Book 1. The long dark nights. RE-EDITING

2. But not alone. RE-EDITED

Picture of Rinty.

Artos just sat there, thinking. After a bit, he decided to go to sleep. He laid down on the stone cold ground. It was stone cold for it was a stone, and it was cold. And, behold, he dreamed a dream. Well, of course, what else would you dream? In the dream, he saw his mother, father, and siblings in the distance. He got up and ran to them. When he got close, they all turned into bears. He turned around and ran away from them. But the more he ran, the faster they became. He woke up with a start. It was all a dream, as previously stated. He sits up, and looks around. He hated nightmares. Since his mother died, they got worse. And now, there was nobody to comfort him when they happened. He wished that there would be at least one more wolf there with him. But there was only his shadow, which shown from the quarter moon. He laid back down. He didn't want to go back to sleep. The nightmares made it hard to sleep anyways. He stared out of his den, wishing the night would already be over and the sun up. He fell back asleep a short time later. He had no more nightmares that night.

When he awoke, he stretched, and went out of his den. The nightmare from last night still haunted him. Food was all around him. Squirrels, rabbits, spruce hens and such. He caught a spruce hen and started eating. It was enough to fill his three month old stomach. After he head eaten, he decided to check out the lower part of the mountain. He got down it a little ways when he noticed wolf tracks. He put his nose to the tracks. 'Hmmm.' He thought. 'Another wolf? Up this far? Well, another wolf means a friend. A friend means good.' He decided to follow the tracks. After a while, he noticed that they went in circles. 'Awww, rats!' He thought. He turned around to go back up the mountain, when he saw the wolf who made the tracks, standing on a big rock a few yards away. He was big and white. They stared at each other. "Hello." Artos called out to him. The white wolf just stood there. Artos trotted up to him. When he was three feet from him, Artos said "Hi. My name is Artos."

"Where are your parents?" He asked.

"Dead. I'm all by my self up here." Artos responded.

"Pack?"

"I have no pack."

The white wolf turned his head to the left a bit. "So you truly are alone."

"Thats what I said." Artos said. He realised this was a mistake. The white wolf growled at him. Artos lowered his head.

"I'm sorry, sir. Its just that.. well, I've been alone for three months.." At this point, a tear came out of Artos's eye. "I just dont know what to do." He finished. The white wolf looked at the cub. He really didn't want to deal with this cub. But this cub would die if he was left by himself for much longer it looked like. He might as well teach him some things about survival.

The white wolf sighed. "Well, I really need to go, kid.." he said. Artos's gaze dropped. "But," he continued "I guess I can teach you a few things about surviving on your own."

Artos looked at the white wolf. "Really?" He asked.

"Sure, kid." He said, trying to force a smile.

Artos ran to the wolf and embraced him. The white wolf just stood there not knowing what to do. He looked down at the cub. He looked just like one of his own. "Hey." He said to the cub. Artos looked up at him. "Names Rinty.