Chapter 10; Unwelcome Visitors
Everyone was still sleeping peacefully by the time I jerked awake. Something wasn't right. In my short time of being a four-legged carnivore, I had acknowledged the scent of smell to my advantage. We had only been asleep for an hour, why did it have to be such a short rest? I couldn't determine whom exactly the scents belonged to, but instinct clearly told me to wake the others and keep moving.
"Fatal," I whispered, gently stalking towards the sleeping figure of the wolf. He stirred at my soft voice, but I had to nudge him softly for him to awaken fully.
"Delusion? What is calling you to wake me at such a late hour?" The male asked softly, concern showing in his voice for my wellbeing. His scents would have been clogged from sleep, as he had not awakened by the strange presence, so he wouldn't be able to smell my problems right now.
"Help me wake the others, something is wrong. We need to keep moving." I encouraged, before going to wake Sid. Once that sloth was up, everyone would be up. "Wake up you low-life bin of garbage." He was resting on the same rock as a few nights ago, so I gingerly flicked him off.
"Hey! What was that for?" The herbivore hissed, a frown crossing his features.
"Sid, we're moving out." Before I could reply, Manny quickly walked over to us. Judging by the eagerness in his quickened pace, he could feel the prescence as well.
"What?!" The startled cry woke the three sabres, who were sleeping a few metres away from the herd. "Why? It's night!" Sid continued to protest.
"Shh!" I snapped, bonking him on the head with a paw. "I'll carry you, just be quiet." Groaning, the sloth climbed onto my back and lay down, almost instantly falling asleep again. Surprisingly, he wasn't as heavy as looks depicted.
"You know, I don't know how you two can still stand each other after what happened." Singe stated a few minutes later as we trotted down a clearly marked path, looking at the two male sabres, who were walking at the back of the herd.
"We may have been enemies for three days, but brotherhood is never broken." Soto replied, earning startled replies from Manny, Sid and Fatal.
"You're brothers?!" They exclaimed in unison, stopping briefly in shock.
"How is that such a shock?" Diego cut in, looking at the three males.
"How you exchanged conversation with each other back at Half Peak, no one would have been able to even guess that." Fatal explained, continuing to walk along the trail.
"Any interesting cub-hood tales to tell?" Sid smirked, looking back at the two tigers, who exchanged nervous glances.
"Uh-- No. None at all." Diego answered hesitantly.
"Aw, come on. Tell us." The sloth pleaded, sitting upon my back.
"I remember once Diego tried to take on a vulture, when he was only… What, five months?" Soto chuckled at the memory, then began the tale. "It ended up with him being stuck up a tree." The group burst into laughter, all besides Diego.
"Well, I remember when I was stronger then you in cub-hood." He sneered, leaping onto his brother and engaging in a playful tussle.
"This is amusing." Manny remarked as the group stopped to watch the two males have a brief play-fight, rolling around in the snow.
"Hey, wolves verse sabres!" I barked playfully, leaping in-between the two and beginning to fight with them myself. Soon, Fatal joined. Singe quickly began to play as well, a friendlier side to her starting to shine towards us. "Unfair! We're outnumbered!" I accused, quickly being pinned by Diego.
"You should of thought of that before taking us on." Singe smirked, having Fatal pinned beneath her. Pleased with her victory, the slim female leapt off of the wolf and landed lightly in the knee-deep snow, grinning.
"We should get going. It was a fun event while it happened, but that strange scent is urging us on." Fatal stated, rising to his paws and shaking his pelt, small snowflakes flinging onto the ground.
"As much as I hate to end this, he's right, so…" My black lips pulled back into a smirk as I glanced at the sabre above me. Hehe. I forced my hind legs upwards, in doing so making the male fly off. "Never be off guard, my feline companion." I chuckled, pulling myself to my paws and grinning at the smilodon.
The rays of early morning peeked over the horizon, along with a dull sky, soon it would be a beautiful blue with puffy clouds. By this time, the herd had made it back to the trail where the migratory animals first started.
"So… Can we start running? I'm starved." What? I hadn't eaten for a long time. What about those dodo carcasses, you say? The scent was obviously predatory, so we had no choice but to abandon them.
"Yeah, go ahead guys." Manny replied, which resulted in Sid being bucked off my back and into the dirt.
"Hey!" He cried, righting himself and brushing the dirt off of his fur.
"Sorry, sloth. If I don't eat something soon I might just take a bite out of you!" I teased, a smirk plastered on my muzzle, before I took off down the trail, the other carnivores following.
"So, what's on the menu?" Singe called from behind, obviously falling back from Fatal and I, so were the two males.
"Ack, sorry, forgot wolves were faster." I laughed nervously, before slowing a few paces.
"Starts are extremely slow, and they often bother to travel in family groups." Fatal slowed, waiting for everyone to catch up. "My guess is one such group will be trailing far behind. I choose a feast of Starts."
An hour later, our small pack slowed to a walk, the scent of fresh meat lingered in the air. Following the smell, we came across a sight that wished we never came. Four Starts had been killed in a clearing, with three unwelcome visitors feasting on them.
"Oi! What are you doing here!?" I snarled, shoving through low ferns and bursting into the clearing. Singe was next out.
"Why are the guys staying back?" I whispered to her, confused at why the males hadn't come out yet.
"They want to stay hidden. If these bastards try fight us they're coming out." The female replied in a hush whisper, fangs bared at the other sabres, who had noticed our presence.
"Oh, look who it is, the two bitches from before." Oscar growled, drawing the attention of Zeke and Lenny.
"Ahem, I was the one you randomly ambushed!" Singe shot back, obviously dying to fight him. Everyone wanted those carcasses, even though scavenging was never a priority such predators took too. When there was scarce food, it would change the mind of any carnivore searching for a free meal.
"Why's the female wolf with you? And where's your little protectors?" Zeke taunted, smirking in my direction.
"God, what the hell is so difficult for you three idiots to understand?! Female wolf has name. And they're NOT my protectors, I can hold my own in a fight!" That's it. I lunged forward, tackling Zeke. We rolled around in the snow, madly clawing at each other. The sound of Lenny and Oscar fighting Singe wasn't a pleasant one, she was outnumbered, and would easily die if things got out of hand.
Zeke wasn't as strong as the previous fight; Newly inflicted wounds from the fight with Singe yesterday slowed him down. Perking my ears to make sure the tigress was okay, I was relieved to hear the three males had come out of hiding and were almost effortlessly turning the tables.
"Retreat!" I heard Lenny shout, which made Zeke thrust me into the snow and escape into the undergrowth. Ouch. Oh well, least I wasn't hit into a tree.
"You guys Okay?" Diego asked, looking Singe and I over. Her body was covered in cuts, but they were nothing that couldn't heal. I was fine as well, just a few claw marks and a headache.
"Yeah, thanks for helping. Who were those guys, anyway?" The tigress glanced at the other's escape route, glaring as if they were still there, then turned her attention back on us.
"From our old pack. Zeke, Oscar and Lenny. I doubt they'll try fight us again." Soto explained, then turned towards the carcasses of the small, grey animals. "We best hurry and eat, Manny and Sid will be close by now."
It didn't take us long to finish the Start carcasses. Though it looked like a small portion, it was actually quite filling. Only a few minutes later, Manny was into the clearing, a whining Sid following close behind.
"Hey, what happened?" The sloth asked, seeing our newly formed injuries.
"Lenny, Zeke and Oscar, that's what happened." Diego stated, stretching.
"Let's just hope they don't come back… We better get going." Manny began to walk South again, followed by everyone else.
Short-ish chapter. The next chapter will be the last one before moving into Ice Age 2. Yay~