Chapter 2

"Let's start at the beginning, the time when our kind didn't exist, the time when only Greatwings existed. Greatwings had decided to create something new. One by one he created the sun, moon, animals, and finally the twolegs, they were in charge. He made one simple rule that over the years has been forgotten. All we know now is that they broke the rule and were banished into a different world, one dominated by pain and killing. Fortunately for the twolegs, Greatwings had mercy and gave them animals to eat. Unfortunately, they had to kill to eat. Greatwings still let the twolegs rule over the animals.

"Many years passed and twolegs became smarter and smarter, creating all sorts of things. Some planes say that they knew so much that it caused them many wars. One war was causing so many problems that the twolegs decided that they needed a weapon, a weapon strong enough to defeat their enemies without having casualties on their own side," the plane glanced at Regan, who was obviously bursting with questions. "Now don't ask questions yet, you two. There's a lot more to the story. They, at that time, already had airplanes like us; of course these were not alive and had to be controlled by a twoleg in the inside. That's why they decided that they should build a robot that they could control from the sidelines. They created a creature like us, a plane like us. The plane was made to do anything the twolegs wanted. They created it to live as a servant but what they didn't realize is that the so called robot was alive and could not be fixed after it died. No one knows why but Greatwings wanted this creature to live. He gave this machine life. They realized it all too late that when they made a second Greatwings made it a female. The two planes were so alive that they could breed. The two had eggs and the twolegs were mystified. They were also excited; it was the science discovery of the year. They decided to try sending the two planes out to destroy their enemies' camp. Instead, the two flew off and hid in the forest. Those two planes started the packs, clans, and tribes we have today.

"I think that the twolegs are coming back to claim us again. I also think that they raised the hatchlings to be domesticated. I've seen planes flying above the twoleg camps and not the huge metal ones that the twolegs fly around for fun. These are real, the ones like us. They've got strange weapons like the one that hit Lockjaw. I'm afraid that we're going to be forced out of our homes and into the twolegs' camps. They've returned and we have to stop them or the packs, clans, and tribes will be destroyed."

Regan looked at the crazy plane with concern, "Well, but will Lockjaw be okay?"

"I don't know, Regan." He said before turning away and lying down. He fell asleep almost immediately. Blitz turned to leave.

"Brefew is a strange and wise plane. He's the oldest in our pack so he's past his prime."

Blitz let us go on our own for a while. We ended up in the infirmary where Lockjaw lay. His breath was rasping in his throat and his markings were pale. Kadesh was nuzzling him with concern in her eyes. Lockjaw looked up at her with his eyes glazed over in pain. Elsayah came up to Kadesh and whispered something to her. Regan slowly came up to them, "Can I talk to you real quick?"

Elsayah nodded, "What is it?"

"How's Lockjaw doing? We hear these weapons are extremely lethal," Regan's voice was drenched with concern and voicing my thoughts.

"I'm not sure, he's in the wings of Greatwings now," Elsayah said, "We had two casualties when the twolegs attacked earlier. They know exactly where to hit on our necks to instantly kill."

Regan and I glanced uneasily at each other. If Lockjaw died then Kadesh would have to, by the Leader's Code, retire as leader. If she retired as leader, Mother and Father would be the super-alphas, leaving me and Regan the alphas. The tasks given to the alphas would be too much for us at this age and a deputy would have to be appointed. We knew we wouldn't like the deputy. It would be Conleth, one of the greatest warriors Thunder Pack had to offer. Although a great warrior, Conleth wasn't the nicest plane. Not only would we be bossed about by Conleth, the pack would lose its greatest leader yet. Nobody could replace Lockjaw, especially with the twolegs giving us trouble.

I was exhausted beyond measure but still had trouble falling asleep; when I did it was restless and full of strange, frightening, creatures ready to kill. By the time I sank deep enough to begin to feel the exhaustion wearing off Regan was poking his nose into my side, "Come on, Roven, Blitz wants us to get up. It's almost sunhigh already!"

I opened my eyes to see Regan and Blitz staring straight down their noses at me. "Alright, alright, I'm up."

"Good," Blitz said, "Because you didn't get a chance to hunt with all the hubbub yesterday."

Regan pushed Blitz and pushed his nose against mine, "Come on, and let's go! Our first hunt, I can't wait."

I couldn't help but try to shake the feeling of impending doom on our pack. "Um, Blitz, can I go check on Lockjaw?"

Blitz stopped short and turned around. In his face there was grief, "Lockjaw died last night just after you two went to check on him. He mentioned you two, he said you were due to become warriors very soon and he told your father to have a ceremony for you as soon as possible."

"And what about Mukessi?" I asked.

"It was decided that he was telling the truth based on his reaction when the twolegs attacked. He's going to have to stay in our camp while Coven decides how to punish him for trespassing."

I felt as if Blitz was acting as if Lockjaw hadn't died and everything was normal, "So… doesn't the pack have a ceremony or something for Lockjaw?"

"Yeah, but yer gonna miss it. The pack needs prey and we've been assigned to fetch it," Blitz sighed.

"And who, exactly, assigned us to hunt on the saddest, most horrible day of our pack's life?"

"Conleth did and… we have to obey orders," Blitz said crankily. He kept flicking his rudders as if he had had no sleep all night. His windshield was glossy as if he had been crying, too.

"I think you're just annoyed that Conleth sent you instead of another plane," Regan tested.

"Look, Regan, Conleth is a fine warrior and was wise ta sent us out. He probably did it knowin' that you didn't get yer huntin' lesson in yesterday. But yeah, I'm annoyed because I feel I need to be there to honor Lockjaw. He was a great leader. Not to mention that I'm missin' Coven's leader ceremony later today. Now enough jabberin' and let's go huntin'," Blitz looked glum, the death of Lockjaw hard on the loyal warrior.

We flew across the territory, scanning the forest green hills. It was when we reached the River Pack's border that we spotted any deer. Blitz, though, signaled for us to wait. "Smell that," he said sniffing the air, "That fishy sent is that of River Pack. They're close and probably patrolling they're border. No sooner had Blitz said it when we saw a bright red tail disappear into the forest. "Oh no, not another trespasser," Blitz groaned, "This day couldn't get much worse."

"How's Thunder Pack doin'," a friendly plane said, taking off and flying toward them, "I know I'm trespassin' but I wanted ta see our ol' clan member."

Blitz smiled, "Feyra, its good ta see ya!" Blitz hovered in the air and touched noses with the silver and red plane.

"Who are yer friends there, Blitz?" Feyra asked, flicking her rudder to us.

"Oh," Blitz said, "These are my apprentices, Roven and Regan." It was hard not to hear the stress and strain in his voice.

Feyra looked Blitz in the eye, "What's wrong, brother? I haven't heard that tone in yer voice since ya left the pack."

Regan and I shared a shocked look and Blitz turned to glare, "Yes, she's my sister," He then snapped his flaps down for us to land. As soon as we landed Feyra went to rub her wing across Blitz's comfortingly. "Feyra, yer right about there bein' somethin' wrong. Lockjaw died last night due to a twoleg attack and I'm not sure how well our pack's gonna do against the twolegs without him… if they attack again."

Feyra nuzzled her brother, "Ah, Blitz, yer pack's gonna be fine. HeatClan just lost our leader a month ago, also due to a twoleg attack. I'm worried about the twolegs, their gettin' mighty curious about our clan. They even got our clan on their side. They said that we gotta join them or else they'll force us to."

Blitz looked horrified, "What? The twolegs can't speak our language!"

"No, but the planes that joined them can," Feyra explained, "Those planes don't know how to fight fair for a fish skeleton. They've got weapons like the twolegs' mounted on their wings." The way she spoke sounded calm, too calm for being attacked by twolegs.

"Let me guess," Blitz said, "Yer clan's gonna join." Feyra nodded. "Ya can't go with them, they could kill ya! Don't go," Blitz pleaded.

"Sorry Blitz but I gotta stay with the clan. I'm not like you who can go transition into another group a' planes without any problem. I've gotta stick with the clan no matter what, even in this hard time."

Blitz nodded, "I understand, Feyra, I just can't give ya up ta the twolegs."

"I'll be back to visit ya, I promise," she comforted, brushing her wing over his.

"How can ya promise if ya don't even know that the twolegs'll letcha visit?"

This seemed to make Feyra think, "I'll bet they'll let me."

Blitz nodded with tears in his eyes, "I don't know if that's true but… just don't let those creatures hurt ya." He draped his nose over her neck in a farewell hug and watched her return to her small territory. "We gotta hunt now, the pack's waitin'," he said, turning to us.

We followed the deer scent again to find that the herd had crossed into Lightning Pack's territory. "Rotten deer," Regan growled, "Now what do we do?"

"We keep lookin'," Blitz replied. When we searched further we found that the herd had actually split into two. One half had decided to graze in the open fields while the other half stayed in the woods, a better and safer hiding place. "Alright you two, yer gonna need to use yer battle and flight skills as best as ya can. You'll creep up ta one deer and strike at its neck. You can't miss or you'll alert the watcher."

"The watcher?" I asked.

"The one who always has his ears pricked and head up," Blitz explained. "Try not to make any noise louder than a twig snappin' and keep yer belly close to the ground." Blitz began to stalk the herd. He flipped his nose toward us, "Oh, and try to stay in the shadows as best as ya can, okay?"

We watched Blitz creep up to one of the deer and struck cleanly. The doe dropped dead on the spot and Blitz picked up his prize. He slunk back to us, holding the deer up and away from the ground so its legs didn't drag and create noise. He rested it carefully on the ground, "See, just like that. I wouldn't say it's easy but it's easier than other things ya might want ta learn." He swung his nose in my direction, "Alright, Roven, yer turn."

I looked uneasily toward the clearing, not exactly sure if I could do this. Blitz nudged me forward gently but firmly. I emptied my thoughts from my mind as I concentrated on the task at hand. I distributed my weight evenly on my three wheels and moved forward, making sure not to make a sound. Eyeing the doe closest to me, I waited for a clear shot. I saw it and whipped my head out toward the deer with jaws open. I bit down on soft fur and warm muscle, tearing into the windpipe and pulled back as silently as possible. The deer went limp and I lifted it of the ground, mimicking Blitz's movement as best as I could. The animal was heavier than it looked and it took all my strength to keep its hoofed legs from dragging. Blitz came to help me out and took the fresh kill from my jaws. "Well done, Roven," He said, dropping the deer on top of his. "I've never seen quite that good of a shot on an apprentice's first try. Okay, Regan, yer turn."

Regan dropped to the ground, his belly barely above the ground. He extended his wings for better balance and crept forward. I watched as he grabbed a deer, just missing its neck. He pulled the animal down by the shoulder as it bleated a warning to the others. As if on cue, the entire group bolted out of their grazing spot. Blitz's quick take-off towards the stampeding deer he managed to take down three more deer before throwing himself into their masses to kill as they ran by. I tried to keep up with the herd as well. My breath was heavy as I struck a deer. This one was a young buck and he struggled with all his might. Throwing me off of him was easy as I did not have Blitz's hunting skills or weight. As I tried to run alongside the herd my wings hit trees and branches. At this rate, even having them folded wouldn't make much of a difference. I began to lag behind when I spotted the doe Regan had injured. She had escaped his jaws and was struggling to lose him. Although Regan wasn't the best at weaving through the trees, he was doing well. He caught up to the doe and, this time, struck correctly. The deer went limp as soon as his jaws were upon it.

Blitz panted heavily when he returned, "I got a lot of them… they still need ta be collected though." He took one deer and hung it over his wing. "Take 'em like this, it'll be easier to carry more when their on yer wings than in yer mouth."

"I take it I blew the whole hunt," Regan sighed, draping his kill over his right wing. "I'm sorry Blitz."

Blitz shook his head, "Don't be sorry. Almost every plane messes up his first hunt in some way or another." He then looked sympathetically at my battered wings. "That's happened ta me once or twice."

We collected our kill and made our way back to camp. Blitz showed us how to fly while still balancing prey on our wings. He made it look easy, like a hatchling could do it. We returned to camp just before sundown and warriors greeted us with grim expressions. The excitement of the hunt made almost all of us forget the tragedy that had occurred. Father was the first one we delivered prey to. His blue markings were darker than normal and he stared at us with tired eyes, "I see you did well on your hunt. That's good, the pack needs it. I sent out several patrols just after you left. Two have returned empty winged." He paused and looked at Blitz, "The other returned with prey but also grave news. The twolegs have tried to turn Strike Pack to their side."

Blitz slid a doe off his wing, "HeatClan has… has been turned as well. Feyra came to say hello and told us that her clan is leaving soon. The twolegs threatened to destroy them if they didn't obey."

Father shook his head, "This doesn't bode well for the planes of the forest, if they keep this up there'll be no hope for the four main packs." He pushed his prey away, "I don't need this, but the warriors do. It'll become food for vultures if you leave this with me." He rested his head over Lockjaw's old necklace.

"Have you had yer ceremony yet?" Blitz asked, pointing with his nose to the leader's necklace.

"No," He slipped the feather and rock necklace on, "I decided that I need every warrior here to see it," he winked at Regan, "And you were gone."

Blitz smiled at him, "Thanks Covan."