Beauran Book 2 ~ The Return. {Wolf Story}

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You portrayed her perfectly.

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Thanks! Her personality you gave me was perfect for the role she needed to play.

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So, next chapter?

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Yes, next chapter will most likely come in the morning when my mum and my little sister and brother are out at netball.

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UH OH!!!! What will happen???? Please read on.

Ambushed

It was a few hours before they had scaled the mountain and come down out of the valley. Twilight’s feet were sore and tired, but it was worth it.
They came into the forest and it was beautiful. Enormous green pines made a forest of spread-out trees. The ground was flat and covered in snow, and the forest seemed to be walled-in; for they were surrounded by thicker trees. They went in a big circular shape and on the inside was the forest.
Immediately Sky noticed Merlia’s friends. A herd of about fifteen deer, big and small. One of them was a magnificent stag with enormous antlers, who guarded his little fawns from danger.
“Get behind me.” Whispered Merlia. The others went behind her, watching the deer. Merlia let out a friendly howl, wagging her tail. The stag looked up quickly and grunted, before running over to her. He galloped very fast, and his herd followed. They stopped before Merlia.
“Good.” Whispered Merlia to the stag. Then he noticed the others and backed up a bit. “It’s all right.” Soothed the young wolf. “Don’t be scared of them.” A doe at the back looked uncertainly at the others, but got over it.
“See, these are my friends.” Said Merlia. “No other wolf has ever met them before.” Twilight stared into the eyes of the stag. They were kind. And gentle. And harmless. Suddenly she felt bad for killing the buck yesterday.
“Hey, I didn’t get any of your names.” said Merlia suddenly, turning around.
“Oh, well, I’m Skye, this is Twilight, Rai, Ginger, Krieger and Copaci.” Skye informed her.
“Well, hello!” said Merlia.
“Hey, do your deer like racing?” asked Krieger.
“Racing each other, yes.” Replied Merlia.
“Would they play with us?” he asked.
“Maybe. Why don’t we try?” said Merlia. “Come!” The deer came to her.
“Let’s go!” cried Krieger, and he took off through the snow. Merlia barked and followed, and Twilight ran along as well.
They ran through the snow, kicking it up. Twilight looked behind her and saw the stag, cantering after. The others followed him, and soon they were all going as fast as they could.
The deers’ legs flew up as they galloped, leaping into the air. One of them bucked, and one of the little fawn grunted as it flipped over and landed on its face. Ginger laughed. They galloped and charged until they were suddenly at the other side, at the thick wall of trees.
Twilight immediately sat down in the snow, panting and puffing. The others did too, and the deer stood around catching their breath. Her throat was sore from the cold air, and she could see every breath she puffed out.
She looked over at the deer herd and saw a little fawn creep out from behind her mother. She carefully walked over to Skye, who looked up from where she was lying.
“Hello.” She said to the fawn. She grunted, tossing her head happily. Then, unexpectedly, she plonked her little furry bottom down in the snow and lay beside Skye. They had each found a few friend.
“She likes you.” Said Merlia.
“I see!” said Skye, nuzzling the fawn. Her mother grunted for her to come back, but she took no notice, ignoring her. “I like you. I shall call you Blossom.” Merlia giggled.
“You can take her for a little walk, they like that.” She said. Skye smiled and stood up, with Blossom copying.
“Come on, let’s go for a wander.” Said Skye, and she went galloping off into the thick trees. Twilight watched them go, with Blossom’s mother grunting for her daughter. It didn’t really work though, so she stopped and decided to eat some tree-bark.
As Twilight decided she might have a little rest, there was a roar from in the trees.
“Blossom!” screamed Skye from the same place. Suddenly Blossom stumbled out of the trees, covered in blood. She grunted in pain as she staggered towards the others, all standing up in horror.
“Skye!” howled Twilight.
“Help!” screamed Skye. Blossom grunted and turned around, waiting for her friend. Suddenly she burst from the trees, terror on her face. She ran to the others, panting and shaking.
“What, what happened?” asked Twilight. Skye shuddered.
“Shadows. They’re coming.” She shuddered. Twilight gasped. “They attacked my little Blossom, she’s hurt.”
Suddenly from in the trees came snarling. Then a large wolf emerged. Black as night, as ebony, with red eyes that shone. Sleek and thin, but large and powerful.
“Somehow I knew you’d be here.” He said dangerously. Merlia stared, clearly wondering what was going on. Another wolf came out of the trees. And another. Then a couple more.
In a moment eight large, fearsome wolves emerged from the trees into the snow. Shadows. Twilight recognised the leader, coming ever so close. It was Armik. Snarling, baring his teeth.
“Well, don’t wait around. Collar them.” He whispered to his pack. All of a sudden the wolves bounded forward, with birch and horse-hair collars in their mouths. The stag ran forward and tried to ward them off, but Armik grabbed him by the fur of his neck. He reared and kicked out, but Armik leapt aside.
Twilight snarled at a wolf coming for her, leaping out of the way. It gave up and went for Skye, who yelped.
“Skye!” howled Twilight, as she was pinned to the ground. The collar was slipped over her neck and she was caught. She whimpered as she was still pinned.
“Twilight! Look out!” yelped Rai from not far away. Twilight whipped around and saw a wolf running towards her. She tried to run but she was pushed to the ground. She sank into the snow and it was impossible to get up, as the enormous wolf on her slipped the collar on. He yanked the horse-hair string attached to it and she got up, only falling down again as the wolf was too rough.
She heard a yelp as Rai was collared, and then another as Ginger was pinned to the ground. Against these wolves, pups were pathetic. In a matter of minutes, all of them were collared and being held tight by their captors. Even poor Merlia, who had no idea what was happening
“What do you want?” snarled Copaci.
“Well, pup, when I have you, your dear mother is bound to come and save you. Then we’ll be able to get that Cave of Wisdom we wanted. Hmm?” said Armik, mocking a mother’s tone. Copaci growled, and the wolf holding home yanked his collar which made him choke. “Come, we shall return to the Shadow Lands and present the prisoners to Poderos.”
Skye sobbed and little and tried crying out for her little Blossom, but her collar was yanked and she fell silent. As they went into the forest, the little fawn’s cries faded away and fell silent.

* * *
By the time they reached the mountain to the Shadow Lands, Twilight’s paws were frozen and bleeding, for she had trod on a thorn hidden in the snow. She had barely been conscious the whole way, just letting the wolf drag her by the collar. Skye had whimpered and whined almost the whole way.
When they reached the mountain, Twilight’s captor went in front and forced her behind, before dragging her up the thin path leading up. Armik led the way with his pack following, dragging their prisoners. Twilight staggered up the snow-covered path, and as they went higher and the drop to the right was steeper, she kept extremely close to the wall of rock beside her. She was almost grateful of the collars for if she was to fall, then maybe the rope would save her. Armik wouldn’t want to lose his Beta role, would he?
In a while they reached the top, sort of a gap between two mountains, and they had to go all the way down.
Twilight found it harder to keep her footing as they went down, and it was very steep. She sort of slid on the snow, which wasn’t too much fun if she went before her captor, as he stopped her with a jerk of the collar.
In about half an hour they came to the bottom of the mountain, near a garden. They went into it, and found flat ground covered in snow and trees spread out. It was rather pretty, but Twilight felt a horrible chilling feeling as she walked along.
Now she knew what the Shadow Lands were like.

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Aww....poor me, and you guys of course.

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Woohoo! Next chapter! I hope you're enjoying it, it's getting good now, ain't it?

Prisoners

Twilight’s neck was hurting terribly by the time they reached the top of the snow-covered hill. She was dragged down it, getting her feet stuck in the snow which sent her down, only to be hauled back up again by the collar.
They charged down the slope feeling tired, thirsty and hungry. Rai was only half conscious, for he had misbehaved with his captor and had to be punished. His shoulder was bruised from being slammed against a tree.
In a moment they were at the bottom of the hill, where they went across a straight bit to a mountainside. Twilight looked up and noticed in the mountain was a cave entrance, guarded by two wolves. Armik went up to the guards and they immediately recognised him, letting him in. His pack followed, dragging the pups along.
They came into an entrance cave. It was enormous and round, with an extremely high ceiling. In the middle of the floor was the biggest bear-skin Twilight had ever seen, and lining the walls were skins of all types of poor animals. Even rival wolves.
They crossed the room and came to the entrance to the next cave, where they were greeted by two snarling guards. Copaci growled and got a bite to the shoulder. No messing around here.
As they entered the room they found wolves around the walls, mostly guards. Twilight was yanked into the centre of the room, her neck aching and grazed by the birch. All around the room snarls and growls erupted.
Twilight shuddered. It was scary. She looked up slowly and saw the mighty Alpha and his wife. They were even more scary. The Alpha, Poderos, was grey with black shading his back, legs and tail. One side of his face was shaded black, the other blood-red. On his shoulder was the pattern of claw-marks in white. On his right back leg was a thorned vine that wound from his foot to the bend in his leg, and around his neck was a roughly-made horse-hair string with teeth all over it. But the gem on it was strange. Green, but not normal. Twilight didn’t really know what was abnormal about it. And his eyes were even more intimidating – one green, one red.
His mate was incredibly black, as black as ebony. Her eyes were stunning yellow. She was rather beautiful, except for the fact she was the Shadow Alpha’s mate.
“Oh, Armik.” She said smoothly. “You have done it. You have the pups.”
“And you are the Beta.” Said Poderos. “Guards! Show Armik to his new chamber. He will be living in one of the best caves now.” And with that, a few guards came forward and led Armik down a tunnel at the side of the room.
“Well. Now we have you, all we need to do is lock you up with a dead horse to eat and you’ll be the bait for your mother.” Said Poderos. “If you are all siblings?” None of them answered. Twilight disliked this wolf very much.
“It doesn’t matter.” Said the Alpha’s mate.
“No. Take them to the Under Caves, and someone go and get a horse to feed our… guests.” He sneered. Twilight’s collar was given a yank and she yelped, walking off with the others.
Just as they went into a tunnel at the side of the room, Copaci yelled out. “They’ll get you! They’ll murder you! Nothing comes good to the Shadows!” Twilight suddenly knew Poderos had heard it. And that meant bad things now.
They went down the tunnel and they were consumed in darkness. Twilight shuddered and Skye started crying. Her captor learned to ignore it, and just went along with the others. They came to a large boulder at the wall, and right next to it was a cave entrance. Without hesitation, they were thrown in, and Twilight’s shoulder hit the floor.
She stared at the stone of the floor, shivering with anger, cold and fear. She just lay there, until finally the light was blocked out as a boulder slid across the door

* * *
Minutes later she felt the birch collar coming off, tugged by strong jaws. It went over her nose and onto the floor, and the pain and rubbing on her neck soothed. A warm, furry body curled up beside her, and she couldn’t help crying into Rai’s chest.
It stung her eyes and hurt her ribs, she sobbed and whimpered. Twilight never cried. It was something she wasn’t used to. She was away from her mother, she had nowhere to go and nothing to hunt. She missed her father and wanted to get out. She even missed Blossom. The little fawn.
Rai licked her head and she tried to calm herself down. At least she had him. And her brothers. But there was also a downside to having them. Why were they here? And poor Merlia, she didn’t even know what had happened. She glanced at the corner and saw her staring at the ceiling, at the bat who looked down into her golden eyes.
“It’s all right. They’ll come. Don’t worry.” Rai whispered into her ear. She nodded tearfully.
“Poor Merlia.” She whispered back. He didn’t reply.
“It’s OK. I’m fine.” Said Merlia dreamily from over in her spot, still looking at the bat. Twilight didn’t think it was true. But then again, she was the most fascinating wolf she had ever met.
Just then there was a scraping sound from the door, and Rai led Twilight away. They ducked behind a boulder and waited.
Light flooding in and a shadow came across it. Twilight watched as they heaved an enormous body in, it’s mane dragging on the floor. It was a horse as they had said, bloody and freshly killed. Merlia choked. She hated it.
“Eat it. It’s all we’re givin’ yeh.” Snarled a wolf, and then the light went again. Twilight waited until the footsteps had died away, before charging to the corpse on the floor. She was so hungry.
Six of them tore at the juicy flesh, filling their stomachs. They would need the energy. But Twilight noticed Merlia sitting near a boulder watching them.
“Merlia, why don’t you have some? Aren’t you hungry?” She asked. Merlia shook her head.
“I don’t eat horse.” She said. Twilight was confused. She was a wolf. It was natural to eat horse. But she respected it and kept eating, while Merlia stomach growled in hunger.
“What are you going to eat then?” asked Krieger, tearing at some meat on a bone.
“I don’t know. I might just get a bat or something.” She replied dreamily, lying down and curling up, with her back turned. Twilight felt a terrible feeling of guilt at the bottom of her gut.
But it wasn’t her fault. It was the Shadows’. They were the ones who came to get them. But if they hadn’t been in the mountains, Merlia wouldn’t have met them, and none of them would’ve been in that part of the forest anyway.
But how had the Shadows found them? It definitely wasn’t a coincident that they found them. Someone was a traitor. Someone knew they were there. But who?

* * *
By the time they had filled their stomachs and were all very tired, Twilight had no idea of the time. They had no light, so they didn’t know where the sun was in the sky, if it was at all. So they all settled down in their own spots, making bed-like piles of dust in the corners. It was nice and soft dust, and quite comfortable to sleep on.
Twilight made herself as cosy as she could, and let Rai curl up next to her. He rested his head on her back and she felt warmer.
Copaci was hidden away in his own little corner, surrounded by small boulders. Krieger was in his own spot as well, and Skye wasn’t far away from Twilight and Rai. As Merlia curled up, alone and shivering, Ginger came up beside her. He lay down and rested his head on her back, warming her. Twilight smiled. He liked her. And Merlia wasn’t troubled by it at all.

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Yay! i have an admirer.

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i can't wait to read the next chapter.

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Chapter! Woohoo!

Plans

Twilight awoke soon enough, slowly and undisturbed. She had no idea if it was morning or not, or what the weather was like, or even if she was awake at all. This whole thing gelt like a nightmare.
Rai still had his head over her, warming and comfortable. She noticed that Ginger was still protecting Merlia, and they were both fast asleep.
Twilight decided to have a little more meat for breakfast. She slowly slid on her belly across the floor, being careful not to wake Rai. His head slowly flopped off her and lay on his paws. She smiled and got up, shaking herself of the dust that she had lay upon.
Twilight approached the enormous carcass of the horse and ripped off a large rib, covered in meat.
She took it over to a nice spot beside a big, sheltering boulder, and lay down. She held the bone between her paws and started gnawing on it, keeping herself occupied. It was rather nice.
As she chewed away, Twilight suddenly heard voices outside their cell in the hall. She dropped her meal and pricked her ears. The clatter on the stone floor disturbed Rai, and he woke up with a groan.
“Eeeurg…Twilight?” he moaned.
“Sssh!” She hissed, with her eyes still on the opening to the cave. Rai fell silent. They listened carefully to the voices outside.
“They will come, we must move!” said a voice, muffled.
“You may be wise, Poderos, but they will not get past our guards!” said another voice.
“Don’t argue with my decisions, Armik. You are the Beta, but you’re not the Alpha. Or head of the guards.” Said Poderos dangerously.
“They won’t escape, I’m telling you. We will capture their pack members, and our prisoners will not get out,”
“Don’t argue, Armik!” snarled Poderos very loudly, and there was a yelp as Armik was probably clawed.
“We lost many of our wolves, but we have more now!” cried Armik.
“My decision is final, Beta. Move the pups into the mountains by tomorrow morning, or I will personally have you killed.” Growled Poderos, and Twilight listened to his footsteps pacing away.
“Twilight,” began Rai.
“I know. They’re moving us. We have to get out of here!” panicked Twilight.
“It’s OK. If we go with it, we might be able to escape in our new spot.” Said Rai, ending it bitterly.
“OK.” She replied, calming herself. Maybe he was right. But what if there was a flaw? “Rai, come to the back of the cave, we have to find a way…”
“Twilight! Calm down! Don’t worry.” He approached her and licked her forehead. She sighed.
“OK.” She said, and decided to go and chew her bone again.

* * *
In a few hours time, when the seven of them were ever so bored, dust started falling from the ceiling and the boulder at the front shook.
“Ginger!” cried Skye, running to her brother. She whimpered. In a moment light began flooding in, and suddenly Twilight could see properly. The horse was absolutely destroyed.
A big wolf silhouette came across the doorway, before walking in with a snarl on his face. “Guards, get these pups collared.” He sneered. Seven wolves came in after, picking up the collars that lay in the dust upon the floor. Twilight knew there was no point in running. She just snarled nastily at the blue wolf that slipped a collar around her neck. He growled.
When everyone appeared to be held captive, the guards dragged the pups from the cave. Twilight went to walk next to Rai, and he licked her cheek as they walked along, pulled by the ropes.
As they came out into the tunnel of the Under Caves, instead of going up towards the light of the Alpha’s cave, they went further down, and it got darker and darker. Twilight shivered.
They stopped at a much more open cave than before, with a big doorway. They went in and found a small, shadowy cave. It wasn’t very pleasant. Twilight tugged against her rope, struggling and twisting her head around. But the guard just yanked her forward in his strong teeth, and she stopped.
As they went in, Twilight noticed that the cave had posts whacked into the stone all around, right by the walls. And cleverly tied around each post was a horse-hair and grass rope, with a birch collar at the end.
No. They were getting tied up. She stopped, digging her claws into the stone, snarling. The collar pushed up the fur around her neck, and it became uncomfortable. The guard pulled his head around, unbalancing Twilight and she gave up her hopes of escape.
Twilight was dragged to a pole at the back, where another wolf came along and held onto the scruff of her neck as the other pulled the collar off. She didn’t dare struggle, for the teeth biting into her would make her bleed terribly. As she was held, the other collar was slipped on and she was released.
Twilight stood and watched the others being pulled to their poles, and Copaci struggled terribly. There was a bit of blood as he was finally put on the pole, howling and snarling at the guards. They growled back and headed for the door, walking out to the tunnel.
Rai was placed next to Twilight, which was a great relief. Merlia was on the other side, and she hadn’t struggled at all. She stared at the floor, clearly upset. Rai pulled and pulled on his pole, but it was no use. The collar dug into his throat and he released, panting.
“What are we going to do?” sighed Skye from the end of the row next to Krieger.
“Don’t worry, pack!” said Rai confidently. “We’ll escape when we’re in the mountains.”
“Mountains?” said Ginger curiously.
“Yes, we’re going to the mountains.” Said Twilight. “We’re being moved tomorrow morning to a mountain cave.”
“Yes, and we’ll escape there.” Added Rai. The others nodded. “There may not be many guards.”
“May I ask,” said Merlia. “Why are we here anyway? It doesn’t make sense to me.” She lay down. Twilight choked. She knew she would have to answer that question sometime.
“Well, apparently our mother was taken to the Shadow Lands as a pup, because they wanted something from her. I guess now they want us so she’ll give herself in.” replied Twilight. “I’m so sorry you guys are here too,”
“It’s OK, Twilight. And anyway, I wouldn’t be able to bare it if you went alone.” Said Rai comfortingly. She nodded. It was just a terribly feeling of guilt.
“But Merlia, she didn’t even know us.” She said in a small voice.
“I am all right, honest. I barely had a life in the mountains anyway. This is an adventure!” said Merlia, smiling. Skye smiled too.

* * *
A couple of hours later Twilight had just drifted off, her thoughts filled with all kinds of things. Her bed was uncomfortable, especially with the collar getting in her way. And she couldn’t bare the feeling of not being able to walk anywhere.
She awoke slowly the next morning; she could tell now that their cave was open. She yawned and stretched, breathing in. The air smelled of dirt. Twilight stood and shook herself of the stuff, covering Rai with it beside her.
She looked out the door and suddenly spotted some shadows coming across the wall opposite. Then voices came. The guards were coming.
She immediately sat down and tried to behave herself, looking at the floor. The wolves came to the door, and Twilight glanced up, not moving her head. It was Armik followed by his eight guards, who traipsed into the cave.
The others woke as the Shadows tugged their ropes, dragging them up off the floor. Copaci snarled horribly, but resisted biting anyone. He kept a watchful eye on the captors.
The blue guard from last time approached Twilight, and they dared not look each other in the eye. She despised these wolves, and he felt the same about them.
“Don’t move, pup.” He snarled, grabbing the collar and ripping it from around her neck. He picked up another collar and slipped it on, yanking the rope so she’d walk over to the door. Twilight growled.
Rai was dragged over too, and he stood next to Twilight. “I could easily rip your collar off right now.” He snarled under his breath.
“Thanks.” Whispered Twilight. “But they’d probably kill you if you did it, then me after.” Rai sniffed in amusement.
“And then me again.” He muttered. Twilight giggled. In a moment all of their friends were gathered around the door, and the guards dragged them out into the tunnel.