Wolves of the Moon #1: The Paws of Darkness

Chapter Eight

"There's another scent trail!" Spirit exclaimed excitedly. The group of young wolves were travelling west - as the prophecy said - and checking scents all day. They used the position of the sun to guide them. Silhouette told them about how the sun rose in the east and set in the west, and how she learned it from her training sessions. The dark she-wolf explained that her clan thought it was very important for every learner to be the most skillful and serious they could be. When Silhouette said "serious", she didn't look too happy, and for the first time, she looked dejected, seeming to be lonely.
Now, everyone padded along in the blackness of night until they realized that they had found that very same scent trail before. Puzzled, they wandered around, finding that the different smells were all linked.

"Wait. Guys, the scents are all from one group of wolves, they all smell similar. Even more confusingly, they lead... back towards where we came from?" Spirit's dark, mesmerising blue eyes narrowed as the she-wolf became deep in thought. How is that possible? The prophecy said to go west... unless... oh no. Did we...? The silver wolf must have realized the answer just as River did, because the she-wolf from the Pack of Rain and Water lashed her tail.

"We went too far west," Spirit announced. "How do you think we're going to get back on track?" Silhouette clawed the loose earth, uprooting several saplings.

"Well, why don't we just follow the scent trails? They must lead to the pups, because I'll bet a whole deer that these are the stinkin' rock-brained rouges that took them!" the black she-wolf barked, golden eyes flashing.

Spirit mentally clawed herself in the face. Why hadn't I thought of that? the she-wolf thought frustratedly. I'm so stupid. Nevertheless, she was grateful that the jet-black wolf had directed them on the right track.

"Great idea," she said. "Let's try it."

The young wolves continued on, this time following the rouge's smells of death and fire. The light gray she-wolf yawned, deep blue eyes threatening to close. They had been walking all day, only stopping to catch a skinny rabbit or mouse.

The group was starving and tired, but they continued on until Blaze finally said, "Let's stop. If we don't we might not be prepared if those rouges find us." Spirit collapsed on the ground, murmuring a quick "thanks" before she closed her eyes and almost instantly fell asleep.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she knew she was dreaming. The she-wolf's soft, thick coat sparkled silver in the bright full moonlight. The forest around her was heavy with growth, but ahead of her she could see a huge mountain that glowed with fiery light at the peak. Spirit's keen ears detected the tiny barks of pups, mixed with the growls of older adult wolves.

When she lifted her nose, the young she-wolf was overwhelmed by the smell of carrion and smoking, burning flesh and fur. There were also scents of the five packs, all intermingling to create a horrid reek that made Spirit want to bury her nose in honeysuckle and stay there for the rest of her life.

The howls of pain from the young wolves was heartbreaking and just made the silver wolf angrier. To inflict pain among these pups was unthinkable. She caught sight of a few Learners, too, who were wincing from sickly green wounds on their shoulders, flanks, and even faces. One even had a cut on his neck that was still dripping crimson blood.

As Spirit looked on in trepidation, she caught sight of Ice, his once-pure white coat dirty brown and unkempt. He had a large tear in his left flank and his ear had a new rip in it. Further on, she could see another familiar figure, this one with a thick maple-bark-brown pelt. He was much tinier and his fur was dripping a red liquid. Massif...

"You'd better listen, pup," a huge, muscular black wolf snarled with as much venom as a hundred rattlesnakes. "You will experience a lot more pain than you've had, and you don't want that to happen, do you?" Despite his weak, shivering state, Massif growled as loudly as he could muster.

"Never! I will never give in, let me go home!" he yelped, trying to scramble away from the huge he-wolf. But the black wolf was bigger and stronger. He looked coldly at Massif, and with a quick swipe of a paw, scraped his thorn-sharp claws across his face.

No! Spirit thought, infuriated. She tried to snarl at this wolf, or even muster a woof, but she couldn't move her mouth even slightly.

Massif flinched, but stayed put. With a growl, the larger wolf clamped the brown pup in his jaws and threw him into an evergreen tree so hard he was knocked out cold. Before the she-wolf could process this or see any more, her vision was obscured by blackness.

The rest of Spirit's sleep was dreamless and peaceful. When she woke up she almost forgot about her previous vision. Then the memories flooded back to her, and she bared her teeth in a threatening manner. Whoever did this was gonna pay. And the she-wolf didn't take prey as payment.

When she looked around, the others were just getting up. The silver wolf heard Cloud's stomach growl loudly, and he just sat there, whimpering softly and pitifully like a pup. He looked as though he could eat a whole elk by himself. Spirit could feel her own hunger clawing inside her.

"Let's hunt, I'm absolutely starving," the light gray she-wolf barked to the others, and they all stood. After about an hour of hunting, they came to the same clearing with their jaws full of prey. Spirit had never paid much attention to the clearing before, but now she could see it was surrounded by oak trees and the floor had a layer of moss covering it, which was why it was so soft.

The she-wolf's senses were overwhelmed by the mouthwatering smell of plump vole. She set down her mouthful in a pile with the others and picked one off the top. Pretty soon, her muzzle was buried in the juicy meat and mottled gray fur of fresh, delicious rabbit.

Once she finished off that rabbit and had a vole, she was full and content. The others ate their fill, too, and soon they were just laying on the moss, extremely happy and relaxed. But something was wrong, Spirit could feel it. She directed her unusual eyes towards the sky and her tail went from drooping in relaxation to rigid and tucked between her legs in fear.

"Guys," she announced in a shaky woof. "The clouds are covering the sun. How do we know where we are?" They all jumped to their paws, looking around wildly, until they realized that they were lost. Lost in unknown territory, the pups and Learners still lost, no one there to help them.

Hah, cliffhanger-type! Sorry, blame me for all the sad parts, heart-moving parts, extremely sappy/shipping parts, or cliffhangers. No one else would be as evil as that. Oh well. :P Well, thanks for reading! See ya then!