Chapter 8…not a very exciting chapter, but the next few chapters are worth waiting for!
Chapter 8- It's Buckstar
Hollypaw led him through the various markers that the border patrol had made yesterday.
"Here is what we called the LoneRock." She said, pointing with her muzzle to a big boulder apparently in the middle of a clearing. There was a large sandy area around the rock surrounded by bushes and ferns.
"A perfect area to train." He mumbled to himself.
"What kind of training?" Hollypaw asked, her eyes shining in excitement.
"Battle training." Buckstar replied.
Hollypaw frowned. "We're going to have to fight?"
Buckstar nodded sadly. "It's part of pack life. You have to protect your pack even at the cost of your life."
Hollypaw did not respond but just led him further into the forest. She stopped at an immensely tall tree that seemed to have no end.
"We called this the SkyTree."
Buckstar looked up until his neck ached with the strain. "Good name, it looks like it could never end!"
"Someday I want to climb it all the way to the top!" Hollypaw said wistfully.
Buckstar shook his head. "Wolves aren't very good climbers, you know that…and it could be dangerous."
Hollypaw frowned, crestfallen. "You don't think I can do it?"
Buckstar blinked at her. "No, I'm just concerned for your safety."
Hollypaw just sighed and flicked her tail to continue following her.
Buckstar was already growing familiar to the forest, welcoming its warm earth and shady trees. He did not feel so enclosed and trapped anymore as he used to feel when he first got here a few days earlier.
Hollypaw skirted around the border, stopping occasionally to raise her tail and mark it. Buckstar copied her, instead lifting his leg for…obvious reasons.
"We have enough space in our territory to feed us for many moons to come!" Buckstar told Hollypaw as they reached the river.
Hollypaw nodded and led him around the edge of the river, the pebbles around her paws making a soft crunch every step she took.
Buckstar saw fallen tree a few tail-lengths ahead of him, stretching across the water to reach the other side.
"A bridge?" He asked Hollypaw as she hopped on the trunk.
"Yeah." She said and she took a few tentative steps across. "Be careful…Stormpaw almost fell when he tried to walk across it."
Buckstar nodded and watched Hollypaw pad across, her tail raised high for balance. When she reached the end, she jumped off, a look of relief on her face. "Now you try!" She called out to him.
Buckstar gulped and placed a paw on the rotting trunk. "Are you sure it's safe?"
From the far side of the bank Hollypaw nodded. "Just don't look down!"
Buckstar gulped again, trying to push his fears of the river behind him. I am now a fearless Alpha. I must show my apprentice that I can do anything.
He leaped on the trunk and dug his claws into the hard bark.
"That's it!" Hollypaw called out encouragingly.
He took a deep breath and took a few pawsteps forward, his eyes focused on Hollypaw's shape across the river. He tried not to think about what is under him as he put his paws one after the other. His tail was raised for balance just as Hollypaw had done before him.
"Almost there…" He mumbled to himself. He could already see the features of Hollypaw's face until they were standing muzzle to muzzle.
"There, you're across…after a million moons…" Hollypaw said nonchalantly and padded away from him.
Buckstar rolled his eyes and jumped off the tree. He followed her until they reached a place where the border's scent abruptly ended.
Hollypaw curled her lip in anger. "This is where those wolves attacked us."
Buckstar looked around. It was a small clearing and a wide oak tree blocked the sun, making it a shady overhang. As the he-wolf padded deeper, his eyes caught sight of a pool right in the center of the clearing, as if it was dug out by the paw of a StarPack wolf and in many moons filled with water that had come down as rain.
"Weird, isn't it?" Hollypaw asked, sniffing at the pool. "It's like this doesn't belong here."
Buckstar nodded. He then walked around her to investigate the trunk of the tree. He could tell by all of ridges carved into the bark that it looked like it had been there for ages. Buckstar could have bet a fox's tail that this was the very first tree in the forest.
"I think we should claim this." He said.
Hollypaw nodded and raised her tail to mark the tree.
Buckstar looked at the overall serenity of the clearing and smiled. Something here made him feel peaceful and calm.
"You really fought here?" He asked Hollypaw.
She nodded, a look of confusion coming to her face. "Why, do you doubt me?"
Buckstar shook his head vigorously. "Not at all. It's just…this looks like the sort of place you would come to…think things over and relax."
Hollypaw nodded and stretched. "All this relaxing is making me sleepy."
Buckstar touched her shoulder lightly with his tail. "You just woke up! We have to finish marking the border, remember?"
"Of course." Hollypaw said sleepily.
Buckstar took in a deep breath of fresh air and said, "I'll call this the DreamPool."
"DreamPool?" Hollypaw asked.
He nodded. This place looked like the clearing in his dreams when he talked to the StarPack wolves. Perhaps he should have named this the StarPool.
"That's a good name." Hollypaw yawned and shook herself. "Let's go before I fall asleep on my paws."
Buckstar nudged her softly. "Remember, Hollypaw. I'm the Alpha, here."
Hollypaw flushed. "I'm sorry." She mumbled.
"That's okay. Let's get out of here."
They continued to walk along the border, marking and filling it with as much of their scent as possible.
When they finished, Buckstar let out a sigh of relief. "Now RainPack has a territory."
"And a pretty good one too." Hollypaw chirped, the sleep lifting from her eyes. "Now no one can ever mistake this as free territory!"
"Let's head back and tell the others." Buckstar said and bounded towards the direction of the camp, his tail high.
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When the two wolves returned to camp, they were surprised to see Hawk carrying a limp form of a fox and putting it into the fresh-kill pile.
Buckstar gave a curt nod to Hollypaw and padded to the newcomer wolf. "What are you doing?" He asked him.
Hawk looked offended. "I was hunting, that's what." He growled.
"Who let you hunt?" Buckstar snarled.
"That black and white fellow over there. His name is Larksong, no?" Hawk said, pointing his muzzle towards the Beta wolf, which was deep in conversation with Sparrowfeather underneath the tree near the Nursery entrance.
Buckstar's eyes blazed for a moment. "Wait here." He growled and made his way towards Larksong.
The Beta wolf noticed him and smiled. "Excuse me, Sparrowfeather." He told his mate.
The pup-bringer rolled her eyes. "Figures. You have to take care of your Beta wolf duties." She then slipped inside the Nursery.
"What is Hawk doing hunting? I thought he was a prisoner." Buckstar growled quickly.
Larksong's ice blue eyes flashed. "What do you mean?"
"He was not supposed to be let out of camp." The Alpha said bitterly.
Larksong blinked. "The fresh-pile was running low, so I thought I could trust him to hunt."
"What?" Buckstar barked. "You trusted him?"
Larksong flattened his ears. "How are we supposed to know if any of them are trustworthy until you put their loyalty to the test?"
Buckstar gritted his teeth. The Beta wolf was right. "I suppose that's true. But you should still consult me before you do anything like that again."
Larksong bowed his head, clearly ashamed. "Yes…I will, Buckstar."
Hawk padded up to them warily.
Buckstar turned around so he could face the wolf. "Get your sister. I have to do your naming ceremony."
"My sister?" Hawk asked, clearly confused.
"Dawn, remember?" Larksong growled, suspicious.
"Oh, yeah. Okay." The dark ginger he-wolf grumbled and padded away towards the Pack Den.
"Where's Lilyfrost?" Buckstar asked Larksong when Hawk was out of earshot.
"She went into the forest with Stormpaw. I don't know how that wolf can get into so much trouble. We gave him a punishment, if you don't mind."
"A punishment? What kind of punishment?" Buckstar asked.
"Cleaning out the Nursery bedding for a moon. That should keep him away from that cliff for a while."
Buckstar shrugged. "That seems fair enough. I really wonder what my brother found up there."
"He's your brother?" Larksong asked.
Buckstar nodded. "More of an adopted brother actually." He then realized his mistake.
"Adopted?" Larksong's head cocked to the side. "Really?"
"Yeah, please don't tell him. He doesn't know." Buckstar begged.
"Oh course, Buckstar. I won't tell a soul." Larksong vowed.
Buckstar breathed a sigh of relief.
Hawk came back with Dawn in tow. Buckstar could tell her real coat color now that all of the dirt had been washed off. She was a beautiful light ginger she-wolf with a white underbelly and those black marks are there, just as Buckstar had seen before.
"Yes, Buckstar?" She asked, seeming to drift over to his side.
"Do you want to join RainPack?" He asked.
Dawn cocked her head to the side, a gesture Buckstar took as confusion. "Uh…" She began. "I…I don't know what to say."
"Yes?" Buckstar offered.
Dawn smiled that radiant smile of hers and shrugged. "Yes, then. I don't have anywhere else to go."
Hawk nodded. "I will join too. It has been moons since I've been in a pack."
Dawn quickly nuzzled Buckstar's shoulder, causing him to jump out of sheer surprise.
Hawk rolled his eyes.
"Oh, a bit jumpy, aren't you? It's just my way of saying thanks." Dawn whispered into his ear.
Buckstar smiled, letting her scent drift over to his nose. It smelled like wildflowers and just a hint of dew.
She separated from him.
Larksong shifted uncomfortably. "Buckstar, did you finish setting the borders?" He asked.
Buckstar turned his head to him. "Oh, yes. We have enough territory to feed us for moons."
Larksong smiled.
Dawn sighed and got up. "I guess I have to get ready if we're going to have a ceremony soon. C'mon, Hawk." She brushed herself against Buckstar's flank, another gesture that was unexpected.
"See you later?" She whispered into his ear.
Buckstar gulped and nodded. What else could he say? Of course they are going to see each other soon. For StarPack's sake, they live in the same pack!
Hawk rolled his eyes again and padded away from them. Dawn followed her brother, flicking her tail over Buckstar's nose as she left.
Buckstar sneezed, blinking rapidly.
"Looks like she's going to be a handful." Larksong chuckled.
Buckstar blinked at him. "What do you mean?"
Larksong, for once, looked mischievous. "You'll see."
The Alpha frowned. "Larksong…" He growled.
"Believe me; you'll thank me for not telling you." Larksong laughed.
"Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about!" Buckstar snarled, but Larksong padded away towards the fresh-kill pile.
He mumbled some inaudible words to himself and thought, I swear, Larksong is one of the most cryptic wolves I've ever seen…
He looked up at the sky. It was already noon! How could time fly by so fast? My patrol with Hollypaw must have taken a long time! He thought. Then again, we did remark the whole boundary line…
He caught sight of Stormpaw outside the Nursery, rolling a wad of bedding into the forest. Buckstar ran to catch up with him.
"Looks like you've got your paws full." He commented as he watched his brother nudge the ball into a bush.
"You really think so?" Stormpaw grumbled.
Buckstar's eyes furrowed. "That's not a way to talk to your Alpha." He warned.
Stormpaw sighed. "I'm sorry; it's just so hard living with all these rules!"
Buckstar nuzzled him affectionately. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. I'm not even used to it yet."
"It was just so easy being a loner…" The apprentice whispered.
Buckstar raised an eyebrow. "Now you're having second thoughts? Last time I checked you loved being in a pack."
Stormpaw shrugged. "That was then. This is now."
Buckstar shook his head. "This punishment will be over before you know it."
Stormpaw just glared at him.
The Alpha flicked his tail. "You did deserve it, you know."
His brother dug his claws into the earth. "All I did is just go to my secret place!" He snarled.
Buckstar narrowed his eyes. "Not just. It was after we have told you not to."
"We?"
The Alpha nodded.
Stormpaw furrowed his brows. "This stinks." He then brushed past Buckstar.
Before the wolf could disappear, Buckstar called out, "What is up there anyways?"
Stormpaw looked back, his eyes dark. "Don't you dare go up there. It's my secret place."
Buckstar straightened his back. "Do you want two moons?" He growled.
Stormpaw sighed. "Just…leave it alone, okay?" Without another word, he bounded out of sight and into the camp.
Buckstar watched him go, his tail flicking irritably. I don't like the way he's talking to me. He thought angrily. He doesn't understand that I'm Alpha and he's an apprentice. He doesn't understand that everything changed. It's not just 'Buck' anymore…it's Buckstar.
R&R, por favor!
-Evanessence
