~Run With The Pack~ Wolf Story

[SilkiesForEver]

Any more?

 

[OwlLover]

Yep, if it's not up tonight it will tomorrow.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Sounds good!

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Owl?

 

[OwlLover]

comin up!

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Yippee!

 

[wildriverswolf90]

 

[OwlLover]

Chapter 16

More time passed. Pinepack had been sheltering in Stonepack's territory for about a month now. They were anxious to get their land back, but none of their wolves spoke up about it.

They probably feel lucky that anyone's sheltering them at all. And they should! Faedon thought with a grumble. They'd still be living in the loner lands if it weren't for us.

Darkpack had also been very quiet ever since they'd driven Pinepack out of their home. There was never so much as a howl from their territory, or rather, territories anymore. This was very unsettling, because when this happened, they were usually planning something big. Senkah and Hades were planning something of their own, but there was no word about it yet to even Aki or Faedon. Ever since the Cedar incident, everyone was much more cautious about important information.

The cold, but mostly sunny days with snow on the ground were over; they were in the thick of winter now for sure. Thick fog and frost fell over the territories every night, and it only started to rise around mid-morning. Every other day, more snow fell, and the dark gray clouds that cluttered the sky every day showed no end in sight.

Faedon quivered a bit as she stepped out into the open densite. It was becoming pointless to attempt to clear all the snow out completely, but they would still keep trying until the second blizzard of the season arrived. A thin layer of snow was already laying on the ground, and Faedon's red and gray fur bristled a bit at its touch. She knew it had to be extremely cold if she could feel it through her pelt... and she also knew that it would only get colder. Spring, or even the slightest gleam of the sun through the clouds, was a long ways away.

Faedon perked up and smiled a bit as she saw Aki coming into the densite. Mari and Nike were padding after him; the two wolves had become mates shortly after Faedon and Aki had, and the pack was anxiously awaiting an announcement of pups soon from both couples. Pups had come up every now and then when she talked with Aki, but Faedon wasn't sure if she was ready to be a mother yet. In fact... Faedon wasn't sure if she wanted to be one at all.

Never say never, she thought with a shrug. Wagging her tail, she bounded over to him. "Hey, Aki!" she yipped. Her tail wagged happily, and she did a playful crouch.

"Hi, Faedon!" Aki smiled, giving his mate a lick on the ear. "Feeling up to hunting before the snow gets bad?"

"Sure!" Faedon barked excitedly, sprinting towards the entrance. Grinning, Aki pelted after her, kicking up sprinkles of snow as he ran. Faedon leaped over a fallen tree that was covered in snow gracefully, her legs taking long, swift strides. She slowed to a stop as they approached the river. It had frozen over, but she could see water rushing below the ice. Around the top's edges, she could see a few unlucky fish, who were frozen in the ice.

Faedon turned, and began digging under the snow for a large stick or even a log. Her paws burned with cold as she churned up clumps of ice and snow. She saw the tip of one, sticking up from under the blanket of snow. She nipped it, and tugged it out.

She tossed it onto the ice, and it fell into the water with a crash. She bopped it with a paw, sending it on its way under the ice. Dipping her head down, she took a sip of the freezing water. It made her fur bristle with cold, but it was refreshing.

Aki stood beside her; being the gentleman that he was, he waited until Faedon had gotten a drink before he did. He swiveled his ears behind him as he heard a howl. "Senkah and Hades are leading a hunt. Want to go on that?"

Faedon licked the droplets of water off her whiskers. "Sure," she nodded, and sprinted away, following the source of the howl to the hunting rendezvous. Aki was at her heels the whole time.

Senkah nodded to them as they came up. "The herd's down there," she hissed, pointing with her nose to a dip down the hill. A herd of caribou were standing around, and Faedon scrutinized them. She could hear pawsteps thrumming the ground behind her, but she didn't need to look back to see who it was. By scent alone, she could tell that they were Zero and Quartz.

There didn't appear to be any weak ones, or if there were, they were doing an amazing job of hiding it. Faedon slunk down quietly, with Aki on her heels. She took a big whiff of the air, but there wasn't any blood or ill scent. She frowned in disappointment, but never took her eyes off the herd.

"Zero and Quartz and I can tear some away from their herd," Senkah whispered as she came up to her daughter's side. Faedon nodded, watching as Zero and her mother slunk around. Hades and Aki padded to her side, watching as the other three wolves charged in. The herd began to stampede as the predators charged in, tearing a few of them away. Senkah barked to signal to her packmates to come in.

Faedon charged forwards, her legs taking long, graceful strides across the landscape. She could hear Aki and her father's pawsteps thrumming on the ground behind her as they fanned out, surrounding the caribou. Faedon was the first to jump; she sunk her fangs into its soft flesh, as Aki jumped onto its back leg from behind. Senkah split away to help Quartz and Zero take down the caribou they were chasing.

Hades ran alongside the caribou, watching its movements like a hawk. As it began to slow down, Hades swiftly leaped onto its back. His weight forced the caribou to stumble, and Faedon's paws touched the ground. Keeping her jaws firmly on the caribou's throat, she pulled down, forcing it to collapse. Faedon jumped away just in time, as it fell onto the ground and propelled snow into the air. She turned as she smelled Quartz, Zero, and Senkah's scents coming closer. They were dragging the caribou that they had taken down over to them.

Senkah and Hades tilted their heads back and howled to the sky, alerting the pack to the food. Faedon's mouth watered as the scents of the caribou filled her nose, but she couldn't eat yet. She sighed as she waited for the pack to come.

Nike, Mari, Rain, and Thunder arrived shortly. Faedon had already taken her seat beside the first caribou's abdomen, and Aki was beside her. Senkah and Hades took their usual spots, and began eating. Faedon licked her chops, and dug in. The blood stained her muzzle as red as her fur.

After about six bites, Faedon suddenly felt queasy. She blinked, and forced herself to take another bite; however, that only made it worse. Frowning, she backed up a bit from the caribou, forcing herself to look away. Just looking at it only made her queasiness worse. Aki looked over at her, noticing that she was rejecting her food. He frowned, and nudged her gently. "What's wrong?"

Faedon bit her lip. "I don't know... I just felt queasy all of the sudden."

Aki looked at her quizzically. He was about to say something, when a sudden, frantic howl split the air. Aki and Faedon's ears shot up. "What was that?!" Faedon barked.

"That was Sierra!" Nike cried, shooting to his paws and racing away. Faedon glanced at Aki urgently, who leaped to his own paws and sprinted after Nike. Biting her lip, Faedon went after them, too, briefly forgetting her nausea. Whatever had happened to Sierra, it wasn't good.

They came to the river. Faedon skidded to a stop behind Nike and Aki, sending up a sheet of snow. She nearly tripped as she struggled to avoid crashing into Aki from behind. What she saw made her heart fall to her paws.

Sierra was on the bank of the river, quivering violently. Her snow white pelt, which would have blended in with the snow around her if she wasn't on pebbles, was soaked to the bone. Ribbons of blood trickled down from her head, staining her white fur crimson. Faedon thought she saw a flash of brown fur beside Sierra, and she leaped forward.

A brown he-wolf lay beside Sierra. He was just as soaked as she was, and he was quivering. Faedon curled her lips up in a snarl when she smelled him.

Darkpack..! WEST?!

"What are you doing here?!" she shrieked, taking West by his scruff. She shook him like a piece of prey. "You pushed her in, didn't you?!" West didn't even have time to reply as Faedon flung him into a tree. West sucked in a gasp upon impact, and he crumpled to the ground.

"Faedon... no!" Sierra wheezed. She coughed up a mouthful of water, making a nasty choking sound as she did so. "He saved me!"

Faedon blinked in confusion. "He what? Why would a wolf from the pack who is our sworn enemy save one of us?"

"That's not important!" Thunder barked, racing forward with Rain. They must have arrived shortly after Faedon, Nike, and Aki had. "We need to get her back to the densite!" With Rain's help, they hurriedly hoisted Sierra onto his back. Nike made sure Sierra stayed on as they raced back as quickly as they could without having her fall.

"What will we do with him?" Aki growled, resting his eyes upon West accusingly.

Faedon's fur bristled at West. Had he saved Sierra, or had he pushed her in, and fallen in while trying to do so? But why would Sierra lie? Faedon growled; this had turned into such a big mess so fast. "My mother and father will judge him," Faedon declared, grasping West's scruff in her jaws. Aki nodded, and ran back with Faedon to the densite.

"WHAT is going on?!" Senkah barked as the huge group of wolves rushed in. Faedon gave West to Aki, and ran over to her mother.

"It's Sierra," Faedon gasped, out of breath. "S-she fell in the river. She must have hit her head on a rock or something. And there was a Darkpack wolf there. I don't know if he pushed her in or not, but Sierra says that he saved her."

Senkah's eyes narrowed to fiery blue slits. "Is that him?" she growled, her gaze resting upon the unconscious, but stirring form of West. Even though he'd fallen in the drink, he still reeked of Darkpack, and Senkah didn't like it one bit.

"Yes. Aki and I thought you'd want to judge him," Faedon replied, her sides still heaving from running so hard and fast over such a large distance.

"Put him in our den," Hades growled, stalking over to Senkah's side. "When Sierra wakes up, she can give us the full story. This will not be the Cedar incident all over again." Aki's ears noticably fell at the mention of Cedar. Faedon felt a wave of sympathy for him; even though he loved Faedon the most, she knew that he still, and probably always would love Cedar. She watched him as he dragged West to the alpha's den.

Hades turned, and padded inside his den. Senkah started to follow him, but turned around to face Faedon and Aki in mid-step. "Come with us," she ordered, and padded in after Hades. Faedon nodded, and trotted in, with Aki on her heels.

West was awake now. His sides heaved, and his eyes were clouded. He looked up at the four wolves as they came in, and curled his lip ever so slightly, but he was so weak it wasn't threatening. "What do you want?" he choked out, trying to stumble to his paws, but falling awkwardly with a grunt.

"I want to know a few things." Senkah's eyes, which were like chips of blue ice, bore into West's. "First off, I want to know the full story of what happened."

"And we want the truth," Hades added with a growl, his brown fur rising a bit. "If you think lying will get you out of this, you are dead wrong."

West reluctantly nodded. "I... I was hunting in the loner lands," he began hesitantly, "and I started to come by the river to get a drink. That's when I heard Sierra cry out, and fall in. I knew she was from Stonepack... but I felt compelled to save her. I-I jumped in, and I saw her hit her head on a rock. I managed to swim over to her before she got swept away, and I dragged her to the bank. I don't remember anything after that, except getting thrown into a tree."

Senkah nodded sternly. "Alright then." She rose to her paws. "We're going to hear Sierra's side of the story now. Let's hope that your story matches up with what she has to say... Because if it doesn't, the last few minutes of your life will be... very unpleasant." She trotted out of the den, with Hades on her heels. Faedon glanced at West, before following her parents.

The four wolves padded over to the den that Nike, Mari, Thunder, and Rain were crowded around. "How is she?" Hades' voice was terse as he looked at Nike.

Nike bit his lip, his gaze clouded with worry. "She's awake... but she says that she can't see anything. I'm... I'm scared that she's blind." Faedon's ears shot up in alarm.

"We need to talk to her." The tone of Senkah's voice clearly told Sierra's family, Question me and you die.

Nike looked hesitant, but finally murmured, "Okay." He stepped out of the way, allowing them in. Faedon padded in after Senkah and Hades, her ears twitching nervously.

"Sierra." Hades nodded to the injured she-wolf, sitting down inside the den. Thunder and Rain sat by the walls of the den, watching Sierra painfully.

"Please don't hurt West!" she begged Hades, "It wasn't his fault! He-"

"We're not here to listen to you begging us to not hurt West, Sierra," Senkah cut in a bit sharply. "We want the full story of what happened. Not excuses for anything West did or didn't do, the completely true, unaltered story. If you fabricate the story in just the slightest, you could be letting another spy into our pack, and as a result, wolves could die. And it will be your fault."

Sierra studied her paws. "Okay," she said quietly. "I went down to the river to get a drink. It was completely frozen over, so I tried to use my paw to break it. I slipped on the ice on the bank, and I fell in. I cried out for help, and I remember hitting a rock. I saw someone coming to save me... It was West. He grabbed me, and brought me to the bank. That's when Aki, Faedon, and Nike came."

Faedon blinked in surprise. So West hadn't been lying! She looked to her mother, who nodded at Sierra. "I see."

"You-you aren't going to hurt him, are you?" Sierra whimpered.

"No, we won't. What you just said confirms what West said as true," Hades said. Relief coursed through Sierra, and she breathed a deep sigh of relief. Hades, Senkah, and Aki left, but Faedon stayed.

"Faedon?" Sierra blinked up at her.

"Sierra," Faedon murmured gently, "...Can you see?"

Sierra bit her lip, and her ears drooped. "...No," she whimpered so softly that Faedon had to strain to hear. "I'm... I'm blind."

Faedon felt her heart sinking like a stone. She gave Sierra a sympathetic lick on the ear. "Maybe it's just water," she suggested quietly, but deep down, she knew that it was unlikely that Sierra would see again. Her mother had told her that some wolves who hit their heads particularly hard sometimes lost their ability to see. Why was a mystery to the wolves that they would probably never figure out.

"I'm here if you need me," Faedon murmured to Sierra softly.

"Thank you, Faedon," Sierra choked out as she laid her head down on her paws. Her sightless eyes stared off into space, and that was when Faedon knew... Sierra wouldn't be able to see the beauty of Stonepack's mountains again, or the break of dawn, or the light of day just one last time. No, Sierra would never see again.

Faedon's tail drooped half-heartedly as she walked out. Times were growing tougher by the day, and the future looked grim. Stonepack would need to be strong to survive these next few moons... when their strength and loyalty would be tested most.

 

[OwlLover]

This is kind of how I picture Stonepack's land right now:

 

[Darkangael]

Lovely story more please.