Dire Reach: Outer Exile

Chapter 19

In a few weeks time, the Twilight Dawn managed to recover from Kantu's uprising, having repaired the camp and taken care of the minor wounds. Roark and Ullok were in Roark's Den.

Roark took a step out of his den, taking in the sights of his camp once more. He had two wolves posted at the front of the camp ever since not only the Outlander attack but the stranger wolf invasion, Roark had decided to double the guards. While Cloud stood in front of the den, napping.

Ullok soon followed outside of the den. Taking a place beside his leader, he looks at his surroundings like his Alpha did and then Roark spoke.

"I think I should organize a hunting party, maybe it will help lighten the mood or disperse some of the tension," Roark told Ullok as Ullok took a second to glance at his leader.

"What? Right now? That's a bad idea, Roark." Ullok replied as he glanced at his paws anxiously.

"What do you mean Ullok, we are wolves. We've survived this long and a little bit of turmoil in the ranks won't stop us from continuing our lives...We aren't defenseless. We can take care of ourselves." Roark ranted as Ullok just sighed.

"Then why are we in the Outer Reach?" mumbled Ullok as Roark went off to find wolves for a hunting patrol.

Roark walked around the camp and noticed it was relatively empty. Roark had checked inside the Pack Wolves den and everywhere else.

"Balduk! Waru! Tarla! Gallos?" Roark called trying to listen in for any signs of contact. In vain Roark dashes over to Cloud. The still sleeping half-wolf's ears pricked up as he picked up pawsteps and opened his eyes slightly, he yelped in surprise at Roark's sudden appearance.

"Cloud, have you seen Balduk, Waru, Tarla or Gallos?" Roark asked quickly as Cloud shook his head.

"They left on a patrol a few hours ago and haven't returned," Cloud told Roark as Roark looked down for a second to collect his thoughts.

"We need to go find them, even if they are fine we just need to make sure they aren't in danger," Roark ordered as he called for another group of wolves.

"Narrock take over Cloud's spot at the Prisoner's Den. Cloud, Oros, and Garmak come with me!" Roark barked as the named wolves began responding.

"We need to be quick, who knows what could have or might be happening." Roark thought to himself, as he and his small search party disembarked to find the missing patrol.

Roark stood at front of the patrol as they moved at a slower pace than normal, taking a moment to gather their surroundings and look for any signs of the patrol. The black wolf gazed around quickly before leading the patrol onward.

Suddenly Roark howled in surprise as Outlanders appeared running at full speed towards their small search party. Roark quickly regained his composure before quickly barking orders.

"Garmak with Oros, Cloud with me! Drive them back!" Roark commanded as the others barked their acknowledgment before forming up with each other. The four wolves battled with the small Outlander ambush and quickly managed to defeat them, mostly because they retreated after getting in a few hits.

"What in the Eternal Hunting Grounds is going on, Outlanders don't usually give up that easy." Roark thought as watched the attackers flee.

"We need to find that hunting patrol quickly," Roark told the others as the continued on their quest.

The patrol wandered aimlessly around until their ears finally picked up on growling and barking as well as a few rabbits dashing past them to get away from the skirmish. Roark charged forward not waiting for any comments to be made by his patrol.

Roark stopped a few feet from the eastern border, Outlanders clashed with the patrol. The patrol had numbers but the Outlander's fighting style was so confusing that it was hard to concentrate.

"Come on, we've got to assist them!" Roark called to his search party as they all sprang forward passing their Alpha in a blur.

Garmak took on a white wolf with a furless tail, the two combatants broke off from the main battle to fight in single combat.

"I remember you...I still laugh at the look on your face as we attacked your camp. When we are all done, you'll submit or we will just kill you." the white wolf said as he cackled only for Garmak close the distance between the two and the fight was on.

Oros fought against a dark black female with a scarred pelt. With the help of Cloud, the two were slowly beating her back. The two snapped at both of her flanks as she tried to defend herself.

Roark scanned the field of battle as he noticed a red male with a torn ear suddenly approached the conflicting eastern border.

"Outlanders! Retreat our job is done, let the others handle it!" the red male called as the Outlanders quickly turned tail and ran off. Roark was about to shout in victory when he heard a distance howl of alarm.

"Oh no, that's coming from the camp..." Oros stated as she looked back at the direction of the camp.

"Are you all ready to fight?" Roark asked the patrol who was just under heavy attack.

"We are ready when you are, we should probably leave now though," Balduk replied as he stood in front of his patrol.

With that, the two parties combined and kept a steady pace back towards their sanctuary. The wolves panted softly as they continued on their way back to camp.

The patrol came back to see the camp was under attack by a whole different, larger set of Outlanders. Roark took a moment to gather his surroundings and he noticed something.

"These are the rogues that Kantu had with them, except they look a lot more sickly than before.." Roark quickly noted as he led the patrol into the camp.

The patrol quickly joined the fray, evening out the odds as the Twilight Dawn launched a combined effort to drive the savages out of their home. They had managed to push the feral warriors to the entrance of their home and it was a standstill, the two walls of fur and teeth snapping and clawing at each other as no side showed signs of breaking.

Roark stood in the thick of it lunging and striking at any Outlander that tried to bit off more then they could chew. Roark's pelt was bloody, some of it his. The Twilight Dawn still fought on, when Roark caught in the corner of his eye the same red wolf with his signature torn ear.

"Scram you mongrels! Don't drag this out more than it's already been." the male called as the others sprinted away quickly at the red wolf's tone of authority. Soon he looked Roark in the eyes before smirking while the black alpha growled in fury as the red wolf walked away from him and their camp.

Roark looked at his pack, noticing how they didn't do much damage, but the idea of being attacked three times in a row surprised and shocked them in a way no disaster could. Roark sighed in confusion before padding off to his den quietly while Ullok talked with the rest of the pack to go over what had just occurred.