The forest leaves rustled softly in the air, telling all animals below that spring had arrived.

Underneath the leaves romped two little pups: one black, one silver white. The two of them hadn't escaped, though—they had been allowed to play farther from the camp.

One of them, Shadowpup, tumbled into a pile of leaves. Silverpup soon followed, and the two of them had fun tossing leaves at each other and rolling around.

CRACK! BOOM!
CRRRACK!! BOOM!
Shadowpup sat up, suddenly alert. As the gunshots sounded off in the distant again, a group of pheasants flew up from a bush, squawking loudly.

Silverpup ducked, calling, "Shadowpup, hide!"

"But Silverpup…" Shadowpup whimpered, "this is our only chance of seeing a real human!"
Silverpup sat up and shrugged. "Well, we could go closer to the road if you like." He licked his paw nervously. "But we have to be careful."

"Okay, okay," Shadowpup mumbled. "Let's just go already!" With that, the little black wolfpup raced off through the woods.

Her friend was a bit more hesitant, looking over his shoulder twice before he left.

The two pups crashed through the forest noisily, scaring off mice and voles and other small creatures. Both of them ignored the squeaking and cawing; they just kept mowing through the undergrowth.

All of a sudden, Shadowpup skidded to a stop. Silverpup crashed into her, knocking them closer towards the road.

Shadowpup turned around and dealt a swift headbutt to Silverpup's chest. He rolled back onto the forest floor, and Shadowpup followed.

"Why'd you do that?" Silverpup whined, pushing himself up. "You didn't have to—"

"Smell that!" Shadowpup interjected, nose sniffing at the air. Silverpup groaned and lifted his nose, taking a whiff as well.

"Humans!" Silverpup cried, eyes growing wide as the moon. "We need to go, Shadowpup, and NOW," he ordered, setting his jaw.

Shadowpup hushed him with a yip. "Shut up, they're coming!"

Silverpup shot her a glare, but hunkered in a camoflauging clump of leafy twigs and brambles. Shadowpup came after him, and they watched as a human alpha and a human half-grown came out of the other side of the forest.

"I swear I heard them wolves over here," the alpha growled, hitching his tall stick-shot over his shoulder.

The half-grown rolled his eyes contemptously. "They probably heard yer dang shootin', Dad! We didn't need those pheasants, ya know!"

The alpha whipped around, pinning the half-grown with a vicious glare. "Y'ain't gonna back-talk to me, young man!" the alpha snapped, poking the half-grown with the butt of his stick-shot. "Y'should know that by now."

"Yes, sir," Connor mumbled. When his dad turned back to the road, the half-grown added under his breath, "Moron."
Shadowpup shot a glance at Silverpup, and they had to muffle their laughter. Humans!
Turning back to the humans, they saw the alpha sweeping his gaze over the road. "I c'n smell 'em," he grunted, suddenly looking straight at Shadowpup and Silverpup.

Shadowpup felt Silverpup's muscles tense. "Silverpup, don't run!" Shadowpup whispered, but it was too late.

Silverpup, panicked, streaked out of the bush-brambles, hoping to dodge the humans.

CRRACK-BANGG!

"Haharr, got that 'un!" the alpha human cried triumphantly. The barrel of his stick-shot was smoking.

Shadowpup felt fury rise in her. She glanced at the road and saw Silverpup's limp form lying on the pavement, reddish-green blood dribbling out of his side.

Shadowpup didn't know she couldn't stand a chance against two stick-shots—and so the pup raced out of cover, heading straight for the humans.

CRRAAAACK-BANG!!
Shadowpup felt something hard hit her foreleg. Then she felt warm blood pouring out onto her fur.

The young pup fell to the ground, wounded.

"Good shot, son!" the alpha howled, slapping the half-grown on the back. "You've done me proud."

"Thanks, Dad," the half-grown beamed. "What do we do with them?" he asked, looking at the bodies.

"Leave 'em for the birds," the alpha snarled, and turned away. The half-grown took one last look, then followed the alpha.

It was about an hour later when Silverpup's eyes blinked open.

The sun was beating down hard. Waves of shimmery heat would rise up from the road, muddling Silverpup's vision.

First off, the pup felt blood. Hot, sticky blood clotting up his flank fur. And he felt weak. Not dehydrated fortunately—just weak.

Silverpup blinked again. Okay…okay…the forest was around him. But he could smell oil and gas and two-walker scents.

Huh?
Silverpup's head jerked up as he realized where he was: the two-walker road!
The pup tried to get to his feet. The first try wasn't successful, but on the second try he was able to stand.

Silverpup pushed away his fear and took another look around. Shadowpup had to be around somewhere, and he had to find her. If she was wounded, she would need help.

Silverpup took a cautious step forward. Another. Then another, and another, until he could walk. He was wobbly, alright, but he could walk.

Blood. Different blood.

Silverpup sniffed the air. Yes, that was wolf—what, what was it? Not his. Someone else's—coming from the right.

Silverpup turned in that direction and saw the still body of Shadowpup.

He hurried over, his fear returning in full force. Was Shadowpup dead? She couldn't be dead!

But…

But?

Silverpup swallowed, sniffing Shadowpup's fur. He breathed a sigh of relief as he smelled breath in that body and that fur.

The pup moved around to the scent of the blood. Silverpup found Shadowpup's right foreleg, a small wound in it.

"Shadowpup!" Silverpup hissed into his friend's ear. "Shadowpup! Shadowpup, wake up!"
She twitched, muttering something. Silverpup nudged her gently and Shadowpup suddenly jerked to life.

"Huh whowhatwherewhenhow?!" Shadowpup babbled, looking around wildly.

"Calm down, Shadowpup!" Silverpup said, patting her with a paw. "You're alright. We're on the twowalker road, so we need to…"

"TWO-WALKER?!!" Shadowpup screeched, standing upright all of a sudden. "No way!" Then she just as suddenly sat back down, blinking.

"Oh…oh. Oh yeah. Hunters. Stick-shot. Blood. Legfur."

Silverpup frowned, giving Shadowpup a gentle push. "We need to get off the road! Come ON!!"
Shadowpup lofted herself back up and scurried over to the forest side. Silverpup bounded after her.

After catching her breath, Shadowpup sat down and started licking her foreleg.

Silverpup attended to his own wound, and for a few quiet minutes they busied themselves cleaning up the blood and soothing the wound.

"You know," Shadowpup commented after a bit, "I feel different. Like different blood is in me."

"Me too," Silverpup agreed, giving himself a final lick. "So it must be a power of some kind. But how do we use it?"

Shadowpup shrugged. "Might as well concentrate." She furrowed her brow, thinking, then her eyes lit up. "The elders are always talking about how good it would be to become a human, so we could spy on them! Let's try becoming humans."

Silverpup gulped and shuddered. "Okay," he grumbled, and closed his eyes. Shadowpup did the same.

As Silverpup focused, he felt the wind all of a sudden. And the wind was harsh, cold and biting.

He opened his eyes…and his fur was gone!

Silverpup shut them again, focusing once more. Now he felt his tail leaving, replaced by flesh, then some rough texture.

He felt himself growing larger, stronger. He felt his teeth dulling, becoming more squarish. And he felt unsettled as his snout pushed into a small nose, as his eyes started growing a bit bigger, as his facefur left and skin covered his face.

And then, he felt the last changes complete.

Human! He was human!!
Silverpup panicked and screamed, trying to run away. But his clumsy human legs tripped over themselves and he landed in the dirt.

Shadowpup had also fallen, and as they lay there she yelped, "Change back! Change back!"

Silverpup shut his eyes tightly, focusing keenly on his true body, his wolf body.

Fur washed over him at an insane rate, swallowing his skin. A tail wiggled out of his spine; his hands melted into claws. His short human nose moved out to become the muzzle of a wolf.

And quite suddenly, he was his normal pup self.

Opening his eyes, he saw Shadowpup just finishing with her

transformation. He ran over to her and they both gave each other a good licking.

After the rushed grooming, Shadowpup sat down. "Well…now what?" Silverpup shrugged, then said, "Should we tell your parents?"

"I don't know," Shadowpup replied. "Would they even believe us…" She trailed off, as if she couldn't bring herself to say the rest.

Silverpup sighed, half annoyed with this whole trouble of having the power to turn into a human. "Let's just forget about it for now," Silverpup decided. "If something with humans comes up, we can go into their camp and spy."

"You mean spy and bring back information?"

"Right," Silvermoon nodded. He pushed himself up and started heading back to the camp. "You coming?"

"Yes," Shadowfang said, trotting after him. She looked back at the road one last time, though, and thought she heard a faint howl—and one single gunshot.

BOOM!
WHOMPF BANG!!

Shadowleap jerked to the sound of gunfire, yipping and snarling. Silverleap had been startled up, too.

Both apprentices said nothing. The whole camp was in silence except for the yelling, the gunfire, the yipping, the snarling. Hunters must have gone out to fight.

Other apprentices were waking up as well, whimpering with fear. Silverleap turned to them and whispered, "It's okay, just stay calm and quiet." They settled down a little more after that.

As Shadowleap and Silverleap watched the camp from inside the apprentice den, a wolf suddenly blotted out the view of the camp. The wolf happened to be the deputy Howltooth.

"Apprentices, are you alright? Are any of you wounded?" Howltooth demanded breathlessly.

"We're all okay, sir," Shadowleap answered politely. "But what's going on?"
Howltooth's face turned cloudy with fear and worry. "Five humans are attacking our camp and one another camp, the StormWind Pack. They're doing it for no reason. They're wounding and killing us."
Another shot sounded dangerously close by. For a second pandemonium raged in the apprentice den; then died down.

"Look, just stay here," Howltooth said. "I mean it. You could die." He looked straight into the eyes of Shadowleap and Silverleap and the other apprentices. "You are our hopes. If we die, you will carry on our pack. Is that clear?"

"Yessir," the apprentices chorused, but even before they finished Howltooth was gone, as quickly as the gunshots had faded.

The other apprentices remained silent and stunned after Howltooth had gone. Shadowleap opened her mouth to give orders, but then a long howl interuppted her.

"Calling the denmothers and reserve hunters to the battlefield!" the message roared. "Now!"
The pounding of paws streaking towards the camp entrance filled the apprentices' ears; then died away. One more long howl wafted through the camp—it was a goodbye to their pups. Maybe their last goodbye.

Silverleap glanced at Shadowleap. "What are we going to do?"

"We can't just let the humans get away with this," Shadowleap growled. She looked at the other apprentices. "I know Howltooth wants us to stay safe. And this mission will be safe."
Minutes later, the apprentices, Shadowleap and Silverleap were wiggling out a secret entrance in the back of the camp. One by one they popped out, until all apprentices were ready and waiting to go to the human camp.

Once they were all out, they headed on a path leading out to the human camp. The human camp, as they knew, was very small. It would be easy to destroy it.

They'd been on the trail for more than 30 minutes when Shadowleap let out a sharp bark. "I can smell it! It's not far ahead!"
Excitement raced through all of them and Shadowleap broke out into a run. They sped past bushes and roads and still machine-cougars and cottages until they found the camp.

Instantly they all became wary. Two patrols were sent to the left and right, while Shadowleap and Silverleap slunk around the camp, looking for a weak spot.

"What are we going to do, bark at them and bite?" Silverleap muttered, already having doubts.

"No way," Shadowleap returned confidently. She nodded her head to a group of sleeping mutts and purebreds.

"You see those dogs over there?" Silverleap nodded. "If we can get 'em stirred up, the whole town will go down. We just have to lead them into obstacles. And then we find the gun cache."
Silverleap gave her an odd look. "A gun cache? How do you know there's one?"
Shadowleap shrugged and took off towards the dog group. Silverleap bounded after her, and the patrols waited on either side of them.

Shadowleap came to dance within a few inches of the sleeping dogs. Gathering her courage, she yelled, "Hey, mutts! Whatcha doing? Sleepin' on the job?"
A big rottweiler's head shot up. He looked around when he sighted Shadowleap sneering at him.

"You just call me a mutt, you pup?" the rottweiler said drowsily. He hadn't noticed that Shadowleap wasn't any ordinary dog. But Shadowleap replied boldly, "Yeah, I called you a mutt. What about it?"
That set the rottweiler off. "You're gonna pay for that, pup," he rumbled, lumbering over to her. "No one badmouths me."

"Anyone could badmouth a fat lummox like you!" Silverleap shouted, bouncing out of nowhere. The rottweiler whipped around, pinning him with a glare.

"You ain't got nothin' backin' you up, pup," the rottweiler snarled. "Me an' my gang are gonna finish you off, here and now."
Silverleap snorted, rolling his eyes. "Right. Your gang is throwin' up the biggest line 'o Z's I've ever seen in Texas."
The rottweiler's eyes flared up in rage. He let out three deep barks, and quite suddenly the dogs behind him began to wake up.

Shadowleap called Silverleap over to her. "Your gang won't live long enough," Shadowleap snickered. "We've got someone, too."

"Like I would believe that," the rottweiler chuckled, and opened his mouth to—

From either side of the dogs came the other apprentices. They bounded over some bushes and began advancing on the dog pack.

The rottweiler snapped his jaws in anger. "We're gonna chase you all down, so you better run!"

Shadowleap turned and started whipping through the town like crazy. The houses were a blur…the thumping noise of the rottweiler—he was after her!

"You can't catch me, lardbelly!" Shadowleap roared, leaping nimbly over a pile of logs.

"YOU LITTLE…" CRASHCRASHCRASH!! Shadowleap looked over her shoulder and saw the rottweiler crashing through the logs. Laughing, the crafty wolf went left.

Yes! An open door to a human den!

"Come on, fatso!" Shadowleap roared. "Hurry up, I'm getting tired!" The rottweiler screamed with rage and barreled after her.

Shadowleap zoomed straight into the house with the rottweiler hot on her tail. They crashed straight into a sofa, knocking it over.

"Oh no! Get out of here! BOB!!" the female human screamed. A crazy idea flashed through Shadowleap's mind.

She slammed into the human at top speed!

Kitchen silverware went flying, falling onto the floor with a CLANG!! The rottweiler skittered on the smooth linoleum, desperately trying to gain momentum. Just then the human female fell right on top of him.

For one moment it was total chaos. Shadowleap took the chance and roared down the hallway, crushing toys and other things underpaw.

Aha, there was the back door! Shadowleap didn't hesitate and jumped right through the screen, leaving a huge tear in the door.

Freedom!! Shadowleap howled with joy and tore down through the weak little fence, heading back to the camp. Her job was over.

Silverleap, on the other hand, was still running around. He could see the other apprentices barging into houses and causing a big fat rucus; other times, as he whipped around little trails, he would see patrols leaving.

Silverleap crashed through a clotheslines, glancing over his shoulder quickly. The english springer spaniel was still after him!

"C'mon, slowpoke!" Silverleap taunted, going for another house with a screen door. "You're comin' into this house or you're coward!"
WHUMPF RRRRRRRRIP!!
Silverleap slashed into the house, shaking off bits of wire off his head. The english springer came ripping in after him.

"CALL THE POLICE!!" a male human screamed and he flung himself at the wolf and dog.

Silverleap easily dodged the human, but the spaniel wasn't so lucky. His back end was crushed by the human. Even so, the spaniel was tough. He bit the human on the arm and wriggled free.

Silverleap jumped onto the couch and started tearing into it, flinging out bits of fluff. The spaniel suddenly pounced on top of his back and Silverleap took off again.

This time he ran into a small bathroom. Shaking the spaniel away, Silverleap pulled down the shower curtains with his claws, grabbed the toilet paper off its rack and sped down the hall.

Now he zoomed into a sleeping room. Eagerly the apprentice flopped himself onto the bed, tearing happily at the covers and tussling with the pillows. He almost believed he was in wolf heaven…

…until the springer spaniel headbutted into his stomach.

Silverleap gasped, rolling off the bed. The spaniel was thrown back and Silverleap hopped back up, still trying to get his breath.

The wolf wasn't going to be put off by this. Silverleap charged the dresser, making pictures and jewelry boxes fall off the top.

The spaniel slammed into him again. The dresser shook, but stayed in one piece, so Silverleap rolled away from it.

The spaniel was crushed underneath him. Silverleap leaped off the spaniel and raced down the rest of the hallway.

The backyard!
Silverleap broke through the glass door and bounded wildly out into the yard. Without another look, Silverleap crashed over the fence and into the alley.

He started running, knocking over trashcans and tripping over rocks and bags. The forest loomed in front of him suddenly, and Silverleap willingly dived into it.

As he trotted back to camp, he heard a final howl of fury from the spaniel: "ONE DAY I'M GONNA FIND YOU CURDOG AND THEN I'LL—"

Silverleap never heard the rest of it, running off deeper in the woods.

Back in the camp, Silverleap found the rest of the apprentices in the den. Shadowleap motioned him over, and Silverleap quickly scuttled in.

"You came just in time," Duskleap hissed as Silverleap settled himself on his moss-feather nest. "The hunters and denmothers are just coming back."
And they were. Ragged hunters were gently herding denmothers into the camp, with Lightstorm heading the beaten group.

One of the elders, Blossomriver, came padding out of the elder's den. She stood right in front of the hunter/denmother group, and said: "You won."
There was silence.

Finally, Lightstorm nodded. Blossomriver dipped her head and receded back into the shadows of her den.

The hunters led the denmothers to the nursery, where their pups were waking up and wailing. The pups soon quieted, though, as denmothers began attending to them.

"What are the hunters going to do?" Silverleap whispered all of a sudden. "Shh," Shadowleap whispered back.

The hunters grouped back together near the hunter den. For a few minutes they stood there, talking in low growls or just staring blankly into space. After a while they left, some of them going back into the forest for hunting, others walking back to their dens.

The apprentices sat in stunned silence. Did the humans really do that much damage?
Shadowleap turned to Silverleap, about to say something, but a low howl interrupted her.

"Shadowleap, Silverleap, would you come over here," Howltooth was saying.

The two apprentices gulped, but padded out of their den. They neared Howltooth and lowered their ears respectively, knowing that they were probably in for a punishment and a scolding.

"Shadowleap. Silverleap…" Howltooth sighed. The apprentices looked up at him expectantly.

"Apprentices," Howltooth said at last, "there is bad news for the both of you."

Silverleap and Shadowleap froze.

"Your parents are dead."
The whole world stopped. Just stopped.

It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. But, a gentle voice reminded, they are.

The gunshots. The last goodbye.
Shadowleap pressed herself comfortingly against Silverleap, and the two of them whimpered softly.

They went on like this for a bit until Howltooth broke in. "You apprentices are needed. Songwinter is in danger."

"Songwinter?" Silvermoon said, perking his ears up. "Do we…"

Howltooth cut him off. "Enough chatter," he snapped. "Just follow me." The wolf leapt into the forest.

Silverleap and Shadowleap followed him quickly, short legs straining to keep up with the powerful deputy. The three of them kicked up leaves, scared off prey, generally made a "mess", but this was important.

They had come around a corner when Howltooth suddenly stopped. Silverleap and Shadowleap slunk under his legs.

"It's alright," Howltooth said after a few minutes. He began trotting out into the open. Shadowleap and Silverleap hesitated, but came right after him.

The first thing Silverleap saw was a riverbank, and of course a river. It was especially fierce today.

The second thing he saw were teeth and jaws, and then he was dangling from another wolf's mouth.

"Silverleap!" three joint voices cried. Silverleap felt the jaws loosen—then he was flying out in the air!
Silverleap felt fear slither up into his throat SPLASHHH!
The apprentice thrashed, came back up and started gasping for air. He'd landed in the river!
The current was already shoving him along. But Silverleap was pushing against it, trying to go the other way onto the bank.

"Ryno!" he heard Howltooth snarl. Another wave engulfed him; then he bobbed back up.

"The legends won't come true with that one dead," Ryno cackled. "And now it's your turn!"

Shadowleap was at the bank all of a sudden. "Silverleap!" she called. "Try to swim!"

"I can't!" Silverleap yelled back, spitting out a mouthful of water, flailing his paws helplessly. "The current's too strong!"
WHOOOMPFF!
SPLASH!
SPLASH!
Two bodies were suddenly in the river, heading after Silverleap. One was Songwinter and the other was Ryno.

Silverleap thrust his paws, doggypaddling. A wave of water shoved him into the cold depths of the river.

The water closed over him. Silverleap felt air seeping out of his lungs. He started trying to swim back—

CRRRASH!!
The water threw Silverleap onto a rock, then pulled him back under. He was going to die.

As Silverleap was tossed around by the river, he saw something swimming towards him. Dimly he remembered trying to reach for it. Then the world went black.

Songwinter swam powerfully through the water, grabbing Silverleap as he went under again. She climbed onto the rock, gasping for breath.

"Gotcha!"
Strong paws pulled her back in. Songwinter thrashed, keeping her head above water. Ryno was coming after her.

"You're going to die, Songwinter!" Ryno howled. "You and that pup!"
Songwinter said nothing. It was more important to keep Silverleap alive.

Ryno bit into her backside. Songwinter felt her jaws loosening…

She kept them shut, gritting her teeth against the pain. The river suddenly thrust her back towards the bank.

Songwinter tossed Silverleap onto the shore. Instantly Shadowleap was by his side, dragging him up the slope.

Songwinter dove back into the water. Ryno was waiting for her, and she came to meet him.

"GLORMF!"

Ryno's cry was the last thing Songwinter heard as she tightened her jaws around his leg.

That, and the snapping of bones.

It was evening now, and the healerwolf along with her apprentice was tending to the wounded. Meanwhile, Lightstorm held a discussion with the Pack Council and Howltooth.

Shadowleap and Silverleap lay outside the apprentice den, chewing on some tasty hares. None of them had said much after the encounter with Ryno, the death of their parents and Songwinter.

"You think Ryno will survive?" Shadowleap asked past a mouthful of fur and meat.

Silverleap shrugged. "Who knows. Anyways, who cares. If he's dead, he's dead."

"I know how you feel about your sister," Shadowleap murmured softly. "I feel the same way about my parents."
Silverleap choked down a whimper. "I didn't know they would die today," Silverleap said. "Maybe I could've stopped it."
Shadowleap shook her head, giving Silverleap a lick on the ear. "Silverleap, you couldn't have stopped anything. But now maybe you can."

Silverleap's ears perked up, his eyes gleaming. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we can form a group," Shadowleap told him, as if he should know that perfectly well. "We can call it the SSAI. We'll be the first on wars. We can hunt down traitors. Most of all we can kill those humans who shot us, and we can spy."
Silverleap stopped chewing on his harebone. "The SSAI," he said almost to himself. "The SSAI."