Two

The next day seem to pass in a haze for Torak. He sat and watched the clan get ready, not just to say goodbye to Renn, but to several other youngsters who were leaving the clan, each going to join a different one. He watched Renn rushing around, trying to find her belongings. After a while, Wolf padded up to Torak and laid his head on Torak's lap. "Why are you so sad?" asked Wolf in wolf-talk. Torak scratched Wolf's flank. "The pack sister is leaving." He replied. Wolf gave Torak a quizzical look before slumping down beside him with a thud.

Wolf didn't understand why Tall Tailless was so sad. For the past light and dark, he had sensed a biting sorrow in Tall Tailless, as well as anger, confusion, jealousy and other feelings, all rolled into one. All these emotions made Wolf's head hurt so much that he'd had to stick head in the fast wet to stop it hurting. The taillesses were so terribly confusing. Wolf also wondered where the pack sister could be going. He knew young male wolves left the pack to make a pack of their own, but he didn't think female wolves left the pack. And the strangest thing was that Tall Tailless and the pack sister hardly ever left the others side. So why had everything changed now? He watched as Tall Tailless got up to join a crowd of taillesses. Wolf padded over to see what was going on; several taillesses, all nearly full grown, stood at the front of the crowd, waving their fore paws at the other taillesses, who were all saying goodbye to them, many of the parents had wet coming from their eyes. The pack sister was with the other young taillesses, wet running down her face. Wolf walked over and licked her hand. She said something in tailless talk and patted his head. Wolf sat down as the pack sister and Tall Tailless began to talk. Both of them had wet coming from their eyes by the time they'd finished. The pack sister then hugged Tall Tailless, before following the other taillesses into the forest.

Torak stood alone by the forest. Renn and the others had been gone for a while yet he hadn't got over what had happened. Torak couldn't believe that Renn was really gone. A twig snapped. Torak whipped round to see Fin-Kedinn walking towards him.

"Torak," he sighed, and Torak realized with a jolt how old he was getting. "I know how you feel. Both of us have had to say farewell to someone special to us. Just remember that things will get better." He walked away then stopped. "And Torak, don't follow her. You'll make it feel a hundred times worse for yourself." Torak watched as he walked away. What had he meant? How would following Renn make him feel worse than he was feeling now?

"Fin-Kedinn, wait!" called Torak, but the clan leader was already out of ear shot. Torak watched Wolf rolling around in some elk scat for a little while, his thoughts returning to what the Raven Clan leader had said. Soon Torak had drifted off to sleep in the warm evening air.

Torak woke with a start and shouted with pain. He looked at his arm and saw with horror that an arrow had pierced through it. His shout had woken the other Ravens who had come running to see what had happened. Fin-Kedinn was the first to see Torak. He rushed over and quickly cleaned the heavily bleeding wound, Torak shaking with shock.

"You'll be alright Torak; luckily you woke up soon enough for us to help you. Any later…" Torak didn't need him to finish his sentence. Already he was shaking from loss off blood. Thull and Luta, the two who Torak shared his shelter with began to search the forest.

"Come on!" cried Thull, "The culprit can't be far." He then lowered his voice. "Don't worry Torak, we'll find who shot you and they'll pay the price." Torak's head began to spin. Beside him Fin-Kedinn was trying to remove the arrow. He recognized it; it was one of Renn's, one that she must have left behind.

"Fin-Kedinn," muttered Torak. "The arrow. It's one of Renn's."

"It is. How very curious." Said Fin-Kedinn, examining the arrow protruding from his foster son's arm. "Just one second." He muttered before yanking it out. He quickly bandaged the wound with some deer hide before joining the rest of the clan in the attempt to find Torak's attacker. Their search was in vain and they all re-entered their shelter. Thull and Luta helped Torak inside, being careful not to wake their son, Dari. Dizzy with fatigue, Torak collapsed on to his sleeping sack. He didn't even notice the jolting pain in his stomach before falling asleep.

The deer was looking out into the vast forest. He swiftly bounded out into a clearing and paused. Not far away were three young people, two were boys; one was quite short with ebony black hair, the other was tall and gangly whose hair was a deep brown. The last of the youths was female. She was very pale with long, red hair. He trotted closer, trying to ignore his bleeding antlers.

"What clan are you going to Renn?" Asked the brown haired boy, breaking of a twig from an oak sapling.

"Fox." The pale girl muttered looking at her feet.

"Dahrin and I are joining the Boar Clan. Actually, we need to be heading that way." Said the shorter boy, pointing. After a hurried goodbye they left the girl called Renn who carried on a little way down the path until she stopped. Just past the bracken where she stood lay a vast camp. Cautiously, she edged through the bracken, and the deer quickly poked his head through the trees so he could see the camp. A tall man covered in scars addressed her.

"So, you must be Renn, how nice." He said his silky voice made the deer's tail flick up. "Well, first we must prepare you for the Fox way of life." He snapped his fingers and several men resembling boulders joined him. Before the girl could say a word, the feathers sewn on her shoulder were ripped off and a strip of red fur was sewn on in place. "Oh yes. Girl foxes don't hunt." He said grinning slyly before snapping her long wooden bow. The young girl looked as though she was on the verge of tears. Several women now hauled her to the ground. They pierced her skin, changing her old markings into different ones. They then dipped her long red hair in some foul smelling white liquid, making it look like a fox's tail. The deer looked around and noticed that all of these people had red hair with flecked on the ends. The young girl was brought to her feet, tears rolling down her face, blood trickling from her markings. "You are ready now." Said the man towering over her.

"How could you." The girl hissed, glaring at him.

"Quite easily." He said silkily. "Take her to her shelter and kill that deer. It'll make a nice broth." The girl was dragged away and a man knocked an arrow and aimed at the deer and fired. Unable to get away, the deer stumbled backwards. The arrow thudded in it's skull and all went black.