The Howl of the Fire Pack

DiamondSoul Speaks: To the Howl

DiamondSoul woke up and stretched. Next to her, FireLight lay still, his sides heaving slowly. Today was a big day. Today was the day for the Howling. Every moon all wolves gathered to howl. It was an old tradition and and both exciting and sad. The Howling was so the wolves would not forget their dead, and to let go of their sadness, sometimes wolves would get a glance of their dead loved ones. She remembered how excited she was to go to her first Howling. Both her and her brother. Sadness overwhelmed her as she thought of her brother, StoneSong. Her mother, MoonTrail had mourned for the loss of her beloved pup. DiamondSoul whined and set a paw on her long snout. It felt like it was just yesterday when she saw her terrified brother being carried away by a large mountain cat. This was the time to release all of that sadness.

"Awake?" FireLight turned on his side to look at her.

"Yeah," she said softly.

"Ok. When you're ready to go ahead and organize a hunting party. We'll eat and then find a spot for our Howling"

DiamondSoul nodded. Most of the hunters were waiting outside. In this warm sunshine, hopefully there would be plenty of prey for the travel. They would not stop until they found the Howling Cliff. That was the place they would go for every Howling. No matter how far away it was. Sometimes it would take hours, depending on how far away they moved from it. They hadn't found a permanent camp yet so they were always on the move

"AshHowl go with LeafBreeze, WaterHill, and...DawnFlight . See what you can find in the west part of the trees," she barked orders as wolves cluttered around hoping to be chosen. Every wolf loved to investigate new grounds, and since the guards usually stayed by the pack, they were eager to be chosen to guard a hunting patrol and help hunt too.

"IceFur take DeerStar, FrostPond, DustRose and head east. Remember to stay away from any fences," she added warily.

They had just stopped by the last night and they had no idea how the grounds were like.

"MossCliff you can have... MoonTrail, SkyWreath, and RoseSpark . Over there."

Once all had left she turned to the guards who were still waiting for orders.

"RainPeak, BlueTwig, and SmokeDream, roam the outskirts of what we marked that way," she pushed her snout to the right, "We'll be traveling that way, and I want to know anything out of the ordinary. You guys and... PebbleHeart will be the advances. I know she is a hunter, but she is fast on her feet and will be of use. The rest of you sniff around and report if you see anything suspicious." PebbleHeart was the youngest hunter and it would be a good experience for her.

The wolves bowed and leapt off. DiamondSoul kept in mind that the advances should be the first guards to eat. Being in the advances was a tough job. They had to run ahead to make sure everything was clear while the rest of the pack moved and one of them had to run back to report every once in a while.

FireLight got up and stalked toward her, "Well done. You're getting the hang of this."

"Yeah," she ducked down in embarrassment. It had been a moon since she had left her hunter duties and become the Beta, Alpha's mate. FireLight walked to the center of their sleeping grounds and barked aloud.

"We'll be moving east for the Howling. Our advances have been chosen by DiamondSoul. PebbleHeart, you'll be one of them. Hunting parties have been sent and once we've eaten, we'll move along. We must be quick so we can mark our temporary borders, and prepare for the Howling once we've found the cliff." There were barks of excitement and groans of complaint. PebbleHeart seemed to be flooding with excitement though she tried her best to hide it. Glass and Minnow stopped their play fighting and talked in loud squeaks before AuraSnow hushed them and sent them to go patrol with their father, StormTree. They were old enough to know what a Howling was and it would be their first proper Howling. For offspring the Howling was a sign of acceptance and growth so it wouldn't be long before their first catch or their naming at the Howling.

IceFur's hunting party was first to arrive. DeerStar had three pieces of prey and the rest dragged a large caribou. MossCliff's returned with two small kills each and AshHowl's returned with small elk and two birds. RainPeak, BlueTwig, and SmokeDream also returned with no signs of danger except the stale scent of a badger.

FireLight stepped in and began on the caribou while DiamondSoul took a plump rabbit. They went on. Lucky for CloudBranch and FeatherWind, the two Omegas, there was a large hare left for both of them to share. It was plentiful and more than enough.

"Let's get going," FireLight said. The advances had already left as the whole pack began to move.

They moved slowly through the forest and onto grass lands. It wasn't long before PebbleHeart was racing toward them, "There's a couple mountain cats up ahead!"

FireLight was alert in an instant, "DiamondSoul, send some guards." Then he dashed off with PebbleHeart.

"FirePack calm down!" she barked. Everyone was frantic, "StormTree, IceFur, AshHowl, and WaterHill, go and help! The rest stay where you are!" Everyone obeyed as the few guards dashed off following their Alpha and PebbleHeart. DiamondSoul was scared too.