Animal Kingdom - War of The Woods

Chapter 7: Owls

The packs rest went undisturbed, giving them the energy they needed to continue. The group arose and continued to the pack, lugging the kills with them. Azur felt very much the opposite to what he felt when the started the hunt. Instead of feeling sick and nervous he felt confident and powerful. Now he had a little piece of knowledge that he never would have learned before, even Lutani's lessons couldn't compare to the fast passed action of the adult wolves. Hours passed as they marched through the brush and the open plains that they had gone through to get there. Relief flooded through the hearts of the wolves as they spotted the rest of the pack, then it sunk away, were they fighting?

The group could hear howls and wines of defeat. Many of the sounds they made resembled human screams quite well. Lyracus acted immediately, ordering the adults to protect the wolves that were unable to fight. He specifically ordered Zegra to protect Subor. Azur felt scared. but unlike earlier, this was true fear. Vyrch looked fearful too, looking at Azur hoping that he knew what to do.

Where's mother? Azur jerked his head for Vyrch to follow, then bolted towards the omega's area. 

Owls where everywhere. They seemed to rocket down from the sky every few seconds, clawing at the flightless wolves. The owls kept out of reach. The blood of wolves randomly scattered the ground. An owl would swoop by every now and again. One scraped the side of Azur's back. He screamed in pain, Vyrch pushed him onward. They reached the omegas just to see his mother lying helplessly on the ground, two owls closing in. 

Azur had no thought, he leapt forward, clasping his teeth on one of the owls legs. The owl shrieked, thrashing violently and throwing Azur off. Vyrch followed and clasped the others leg in it's confusion. It followed the same pattern until Vyrch was off, but by that point Azur was up and slashed strait through the flesh of the owls chest, blood seeping through it's feathers. Azur and Vyrch stood tail to tail, the two owls furious.  One of the owls went in for a grab, clasping around Azur's stomach. Vyrch reacted quickly, twisting and jumping off Azur's back, biting the owls wing. They all heard a loud crack as the owl screamed in agony. Pecking viciously at Vyrch. The other owl bit at Azur, nipping his leg. Azur snarled back, baring his teeth. The owl that could no longer fly fell to the floor along with Vyrch, pinning her to the floor as soon as possible. The second owl took advantage of Azur's shock, pinning him to the ground as well. As soon as Azur thought it was all over, he saw the owl on top of him topple to the ground, along with a scream of clear death. Azur got up to see his mother retracting her claws out of the owls head. Azur turned around to notice the other owl had been pinned to the ground by Heulia. But alas, it was to late, Azur could tell from the bloody hole in her head and her glass like eyes that the beak had struck to hard, and that Vyrch's life had met it's end.

Azur began to cry, the tears trailing down his furry face. The three of them stood for a few seconds to respect Vyrch and her efforts, then Heulia and Semsabi ushered Azur along with them. They bolted up the path in hopes that the rest of the pack was ok. They encountered another owl on the way, but Heulia immediately killed them, cursing under her breath about cocky birds.

Azur could think of nothing but Vyrch's blood stained head that solidified the undeniable fact. She was dead and he could do nothing. He just met her and now her soul has moved on to the next life. He was horrified and also reminded of his dear siblings, the ones that started his hatred for the owls. He remembered it perfectly, Semsabi was pushing them anxiously towards the small cave, they didn't understand why. And before they new it his siblings where given two strikes to the neck. He didn't even understand why he cared so much about Vyrch's death, he just met her, his siblings were different. He kept switching between the real world and his thoughts, sticking as close to his mother as possible.

"d-don't wander off A-Azur" Stuttered Semsabi. It was clear that Semsabi was trying her best not to repeat last time. Each time an owl came in sight she would jump, then get ready to strike. She kept checking around her to make sure Azur was around. Azur didn't like the feeling of danger, constant danger.

They finally reached the area where Azur asked Lyracus whether Subor could resign, only this time blood had been splattered here and there.  A good nine owls where flying around as the pack fought them. Azur could see many people he recognised; Lyracus was fighting the largest and best protected owls, Delreaga was fighting off two, Zegra was fighting three along with Subor and before he new it Heulia had joined the fray.

"This way A-Azur, n-not that way, ok?" It sounded as if she was begging him not to go, Azur wouldn't have gone forward either way. Azur nodded as they quickly turned and walked the other way, checking their backs continuously. 

"WAIT!, SUBOR IS IN DANGER! WE HAVE TO HELP HIM!" Azur felt anxious again, he didn't want to loose anyone else.

"S-Subor is under the protection of Zegra and his years of training, he will be fine, just d-don't go over there." Semsabi begged him once more. Azur started feeling guilty, was she mad at him? What did he do wrong? None the less Azur and Semsabi kept moving, Azur worrying about Subor, but not daring to speak a word of it. Azur thought about how he could contribute, how he could help. and when the two of them found a semi-safe place to take refuge the idea hit him.

"Mother, we need to go over their now." Azur nodded in the direction he was referring to.