Tell Me What The Rain Knows
By AniuLonewolf
Chapter 1
o-o
The sun was setting behind the lush trees. And with the disappearance of the sunlight, she knew that the danger of the night would soon be upon her. Her body was broken, crimson red blood soaked her midnight black fur. The gash on her paw making her limp through the underbrush.
The scent of the ruling pack in this forest was strong and she knew it was only a matter of time before they would find her. And she knew in her wounded condition that she was in, she wouldn't be able to fight them off for long.
The sky started to get darker and the starts appeared, accompanying the silver moon. An unfamiliar shiver ran up and down the injured wolf's spine. She had never been a long wolf before. She had always been with her pack, with her family and friends by her side. But now she was alone, the family and friends of her pack killed by hunters.
Another shiver ran down her back when she picked up the sound of howling. The ruling pack of this forest was out and they where on the hunt. Looking around, her nose picked up the scent of other wolves. She thought that she would have a few minutes to be able to dart away but froze when she saw other golden eyes gleaming in the bushes. Growls came from the bushes and a few wolves emerged from the lush leaves of the foliage.
"And what the hell are you doing our forest?" One wolf said, the right hand man next to the alpha, raising his head high, showing him 'importance'.
She raised her eyebrow just a bit as she studied the wolf in front of her. He looked familiar somehow. Shaking her head a bit, she locked eyes with him. "I'm just passing through." The black wolf said, not blinking an eye or flinching. She knew that if she showed any signs of fear, she was doomed. "I'm not here to make any trouble so let me pass." She said calmly, taking a small step forward.
A slightly larger wolf slowly walked out from the leaves. She knew he was the alpha and lowered her head a bit, not wanting to appear like she was challenging him or anything. Two black wolves that were standing beside the leader growled, baring their fangs. "How dare you." The one on the right growled. "You have no right to come through our forest."
The leader, a big muscular dark brown alpha with a scar over his snout, suddenly turned and snapped at the one that just spoke, barely missing his neck. "Silence." He growled and all the wolves in the pack lowered their heads and tails.
The black wolf watched this and felt her heart beat speed up. What where they going to do with her? That question ran through her mind that whole time as she tried to act calm in front of the wolf pack. But for some reason, the leader looked so familiar somehow but she couldn't put her paw on it.
The alpha wolf looked back at her and she felt herself stiffen from the look in his eyes. The look alone in his eyes said it all and she knew that she was trouble.
Lust.
"What's a beautiful young lady doing out here all by herself in this dark, dangerous forest?" The leader said, walking up to her. "Wait a minute." He said and looked into her eyes. "We've met before haven't we? Yes, yes. I remember now." He chuckled, evilly. "Your father was that leader of the pack that was traveling around here wasn't he?" He asked.
Suddenly, it all came back to her in a fearful flood of flashbacks. Yes, he was right. She had met him before, a long time ago. Their packs had met up one time and he had tried to ask her father if he could become her mate. Both her and her father had turned down the offer and the leader had gotten angry, yelling as he left, a promise that he would get her no matter what.
She knew she had to get out of there. She was in danger. Her tongue went numb and she couldn't speak. She was so scared that she was frozen in place, watching the leader wolf walk in circles around her, obviously checking her out.
"You know..." The male said, swishing his bushy tail under her chin. "I've been looking for a female to be my mate and have my pups. I've searched high and low but I still never forgot your face." He said, brushing his tail over her black snout. "I found you again and now you're all alone. No daddy to protect you this time." He whispered in her ear, causing her to shiver uncontrollably.
That was it! She had to get out of there, now! She glanced around and saw that the pack was one step ahead of her and they had circled her, blocking her exit and only freedom.
"I'm sure you're a very strong female indeed. You were so head strong the last time we met, I'm sure you haven't changed." He continued. "You will bare me many strong pups."
"N-No." She said, gaining her voice again. "No!" She yelled and took off, away from the alpha male. She tried to get away and managed to jump between two members of the pack and took off into the forest. She couldn't stop running, not caring where she was going. As long as she was getting away from that pack.
She tried to run her fastest but her fresh wounds from humans slowed her down, not able to run at full speed. Turning, she looked over her shoulder and saw that the pack was right behind her, hot on her tail.
"Come on Trixie, come on back here and we can talk this out." The leader called out to her, using some nickname that he probably uses on other females that he tried to get.
Her nose never failed and she could smell the scent of lust coming from him. He was lying through his teeth and her nose picked it up.
She was trapped. She'd never been in this forest before and she didn't know where she was going.
It didn't matter, as long as she got away from that sick wolf and his pack. She kept running, her fresh wounds opening up more and slowing her down even more.
Trees and bushes flashed by her as she jumped rocks and logs. She tripped and gashed her hind leg. Trying to forget about the burning pain in her body, she pushed herself to run faster. She turned left, thinking she would lose them.
But it didn't. Instead she ran right into a dead end. Tall oak trees and giant boulders blocked her path and her way to freedom. Taking a few steps back, she lowered her head to try and catch her breath.
"I got you now, Trixie." The familiar voice called out from behind her.
'Shit.'
She thought to herself, snapping her head back up and turned around to face the pack once again. "Leave me alone." She growled. Her black ears flattened back against her skull and she bared her sharp white fangs in a fearsome snarl.
She watched, eyes darting every which way as the pack slowly advanced, circling around her. After the rest of the pack stopped moving, she kept her eyes on the alpha male. She wasn't going to back down now and let this guy use her. She was going to stand her ground and fight. Even if it killed her.
Suddenly, without warning the alpha male gave a silent command and the pack all of a sudden turned and attacked. The black wolf tried to run but her left paw stopped her from moving. Five large males jumped on her, snapping at her with their sharp teeth, gashing her even more.
She tried to fight them off. Her once soft silky black fur was matted and soaked in her crimson red blood. Her eyesight was starting to get blurry due to the amount of blood loss.
After a while the sharp pain faded from her body and shock soaked through her veins, making her body numb. Her legs gave way and she fell to the ground with a lifeless thud.
o-o-o-o
"Man, I'm starving." A chubby timber wolf moaned, lowering his head. A black collar-like necklace jingled as he jogged faster to keep up with the rest of his pack of five. "We haven't eaten in days." He sighed.
"Shut up and quit your belly aching." The sharp grey wolf snapped, glaring down at the timber wolf. The silver wolf was covered in little scars all over his body from all the fights he had been in but the one that stuck out the most was the 'X' shaped scar across his chest.
"Kiba, can we stop for a little while to rest." A red wolf pup asked, hanging his head low to the ground. "My paws are killing me." He said, looking down at his paws, one had four silver bracelets on and whenever he took a step, jingled happily.
The only female of the pack, walking beside the timber wolf, her head also hanging low to the sand and her dry tongue lulled out the side of her mouth. Her dark, midnight fur stood out in the sandy brown of the dry dirt. Her sea blue eyes were half open as the dying heat of the sun beat down on her back.
The five wolves continued on, their leader not giving an answer just yet. The chubby timber wolf was Hige, a fun wolf with a happy-go-lucky attitude. Beside him was Blue, a black dog-wolf cross who joined them just a little while ago. The sharp grey wolf was Tsume, a rouge, loner type who found himself traveling with the others. The youngest was Toboe, a caring individual who was raised by a human when he was just a pup. The leader of the small pack was a snow white wolf named Kiba who had traveled into the city and that was when he had met the others.
"We'll stop in a little while." Was all the pure white wolf said, as he continued on, walking in the sand dunes of the desert.
"That's the seventh time you've said that." The grey wolf, Tsume growled at the white wolf who was Kiba.
"Yes, I know but I smell water just up ahead." Kiba said without turning to face his pack.
The red wolf, Toboe and the timber wolf, Hige suddenly found some hidden energy and took off in a mad dash to try and get to the water as fast as they would, Kiba, Tsume and Blue following after them.
When they finally made it to the forest, they walked down what seemed to be a cleared out path that was made by someone or something. They continued anyway, looking around at the different trees and plants that grew around them as they followed their noses to try and locate the water that their dried throats needed so much.
"Hey!" Hige called out to the others. "I found a spring!"
At the sound of found water, Kiba, Toboe, Blue and Tsume dashed over to where the timber wolf was. There, right ahead of them was a beautiful spring, swimming with fish and crystal clear.
All five wolves walked up the crystal clear water and one by one, lowered their heads to take a long, needed drink of water. The cold water felt so good, trickling down their dry throats.
After the long needed drink, the five decided to take a break from traveling and they were to stay and rest in the forest for a couple days.
Tsume and Hige started a competition to see who could catch the most fish. Tsume was winning by a long shot. Their shares piled up quickly until Blue said that time was up and they were going to use the caught fish for supper that night.
Toboe went exploring, saying that he would be back by night fall, which was in a couple hours. The young red wolf walked all over, exploring all he could before the sun set. Just before he was going to turn back, he caught the scent of blood and saw tracks of other wolves in the dirt and followed them.
Following the tracks, he saw that they were wolf prints in the mud and that was blood with the one set of tracks. An injured wolf was being chased by a pack of its own kind?
Interested, Toboe continued to follow the track until he came to another clearing with a dead end, surrounded by tall rocks and huge oak trees. The tracks had stopped and there was blood everywhere and three lifeless wolf bodies on the ground.
The red wolf slowly walked up to the others of his kind, afraid that they were going to suddenly spring to life as mindless zombies.
"Come on Toboe, pull yourself together." The red-brown furred pup laughed at his own thoughts.
The two wolves looked to both be male, both a chocolate brown colour and covered in blood. From the look of their wounds, Toboe came to the conclusion that they were killed by being kitten in the jugular.
The other wolf was a midnight black. Judging from her slender frame, Toboe guessed that she was a female. Save for her entire body covered in a thick coat of black fur, she had deep wounds all over her body, the midnight black stained deep crimson red.
Toboe was captivated by the female's beauty. He walked closer to her, studying her face when suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he saw her move. Just a flick of her tail. Staying still, he watched her very closely. A minute went by and he saw her chest slowly rise and fall. She was alive!
Nuzzling her snout, he tried to wake her up. "Hey." He whined, not really knowing what to say. "A-Are you ok?"
"Do I look like I'm ok?" She whispered, her throat sore. Her eyes opened and looked around, her vision blurry. "Who are you?" She asked, trying to get up but failed. Trying again, she got up on her front legs, too weak, sitting up but her energy was drained quickly and was about to fall to the ground when Toboe caught her, using his head and neck to keep her up.
"Why are you here?" She asked, looking down at him. Why was this guy -a complete stranger- helping her?
"I saw your tracks." Toboe explained. "Where you the one who was being chased?" He asked.
The wide, scared look in her eyes answered his question and she pushed off of his back, trying to get away. Of course, with her severe injuries, it wasn't that easy.
"Where are you going?" Toboe asked, following her, walking beside her, making sure that she didn't fall. "I'm not here to cause any problems. I just want to help you."
"Why?" She suddenly snapped, turning to face him with a snarl. "Do you want to trick me into trusting you and then use me?" She snarled, baring her fangs.
"N-No, it's nothing like that." Toboe stuttered, shocked that she would think such a thing. "I just want to help you because I want to." He tried to explain without giving her any kind of wrong idea. He just wanted to help a fellow wolf. "Why did you ask me that?" He asked, curiously.
The black wolf's snarl got louder and instead of getting in his face, she stepped back and lowered her head. "That's what they tried to do to me last night." She whimpered. "They tried to... to..."
"It's ok, you don't need to say." He said and felt his heart go out to her. She was only around his age, just a 'teenager' wolf. Taking a small step closer to her, he nuzzled her neck, giving her a comforting hug because he felt so sorry for her.
"What are you doing?" She asked, surprised that he was doing that.
"I feel sorry for you." Toboe smiled and then an idea came to him. "Why don't you come back with me? My friends and I are resting here for a while and if you come with me, I could help you bandage those wounds up." The red wolf suggested, wagging his tail, showing that he was a friend.
"You're not fooling me here, are you?" The black wolf asked, raising an eyebrow. Toboe could see that her body was tense and ready to spring away.
"I promise on my life, I'm not lying." Toboe said, every word coming from his heart. "If you come with me, I can help you."
After a few minutes of thinking, the black wolf finally agreed to go with the red wolf. They walked down the path, leaving the other dead wolves in the clearing.
"So..." Toboe sighed, trying to make a conversation between them. "... you never told me your name."
"My name is Sakuya." The said black wolf said, limping down the path beside the red wolf. Turning to him, she gave a small smile. "What's your name?"
"Toboe's the name." The said young wolf smiled. "Sakuya's a pretty name, I like it." He offered her another smile.
"Can I ask you another question?" Sakuya asked politely and nervously. At the nod of Toboe's head for a yes, she looked down at his paws. "Why do you have those silver rings on your paw?"
Looking down at his questioned paw, Toboe smiled sadly as he watched the four bracelets jingle as he stepped. "When I was just a pup, an old lady took care of me." He explained. "She gave me these bracelets just before she died."
Sakuya's snout wrinkled with confusion. "A human took care of you?" She asked. That must have been the worst thing ever, being with a human. She had to do a double take to make sure that she was actually hearing this right.
Toboe nodded is head again, keeping his eyes on his silver bracelets. "She was very kind to me and loved me."
"But she was a human." Sakuya said, trying to hold in her snarl. "Humans did this to us in the first place. Because of them, we are forced to live in the shadows and try to live. They think that we've been extinct for almost two hundred years. Some wolves have even tried to like among humans by turning into humans and blending in with them."
"That's what me and my friends have done." Toboe said, lowering his head. "We've tried to blend in with them but in the end we were found out and now we're being hunted down by a man."
"You disguise yourselves as humans?" She asked. A nod of the red wolf's head made her growl. "That's low. Have you no pride as a wolf?" She asked and turned away and tried to talk again but ended up falling to the ground with an angry snarl.
Toboe gasped and ran to her side, helping her up." Are you ok?" He asked.
"No." She murmured, trying to get up but she didn't have enough energy or strength. She was too tired.
"Here. Get on my back." The young red wolf said, laying down beside her.
Listening to his command, Sakuya slowly crawled over and got on his back, her head resting on his neck. Toboe slowly got up, keeping his balance and making sure that she was secure. Seeing that she was ok, he continued to talk down the path.
While he was walking down the path, Toboe could sense that Sakuya was angry. A sigh escaped his lips and he slowed down his pace a bit. He looked from the corner of his eye and saw that Sakuya had her eyes closed.
"We do have much pride as wolves but we don't want to be killed either." He tried to explain. "We only disguise ourselves as humans so we can try and find Cheza and get to Paradise where wolves can live freely again."
Wolf's Rain © Bones Studio
Tell Me What The Rain Knows by AniuLonewolf