Shadows of wolves

Chapter 17

Shadow

I watched as the last stars faded from the morning sky. Now that I had had time to ponder, it felt strange to be in the minds of my pack, but in its own way it was comforting. We were no longer individuals. It felt like we were all one wolf. If I wished I could run with Hunter in his dream of rolling green hills, littered with fat caribou. I was apart of him and knew all his thoughts and feelings, down to the uncomfortable feeling of a rock that poked into his brown flank.

I could feel all of the pack and they could feel me. Excitement seemed to pulse between us. Eagerness to do what must be done. For revenge, even if it was not our own But through the electric buzz that ran through me, a slither of doubt wound itself to my thoughts. Something was wrong, very wrong. I dismissed the thought and cleared my mind of all distraction as I felt the Arl's mind reaching out to me.
'Prepare your pack, wolf, ' his voice hissed in my mind, 'your chance is fast approaching and I wouldn't wasn't you to miss it.' I growled involuntary and weaved though the trees that made the outskirts of the forest. Though the mental link I shared with my pack, I could feel their restlessness fire up. Hearts beating faster, ears twitching at every little noise. Every minute seemed to feel like that of long tortuous days. The pack ran into their places near the ambush site and attempted to wait patiently, but found it hard. Fresh snow had fallen last night and made it hard for me to hide, but eventually I found a place amongst the dark trunks were I would not be easy to spot.

~~~

After a human hour had past, I was about to call off the pack, but the sight of approaching horses and riders, accompanied by the deep barks of large hunting dogs stopped me short. 'they come,' I sent the message quickly to my pack, who responded instantly with stillness in their places. I counted ten riders, including the Arl and Eric, all dressed in thick leather coats and light coloured cloaks. Five large hunting dogs noisily bounded around the horses long legs as they lazily trotted towards the forest.

I slunk back into the forest, making sure to leave a trail for them to follow. 'your plan had better work Arl,' I pushed the message into his mind.
'It will, now prepare the trail!' He hissed his reply before pushing me out of his mind, but not fully out, I would need to know what was happening on his end to make the ambush perfect. He restricted my access to his mind though, keeping me in a small corner the held no secrets, that was 'safe' for me to see. It had memories of him as a child, but the memories seemed too fabricated. I ignored them anyway.

I could hear the excited barks behind me as the dog caught my trail. As I quickened my pace I heard my pack howl, taunting the tamed beasts. We wolves had long since decided dogs were beneath us. They had forsaken the laws of the world and all but ignored the goddess, to lay at the feet of other creatures. Disgraceful. Scowling, I realised at the moment I wasn't much better than the dull fanged animals that followed my trail.

I had almost already reached the ambush site and slowed down a bit. At the silent order Hunter and Zaracia stalked behind the dogs. Quietly Zaracia took down a lagging mutt and ended it. One down, Four left. Another one of the wolves of the pack joined them and killed the next dog at the rat. She was a speckled brown and cream she-wolf who bore no name and did not care for one. Hunter caught the eye of one of the dogs and led it off towards Scar, a young grey wolf with a scar running from shoulder to flank that he had obtained when fighting to help his pack. That was his first encounter with the Arl, and it claimed half his pack.

Only two dogs remained after Scar and Hunter killed the one chasing him. Zaracia and the nameless she-wolf finished them off with little effort. They returned to their spots around the clearing and I sat, waiting at the opposite end to the one that the Arl and others would enter.