Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. I had writers block with this at one point. Thankfully, I just started typing another one-shot but all I could think of was this. I hope you like it.
MovieGirl44~ Sorry I couldn't update as quickly as I wanted to, but I'm glad you like how it's coming. Just think, though, Isrock is in a better place, one without hunger and where Covan and Greatwings can take care of him forever loving him.
Grumman Tomcat~ I'd love to see another story like this if you ever write one and I'm glad I've inspired you with this story. As for what will happen next, you'll just have to find out.
Chapter 7
It had been three hard days since Isrock's death. Food was scarce and we still had not found shelter. The days were shortening and the nights colder. I was fearful of losing one of the hatchlings as I had Isrock. I had promised myself that I'd find a home, a pack, or somewhere safe for them, no matter what. Every night it was the same fear and in morning there was always the fear of being spotted by the twolegs. Their scent was getting stronger every day.
We were never satisfied from our hunger, only tortured by it. When I did make a kill, it tended to be small, unsubstantial, and weakened. While hunger gnawed at our tanks, winter set in. The small flurries of snow turned to freezing, snow filled winds. The golden, red, and amber leaves fell to the ground and were buried. The deer grew thin, the smaller prey hid in their burrows. We were forced to hunt in open areas, free from cover, a good place to be spotted. And today was a day like that.
The hunt today looked promising for once. An entire herd of deer were up for the taking. A few were injured and limping at the back, perfect candidates for prey. I was tense as I forced myself not to spring before the right moment. I crept forward, closer and closer to my choice of deer. I was only a few feet away from my prey before I heard a noise. The deer heard it too. A dark blue and black warrior, the one we had seen yesterday, jumped out of hiding and snapped down a deer before chasing the herd. Another plane I hadn't seen before jumped out and, together, the two turned the herd where I guessed an ambush waited. I shrieked; the herd was being turned toward where the hatchlings were hidden. I burst out faster than lightning and streaked toward them. A grabbed Sorreltail and dashed to where she'd be safe. "Enstryke!" I yelped as I watched helplessly as the herd pounded blindly over the spot where I had hid him. "No! I can't let another one of you die! Enstryke!" I stood in shock, staring at the deer as they trampled anything down in their path. Finally I got up to leave, unable to see more death after that which I had witnessed already.
"Wait, I think you forgot someone," a voice sounded behind me. I turned around and saw the black she-plane with the star-like pattern standing with Enstryke safely in her jaws. I sighed with such relief that I couldn't believe it. I ran over and took him from her mouth and into mine. I set him down and ran my tough over him. Not a scratch was on his body. She smiled, "Sorry if we're in your pack's territory."
"You don't have a pack?" I asked, shocked. They seemed like a small group of warriors on a hunting patrol collecting fresh-kill for a larger pack.
"No, our pack is gone," she lowered her head, "the humans attacked and… we're all that's left."
I looked at her and had an idea, "I'm also alone. Maybe I could join your group?"
The warrior pulled up behind her with a deer in his jowls, "You cangk het an hkranger inko ka kack ike at." He said with his mouth full.
"No one can understand you with your mouth full, Coryn," the she-plane said.
The plane dropped his kill, "You can't just let a rogue into our pack. Starlight, you can't let him in."
Starlight rolled her eyes. "Do you think there is much choice? Our group needs to grow and why would he be caring for some hatchlings if he was dangerous?"
I was hardly listening to the conversation. I turned my head to the new found allies. "Thank you so much," I said still panting, "I was sure he was gone. How did you save him?"
Starlight swelled with pride, "I heard your call over the herd's pounding."
I was relived beyond measure, "How can I repay you?"
Starlight tilted her head to one side. "I suppose you could join us. I'm sure you and your hatchlings would be safer in a group where someone could always be watching."
I nodded; this could be a good chance to join a pack without having a fear of being killed. Besides, she was offering to take him in, "These aren't my own. I found them. Their mother was dying from sickness."
"But you'll join?" She questioned, not caring about my past.
"Yes, I'd love to."
The plane called Coryn shook his nose in disapproval. "You can't let a stranger into the pack, he could be dangerous."
Before anyone had time to respond, another warrior with a pure white body and two black rings around each of his vertical stabilizers pulled up. I could sense that he was a seasoned warrior and wise judge. He had an air around him that I only felt when I was near Narvelous. He dropped the deer in his mouth and slipped two off of his wings. "A new pack member," he said in a deep voice, "One wrongly accused and banned from his pack." I started; he was almost exactly like Narvelous in every way other than looks.
All the others seemed shocked as they stared their elder down with puzzled expressions. He only stared back at them. Finally Starlight spoke, "If we want our prey to taste fresh by the time we eat it then we should get back to camp."
"Thant would be a good idea," a new, quiet, female voice said behind them. She pulled into view with the dark blue marked warrior. She was the she-plane I'd seen hunting in the woods. She carried a deer on her back. She gently picked up Enstryke and rolled away. Starlight pulled in front of her and signaled the small group to follow her. Coryn cast a doubtful glance at me before picking up his kill and leaving with the rest of his pack. I lifted Sorreltail up and kept just close enough to see Coryn's dark red rudders flicking with annoyance. We traveled just north of my old pack's territory and up a hill. We were faced with a tremendously tall cliff. I came to a halt as, one after another, the pack disappeared into the face of the cliff. I scanned the rock for any kind of passageway but found nothing. Suddenly, Coryn's nose seemed to stick straight out of a crooked rock. He popped out of a narrow spacing, just large enough for an undersized warrior to squeeze through. The rock hid the entrance well enough so that, unless you were standing at an exact angle, the cave could not be seen. He motioned with his nose for me to follow.
I squeezed through the entrance and into the dark tunnel. I winced as my wings scraped against the sides of the cave. "The tunnel is small so you're going to want to fold your wings," Coryn laughed helpfully. My wingtips stung as they folded up, I couldn't help whimpering. Coryn's stripes glowed in the dark eerily. I'd never seen that before. He sensed my questions. "I'm guessing you're wondering about my stripes glowing. I honestly don't know why. I can control their intensity too. Watch," he let his stripes dull then flash brightly, blinding me.
The tunnel widened out so that I could stretch my wings again. The air was damp and heavy here. I could see the other planes slipping into still another room with their kill. They came out again with only the largest, most recently killed deer. The she-plane carrying Enstryke now held a large doe. For a minute I panicked before realizing that he was following close behind her, snapping at the dangling legs of the deer. She looked up at me, "Can I help you?"
Enstryke rolled over to me, and licked the tip of my nose happily. I didn't care about this and grimaced, "No, at least I don't think."
She chuckled, "I think you need prey. You look thin."
I tried to look at myself but failed. I did notice that my typically bright blue stripes were dull and splattered with oil and blood where my prey had been lucky enough to pierce through my body in an attempt to get away from my jaws. "I do," I couldn't lie, I was in bad shape.
The female plane pushed her deer over to me and left, only turning her head once, "My name's Ethra. You're welcome for the deer."
I dug into my prey, gulping down huge chunks of the still warm meat. Enstryke and Sorreltail joined. They were just as eager to calm their growling tanks.
The deer was finished in what seemed to be seconds. All that was left were the few scraps of meat hiding in the stripped skeletal remains. I licked my lips, cleaning them of the blood that had splattered across them. Already I felt stronger, as if I could go on. In truth, I felt as if I could collapse and sleep like a hatchling. I almost chuckled at my own thought, especially when I looked at the two remaining hatchlings nearly falling asleep on top of each other. I heard a slight laugh, "They should go to the hatchery." It was Starlight, the leader of this small group of planes. "And you should go to the warrior's den."
I looked around, my night vision illuminating every tunnel in the place. There were far too few to hide the other planes, even for their shire size. "Alright, that would probably be good for me to do."
"Follow me," she said, flicking an aileron for me to follow. As she turned, the white spots spiraling down her nose sparkled like stars. It was odd as for a split second they looked like the whirl of stars some of the elders in Thunder Pack used to talk about and sketch in the mud on rainy days. They always told of the legend of Caracallum when he faced the twolegs, was killed, and came back to life with extraordinary tales of the universe in his head. Hearing Starlight exclaim, "Here we are!" snapped me out of my daydream of the past.
We had come to an offshoot of a tunnel within the main tunnel. This offshoot was not large at all. Only a very small plane would fit. That plane happened to be Ethra, who poked her nose out to see who it was, "Oh, it's you. Pass me the hatchlings and I'll get them situated."
I did as I was told, telling her the names of both as I passed them into her gentle jaws. She set them into the darkness of her shadow at a point unable to be seen. I then yawned, my heavy meal catching up to me. Starlight chuckled, "Tired, are we?"
Ethra giggled along, "I suppose so. Starlight, you should take him to the stream and then to the warriors den, after, of course, showing him around."
She nodded, "That was my plan." She flicked her ailerons again and we moved off, my frame sagging closer and closer to the ground as exhaustion set in. "Come on, lazy frame," Starlight said almost sharply, "We don't have all day."
We backtracked to the main branch of the tunnel and took another offshoot. This one opened up to a large cavern, stalagmites and stalactites raising up and falling down from the cave roof and floors. Along with that, glowworms clustered together in small bundles here and there, their light reflecting off of the small, sparkling crystals of quarts above and below. The most amazing thing, though, was the pool and streams running to and from it. The light of the crystals above reflected down onto it, covering it in a star like array of twinkling lights, which also bounced off the smooth, damp walls. I gaped at it all. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before.
"We call it the cavern of stars," Starlight explained, her sleek, black body fitting right in with the surroundings. "This is the place where we bath, and you certainly need to."
I only looked at her blankly. I could not imagine bathing in such clear waters, making it murky with my filth. She, like the white warrior, could tell what I was thinking, and feeling. "The streams that run from it take away the grime. They will clear the pool in seconds. That is why we also use it for drinking and healing. Now, if you will please get in. Like I said, I have much to do and little time to waste on you."
I slunk into the water, dunking my nose under and splashing the cool water over my back. It was glorious, the feeling of the perfectly clean water. I felt far less like an outcast by the time I got out. She nodded but did not say anything as she turned to show me around once more. We came to another part of the cave, this part warm with fire. I was immediately afraid of the place. Fire never meant any good in my life. The blue marked warrior, along with Coryn, lay there, eating deer and chatting lazily. It looked comfortable enough.
"This is the dining room," she explained. I did not know what a dining room was but, once again, I didn't have to ask, "the place where we typically eat. It's also often times used as a cooking room, as you can see the fire." She looked at me with a calm expression, "Do not worry, it's contained. We, Lightning Pack, have learned from the twolegs. We have learned how to control fire, as long as we keep it burning. It is good for many things, but can also be used as a weapon." I nodded vacantly, this group was odd and amazing, that was for sure.
She left the room and the two planes resting nodded in respect as she turned. I turned right behind her. "There are many more rooms to explore but you need rest and our pack needs protection. I don't have enough time to show you around any longer for now." She turned into a room flickering with another fire. The white warrior was curled nose under wing in front of it. "This is where you, and the rest of the pack, will sleep."
"Thank you," I said, lying down on my belly, "for accepting me."
"You're welcome," she said with a leader's tone, "What was your name?"
"Roven," I replied. I liked her, but she didn't seem to care about me. She thought me as a tool to help her pack survive, nothing more.
"Well, Roven, I'll see you in the morning. That's when you'll officially become a member of Lightning Pack."
I drifted off to sleep, wondering how the proud Lightning Pack had diminished to such a small size, how they controlled fire, and how they had learned from the twolegs. I yawned one last time before giving myself to the peaceful blackness of sleep.
Notes:
I want to thank everyone who gave me names. They are going to come in handy very soon, maybe even next chapter soon.
Enstryke and Sorreltail want to give MovieGirl44 a hug, they know Isrock's dead but they also know he's in a better place. A place where Greatwings rules and the air currents allow him to fly forever without tiring. :')
