One
Pain coursed through the back of Torak's leg. Wincing, he tried to clean the wound with yarrow leaves, shaking every time the leaves made contact with the gash.
"I should've seen it!" he muttered angrily to himself. As an experienced tracker and hunter, he should have realized there was a wolverine nearby. It wasn't particularly happy when Torak stood on its tail and vented it's fury on his leg. Torak knew he was lucky he hadn't received more serious injuries. He splashed some water onto his calf then bandaged it with a scrap of deer hide. He'd stitch it up later. Wolf, who was sitting on a nearby rock padded over to him. He placed his fore paws on each of Torak's shoulders.
"Are you alright?" he asked in wolf talk, tilting his head to the side. Torak grinned in reply. Wolf licked him on the chin and began to climb up onto the next ridge on the cliff. Torak followed slowly, being careful not to put weight on his injured leg. The smell of wood smoke was wafting up his nose; the Raven camp was near. Finally, Torak pulled himself to the top of the cliff; the shelters of the Ravens could be seen through a gap in the trees. Wolf raced ahead a bit then waited for his pack brother to catch up. Torak limped towards camp, his leg shaking violently. Wolf howled loudly as Torak's leg gave way. He managed to catch a low hanging branch of an oak tree to steady himself. He heard the crunch of leaves as two people ran towards him, and the light thumps as Wolf lead them to him.
"Torak, are you alright?" came the voice of a girl. Renn grabbed his arm and put it over her shoulder to hold him up. There was a rustle of branches Fin-Kedinn stepped forward, holding his walking stick. Wolf followed behind him. "Torak, what's happened? We heard Wolf and thought you were in trouble," said Renn, worry etched on her face. She looked down at his leg and saw the bandage and the blood. Without a word, Torak's foster father sat him down on a tree root and un-bandaged his leg. Upon seeing the wound, he turned to Renn.
"Go and get some needles, thread and hide." She tore of through the trees and returned within minutes. "It's badly infected." he said. Torak looked down and saw that the area around the gash was bright red. "If it's not treated, you could end up with a fever." Fin-Kedinn glanced around. He grasped a handful of cloud berries from a nearby bush and squeezed their juice onto his leg. It stung so much his eyes began to water, but after the pain had subsided, the heat from it lessened. Fin-Kedinn then stitched the wound with the thread. "Renn, please return to camp" she looked as if she were going to argue, but left after seeing her uncle's expression. "My niece," he said as he began wrapping a hide bandage around his leg "Has grown much since you met her" Torak began to wonder where this was going. He winced slightly as Wolf caught his leg with his tail. "She is very beautiful, very strong willed" Fin-Kedinn continued. Torak was getting an idea about what his foster father was on about, and he didn't like it. "I would only want the best for her, I know that is what my brother would of wanted too" Torak could now feel the heat rising off his face so he tried desperately to disguise it as pain. "That is why I would like you to be her mate once you two become sixteen summers old." Torak felt something drop in his stomach.
"Fin-Kedinn, I couldn't be Renn's mate, she's my best friend!"
"That is why I suggested you, you are very close and you are Renn's only friend." He finished bandaging Torak's leg and pinned it with a small twig to hold it in place. "I implore you that you consider my proposal. Saeunn agrees with me, so do several other clan members." He slowly got to his feet using his stick. "You probably think you are too young to be concerned in these matters, but believe me, you may change your mind in a few years time. Time can do amazing things; particularly change one's view of their surroundings." He limped back through the trees, leaving Torak utterly confused.
Wolf sat inside one of the Raven dens, watching all the taillesses dash about. He could see the Bright Beast-That-Bites-Hot slumbering in a corner. He could feel the panic of the Raven taillesses, but didn't understand at all. Where were Tall Tailless and the pack sister? He hadn't seen them for a long time and couldn't smell their scents. He bounded from one corner of the den to the other, unsure of what to do. He knew he mustn't leave; the Raven pack leader had made that very clear. He could hear the taillesses running about on their hind legs, yipping and yowling in the way they did when they were very scared. Suddenly a female tailless peered into the den. She shouted something in tailless talk to a male tailless behind her. She then dashed in and before Wolf could do anything, he was being hauled outside with a raw hide leash around his neck. All around taillesses were gathering up food, pelts and little tailless cubs and scrambling up the side of a cliff. Wolf could hear the fast wet rushing by. It was getting nearer.
Torak clambered up the bank, slipping in the mud and trying to ignore the pain in his leg. It had been raining heavily recently and after the downpour at midday, the banks of the Windriver had broken. The Ravens were being forced to leave camp before the rushing water reached them and swept them away. For hours, Renn and Torak tried to save canoes, but their efforts were in vain. The bandage that Fin-Kedinn had put on Torak's leg mere hours before had been ripped away when he'd had to wade into waist deep water to drag a canoe to safety. He could feel the stitches being ripped from his soaking flesh. The rain began to pound once more as he finally reached camp. Renn was knelt panting next to a tree.
"If we don't get out of here soon, we'll drown!" she cried over the rain and the river. Torak had never seen a river rise so fast; he knew she was right. There were only a few stragglers left in the Raven camp, Fin-Kedinn and Wolf two of them. Torak could hear Wolf whining from under a tree.
"Where are you?" he said in wolf talk. Torak tried to reply, but the crash of the river was too loud.
"TORAK!" came a cry from behind him. He spun round. Renn was desperately trying to help her uncle up the cliff; he could see the frail man struggling to climb up onto the lowest ledge. He saw Wolf rushing to help Renn pull Fin-Kedinn up. Torak ran as fast as he could to help. His heart was hammering. If they couldn't get high enough…
A tremendous crash made Torak start. A tree near the camp had been torn from the ground where it stood, taking several shelters with it. He could hear the tree's spirit moaning in pain and surprise. "TORAK!" came Renn's voice once more. "TORAK, HURRY OR YOU'LL BE SWEPT AWAY!!" he staggered to the cliff face. He pushed Wolf onto the ledge where Renn was, but before he could utter another word, the water was upon them. It knocked the wind out of him and sent him somersaulting through the air. The last thing he could remember was Renn's scream and Wolf's howl before darkness engulfed him.