Snow lay thick and glittering upon the ground as the sun’s rays filtered through the treetops. Among the trees walked a silver wolf with graying hairs streaked around her muzzle. This wolf walked quickly and with purpose, her dull green eyes, once bright and piercing, alert.
Quite suddenly, there was a howl filling the air, which the elderly wolf recognized as Winter’s, a middle aged and highly respected snowy white wolf with a thick coat and intense blue eyes. The humans are coming. They come from the north, and are merciless, their hearts filled with the desire to kill us and keep our pelts for souvenirs. We must flee, abandon our home.
Terror filled these words, a chilling silence filling the air afterwards. Disappear, the graying wolf, walked quicker, then after a moment’s hesitation, broke off in a run. Her paws pushed off on ground, snow flying in her wake.
The closer she came to the camp, the more she heard absolute chaos: panicked voices raised; pups whimpering loudly; mothers crying in distress. The old wolf paused at the camp entrance, her heavy breathing unheard in the noise. Her breathing became normal; she then walked quite calmly into the camp.
Wolves flew by her, and she went unnoticed. That is, until she yelled “Silence!” and the whole camp suddenly fell silent, their eyes turning towards their former leader.
“Disappear!” cried Breeze, a young caramel colored wolf with amethyst purple eyes. “Where have you been? We must leave and go south! The humans are coming, carrying their guns- my mother saw them!”
The old wolf straightened her posture. “We shall not go south, that’s what the humans expect us to do.” Her voice rang hoarsely across the clearing. One pup whined and was shushed by their father. “We will go northeast, and meet a small wolf pack named Smooth Stones, located next to a stream. There we will meet my daughter, a middle age Danon. She will guide us from there.”
“A Danon?” sniffed Fang disdainfully, a fierce and battle-scarred dark chocolate wolf. “Aren’t those the wolves born without powers? That is the best you have to offer us?”
The elderly wolf fixed her gaze on the offending wolf, her eyes narrowed. Then, in a voice of forced serene, “She is the best Danon I know. She is very intelligent, and you will respect her.”
“Disappear, are we going to return here, our home?” asked Thunder, father to three pups, each only four moons old.
“That matter will be discussed later.” Disappear, the former leader, said firmly. “We have more pressing matters at the moment. We need to focus on leaving right now. Parents, round up your pups. Leif, gather as many herbs as you can carry. Warriors, help the elders. Last but not least, Shadow and I will be available to those who seek help.”
Shadow padded up to Disappear, his sleek black coat gleaming in the sunlight. “May we discuss this in your den?” he murmured quietly, his sea-green eyes half closed.
“Anything that can be said in there can be said here too.” Disappear said, remaining rooted to the spot. For a second her image flickered, as though her power to become invisible was acting up. Shadow briefly wondered why; that only happened when a magical wolf was angry or agitated. Perhaps she was hiding it, so she wouldn’t worry members of the pack.
“Alright,” agreed Shadow, though it was clear from his tone he preferred for this to be privately discussed. “Exactly how long will it take us to travel?”
“A week- assuming that there will be no interruptions.” Disappear answered, observing her wolves’ progress. “It’s a shame we have to leave our home, but we have no choice unless we plan on letting ourselves be killed. We know what happened last time when one of our wolves approached a human; the poor girl was killed, or pupnapped… all that was left of her was her pool of blood, and the area stank of fear…” she closed her eyes, clearly remembering the scene. “We should have left our home the first time, but we had too many pups then, in the dead of leaf-bare… this time we only have five, and they are old enough to not have to be carried.”
