WolfLore: Vocatio Papilionis

Chapter 3

The Night Walk Pack? I had never heard about it- well, I was never actually taught about other packs nearby, so I couldn't help but be confused. There appeared to be about three wolves in the group.

"You are trespassing on our land!" A dark grey wolf snarled, she seemed to be the one in the lead. "State your business here!"

"I- I'm Papilio, and this is Luna." I stuttered. "We didn't know we were in your territory." Luna and I pressed against each other.

The dark grey female snarled, but a smaller brown female soothed her.

"Calm down, Solis! Can't you see they're not much younger than I am," She turned to us. "Hello, Luna and Papilio. I'm Deer, and this here is my mother, Solis and my aunt, Swift." She nodded first towards the lead wolf and then to a lithe pale brown female.

"Please excuse Solis," Swift said. "She's in a rather foul mood today."

"We aren't meant to welcome trespassers, Swift!" Solis argued.

"Oh, come on, like Deer said, they're younger than her!"

"Grrr- fine!" Solis snarled. "They can come into camp, and Tune can decide what to do with them. But you two had better not put a paw out of line on the way there!"

"Uh- we won't?" Luna replied, seemingly unsure of what to say in return.

We walked to their camp, dodging rocks, and the occasional tree. How could someone survive without the cover of trees?

"Deer," I started. "We're from the forest and I just have to ask, how do you guys survive out in the open like this?"

I got worried when she turned around quickly, almost like she was offended, but when she smiled warmly at me, I felt a sensation of relief.

"Oh, I suppose the forest does have a few more trees than we do!" Deer giggled at her own joke. "We've all grown up on the plains. When we all start training, we are trained to hide in the long grass, and take advantage of any trees, bushes, or water sources."

"Oh! Ok."

"In the forest we're trained to hide in bushes and how to be wary of sticks that we might step on and scare prey away." Luna responded.

"In the forest?" Deer asked.

"Yes? We said that-"

"Isn't there a pack in the forest? Mother's brother used to always talk about how good it would be to lead! How did you avoid the pack, then?"

"Huh?"

Wait- Solis's brother talked about us?

"Oh- I- I thought you were travellers!" She squeaked, sounding embarrassed.

"No, no!" I giggled at the thought. "Well, I guess we are now- We were born in the Dawn Howl pack- that's the pack in the forest- but when Oak took over, he made a rule that we weren't allowed out of the camp until we were 12 moon cycles old. So, Luna and I may have snuck out. We thought that, since we are only 11 moon cycles old, and we started training to be hunters, we would be OK. Then Oak found out, and we were exiled."

"He what!" Deer exclaimed. "Oak exiled you! For going out of camp when according to Wolf Lore, you are old enough to leave by yourself?!"

"Did you say- Oak?" Swift asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Um- yes" Luna said, confused, as was I at the time.

Swift and Solis gave each other and unreadable look. I glanced at Deer, wondering if she knew what it was all about, but she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

Why do Solis and Swift appear to know Oak?

We walked until the sun was midway in the sky. Wow, I thought, they sure have a big territory!

"Here we are!" Deer announced cheerfully.

Luna gave me a confused glance; I returned the favour with a shrug. All we could see was a mass of giant trees, bushes, and scrubland.

"Um- Swift, where's the camp? I can only see a whole lot of bushes." I asked.

Deer giggled, Swift smiled and, of course, Solis gave a subtle snarl.

"Right," Swift answered, "Here!"

"Um- that's just a tunnel under the bushes?" Luna looked like she'd just managed to catch a bird and then it disappeared just as she went to eat it.

"No- just follow us!"

We followed them down into the tunnel, always two paw steps behind the lithe wolves. As we encroached nearer to the end of the tunnel, I started losing the scent of dirt and dust, and started to smell the glorious smell of fresh air.

We emerged from the tunnel into an absolutely gorgeous grove, shielded by the trees' dense canopies. On one side lay an old, fallen log, with moss growing from one end to the other, on another side, a massive boulder with cracks as old as the Starry Skies Pack. In the centre, a crystal-clear pond looked so out of place in the green and grey wonderland that it almost seemed to belong. And, of course, wolves were sunbathing on the branches, pups were playing in the pool, and on top of the boulder, a stunning grey wolf was perched.

That must be the alpha. I concluded.

"Wow," Luna whispered in my ear. "Imagine growing up in a place like this! I would never want to leave!"

"Welcome to our home!" Deer called. "Shall I take them to Tune?" She asked Solis and Swift.

They nodded their heads in agreement. "Yes, you do that, I can't wait to relax in the pond after that fiasco!" Solis announced.

"Come with me." Deer beckoned. We followed her as she requested, we stopped when we reached the grey wolf on the boulder. That must be Tune.

"Father, we found these pups on the edge of our territory, they said that they were exiled from their own pack for unjust reasons."

"Hm," Tune pondered. "Very well, thank you, Deer. You go and find something to eat, and I'll have a chat to these newcomers."

I expected Tune to be hostile or at least a little bit defensive towards us, after all, we were in his territory, trespassing. Or maybe after7 moon cycles with Oak as an alpha (and a horrible one, at that), I expected all alphas to be quick to defend.

"Now- I'm curious, what exactly were you exiled for?" Tune asked.

"Well, our alpha, Oak," Luna answered, but stopped for a second when Tune's eyes widened at the mention of Oak. "Well, he made a rule that we weren't allowed out of camp until we were 12 moon cycles, and we kind of went out by ourselves."

"Did you say Oak?" Tune asked, his eyes wide with realisation.

"Yeeeeees?" I said. "Why, what makes you so interested in Oak?"

And why do you all seem to know him.

At that moment Solis climbed up on the rock, sadness in her gaze.

"Oak was my brother." She said, quickly with sorrow.

WHAT!?