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[center]Hey, It's me, Stormie. A few months back I posted this prologue and first chapter in the Share Your Art board on accident, and I just have gave up on that thread. Please vote, and if you vote anything worse that 'It's ok', please leave why you thought so in your comments. I love to here from people and want my writing to be the best it can be. (I want to be a professional writer some day. :3 ) So, here's Wolf Song...
Wolf Song
Prologue
The full moon shone down on the plateau. The tall, thin grass swayed in the wind. A blurred dot streaked across the field, then skidded to a stop as it approached the steep drop off of a cliff. The wolf glanced behind her, a bundle of fur swinging in her jaws, to catch a glimpse of the fast approaching wildfire she was fleeing from. Below, human voices were heard. She set down here pup and glanced back at the fire as it ignited the first of the grass. Quickly reaching a decision, the wolf gently set her pup on a slab of stone and began to push it down a less treacherous part of the cliff. She worked at it for a few minutes, aware that the fire was roaring closer every second. Suddenly the slab lurched and began to glide smoothly down the slope. The wolf hoped that the humans would find her pup. The wolf put her trust in her pup, too. Then the fire caught the wolf and burned into the night.
Chapter 1~
I smirked. He has no clue, I thought. Darian was only about ten feet ahead of me, standing in the shallows of the great Northern River. I paused to look up at the moon, and was pleased as a wispy cloud floated over it. Satisfied, I began to creep up on him again. I reached down to scoop up a handful of water, the sputtered as wall of water washed over me.
"You have ears of an owl," I observed dryly, but I was smiling.
"You have feet of a moose," Darian said playfully. "Did you really think you could sneak up on me?"
"I'll admit, it wasn't well thought out."
He smiled and tapped my forehead. "Thinking is everything."
I rolled my eyes and sloshed up to the river bank.
We both sat down, looking over the river and to the other side, where a steep plateau rose out of the flat landscape, bordered on both sides my mountain.
Caught by a sudden bought of curiousness, I asked, "What do you think is up there, on the plateau?" Darian shrugged, knowing what I meant. No one but hunters were aloud up there.
"I dunno." He paused. "Maybe something so dangerous it could kill us all." He inclined his head to look up at it. "Wolves, maybe."
"Wolves?" I hugged my knees. "What's a wolf?"
He shot me a look of surprise. "Well, they're like a dog- only wilder, bigger, and fiercer." He hugged his knees, too. "And the enjoy killing humans."
He cast me a sideways glance. I was shivering, but not with cold.
"Do you want to go back?" Darian asked gently. "It's getting late, and I don't want you to have nightmares."
I shook my head. "Thanks, but no thanks. You can,"
Darian shrugged. "Suit yourself," He walked into the brush.
I yawned, then curled up in the sand and closed my eyes, drifting off into a restless sleep.
Chapter 2~
I blinked open my eyes, shrinking back from the sudden burst of sunlight. I oped my eyes again, then sat up and stretched. I glanced around, studying the surrounding landscape. A group of mysterious tracks caught my attention. I crawled over to inspect them, At least twenty dog-like prints accompanied by at least ten human jumbled together by the bank of the river. Looking on, I spotted a trail of the strange mix of tracks wander upstream, away from me. Upon closer inspection revealed that they disappeared only about twenty feet away. Getting bored with my observation, I turned south and ambled back toward my village.
~~~~
It was only sun high when I spotted the grass covered houses of my village. As I crossed into the village, Tweed and his brother, Velious, trotted up to me and dropped some bags at my feet.
"Hey, Zarya," Tweed greeted me.
I smiled. "Hey." I cast an eye at the bags and said, "You always know where I am, don't you?" I began digging through the bags.
"As always," He gave me a toothy grin. I thought of Tweed as my older brother, just as he thought as me as a younger sister. I was grateful for his friendship, because my parents had died only a few years ago, and I had no other relatives. Velious, not so much.
I noticed Tweed was looking behind me, so, curious as I was, turned around to look, too. Velious, to involved in making puppet motions with his hands, didn't notice me turn around. He continued doing that for a few seconds, then glanced up and say me.
"Oh... ah, sorry," He scuffed his foot on the dusty ground, looking embarrassed.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to Tweed. "Anyways, this morning I spotted some tracks." I paused for suspense. "Tracks I didn't like."
I knew I had caught their attention, because Velious had completely forgot about being annoying and was looking at me with interest.
"What did they look like? The tracks, I mean," Velious asked. I could see in his eyes he was working on a plan. One more way for him to get in trouble, I guess.
I paused to think, then said, "Well, they were a mix of human and animal.. the animal was one I've never seen before. It looked like a dog's track, but bigger." I picked up one of the bags they had brought me. "I'm planning on going back tonight, if you want to come. "I want to see if I can find the animal that made thoughts tracks."
Just then, Gia, Tweed and Velious's older sister, walked up. She put her hands on her hips and scowled at me.
I scowled back.
"And to whom might I thank for your majesty’s visit?" I asked, traces of sarcasm creeping into my voice.
"Oh, me quiet," She hissed. I fingered my dagger, wishing for all the world that Gia wasn't the daughter of the village's leader.
She spotted me dagger and smirked. "Oh, I'm so afraid!"
I continued glaring at her. "Your parents are the only ones protecting you. If they weren't the village leaders, you would be gone very soon."
"But, sadly, they are our leaders." She leaned down, close to my face. "And don't forget, I will inherit that role some day."
She walked away as I seethed with anger.
"And you're sure she's your sister?" I asked Tweed.
He shrugged. "She must be, because I can't say anything bad about her."
I gave no comment, only shouldered the pack and said, "Thanks for the help. I'll see you two tonight?" I gave them a warm smile.
"Nothing would keep us away." Velious promised.
~~~~
A few hours later, I stood on the edge of the village. I looked up at the sun and sighed. Velious and Tweed should have been here by now. I scuffed my foot in the dusty soil and looked up as I heard the soft thump of boots. Tweed stopped in front of me, Velious close behind. Not realizing that his brother had stopped, Velious ran right into Tweed.
"Uff!" He wailed, sprawling in the dirt.
I helped him up, laughing. "Dramatic much?" I asked.
Velious frowned at me and said, "Lead on."
~~~~
About an hour later, we arrived at the river's bank. I instantly knew where we were, and confidently led Tweed and Velious to the site of the tracks. Though slightly faded, most of the prints were still clear enough to see, both human and animal. Tweed crouched down and ran his fingers over the cracked mud. I absently remembered he was one of the village's best trackers. Tweed stood up and wiped his hands on his pants.
"Well, you're right. I don't recognize these prints, though I agree- they look like a large dog. And the human prints..." He trailed off, letting his statement sink in.
Tweed eventually broke the silence.
“Velious, stop poking those frogs and come here.”
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. “Way to kill the tension, Velious!”
He smirked at me and turned to Tweed. "Well? Now what?"
"I guess we wait. Make ourselves comfortable, and see if that animal comes back tonight." He said it like he doubted it would happen.
We all agreed to split off into different directions, meeting up tomarrow morning.
Chapter 3~
I walked along the riverbank. It was almost midnight, but the night was bright as day with the full moon. Off in the distance, I saw Velious strutting in my direction. To my left was the river; to me right was a dense collection of tall shrubs. I held a flickering candle that cast wavering shadows, making me see things. I glanced out over the river, dismissing a movement out of the corner of my eye as a trick of the light. I jumped as someone grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards. "Tweed, why-" I began, but soon found a hand covering my mouth. Whoever was holding me pulled me into the brash, almost one hundred feet from where I had been standing. In the distance I could hear Velious yelling my name, becoming frantic. I heard a voice, presumably the person who had grabbed me, whisper, "Don't move. I need to take you somewhere, but I can't let you alert the others." I nodded quickly and alowed whoever it was to drag me off into the brush.
~~~~
After what seemed like hours, I finally stumbled backwards into a quited clearing. Tall bushes of all kinds edged the clearing. I felt the hand covering my mouth retreat and I fell to the ground, no longer being dragged. I stood up and slowly turned around to face my capto. I did a double take as I beheld a boy that appeared to be exactly the same age as me, thirteen. He was wearing ragged clothing and his long black hair drooped over his face. At the moment, he was wiping his hands on a rock outcropping the the center of the clearing. He finally remembered me and scowled.
"You bit me!" he yelled.
"That's the least of your problems," I said, drawing my dagger and pressing it against his neck. "Why? Who are you, and what do you want with me?"
He reached up and gently pushed away my dagger, looking more annoyed than afraid. He glared at me again and sighed.
"To answer your first question, my name is Dhiren. As to you second, I have a lot of explaining to do."
I glared at him. "Please continue."
He stared at me. "You'll think I'm crazy," he warned.
I stared back. "I live with crazy people. Now get on with your story."
He glanced at me and began.
“Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the only inhabitants of this land were wolves. The wolves were far smarter than any race has, is, or will be. They lived extremely long lives, almost two hundred years, and had a vast knowledge of the land.
“These wolves, too, had great powers. Some could bend fire, water, air, or earth, other could fly, and so on. But the rarest power there was shape-shifting.; there have only been five known shape-shifters. The first three had died centuries ago, but the other two have only recently been born- two in the last twenty years, said to have been born in the same year. One was said to have been lost to humans, and the other,” Dhiren smiled, “is standing in front of you.”
I smiled and laughed. Wiping a tear out of my eye, I asked, “You expect me to believe that? Because for the record, I don’t believe you, “
Dhiren frowned, and suddenly his form flickered, like I was looking at him through a sheet of water, and suddenly a wolf was calmly sitting in front of me. I screamed and instinctively jumped backward. Suddenly he was standing in front of me again, laughing.
“You should have seen you face!” He continued laughing.
After finally stopping, I asked Dhiren, “So, is that all? Because I need to go as soon as I can,” I cast a worried glance at the horizon. The first thin rays of morning were already appearing. Although, that wasn’t my only reason for leaving.
“No, one last thing. I need you to do something for me. Lately, all the wolf packs have been searching for the shape-shifter I told you about. Since she’s one of the five, she’s very important. I need you to search for me. She’s the same age as me, thirteen. She had green eyes, and possibly brown hair. And she wouldn’t really have parents here.” Something about that sounds familiar, I thought. Maybe… I left that thought for later.
Dhiren blinked. “I’ll be here every night, so come by and update me as much as you can.” I nodded and turned to leave, but Dhiren called me back.
“What did you say you name was?” He asked.
I smiled, feeling bad that I hadn’t introduced myself.
“Zarya.” I said. “My name is Zarya.”
I turned around, catching a glimpse of Dhiren’s expression. Then I disappeared into the brush.
