Chapter 9:

A Dire Situation

Runt and Claudette returned to where their parents and Stinky had been resting to a concerning sight. Kate, Humphrey, and Stinky were not there. But there was a sign of other wolves having been there and possibly a struggle. The grass was matted down as if wolves had fallen into their backs while defending themselves. And there were paw prints, large ones, leading away from the area they had been resting at. But there were no signs that they had been hurt, but that was hardly comforting for Runt and Claudette. They had no idea who had attacked their family or where they—their family and the possible attackers—had gone.

Runt was sniffing the ground but that did not give them any answers.

"How I wish it was me taken instead of Stinky!" Runt whined. "He would actually be a help with following their scent."

"You're still useful in different ways," Claudette assured him. "We'll find them. We will," she said. "Now you check out the area from that tree while I check around down here."

Runt immediately dug his claws into the tree and began climbing up it. Tree climbing was a skill unique to only Runt. He had started at a young age, just a pup, and no one else was able to even start to climb a tree like Runt could. No one could even learn how to get a hold of the tree or pull themselves up it to climb. It had to do with how Runt had no fear of heights while many other wolves did. But, when he got high up in the pine tree, Runt saw no signs of his parents or older brother. No tracks, no sight of the three wolves themselves. Just nothing, as if they had disappeared from the face of the Earth. But Runt knew better than to believe such a thing could happen. Yet he had no idea what could have happened to cause his parents and brother to just disappear.

Did something scare them off? Did they leave, figuring he and Claudette would catch up? Were they driven out of the area by other wolves defending their territory? Were they captured by those wolves? Runt did not want to think about the worse alternatives. Daria was an orphan and he did not want to end up without parents, just as he and Claudette were really growing up. And without their brother. Runt hoped it was one of the possibilities he had thought about, and not one of the possibilities he did not want to think about. He did not want to think about the worst-case scenarios.

"Do you see them?" Claudette called up to her younger brother, almost miserably. "Any of them?"

"No!" Runt called down. "I don't see them!" He climbed back down the tree and rejoined Claudette at her side.

"What do we do now?" Claudette whimpered.

Runt was staying calm, as hard as that was to believe. He had to, for his sister's sake. He knew how unstable Claudette could be when she was stressed about things. And nothing stressed a pup out, even if Claudette could not be called a pup but an adolescent, more than being separated from his or her parents before it was time for them to go off on their own. It was not time for Runt, Claudette, and Stinky to leave their parents' den quite yet.

"You can smell better than me," Runt told her. "Follow our parents' scent and we'll find them soon."

"Alright," Claudette replied in a shaky voice. "I'll try my best. I'm not as good of a sniffer as Stinky is." Claudette bent over, putting her muzzle to the ground and her butt up in the air, and then began sniffing as she army-crawled across the ground. Runt followed her, by her side, as she went forward.

"Anything?" Runt asked a little bit later.

"Yes," Claudette said. "I've found our parents and Stinky's sent. They went this way, into the tall grass. I have no idea why, but they did. But I smell other wolves as well."

"Who?"

"I don't know," she replied. "I've never been around these wolves before to smell their scent."

"Let me check it out," Runt said. "I may not, but I might as well try."

Runt got down and sniffed the area where Claudette had smelled. And, unlike his sister, Runt recognized the scent immediately. It caused his hackles and ears to stick straight up, and him to almost hiss like a cat.

"What is it?" Claudette asked, noticing her brother's sudden disgust.

"Rogues," Runt almost spat. "The Banff ones. I smelled King and Queen. MaKayla and Geoff are with them."

"Oh no…" Claudette whimpered.

"Princess and Melissa are with them too," Runt went on. "At least there is some good news. But…"

"…they have captured our parents and Stinky!" Claudette sobbed. "How will we get them back?"

"Calm, sister," Runt said, trying to help her relax. "We'll think of something. And I'm sure Princess and Melissa won't stand by if the other rogues have captured them. They saved my life from Scava when I had been captured by them. They didn't let anything happen to me, so I'm sure they won't let anything happen to our parents and Stinky. Now let's follow that scent trail. It will lead us to where the rogues have taken our parents, if they did. I just hope it is a bad confidence, that the rogues went the same way as our parents, but not to capture them."

"But, little brother, why else would the rogues be here, when Banff is a hundred miles away from Jasper?" Claudette questioned him.

"I don't know," Runt replied. "We just need to rescue our parents and brother. That's all that matters right now. We can deal with the rogues once we have rescued them."

"I hear King talking," Runt said to Claudette half an hour later. They had not found their parents or Stinky yet, but Claudette was still following a scent trail that was a mix of the rogues and their relatives' scents.

"And I hear Queen," Claudette whispered back. "I can recognize her loud voice anywhere."

"And…" Runt paused to listen. He heard voices that he recognized even more. "I hear our parents and Stinky! Stinky is yelling at the rogues!"

"And Princess, it sounds like she is arguing about something," Claudette told him.

"We should follow the voices," Runt whispered. "We know our parents and Stinky are still alive, but we have no idea if they have been captured."

Runt and Claudette came to the area where the voices were coming from, and they felt their hearts sink. They saw King and Queen on top of a stone ledge, staring down at a group of wolves. They first saw MaKayla and Geoff by each other's sides, lying down in the sun, and at the other side of the clearing, they saw Princess and Melissa. Princess was standing up, while Melissa was sunning herself as well.

Things must have calmed down fast, Runt thought. They were yelling only fifteen minutes ago. Whatever they were yelling about, it must have been settled.

Runt and Claudette looked to the middle of the clearing, where they saw three more wolves who they recognized immediately. It was Kate, Humphrey, and Stinky. They were tied together with vines and had moss shoved in their muzzles. And that was not all. There were more than just six rogues around their relatives, but at least fifteen of them. And there were surely more of them on the way from Banff, or nearby scouting the area. Or just keeping watch

But there was one thing Runt and Claudette did know: they had to rescue their parents and brother. But how? They were only adolescent wolves, no match for the rogues!

The siblings could only hope that Princess and Melissa proved themselves again. And soon.