The Wolf

Chapter 4 - The search of despair

The sounds of pawsteps woke Aquafur out of his deep slumber, Starfrost and Snowberry was not the den. Terror tore at his heart, were are they? "Starfrost? Snowberry? Are you there?"He said outloud interrupting Moondreams from her sleep too. "What is it?" She asked, shaking the dust out of her black fur. The soft wind ruffled Aquafur's fur, "It's Starfrost and Snowberry, they are not here, I tried callng for them but there's no answers." Moondreams leapt out of her den, sniffing for any trace of her cubs.

"They can't be gone, they never ran off for long, or can they?" Moondreams said desperately, pawing the ground in distress. "They...they can..." Aquafur growled softly, afraid that they have ran off for the secret he have been telling them about.

"I shouldn't have told them, they ran off for answers, but at least I know where they are going,"he whispered, regretting what he had done. "WHAT DID YOU TELL THEM?"Moondreams growled, anger raging in her."Well, I might have told them about the great battle..."Aquafur said, feeling guilty. "Don't speak to the alpha like that, he is just trying to teach his pups,"Sliverpaws said, sneaking on them. "THEY ARE MY PUPS TOO!" Moondreams snapped at her, unable to control herself. Moondreams let out a howl of despair, not knowing what to do.

"There is no point to be blaming others, lets go search for them."Aquafur demanded, comforting Moondreams by licking her ears. Aquafur divided his warriors into three search groups."Ashfire will come with me and Moondreams will go with Featherlight, Jadeclaw and Thunderlight,"he said, separating the individual steeds. Thunderlight raised a paw,"sorry alpha, I feel that I am too old for this search party, I will probably slow everyone down,"he protested, resting his old worn out paws. Aquafur nodded understandingly, "Anyone willing to replace Thunderlight's place?"He growled. "Me..."A female voice reverberated across the plains. A large sliver she-wolf walked forward. "Sliverpaws?"Aquafur scanned the plains below for any other risen paw, when he saw none, he continued,"Fine then, Sliverpaws with Jadeclaws."Sliverpaws smiled at her own victory.

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Moondreams led Featherlight towards the river, scanning the ground before her for any sign of movements. Featherlight trailed behind Moondreams padding as fast as she could to catch up. Moondreams suddenly caught a wift of Starfrost's familiar smell. It drifted into her sensitive nose and Moondreams stopped in her tracks. "I smell them, I just need to find where the smell is coming from,"she told Featherlight. Featherlight remembered, her mother used to teach her how to sense for wind direction to not get lost in the the woods. She stuck out her tongue, trying to taste the wind. She closed her eyes and felt for the wind movements.

"It's coming from north, I can feel it,"the old she-wolf reassured Moondreams. Moondreams stick her nose up in the air and felt a slight breeze from where Featherlight informed her of the breeze. "We feel with our tongue and smell with our nose, the tongue is one of the more sensitive parts of our body, it enable us to feel for wind easily,"explained the old she-wolf. Moondreams meerly nodded and ran in the direction of the breeze. Featherlight padded after her.

Once in awhile, Featherlight will stick out her tongue to feel for wind. Slowly, they advanced deeper and deeper in to the forest. "We are here,"Featherlight said, pawing the ground after what felt like forever. Moondreams looked around them, they are on a field full of bones and dried grass, dried blood stained the ground. "No, this is not a good sign," Moondreams whispered,"This is the plain of the dead, where the great battle ended." It sent shivers down her back when she said it. Featherlight let out a long howl, informing that they had found the cubs.

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Moondreams squinted, she saw a flash of blue and brown in the distance, and so she ran. Moondreams ran as fast as she could, her paws were a blur. When she finally reached them, she broke down in to tears. "WHY DID YOU COME HERE, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED HERE!"Starfrost looked guiltily at his paws, unsure of what to do. "I'm sorry mother..."Snowberry muttered, Starfrost nodded in apology too. "We just wanted to know the truth..."Starfrost continued for his sister and the last word of his sentence reveberated across the field of death, as if the dead heard him.