Part 1

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Chapter 1

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All was quiet in the great forest to the wandering deer. He stumbled along, ignoring the dull throbbing pain in his crippled leg. He had been separated from his herd in a rockslide, where a boulder had landed on the leg. But summer was coming, and he was unworried as to the likes of predators that could pick him out by the scent of blood and infection.

The delicate shoots of grass that had shot up during spring after winter thaw were just beginning to mature. He bent his neck to nibble at the tender shoots, but straightened as he heard a slight disturbance in the brush around him. He pricked his ears and raised his muzzle to the air, but the wolves had burst out of the trees before he could even scent their presence. There were three males and one female; the largest of the males took the lead as the buck took flight, and leapt for it’s shoulder, while the smallest male let out a burst of speed and fastened his jaws around the deer’s tender muzzle, his bushy brown tail just skimming the forest floor.

The distraught buck swung his neck from side to side, desperate for air and fighting to loosen the young wolf’s death grip on his snout. The second largest male and the female had circled around him now, and they fastened their steel jaws into the buck’s side, bringing him to a slow halt. His legs were weary from running and from the immense weight of the four wolves that were attached to him. His injured leg shook as sharp throbs pulsed through it, and he couldn’t breath; his muzzle was dripping foam and blood. He dropped to his side as the pain began to fade away, not even feeling the razor teeth beginning to rip his flesh away from bone. He sighed deeply and suddenly he was nothing.

“Great catch, Rowan!” said the largest of the four wolves as he shouldered the smallest. “You can eat first.” The young wolf pranced on his too-large paws; he was not yet matured to his full size.

“Thank you father!” he replied happily, trotting forward to tear into the dead deer’s haunch. The largest wolf, Frah, as he was called, turned to his mate, Akita. He was lean and tall, with a brown coat, and a white spot covering one eye. He had a star on his chest and a white hind leg. He was clearly an alpha.

“Our son is a great hunter,” Akita said to him, her blue eyes gleaming as she settled down to watch the young one eat.

“Your son is an alpha,” said Mekko, the wolf who hadn’t yet spoken. He was a large gray wolf with a bushy red tail. He watched Rowan proudly, for he was Akita’s brother, making the young wolf his nephew.

“Thank you,” said Akita warmly, standing to shake the dust off of her gray coat. Rowan had finished eating, and she and Frah moved forward to take their share of the kill. Mekko waited calmly, and then he joined the feast at Frah’s side.

After the four wolves had eaten their fill, the carried the rest of the meat back to their camp. The two wolves who had remained at camp came forward to meet them, wagging their tails and bumping their noses against the hunter’s throats, excited that such a large kill had been brought back.

“Thank Rowan for the food,” said Frah indulgently. “He was the one who killed the deer.” Rowan’s sister, Trekka, wagged her bushy gray tail.

“Good catch!” she praised as her brother touched his nose to hers. Trekka was a small wolf, a pretty storm-colored gray. She had inherited her mother’s blue eyes. Rowan resembled his father more than her; he was a sandy brown, with strange lighter colored dappled legs, and a white star on his chest.

The hunters sat back to let the remaining two wolves eat. There was Trekka, and a loner who had joined the pack four years back, Shino, an old black wolf with a white belly.

When they had all eaten until they were full, they buried the leftover meat and settled down to nap. They had been resting quietly for about a half hour when suddenly Trekka sat up, her ears pricked and her nose twitching.

“What is it?” Frah asked anxiously. He feared it would be a bear, hungry and grumpy from it’s long hibernation. “Is it a bear?” Trekka was silent for some time.

“No,” she said finally, and the pack breathed a sigh of relief. She blinked her eyes and gazed towards her father. “It’s another pack, traveling through our territory.” Frah felt Mekko’s fur bristle next to him.

“Calm down, I’m sure they mean us no harm.” He reassured his beta. “Let’s go and see what they mean.” Naturally, the whole pack followed the alpha and beta out into the woods, curious for a glance at the strange wolves. Trekka walked beside Frah, for she had the most sensitive nose in the pack and could easily scent the new wolves out.

“They’re just beyond those trees,” Trekka said, stopping and twitching her tail nervously. Frah ran his tail along her back in thanks as he led the pack forward through the trees. He could scent the strange wolves now for himself, though he didn’t yet see them.

“Hello?” he called. “You are here on our territory, but we mean you no harm. Please come out so we can talk to each other!” There was a silence after his words, and then a rustling in the trees as a small pack of wolves exposed themselves to Frah. The alpha, a big white wolf, stood in front of his pack and stared at Frah challengingly. He obviously wanted to show that his pack was strong, even if they had been traveling for days.

“Peace,” said Frah. “My name is Frah, and I’m the alpha of this pack. What is your name and why have you come here?” “My name is Karr,” said the white wolf. “My pack is just passing through. We are searching for a new territory far from this place, and we’ve been traveling for many days.” Frah glanced back at his pack, who all looked sleek and well-fed, and then to Karr’s pack, who were thin and tired.

“Why don’t you come back to our camp so we can talk more,” he offered. “We have half a deer left over that we have no need for.” Karr nodded to his pack, and the five or so wolves behind him followed Frah and his pack back to the camp. The hungry wolves fell on the meat instantly, all hierarchy forgotten as they tore at the haunch, their hungry bellies full at last.

When they had eaten, they settled down to mingle with Frah’s pack. It was all very formal, as neither pack wished to accidentally slip a weakness or a secret to the other. Frah noticed that Rowan had made a good friend with a wolf of the other pack, a pretty black female who seemed to be the youngest. He could see them talking much less formally then the rest of the mingling wolves in the clearing. Frah hoped his young son would not let slip anything he shouldn’t to the she-wolf.

After much polite discussion of the movement of deer through the countryside, the two packs slept quietly through the night on either side of the clearing.

The next morning, Frah’s pack escorted Karr’s to the far side of their territory, where they said their goodbyes.

“Thank you for the food and a place to sleep,” said Karr, bowing his head to Frah. “You’ve been very kind to us.” Frah dipped his head politely.

“It was no problem,” he replied. “We wolves are always glad to lend a hand to a new friend.” As Karr turned to lead his pack away, he stopped to turn back once more.

“It would be best for your pack to leave the country as well, for a great change is coming soon.” he said solemnly, a haunted look coming to his face now.

“What do you mean?” questioned Frah, who was thoroughly confused by these words.

“It’s dangerous to speak of it here, when their could be spies around. Besides, you’ll find out, I believe, if you don’t leave soon,” replied Karr, and he raced after his pack.

“Good luck, and I hope to meet again!” called Frah as they went. Then, in a lower voice he added, “What a strange pack. I wonder what their leader was talking about?” Indeed, Karr’s words had brought a chill down his spine for an unknown reason. What faceless terror had Karr seen that would lead him to drive his pack so far from their territory?

“They were scared,” said a small voice behind him. Frah pricked his ears and turned around. Trekka wore a curious expression on her face as she stared after the running wolves.

“How do you know?” asked Akita. “Could you smell the fear on them?”

“No-I could feel it…see it in their eyes,” Trekka explained. “Whatever it was they were afraid of they did a good job hiding, but for some reason I could sense it.”

“She’s right,” said Rowan. “They were afraid. And I think I know why.”

“What?” asked Frah, rounding on his son. “You know something that you haven’t told us?”

“I couldn’t have told you while they were still here,” retorted Rowan, raising his tail in defiance. “Besides, Sascha, the black female, I don’t think she was supposed to tell me.”

“Well it’s obvious that we’ll need to know now, secret as it is or not,” snapped Mekko. “Now do tell.”

“I can’t,” replied Rowan nervously, slinking low to the ground under the beta’s piercing stare. “At least-not here. As Karr said, there could be spies all around.”

When the whole pack was nestled inside of the large den, Rowan began his story.

“Sascha told me that a couple of months ago, a strange pack of wolves entered the country. It was the largest pack anyone had ever seen, and it was led by a huge gray wolf called Faldorn,” began Rowan. “He started forcing the local packs to join his, killing anyone who struggled or refused. He doesn’t have a reason that we know of, he’s just power-hungry and evil. Anyway, he’s building up a huge pack, and one day, about three weeks ago, a scouting party of twenty wolves entered Karr’s territory and demanded that they join Faldorn’s pack. Twenty wolves! Can you imagine? And that was just a scouting party! They attacked them and told them that they would come back in a week or so to check if they were still there. After the scouts left, that’s when Sascha said they fled. But Karr reckons the scouts are after them still.”

“Then they’ve led them to us!” snarled Frah, jumping to his feet as his heart threatened to burst from his chest.

“Maybe,” Rowan went on solemnly. “That’s why Karr wouldn’t tell us anything when they left. He thinks that if the scouts had heard him warn us, they would kill us to make sure we don’t warn somebody else.”

“So what should we do?” asked Akita. Frah settled down again, and crossed his front paws as he pondered Rowan’s words.

“We have no reason to panic yet,” he reassured his pack, but also himself. He too, was trembling like he was plunged into the heart of winter. “We’ll all stay close to camp and send two scouts out every day to follow the borders. You must not-” he paused. “Use scent markers. If strange wolves do come here, we want them to think that nobody lives here.”

“What happens if they do come here?” asked Shino timidly. Frah bared his fangs.

“Then we’ll have to leave,” he replied.

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Chapter 2
 

Frah stretched out his sore limbs before lying down beside his mate. It had been three days since Karr’s pack had left. Everything seemed to be calm in the forest, and Frah had begun to let the patrol go lazy once again. Today Mekko and Trekka were scouting to the west, in the direction Karr had gone.

The big brown wolf lay his head on Akita’s shoulder, watching her black-tipped ears swivel back and forth as she listened to the noises in the forest around the clearing. Suddenly, her ears tipped forward and she sat up, forcing Frah to sit as well. He heard the paw steps of approaching wolves racing through the trees, and then Trekka and Mekko burst into the clearing. Instantly, Frah knew something was wrong. Mekko was panting heavily, and his eyes were rolling blindly in their sockets with terror. Trekka, though calm and collected she usually was, was pacing nervously, her muzzle twitching in anxiety. Both of them seemed to be struggling to talk, but they couldn’t seem to remember how.

“What is it?” prompted Frah, who felt his neck fur bristle at the sight of them. “What have you seen?” Trekka’s tail slid between her legs, and then she wailed,

“Karr’s pack! They’re still in the forest! They’ve been murdered!”

“What?” barked Frah, standing suddenly and jumping forward to support his daughter, who’s legs had given away.

“So much blood…” she gasped, before slumping against her father’s shoulder.

“What’s going on?” asked Rowan, who was returning from a hunt with a rabbit clamped in his jaws.

“Karr’s pack is dead,” Frah told him.

“What?” Rowan wailed, his eyes bulging. “No!” He abandoned his kill and streaked through the trees. Frah and Mekko immediately raced after him. The brown alpha’s mind was spinning out of control; Faldorn’s scouts must have caught up with Karr at last, and that would mean they were now on his territory.

“Oh god,” thought Frah, closing his eyes momentarily as he ran. “Please don’t let them find my pack.”

As they passed the marker that signified the edge of Frah’s territory, the stench of wolf blood that hung in the air grew dense like a mist, and the alpha felt bile rise in his throat. They had passed into a clearing and were now surrounded by the bodies of wolves, littered through the grass and broken. All still had defiant snarls left on their faces, their eyes, though now glazed and milky with death, still gleaming with a fighting spirit. Blood covered their once neat coats; all of their throats had been ripped out. As Frah watched, a fly crawled across Karr’s mate’s once beautiful face and settled on her staring green eye. Frah turned away in disgust.

Rowan had thrown himself at each of the dead wolves in turn, inspecting them closely, sniffing their matted pelts. He turned to Frah, a glimmer of hope in his golden eyes, and said,

“Sascha isn’t here!” Frah remembered the small black female that Rowan had taken a liking to, and felt happy for his son.

“Let’s try to see if she’s still around here,” said Frah hopefully, glad to get away from this death ground.

The three wolves circled the territory once more, calling out to stray wolves, but no answer came. They had just returned to the murder scene when suddenly, they heard a rustling in the bushes.

“Sascha?” called Rowan hopefully, and he bounded forward to find the source of the noise. At that moment, a huge black wolf leapt from the bushes and pinned Rowan down with a heavy snarl. Rowan squealed as the wind was knocked out of him, but struggle as he did, his attacker would not let him up.

Frah snarled in rage and leapt forward to fight the black wolf off his son, but another wolf blocked his path and knocked him aside.

“Get out of our territory!” snarled Mekko, but four more huge wolves had intercepted the pack mates, making it impossible for them to reach one another.

“Your struggles will only make it harder for you,” said the tallest wolf, the gray one who had knocked over Frah. “It’s six against three, and you are weak.”

“What do you want with my pack?” growled Frah, who’s fur was bristling along his spine. Never had he felt so angry in his life.

“We come with a message from Faldorn’s pack up north,” spoke the black wolf who had attacked Rowan. “Your pack is to join with his to form a greater pack with all the wolves in the country. We will have no weakness!”

“And be forced into submission by some ugly dumbass who would gladly kill a family for power? I think not!” seethed Frah, and he spat at the black wolf’s feet. The black wolf lunged forward, snarling, his mouth open to clamp angrily around Frah’s neck, but two of the others held him back.

“Calm down Butch,” one whispered in his ear. “We aren’t supposed to kill unless it’s necessary.” The black wolf’s eyes flickered momentarily toward the speaker, but settled back on Frah. The two males glared challengingly at each other, Frah lifting his chin defiantly to show that he hadn’t been beaten. Butch’s eyes narrowed.

“You haven’t seen the last of me,” he hissed. “Mark my words.”

“Consider them marked,” answered Frah, lifting his muzzle in challenge. The black wolf growled and turned to race away with the rest of the scouting group, but called over his shoulder,

“We’ll be back in four days time to collect you. And don’t even think about running away! We’ll hunt you down just like we hunted down your sorry little friends!” And they disappeared into the trees.

Rowan stumbled to his feet, a look of defeat on his handsome face. He had a small wound on his shoulder from where Butch had held him down, and it was trickling blood across his sandy fur. He stared over at Frah.

“What do we do now father?” he asked in a hollow voice. Frah felt his throat close; for once he didn’t have an answer for his young son. He turned to Mekko, who looked blank and offered no suggestions.

“I don’t know,” Frah admitted, his tail hanging limp at his feet. Rowan limped past him, his ears drooping low on his head.

“We have to warn the pack,” he explained as he walked slowly into the forest. Frah trotted after him, and soon the three wolves were racing through the trees. Frah’s heart was full of dread as he thought about what he had to tell his pack. They could not leave, as they planned on doing before, because they now knew that they would be hunted down and slaughtered like deer. What could they do now besides go to Faldorn’s pack?

The exhausted wolves entered the clearing and halted, panting. Akita ran forward to smell Rowan’s wound, and then began to lick it clean. The sandy colored-wolf winced as his mother’s rough tongue rasped over the open bite.

“What happened?” asked Trekka, who had come out of the den with her mother.

“We were attacked,” breathed Mekko as he sat down to catch his breath. “Faldorn’s scouts found us at last.” Shino, who usually kept to himself, perked his ears from where he was dozing next to the den, and sat up.

“No!” howled Akita. “It can’t be true!”

“It is,” confirmed Frah, lowering his head. “They’re coming in five days to make sure that we’re going.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Trekka, her blue eyes wide with fear. “We can’t go with them.”

“Yes I know, Trekka, but what else can we do?” asked Frah. “There are to many of them to fight off, we’d be slaughtered like rabbits!” The pack fell silent. There seemed to be no escaping the fact that their pack would have to go. It would be the end of Frah’s leadership, as Faldorn would force him into submission, and then what? Frah could not bear to think.

“I think I may have an idea,” said Rowan suddenly, pricking his ears up.

“What? What is it?” Mekko and Akita asked together, both of their tail’s becoming stiff. Frah sat up straighter and stared at his son. What could he have possibly thought of that could save his pack from unavoidable destruction?

“Well,” began the young brown wolf anxiously, his head lowering sheepishly under the other’s stares. “When you said we didn’t have a large enough pack to fight them off, that’s when I had my idea. Why couldn’t we build a pack bigger than Faldorn’s? We could fight them off easily then.” Frah cocked his head to the side, thinking hard. While his son’s plan was a good one, he could still spot some fatal flaws.

“All the other packs have already joined with Faldorn,” he spoke up. “And those who haven’t are too far away to have anything to fear. Why would they let their own wolves fight for a cause that means no danger to them?”

Rowan fell silent, staring down at his paws in frustration. Suddenly, Trekka spoke up.

“We’ll gather them from inside the pack!” she breathed. Rowan jumped to his feet.

“Trekka, you’re a genius!” he yelped, his tongue lolling out of his open mouth.

“I still don’t understand,” said Akita, who looked utterly confused.

“Nor do I,” said Frah. He stared at his son and daughter expectantly. Rowan began to plan.

“We’ll go willingly to Faldorn’s pack-just wait!” he snapped at Mekko, who had opened his mouth to protest. “While we’re there, we’ll start talking to other wolves about leaving. After some time, we’ll gather a real fighting force! We’ll escape during the night, and any wolf that follows will have to deal with our new super pack!” Frah considered the plan; he couldn’t see any problems but one.

“What will happen if word gets out before we leave?” he asked.

“Then we’ll have to fight them there and hope the others come to our aid,” said Trekka solemnly. Frah gazed upwards at the darkening sky through the trees. Although it was a rough sketch of a plan, he had to admit it could work. The alpha raised his proud head, gazing at everyone in turn.

“Alright,” he agreed, locking eyes with his son. “We’ll start out in two-days time.”

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