Chapter 1: Dreaming
Lonnie and Aken glared at each other. It was mid-afternoon and they had wandered too far from camp on their little hunting trip. Aken sighed and looked up at the grey clouds lurking overhead.
"We haven't caught anything and we're a day walk from camp. We haven't got sleeping sacks and we don't have much tinder either, not to mention the storm on the way. Now what are we supposed to do?" Aken asked. Lonnie took a swig from his waterskin then filled it up in the river.
"Ok! So I made a mistake. I'm sorry." Lonnie said sullenly. He looked at the older boy. While Aken was older, Lonnie was tall and so they were a similar height. Aken had tanned skin and dark brown hair. His light brown eyes contrasted to the rest of him, unsettling Lonnie.
"I remember passing what looked like a cave a little while back. We could make it half way back to camp if we leave now." Lonnie pointed out. Aken looked at him and then nodded. The two raven clan boys headed quickly to shelter before the storm's fury hit.
Ochre stirred as she slept...
In this Now, she is hugging a tailless. The tailless has the same coloured hair as her and it is blowing around her face. The strands of red hair tickle her nose. The tailless cradles her gently. She stretches up to look into the large green eyes of the tailless. She smiles at Ochre and presses her muzzle to her forehead. Ochre feels warm tingles shoot through her body. Another tailless appears. He is tall and different from the kind female tailless. He has a darker pelt and dark hair. But his eyes are a light grey, just like Ochre's father in the real Now. She reaches for the tall tailless willingly. She knows these taillesses. They are her parents.
Suddenly, the taillesses are running. She doesn't know where, but she senses fear and anger. She sees her mother and her father run towards the taillesses and Ochre is suddenly hanging from her mother's mouth. Mother is also scared.
Ochre yelped in her sleep. Darkfur raised her muzzle to check on her. Ochre jolted upright, her eyes wide from the nightmare. Darkfur wandered over to her and licked her face.
I dreamed of the tall tailless and his mate.
She told her mother. Darkfur's green eyes glittered like the sunlight hitting tree leaves.
You dream about them often.
Yes. Who are they?
Darkfur licked Ochre's face.
You are tired. Sleep.
Ochre looked at her mother. She was curious to know why her mother never said anything about the taillesses. Ochre curled up next to Darkfur and closed her eyes and sank into a deep and tired sleep.
When Ochre awoke in the morning, she heard her pack brothers playing outside the den. They were born two summers ago but had grown much faster than her. Ochre stretched then wandered outside and headed off to the fast wet. It was a clear morning but there was the tense feeling in the air that comes before a storm. Small mammals scurried around checking burrows and birds fussed about their nests. As she approached the fast wet she saw tailless tracks. Someone had been walking beside the fast wet recently. Looking around cautiously, Ochre drank some wet and then caught herself looking at her reflection.
Her eyes were the colour of spring grass, her fur only grew on her head and was an ochre colour, hence her name. Her pelt was not as pale as some tailless pelts, but the tall tailless in her dreams had a darker pelt. Her muzzle was different than a normal wolf. Everything about her was different from a normal wolf. Ochre turned her back from the truth of her reflection. She wasn't a wolf. That was why her mother had kept her away from tailless camps. Ochre took another quick drink before joining her brothers on a hunt.