Sorrow ran with me like an unseen pack-sister, I shouldn't be unhappy. I was a young she-wolf starting off in a new pack, The Mountain Pack.
But I was miserable, I longed for my old pack.
I longed for my mother and her grooming nibbles in the morning to wake me up, her frequent yips to not wander to far from the den. The pain was almost too much to bare, and I refused to let myself think of my sister... Silver-Mist.
Many a time I have loped off to howl for them, even if I never got a reply. I would frequently run in circles wondering what to do. I was caught between the pull of the mountain and the pull of my old pack in the forest, many lights and darks away.
The other wolves - the wolves of my new pack - were puzzled.
'You have us now! And you're not yet full grown, you have much to learn! You don't know how to hunt the great prey, how would you survive on your own? Stay here with us!'
They were a strong, close pack, and there had been many a time when I had been happy on the Thunderers Mountain. We'd played uproarious games of hunt-the-lemming, we'd leapt into lakes to frighten the ducks.
But the other wolves did not understand. I was thinking of this as I raced to my favourite ridge to catch the scents wafting from the forest. The forest was many loped away, but with my keen nose which was sharper everyday I could catch most of the smells.
I caught the muzzle-watering scent of a newborn fawn, and the sharp smell of tree-blood oozing from a wind snapped pine. I flicked my ears to listen for any danger nearby, I couldn't sense any so I lapsed back into my trance of catching scents.
As I was listening to the forest I was overcome by such a pain as I'd never felt that I let out a whine of longing, I missed the forest. But how could I ever go back? It wasn't only the thought of leaving my new pack which stopped me, it was the Thunderer.
The Thunderer would never let me leave its mountain. I shook my head slightly and gave a small huff.
The Thunderer was all powerful, it could attack at any moment, even now, when the Up was bright and clear and there was no sign of the dark that covers the Up with its growling breath. It could flatten the forest in a single breath and send down blasts of the Bright-Beast-That-Bites-Hot to blast trees, rocks... Wolves.
As I stood on the ridge, sadness filled my chest so I held my muzzle up to the sky and howled. I howled till I was nearly out of breath pouring all my feelings out to anyone who heard me. That was when the new smell hit my nose, not hunter or predator, not tree or earth, this was bad.
Something smelling strongly of rot and death was blowing through the forest. I whimpered in anxiety, my mother and sister was down there in the badness, my ears flatten against my skull.
Suddenly everything was clear, the thunderer may come after me but I couldn't let that stop me any longer my pack, my family needed me. I turned from the ridge and leapt down making my way to the forest. Before I reached the safe lining of the trees I found my path blocked by the alpha female of my new pack. She looked at me with stern eyes, tail raised high to show her displeasure at me leaving, I whimpered slightly drooping my head and tail to apologise for leaving.
I leapt around her, she snarled furiously leaping at me snapping her teeth. She caught me on my side, I yelped in pain, but that was all, she didn't chase me after she'd bitten me I understood. She was warning me not to come back. My ears flatten and I start into the forest.
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No Wolf Is Of Two Packs
General Fiction'Fox-Ears' of the Mountain pack is unhappy at having to leave her mother and sister. But she's excited at growing up away from home, she's only been in the new pack a few weeks when she knows something is wrong. Tearing herself away and going to fi...
