Post by Raze on May 23, 2008 19:39:22 GMT -5
Chapter 1
The midday sun shone warmly down onto the leafy trees in the large forest. Streams chuckled happily though the trunks and bushes, weaving their way to somewhere else. The sun dappled the pathways and clearings that many paws have trod over countless years, and the plants ruffled in a playful breeze.
Then, a flash of brown fur betrayed the position of a rabbit, and it darted out onto a pathway, pursued by a large dire wolf. The wolf was mostly blood red, but he had white markings, like a fox. His ears were black, with blue dye on the tips. Under his light green eyes were five purple dots, and above his eyes were three green slash marks. From between his eyes to the tip of his nose was a purple line with green dots on each side.
The wolf jumped forward and bit down on the back of the rabbit’s neck, killing it. As he straightened up, another wolf bounded out of the brush, calling “Nice catch, Raze!” This other wolf had three layers of color. On his back was light tan, then reddish brown, then golden on his belly and legs. Typhoon, or Ty as he was called, only had one tattoo, a steel blue arrow under each of his eyes pointing in the direction of his nose. His leaf green eyes sparkled with puppyish playfulness as he trotted toward his friend.
Raze, the red wolf, looked over his shoulder and said teasingly. “Better than you, Ty. You haven’t caught anything at all.” He then picked up his catch and strutted past his friend, his head held high.
Then a third wolf stepped out of the bushes with a squirrel, and she dropped it at her paws long enough to say. “If I let you two, you’d go around shouting and scaring off all of the prey.” This wolf was mostly light blue, with darker blue paws. Also, she had a wide dark blue stripe running from the tip of the nose, over her eyes, behind her ears, down her back, and to the tip of her tail. Under her pretty purple eyes were three vertical yellow marks. “Be quiet, or we’ll come home empty pawed.”
Ty sniffed and said “Huh. He’s the one who was making fun of me. And what do you mean by ‘we’? I’m the one without any prey.”
Icefall, the blue wolf, picked up her squirrel and turned, switching her tail across his face. “Come on then. Let’s go get you something. Coming Raze?”
Raze shook his head. “I should head back. I might get to go on patrol if I hurry.” he snatched up his rabbit and called back to his two friends as he raced away, “See you back at camp!”
Raze raced through the forest, enjoying the feel of the wind on his face and the savory taste of prey in his mouth. Urging himself faster, he pounded through the huge trees of Kanaran territory, thinking Could life get any sweeter than this?
Reaching the crest of a miniature wooded hill, he looked down into a small tree-filled valley that was his home. Over a score of Dire wolves wandered through the clearing in the center, which was Kanaran camp, some off to go hunting, some to do patrols, and others just lounging around enjoying the summer warmth. Over by the Alpha’s den was Auna, their pack leader, and Sonya, the pack healer. Auna was a medium sized wolf, with mainly dark orange fur. Like Icefall, she had a stripe of color going from her nose to the end of her tail, only Auna’s was reddish orange. Her chest and belly were white, along with her paws. Next to the white on her paws were bands of the same reddish orange color. Under Auna’s kind grey blue eyes were three dots, one dark blue, one medium blue, and one light blue.
Sonya was of strange coloration, even for the Kanaran pack standards. She looked like she had been split equally down the middle, with her right side being that of a grey wolf and her left side the coloration of a red fox. Somehow, her DNA mutated from her father, who was half fox, and her mother, who was a pure wolf. But between her sweet nature and pretty purple eyes, she was adored by most of the males in the pack.
Others were going out for patrol: Bandit, the pack’s Beta, Ember, a fiery young runner, and Talon, a spunky young runner trainee. Ah well, I didn’t make the patrol. He thought.
Picking up his kill, Raze trotted down the gentle slope and into camp. As he placed his hare on the prey pile, he heard a jeering voice behind him say, “Well well, the mighty hunter has returned. Is that all you could find, even with those friends of yours?”
Raze sighed and straightened up without even looking behind him. “Bloodwrath,” He said “If your going to tease me about something, make it something worthwhile.” Raze turned around halfway and glared at him, unimpressed. “I see nothing with you. Where’s your kill for the pack, ’mighty hunter?’”
Bloodwrath snarled and growled. He was a large wolf, with dark red fur and red eyes. He had bright red tattoos under his eyes and a torn ear that was his souvenir of a fight with a timber wolf. He was one year older than Raze, and seemed to have made it his life’s goal to make life miserable for the young wolf. “Don’t talk so insolently to me, Raze.” He growled. “I am you senior, so you will respect me!”
Raze turned his back on Bloodwrath. “Like I care. Just because you’re the only son on the ‘great Bloodrain’ doesn’t mean you’re the most amazing wolf in the world. Get lost and leave me alone.”
Bloodwrath’s eyes blazed and he was about to make a snapping retort when another voice said “Bloodwrath, what do you want with Raze?” Auna stood authoritatively behind Bloodwrath, a look of annoyance on her face. “Why don’t you go out and hunt, or do something else productive instead of bothering him?”
Raze grinned as he heard Bloodwrath say nervously “Oh… ah… sorry, Auna. I just…never mind, I’m going hunting.” Raze looked over his shoulder to see Bloodwrath slinking sulkily out of camp and into the forest.
Auna sighed and said “That wolf gives me a headache sometimes. Raze, could you take some food to the pups and Myra? I’m sure their getting hungry by now.”
Raze dipped his head respectfully to his leader. “Of course, thank you Auna.” He then snatched up a pigeon and a squirrel and trotted over to the nursery den.
The nursery was in a secluded and protected corner of camp. Thick bramble bushes surrounded a small clearing with an underground den. Myra, a white she-wolf with cream colored splotches, was dozing in the clearing while Katie and Jake, her two pups, tumbled around her. Raze padded over to Myra and placed the pigeon and the squirrel in front of her. Looking up at Raze, Myra smiled contentedly. “Thank you, Raze. Katie! Jake! Here’s lunch.” She pushed the pigeon towards the two pups who were play fighting with each other.
Katie growled as she fastened her teeth on Jake’s ear. “Ow, let go!” He yipped as he pushed her off with his hind legs. Katie rolled off into the dirt, then sat up, wagging her tail happily. Abandoning her fight with Jake, she attacked the dead pigeon and growled fiercely when Jake grabbed the other end, resulting in a tug of war.
Suppressing a smile, Raze padded over and separated the two pups. “Come on now,” He said sternly. “You’re never going to become trainees if you act like this.” Instantly the pups sat down and started chewing solemnly on their food. Turning away, Raze flashed a grin at Myra before trotting back to the center of camp.
Looking around, he noticed Ty and Icefall returning with their kills. Icefall was still carrying her squirrel and Ty now had two birds to show for his hunt. Raze bounded up to them and fell in step as they made their way towards the prey pile. “Finally got something?” He asked Ty teasingly.
Icefall responded “I finally pointed out a couple of birds for him. He almost missed them, too.” She threw her squirrel on the pile and tugged out a rabbit. Ty placed one of his birds on the pile and stuck his tongue out at them before picking up the other one and racing away to eat it. Raze and Icefall followed.
They sat at the edge of camp by the Fighters den, chatting and eating. The sun was slowly sinking past the tree line, and before long all the patrols had returned. The shadows of the trees were long now, and the wolves were starting to retire to their dens to get some rest. Bandit came up to the three young fighters and they dipped their heads respectfully to him. Bandit was mostly tan, with broad brown bands around his legs and a brown stripe running from the top of his head to his rump. There was also brown stripes from the corners of his eyes to his cheek fur. Under his wise blue green eyes were three red vertical marks. “You two are going on the morning patrol with Safire tomorrow.” He said with his deep voice to Raze and Ty. “And Sonya wants some help gathering herbs with you tomorrow, Icefall.” He said, nodding to the she wolf.
Raze and Ty automatically said “Yes, Bandit.” at the same time. Icefall grinned and said “No problem.” Nodding once in satisfaction, Bandit turned and flicked his tail in farewell before disappearing into the Fighters den. Raze yawned and said “Well, we might as well get some sleep.” The others murmured agreement an then all slipped into the Fighters den. As Raze drifted off to sleep between his two friends, he thought The world can’t get any more perfect than this.