Wolf Warrior

Seventeen

I didn't know that I could get so emotional about an animal, but I did. Brindlemark had been a true, loyal, helpful friend who was also a very brave warrior. If he hadn't protected me on that day when I entered the forest, a unicorn would've killed me. Then I saw Moonlightgrowl behind me. It was at that point that I remembered Brindlemark had been 2nd-in-command. Oh no, I thought. I hope Growler isn't here to tell me I'm taking Brindlemark's place. I could never take on such responsibility. Growler whined softly and I turned around, brushing away tears from my eyes. To my surprise I also saw 3 other animals next to me, beside Brindlemark, who'd also turned around.
"I am deeply sorry for your loss." Growler told the 3 others and me. "It is time to bury Brindlemark now, for it is nearing twilight."
The 3 other animals understood and stepped back. Twigging this was important, I did so too. Moonlightgrowl grasped Brindlemark's body by the scruff of his neck and pulled him up the sloped path, with the rest of us following. We travelled in a procession with Growler leading us through the cool afternoon forest. Before I knew it, we were far away from the camp. Soon, it was evening and we arrived at a hilltop place. Growler put Brindlemark's body down, then announced,
"Welcome to the place of memories. Brindlemark will be buried here and his legacy will forever be remembered."
I looked around the place. It was twilight now and the sky was full of pink and orange colours, like candyfloss. The sunset light tinted the place in a rose-colour light. There were trees behind us but there were few trees in this clearing. Maybe the occasional silver birch, but no other trees. There were plenty of mounds of earth, with flowers on top of each one. Beside me, I took a good look at the 3 animals accompanying me. 1 was Franky the ferret, wanting to pay respect to the former 2nd-in-command, 1 was growler, who I obviously already knew and the 3rd animal was a she-wolf. She had granite-grey fur and on her muzzle, there was a brown,brindle patch leading up to her topaz-yellow eyes.
"I'm Brindlemarks sister." She explained when she saw me looking.
Next, Growler began to dig into the ground, so we all helped to dig the grave. I couldn't really dig with my hands or feet, but I tried to nontheless. Once the hole was deep enough, we all placed Brindlemark in it before covering up the hole again. With the hole covered up, we all went away to find something to place on the grave. The others came back with flowers in nice colourful colours but I came back with a pine cone. Everyone was confused when I put the pine cone on Brindlemarks grave.
"Why are putting that on his grave?" They all asked me.
"The first time I met Brindlemark, he was next to a pine tree." I answered truthfully.
After I'd said that, they all asked me to tell them what happened when I first met him. So I did, and we all found it very enjoyable to hear this story. When I ended my tale, Brindlemark's sister told me,
"Yep, that'd be Brindlemark - completely unbothered when attacking a unicorn to save a human, but minding a lot when you don't call him by his name!"
We all chuckled lightly at this remark. The funny thing is, this event should've been the worst thing that had happened to me that day, but telling that story was like celebrating Brindlemark's life and somehow eased the pain of losing him a little. After I'd put the pine cone on the grave, Growler went behind a nearby rock and returned, wagging his tail proudly. He opened his jaws and a beautiful, colourful gem fell onto the grave. "This stone gem is what makes this forest magic. It is only placed on graves of animals who've been very important to the team or who've done brave things in their lives."
The stone was a grey rock with a gem that shone with greens and blues and purples that seemed to pulsate with magic. It was a wonderful gem, and a wolf as wonderful as Brindlemark deserved one. Next to the grave, we all bowed our heads and were silent in respect, but this time I shed no tears. Brindlemark had been a wonderful friend and 2nd-in-command and I knew he'd want me to keep being brave. After all, a Wolf Warrior was exactly that - brave, so why else would he call me that if I wasn't strong or brave? When the sky turned blue-black and the milky-white stars went on show, Growler told us we needed to leave before it went completely dark. Standing up, I whispered into the night,
"Goodbye Brindlemark. Thank you for being there for me." before we all stood up and left the place of memories.