[OLD] Inna

Chapter 7

I knew it was Cream by how shrill it was. A ginger-furred body, with slender black forelegs, and a bushy white-tipped tail had a grasp on my cub. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was dangerous. I ran after it, the weight of my cub slowing it down. "That's why you feed your cubs!" I yowled as it slowed down.

It dropped Cream, but I heard a howl again. I hissed, but it was coming from nowhere and everywhere. The ginger-furred creature made a sound that sounded like a laugh, picked up Cream, and ran off again.

"Come back here!" I spat as I was picking up speed toward the ginger-furred creature.

It dropped Cream, and swat at me with a slender black foreleg. I heard the howl again and looked behind me. Nothing was there. I looked back to attack the small ginger-furred creature, but it had disappeared. Cream had gone too. I blinked, and I saw a glimpse of a ginger coat. I kept blinking, and I saw the full ginger pelt of the creature. I pounced, but I landed on white snow. Behind me stood a wolf, with Cream in its mouth. It was the white-furred wolf from earlier! I cowered in fear above my cubs, but then I realized something. The wolf had no shadow! I hissed at him.

"Drop the cub!" I spat.

He growled at me and I shut my mouth. He ran off with Cream and I chased after him. I risked it and jumped. The large white-furred frame of the wolf flickered back to the small frame of the creature. I clamped my sharp fangs into its neck. Cream, Starfall, and Wish were watching from about 2 lynxes away. They were sitting by Sparki's cold body. As I clamped harder, I heard a crack, and the creature fell limp. I had remembered that my mother had taught me about these creatures. She called them foxes, after her brother, and my sister had been taken by one. After Sparki left us, I didn't need any more losses. After the fox had died and we ate it, I put the fox's skull in the brown sack. I went and found a good spot to dig a hole. After I dug the hole, I put Sparki's body in it. I covered it in snow and added some of my prettiest flowers. To top it off, I added a horn from the caribou skull and a couple of teeth from the fox. We slept there that night.

I woke up, yawning, and stretching my limbs. I nudged at Starfall and she slowly opened her eyes. I picked up a stick and wrote 'Sparki' in the snow. I heard a howl.

"Ugh, again?" I mewed.

The white-furred wolf padded toward me.

"What do you want now?" I spat.

He smiled. "I'm Opie."

I looked at him, first suspicious, now I smiled.

"Oh. Hi Opie. I made this." I pointed at where Sparki was buried.

His eyes grew big.

"Oh, yeah...We're sorry about that..."

I could tell he wasn't kidding. I smiled and told him what we were doing and where we were going. He told me his pack could come with us and protect us. I didn't hesitate. We need all the protection we can get. We headed on. Even the wolf pups came along. A familiar smell tickled my nose. I smelt a caribou!

"Come on! Caribou!"

Opie bowed his head.

"We...We can't catch caribou..."

I looked at him and smiled.

"I can!"

He shot a surprised look at me.

"Let's go, then!"

I stalked the caribou, making sure to not step on any sticks. I looked back at him, nodded, and kept stalking. I was so close to the caribou, it smelled so good...I clamped my jaws on its leg. It tried to run off, but my jaws had a good grip on it. Opie probably saw that I needed help because he threw himself on top of the caribou. "Thank you, Inna! Without you, we would have never caught the caribou!" he yipped in delight.

I gave everyone a bit of caribou. A pup named Song especially loved it. "Thank you, Inna!" she barked. "I really love this!"

I slept with the wolves that night, something that I've never thought I'd do.