Wolves
The sun was rising over the horizon as the wolves awakened from sleep. The first to wake was Fluff, a young wolf of five months old. He awoke hungry, and trotted over to the remains of their last meal. Swift awoke next; he was a very active wolf and was Fluff’s brother. He was ready for fun, and grabbed the other end of the bone that Fluff was eating and pulled, instantly beginning a game of tug-o-war. Thunder was the next to awaken. He saw the pups playing and decided to go get them something like a Jackrabbit for them to play with, instead of the good food. Shadow was already awake watching the pups. The other wolves, Storm, Sparkle, and Boulder, were awakened by the pups loud play. They stretched and walked around while Sparkle helped Fluff with the tug o’ war. Thunder returned with a nice Jackrabbit. The pups enjoyed eating the rabbit, and playing with more bones. The wolves were content in their homes in the desert of Texas. They played, hunted, and slept in their cool, comfortable den. Shadow came from a line of leaders, strong and fit, they also had good leadership skills. They knew when to hunt, how to hunt, when to teach the pups how to hunt, and kept the pack in good spirits. Sparkle left another pack when she was a good-sized pup, she never liked the pack, and she was rejected when she tried to play, and the leader was just mean. Shadow’s only respect for the leader was his strength. But the more the pack stayed the more the food became scarce, it dropped slowly, and the pack never realized it for many years, then Shadow decided to move north farther, the food was no less scarce. In fact the farther north they got, the less food there was! Shadow tried many locations and the farther north they moved Shadow became more worried. Until the reached New Mexico, (they went East some too). Then food flourished, they found a nice location for a den and dug it deeper. When mating season came, Shadow took Sparkle as his mate. The new territory was not as large as the old one, the area to the left and right, were owned by more wolves, and because of all the food, there were many wolves in the packs. Shadow was worried about the wolves attacking, because he knew had little wolf power, compared to them. But peace reigned for quite a long time, and when Sparkle starting to look nervous and go into the den, Shadow knew that pups were coming! Fluff and Swift were older now and would make good playmates for the pups. Swift was so anxious to see the pups he couldn’t hold it, he ran around, jumped, and wouldn’t calm down. When the pups finally came, Shadow took the other wolves out and waited for Sparkle to bring them out when she was ready. The happy cries of the newborn pups could be heard from outside. But Sparkle was not ready to bring them out yet. There was little time to celebrate. Shadow looked above the den and saw Three big wolves standing above the den. And a little pup that wandered with them. Shadow barked and snarled, the wolves did not back down, they jumped at Shadow but Boulder smashed into the side of one and knocked another off his course. Boulder fought one Shadow fought the leader, and Storm fought the other wolf. Thunder happened to be off hunting. Swift got Fluffs attention and headed towards the other pack’s pup, Fluff got the idea and the tackled the pup and wrestled around with it. Fluff thought it was not fun to fight, so he stood back and watched Swift wrestle the pup. Swift rolled the pup over and accidentally choked him, he got off, but the pup whined. The leader of the other pack turned around and attacked Swift, but before he could kill him (because Swift was so fast) Fluff jumped at the leader and bit him on the throat, which distracted him enough for Swift to get away. Then the leader grabbed Fluff in his mouth and threw him at a rock. Shadow jumped back on the leader and fought him again. Swift ran to Fluff and whimpered at him, Fluff got up looked at him in the eye, whimpered a weak cry, and fell over unconscious. Swift was so mad that he
jumped back on the leader and bit him over and over. The leader jumped off Shadow, discouraged, and ran off with the pup and other wolves. Shadow ran to Fluff. Shadow picked him up in his mouth and brought him in the den. Sparkle’s pups were so pretty! Shadow was the first to see them. And a few weeks later the rest of the pack saw them. Swift was punished quite a few times for being too rough with the pups. Fluff recovered slowly, he was able to limp, but his front right leg bothered him a lot. The encounter with the wolves was odd, because Shadow realized their scent was different from the wolves around their territory. Fluff also enjoyed playing with the pups. There were three of them, Gentle Eyes, Zephyr, and Faehn. Faehn turned out to be as active as Swift. They played together often. Gentle was quiet and she never wrestled anyone. Zephyr was like Fluff, liked to play, but moderately gentle. Shadow began to take Swift and Fluff on hunts, because they were quite big now. Swift was so happy he was hard to hunt with, but Shadow understood his excitement. When Fluff finally downed his first antelope, Swift was jealous and worked twice as hard to catch one. He did the next day. Then war broke out. Boulder attacked Shadow in a leadership dispute, Shadow fought with Boulder and defeated him soon after. He knew now to watch out for Boulder, and to always be on his guard. Boulder became more and more aggressive. And when mating season came again, a female came from another pack and Storm became attracted to her, but Boulder needed a mate or else he would lose his authority. Storm took the new female, Blossom as his mate. Swift was a better hunter everyday, and the more he hunted the more he liked it. Faehn was jealous of Swift because Swift could hunt, but not him. So Faehn followed Swift on one of his evening hunts by himself, when Swift realized that Faehn was coming along, instead of getting mad, thought it would be fun. So the two hunted all evening until the finally downed their prize. They next day Fluff went on an early hunt, Shadow watched him leave and then realized, that one more bed was empty, it was Boulder’s. Shadow knew what was going to happen, Boulder would probably lose his authority to Storm, so he wanted Thunder, Swift, and Fluff under him. That is what happened, Boulder attacked Fluff while he was crouched down ready to chase a pack of antelope. Fluff fought as hard as he could but lost, and gave in. Thunder was attacked near the den when it was time to eat, Boulder went in to eat ahead of Thunder, knowing that it would start a fight, Boulder won after a short fight. Swift was also attacked, but he rolled Boulder back off and jumped on him, after a hard lengthy fight, Boulder finally gave in. Swift noticed how strong he actually was, he thought about trying Shadow, but he dropped the idea almost instantly, but thought began to linger in the back of his mind. So he watched Shadow, and learned how to be a good leader. He attacked Shadow near the den one evening, he rolled Shadow over, and tried to choke him, but Shadow kicked Swift off and growled, Swift circled Shadow slowly and then jumped at Shadow again, he was attacking again! He wrestled Shadow and choked him hard when Shadow tried to kick, Swift moved to the side; wrong move. Shadow was able to roll out and jumped Swift, but Swift had seen this happen before, and instead of wrestling for the top, Swift laid down when Shadow tried to bite him in the neck; this was becoming a rough battle. When Swift lay down and Shadow tried to bite, Swift jerked his head up and hit Shadow in the jaw. He then bit Shadow in the leg and kicked Shadow over, Swift then jumped back on Shadow, and Shadow whimpered. Swift won! Shadow was amazed at Swift’s strength, but was concerned for the pack, how good of a leader would Swift turn out to be? The pups came after a few more days; Swift was amazed at how quickly he went from new hunter, to Leader! Blossom had two pups, and Sparkle had three. Boulder was mad, because since Shadow is Beta wolf now, and Storm is a Father, than they are both above him. One thing was sure; he was going to make this new wolf’s leadership miserable. He disobeyed often, and tested his limits. He ruined hunts, unless he was hungry, and threatened to go into the den, this greatly angered Swift, because he did not want the pups disturbed. Eventually Boulder was told to go away, he tried to look gruff and disobedient, but Swift’s mean glare, and large fangs, disturbed Boulder and he left. The new pups came out of the den a week later. Frolic, Little Ears, Cactus, Sunshade, and Tracks. They played happily. Faehn was now a full-fledged hunter. Probably the best of the pack. He was swift, and smart but not strong enough to match other wolves' skills in wrestling. Thunder took a particular liking to Sunshade. He taught him how to fight, although the pup was merely two months out of the den. It was fun for Thunder to watch him try to fight. It was like a bird attacking a rock; there was so much energy, but little force behind it. Then a howl of rage filled the air. The nearby packs smelled the new pups, and the females Blossom and Sparkle. The pack from the East attacked at dawn the next day. There were nine wolves in the enemy’s pack. Zephyr and Faehn could fight, but Gentle Eyes did not like to fight. But Sparkle, Blossom, Zephyr, Faehn, Thunder, Swift, Storm, and Shadow was 8, Swift was confident in his skills, and attacked the leader first. The fight was pretty evenly matched, and once again, the pups were restless, they all attacked a wolf that was ready to attack Storm, who was already fighting another wolf. There were so many pups that they brought the wolf down. They knew they had no way of making the wolf quit, so they just made sure he stayed there. Now the wolves were even. 8 to 8. Then, out of nowhere came the other pack! 7 strong! The leader saw a deadly strike, if he aimed his jump right, he could kill Swift quickly. Then “THWACK” Boulder jumped from his ambush position and struck the leader square in the neck. And two more wolves also struck the new pack. They were Striker and Rain. The fight was hard for the wolves. Thunder was killed when he was kicked over a small cliff and hit his head on a rock. Zephyr was also killed trying to save Rain. The battle ended when both the other packs leaders were killed. Swift accepted Boulder, Rain, and Striker back into the pack. Rain was Boulder’s mate. When the day ended, two wolves were dead, and three wolves joined. Thunder and Zephyr were sorely missed. Boulder was not as rough as he was before. He even played with Little Ears! Sunshade still liked to play, but not as much since Thunder was gone. Swift also realized, that he just defeated the nearby packs! He could make his territory as big as he wanted! They drove the two wolf packs out of their territory the next day, with no opposition. And they marked their new territory boundaries with scent. The pups Cactus and Little Ears wanted to wrestle a wolf, because they wrestled each other too often. They tried Faehn, but he was tired, and the pups realized that almost all the wolves were resting. So they went ahead and attacked Gentle Eyes who was chewing on a bone. Gentle Eyes was a little startled, but then she played with them. The pups were very strong, and they beat her. She was surprised at the skills. The pack was becoming too big. So Shadow and Sparkle left the pack with Striker, Frolic, and Tracks. Now Swift’s pack was down to Storm, Faehn, Sunshade, Gentle Eyes, Boulder, Rain, Cactus, Blossom, and Little Ears, that was nine. They were a big pack. Swift had no mate; he was concerned for his leadership. He would eventually lose it. No, he was not going to lose it; he had to keep it. So he took Gentle Eyes as his mate, the next mating season. No food was hard to find. If they wanted something, they could get it. It was the perfect territory. No matter where they were there was always something fun to do. Swift turned out to be a good leader after all. Shadow’s pack’s story can be read in another book. Swift awoke one morning to find that Boulder and Little Ears were missing. Swift started calling for them, he waited for awhile, and when they did not show up, he decided to start looking for them. He found them near a brook. Little Ears was obviously sick. Boulder had taken him to the water for him to drink. Swift ran to Little Ears and saw that he was having difficulty breathing. Swift thought about punishing Boulder for not awakening him, but then he realized that Boulder probably thought that Little Ears needed water fast. Swift thought that Little Ears was maybe dehydrated, but his throat was swollen. He couldn’t drink, or eat. But Boulder made him drink anyway. And continually made him drink. Because this is what killed Boulder’s old mate. But it kills them more from dehydration, and lack of food, then of the disease itself. Boulder continued to make Little Ears eat, and drink. It seemed he was getting better, but then it got worse. It spread to Cactus and Blossom. They had to be force fed also. Then Cactus died. Blossom became disheartened after Cactus died, she felt worse, and she died the next afternoon. But Little Ears didn’t die. He continued to eat and drink. And he eventually got better. With Cactus and Blossom dead, Swift was loosing faith in his leadership, no wolves died when Shadow was in charge, at least not from disease, Shadow always knew how to get them better. Boulder noticed this. He waited for Swift to become even more solemn. When Boulder awoke a few days later, he noticed that Swift was gone, he went and followed his scent trail. He followed it to the brook, then lost it. He crossed the brook and couldn’t pick up the scent. He knew Swift was gone. Boulder returned to the pack with the sad news. Swift had either walked along the side of the brook and left no trail. Or he drowned in the water, somehow. Boulder took charge. He barked the pack into action. And he started running leading the back to the edge of their territory. And began to howl to the other pack. Boulder howled first, with Rain joining in next, then Sunshade, and Faehn, then Storm, then the rest. All of them howling with a beautiful sound. As they quieted down, they listened for the reply from the other pack.
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