The Wolves of the Gems

Chapter 21

30 miles from territory border: No Territory: North West Canyons: Mid Autumn

  "Well, this sucks," Darkness said as the group of six approached the edge of the canyons, looking up at the large rock formations. The canyons spread out far and wide, a maze of rocks, cliffs and crevices.

  "Now what?" Chinook asked, looking for a path to head to the top of the canyons, "how are we gonna find this 'Nightsong' in this maze?"

  The group looked towards Ghost. The gun-metal grey wolf had not even taken a glance at the cliff face, her eyes instead followed along it. Ghost silently began following along the cliff face. The others looked at each other before following wordlessly.

  But Ghost wasn't going on instinct like the others assumed. In front of Ghost was the little red fox spirit, leading her. Ghost was slowly beginning to become used to the little spirit, seeing it as a guide through the journey. The fox stopped at one section of the cliff and turned back to Ghost. Once Ghost was close enough, the spirit disappeared.

  Ghost stopped at a small entrance, barely big enough for an average wolf to fit through. "Over here!" Ghost called to the group. The five other wolves ran over to her and looked at the entrance.

  "How can we get through that?" Darkness asked.

  Chinook looked up at Stormcloud, "especially the Storm Wolf?"

  Stormcloud looked down at Chinook, his yellow eyes slightly narrowed. Chinook quickly went to stand beside Darkness, so he at least had a shield from the large black wolf.

  "We'll have to split up, at least until we can find another way in," Silver suggested.

  "No way," Ghost said, "these canyons are like a maze. We split up and we'll never find each other again."

  Faita sighed, "so we're back a square one."

  Silver looked over to the midnight teen, "no we're not." Faita looked up to the silver wolf, "Darkness, you and Stormcloud stay here, while the rest of us go in the canyons."

  "No Silver, we go together," Darkness disagreed. Silver raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I'm not gonna find another entrance," Silver said, before walking towards the entrance, lowering herself so she would fit. Faita and Ghost followed the silver wolf as Chinook turned to follow them.

  "Chinook," Darkness called. The grey and tan wolf stopped in his tracks, looking at Darkness, his head tilted. "Look after them." Chinook nodded his head once before following the three faes. The entrance was small and narrow, the walls of it going on for about three metres, but to the four it was the longest three metres of their lives. The passageway was even smaller than the entrance, forcing the four wolves to actually crawl.

  Silver left the passageway first, entering the maze-like canyons. The silver wolf moved away from the opening as the others came through.

  "So, you know where to go?" Silver asked Ghost.

  "I have an idea," Ghost said and looked around, her yellow eyes landing on the transparent red fox form. The fox pounced a little before trotting away. Ghost didn't hesitate to follow the spirit and the three others followed her. Each time the fox came at a crossing, it paused for a moment, allowing the four to catch up and once they did, it would run off once again.

  After many turns, the fox came to a final stop, it's pale blue eyes which were once filled with life looked up at the steep incline. The fox turned to look at the coming wolves before disappearing once again. Ghost was the first to arrive at the incline.

  "I would love to find out how you're able to work your way around this maze, Ghost," Silver said as she walked up beside her.

  "My mother used to tell me nursery rhymes about this place," Ghost said, "but there are other ways to navigate these canyons." And with that Ghost began to climb the incline. The other three wolves glanced at each other before following the she-wolf. Ghost had no intention of telling the others of her spirit-seeing abilities. Ones who did know of it saw her as a freak. It was unnatural to see spirits, let alone have them as guides.

  The incline to the top of the canyon was steep and narrow with a few tight turns. But the four wolves seemed to take the trek easily. Ghost was the first to reach the top of the canyon, Chinook behind her, Silver behind him with Faita being the last to reach the top. The four immediately turned their attention to the dark grey and light grey figure.

  The wolf-dog turned to face the four wolves, her teeth bared, ears pinned.

  "I'm going to say that's Nightsong," Silver said before getting herself into a battle position.

  "Ease up Silver," Ghost said, facing the silver wolf before turning to the wolf-dog, "we didn't come here to fight, we just came to talk."

  The silence that followed seemed unbearably long for the four wolves.

  Nightsong widened her snarl, "did your kind talk before they decided to tear apart my family?" The wolf-dog charged towards the four.

  "Figured that would happen," Ghost said as the four jumped out of the way, quickly surrounding the wolf-dog.

  Nightsong narrowed her hazel eyes at the group before she took in a deep breath, her eyes becoming a pale grey as did a patch on her chest.

  The four wolves widened their eyes before a blast of air knocked them away. Ghost got back onto her paws first and shook her head a little before she bared her fangs and ran towards Nightsong, but this time she was ready for any attack. Silver was next to get onto her paws, her eyes followed the she-wolf before she looked around and realised one of their members was missing. The silver wolf looked at the edge of the cliff and Chinook was desperately trying to climb his way back onto the top of the canyon. Silver widened her eyes and quick ran over to him, grabbing the scruff of his neck to help pull him up.

  Faita opened her electric blue optics, blinking a few times to rid her sight of the blurriness. She slowly pushed herself up to her paws when her attention was drawn to the gem around her neck. The gem was flashing, almost as if it was signalling something. Then she heard it. Wing flaps, and not like the ones that belonged to birds. No these wing flaps sounded much, much bigger.

  Silver had just managed to pull Chinook back to safety when a large shadow covered the group. Ghost and Nightsong paused in their fight and looked up at what had caused the shadow.

  Hovering above them was the winged, white wolf. The Guardian of the Energy Gem.