"Elves of the Northern Vale" A Tundrawolf Story

The Tundra Wolves

In the last age the Sun and its ally the White Magic battled against the dark, cold forces of the Fell Ice. The Elves watched from within their Vales protected by earth, stone and the power of their Elven Mages. They watched as the Ice was defeated and made its retreat back to its frozen kingdom at the top of the world. They watched as once again animals and plants returned back to the north as the land warmed and blossomed under a triumphant Sun.

This time around the Elves elected to stay within their hidden Vales on the mountain tops. They did not return and rebuild their homes in the low lands where life was returning. For included amongst the many beasts returning to the north was the most brutal of all, man. The Elves did not trust them and traveled the lands in secret keeping watch from afar. They made themselves known to only a few whom they observed practicing peaceful ways.

Amongst the many of their long-lost friends returning to the north the Elves were elated to one day see packs of large wolves making their way home. These were not the common gray wolves who were already established in the northern lands. These were descendants of the great Dire Wolves who lived in the north long ago before the Ice. Many a grand meeting took place as bands of traveling Elves met the wandering packs coming back to their ancient ancestral home they once called the Wolfswood.

The Elves noticed the returning wolves were changed from the Dire Wolves of old who left for the south lands so long ago. They did not stand quite as tall as their ancestors as their forelegs were not as long and they were not as lean through the body. They were much huskier and thicker across the chest with heavier shoulders. Their muzzles were shorter than those of their forefathers, not as long and pointed. Their fur was longer and much thicker and their pointed ears stood taller on their heads. One physical quality the descendants shared with their ancestors were the extremely long upper and lower fangs which were barely covered by their muzzles when their mouths were closed. Just like the Dire Wolves of old they were still very large, much larger than their little cousins the gray wolves whose numerous packs roamed the north lands.

The descendants were much stronger than their ancestors with a bite force that could easily tear out the throat of a large prey in seconds. They were not as fast on the run but they could jump just as high when they had to. Their most improved attributes over the wolves who lived before them were their senses. They could pick up the scent of their prey from over four miles away, twice as far as their ancestors and they could hear the fall of a leaf hitting the snow from well over ten miles away. Their eyesight was sharp and able to pick out the slightest movement at great distance. These descendants of the Dire Wolves owed their strength and stronger senses in part to the White Magic and what the Elves called the Wild Wolf Magic. Even though the White Magic had been weakened in the world, it lived and flowed deep and strong inside the wolves. It mingled with the Wolf Magic which was born from the wolves close contact with the earth, from the nature that lived all around them and from the power they reaped from the full moon .

The Wild Wolf Magic also gave them access to the memories of their fathers, fathers, fathers going all the way back to the time of the Dire Wolves. They could draw on those memories and it gave them an intelligence much stronger than the instinct all other animals were born with. The wolves could not speak but they could communicate by sharing images and scenes in the mind with each other and those who also had the White Magic within them such as the Elves. Once a wolf pup reached a turn old it was named by its parents through a mental picture based on the pups traits and qualities.

Three great tribes of the Dire Wolves' descendants returned from the south lands and each had different qualities from the other. The first to return the Elves called the Saddlebacks. They gave them this name because of the saddle shaped pattern that was usually marked in black fur and sat on their broad backs going down their sides. They were powerfully strong wolves, the largest of those that returned, with extremely long fangs and a very aggressive nature. Their pack sizes were smaller than those of the other two tribes, but they easily made up for their numbers with their large size and aggressiveness.