ONE

Chapter 27 Two Wolves

      "I never thought this, of all things, would happen." Hope said, licking a wound on her leg.
     "I know. You've said it multiple times." Flint growled.
     "Okay, everyone just be quiet!" EagleEyes barked. They fell silent.
     "I heard BrackenClaw got out of camp as well. If we find him, we can guarantee his safety as well, work on reforming the pack, maybe storm the prison camp." EagleEyes explained.
     "Well, we can't all go." Hope whined, gesturing at the gaping claw-mark on her right leg.
     "All right. Flurry and I will, then." EagleEyes said gravely.
     "No way!" Sparks yelped. "We're coming too!" Flint and Steel nodded.
     "No. Your mother would flay me alive if I let you, if she was right in the head, and besides, you need to stay with Hope and hunt for her." Flint looked put-out, but nodded bravely.
     "All right. We'll stay." He looked over at Hope.
     "We'll try and make contact with Whitefang as well." EagleEyes said wth a pang of sadness. No one had heard from her in moons.
     "Cheer up, if Sky killed her, she'd tell everyone. And she hasn't said anything yet, so Whitefang must still be okay." Sparks said confidently.
     "Makes sense." EagleEyes nodded. She glanced at Flurry. "I never asked you... Do you really want to come?" The snow-white loner smiled. "Are you crazy? I'd love to stretch my legs and go searching for some wolves."
     EagleEyes grinned. "I love your drive. Let's head out."
    The two strong canines bounded out of the snowy clearing, silently rushing through the powder, tongues lolling out of their strong, open jaws. For the moment, they forgot about the war and remembered how to be wolves again.
     Two hours of resting and running went by, and finally they reached the huge walls of the camp.
     "Well, we can't get in ourselves. But we can search for tracks." EagleEyes said, her breath turning into clouds as she breathed heavily from all of the running.
     "But if BrackenClaw escaped, wouldn't the Fort wolves have found the tracks themselves and went after him?" Flurry asked, trotting to keep up with the older wolf's strides.
     "Maybe. But he can outrun a large fleet like that, go places a group can't go, like over thin ice or something." EagleEyes said, now trotting as well, looking all over the ground.
     "Makes sense." Flurry agreed, wishing she'd thought of that.
     "Ah. Look." EagleEyes said suddenly, stopping.
     Flurry saw them as well, wolf tracks, far apart, meaning he was running, iced over, meaning that they're old.
     "Let's go before the guards on the wall see us." EagleEyes said, starting to run beside the new-found prints.
     It was painful to know that the rest of the wolves were inside those walls, but they couldn't be helped.
     Flurry galloped on the opposite side, admiring EagleEyes' strong lope, so much more graceful and driven that her own.
     Night started to fall after they crossed into a pine forest, and they settled down in a snow back near the river.
     "Why don't we just travel through the night?" Flurry asked. Even though she was very tired, she was eager to track down this wolf and then get back to Hope and the young wolves.
     "I don't want to try and cross that river in the dark." EagleEyes growled with a yawn. The two wolves curled close to each other in the minimal shelter of the bank, shivering as the snow seeped into her fur and the wind tugged at them.