A Wolf's Call (complete)

Chapter 9

The moonlight filtered into my den.

 It was a warm evening, one that meant I didn’t have to share my fellow wolves heat. I stood slowly and stretched silently. Looking over my sleeping denmates I sighed. I felt happy.

I crept slowly out of the den making sure not to wake any of the pack. Outside Moon looked down at me. I thought of how we wolves loved to speak to Moon when we are scared or unsure. But I did not howl to Moon, because I did not need to. I padded slowly away from the den to the small stream of water that liked to quench my thirst. I lapped it up slowly and watched as Moon looked at me from both Sky and Water.

I sat at Water’s edge. I closed my eyes and felt the breeze wander through my fur. I flexed my paws and smelt the air. But something was wrong. The air didn’t smell fresh like it did when Wind came by. I opened my eyes and spotted that Water seemed angry, it moved fast and viciously, like a buck protecting its deer, wolves favourite prey. But the water seemed red, like preys or wounded denmates blood. I saw that it was not Water that was injured but instead that it was in fact Moon. Looking to the sky I saw that Moon had turned a dark red. A red that no animal wants. I could see my paws lighted by the red and saw that everything around me was either red or Shadow.

I could feel my heart pound in my chest as panic gripped me. Why was Water and Moon acting so strange? Why did Wind smell so weird? Then I heard the beats of the skybeast. I heard a sound that reminded me of something that seemed hidden now. I heard the skybeast approach but from below and from Shadow’s dark depth I could seem pairs of red glinting eyes. I feared these eyes. The eyes grew ever closer and larger to me as the creatures that bore them drew nearer and nearer to me.

Then a large black paw swooped down on me. It met my jaw and made me fall over. Above me stood a large fearsome bear. Its red eyes gleaming down at me as it moved towards my den. I could not let it hurt my family so I called as loud as I could and I rushed to beat it to the den. But no matter how hard I called my denmates didn’t hear me. They didn’t wake and lay still as they slept.

‘Bear!’ I howled to them, nipping them gently to try and wake them, but still they would not stir.

The bear had entered the cave now and brought its heavy paws down onto my denmates, splattering Moon’s red to the walls.

‘NO!’ I howled as I flung myself onto its back, sinking my teeth into its skin.

But my attack didn’t faze the bear and it just shook me from its back, flinging me into the walls. My head hit the rocks painfully and I could feel blood trickle through my fur. Bear continued to attack the sleeping wolves. And my denmates continued to sleep. I jumped at bear grabbing its paw before it could bring it for the kill. It looked into my eyes with the blood eyes it wore and I could feel it grip my heart with fear. Then it flung me towards the back of the cave, where the pups slept, and where it was going. It seemed only interested in getting to the pups. Its red eyes glinted in the darkness and I could almost hear them call for blood. I stood in front of the pups and growled a warning for the bear to leave. But it didn’t listen to me and as it approached it roared its bloodcurdling roar.

I was scared, but I knew to protect the pups with everything I had. Bear was now in front of me, and raising its paw to strike. Then something strange happened and Bear seemed to shrink slightly and loose its fur. Its eyes stayed red but it looked at me as though I was just its dog. It looked at me with a fox’s glare, a glare that meant it had no reason to hate or to trick, but did anyway. It looked at me and its snoutless face twisted. I knew what it was. I knew why I should fear it. Its mouth opened and formed one word.