Beauran Book 2 ~ The Return. {Wolf Story}

[Kodabomb]

Me too. And at the moment I HATE school.

[✖ＨＥＳＴＩＡ]

Ha,Ha. I never ever liked school.

[Kodabomb]

Oooo it's finally getting dangerous again! Are you enjoying it??
And in the next few chapter more characters will be revealed, so keep reading them!

The Plan

“Twilight! Rai! Get up! Now!” barked Shadow as she nudged the two of them. Twilight snarled, still mostly in her dreams. Rai groaned and tried to claw Shadow, but quickly realised who it was. “Get up, I need to wake the others.” Said Shadow again as she turned away.
“The plan needs to happen now.” Said Snow from the tunnel as she crept up into the sunlight. “We’re getting a fire going and it will need to burn before we collect the ash.” Her voice faded.
“Eurg, why so early?” moaned Twilight as she sat up to scratch her ear. She shook her head around, letting her ears flap the sides of her face.
“Come on, we should get out to help.” Said Rai as he stretched. Twilight stood and made her way towards the tunnel, with Rai following. They emerged into the clearing, sun reflecting off the snow brightly. They noticed that the middle of the clearing the snow had been cleared away, revealing bare dirt and a few blades of sad grass. Copaci and Ginger were placing sticks down in a pile there, to start the fire.
Snow approached Rai and Twilight. “You need to help we get a body back here.” She said. Rai shivered.
“Seriously?” he groaned. Snow looked at him with a raised brow.
“Come. We’ll need to get the scent before we make ourselves black.” She said. “That way if they think the ash is ash, they’ll sniff us and find we also smell of their friend, and ignore it.” Twilight was amazed at how far through this plan was thought out. The wolf led them into the forest and they followed.

* * *
In a quarter of an hour, their path sloped down, which made it very lop-sided. Twilight dug her claws into the rock as they clambered down.
Suddenly Snow spoke. “There! That’s where I left them!” she cried, turning to the left and climbing the slope. The two of them couldn’t believe that such a wolf could be so brutal. She had killed some Shadow wolves and planned to drag their bodies back. She wasn’t exactly a helpless female.
Beside Twilight, Rai gasped. She couldn’t really believe he was so grossed out about these dead wolves. He was a hunter who dragged back dead deer, rabbits and horses almost daily.
Twilight looked down and saw three dead wolves upon the rocks, which were stained with blood. Snow bent and harshly grabbed the neck of one of them, beckoning the others to help her. Rai bit into the tail and lifted, and Twilight snatched up a leg. Together they helped carry the dead wolf back through the forest, up the steep slope.

* * *
It took about an hour to get the carcass back to the clearing. Several times they had accidentally dropped it and it tumbled down the rocky slope, much to their annoyance.
By the time they came to the clearing the others mad managed to start a good fire. Hot, orange flames erupted from the sticks, melting the lumps of snow around it. The pack looked very happy, for it was not easy to start a fire with your paws, your teeth and a couple of rocks.
Blossom was curled up near it, loving the warmth. She didn’t need her blanket, so Skye was lying upon it.
Snow, Rai and Twilight gladly dropped their load, and the body collapsed into the snow. Snow looked at it in disgust.
“You killed that?” asked Krieger in surprise.
“Yep.” Replied Snow. Krieger stared at it in amazement, then looked at Snow adoringly. “Well, we should probably get something to eat now.”
“I’m hungry.” Agreed Twilight. She turned to Rai and gave him a look of ‘want to come?’ and they set off into the forest.
The early morning sun cast warming rays down upon them through the gaps in the ever-lasting clouds. The forest embraced the rare patches of light before the clouds covered them again. No wonder this place was ‘The Shadow Lands’.
The mountainside was steep and rocky, and they were going in the direction they came to the clearing in. A few paces down the slope to the left was the tree-surrounded path, and above to the right were boulders and slopes leading to the mountaintop.
Soon Twilight decided to put her nose down to the ground to sniff out prey, and immediately scented a hare. She eagerly followed its trail, and Rai found another smell. They separated, and in a moment Twilight was tracking the hare on her own. The smell went straight, not going up or down. It went under and log and she jumped it, finding the trail on the other side again.
Up ahead she spotted a pile of boulders with a deep ditch at the bottom. When she reached it, the scent trail stopped. “I’ve got you now,” muttered Twilight as she stuck her face into the hole.
In the dark of the den she suddenly spotted two glowing eyes. She lifted her head back a bit to let the light in and there, shivering in fear, was the hare. Its little nose twitched fearfully.
Twilight whined excitedly and started digging at the base of the hole, sending dirt flying into the air. Her white paws became brown as she kept digging, and when she stuck her face in the second time, she was able to fit in right to her chest. The hare panicked as she came ever closer, and it ran around its tiny den.
Twilight blocked up the hole and her prey had no escape. But it was too stupid to realise that. It charged at her face, trying to push it away to escape, but the wolf just bared her teeth and trapped the hare in her jaws.
As she backed out of the hole the hare struggled, but she bit tight around its neck. In a second it dangled limply from her mouth, and she started off home.

* * *
Soon Twilight got back to the clearing with her meal. She had ran almost the whole way, and she dropped her hare into the snow.
She saw that the pack was happy, they were all barking delightedly. She approached them and noticed that the fire had gone out, leaving nothing but a big pile of ash.
“Twilight! The plan’s going brilliantly!” cried Skye. Twilight smiled.
“Great! Hey, has Rai got back?” she asked.
“No. But he should be back soon.” She answered. And sure enough, the moment Skye turned away, she saw Rai trotting into the clearing with a big brown owl in his mouth. He smiled when he saw her, dropping his owl right next to her hare.
“Hey.” He said happily, licking her on the head.
“Hey.” She replied. “The fire’s gone out!” she informed him.
“Great!” he cried, looking past her at the ash.
“Hey love-birds!” called Krieger. “We need to get started!” Rai and Twilight rolled their eyes and went over to the others who had began to surround the dead wolf near the forest. Snow spoke up.
“Now, when I’ve done, take turns to cover yourself with this scent. Then go to the ash pile and completely cover yourselves with it.” She told them. “Go it?” they all nodded and watched her.
It was rather strange. Snow got down and started rubbing her face all over the fur, then her belly, then her back. She covered her paws then her tail, the got up and walked over to the burnt-out fire.
“Oh lord.” Muttered Rai. “Who’s going first?” everyone looked at him.
“Ouch.” Said Twilight, giving him a nudge.
“Why did I ask?” he mumbled, approaching the carcass.
When he finished, after much giggling, Twilight decided she would get it over and done with. She approached the dead wolf and rubbed the side of her face on his chest. Then turned her head and covered her neck, then got down and did her belly, and last of all she rolled over onto it and pretended to be in a dirt pit.
When she got up she found Krieger had fallen over laughing, and she just went up to him and clawed him in the shoulder. He yelped then growled at Twilight, which made Skye giggle.
She went over to the ash pile and found Rai had just got up. He looked ridiculous. He was completely black. She decided not to laugh, for she was about to do that too.
But considering she was black mostly all over, maybe if she just did it to her ears, feet and tail? That would do. She put her paw into the ash and wiggled it all around. She patted the pile and then took her paw out, to find it blended perfectly with her leg. She did it with a other foot, then sat down and tried uncurling her tail. It worked and she wagged it about, making it all black. It looked pretty cool. But how would she do her ears?
“Snow? My ears…” she started.
“Don’t worry about it.” She replied, and Twilight looked at her saw she looked very different. She was just black.
Beside her, Copaci came up. He smelled very different. But what would he need to do? He only had little strips on his cheeks.
“Copaci, would you like me to help?” she offered.
“OK.” He replied. She put her paw in the ash and then held it up to Copaci’s face, rubbing it all around. He turned and she covered the other one, and when he faced her he looked completely black. “Any… difference?” asked Copaci awkwardly.
“Not really.” Is all Twilight said before going over to Rai and Snow. They looked at her for instructions.
“Well, I guess just wait for the others then we head off.” She said absently. They nodded and lay down.

* * *
Soon everyone was finished, black and smelly. For wolves, recognising each other was by smell and looks, so it was a bit confusing. Luckily they wore the same accessories, so they just needed to look at those.
“So, let’s just go!” said Snow, probably knowing there was not much else to say. “And remember; when we see them, don’t act timid. Act brave as though you are very eager to become a guard-in-training.”
“Snow, shouldn’t someone stay out of the Alpha’s cave, maybe in the forest?” asked Skye. “So, if we do end up in trouble, there’s always backup.”
“Good idea, pup.” She replied. “Two of us, I think. Who wants to?”
“Me!” said Merlia.
“And me.” Said Ginger.
“OK. When you’re in the mountains, if you bump into a wolf,” said Snow. “Don’t run. Just speak to them if they speak to you, or if you can manage, don’t speak at all.” Merlia and Ginger nodded seriously.
The pack began the descent down the mountainside to the right, clambering over boulders and being careful not to disturb rock-slides. Far down, they could see the valley forest, where they would begin the journey to the Alpha’s den.
With all the running and jumping, it was not long before they bounded down a smooth slope and leapt into the valley. It was the first time in a while since Twilight had been in the actual Shadow Valley.
The forest here was thick and flat, with roots trying to trip them the a canopy so thick it blocked out the sun. They were not spread out like in the mountains. But it provided them with protection from stalking wolves.
The place was rather eerie, with raven and owls in the trees making strange noises. There were no bushes to hide fleeing rabbits, so none wanted to live there.
As Twilight plodded along, lifting her feet up to avoid roots, a tiny snake suddenly slide from a burrow in a tree. She stopped, staring into its big, non-blinking eyes, before it flicked its tongue and slithered away.
Twilight shook her head and kept going, following in Rai’s footsteps as he went before her. Unless it wasn’t Rai. She looked down at his legs and spotted his fur-bands, camouflaged into his fur with ash. It was him.

[✖ＨＥＳＴＩＡ]

(yay! and i started my story)

[Kodabomb]

Another chapter! Don't worry, nothing terrible will happen.... yet.

Falling into Place

Almost an hour past before they reached the gardens. They were rather different than the gardens of Beauran. These ones had little homes throughout. But they were extremely clever homes. Big, heavy branches propped up against each other, creating a frame. Over the branches were large skins making a roof.
Twilight looked into one as she passed, and saw it looked very cosy. Big, fluffy bear-skins carpeted the grass floor, and she saw pups curled up on some.
Beside her, Skye gave her a nudge and she looked back ahead. They were turning, and Twilight saw a steep slope to the right. It went up and on the top was ever more forest. To the other side of them was another slope, which gradually went up to make the mountains. They were walking down a road between the hills.
It was quite intimidating really. The hills cast shadows over them and it was like they were walled in.
Suddenly the others started whispering and she noticed they had stopped. Before them, on the mountainside, was the entrance to the Alpha’s cave. The back, which was the way they had come in. The front way, which they had probably passed, was they door they had come out as prisoners in collars, on their way to the mountain cell.
Snow sighed and turned to them. Merlia and Ginger looked up eagerly and she nodded. The two smiled weakly at the others, before bolting away, up the small hill on the right and into the forest.
“Snow, what about Blossom?” Skye suddenly said. “She’s still up at the cave! I forgot!”
“Oh dear. Well, we may not even need eight of us so if you wish to return to her, you may.” Skye nodded bravely and turned away. With one last glance, she took off down the ‘road’.
“Let’s go pack. The quicker, the better.” Said Snow, walking over to the hillside. They climbed up to the cave entrance in it, greeting two guards. They had been asleep, and woke up quickly when they spotted the pack.
“Greetings.” Said Snow. “We are here to become guards-in-training, may we enter?” a suspicious guard approached her and gave a big sniff. He probably smelled their Shadow scent.
“You may. Kohuru!” barked the guard into the cave. “We have guests.” The guard turned to Snow and gave a bow, before clearing her path. Snow lead the pack into the cave.
It was the one with the skins all over the walls. The circular room. In the middle was the immense bear-skin.
As they gathered on it, a brown and white wolf approached them. Around all his legs were bands of gold and he wore a cleverly crafted silver necklace tightly around his neck. He looked rather important. “What?” he sneered.
“We would like to be guards.” Said Snow in the same manner. The guard looked at her dangerously.
“Very well.” Replied the wolf, called Kohuru. “I shall take you to the Alpha. I am head guard.”
Rai rolled his eyes at the way Kohuru bragged, which made Twilight giggle a little. Luckily the wolf didn’t hear her and they crossed the other doorway.
They emerged into the next room, which was a lot lighter. All around guards and head wolves busily went about their business, and Twilight saw Poderos and his mate upon their throne. They lazily sat there, ordering servants and guards to do as they wanted. The Alpha Female noticed the seven black wolves and gave her husband a nudge, who looked up in surprise.
“Poderos.” Said Kohuru. “We have some wolves wishing to become your guards.” Poderos smiled. It was not a very bright one though.
“Great. What do they wish to do for me?” he replied.
“We wish to guard the Under Caves.” Said Snow, holding her head high.
“May I get your names?” said Poderos. Snow hesitated.
“I am Ebony, this is er, Leaf, Rock, Boulder, Brooke, Sunny and… Raven.” Said Snow. Twilight choked down her giggle, and she could see Moon’s eyes were full of laughter tears. Poderos looked at them strangely.
“Odd names. But you may go. Kohuru, take them to the Under Caves and station them.” He said, and Kohuru nodded to his Alpha. He led the pack across the room to the tunnel leading to the Under Caves.
Twilight was ever so excited. She was probably just paces away from her family. But she was quite worried too. Her stomach became sick as the thought of what they were doing to her mother.
“Leaf, here. Rock, here.” Began Kohuru. “Boulder, here. Brooke, here. Brooke. Brooke!” Twilight snapped back and ran to an entrance. She must have been Brooke. “Sunny, Raven.” Finished Kohuru, guiding them to their places. He then nodded to Snow, (Ebony), and left the tunnel.
Twilight sat down as he disappeared and breathed a huge sigh of relief. They had made it into the Cave! The first part of the plan had been successful. But freeing the pack and finding her mother would be a little trickier. Getting caught was a huge risk.
It was so exciting to know part of her pack could be right behind her in the cave she guarded, just waiting. What if they could hear guards outside their cell? That thought made her want to shout to them, let them know help was here. But she couldn’t do that, no. The tunnel of the Under Caves went for a while, and she was sure other guards would be protecting cells or sleeping in rooms down there.
That actually made her curious. Where would they sleep? Maybe she could get to see where guards and servants of the Alpha made their homes.
As she pondered on these thoughts, a guard came walking down the tunnel from the main cave. He had a grim expression. Immediately Twilight did not like him. He came up to Snow and nodded politely, which he was probably ordered to do.
“Ebony, we have decided these pups may not have enough responsibility at the moment to guard the prisoners, but they may join us in the guards’ sleeping chamber.” Said the guard. Snow considered it.
“Very well. Look after them.” Said Snow. Rai looked helplessly at her and she have him a stern stare. The guard nodded to the pups and they followed him up the tunnel to the light. They walked across the room towards another tunnel, which they ducked into.
The wolf showed them down the tunnel, until they came to a room on the right, instead of the left like the other rooms. He nodded politely and they entered.
“This is the pups’ room.” Said the guard. “You’ll sleep here. Let the others show you to your place, and don’t go where you shouldn’t.” he then turned and walked back up the tunnel.
The pups turned and saw the room was not expected. Instead of being dirty and small like a servant’s room would be, the place was fairly large and open. A fire pleasantly danced in the corner with a hole in the cave roof for the smoke. Around the walls were dark corners and rock shelves where rug beds were messily thrown about. At the far side was another, half-separated room which looked a bit more grand. It probably housed the pups of high-ranked wolves in the Alpha’s cave.
Around the room were many pups, playing and wrestling and practising their jobs. Twilight saw two boys battling each other with sticks in their mouths.
As they gazed about the place, a pup came up to them. He was just a little older than them, but not fully-grown. He smiled nicely. It seemed that not all Shadows were horrid and mean after all.
“Hello!” said the wolf. “Are you new?”
“Yes.” Replied Copaci.
“Come, I’ll get you a place to sleep.” The pup was black with bright purple around his ankles and tail, and well as a bit of purple on his shoulder and tipping the ends of his fur around his neck. Around his left back leg were many different ankles, going all the way up to the bend of his leg. There was tooth ones and stone ones, furry ones and gold ones. He must have been in charge of the pups’ cave.
They came to a large empty place where no one played and where no blankets were scattered about. It was right near the wall with big rock shelves in it. Krieger climbed up onto one and spun around.
“Great!” he exclaimed. The wolf smiled.
“I’ll go now.” He said. “And by the way, my name is Kopi.” The group smiled as he walked away. Twilight was beginning to wonder if he actually wasn’t a Shadow completely. He was very nice.
She turned away and hopped up onto the highest rock shelf. It was a rather comfy place, up high and away from the others. In a little cave. But it would be a lot better if she had a rug to sleep upon.
“Kopi!” she called out, jumping down. Kopi turned from his friends and pricked his ears.
“Yes?” he said, coming forward a bit.
“Um, do you have any old skins for us..?” she asked him.
“Oh, yes. Hold it a moment.” He replied and walked away around a corner. Within second he returned, and clumsily he dragged four bear-skins in his mouth. They draped onto the floor and picked up a little dust as they went along.
He approached the pack and dropped them before Twilight. “I’ll get two more if you want..” he started.
“No, it’s fine. We can share.” replied Rai politely. Kopi nodded and trotted away with his tail in the air. Twilight smiled at Rai. She knew he wanted to make her warm at night. She went to the skins and picked up and fluffy-looking one, and carefully jumped up onto her ledge. She dropped the skin and went around the edges, fixing them up.
Beneath her on the second one, Shadow set up her blanket for her and Moon to sleep on. At the bottom one, which happened to be the biggest, two rugs were set up for Krieger and Copaci.

[Kodabomb]

Short chapter, but what the heck.

A day as a Guard

That night Twilight had a disturbed sleep. Not by bad things; it was just that the whole cave was full of noisy, playful pups. Some were younger than them, some were older. It was really rather annoying how much noise they could make.
Krieger loved it though. Multiple times during the night he was woken by new-found friends - even though they were Shadows – and he joined small packs that charged up and down the cave hall. The older wolves didn’t appreciate it much – they did a lot of growling.
In the morning Twilight was awoken by a grumpy Rai, who had to leap out of bed to snarl at some little puppies. They ran away squealing, and she noticed that he didn’t come back up.
Twilight sat up and yawned, almost bumping her head on the low roof of the ledge. She jumped down and landed smoothly. All around the cave adult guards and servants had come in to collect pups, who obediently followed their masters out. Krieger parted with his ‘pack’ and joined the others.
Twilight realised they were all still black and sooty, and hardly recognisable. And she also had to remember her name was Brooke, not Twilight-Mist. And through the day she would also have to call Rai ‘Rock’. The very idea made her giggle a bit.
In a moment a grumpy-looking crimson guard approached them, wearing silver anklets and a bone necklace. The six pups assembled and pricked their ears in attention.
“Come with me. You will begin your guard duties today.” Growled the wolf. “Address me as Blood and obey everything I tell you.” From beside Twilight, Rai made some silly faces as Blood turned away.
They walked from the room and up the passage into the Alpha’s cave, which was surprisingly calm. Poderos’s wife sat proudly upon her rock, watching over her servants as they hurried around after her.
Blood led the pack out the door, and instead of stopping there, they went down a short flight of stone steps into the valley. They were in the part surrounded by two hills, and a few paces away was the little village of wolves in their ‘tents’. As they neared the gathering of wolves, everyone in sight immediately collapsed in a bow.
“Calm, citizens. Alpha Poderos does not approach your village.” Announced Blood. All the wolves got up. That’s pretty nasty, thought Twilight.
“Blood,” said Moon timidly. “What happens if Poderos comes and none bow down to him?” Blood looked at her with an evil smile.
“He will have them brought to the cave.” Moon’s eyes widened as she looked away. Twilight’s ideas about the Shadow Lands went back to the evil thoughts she had before. Those pups in the cave were not going to change her mind ever again.
Blood led them through the village and as they passed by the tents, wolves went inside timidly at the sight of the guard. Clearly important wolves like that were quite scary. Twilight couldn’t imagine what they would do if Poderos happened to walk through their place.
Suddenly the pack stopped and Blood turned to his students. They stood still and listened carefully.
“Now, today you will be on the patrol. Most of our guards are sent all over the territory to make sure everything is up to Poderos’s expectations. He is a strict Alpha, and can be cruel. As I tell you this, remember to never, ever, get in his way. Understood?” he said with a snarl. The six of them nodded fearfully. Blood lifted his head with a satisfied look on his crimson face. “Good.” He muttered.
“Now what?” said Krieger. Blood brought his face close to the pups. He stood very still, staring into his black eyes.
“Now, you walk around the village until I call you back.” He snarled. As they turned away from him, Rai rolled his eyes. Moon giggled.
The six of them set off through the village and Twilight turned to see Blood walking back to the cave. As the wolves around saw him go, they emerged from their dens and went about their business.
Twilight decided to have a good look around. The village was near the hill, then walled by a thick forest. The place was mostly bare dirt covered in patches of snow, and the little tents had lumps of snow upon their roofs. Wolves here and there were kicking the sides of their homes to bump off the ice.
She walked around looking out for abnormal things, but as she had absolutely no clue as to what was good or bad, she just smiled at wolves that passed her by.

* * *
Pretty soon the pups became rather bored. It was just constant circling that made them dizzy and nothing ever happened. Krieger had managed to sneak off with a girl from the village but Blood grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and told him to get on with his job. The girl wolf just smiled weakly and slipped into the forest, with Krieger whining helplessly after.
As Twilight was about to begin her thirty-eighth round of the clearing, Blood howled to call the students back. They gladly ran to him, wanting to stop this horrid job. When they assembled before him, Blood spoke.
Now, you will come with me back to the cave and I will teach you some skills.” He said dangerously and they followed him back through the village towards the cave’s front entrance. They clambered up the steps and walked into the cave, before crossing and going to the chamber full of skins. Blood brought them to the centre of the room.
“Now, I will show you to respond to certain signals. Go to the other side of the room.” He barked. They ran to the wall and waited. “Emergency!” he cried and barked three, short barks. That must mean emergency. They ran to him as quickly as possible. Blood nodded in satisfaction. “Clear out!” he suddenly said, followed by a loud bark-howl. They ran away from him.
“Ok, now, assemble!” he barked, then gave a big snarl and a bark. They ran to him and lined up in a line. “Very good.” He growled. “Now, respond quickly.” Blood bark-howled and the six of them ran away as quick as they could, stopping at the other wall. Twilight felt a little silly. Then Blood bark three times and they galloped to him, and before they had even stopped properly he snarled and they assembled in a line.
“Great. I think you’ve got it. Now get out and go to your cave. Now!” he barked and they gratefully scampered away. Twilight dashed into the Alpha’s room and went across, before darting into the tunnel. She ran down it a bit and turned to the right, ducking into their cave.
She found there were not many wolves in the cave at that time, she went to her went and jumped up into in. She curled up in a black, sooty ball and quickly fell asleep.

* * *
“Get up. Pup! Wake up!” snarled Blood. Twilight lifted her head to see his scary, red face staring into hers and she squeaked in fear. Blood hopped down and went over to the door. “Get up now!” he snarled. Twilight grumbled a little and hopped down with a stretch. She followed the guard out the door and up the tunnel, where she found the other five waiting.
“We’re going to the Under-Caves now.” Snarled Blood, as he led them off without hesitation. Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. The Under-Caves? That was where her pack was! She had completely forgotten…
He led them down and stationed them each before a boulder. The six of them sat still and obediently, as the guard walked away.

I dunno, I felt like drawing it!

[✖ＨＥＳＴＩＡ]

(is that Blood and Twilight (Brooke)

[Kodabomb]

Nope, it's Krieger and Blood. It's when he goes in real close. XD

[✖ＨＥＳＴＩＡ]

(oh ok cool! Merlia and Ginger are together as back-up. yay!)

[Kodabomb]

Yay! <3 And there's also an unexpected character in the next chapter. Her name is Rain.... Who is she?