Wolves of Black Pine

The River and the Wolf

The River and the Wolf

KANE HELD his breath as water submerged his head, soaking his thick fur, clogging his ears. He snapped his muzzle shut, and kicked hard for the surface, powerful strokes of his hind legs propelling his head clear. Everything was muffled under the water, and he flinched at the cacophony of its rush over granite boulders once his ears were free.

*LUCA!* Kane called, hoping the cub could hear him, that he was old enough to respond. Most cubs could only hear and not reply to mind calls at his age, and he would have trouble finding the cub in the water without a link to his mind.

Kane swam, bracing himself with outstretched paws as he was hurtled towards partially submerged rocks and trees. He strained his neck high, and caught the barest glimpse of solid black a few yards downstream. The human. He was floating, going with the current, and Kane knew he was dead, the final slash across his throat insuring the human hadn't survived the plummet into the water. If the human was that close, then the cub may be as well.

He pushed himself harder, and rounded a sharp bend just as he heard the change in the river's roar. The water was rushing faster, its pull stronger, and there was a deafening rumble he could feel more than hear over the current around him. The waterfall.

Here the river narrowed, the rapids frothing white, and the strength of it was extreme. It was bitterly cold, even in summer, the runoff from mountain springs and year round snow melt, and he was thankful for his dense coat even as it sought to drag him under, soaked through to his skin.

Need to get out of the water, I can't do anything if I'm trying not to drown myself, he thought, and he lunged at the first opportunity, claws scrabbling for purchase on a water-worn tree. His legs churned and he stumbled momentarily, shaking the water from his long black fur. He was running before the droplets could land, streaming along the bank in a blur and eyeing the human's body as it bobbed in the current.

*LUCA!* Kane couldn't see the cub. He could only see the human, arms loose, legs floating heedlessly. There was no cub, and Kane's heart sank, the possibility of the youngster already having drowned a very likely occurrence. His last glimpse of the cub had been the human's fingers wrapped in the collar of his t-shirt when they fell, and Kane could only hope that death had maintained the grip on the cub.

The falls were yards away, a drop of 50 feet that descended into a deep pool before the mountains separated the river into tributaries before combining again miles downstream. If the cub was still in the water, he could be swept away in any direction. Kane put on more speed, and ran to the cusp of the falls, lunging out onto a boulder, his teeth sinking into the boot of the human corpse, and he yanked hard. His claws sank deep, flaking the rock under him, and he managed to keep the human from being dragged over the falls.

No! Kane's heart broke. The human had lost his grip on the cub. Luca was downstream... over the falls.

Kane dropped the body in disgust, and leapt from his perch over the falls, angled towards the bank. All four paws dug their claws deep into the nearly vertical shale cliff side, and he took the fastest route to the pool below without actually going over the falls in the water. He fell, claws ripping shale shards free from the earth, and he dug in just enough to narrowly avoid crashing into the rocks below. Kane let go a dozen feet above the boulders lining the deep basin at the foot of the falls, and twisted in the air like a cat, landing in a run on all fours. He raced to the water, eyes scanning, nose twitching, ears pricked, every sense on high alert, hoping to find some sign of the cub.

*Caius. Haven't found the cub yet. I'm not giving up.* He couldn't tell if he was still close enough for his Alpha to hear him, yet he felt a tiny mental nudge, with a hint of his packmate Burke sending an affirmation he'd heard. Burke would tell Caius.