Tail twitching, a young wolf crept through the grass. His land was enveloped in night and the moon shone strongly leaving him feeling stronger as well. Esca, he was called. Esca had yet to receive a mask of his own not even a feather for that matter. His father was disappointed that it was taking so long. But this bright wolf was determined to finally receive his mask. The night just felt right; the moon was making him giddy.
Finally deciding that there was no need to crouch, Esca pulled himself up to his full height and looked around. He was in a field of tall swaying grass. He watched, mesmerized, as the moonlight danced across the drops of dew on each blade; creating a beautiful miniature lightshow. Looming out the ocean of grass stood a great mound of rocks; left shady and dark by the gleaming moonlight. Eager for a view, Esca trotted lazily up to the rocks and jumped from stone to stone until he reached the top. No longer was the rock looming with darkness. Looking down between his azure paws the rock glittered; running his paw over the surface, he found it rough and uneven. This must be a type of granite. He thought to himself. How magnificent if looks under this lovely moon. Esca continued to admire the rocks in silence.
The peaceful night air was suddenly shattered by the most horrible scream the wolf had ever heard. He jerked his head up and pricked his ears, listening intently. His legs were stiff and his tail erect; then the cry came again. It comes from below. Esca scanned the grass desperately for the source of the noise. Just as his gaze drifted to the crest of the following hill, an animal ran over the top. Its fear scent alerted all of the wolf’s senses. Then a great creature barreled over the hill in hot pursuit of the smaller animal. Esca’s hackles rose in fear at the sight of this monster. He hardly had time to get a decent description of the beast when his vision clouded with rage. This horrible thing was chasing a feline cub. What sort of honorable creature would hunt a mere baby?
Esca pulled back his black lips and exposed his deadly white fangs. He lifted his head and let lose a howl, a howl of the kill. Leaping from the rocks in a single bound he flew on winged paws toward the fleeing cub. His rage continued to build as the monster gained on the cub, only a little ways from him now. The poor cub nearly froze in terror when Esca raced through the brush in front of him. The wolf leaped over the kitten and took up a defensive stance. The beast paused in confusion; Esca took that time and turned quickly to the cub. “Go to that mound of rocks; climb them and stay there. Quickly now!” The cub obeyed without question. Turning back to the looming animal, he snarled fiercely. The yellow eyes of the hunter glared down at Esca; drool dripped from his maw. The wolf snarled in disgust at this nasty thing.
Finally understanding that Esca was going to fight him, the great animal roared, showing off impressive, but yellow, teeth. Slobber flew into the wolf’s face, blinding him. He quickly wiped it away with his paw (nearly scratching himself in the eye). Esca shook like a wet dog before snarling once more. Seeing that Esca was not going to be fazed, the hunter made a charge. The wolf was nearly caught off guard by the suddenness of the attack. He leaped to the side just in time as the creature barreled by. Whirling, it roared at Esca again. Esca snarled right back. Furious, the creature made at another charge. This time, the wolf was ready. Tensing his muscles he jumped clean over the monster’s head. He landed backwards on the back of the big furry animal. He sunk his teeth into its flesh and nearly let go as the horrid smelling fur tickled his nose. He beast screamed in fury and reared up onto its hind legs. Having been facing backwards, Esca’s tail end flipped over his head and he flailed for a moment before falling with a thud on his back. He lay in that vulnerable position for a brief minute, trying to regain his breath. Luckily the beast was still disoriented and gave Esca time to get back on his feet. Taking up the attack position once more, he snarled at the monster, “You shall never hurt the innocent ever again.” It only roared back and before Esca had time to think, one of its massive paws slammed into his side with such a force he was thrown clear of the monster. As he was thrown the creature closed its jaws on the edge of his tail, but its grip was poor and he slipped out and flew to the ground. He lay gasping as the enemy paced toward him; he could feel his wound bleeding. The wolf pulled himself together and got to his paws once more. He studied the advance of the creature, it was confident that Esca was too hurt to put up to much more of a fight. Esca played that; he let out a soft whimper of pain, and than turned to give is wound a quick lick. Then the creature was on him; its yellow eyes glowed with triumph. In its mouth was a clump of his own royal blue tail fur. Esca gave it his biggest, wateriest, and most pleading eyes. The monster pulled back its teeth and prepared to give him the final blow, when those sad blue eyes narrowed and became those of a killer. He jumped straight up in the air, scraped his front paws over its think muzzle and attacked its eyes. After clawing and biting; and screaming from the creature, Esca fell back down to the ground, satisfied. The monster screamed, thrashing its head around and sending droplets of blood from its now sightless eyes. It turned and charged away, dropping the large tuft of hair, back the way it came and up over the hill. Esca stood and watched its retreat with pride. His wound began to throb and he turned his head to give it a lick when he saw the cougar cub standing not to far behind him. There was fear in its glittering eyes, but also awe and gratitude. “It’s alright, little one,” he told it, “I won’t hurt you.” The cub had taken a step closer to the wolf when there was a disturbance in the near-by grass. Golden eyes peered out at him and he blinked in surprise. The cub let out a squeak of joy and ran to its mother. The mother purred and licked her baby between the ears. Than she looked up at Esca, her eyes sparkling.
“Thank you, wolf.” She spoke. “I see you are young, come with me.” She scooped her cub up in her jaws and trotted off over the hill. Esca followed, completely bewildered. The cougar led him to her den, carved out of rocks. She ushered him inside; it was dry and cool inside; rather like a wolf den. Setting the cub down, she made her way to the back of the cave. She turned back to face him with a cougar skull in her mouth, well, at least the upper half. Padding back to Esca, she placed it at his paws. “Take it, this is the skull of my father. I would be honored for you to wear my father’s skull.” She pressed her muzzle to his forehead, “thank you for saving my son.” She whispered. Esca dipped his head, then took the skull in his jaws and backed out of the den. He trotted back the way he had come, his head held high. After some time he came back upon the battleground. There he saw, glowing brightly in the moonlight, his tail fur. He scooped it up and held both he skull and fur in his mouth and headed on. This would be the perfect thing to decorate his mask with, a souvenir from the battle from which it was won. Esca trotted all the way home, imagining were to put the fur.
He arrived home and dropped his skull at his father’s paws and looked into his eyes. Papa wolf looked shocked, than proud. He looked up into Esca’s eyes and nodded his approval. He then noted the blue fur still held firmly in his son’s mouth. Esca saw his glance and swished his tail to the side so his father could plainly see were there was fur missing.
“Tell me everything.” His father said, shaking his head, amused.