, so I ran back, and I found her with her throat ripped out. I did my best to stop the bleeding and dragged her here.” She conveniently left out the part about her leaving Ivy behind, and luckily Snowflake didn’t press her for more details on that particular subject.
“You’re scared now, aren’t you?”
The new voice they heard was quiet and calculating, and the four wolves instantly spun around to see a duo of wolves sitting on the hill- two males. The speaker was a dark brown male with ice green eyes. He added, “You should be. That is the doing of a very strong wolf, one you don’t want against you.
Snowflake shuddered. “But why? We never did anything to harm another wolf.”
The brown wolf shrugged; his green eyes flickered when he did. “I do not know. Perhaps they do not want you in this forest- what is it called again?”
“Northwood,” Snowflake replied cautiously. “You’re loners, aren’t you?”
“You could put it that way.”
“Ah. Well-“ she wasn’t quite sure what made her ask, even later- “Would you like to join our pack?”
“I was hoping you might ask that,” he replied coolly. “I’m Mud.” He gestured to a dark grey wolf behind him, his eyes ice green like Mud’s, and with one black paw. “That is Storm.”
Timber ran ahead to show them the way in, and Snowflake, Oak, and Sea followed with Ivy. They laid her down in the den that she had previously chosen, arranging her underneath the hole in the top so that the rain would wash away the blood afterwards. From then on, they were constantly running back and forth, bringing food and what medicine they knew how to make to her. When a week had passed, she woke up as Sea came in with a rabbit dangling from her jaws. She looked her up and down, and actually mumbled thanks as she chewed absently on the rabbit. Sea’s hopes lifted.
Unfortunately, she started getting worse from there. She wouldn’t even be able to move enough to eat, so they had to tear off bits and give them to her. She coughed and went through spasms for days a time. Their hopes sank again.
They would never have healed her if Snowflake hadn’t accidently stumbled across Hosanna.
She was hunting at the time, but the rabbit she had been stalking had gotten away from her. She was chasing it, falling farther and farther behind, when a black shape seemed to materialize out of nowhere. The next thing she knew, there was a strange black wolf standing there, the rabbit in her jaws. Snowflake stopped dead.
“Here’s your prey.” The black wolf’s voice was hoarse from lack of use. She tossed the rabbit, letting it land with a thud at Snowflake’s paws. The white wolf looked warily at her. “Who are you?”
“If you mean my name, it differs. You can call me Hosanna. And who are you?”
“Snowflake, Alpha female of Northwood. Why are you here?”
“To ask permission from you.”
“What kind?”
“I wish to have the run of the territory. All of it.”
Snowflake snarled. “Absolutely not.”
“I can heal your friend.
“What?”
“The one you are nursing. I have seen you take food and make medicines. Sometimes you inadvertently add poison to it. She is doing worse than before, am I correct?”
“Why would you offer to heal her?”
“To gain your trust. And so I can say that I did not willingly let her life slip away.”
“All right. If you can do it, I’ll let you stay. Come on.”
“Unnecessary. I can do it from here.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Go on home. You will see. If she is not well when you get there, find me and kick me out. If she is, do nothing. I will take the message.”
“All right, very well.”
“Good.”
Snowflake ran back to the chamber as fast as she could, zipping across the ground. When she arrived, she leaped through. And there stood Ivy, alive and thriving.
-Chapter Two-
Starlight, Redwood, and Lightning
Sea was tense. Most of her pack was tense these days, but she was even more tense than usual. She had done something that Snowflake had outright forbidden.
She had had pups with Storm.
Using magic to seal the entrance to her cave with an invisible wall that only she and Storm could pass through had bought her some more time. But Snowflake was going to find out one day. And who knew what she would do to her beta then?
She had given birth to six pups, three males and three females. One of the males and two of the females had died. She had named the male survivors Lightning and Redwood, and the female survivor Starlight. Once they began their training, they might keep their names or change them to fit their strengths and weaknesses. Well, if they started their training, she reflected wryly.
They would be six months old in a week.
She realized that with a jolt- they were supposed to go to the choosing ceremony!
They could choose two paths; that of a soldier or a scout. In the choosing ceremony, they requested the path they wanted, and the Soldier or Scout trainer would either accept… or decline. Then they would begin training with whichever mentor they received. Timber was the Soldier trainer, and Ivy was the Scout trainer.
Soldiers were in the first offense: they learned mainly to fight and the code of honor for battle. They protected the weaker ones, and when they went from being a Soldier apprentice to a full Soldier, they were given a special wolf to guard.
Scouts learned secrecy and creeping around. Their job was to sneak around enemies and find out what they could, and during battle they were hidden around in random places, watching, waiting till the two packs that were battling met in the middle, then surging in and standing in different positions in a circle. As soon as the Alpha gave a call, they ran in and joined. In addition, they were always the ones that hunted for the pack, while the Soldiers usually stayed behind to guard. They also usually trained longer than Soldiers, with more skills that needed learning.
But for all this to start, she must first speak with Snowflake. So she navigated through the tunnel, repeatedly running anything she could say through her head.
She found the white wolf sitting in the main chamber, chatting with Oak. As soon as she drew near, she stopped, and then quietly cleared her throat.
Snowflake whipped around and looked surprised. “Sea! Where have you been?”
Sea considered guiding the subject away, and then decided this was the best chance she would get. “In my chamber,” she said, and then took a deep breath. “Giving birth to and nursing my pups.”
“Pups?” Snowflake’s voice was taut. Sea said nothing more, bracing herself- and Snowflake exploded.
“Pups?! Sea, how could you? How dare you? You said you- you fiend- you deceiver- you- you-”
In her blind fury, she actually sprang at Sea. Startled by this movement, Sea didn’t meet her head-on, as maybe she should have, she sidestepped neatly, and Snowflake fell into the grass. She got up and came after again. Sea put forth all her speed to get to her Chamber, and got behind the protective shield- just in time, really. Snowflake skidded to a halt, her teeth bared ferociously. “Why would you do it, Sea?”
“I thought you’d understand- better than this, at least. You’re overreacting!”
Snowflake opened her mouth to fire a sharp retort, but Sea had already vanished, tearing down the tunnel with her ears pinned to her skull.
Storm was sitting on a rock nearby, his tail wrapped neatly around his paws.
“I’m assuming it didn’t go so well?”
“What was your first clue?”
Snowflake was furious.
She had decreed long ago that there would be no pups due to the approaching winter. Sea had said she had understood; she knew how anxious her Alpha was about the first season of bare food that had wiped out so many other packs.
So why on earth would she go and do a silly thing like have pups?
She headed resentfully to the entrance of Sea’s tunnel, cursing the silver wolf’s strength with magic. Oak, Timber, and Shadow, who had watched the whole thing, looked rather awkward. Thorn and Leaf openly sneered.
Night began to fall. Of course it was hard to tell from inside the chamber, but Snowflake noticed that the droplets of the pounding waterfall stopped sparkling and that the meager light that leaked down from each tunnel slowly faded away. It was dark and cold; Snowflake had experienced it often before, of course, but this was the first time since her huge fight with Sea, and she was surprised to find herself wishing the grey wolf was there, with her sarcastic remarks that could lighten any mood.
Sea shivered. Of all the wolves, she was most used to the Chamber, but she still wasn’t used to the dark and coldness of it at night. She flattened her ears against her skull and wrapped her tail around her pups as Storm came over.
Redwood, Lightning, and Starlight could sense the tense atmosphere, and they snuggled up against the two wolves. Redwood’s voice broke the silence.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
Sea’s soft voice answered. “Nothing, little one. Go to sleep.” Nothing that you would understand. It was amazing how trivial the pup mind was- so fascinated by a mere stone or stick. Then they grew up so fast- by the time they were a yearling, they were always stressed. Like herself now. She sighed. It was sad, really. But it was the life of a wolf, and it was inevitable.
Storm, Redwood, Lightning, and Starlight eventually dropped off to sleep. But Sea stayed up late into the night, the breeze rustling her silver fur, her blue eyes glowing with a thousand stars.
Snowflake awoke because she was cold. Mud was nearby, but not curled up against her as most mates, probably due to his prickly manner. But that wasn’t why- she had gotten used to that over the past seven months. It didn’t feel like the cool autumn weather. She glanced at the hole that light filtered through, the hole that caused every wolf to wake up at daybreak, and noticed that the glow coming through was pale and held little warmth. She poked her head through and saw that the sky was cloudless, but also a brilliant blue that also was somehow cold-looking. The sun seemed weak, and Snowflake somehow knew why.
Winter had come.
Sea noticed the same thing.
She drew up her head slowly, continuing to tuck her tail around her paws, and narrowed her eyes. Three months ago she would have dismissed the threat in this, preferring instead to romp and play in the snow, the breeze blowing her long fur behind her.
But those times had now past. Any idea of fun was gone. And she had to worry instead.
There was one thing she had to try to do before warnings like this dissolved in the full fury of midwinter. She rose to her paws, as slowly as she could, and fortunately her pups remained undisturbed. Then she trotted down the tunnel, flattening her ears against her skull. When she was out in the chamber, she padded towards it, until she found herself tentatively heading down Snowflake’s tunnel.
Snowflake had her tail wrapped around her paws, her eyes narrowed, deep in thought, when Sea’s quiet voice sliced through it and jerked her back to reality. “Snowflake?”
She turned slowly to look at the grey wolf, her eyes wide with fright and uncertainty. Snowflake replied in a tight voice. “Yes?”
“I… I just wanted to talk with you… about your anger towards me…”
“What about it?” Snowflake asked cautiously.
Sea took a deep breath. “I understand it, it’s perfectly justified. But these are hard times, and we need to get along.”
“Get… along?”
“At least some. We don’t have to be--” she took a deep breath, terrified of what she was about to say—“friends, or anything. The pups are born now, and that can’t be fixed. We may as well choose their paths and train them.”
She paused, half afraid that she had gone too far, but it was what she had come to say, so she wasn’t going back on it.
Snowflake climbed slowly to her paws, her eyes narrowed.“How old are they?”
“In six days, they will reach their sixth month.”
“Wow. Time flies, huh?”
“Yes. I suppose so.”
For a moment, Sea thought they were having a normal conversation from what was now so long ago… then she saw the guarded look in her friend’s eyes.
“So what do you say?” she pressed.
Snowflake took a deep breath; obviously what she was about to say was effecting her greatly. “I’ll… meet… them tonight.”
Sea met her Alpha’s steady gaze with her own. “You have no idea what this means to me.”
“Go,” Snowflake said gruffly. “Or I’ll start regretting the decision.”
Sea nodded and padded calmly out of the den- but once she was out of sight she ran back to her den. Storm asked, “Did it go well?” Although it seemed like he knew already. Sea nodded breathlessly. “She agreed to train them.”
“Good. She might actually have a lick of sense.”
Sea just rolled her eyes. “Do you stick around here all the time just to annoy me?”
“Pretty much.” Storm laughed. Sea gave it up for a loss and went to talk to her pups about their choices.
The next six days flew by, and the dawn of Choosing Day was one of those rare warm winter days. Sea blinked her bright blue eyes open as the light filtering through the roof woke her. Storm was standing awake, as usual- Snowflake wondered if he ever slept. She nudged Lightning, Redwood, and Starlight, still sleeping curled around each other in a little ball. Starlight opened her eyes first, yawned, climbed to her paws, and proceeded to continuously prod her sleeping brothers.
“Wake up, flea-brains! Choosing Day today!”
Lightning yawned and sat up blearily. “Huh?”
“Choosing Day! Remember?”
“Hmmm? Oh yeah!” His green eyes were suddenly wide; he leapt to his paws. “Redwood! Redwood! Wake up!”
Redwood, the only one who had inherited Sea’s blue eyes (Starlight and Lightning’s had the same ice green as Storm), finally clambered to his paws. “When are we doing the ceremony thing, anyway?”
“Tonight.” Lianna’s voice was laced with amusement.
“What? Why are we waking up early?” Redwood demanded crossly.
“She’s kidding, silly,” laughed Sea. “The ceremony starts now.”
“You’re serious?! What the heck! Why didn’t you tell us?” Starlight dashed down the tunnel ahead of them, her ears pinned to her head and her paws flying across the ground… she was very fast for a pup.
“No rush or anything,” muttered Sea, following her at an easy lope.
Starlight dashed into the Chamber and felt a dozen eyes warm her pelt. Suddenly shy, she started to edge away, and bumped into a massive dark brown wolf that must be Mud. For a moment their green eyes locked, then he wordlessly nudged her with one paw and she tumbled into the middle of the circle. Redwood and Lightning, much bolder, dashed in and sat eagerly beside her. Sea slipped in between Oak and Ivy (who was healing rapidly and almost ready to get to training the scouts), glanced up, and met the golden gaze of Snowflake. In that one gesture, Starlight could have sworn something passed between them, but maybe it was her imagination. At least, it could have been until Sea gave a tiny nod. She shrugged it off and decided to pay attention to the rest of the ceremony.
Timber and Ivy padded slowly forward, and Starlight remembered that Timber trained Soldiers and Ivy trained Scouts. Her heart fluttered frantically, like a trapped bird. She wanted to be a Soldier, but it was possible she could be refused. Soldier was the path Redwood wanted to follow, too, while Lightning wanted to be a loner.
Snowflake rose to her paws and padded across the fresh grass softly and slowly. Her voice broke the edgy silence.
“We are gathered here this fine winter day to choose the destinies of three pups.” Starlight felt a shiver go through her. Snowflake took a deep breath and began the ritual words for the first time in that pack.
“Rain falls and the sun rises and sets. Leaves fall and flowers bloom. Seasons change. Generations pass.”
Nothing moved. The wolves present hardly seemed to be breathing. Snowflake continued.
“Eventually, we will all die and join the Pack of Starry Lights. This is harsh, but inevitable.” Out of the corner of her eye, Starlight thought she saw a shiver go down her mother’s spine. “These pups are the future of our pack. They are the ones that will keep the Northwood pack going after we are gone. While it is true that some will leave and start their own packs, join others, or become loners, it is also true that either a Soldier or a Scout can become an Alpha one day. And now, these three must choose their destiny. Lightning, I would like you to come forward first.”
Lightning padded forward, his muscles rigid and tense.
“What path will you follow?” Snowflake’s golden eyes probed him, unnerving him, confusing his feelings.
“A- a- a- lone. A loner,” Lightning stuttered.
Starlight’s gaze was drawn to her mother- she realized Sea’s electric blue eyes were hot, angry. She was glaring at Snowflake, not happy that the Alpha was testing her pup with that searching golden gaze.
“A loner?” Snowflake repeated softly. “A loner…” Her eyes and Lightning’s, green and gold, were still locked.
They stood silent for at least five minutes, until Redwood’s irritated voice broke them apart. “Can we just get on with it?”
Snowflake nudged Lightning, and he scampered over to say good-bye to his siblings, mother, father, and Lianna.
Starlight wanted to wail, but she forced herself to speak quietly. “Why are you doing this? Why won’t you stay?”
“Because neither path, Soldier or Scout, are right for me.” His eyes softened. “I’ll still be in this territory. You’ll… see me around, Starlight, I promise.”
Starlight nodded sadly as Redwood came forward and nudged him, causing the smaller wolf to tip over. “I’ll miss beating you in wrestling, brother,” he said.
“And I’ll miss leaving you a mile behind in racing,” Lightning teased as he turned to his parents. “Mom?”
“It’s your choice,” Sea assured him. “Just make sure you visit us!”
“’Course.”
Storm grinned at his son, a hint of sadness in his eyes. “Sea just about summed it up. Be careful out there, kid.”
Lianna grinned fondly at the dark grey young wolf. “What can I say? I’m an Elf, I don’t understand your customs. But when you do visit, mind you see me before you leave.”
Lightning’s eyes flickered across the other wolves. “I’ll miss you… all of you.”
“Of course you will flea-brain.” Starlight’s voice was rough, hiding her pain. “But you’re staying for our choosing ceremonies… aren’t you?”
“Of course,” laughed Lightning, sitting down by his sister with his tail draped over her shoulder.
“Redwood,” Snowflake called. The large, sturdy grey pup rose slowly to his paws, smiled cheerfully at his family, murmured, “Here goes…” and stepped out into the middle of the circle.
He stood there, erect, his ears forward and his eyes sparkling.
“Where do you want to go?” Snowflake asked expectantly. And Redwood said, a proud note in his voice, “To be a soldier.”
Timber approached slowly and began to circle the pup, taking in every detail, his sturdy legs, his muscular shoulders, his fearless position, even the proud look in his eye. After what seemed like ages, he turned to Snowflake. “I’ll take him.”
Redwood grinned.
Now it was Starlight’s turn. Her green eyes wide, she padded forward before Snowflake could call her, and before she could ask where she wanted to go, she said strongly, “A soldier.”
She felt Timber’s green eyes scrutinizing her, just as he had scrutinized Redwood. Her eyes shut tight; she tried to stand straight, erect, but couldn’t help adopting somewhat of a submissive position. His warm gaze swept over her, missing nothing, until she finally heard his soft voice.
“I’m sorry Starlight, but you’re too small and frail; Sea told me you were the runt of the litter.”
“I was. I’m not anymore!” Starlight couldn’t help arguing. One of Timber’s ears twisted slightly. “Even so, you don’t have the right build. If you were put in the first offense, they’d cream you.”
“They would not! You can make me strong!” Starlight’s voice was shrill- it got shrill when she was desperate. “I may be small, but I’m fast, and I can learn to be a strong warrior!”
“Starlight.” Ivy’s quiet, reasoning voice stood out in sharp contrast with Starlight’s shrill one. “I know you want to be a soldier, but look at yourself. You’re small, and quick, like you said, and nimble. You have a good mind for thinking up plans and tactics, which means you’re clever. You have a strong will, sharp eyesight and good ears. You inherited your mother’s talent for walking without making a sound, and you can stay still in one place for hours. Think about it; you’re perfect for learning to be a Scout.”
“No- no! I want to be a Soldier! There’s no glory in being a Scout, you have to train longer, and it’s a life of secrecy, separated from others.”
“There isn’t much glory in battle, either. It’s rather grotesque. As for a life of secrecy, separated from others, rubbish! You act like Scouts don’t come back home every night. So do you accept, or will you follow your brother along the life of a loner?”
For a second, she was tempted to follow Lightning- at least the trio of pups her mother had given birth to wouldn’t all go in different directions. Then she remembered Ivy’s voice saying that she would come back every night; she would see Redwood then. And looking at all those faces- Redwood and Sea and Storm and Lianna- that she loved so much, she knew she couldn’t leave.
“I accept,” she said heavily.
Ivy nodded. “I thought you might. Get some rest- training starts tomorrow.”
Suddenly a bit on the angry side, Starlight turned and stalked down the tunnel that leads to the place where Scouts would sleep.
Sea was there- she realized she had forgotten that she still would be with her mother. So was Shadow and Ivy (Snowflake had her own den as Alpha). But the rest- Mud, Storm, Oak, Timber, Thorn, and Leaf- were soldiers. She felt left out.
She felt a slight nudge and heard Ivy’s soft voice. “Starlight? Are you awake?”
“Am now,” grumbled Starlight, though of course she couldn’t sleep.
“Sorry,” Ivy murmured, moving to a spot of her own. Feeling bad for making the older wolf feel bad, she said, “No, I couldn’t sleep really. What is it that you want?”
Ivy paused. “I’m sorry it didn’t go so well. I know where you wanted to go- personally; I think Timber doesn’t have enough of an open mind. If a wolf is small and frail, automatic rejection, doesn’t even think about the advantages.”
Starlight wanted to be gruff, but something about Ivy’s soft, cool voice, layered ever so slightly with anguish, made her stop in the middle of her sharp remark.
“But this has never happened… has it? I mean, we’re the first to follow this training system thing.” There was a touch of pride in her voice.
Ivy narrowed her eyes. “To be frank, Starlight, Timber should have accepted you.” Taken aback, Starlight said nothing until Ivy said briskly, “Now, get some sleep. I don’t need bleary-eyed wolf pups on the first day of training.”
Starlight curled up and wrapped her tail around her nose, pondering over the conversation. It was unusual for Ivy to be so open with her; she was normally very guarded. Before she could consider it much, though, she was asleep.
She was heading down a tunnel, with no top and no bottom, no beginning and no end, just one long, ceaseless journey to nowhere. She didn’t know where she was going or why, but she couldn’t stop.
Then she spotted a blurry amber shape ahead of her. Another wolf! She thought, surprised, and began running towards it. It turned, and she saw that not only was it a female, but it had rapidly shape-shifted and was now a black wolf. She spoke softly, but her voice rang out around the tunnel. “Your destiny is great, young one, but so is your responsibility. Your ally will be the most unlikely at all…” and she was gone.
She felt a prod in her ribs and sat up, looking around and blinking to clear her vision. Ivy said irritably, “About time you woke up. Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of that?” Starlight muttered as she followed her mentor. Ivy ignored the remark, then whipped around, grabbed the younger wolf’s scruff, and plunged out of the Chamber, with Starlight complaining loudly all the way.
They seemed to reach the banks in a second- though maybe it was the young pup’s imagination. Then Ivy turned to her. “You okay?”
Starlight was insulted. “Of course,” she growled.
“Then catch me if you can.” Ivy took off like a streak of silver lightning, her green eyes lively and her tail waving. Huffing and puffing, Starlight struggled to keep up. After a half-mile of running hard, she collapsed over a tree trunk to catch her breath. Ivy reappeared, and Starlight readied herself for more, she but her mentor said simply, “You ready to quit?”
Starlight nodded, hardly daring to hope.
“Then race me all the way back. Come on.” She took off again, the pup struggling after her. The day was filled with such exercises- running, leaping, climbing, swimming, etc. When they stopped for a break, Ivy just stood there, not even panting at all, while Starlight flopped down and drew in deep breaths. “When do we get a break?”
“You’d best get used to it, we’ll be doing this for a few weeks. Come on, get back at it.”
Starlight heaved herself to her paws.
She ached all over when the sun sank all the way out of sight and they arrived back at the chamber. This time, she didn’t even complain when she was carried into the chamber, and she headed straight towards the Scout tunnel.
“What, you trying to avoid me?”
Redwood’s friendly voice stopped her in her tracks. She gave him a friendly flick on the ear with her tail. “’Course not, flea-brain. I’m just tired out.”
“You, too?” He flopped down in the grass beside her, and she happily joined him. “What’d she have you doing?”
“Running long distances at top speed, jumping into trees, swimming, and the like. How about you?”
“Dragging heavy boulders from one side of the territory to the other, and I tell you, it wasn’t fun. They didn’t let me go below my maximum speed, either. My shoulders and back ache.”
“My whole body,” Starlight groaned.
“Aren’t you the lucky one?” He chuckled. Starlight smiled. He could always make her feel better. She quickly swallowed the yawn that was building, but Redwood noticed.
“We’re both tired, and we need to rest for the brutality tomorrow. I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Sure.” Starlight staggered down the tunnel to the Scout’s den, curled up in a ball, and fell asleep within seconds.
She felt Ivy prodding her early the next morning and groaned. She tried to turn over and move away, and her muscles screamed in protest. She shook herself and tried to sit up. Pain shot through her, and she collapsed again.
“Starlight, I can tell you’re awake. Come on,” Ivy said.
“Every one of my bones ache. I can’t move without pain shooting through me,” Starlight complained.
“You’ll live, get a move on.”
“Will not!”
“Get up, Starlight.”
“So we can take a dash from one end of the territory to the other? No thanks, I’m not moving.”
Ivy rolled her eyes and grabbed her scruff. Starlight howled with surprise and resentment, but it went unacknowledged as she left the chamber.
Again the day was filled with all the exercises of the previous one. Starlight felt as stiff as ever the next morning, and the same routine took up for four months.
Now 10 months old, Starlight got up and headed out on her own. She knew the drill, and had stopped bothering to resist. At least her muscles no longer ached, and she was almost as fast as Ivy now.
She hadn’t seen Timber in forever, which bothered her. She always came in too late, and when she asked after him she always heard that he was asleep. She had run into Lightning in the forest twice, and spoke with him. That made her happy. But she missed talking with Redwood.
Ivy and Starlight were flying through the forest at almost the exact same speed. They reached the place where she had sagged against a log before, and she cleared it in a single jump. She vaguely noticed a tree, twisted and gnarled in a strange way, and realized this was as far as she had ever gone. She wasn’t even panting!
Ivy disappeared around a corner, and she whizzed around just as smoothly. There were three more twists, then suddenly they were standing on a ledge overlooking the entire forest, the wind blowing their fur out behind them.
“Well done,” Ivy breathed.
When she aced the other exercises, they went back early, to her delight. She spent the rest of the night hanging around in the central chamber, awaiting Timber’s return.
At last, just as the light was beginning to fade in the chamber, she saw them coming. There was a path that ran into the chamber from the side- they hadn’t noticed it when Starlight was a pup, but Sea had noticed one afternoon that on a certain part, it sounded hollowed. Working together, the wolves managed to pull back a large sort of door thing, and discovered a pathway leading out of the chamber. They had been using it ever since.
Starlight jumped up as Timber entered and said immediately, “Where’s Redwood?”
Timber grinned at her. “Just coming.” He nodded towards the pathway-entrance, then headed away to the soldier’s cave.
The grey wolf came into sight, and before he even had time to compute that it was her, she had sprang into him joyfully. “Redwood!”
Redwood grinned. “Hi,” he said easily. “Haven’t seen you in a couple months.”
He heaved her off effortlessly, so much so it almost hurt, and Starlight’s eyes widened as she took in his new appearance.
All his baby fat was gone. He had become strong and looked foreboding; his muscles were strong, secure, and she could see them ripple underneath his dark grey fur. His jaw was set in determination, something that had not existed before, as though he was determined to succeed at anything he did. His paws looked sturdy and were also very large, hinting at a lot more growth.
It made her wonder how different she looked in appearance…
Redwood grinned at her, the lopsided grin that she loved. At least his personality hadn’t changed in the slightest.
“Quit staring, you’ll burn holes,” he said gently. Her jaw snapped shut, and he grinned again. “You look different too, you know,” he said softly. “All the loose fat that comes with puppies and makes them look so cute is gone. You have a lean build. You look ready to leap into battle.”
She titled her head. “I’m not, though. Have you had battle training?”
“Yeah, it’s coming along great! Would you like to observe it?”
She chuckled. “On me?”
“First on you, then I’ll challenge Dad.”
Starlight’s eyes lit up. “Okay!”
They moved into the center of the chamber and began to circle each other, their pawsteps soundless on the grass. All at once, he leapt at her. Surprised, she tried to dodge to one side, but it was too late for that, she was pinned down underneath him, his huge paws on her chest, constricting her breathing. She struggled, but his mouth brushed her throat. With a chuckle, he leapt off.
“I wish I was that strong,” Starlight panted.
Redwood chuckled and turned to their father. “Dad!” he called. The older wolf’s head swiveled around, and he trotted over. “Hi, Redwood, Starlight,” he said respectfully, dipping his head. Then he turned to look at Redwood. “What is it that you want, Redwood?”
“Are you busy?”
“Not particularly, why?”
“Because I was wondering if, for this fine young lady’s viewing-” He half-smirked, half-grinned at Starlight- “you and I might engage in a duel?”
Starlight snorted with laughter. “What’s with the advanced vocabulary?”
Storm grinned. “The terms?”
“Oh, please…”
“Well, no drawing blood, no killing, you know, the usual in a play-fight.”
“Very well, I accept.”
The two began to circle each other, just as Redwood and Starlight had done, and like then, Redwood leapt without warning. Storm twisted him away easily, and he hit the ground, grunting in surprise. Storm chuckled. “You do recall that you’re fighting a professional?”
“I’ll show you professional!”
Starlight watched them scuffle with avid interest; even when they were linked together it was interesting to watch. She would wince when Redwood would yelp, even though she knew Storm would never purposely draw his blood.
And then-without warning- it was over. Redwood was pinned down, writhing to no avail, under Storm’s paws.
Storm chuckled and got off, a smile flickering across his face at the way Redwood sprang to his paws. He turned to leave.
Starlight didn’t know, years later, what made her call out that precise moment. “Dad, wait,” she said. He stopped in mid-step. “I want to try.”
For a second, she thought she saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes, but he smiled cheerfully. “Of course!”
There was a heavy rock in Starlight’s stomach- she couldn’t believe she had said that. What an idiot!
Outwardly however, she made sure all signs of doubt were erased. Storm advanced, his eyes flickering, his tail tip twitching. They started to circle. Realizing that her muscles were tense in anticipation she let them relax. This was one thing she had learned: her movements were much more fluid when her muscles were relaxed.
Storm sprang at her, and without really thinking she side-stepped neatly. He crashed down onto the grass and sat up, bewildered. She chuckled. “What’s the matter, professional?”
He got to his paws and charged again, and again she got herself out of harm’s way with a neat little slide.
“Don’t you ever learn?” she taunted when it happened the third time. Apparently not, for he tried the exact same move… or so it would seem. He planned on making a little turn when she side-stepped and thus taking her by surprise.
But during their runs, Starlight and Ivy had gone around many twists and turns. Many of them were subtle, and she would blow them if she couldn’t read every detail about the wolf ahead of her. She had learned to read Ivy’s body language so that she could tell exactly when Ivy was going around the subtlest of turns. Now, she didn’t miss the very slight curve of Storm’s features that gave him away.
He charged, and instead of eluding him in the same as the other two times, she crouched down as he drew near. Surprised, his pace slackened a bit, but was quickly increased again. Good. So he had no idea what was coming.
She was almost laying down, flat to the ground when he was upon her. At once she shot across the ground, underneath him, and out to the other side. He was confused, but now he was going so fast he couldn’t stop.
Starlight jumped to her paws and began to chase him. Using long, easy strides, it didn’t take her long to catch up. She leaped on and hung for dear life. Taken by surprise by the unexpected weight, Storm caved in underneath her. He rolled over, eyes stretched to their limits with surprise as he looked into his daughter’s eyes. He was pinned down.
Starlight was struck by surprise herself. Ivy had not given her battle-training, so how could this be? How could she defeat her stronger, so much more experienced father? It made no sense. Something occurred to her, and she narrowed her eyes.
“Did you go easy on me?”
Storm opened his mouth to reply, but Sea interrupted him as she padded over. “He didn’t, Starlight. I can tell, because he always goes easy on me.”
Starlight shivered. “You… you saw me?”
Sea laughed. “The whole Pack did, flea-brain.”
Starlight’s ears burned. “They did?”
“Yes, and they’re ashamed of Storm. We’ve never seen anything like that before.” She chuckled and moved on to the Scout’s cave, and Starlight noticed with a jolt that night had fallen. After saying good night to everyone, she scampered after Sea.
Ivy intersected her at the entrance to the cave. “Starlight?”
“Are you just going to tell me good job?”
“Well, there’s that. And are you very tired?”
“Not really, why?”
“I want to show you something. Snowflake would kill me, but I think you ought to know. Redwood’s coming, too.”
Bewildered, Starlight tilted her head. “Okay.”
“Thanks.”
Both wolves trotted over to the path leading out, where Redwood waited. Ivy wordlessly took the lead, and Redwood and Starlight walked beside each other.
“What do you think it could be?” Redwood whispered.
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.”
“Why so mysterious?”
“Hmm?”
“Ivy’s having an effect on you.”
Starlight laughed softly. “She probably wants to show us some twisted tree and tell us a spooky story.”
“Pups? I hate to interrupt your rationalizing, but we’re there.”
Starlight’s attention snapped away from Redwood, and instantly her breath caught in her throat.
They were standing on a mini-peninsula jutting out into a stream. It bubbled and frothed as though it was playful, and it glowed silver in the moonlight. Not too far away, a small piece of land stretched across. Trees hung over it, and moss dangled from those trees. The moss was also turned silver. Everything seemed to glow, not only from the full moon, but from an inner light. Redwood’s jaw dropped.
Starlight looked around in awe. “It’s… this place is magical.”
Ivy sat straight, her head pointed straight ahead. “No, Starlight. All the truly magical places have perished.”
Both young wolves sat straight up, waiting for the inevitable story. And it came.
“The Earth was young and, at the very dawn of time, our ancestors were created: the Dire wolves. At first, there was only a handful: Two males, two females, and three pups for each. The ten wolves became a pack. Only ten wolves existed in it at first, but they multiplied quickly.”
“But I thought that only Alphas were supposed to mate,” Starlight objected.
“No rules existed then- all wolves were pure-hearted, and all was well with the world. But this all ended with the birth of a single pup: Abaddon.”
“Abaddon?” Redwood echoed.
“Yes.”
“Weird name for a wolf.”
“It was a long time ago, Redwood.”
“Okay.”
“Abaddon sort of named himself- when born, he was christened Damien, but he insisted that everyone call him Abaddon. Nobody bothered refusing; what was the point?
“When he was three months old, he murdered two of his three siblings. The third, his sister, Glynis, was saved just in time by his mother, for Abaddon committed these crimes right in her den- his birthplace- while she was out hunting. She was horrified, of course, and he did not try to deny it, but what could she do? The pack couldn’t outlaw a pup. That would be… murder.
“Thinking the word made her sort of freeze up. The pack had always known this word, but it had never really gotten to them- why should it? But it seemed like the young pup had forced it to register in her mind.
“The next three months seemed to fly by; Abaddon became strong, while Glynis remained small, and she looked frail and breakable, although she was anything but that.”
Starlight smiled a little at that.
“As they were trained and became part of their pack, Abaddon became steadily worse. Glynis was always like a little saint, and Abaddon was all the more evil to make up for his sister’s angelic ways. He murdered whenever he could, and never bothered to deny it. As soon as he was a yearling, his parents, the Alphas, tried to exile him. Both were brutally murdered right in front of the pack. They turned on him, but he broke the neck of the first one to approach with ease, and they backed off after that.
“Years passed, and the pack expanded to bursting point. Every wolf seemed to have a mate and daughters or sons of some sort. Abaddon with his mate Lillith remained as Alpha Male with a reign of terror.
“The only one who had no mate and pups was Glynis.
“It wasn’t that nobody liked her; actually, countless wolves had tried to gain her, beautiful and sweet as she was. But Glynis didn’t wish for a mate… she wanted to eventually fight, and she knew that the best fighters were those who had nothing to lose. Therefore she distanced herself, allowing no mate and no friendship.
“And finally, the day came.
“Glynis’s brother was torturing a pup at the front while the Pack watched; this was the best opportunity she would get.
“She dashed forward, grabbed the pup and placed him down where he was safely protected by a throng of wolves. Then she jumped back up and moved slowly forward, her eyes flickering a challenge. Abaddon instantly knew what she wanted, and without warning, he sprang at her.”
Starlight and Redwood immediately sat straight up, not missing a single word.
“This posed no threat to Glynis; she side-stepped neatly. But Abaddon was quick. He changed direction in a split second, grabbed his sister’s scruff, and hurled her into the wall. There, she lay motionless. What Abaddon had not counted on was the entire pack’s sudden rebellion.
“While he was gloating over his victory with Glynis, a yearling snuck up behind him, then jumped on him, sinking his teeth in wherever he could. Abaddon threw him off and turned around to rebuke him, but was suddenly covered by every wolf in his pack (minus Glynis of course)- and that was close to 50 wolves.
“All except one young female.
“His mate, Lillith, had always admired Glynis. She had hidden it, of course, but she was well aware that her mate was evil, did not care for her, and did nothing for anyone other than himself. The night she realized that was the night she decided that if he took it to the extreme, she’d reveal her doubts and turn against him. And tonight, he had definitely taken it to the extreme.
“So while the rest of the rest of the pack swarmed over him, she not only ignored him when he screamed at her to help him, she went to see what she could do for Glynis.”
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I'm perfectly normal. The voices tell me so... I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it... I hear voices in my head, and they don't like you...{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=} |
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Wolfy
Senior
~Speaker of the Old Tongue~
member is offline
Do I look like a monster? Then why hunt me like one? Stop the poaching of the wolf
Joined: Nov 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 468
Location: Who knows where...
Karma: 3 | | Re: Wolf Pack: Book One: Scout-- NEWER VERSION!
« Reply #1 on Sept 12, 2008, 5:13pm » | |
“What can she do?” Redwood’s voice broke the spell. “Isn’t Glynis dead? Isn’t that why the pack turned on Abaddon? She was hurled into a wall, and she was always so small and frail, and with the force behind that…”
Ivy chuckled. “She was small, yes, but frail? I never said that. I said she looked frail, and was anything but that.”
“Oh. Isn’t she still dead, though?”
Starlight intervened: “Just shut up and listen!”
Ivy continued the story.
“As Lillith ran over, she saw the young wolf stir a little bit: her eyes widened; she sped up. She crouched over her, and their gazes locked. Lillith whispered, ‘You really are a strong one, aren’t you?’
“Glynis coughed, forcing herself to a sitting position. ‘You could say that,’ she said wryly.
“‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
“Glynis sighed. ‘Not unless you know how to heal broken bones, and believe me, they are not neat cuts.’
“She held out one leg, where the bone had snapped and protruded straight through. It looked horrible. Lillith ran off to get herbs to heal her, and Glynis stood shakily. The wolves attacking Abaddon were suddenly aware of this: they all turned. Abaddon scrambled to his feet, noticed his mate’s absence, and figured everything out at once. He snarled loudly.
“And then the most shocking part yet.
“Glynis’s wounds began to heal themselves. The bone snapped together correctly, and the wound evaporated quickly… every broken bone in her body was suddenly as good as new.
“Lillith returned, and the herbs fell to the floor as he jaw dropped in amazement.
“Unfortunately, the peace could not last.
“Lillith ran over to stand by Glynis, and suddenly, magic was released- but this time, it came from Abaddon. A fireball hurtled straight for Glynis, but suddenly Lillith was right in the way. It hit her, and she crumpled at Glynis’s paws.
“And in the young wolf who was always so good, never lost her temper, the fire that is in every wolf’s heart flared. The rest of the pack stayed well away from Abaddon this time, knowing it was Glynis’s battle. All manner of fighting pursued; the cries could be heard many miles away and probably could have sounded a lot better… and finally, Glynis won. Abaddon was killed.”
Redwood whooped.
“But it was at a ghastly price. The bravest wolf in wolf history was now dead. Lillith went to join the few wolves who had died- Glynis’s family. The pack lived on in peace for awhile, but after such times, evil could never again be completely vanquished. There was… a revolt. Every evil wolf- and there were many- was involved. There was massacre, and all the sacred places were destroyed. The Pack could no longer stay together, so they split into seven: the evil ones went to the dark, murky areas of Wolfdom, which came to be known as Darkwood. And the five more packs that came of it rarely bothered others- Riverwood, of the lush streams and thick undergrowth, Goldenwood of the fields, and then Westwood, Southwood, Northwood, and Eastwood. The only thing they did was cut all the magical power that they had short: meaning no longer could anyone kill with magic.
“And so, much was vanquished during these times, including all magical places we used to hold sacred. Darkness has fallen over the lands. They say one will come who can vanquish it, but this is yet to occur. But all the ancient wolves of legend live in us now.”
Even though the story was over, silence hung in the air as though it was still being told. Finally, Redwood said, “You’re a very good storyteller.”
Starlight nodded. “The characters- Abaddon and Glynis and Lillith- came to life.”
“Yeah, I would’ve bet on my life that I was there, watching from the sidelines.”
Starlight chuckled. “That’s because that’s all you would ever do, even if it was more than a story. I just have one question, Ivy: why did you have to drag us all out here to tell us this?”
“You should know,” Ivy breathed.
“Me? Why? Why are we here, Ivy?”
“This is where the great battle was fought- the one in which Lillith died. It’s just that the large wall wore away; trees took its place, a river made its way through…”
Redwood and Starlight sat in stunned silence. Then Starlight said, “But why would / know that?”
“Couldn’t you tell, Starlight? Don’t you know why I told you all this? Didn’t you see the resemblance… between you and Glynis? Starlight, she is you… she has been reborn.”
-Chapter Three-
R
Training
edwood’s raucous laughter broke the ominous silence that followed.
“That’s why you brought us here?” he chortled. “Because you think that my sister is the oldest wolf in history?”
“One of the second-oldest ones, actually,” Ivy corrected.
“That’s beside the point. Anyway, I suppose you believe that I’m one of the random males that were never directly mentioned? Or maybe I’m Abaddon, and I’m destined to go up against her one day. Maybe… maybe I’m Lillith!” He was in hysterics.
Ivy sat, a striking figure in comparison to the suddenly riotous young male. Starlight could finally take it no longer. “Shut up, you idiot!” she snapped.
Redwood smothered his mirth with difficulty. He opened his mouth to speak, and laughter bubbled out again. He was finally silenced when Starlight whacked him on the jaw.
“Sorry,” he finally choked out. “But it’s still utterly ridiculous.”
Starlight sighed, and then suddenly started, noticing that her fur was cast in a warm glow. “Is it… daylight?!”
Ivy smiled. “Midmorning, actually.”
“What? Isn’t anyone missing us?!”
Without waiting for an answer, she took off at full speed, her belly brushing the ground. Redwood followed after, his tail streaming out behind him, and Ivy followed at an easy lope.
Redwood and Starlight were allowed to sleep all the rest of the day and, for good measure, they didn’t wake up the whole night either. Ivy explained, but Starlight still found herself blocked by her mother the next day, who insisted on knowing “exactly what you were doing out from midnight till morning!”
Starlight ducked around her, ready to just get to training. But as she padded out, nothing was relaxed, not like it usually was. In fact, the atmosphere was extremely tense. Curious, she started to pad up to Storm, but he was pacing back and forth and muttering, so she instead turned to Oak. Trotting briskly up to her, she said, “What’s wrong?”
Oak looked at her. “You haven’t heard? Well, I suppose Redwood’s not up yet, otherwise he would tell you-”
“Tell me what? What’s going on?”
“Well… Timber’s-”
Snowflake’s howl interrupted her, and everyone gathered around. Redwood was still asleep, so Snowflake waited. Starlight, knowing she would be waiting for awhile, jumped up and ran to the entrance of the Soldier cave. “Redwood! Come on, wake up!”
The sturdy grey apprentice sauntered out, looking surprised. “Starlight? Since when do you wake me up?”
“Shut up and come on- something strange is going on but I don’t know what, and Snowflake’s about to say!”
She dashed back to where the group was gathered, pursued by a bewildered Redwood. When they arrived, Snowflake wasted no time with introductions.
“I suppose you both want to know what’s going on?” Snowflake questioned.
“That would be nice,” growled Starlight.
“All right, I’ll jump straight to the point. Storm found Timber beside the river this morning.”
“So?”
“Dead.”
A heavy silence hung in the air, then Redwood demanded, “How? Who did it?”
“Well, that’s the trouble. We don’t know. There was no traceable scent, there wasn’t even a new wound… it was if he had been choked to death, but then there would be a scent, wouldn’t there? He’d been gone at least a few hours when Storm came across him.”
Shadow, Oak’s mate, spoke up, something he rarely did. “Perhaps he was drowned.”
Some pondered that, but Sea shrugged. “How? His body wouldn’t be beside the stream then, would it? It’d be underwater.”
“You know what I think?” Storm murmured, and eight pairs of eyes turned to him. “I think he was dragged to the edge of the drop-off- not the really steep one, but the other one, kind of in the middle, you know? - and thrown off. Then, he struggled to survive as the current tugged him. Finally, realizing he was deeper into his own territory and that the river was a little calmer, he got to the shore, intending to make his way back. But this was obviously done at night, and the cold air meant he lacked the strength. He collapsed on the riverbank, hoping someone would find him, but no-one did. And so he died, right there on the riverbank where I found him.”
It was an undeniably good theory, and no one could come up with a better one.
Redwood grinned, although there was now a haunted look in his eyes. “Dad’s really clever, huh?”
“Yeah.” Starlight was surprised; clever was not a trait she would use for her father. Easy-going, calm, fun-loving, but clever? That was for her mother. He was smart, yes, but he didn’t have a good mind for tactics. That was why Storm and Sea made such a good match; she was the thinker, he was the protector.
Anyway, there were other things to think about, like: who would drown Timber? They were at completely peace with 4 of the other 6 wolf Packs. With Southwood there was the occasional scuffle, but they weren’t the type to drown one wolf member in the dead of night. They would launch an attack on the entire Pack if they wanted to declare war, or at least make sure their scent lingered. They were outright, not sneaky and wily, killing wolves on another Pack’s territory in the dead of night.
The most likely candidates were the wolves of Darkwood. It seemed like just the sort of thing they would do, killing a wolf in the dead of night to weaken the Pack. But then they would attack shortly afterwards, and it was now afternoon.
Something very fishy was going on here.
“All right: attack me.”
Starlight dropped to the ground and moved quickly forward, her eyes focused firmly on the place she would aim: the throat. When she was but a few inches away she sprang. Ivy whirled to avoid her, then knocked her to the ground with one paw, where she lay winded.
“Remember,” said Ivy as Starlight got to her paws, “although Storm uses nothing but brute strength, few Darkwood wolves are like that. Even the strongest ones are nimble, quick and good at avoiding you.”
Ever since Timber’s death, it had been nothing but battle training for Starlight. This did not bother her; in fact she rather liked it. There had been a debate about the new Soldier trainer, and it was hard to choose one. They thought about Mud, but he somehow didn’t seem right. Storm would have been excellent, the best choice possible, but they were opposed to the pup being mentored by his father. Therefore, they decided on Oak.
She had been reluctant, since she wasn’t a fighter at all. She was more the pup-mother, the baby-sitter since there were no Omegas, the sweet, caring one. So they made an agreement: she could mentor Redwood, and then Storm would take over from there.
Starlight had asked the question that was on everyone’s mind. “But what if Storm and Sea have another litter and one of them becomes a soldier?”
There was an awkward silence, then Snowflake said, “We’ll address that issue when- if it arrives.”
Since they could think of no one to blame other than the Darkwood pack, Redwood and Starlight were being taught to fight- and Starlight, although she liked it, definitely behaved like a rookie.
Her mind snapped back to the present, and the second it did she hurled herself into Ivy. Being so new at this she leaned heavily on the element of surprise. She had managed to catch Ivy off guard the first time, to her supreme amazement, although the other wolf soon turned out on top, and had never again let her come so near to getting the best of her.
Now, Ivy neatly side-stepped, and Starlight tumbled into the dust. Although four months ago she would have complained about having to do this so much when she could never win anyway, Starlight had changed- more than a little. She was usually serious, rarely acted like a pup, and her personality had emerged as a wolf determined to succeed.
She always was dirty, her pelt tangled and matted with a fine coating of dust: she absolutely refused to groom it. Little did she know that, underneath all the mud, dust, and tangles lay a very pretty- gorgeous in fact- young she-wolf. Starlight was not aware of this, and if she had been she probably would have made herself even more thoroughly covered. Starlight would hate being admired for anything more than a hard worker, a fierce fighter, a loyal protector.
Then, Starlight was suddenly aware of something… like a burning passion to succeed. There was always some determination but.. this was different. It set her spirit on fire and made her eyes glow with strength of will. She hurtled forward, ducked under her mentor and dashed beneath to the other side, aware that this was like what she had done with Storm, except he had been running. But the bewilderment was the same when Starlight ended up on her back, and the unexpected weight caused her to fall down. That part always surprised Starlight; she was so light, and yet her weight caused wolves much older than her to cave in beneath her.
When Ivy found herself gazing into the eyes of the young apprentice, she looked at her, and there didn’t seem to be even a flicker of surprise. As she got up, she was heard murmuring, “I should’ve known this would happen one day. Once the Fire is lit… and in such a wolf as her, too…”
Starlight couldn’t help it, at the mention of fire the fur rose along her spine. Wolves hated fire. “What fire?” she demanded. Ivy turned to look at her. “It’s in every wolf,” she explained. When they’re pushed to a certain point, when they’re determined to do whatever’s on their mind… it is always ignited, sometimes when they’re young and have undergone traumatic experiences, some when they’re older and see action for the first time… you can see it in their eyes, a certain glow. Kind of like the rush when your blood is first spilled, but different.”
“And you can get it during training?”
“Not normally.” Ivy swiveled her head to look at Starlight, green eyes boring into green eyes. “You have a will to succeed, and that will take you far. But not too far, only right to the edge of what you want, so you can see it snatched away. That is why other qualities are equally important.”
“Like what?”
“Friendship. Bravery. Love. Self-control. Wisdom. And above all: loyalty. Loyalty to your heart, to what is right, to what you believe in.”
“Not to your pack?”
“That too. But always keep to mind: if you think they are in the wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up. And if they won’t listen, just follow your heart and ignore those who try to hold you back.”
Stunned into silence, Starlight said nothing- at least not until she realized they were heading deeper into the woods at a brisk pace.
“Where are we going?” she asked, confused. Ivy did not reply, so she pursued in silence. She finally stopped when they reached a large outcrop that sort of sloped into a sheer rock face dotted with pine trees. Below was a large- no, humungous field. It was only with her newly sharpened eyes that Starlight could see the end of it. Ivy was standing on the outcrop, her body rigid. Starlight went up to stand beside her and sort of shuddered. The place gave off sort of… an aura of blood, death, and despair. She shivered.
“What is this place?” she asked, breaking an eerie silence. At least Ivy finally answered her. “The battlegrounds,” she murmured. “When it’s a huge battle, more than just a border skirmish, it will be set for a certain time, usually noon. The feuding Packs will meet here and a historic battle will take place.
“Oh.” For a moment, Starlight remained silent. Then: “There hasn’t been one for awhile, has there?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well… it seems like we’re in a peaceful era.”
A grim smile flickered across Ivy’s face. “The calm before the storm.”
“What do you mean?”
“It seems calm because… the whole forest is tense, still. Waiting for war to break. And when it does, only the strongest will survive.”
“Seems normal to me.”
“Because it is-- to you. It got this way before you were born, when Snowflake, Timber, Oak, Sea, and I lost our parents to Darkwood. Everything seemed to stop… to become silent. Then, we could rely on each other, being a small, tight-knit pack.”
“Why aren’t we now?”
“A rift opened. Mud, Storm, and Shadow joined, and no one really trusts them, and they don’t trust anyone in this pack… Sea had you, Redwood, and Lightning with Storm, which pretty much sawed off Sea and Snowflake’s close bond. Everyone stopped spending time together, so the closeness was not what it was once. The only pairs still close are Oak and Shadow, Sea and Storm, and you and Redwood.”
“So none of us really share a close bond?”
“Well, like I said, Oak and Shadow, Sea and Storm, and you and Redwood are still close. And it’s not like we’re all trying to claw each other apart or anything- if you don’t count Sea and Snowflake- we just can’t all confide in each other like we used to.”
“Oh.” Starlight remained silent, brooding. “So why did you bring me here?”
“Because it is time for the ultimate battle training.” She fixed Starlight with a piercing green gaze, then running into the clearing. “The main reason I brought you here,” she said as they ran down through the pine trees, “is because you will be fighting many battles in this place and I want you to… get the feel of it, so to speak.”
They emerged into the open field, and Ivy turned around. “Now attack me.”
Snowflake was slumped down, her eyes shut tight, in her den, but she wasn’t sleeping. She only wished she could sleep. Mud was out hunting, Ivy was training with Starlight, Oak was training Redwood, and Thorn and Leaf had left a few hours ago without notice… so she was alone inside the den. Good. No one could see her drowning in her emotions.
Snowflake had carried a weight on her shoulders for a long time- the loss of friendship between her and Sea. Now her brother had died, and it had intensified by about 10. After an entire day of pretense to be unaffected, she finally just collapsed in her den, giving in, allowing herself to surrender to the stress that had been building up and up until she felt she could no longer stand it. She opened her eyes; keeping them closed did no good. When she did, images swirled before her eyes… her mother, bleeding to death in front of her, her father, charging fearlessly at the wolves that surrounded them, the look in Sea’s eyes when she had turned on her so savagely… Timber’s body, spread out in front of her in the central chamber. Her eyes opened again, and she looked around her den. It calmed her a little… but suddenly, the walls, the opening in the wall, the grass underfoot, blurred before her eyes, until she stood instead in an empty field. Tall grass waved in the wind, and something dawned on Snowflake- this was not her territory.
She sniffed the air, hoping for some hint as to where she was, but it didn’t smell familiar. At least she wasn’t in another Pack’s territory. That was the last thing she needed… a strong pack in her fur because she had popped up in the middle of their land. She snorted and, catching sight of a forest in the distance, headed straight for it- instinctively. Before she reached it, though, her path was blocked by another wolf- her green eyes seemed kind, and her silver fur almost seemed to have an inner glow. Snowflake relaxed immediately- it was her mother, Silver. She darted forward, calling as she went, “Mother!”
Silver smiled at her daughter as she drew near, her paws pounding on the grass underfoot. Yet when she reached her and extended one paw, she couldn’t reach her. It seemed to bump into something, an invisible shield right between her and the… was ghost the right word? No, apparition of her mother. Silver smiled and touched noses with her, then drew back. “You cannot touch one who is dead, it’s a rule of death. But I can touch you, and I’m always with you.”
“Oh,” murmured Snowflake, then looking around added, “Where am I?”
“Don’t you know?” Silver’s voice was soft, melodious, more like a whisper on the breeze than a real voice, but still beautiful. “You’re in the territory of Starwood.”
Starwood! “Am I dead, then?” Snowflake asked, bewildered. Silver chuckled softly. “No. You’ve been chosen to visit us.” She was suddenly serious. “There’s something I must share with you.”
Snowflake’s fur prickled with unease. “I suppose it’s nothing good.”
Silver shook her head and opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly a cold wind raced in, tearing them apart. It whirled around Snowflake, whipping her fur out behind her and knocking her clean off her feet. After awhile it retreated, but Silver was nowhere to be seen. Terrified, Snowflake ran blindly towards the forest, but all at once she was caught up in a hurricane. She shut her eyes tight, expecting to be torn to pieces, but although she was whipping around and around in circles at super-speed, she was still very much alive. This was a very strange hurricane. Then a voice, strange, harsh, and cold, broke through the howling of the wind and put a silence to Snowflake’s desperate screams.
Darkness rises, light fades. Forgotten threats rise again, and nothing is what it seems. Evil conquers, many die. Greatnesses divides, and the sea will vanish. The forest will perish.
Snowflake was beyond terror at this point. The part of her that knew it was no more than a dream didn’t seem to be working, and she was petrified. She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak… then, suddenly, she was awake. She was panting and scared stiff, but at least she was in her own den, completely safe. Although, if the prophecy- because that was indeed what it was, a twisted, evil prophecy- was true, she wouldn’t be for long. Gradually she began to calm down, and she remembered the harsh, cold voice. Whose voice could it be? And what could this new prophecy mean?
Because she had always tried to analyze things that didn’t make sense to her, she started taking it apart and examining it.
Darkness rises, light fades?
Whatever that meant, it couldn’t be good. Still, she could see no point in hunting for a deeper meaning in that- at least not until she knew more.
Forgotten threats rise again.
Did that mean that Southwood and Darkwood would not be involved? Or that they would, assisted by a powerful, more sinister force?
Nothing is what it seems.
She would have to be more careful with her judgment from now on, if that were true. Maybe-
Sea’s soft voice shattered her thoughts. “Snowflake?”
Slowly she turned her head. Sea stood at the entrance to the Chamber, looking ready to dart. It tore at Snowflake’s heart to see her friend so wary around her. “Yes, Sea?” she asked, surprised, as she sat up.
“I- I was just wondering if you were okay.” She shook her fur, as though shedding her fears. “You were howling enough to wake up every wolf from here to the edge of Wolfdom.”
She was acting more like the old Sea, Snowflake noticed, but she could see how much it was costing her. She grinned. “Of course I’m fine,” she said with forced cheerfulness. Unfortunately, Sea knew her too well. “What happened? Bad dream?”
Snowflake hesitated. Should she tell her? It might help to rekindle their old bond if she started confiding in her. And yet some nagging thought said that this prophecy should be known only to her… at least for the time being. She forced a grin. “I suppose. I don’t really remember. I-”
“Maybe the burden of leadership wouldn’t be so heavy if you didn’t insist on shouldering it all yourself,” Sea interrupted.
Snowflake was taken by surprise. “What?”
“Everything that happens to us, every problem that this pack faces you seem to take upon yourself. You have a pack, however small, that can help you! Why can’t you recognize that?”
“What’s your point?”
The old fire had returned to Sea’s eyes. “I know that was more than just an ordinary bad dream. I’m here, Snowflake. You can confide in me.”
Snowflake looked at her, her face earnest, with even the former signs of uncertainty gone.
“All right,” she murmured, sitting up and fixing her with a penetrating gaze. “You know me too well, Sea. And, now that I think of it… I think that this is something the entire pack needs to know.”
Sea grinned. “Shall I round them up? Or do you want to wake for tonight?”
Snowflake shrugged. “Normally I’d wait for tonight, but this is urgent. Go ahead and fetch them.”
Sea dipped her head and wheeled around. She was gone from the chamber completely within a moment.
Ivy and Starlight were still wrestling in the clearing. Starlight had been pinned down, but kicked her opponent off. She tried to imagine what this would be like in a real battle, with many other wolves surrounding her, but found it hard. Everything seemed so peaceful.
Then, all at once, Sea’s urgent howl reached them. Ivy, who had jumped to her paws and was just going to charge at Starlight, froze. Starlight tensed. “Is something the matter?”
Ivy waved her paw for silence, ears pricked as she read the message in Sea’s howl. Starlight fidgeted. Reading howls from other wolves had seemed boring to her before, but now she wished Ivy had taught her about that before. Was something horrible happening? Were they being attacked?
After awhile, Ivy slowly shook her head. “Nothing’s more out of place than usual,” she assured her apprentice. “Snowflake’s calling a meeting, that’s all.”
Starlight snorted. “What? It can’t wait till evening?”
“Apparently not. Sea says there are very important matters to discuss.”
“Ask her what’s so important.”
Ivy flashed a wry grin at her, then tilted her head back and sent the answer. After waiting a little bit, the answer came and she chuckled.
“What?” Starlight demanded.
“You know how your mother is,” Ivy said with a shrug. “She told me to just shut up and come find out myself.”
Starlight sighed.
Ivy’s eyes twinkled. “Bet you can’t beat me back.”
Starlight’s lit up. She loved a good challenge. “I’ll take that bet,” she replied eagerly, before taking off at full speed, her belly skimming the ground. All her fears were lost in the exhilaration of the mad dash from the middle of Wolfdom to the middle of Northwood territory. For the few moments it took for her to make the entire run, her spirit was free, soaring like a bird. She grew conscious of Ivy in close pursuit and put on an extra burst of speed. Before she knew she was far ahead of her opponent. It was like she was flying, her paws barely skimming the ground….
“Starlight? Starlight!”
Redwood’s shocked voice interrupted her thoughts, and she snapped back to the present. “Starlight!” he said, his eyes wide. “You’re… you’re hovering!”She looked at him in bewilderment, then gasped as she looked down to see that she was hovering a good two inches over the ground. She felt faint. “W-What?” She tried to fly down to the ground, only to find that gravity was defying her. She promptly panicked. “How do I land?!”
Ivy sped up behind and skidded to a halt. Apparently she had arrived just in time to hear the last four words. “You defeated gravity, therefore it is unwilling to automatically reclaim you. Just breathe slowly, shut your eyes, and think very firmly of yourself standing here in the clearing, on your own four paws. Think it very, very hard, until you feel a definite shift in the air. Then open your eyes and you’ll come back to Earth.”
Starlight obeyed and was relieved to feel solid ground beneath her paws again. “How did that happen?” she asked, still a little shaken.
“A little bit of the magic that runs within you emerged. You were pushing yourself to your maximum speed. Then, you forgot all your worries, your spirit soared… and so did you.” She shook her head. “It’s extraordinary. Usually, wolves can’t fly until they’ve had years and years of practice. It’s not an easy task to completely forget every worry… because worries, unpleasant things… they are the things that keep our paws anchored to the ground.”
“That’s all very well,” Starlight said uneasily, “but I didn’t fly. I was only an inch or two above the ground. I hovered, but I didn’t soar, as you put it.”
“Even so… to be able to demolish those anchors even the slightest bit, so that they don’t completely hold you down… as I said, it’s… profound.”
“Why did it happen?” Redwood interrupted testily. Oak, who was nearby and had been quiet the whole time out of nothing so much as pure shock, turned an inquisitive gaze on Starlight’s mentor. Ivy twitched her ears. “Magic runs deep in Sea’s family’s blood,” she said with a shrug. “Soon, Redwood would have started showing signs too. Although hovering…” she shook her head, at a loss for word.
Redwood looked uneasy. “So what’s happening to her? Why is she suddenly performing rare and difficult magic? Why is she changing?”
“Changing?” Starlight interjected, chuckling. “All wolves change. And anyway, I’m not that different because I can perform a few impressive magic tricks. I’ve been doing that since I was a month or two old, remember?”
“Yeah,” Redwood retorted, flattening his ears. “Conjuring small flames. Bringing dead leaves back to life during the fall. Warming up or cooling down temperatures in a small chamber. Those were small feats. This is magic that normally only a well-practiced, highly skilled magic user can do!”
“Redwood!” Starlight looked at her agitated brother with concern. “Pipe down, will you? So I accidently-” she laid as much stress on the word as she could- “left the ground two inches. So what? I’m still the determined and stubborn runt of a sister that you’ve known for a year now. We’ve been close our entire lives, Redwood- why should that change now because of a simple little magical act?”
Redwood was startled into silence- had his always quiet, reserved, composed sister just said she hadn’t changed at all and had an outburst? He had never known Starlight to lose her temper like that.
“Shouldn’t we get going?” Oak inquired. “You know how Snowflake gets. Antsy…”
Starlight nodded, and the foursome turned to leave.
But before they could take off, both older wolves froze. Oak twitched her ears uncomfortably. “Do you smell that?” she whispered to Ivy, who slowly nodded. Made a bit uneasy by Ivy and Oak’s obvious tension, Starlight tasted the air. Immediately, a rank, unfamiliar smell washed over her. She wrinkled up her nose. “What is that?”
Ivy swallowed hard. “Make a careful note of that smell, Starlight. That’ s the stench of Darkwood.”
“How come I never smelled it before?”
“Because,” Ivy said softly, “they’re here. They’re invading.”
Starlight was suddenly just as tense as her mentor. She had heard of Darkwood, and anyway, the scent was getting steadily stronger. As though they were headed straight towards their small group.
Just then, a collection of dark silhouettes melted out of the trees with a smooth sort of glide. They came in perfect unity; there was not a single pawstep that didn’t fall in perfect synchronization. Ivy tensed, tail lashing and eyes blazing. Oak’s lips curled back in a snarl, revealing teeth sharper than daggers. Timber and Starlight stood protecting each other, both ready to leap into battle at a moment’s notice.
Two wolves came forth from the ranks; the Alpha male and Alpha female, Starlight assumed. The male was large, easily twice her size. He was sturdily built, with broad shoulders and paws that could crush small, frail wolves effortlessly. Muscles rippled under his fur, which was black- black as ink, black as the blackest night. There was not the slightest dash of any other color to be seen. His orange eyes, the only pinpricks of light in his dark pelt, glittered with hostility.
The she-wolf who stood behind him could not have had a different build. She was half his size, but seemed to possess a strength and power equal to his, if in a different way. She was slim and had a long body. Starlight could tell by just looking at her that she was lightning fast in battle. Her fur was dark chocolate brown mixed ever so slightly with black, so that if a wolf with weaker eyes than Starlight didn’t concentrate enough, she seemed to shimmer and ripple, as though she were no more than an optical illusion. In fact, if the wolf looked in just the right places, and the lighting was just the right way, she sometimes seemed to blend into the shadows completely, therefore vanishing from sight.
They lingered in silence for a long time, which was at last broken by Ivy.
“Midnight,” she said, dipping her head in a gesture of obviously forced politeness. “Shade. What are you doing here, in Northwood territory?”
Midnight and Shade. What fitting names. Midnight for the male, because of his deep black fur, and Shade for the female, because of her dappled fur, and the way it did different things according to the lighting.
Midnight fixed the silver wolf with a penetrating gaze, and then began to speak. His voice was low, deep, and somehow foreboding, at least to any wolf who dared to call themselves his enemies. Starlight shuddered. There was no wondering how he got to be Alpha male of the most feared pack in Wolfdom.
“We come with a… proposal,” he said, his voice soft and menacing.
Ivy flicked her ears. “Oh, really?” She said, her voice ice cold. Midnight nodded. Somehow everything he did seemed slow. As though he had all the time in the world, and could massacre the small group whenever he chose. As though he were bored.
“As you can see, my pack’s numbers are many. Yours are few.”
“Yes…”
“Although spring will come soon, it is still winter. Food is scarce. Our wolves find it hard to survive. Many of my pack would not have me reveal this weakness, but there’s no point in hiding it. You’re intelligent wolves. To you, it would be obvious.”
“Don’t bother with flattery, Midnight.” Now Oak broke in. “It’ll never work. Get on with it.”
“You’re extremely outnumbered, correct? You could never face us in a battle and win. That’s why if you don’t accept this-”
“Like Oak said,” Starlight snapped, “get on with it. I hate formalities.”
Midnight dipped his head and plunged on. “We request that you leave Northwood and seek a home elsewhere. If you refuse, you will be driven out, so you may as well accept now and avoid the risk of traveling with injuries, hmm?”
The four wolves stared blankly at him for a moment. Then Ivy murmured to the two younger wolves, “Distract him,” and threw her head to the skies, letting loose a long call for help. Midnight’s eyes blazed as he read the meaning in her howl, and he sprang for her throat. But Starlight was not known to disappoint her mentor. With a growl, she leaped at his side. Taken by surprise, he let himself be barreled out of the air and hit the ground with a thud. She pinned him down underneath her, her sharp teeth an inch from his throat. Ivy’s howl went on; apparently she was explaining the entire situation to Snowflake. No more than a moment or two had passed when Snowflake hurtled into the clearing and skidded to a halt, snarling with unsuppressed fury. “Midnight!” she called, every word trembling with rage. Ivy gave Starlight a small nod, and she stepped back, allowing the black wolf to scramble to his paws, shaking leaves from his fur. “Snowflake,” he acknowledged, his voice almost a whisper in comparison to hers. She stalked over until she was nose to nose with him.
“How dare you!” she shouted. “You come onto my territory, threaten my wolves, and demand that we leave or face you in battle! Well, guess what? Conquering territory isn’t that easy!”
Starlight tensed. It was obvious that the white wolf was planning to spring at any moment. There was a low growl, and her attention switched to Shade. The dark-furred she-wolf had shifted, ready to attack if Snowflake made a single physically offensive move. The entire Darkwood pack was ready to attack at a moment’s notice. Mud, Sea, Storm, and Shadow hurtled in, each skidding to a halt with their hackles rising and their teeth bared. Thorn and Leaf trotted over from the western side, having decided to answer to Ivy’s frantic call.
“So is that a refusal?” Midnight asked coolly.
“That much should be obvious,” Sea snarled, her sarcastic tongue taking over, as it so often did. “She’s not exactly eyeing you like a lovesick yearling, is she?”
Midnight growled. “Then it must come to battle.”
“If it’s war you want,” Snowflake retorted coldly, “then it’s war you shall get.”
Midnight narrowed his eyes. “So be it.”
At that very moment, Thorn broke in. “Oh, great, here comes the mighty Darkwood pack! They’re coming to attack us with pups! We’re all going to die a horrible death at their paws. We’d better all surrender now or face the horrible fate of being licked! We’re going to be mauled by such tiny little paws-”
“Shut up,” Midnight snapped. “You know nothing of it.”
“He knows more than you,” growled Leaf, coming to his defense. She had obviously taken up his taunting. “His words do have a core of truth, you can’t deny.”
Starlight chuckled, wondering how long it would take for their sharp tongues to make the Alpha male crack. He was already looking pretty ticked off.
“Well, it’s about time they brought someone my age into this debate. Even if it is the most pathetic scrap of life they could muster. I’m soooo scared!” mocked Thorn.
For the first time since the two packs had met, Shade stepped forward and spoke, coming to her mate’s defense. “I was unaware they had brought such pathetic little morons here. Are you sure your wit can match your skill against twenty-five skilled wolves, my sarcastic little friend?”
“I’ve got the double the skill and double the wits, but can you match that? Of course not. The only thing you can win is most idiotic female!” He then turned to Midnight.
“And a leader of such superior stature hardly deserves such an ugly, obnoxious, wonderfully evil mate. Only the ugly for the ugly. True beauty is supposed to be found in the heart, but true ugliness is obviously found on the outside. Wouldn’t you agree, Midnight of Darkwood?”
Midnight growled. “I’m going to make you swallow every word you’ve said today!”
“Well, it’ll be much easier to swallow than the wonderful sight of your face.”
Midnight snarled with nothing so much as pure rage, only just managing to contain himself now. And then Thorn looked straight into his eyes and smirked.
That smug little grin did it. Midnight could hold himself back no longer.
He sprang for the Omega’s throat.
-Chapter Four-
Battle
E
Verything began at once. As Thorn and Midnight made contact, Sea hurtled towards Shade at full speed, carrying the Alphess off of her paws. Starlight grinned. Shade had her match made there. She turned away, scanning the field for any wolf she could take on. She swallowed hard. As annoying as Midnight may have been, he wasn’t lying about one thing: they were completely outnumbered. She spotted Redwood in the middle of a ring of wolves, and sprang over to help him, wrenching any opponents out of the way until she reached his side.
“This is hopeless,” he moaned. “Look how many there are!”
“Twice our numbers,” Starlight agreed grimly. “But we can’t give up.”
He shot her a look of pure amazement. “Starlight, you’re the smallest and the bravest wolf I know.”
Then he disappeared into the throng of fighting wolves. Starlight wasn’t sure if she’d ever see him again.
Her head whipped around as she heard a soft thud of paws. Before she could comprehend what was going on, she was barreled off her paws and pinned down. There was a hard grip in her shoulder, and she howled with pain. She scrabbled desperately with her hind paws, trying to dislodge her attacker. Knowing it was having no effect, she forced herself to slow down and think properly, even though she was being attacked again. Her opponent’s huge paw was coming straight towards her jaw.
Then she caught sight of her wound out of the corner of her eye, and the blood that had spattered onto her chest and onto the ground beside her.
This was Starlight’s first full battle. She had never been wounded so grievously. And that meant that this was the first time she had caught sight of her own blood in mass. Therefore, like all young wolves, she felt a rush of pure, uncontrollable rage. With strength she didn’t know she possessed, she kicked the wolf hard in the chest, sending him flying with a surprised yelp. Unable to control her fury, she leaped to her paws and dashed after him, with a bitter, deep-seated grudge controlling her every action.
She found him many feet away; he had landed at Mud’s paws. Forgetting her fear and awe of the large wolf, she snarled at him as he was about to attack her young adversary.
“Back off, Mud,” she growled. “He’s mine.”
He must have recognized the fire in her eyes, because he wheeled around and took off, attacking another unfortunate wolf, and Starlight fell mercilessly upon her own enemy.
This time, she held an irreversible advantage: her rage. She leaped on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. Not bothering to wound him first, not wanting to do anything but kill him, she locked an iron grip on his throat the second he was down. His eyes widened- wolves didn’t usually kill one another, simply because it was too easy for them to do so. If they killed every opponent they faced, there would be no wolves left in the forest.
It wasn’t long before the gray and white yearling went motionless, his eyes staring blankly above him.
But even with Starlight in her somewhat possessed state and Redwood going through the same experience, Northwood had little chance of defeating their enemies. Little by little, slowly but surely, Northwood’s forces were being battered down.
Even then, she realized she could still hear Thorn taunting his opponent as he leapt for him repeatedly. “Missed!” he called out cheerfully. As Midnight got to his paws and sprang, he pranced out of the way. Once again, the muscular wolf tumbled into the dust. Thorn grinned. “Mind of a flea and speed of a turtle!” he mocked. “What a ferocious leader you are!”
Only Thorn could be taunting his opponent in such desperate times, she thought wryly.
But there were more terrifying sounds. Oak, losing all sense completely, lifted her muzzle and let out a howl. Even Starlight knew what it meant: help!
But help could not come. Every wolf of Northwood was completely occupied with enemies of their own. There was no one Northwood wolf that was fighting one at a time- two on one, three on one, four on two everywhere she looked. It was completely hopeless.
And then came the sound she had never, ever expected to hear.
Over the snarls and yelps and tearing of fur, she heard a howl. The fur stood straight up on her spine. There was no howl quite like one like the war cry of a wolf leader of rogues. Darkwood must have made a pact with them, enlisting their aid just in case they could not overcome their adversaries.
Every wolf froze in shock, for there was not a wolf present who had not also recognized the cry. From the opposite side of the clearing, she heard Redwood’s cry of despair. “Rogues! Oh, great Starwood, we’re finished!”
In the dead silence, Starlight pricked her ears, straining to hear the sounds of pawsteps so she could guess at the numbers of the new arrivals. She wished she hadn’t. There were at least fifteen rogues on their way.
Redwood was right, she thought. We’re finished!
The pawsteps halted right then, and Starlight knew they had arrived. Their leader stepped forward, a female with the classic build and fur of a grey wolf. Her yellow eyes scrutinized the wolves below. Starlight waited for Midnight or Shade to say something, but then seeking them out saw they were just as surprised as Northwood. Although that baffled her, it comforted her too. They would not immediately crush them.
Looking amused by the pack wolves’ confusion, the female began to speak. “I am Tassia, leader of the rogues. I must say I dislike meddling with pack wolf’s affairs, and it is only on behalf of my mate and secondary leader that I have agreed to come at all.” She twisted around, locked eyes with some wolf among her ranks, and gave a sharp jerk of her head. The following events caused Starlight to stand gaping, utterly shocked, as the wolf she spoke of padded forward.
Although he had changed much, there was no denying the bolt black fur, and the wolf’s green eyes had not lost their mischevious twinkle.
Starlight was left speechless, but Redwood soon filled in the words left unspoken.
“Lightning!”
Lightning smirked at his brother, curving his tail upwards into a graceful arc. “That is my name,” he said with a grin. “Although Tassia would have me change it, females can’t keep complete control, even though she seems to enjoy quite a lot of it. Anyway, when I heard Ivy’s call I wanted to come straight away, but she managed to hold me back. And then-” he fixed his green gaze on Oak- “she called for help, and I could resist no longer.” He shrugged. “Starwood couldn’t have held me back at that point.”
Tassia sighed pointedly. “Starwood,” she snorted. “Tales for pups. Even now you refuse to give up your pack customs.”
“I lived in a pack the first six months of my life,” Lightning snapped. “I don’t know how you can expect me to just forget everything.”
From the tone in his voice, it was obvious that they had had this argument many times before.
“Anyway,” he growled, turning back to the bewildered wolves assembled below, “We came to fight, not argue.”
Tassia gave him a short nod, threw her head to the skies, and let out a long war howl. Then she lowered it, eyes blazing with the light of battle, and plunged downwards, Lightning hard on her paws. The other thirteen- Starlight’s calculations had been right- did not hesitate to join her.
The tables turned in Northwood’s favor instantly. Starlight grabbed one random wolf and threw him to the ground, a long snarl in her throat, but he was strong and regained himself in time to leap at her. She was pinned down, lashing desperately at his belly, when he was ripped off of her and thrown to the side by Lightning. Both advanced on him, and he must have known the jig was up, because he promptly turned tail and ran.
The other Darkwood wolves were not faring better. Starlight saw Mud crack the neck of one persistent female, and she went limp in his jaws. He threw her aside with all possible force. The body dislodged Midnight, who had been about to give the death blow to Thorn, knocking him down. He leaped up, kicking the mangled wolf aside, and howled at the top of his voice, “Retreat!”
Snowflake, who was nearby, scrambled to her paws, blue eyes wide. The two wolves locked eyes.
“Keep in mind, Snowflake,” snarled Midnight, beginning to back away, “you may have won this time, but no victory can come without a price. We will be back.”
Snowflake’s eyes shone with pure hatred. “I eagerly await your return,” she spat. “Believe me, Midnight, you may very well come back, but when you do, we’ll be ready and waiting.”
He spat at her paws, then wheeled around and pursued his retreating pack.
Tassia turned, gathering her forces with a sweep of her tail, and Starlight ran to her brother. “Thank you,” she murmured, touching noses with him. “We would have been massacred without you.”
“Don’t mention it,” he replied, twitching his tail. “Perhaps we’ll meet again soon.”
“I hope so,” she murmured. “But for now you had better go. Tassia will probably get pretty mad if you stay for a long goodbye.”
“Tassia can deal with it,” he growled. “You’re my sister.” But he was already turning and padding to his new family. He gave her a cheery wave with his tail, and then all fifteen wolves took off.
“Well,” snorted Leaf, shattering the stunned silence that followed. “This had better be a pretty interesting meeting.”
***
“Darkness rises, light fades. Forgotten threats rise again, and nothing is what it seems. Evil conquers, many die. Greatnesses divides, and the sea will vanish. The forest will perish,” Oak quoted, shuddering.
“A prophecy,” Ivy put in grimly.
“But why was it given to Snowflake?” inquired Leaf coldly. “What’s so special about her?”
“She’s the Alpha,” Sea answered immediately. “And both her parents are in Starwood.”
Snowflake had just explained her entire dream in vivid detail, ending with Sea gently interrupting. Her words had been met immediately by a flood of questions and remarks.
“Speaking of which,” Redwood interjected, “Why do you suppose she couldn’t just have been told by Silver? If I remember correctly, a darkness ripped them apart.”
Sea tensed. “Does that mean that Starwood has fallen?”
There was much murmuring regarding that particular question. Snowflake, however, shook her head. “I doubt it,” she replied, her tail tip twitching. “Otherwise, how would I have reached Starwood’s grounds at all? How would she have managed to speak to me, if only a little?”
“But they’ve obviously been breached…” Storm looked thoughtful, rather than tense, as every other wolf present.
Mud, who had not spoken a word since the day he had joined, suddenly did. “If Starwood has been breached,” he said calmly, “which I somehow doubt, things would not be as they are now.” He shrugged. “It wouldn’t be all sunny and bright and normal if evil wolves were suddenly in control of life as we know it.”
Storm turned to him, ears twitching. “She was on Starwood’s grounds when the darkness came,” he argued.
“The darkness,” snorted Mud. “Is that you refer to it by, then?”
“What would you call it?” Storm challenged.
Mud shrugged, lapsing back into his silent state.
“What do you think the prophecy means?” Starlight asked, since that was the detail that she had mainly observed.
“It’s a prophecy. It could mean anything,” Ivy said darkly.
Oak nodded gravely. “It could mean exactly what it sounds like, have some horrible twist to it, or even mean the complete opposite.”
Snowflake sighed. “I think we should let it go for now,” she suggested, “and see what happens.”
Her words were met with general assent, and the wolves split up again, walking or limping to their respective dens. Starlight hurried to catch up with Ivy, who was just disappearing into the Scout’s cave.
“What do you think?” she inquired, padding behind her. Ivy stopped, allowing her apprentice to fall into step with her.
“About the prophecy? Honestly, Starlight, I don’t know what to think.”
“Do you think it means that… horrible things will happen to us?”
Ivy turned to look at her, green eyes serious. “I think it definitely means there is a dark future in store for Northwood.”
Starlight shuddered. The time had passed when a few comforting words or even her own thoughts could blow these things off. Starlight was wiser, stronger, and smarter than she had been even seven months ago. She had definitely changed, as Redwood put it. She had grown up.
“What kind of dark things?”
“I cannot predict the future, Starlight, anymore than I can tell you that nothing is happening that shouldn’t and we will be able to continue our daily routines in peace. Anymore than I can lie to you. Because, although the others would hide and resist this knowledge, our lives are descending into darkness, and I’m not sure how many of us will come out again. If any of us will come out again.”
As they reached the Scout cave, Starlight shuddered at her mentor’s words. She padded to the corner where she slept and lay down, wrapping her tail around her nose. She tried to stay awake and mull over all that had been said, but exhaustion overcame her and she sank into unconsciousness. Once again, she dreamed.
She was padding through a forest, one she had never seen before. She knew it was a figment of her imagination, formed by her visions of faraway forests existing only in different dimensions. She was not sure where she was heading, but it was as if her paws did, and her instincts were guiding them to her destination, wherever that may be.
She had been walking for several minutes when she reached what she supposed was her aim. There were many rocks, piling up into the sky. Starlight, having always been a natural born climber and swimmer, practically bounded up them to the top and looked down. Below her was a small pond- and she could tell by just looking at its black depths that is was extremely deep. On one side, a waterfall fell down, revealing that the pool was fed by a river. On the opposite side it flowed into a small crack. There was knowledge not known to wolves- that inside, it widened into a full blown underground river. Starlight’s eyes roamed over the place, wondering what had brought her here. Then, she noticed a small hole in one of the large rocks, and just as she noticed it, a black wolf emerged from the hole. A black wolf with green eyes. Starlight pricked her ears.
“You again. I’ve seen you before, have I not?” she called. The black wolf nodded gravely. “Yes, young one. Come over to me, for I have much to tell you, and I would prefer not to be yelling up to you the entire time. “
Starlight hesitated. Although her initial mental description had been of a relatively small hollow, she was several yards away from the strange wolf. “How?”
“Well, swim, of course,” snorted the wolf, gesturing towards the black waters.
“Is… is there even room for me there? There isn’t much of a bank.”
“You are stalling.”
“Fine.”
Starlight adjusted her haunches, narrowed her eyes, held her breath and sprang.
Although the cold water shocked her to the core, there wasn’t much of a current despite the waterfall, and once she gained control of herself, she swam strongly to the opposite bank, where she climbed up and stood beside the black wolf, finding for some strange reason that she was not cold at all, and that the water was streaming right off her pelt. She had been right before, though, even if she was stalling. There was barely enough room for both full grown wolves to remain there, on the bank.
The black wolf turned away, towards the small hole she had appeared out of. “Come,” she said simply.
Starlight followed the she-wolf into a small tunnel, so small, in fact, that she had to wriggle forward on her belly. “Why have you brought me here?” she asked. “I can barely even fit, and I’m small for my age.” But the wolf waved her tail for silence. “The reason I have brought you here is so that I can give you the answers you must be seeking. But you must be patient for only a few more moments.”
There was something about the wolf that reminded Starlight of Ivy, and she knew how pointless it was trying to pry answers from Ivy before she wanted to give them. So she remained silent, wriggling after the wolf through the tunnel. Then, before she even realized what was happening, there was nothing to support her front paws and she plunged downwards. She yelped with surprise and terror, but presently she realized it was not a straight drop- she was sliding down. She swerved left and right, until suddenly, it was just that- she was plummeting straight downwards. Her howl echoed eerily through the tunnels as she hit water. She went straight down, slicing through the unexpected pool like a knife. She waited until she could gain control of her swimming abilities to shoot back up. Still, downwards she went. She realized there must be an underwater current pushing her down.
At this point she thought her lungs might burst. Sensing an opening in front of her, she headed for it immediately. Perhaps the underwater tunnel would bring her to the surface. She was in it for only a moment, and when she emerged on the opposite side, the pressure that had pushed her down before vanished. She shot up and emerged in a chamber, gasping for air. The pool she came out of was small, only large enough for two wolves to emerge at once. She climbed out, and at first it did not register in her mind that the chamber was lit. She glared at the black wolf sitting there.
“What are you trying to do? Drown me?”
“You are still alive.”
Starlight growled, lashing her tail, then looked around. “How come I can see you so well?” Her eyes narrowed. “The walls… they’re shining. How can that be?”
“I am not sure,” the black wolf admitted. “I believe there is a blue substance behind the rock that leaks out through the cracks and thus bathes the chamber in a blue glow. I believe it may be some sort of blue stone.”
“Is this the final destination?”
“Yes. But Starlight, this place is real.”
“Of course. How else could I be here?”
“In the waking world.”
Starlight stared at her in shock. “But I thought it was just something my imagination came up with.”
“Although it may sound strange, you and I have linked minds, Starlight. I think of this place often, for this is where I have taken up residence, at least for awhile. I am a journeyer by nature, after all.”
“And this is where you will give me answers?”
“As many as you may desire.”
“Very well. I’ll start with the question that’s really bugging me then. Who are you?”
“Me? I have too many names to list. In your region I am known as Deana. I am a shape-shifter.”
“A shape-shifter?”
Deana gazed at her for a moment, then suddenly, a change came over her. She began to shrink rapidly and, as she did so, her fur lightened to a dark orange-red, while her legs, ears, and muzzle remained black. Her throat turned white, and her eyes darkened to brown. Her fur grew shorter and her build, leaner. The final changes came, and Starlight found herself looking at a fox.
“Oh,” she said, then snorted. “Well, convenient for you. You can just turn yourself into a fish and swim all the way through, then when you find the surface you can morph into a wolf and climb right out. You must eat well, too. Turn yourself into a snake and find the strongest, largest deer there is in a herd. You give it a fatal bite, then slither away, turn yourself into a bird, and follow it till it dies. Then you return to base form and eat.”
The fox nodded, already half wolf already. It wasn’t long before Deana stood before her again. “I suppose that may be true,” she murmured. “But enough of that. You came her for answers, and answers you shall receive.”
“Right.” Starlight was momentarily silent. “Is it true that the story character Glynis lives inside me?”
Deana shrugged. “Glynis is only that- a story character.”
“You mean she wasn’t part of history?”
“I don’t believe so. She is part of the legends told to pups, legends created to make them appreciate life’s enrichment fully. And yet you do seem to resemble her in many ways. I wonder…”
“And am I destined for greatness? To change the course of the future?”
“That I do believe. I can sense the power within you, Starlight. You are meant to become a legend.”
“But is it the truth, or simply what you believe?” Starlight was enthralled at this chance- finally managing to ask all the questions she desired and receive straight answers.
“It is certainly more than what I believe, and yet the truth is shaped by outside things, too, Starlight.”
Somewhere a light year away, in a different realm, Starlight was vaguely aware of her body being shaken roughly. But her mind was far, far away- much too far to be retrieved so easily.
“What do you mean?”
“You are not meant to be stopped- to be killed or to be permanently crippled. But that doesn’t mean it cannot happen. There may be interference, interference that would spell certain doom for all the wolves in your region.”
“But-”
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I'm perfectly normal. The voices tell me so... I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it... I hear voices in my head, and they don't like you...{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=} |
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Wolfy
Senior
~Speaker of the Old Tongue~
member is offline
Do I look like a monster? Then why hunt me like one? Stop the poaching of the wolf
Joined: Nov 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 468
Location: Who knows where...
Karma: 3 | | Re: Wolf Pack: Book One: Scout-- NEWER VERSION!
« Reply #2 on Sept 12, 2008, 5:20pm » | |
A voice wormed its way into her thoughts. A very familiar, very irritated voice.
“Starlight! Wake up, will you?”
Deana’s head swiveled. “The waking world is beckoning you, Starlight. But rest assured: we will meet again…”
She dissolved into nothingness, and Starlight’s consciousness flew, as if on wings, over the light year that lay between the dream world and the waking world. It snapped back into place on the Earth that she was acquainted with.
She woke up.
“At last,” snarled Ivy. “Honestly, Starlight, I thought you had been knocked out.”
“Why do I really need to wake up early?” she asked with a shrug, rolling to her paws. “Surely we’re not training today- not when our wounds are sensitive to the slightest touch of a claw?”
“Because… well, it’s a surprise.”
“A surprise, huh? I’m not sure when the last time I enjoyed a surprise is.”
“You will not be so resigned to this, I believe.”
“Perhaps.” Starlight followed her mentor, suddenly aware with a jolt how much she had changed since the day she had first fallen into the training of a scout. She was an adult wolf now- or at least a teenager. She had grown as tall as Ivy, and there was not a bit of baby fat or baby fluff. Undoubtedly because she was not a pup- certainly not physically, and… not mentally, either. Not anymore. She understood things, and she knew when to address a problem as a serious matter.
She had changed from a spunky pup into a thoughtful, determined young wolf.
When she reached the central chamber, she noticed immediately that none of the wolves had left to go about their daily business. They remained in the Chamber. She felt the excitement emanating from their pelts immediately and, as she emerged, it increased. Seeing Redwood in the midst of the crowd, she skirted them to reach his side.
“Do you know what’s going on?” she asked.
“Me? How would I know? You’re the thinker. It’s supposed to be some wonderful surprise, I suppose.”
“Hmm. Hopefully they will be kind and skip the introductions so we can learn about it immediately.”
“Adults do love formalities.”
“Not all of them.”
“All that I’ve met.”
“Redwood.”
“What?”
“We are adults. And I hate formalities.”
Snowflake leaped up onto a rock jutting out of the wall and raised her tail for silence. It was not received, for most were so busy discussing whatever was in store for Starlight and Redwood today that they didn’t even notice.
“Wolves of Northwood!”
Silence reigned then. All of the pack looked up at their leader. The atmosphere of excitement intensified.
“Today we gather here to hold a meeting that will alter the course of our pack’s future, for better or for worse.”
Starlight suppressed a sigh. So much for skipping the formalities.
“The youngest members of our pack, Starlight and Redwood, are now two months over a year, and I am sure that we have all noticed the physical and mental changes that have come over them. They are no longer pups, and it is time we honored them as true members of our Pack.”
Although Redwood was obviously still wondering what was going on, Starlight’s mind mulled over the Alpha’s words and went blank with shock. They were going to receive their full statuses! Surprise, indeed!
“Ivy and Starlight, please come forth and stand at the base of the rock.”
Starlight padded slowly after her mentor- who was, she realized, not truly her mentor at all anymore. They stopped where Snowflake had commanded them to, and the white wolf leaped down. Her solemn golden eyes melted into Starlight’s bright green ones.
“Do you, Starlight, as a member of the pack of Northwood, swear to uphold all rules listed in the stone that Starwood has provided us with, and to remain loyal to your pack, whatever the cost may be?”
For a moment, Starlight actually hesitated, remembering a scene from so long ago.
“Not to your pack?”
“That too. But always keep to mind: if you think they are in the wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up. And if they won’t listen, just follow your heart and ignore those who try to hold you back.”
But following her heart didn’t mean going against her pack entirely- unless they were in the wrong. She would always be loyal to Northwood, she knew that much.
“Yes,” she said strongly, her gaze never once straying from the wolf in front of her.
“Then I deem you Starlight, Scout of Northwood. May you have a long and full life striving to do what is right.”
Snowflake went to stand beside her former mentor and, as one, they dipped their heads to her in a gesture of the utmost respect. Starlight felt a thrill. I am a Scout! A full-fledged Scout!
After Redwood had endured an identical ceremony- the only difference being that Snowflake mentioned Timber near the end of it- Starlight found herself using all her scout skills to slip through the shadows so she could reach the forest outside the Chamber, where she could escape the many wolves wishing to congratulate her.
She went to the border to the rogue lands and sat there, tail wrapped neatly around her paws. How she wished Lightning had also been here to receive a full status of some sort. It could be months before he was even aware that she was not the same wayward apprentice from his puppyhood.
“Hey.”
Starlight jumped nearly high enough to land in the trees. She whipped towards the sound, snarling.
“Relax. It’s only me. The pack wolves are so paranoid.”
“Me who?” Starlight whispered fiercely. The sound was coming from upwind of her, so she could not pick up a scent. It infuriated her.
“Tassia.” The grey wolf emerged from behind a birch tree, a faint smirk on her features. She padded to Starlight’s side. “Thinking about your brother, I presume?”
“It is none of your business what I’m thinking about.”
“Of course,” Tassia said coolly.
“What do you want from me?”
“It was his idea, you know.”
“Your… promotion. He saw how well you fought at the battle, and he suggested it to Ivy. She agreed, and convinced Snowflake to agree as well. And it was only fair that Redwood joined the equation- he fought brilliantly himself.”
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I'm perfectly normal. The voices tell me so... I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it... I hear voices in my head, and they don't like you...{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=}{=}{/=} |
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