The Blizzard (Stories Etched in Snow)

Chapter Twenty-One

Skull was back in the Pack of Silenced Souls. He was playing moss-toss with Malice. He battered the wad of moss at his brother with a raised forepaw, giggling quietly to himself. With an exhilarated yelp, Malice headbutted the soft ball back to Skull, who whacked it with his tail in an attempt to seem cool. The moss bounced off of him and fell to the ground with an anticlimactic, rain-like plop.

Malice was wheezing, "That was beautiful, Skull." He choked, "Good aim!" Skull cuffed his shoulder with feigned anger, though his face was bloated as he tried not to laugh. The two youthful pups giggled to for a few seconds.

"Race you back to camp!" Skull chirruped and dashed down the slope, Malice at his heels. The two ran through the pines and charged into camp, Skull before Malice.

Malice leaned against a stone to catch his breath, "No fair.." He huffed, "You've always been better than me!" Skull smirked smugly and the two pulled each other into a warm embrace.

An alarmed shriek pierced through his dream.

"Dad! Mum! Aunt Vera!" Squall hastily shook him awake. "Invaders!"

He was right; around seven wolves charged towards them, screaming battle cries through bared fangs. Nix had jumped to her paws, panic glimmering in her half-asleep eyes. On the other hand, Vera scowled furiously at the enemy as she stood by the entrance of the den, her tail curled protectively around Squall's bigger figure.

"Squall, what the hell?" Finally, a groggy Gale crawled out of his 'room'. Finding no reply, the male scanned the scene and hurried towards Skull, who had made his way to Nix's side, a snarl distorting his grim features.
"We should run." Squall stuttered fearfully.

"Think like Gradient for a second, child." Vera shut his suggestion down immediately with an arrogant bark, "They're half-starved. We could knock them down without a second thought." Skull hummed thoughtfully and beside him, Nix murmured agreement.

"Auntie's right." Gale gave his brother an optimistic nudge. His brother seemed comforted. He stepped away from Vera and planted himself firmly next to Gale, head lowered and studying the enemies.

A fierce caterwaul pierced through the brittle, winter air as Vera flung herself at the closest wolf, pinning him under her and driving her claws through his neck. Nix winced. Skull followed Vera's lead, Squall and Gale at his heels, tearing at the opposing wolves. 

With minimal injury, they'd killed one foe and knocked two unconscious. Only four were left, Inlaro, Mortem, Rimm and Malice, in other words, his cruel aunt, his self-serving father, his merciless mother, and his brother.

Evidently the pacifist in the situation, Nix was immediately targeted by Rimm. The older, melanistic arctic wolf landed squarely in front of her, gripping her leg between her teeth. Blood trickled down the limb as Nix shook the older female off roughly, pain gleaming in her eyes.

"So this is what all my hard work has amounted to?" Rimm's voice was loud, untamed, not at all regal as it usually was, "I spent all those years training Skull and it's all wasted on a little piece of fucking garbage like you?" She sank her fangs into Nix's cheek, nipping her, driving her towards a tree.

Together, Gale and Squall were in perfect sync, dealing savage blows  to Mortem, who snapped at them, shifting his aim and twisting his body to avoid their strikes. It was scary how much more skilled he was. Meanwhile, Vera struggled against Inlaro and Malice, unable to attack because the two forced her to dodge several blows every second, refusing to allow her enough time to retaliate.

Instinctively, Skull lunged forwards, bowling Malice over, knocking him away from Vera. The undersized she-wolf gave him a thankful glance and struck Inlaro on the snout. Malice immediately took the second that he was distracted to grab Skull's ear in his jaws and tugged. To release himself, Skull struggled his head away from his brother.

With a horrible, tearing sound, the tip of it ripped off. His ear burning with agony, Skull began to pull out clumps of hair from Malice's chest, unable to reach his flesh. In return, his brother slashed his claws across Skull's cheek, blood splattering the fresh snow around them.

Wrapped in adrenaline, Skull shook his pain away and forced himself at Malice, his forehead hitting Malice's chin with a terrible bang. Both fell backwards, dazed. Malice was the first to recover and sprang on top of Skull. He forced two paws painfully onto his stomach, another on the ground and the last one planted beside his head, claws sinking into the skin around his bleeding ear.

A triumphant cackle sounded from the background of it all. Skull dared peek at the source. Rimm had Nix pinned - she was about to kill her. She took care to draw the moment out for an unsettling amount of time, her face so close to Nix's that their snouts touched. The younger female writhed in her grasp, not able to get away. Claws gleaming, Rimm prepared to slit Nix's throat open.