Wolf's Rain—The Untold Story

Red Snow

Well, this is my first story on here... I came up with the names that weren't already in Wolf's Rain (such as Jagura). Don't worry about this not having Kiba and the others in it, because they'll show up soon! I hope you all enjoy it, and know that this will not end as badly as Wolf's Rain did! Happy Reading!

Chapter One: When the Wolf Howls

Blood. There was blood everywhere. I shook my head, and blood spattered onto the cold, hard ground. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was running from the Royal's ship with my pack, and now here I was in this old, abandoned city, with blood all over me and all around me. Where was my pack? It was just then that I noticed a still shape laying some distance from me. I darted over, at first a wolf, but when I knelt in the pool of blood spreading around my pack leader, I appeared to be a human girl with short, autumn red hair and brilliantly bright sky blue eyes. I was small, but some had called me cute. I didn't like it. A wolf shouldn't be cute. We haven't survived this long by being cute.

I looked down at Raze, the leader of our motley crew. He was weak and unable to hold his human illusion in place. He flickered wildly from gray-faced brown wolf to an older man with gray in his dark hair. He grimaced in pain, and I could see the injuries the Royal's weapon had inflicted. He would not live much longer. I touched my muzzle--my hands--to his shoulder, which was relatively uninjured.

"Raze?" I whispered, my voice breaking. He opened one pale green eye to stare at me.

"How did you..." he asked, but couldn't finish. I knew what he meant to say, though. How had I survived? Hell, if I knew.

I stood over him as he died, and raised my voice in a song for him, for all he'd done for me. I had come to his pack up in the mountains as a runty pup that stood out from the trees and the rocks because of my red fur. When the Jagura, one of the Nobles, had started hunting wolves, we had decided to leave our home in the mountains. They could too easily trap us there, or burn us out of the forest. In the end, that was exactly what had happened. Many of us had died, and the few who had escaped had been roaming ever since. Now it seemed as if those few were missing.

Leaving his body there, I looked around me. There was blood all over the ground, and I knew that all of it could not have come from Raze. Surely some of the others were dead. I choked back another howl at that thought, and set my mind to finding the others. I tried to think of where the others had been when the Noble's ship had attacked. At first, we had been running in a pack, but Raze had ordered us to split up, so that it would be harder for the ship to hit us. I had been running closer to Raze than the others, so...

As if I had summoned it, the ship came back into sight. I growled, low and long. What could I do alone? I had to get out of there. I turned to run, and knew the exact moment when the ship spotted me. A beam of red light struck the ground beside me, gouging a path through the concrete of the city's street. I yelped as I was thrown sideways. I rolled and came up running, my legs a blur as I sprinted for the outskirts of the city. I could hear the ship behind me, and feel the force of the laser as it hit the ground just feet from me. I kept running, not looking back. Keep moving forward, I told myself over and over. Keep moving.

I don't know when the ship stopped following me, but I was soon in the trees of the forest surrounding the city. That was where I found Nara, one of the pack. She was banged up really bad, but at least she was still alive. Keeping one ear straining for sounds of the Noble's ship, I rushed to her. She looked up at me, her golden eyes empty of everything but pain.

"Hey, Red," she growled, though she didn't seem to be angry with me. I dropped to the ground beside her, my white underbelly brushing the blood-soaked ground. I nosed her side anxiously.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice soft.

"You don't remember?" she laughed bitterly, "I sure wish I didn't. The Nobles took Drair and Myla and that new wolf... What was his name?" she squinted her eyes shut, trying hard to remember.

"Tinder. His name was Tinder," I said quietly. She nodded.

"They took him too, only he was acting weird, like his ears were killing him, or something..." she sighed, "I have to find them..." she struggled to get to her feet, blood dripping onto the ground from her wounds. With a cry of pain, she collapsed again. I realized from the blood trail leading here that she had been doing this for a while.

"Nara, calm down," I pleaded, "You'll hurt yourself. Let me help."

She stared up at the suddenly human-looking me. Her eyes softened, "Yes, Red. Thanks."

I reached down and grasped her upper arms, where she appeared to be less injured. I pulled her to her feet and let her lean against me, "Have you seen Kahe? I didn't see him anywhere on my way here."

She shook her head, "Last I saw of him, he was going after the ship. I tried, but you see how far I got. We were all injured, all but you and...Tinder." Her eyes went hard. "They just grabbed him. They didn't even try to kill him."

I frowned as I helped her along, deciding not to comment on that. We hadn't known Tinder long, but he had seemed nice, if a little strange. I was not one to judge, though, me with my red fur and blue eyes. He'd also had that collar with that weird symbol on it.... "Do you think it had to do with his collar?" I asked, thoughtful.

"How the hell should I know?" Nara growled, her voice sharp with pain. "I just know that I didn't trust him."

I left it at that, not wanting to antagonize her while she was so injured. I continued my steady pace until night.

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I collapsed after settling Nara in a comfortable position. She had been asleep for a while, so I had been dragging her, more or less carrying her. I lay there panting, knowing in my mind that I could never save the others while I was trying to help Nara. I had to find a place to leave her, a place where she could be safe. I could travel faster on my own. As I lay there, I thought of Kahe. He was a big, chocolate brown wolf with a splash of red on his tail, as if it had been dipped in blood. When he was human, he had short, slightly spiky brown hair and deep, deep blue eyes. He was so tall and lithely muscled. His shoulders were so broad, his hands so big and warm. I admitted to myself that I loved him. He seemed to think of me as just a little sister. I hoped he was safe, wherever he was. That was my last thought before I went to sleep.

When I awoke, I saw Nara staring at me, her eyes grave. I leaned up, groaning at my stiff muscles, "What's the matter, Nara?" I asked sleepily.

"You have to leave me here," she told me, her voice so quiet I almost couldn't hear it. I stared at her, my mouth gaping open. She frowned at me, "I mean it. You'll never catch up to the others if I'm slowing you down. You have to leave me."

I finally found my voice, "I can't leave you here. I'll find a place where someone can help you. If I leave you without any food and without taking care of your injuries, you'll die." My voice broke. I had seen too many deaths recently.

She closed her eyes and gave a relieved sigh, "You're a good kid, Red."

I smiled, "You're not so bad, yourself."

She started to struggle to her feet, "We need to get moving. There should be a city around here somewhere. Maybe someone will take me in until I heal."

"Yeah," I said, a little doubtfully. The best thing to do would be to find a wolf pack, but if we didn't see any wolves within the next day or so, I'd have to leave her with the humans, despite my deep distrust of them.

And so we continued, me supporting most of Nara's weight, while she tried to stay conscious through the pain. The next evening, we reached the top of a large cliff and looked down the steep drop to see a small village. It looked so small, so far away. I sighed, knowing we would have to get down to it somehow. It would be hard with Nara's weight unbalancing me. It was then that I heard it.

Arooooo....

The Howl of the wolf reached me above the blistering wind. My darker red ears pricked, catching the sound. There was a wolf nearby, and they were in trouble. I looked down at Nara, now a golden brown she-wolf. She nodded to me, her bright golden eyes calm.

"Go," she told me, "I'll still be here."

Without another word, I turned and leaped back into the forest. I heard a snarl, loud and nearby. Just then, I broke from the trees and into a small clearing. At the center of the clearing was a group of the Royal's guards surrounding something. That something was a small, skinny gray wolf. His eyes were panicked, and he was already bleeding from a bullet graze on his cheek. His bright sea-green eyes, wide and scared, met mine. I saw his shoulders sag in relief.

One of the guards turned from where he was torturing the wolf to see what he was staring at. He spotted me, "Hey! There's another one!" he yelled.

All the guards turned to look at me, which was about as stupid as if they'd thrown down their guns and yelled, "KILL ME!" You never turn your back on a wolf, no matter how small or scared he is. As soon as they had all turned their attention to me, the gray wolf struck, leaping up to grasp the back of a man's neck in his jaws. The man screamed, and when everyone turned to look at them, I went for another man's throat. His scream was cut short as I crushed his fragile neck. The men were confused. Which one should they attack? If I were them, I would have shot me, since I was the bigger wolf and I appeared to be faster and fiercer than the gray, but these men were used to dealing with one wolf at a time. They split up and tried to take us on.

It was more of a slaughter than a fight.

When it was over, I licked the disgusting human blood from my muzzle and looked at the gray wolf, "Are you all right?" I asked him, looking in disdain at the blood that stained my white paws and throat.

He nodded, his eyes wide, "Who are you?" he asked, his voice shaking.

I motioned for him to follow me, "My name's Red Snow, but you can call me Red for short." I looked back to see that he had fallen in behind me, his head down and his shoulders slumped, "So what's your name?" I asked.

"Brekken," he mumbled, his eyes not meeting mine, "Where are you taking me?" he asked, so quietly I almost didn't hear him.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, "You must think I'm taking you prisoner, or something! I'm so sorry!" I laughed, "I left my injured friend back here when I heard you. I need to get back there before she dies of boredom."

He looked up then, and his eyes were so pretty, such a brilliant blue-green. His beautiful eyes smiled timidly at me, "Thank you, for helping me," he murmured.

I grinned wolfishly at him, "No prob," I said, and then I heard Nara from a short distance away.

"Who are you with, Red? What was going on over there?" she sounded slightly anxious. Soon she came into view, and sure enough, her brow was furrowed, and she was pricking her ears towards the woods. I gave a happy yip and bounced to her.

"I found a wolf! His name's Brekken!" I gave her ear an affectionate lick.

She frowned at me, but at least she looked friendly when she turned to Brekken, "Welcome to the group," she told him kindly.

"Thanks," he nodded regally to her.

"Are you traveling alone?" she asked, her gaze radiating concern. He nodded. She gasped, "Well, that's no good! He'll have to come with us, won't he, Red?" she looked at me, and I stared back, my mouth hanging open slightly. She frowned at my rudeness, "Red? We can't leave him alone!"

My jaws snapped shut. I gave a quiet laugh. Nara didn't want me to be alone on my search for the rest of the pack, so she did what she could to get this loner to join us--namely me. I looked at him, studying him. He wouldn't be much use in a big fight, or a fight against other wolves, but if he could keep up with me...

"I think that's fine," I said, "Welcome aboard."

And that was how Brekken joined our little group, and how he came to be one of my best friends.

So how was it? Please review, and tell me how I did, and some of your suggestions! I'll try my best to make it interesting, and I'll be typing feverishly until the second chapter's done! Until next time!