Wren's scene challange.

[Woogwoo Wren]

Wait for me!

Wait for me!

"Alright, soliders! Attention!" The three young owls snapped to attention, their wings saluting to their commanding officer, who was, in this case their father.
"Good work! Tonight we attack the enemy! There will be no mercy!" the old owl said, pacing in front of the owlets.
"No mercy! Yes Sah!" they repeated. The owl nodded.
"Right then, company, Fly!" The four owls swooped out of their nest, flying towards the wolves camp. The sun was setting, and Talon, the youngest of the three, felt alive. It wasn't often he flew at night, as his father had trained at day and now lived by day.
Claw ducked low, then swooped high.
"Hoo hoo! This is amazing!" he cried, looping the loop.
"Silence in the ranks!" the old owl snapped. "Get back to your position, solider, or I will have you on clean up for a week!" Claw bowed his head, flying back to his position.
"Yes sah! Sorry sah! At once sah!"
The old general nodded once, then motioned for the owlets to land. They were in a tree above the wolves' camp. "On my word," general Beak whispered. "Three, two one, Attack!" The four owls swooped out of the tree, hooting loudly. General Beak landed on the leader or the wolves, clawing his eyes. The three owlets worked together, clawing, scratching and pecking at the wolves. They showed no mercy, and soon one wolf lay on the ground, still.
"They killed Beta!" one cried.
"They're just a bunch of silly owls! Get the bows," another said, and soon the owls recived return fire. Beak quickly summed up the situation, and came to a conclusion.
"Company! Retreat!" he shouted, lifting off. Wing, the only female soon joined him. Her talons were stained with blood, and her beak was red.
"Good fight, general!" she said, dodging an arrow. Beak nodded, and as Claw and Talon flew after them, began flying back to the nest.
Talon had nearly reached them, when an arrow sliced his some feathers off his wings, making him fall. He struggled to keep in the air, but was slowing falling.
"Wait for me!" he cried, seeing his family flyin away.
General Beak heard his cry, and saw the struggle his youngest son was in. Without thinking, he dropped low, flying towards his son.
"Go on! That's an order!" he shouted to the others, and they nodded, flying off. The general flew under Talon, using the wind from his wings to keep the young owl aloft.
"Pa! I-I mean sir, you came for me!" Talon said, his wing beats labored.
"No one gets left behind," General Beak said. Suddenly, an arrow came from nowhere, hitting the old owl in the belly. His wing beats began to waver, and the general began falling. Talon dropped after him.
"Pa! Noo!" he shouted.
"Go! Go!" Beak cried, blood falling from his wound, keeping pace with the wounded owl as they fell.
"No, no one get left behind. You just said that sir," Talon said. Beak smiled weakly, and before he hit the ground, he managed to say,
"I'm proud of you, son." Then he landed with a sickening thud. The young owl knew no one could survive a fall like that.
"No!" Talon shouted, landing awkwardly beside him. He held his wounded wing out as he walked to his father. "No. Sah, speak me." But it was too late, the old owl was gone.
Talon felt tears form in his eyes, and he struggled to hold them back.
"Liddle owly, nice and tender," a voice snickered from behind him. The young owl spun around, and saw two wolves. One was holding a bow and the other had many fresh scratches on his face. Talon swallowed nervously.
"Hello sirs, um, I need to bury my commanding officer, if you will excuse me,"
"Yew an't going nowhere owly," the one with a scratched face said.
"'Sept in our pot, eh Fang," the other said. "Good thing I 'it the old owly, now wes gets some tucker."
Fang licked his fangs.
"Aye. Liddle owlys are nice." As he spoke, he pounced, showing his teeth. Talon squawked, fluttering backwards, his wounded wing making flight useless. It was only a matter of time until they caught him.
The second wolf was sneaking up behind the owl, his dagger drawn. He threw up his paw to bring the blade down on Talon, when an arrow hit him from behind. He fell forward with a grunt, nearly landing on Talon.
"'Ey, what 'appened to Blade?" Fang asked, stopping in surprise. "Did yew do that, owly?"
Talon frowned, thinking fast. He wasn't the quickest thinker, but he knew he could use this to his advantage.
"Yes, yes I did. An-and I'll do it to you if you come closer!" he said, backing away from the wolf.
Fang frowned, backing away from the owl.
"Yew a magician?" he asked, his voice shaking a little.
"Yes, I am, and I'll strike you down if you don't leave. Now!" At the last word, the wolf dropped to all fours and scampered off.
Talon waddled back to where his father lay. He buried his head in the older owls feathers and cried.
"Hey, owl! You gonna stay there sobbing your eyes out, or ya gonna come and have some eats?"
The young owl looked up to see a squirrel sitting in a near by tree.
"Tree-jumper! Leave him alone," another squirrel called, bounding to the first. She turned to Talon, jumped out of the tree. "I'm Quick-finger, and that's Tree-jumper." She grinned at Talon, slinging her bow over her busy tail.
"I assume it was you who killed the wolf?" Talon asked, wiping his eyes with his good wing. Quick-finger nodded.
"Lemme look at your wing." She bounded to him, and gently held it up. "Pinion are bent, but I'm sure they'll grow back again. You won't be able to fly for a while though."
"But I need to find my family!" Talon cried. Quick-finger shook her head.
"Not with that wing. You can't. you won't be seeing your family again. By the time your wing is healed, they'll have gone." She grinned. "Swiftpaw'll take you in. Bury your father and follow us back to the camp."
Talon nodded, dazed. Never see Claw again? Never see Wing again? No! he thought, tears brimming again.
I will fight the wolves until they leave. I will fight them so that no other animals have to go through what I have. he thought. His resolve hardened, he set about buring his father.

[Woogwoo Wren]

We'll be dead by morning.

The wind howled over the dark and desolate land, throwing clouds of ash ahead of it. It whistled through ash-painted rocks and over dead trees. The mountain, Vesuvius, was still spewing ash, pumice and fire from its top.

Huddled in the shelter of a large rock where two young girls. Both were wearing tunics and sandals, like everyone did in those days.

The elder opened her blue eyes, coughing as she did. Her hair was blond, though if you saw her you'd think it was grey, it was so coated with ash.

She shook the other, whispering, "Flavia, wake up," a note of panic was in her voice.

Flavia coughed, opening her blue eyes.
"Octavia? Are we alive?" she asked, looking around her.

"I-I think so. Though I don't know how." She blinked, trying to remember what exactly had happened.

"The volcano!" Flavia gasped.

"We angered Vulcan," Octavia said.

Flavia rolled her eyes.
"He's a myth, we can't anger him," she said. "We need to find people. And food. And water, I'm parched."

"Vulcan is not a myth!" Octavia snapped. "He's the god of smithing, and fire. And if you say he's a myth, you'll anger him more, and he'll blow the mountain up again!"

Flavia sighed.
"I don't have the strength for this." She struggled to her feed, and shook ash out of her black hair. "Let's just try and find Mater and Pater."

Octavia hesatated, looking at her sister.
"Flavia, Pater and Mater, they-," she stopped looking down.

Flavia nearly fell over. She looked at Octavia.
"No," she whispered. "H-how?"

"Felix was trapped in the villa. Pater went in to get him, but-but the villa was on fire, a-and Mater went in the get him. S-she told me to get you away from there, and I did. A-as I w-was leaving, the villa collapsed. They couldn't have survived. It was all for a slave." She sank to the ground, covering her face with her hands.

"Everyone is equal. But I wish they hadn't gone in. Even for Felix," Flavia said. She sat down beside Octavia, and they comforted each other in the grey land.

"We'll be dead by morning, won't we," Flavia said.

Octavia nodded.
"There's no way we can survive. Pompeii was destroyed. I bet Herculaneum was too."

Flavia was silent, thinking.
"What about Naples? Maybe that survived. All the survivors would go there."

Octavia nodded. She stood, peering through the darkness.
"Which way is it?" she asked, looking around.

"I don't know," Flavia said. She sniffed. "Ugh. What's that smell?"

Octaiva sniffed too, "ugh, it smells like rotten eggs. Blech. I smelt it before, at home."

Flavia grimaced. "It's horrible," she said. Pinching her noise, she looked around, trying to pierce the darkness.

"Let's try this way," she said, pointing.

"Okay, it's better then nothing," Octavia said, following her sister.

Unknown to them, the girls were walking towards Vesuvius itself. And the mountain was still spewing lava and stones from its belly.

Flavia and Octavia trudged on in silence. The darkness was overwhelming, and they didn't feel like talking. They felt like they were in a dream, a bad dream.

The sulphur smell was almost unbearable, and often the girls had to dodge burning pumice stones and fire.

About an hour after they had started, the temperature began rising very quickly.

"It's so hot," Octavia cried, painting.

Flavia nodded, peering ahead.
"I see light! It's getting closer!" she cried. Sure enough, there was light in the distance. Flavia began running towards it.

Octavia started after it, then stopped. Light, heat, the growing sulphur smell, it could only be one thing.
"Flavia, wait!" she shouted.

But it was too late. A river of lava flowed passed, swallowing Flavia as it did.
"No! Flavia!" Octavia shouted, watching the lava go passed. She ignored the heat as it burned her skin. She began coughing, the sulpher getting into her lungs.

Feeling weak, she dropped to her knees, buring the skin off on the hot ground. She coughed, and fell foward onto her hands and knees. Her breath was slowing, and she felt like a weight was on her chest. Her vision flickered, and grew dark. She collapsed, no longer having the strength to hold herself up. She closed her eyes, know no more.


The teacher closed the book, and looked at her class. Many had wet cheeks, and some of the boys were looking at their desks, hiding the fact that they were crying.

"This isn't a true story," she began, "But something like this could have happened around Pompeii."

"Did Naples get buried?" a boy asked.

The teacher shook her head.
"No, Naples recived minor damage, but wasn't destroyed."

"Did the Emperor play music while it did?" a young girl, the youngest there, asked. "I heard that he did. He was called Nero."

"No, Nero wasn't the Emperor at the time. The Emperor was Titus Vespasian. He helped the people recover after the eruption, giving out food and blankets. He died two years later."

The class was silent as they digested the information. Then one boy at the back called out,
"I bet we have to do loads of homework on it now."

The teacher laughed.
"I'm afraid so," she said. "I want you to research the 79 AD eruption of Vesusvious, and write a two page essay on it."

There were groans from around to room, as the class packed up their things.

"Class dismissed, I'll see you all on Monday," the teacher said, and the children rushed out, eager to get home.

[Woogwoo Wren]

"Hey! I was gonna drink that!"

Warning, big spoiler if you are reading my Will the wolf keep howling on Wattpad. Read at your own risk.

Swiftpaw strode through the palace, a paw on his sword and his eyes darting around.

"Relax Swifty!" the fox beside him laughed. Her red fur was nearly brushed, and a small golden crown was on her head.

"Green-I mean Tara," Swiftpaw grinned at his friend. "I'm not used to life without the wolves!"

"I know Swifty, I know what you mean." She grinned. "Come on, the others are waiting! A whole year of peace!" She laughed.

The two of them soon came to the great gates of the palace, locked as they always were even though Lupus and his wolves had long left Tarth.

"Hulloo in there!" a voice bellowed. Swiftpaw jumped forward to open the door. Standing on the other side were the small group of rebels he had lead.

Seeker stepped in, and bowed to Tara.

"Your majesty," he said, winking at Swiftpaw. The fox cuffed him playfully over the ear.

"None of that young scallywag," she growled, but she was smiling as she greeted her friends.

"Come on in! Found a mate yet Seeker? Anyone catching his fancy Slink?" she asked the young ferrets sister. She grinned.

"Maybe one or two." Turning to Seeker, she said, "What about that lovely grey one? You seem to be spending a lot of time together."

"We're just friends," Seeker muttered, turning away.

"Bwahaha! You just turned red!" Tree-jumper bust out, pointing at the ferret.

Swiftpaw grinned, and opened the doors wide.
"At captian of the gaurd and protected of Queen Tara, I invite you in!" he said, and the animals filed in, exchanging laughs, old jokes and news.

He grinned at Squeak.

"Still got a limp?" he asked. The young rat shrugged.

"I'm used to it now," he said. Swiftpaw nodded, and then noticed that there were more then his band had.

"Fleet-foot!" he cried, slapping the hare on the back. "Found yourself a family?"

Fleet-foot nodded, looking happier then Swiftpaw had even seen him.

"This is Rosehip," he gestured to the female beside him. "And Clover, Flora and Swifty." The three young hares gazed up at Swiftpaw in amazement, staying close to their mother.

"Well come on, or the squirrels will eat all the food!"

The band made their was into the dining room, filled with food and drink for a celebratory feast.

Tara was seated at the head of the table, Swiftpaw at her right and Seeker on her left. She lifted her cup in a toast.

"To peace for years to come!" she cried. Everyone lifted their cups, and prepared to drink.

Suddenly, and arrow burst out of nowhere, hitting the cup Tara was holding and spilling it everywhere.

"Hey! I was gonna drink that!" Tara cried. Swiftpaw was on his feet in an instant, his swords in his aw and following the trail of the arrow.

Seeker had a dagger in his paw, Slink a sling. Fleet-foot had his swords ant the ready, Quick-finger and Tree-Jumper were stringing the walking sticks they had.

Talon was in the air, swooping towards the culprit. He dove down out of the room. A minute later he came back, a struggling weasel in his claws.

"Speak weasel," Swiftpaw growled, pointing a sword at him.

"It was poi—," Suddenly he fell forward, a dart in his neck.

"It was poisoned. That was what he was trying to say," Squeak said.

"Right." Swiftpaw quickly fell back into the role of leader, handing out jobs to each of the other. " Squeak, snoop around the kitchen and see if you can find who poisoned the drink. Fleet-foot, get your family somewhere safe sand stay with them. Talon, come with me. Green-eyes, see if he's —," suddenly he stopped, realising he was ordering a queen around.

"See if he's alive, right Swiftpaw. You're the best in these situations." She grinned at him and turned to a badger who was standing in the door, staring.

"Don't just stand there, get my healers bag, you know the one," she snapped, bounding to the weasel.

"Right, you heard here guys, get to it! The rest of you try to find who shot the weasel," Swiftpaw said.

Talon hop-flew to Swiftpaw.

"Right sah, what do we do?" he asked, saluting with his wing.

"The poisoner needed an inside man, to let him in. No one comes in without me knowing it, and I'm the only one with the key. But the gates are easily opened from the inside, so we will talk to the soldiers. I wasn't sure if we should hire some, so one or more of them may have tried to help the assassin."

"Let's go then sah!" Talon said, and the two of them hurried to the barracks.

Once they had entured, Swiftpaw groaned. Two of his best solders where in the middle of a struggle, and bodies lay around them.

"Talon, if you'd please get their attention," he muttered.

The owl nodded and bellowed. "Alright you two! Attention!"

The two otters separated, scowling at each other.

"General sir!" once cried. "This creature is in a plot to kill the queen! Is she okay?"

"That's a lie sir!" the other protested. "He tried to poison her!"

Swiftpaw scowled, there was no way of telling the truth. He hesatated, trying to figure out what to do when Slink and Quick-Finger bounded in, a bound and struggling stoat between them.

"We found the assassin!" Slink cried, shoving him forward. Swiftpaw examined his scared face, and frowned.

"Dagger? How dare you come back!" he hissed. The stoat struggled.

"I came back to kill the queen!" he shouted, kicking his legs. "And you if I could! How dare you toss me put of the army for a little gambling and a small fight! How dare you! How dare you!"

"Who was your ally!" Swiftpaw snapped. The stoat just glared at him.

Suddenly, Seeker came bursting in.

"Swiftpaw! I know who— oh, you found them. All three," he gasped.

"All three?" Swiftpaw asked, looking up.

"Yeah, all three. Both those otters are part of this. A kitchen hand saw that one," and he pointed to the first speaker, "Let Dagger in. And that one," and he pointed to the other, "Was seen putting the poison into the drinks, though he said it was just flavouring. Dagger was just there to make sure that the queen was still killed, even if she hadn't drunken."

"Right, all of you are under arrest," Swiftlaw growled. "You lot take care of them, I'll see to Tara and the weasel." He sheathed his swords and bounded off, dropping to all fours as he rushed through the palace.

Tara was in her room, Rosehip helping her to tend the weasel while Fleet-foot watched the children.

"Fleet-foot, can you find Tree-Jumper and Squeak and tell them we found the assassins?" he asked. The hare nodded and bounded off.

"You found them? Who were they?" Tara asked, leaning back from her bed. "He's fine," she added, "knocked out but he'll live."

"Dagger, Splasha and Firen," Swiftpaw said. Tara raised her eyebrows.

"Really? I wouldn't have expected them," she muttered. "Well, it's done now. I guess I'll have to punish them. I can't really execute them, can I?"

"Well, you can really," Swiftpaw said hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I won't. I think banishment will work. Give them a weeks supplies and get them out of Tarth!" she cried.

"It will be done," Swiftpaw, said, bowing slightly.

"And Swiftpaw, thank you. If it wasn't for your quick thinking then someone may have died," Tara called as Swiftpaw left the room. He grinned.

[Woogwoo Wren]

"How did you get that scar?"

It was a dark evening and Veronica found herself dozing in the dim light, listening to the rain outside. The tower was quiet, Claire and Finely had taken the hoard of children downstairs to play a game. Veronica was rather annoyed that she hadn't been invited, instead was left sitting in front of the fire in her room, still recovering from the fever she had recently had. But she had to admit it was nice to relax, to not worry about children asking for books or stories or games or food.

She was woken by a clap of thunder from outside, startling her awake with an image of the Alpha rising. Her quickly beating heart slowed as she woke, realising she was once again in her room in the tower - safe.

Two wide eyes were staring up at her from the foot of her chair. It was Sebastian, Finely's youngest son. Veronica smiled at him, still slightly shaken by the memory.

"Hey, Seb," she said, yawning slightly. "The game too boring?" He shook his head, still staring at her face. Veronica was used to it by now - children especially would stare at her heavily scarred face.

"I wanted to see if you were scared by the storm," he muttered quietly. Veronica smiled, gesturing for him to sit on her lap. He scrambled up, his bright eyes dancing.

"What are they playing?" she asked. Sebastian shrugged.

"Some game. Too much running." He paused for a long moment as if wanted to say something. Suddenly he reached out and touched her face. "How did you get that scar?" he asked, running his hand along one of the scars.

Veronica gently held the hand he was touching her with and lowered it, looking at his earnest face.

"Maybe one day I'll tell you," she said quietly. That story was far too long and too violent for a child his age. He sighed, crossing his arms for a second.

"Dad says it was a monster," he said after a pause.

"Yes," Veronica said, smiling. "A gigantic monster that I fought off with my bare hands." She smiled, ruffling his hair. He glared up at her.

"I think you're telling stories," he said at last. "Does Claire know?" He was trying to be sneaky, she knew. Trying to find out who might know to ask them.

"Don't ask Claire, Seb," Veronica said quietly. She knew Claire still felt guilty about her scars. She looked at Sebastian, plainly disappointed and realised with a shock he wasn't that much younger than she was when her father had been taken. That when she was his age she lived in fear of the Beta. That there were some children - and she could call them children - in the tower the same age as she was when the Alpha had risen.

"Can you tell me then?" he asked, snuggling into her chest. She hesitated, unsure if she wanted to put that story on a child. But then, she realised, it was just that to him - a story. To him, it wasn't something that would wake him up at night. To him, it wasn't a real event that had caused him to lose close friends. To him, it was a story.

So she pulled him close, closing her eyes and remembering.

"I was maybe... seventeen," she began. "We wanted to stop the Omega..."

By the time she was finished she was crying. Even though she had glossed over a lot of the things that had happened, even though she had told it like a story - one of the legends she had heard so many times - it had still hurt to speak about what had happened. To speak about losing Dominique. To speak about Claire forgetting everything. To speak about what the Alpha had done to Elijah.

The room was quiet a long time after she had finished, the only sound the rain outside and the fire crackling. Veronica wondered briefly if Sebastian had fallen asleep when he shifted, looking up at her.

"That must have been scary," he said quietly. Veronica nodded, closing her eyes. It was much more than scary. "But it's over now," he whispered. Veronica smiled, gently standing with him in her arms - he was getting heavy.

She moved throught the halls to the room he shared with his brothers and gently tucked him into bed. He looked up at her and smiled, reaching up to touch her face again, again running a finger down her scars. This time she didn't stop him. "I think they make you look brave - because you are brave," he muttered, half asleep.

Veronica smiled, standing again.

"Good night, Seb," she said quietly, leaving the room as silently as she could.