Descendants of the Starnik

Chapter 21: The Oldest Of All

It was going into the late afternoon two whole days later when the coach pulled over and Jonah, Aquila and Tarka stepped out. Alaska, colder then it turned out to be. They weren't used to this weather, but it was tough, they'd have to get used to it quickly. It was a day's drive in a coach to get here. The town they spent overnight in had a bus station and long distance service with it, so they caught the first bus they could to get here. And now they were here, pressing their paws into the coldness of the snow as it crunched under their weight. They could stretch; they could loosen up from the confines of the cramped vehicle they spent the last near forty eight hours in. Sure it stopped from time to time, but it was horrid each time they had to step back inside. The rest of the passengers would agree. They had to transfer to a different coach nearly halfway there, not that, that matters anyway.

Things went on as normal; nothing could get in the way. Aquila, for now, tried her hardest to bury her feelings towards Jonah, knowing that sooner or later they'd return as apparent as ever. He couldn't know, not now, and hopefully never! She didn't want to risk ruining that friendship they already had just because of her. Tarka, he had no issues with anyone. Not with Aquila from their intimate moment, like he said, he wasn't going to force her into anything. He had a good heart that he showed clear, she had someone else in her life she told him, so he was a lucky guy, who ever it was. Jonah, he just wanted to get through all this without anything coming between him, his cousin or Aquila. He felt something for her, and during the coach trip he was starting to wonder if it was something he hoped it wasn't. He loved Aquila, but as a friend. Well, that's all he wanted it to be anyway. If only he knew Aquila felt more…

Rickie and Peter were no longer a thought. One of them was a traitor and had been luring COWEL to them wherever they went. Sure, Rickie was family and he had nothing to lose anymore; he had lost his brother after all. But Jackie would be devastated if something happened to him. She was already reluctant for him to come with them anyway. Either he was caught, which deep down Jonah wished hadn't happened, or he had got away to safety. Peter, well…it had to be him. He was human, so he would be the only one who would have connections to COWEL if any.

But that was then, this is now. "God, it's great to be out of there." Tarka groaned as he arched his back, feeling his back pop in a few places.

"You and me both." Aquila added while she reached out her forepaws and pushed her chest towards the ground. "We've only got a few hours of light left, I say we either find or build a den and carry on tomorrow."

"Carry on where though?" Tarka then asked. "We don't know where we're heading or what we're looking for."

"The forest." Jonah answered. "Come on man, you of all people should know who we're looking for all the way up here." He chuckled. Tarka thought for a moment, and when the realisation finally hit, he never would have guessed before.

"The Dire Wolves?" He nearly exclaimed. "You can't be serious."

"You're part Dire Wolf, right?"

"Going back to Faolan, yeah." He replied. "But still, I wouldn't count that anymore."

"It's your ancestral home." Aquila added. "You've got to have some kind of instinctual pull somewhere out there."

"Seriously? You're not going to start all that crap are you?" He chuckled.

"You're our best link cuz." Jonah added. "Now come on, where's the first direction that comes to mind?" This was ridiculous, his instincts weren't all that great, and they wanted him to take them all to a place he had never been to before. But he played alone.

"Fine, north east." He said, finding this rather amusing.

"Perfect, we'll start there, go as far as we can and find shelter before we freeze." Jonah smiled.

And with that said and done, they started on towards the forest on the outskirts of the town, all following a random direction that would most defiantly be the wrong one. They had no idea where they were going, but Tarka, even though he hadn't been there before, was their only hope of getting there. It was his ancestral home, so he must have some kind of instinctual pull towards it if he looked and listened hard enough. Well, that's what Jonah hoped anyway. It was funny to think that Tarka was part Dire Wolf; he didn't look it at all. Maybe he might be a little taller then most wolves, but still…there was no telling other then that. That gene was either long gone or very suppressed in his side of the family. But even suppressed genes can show through after all. Look at Jonah for example; powers in the family were near extinct, yet a gene in him proved strong enough to shine through and give him his own. Just not enough in Henry, Tarka, Rickie, Jackie, anyone! Blake was another fortunate one, a very lucky one. There had to be so many of their family out there who had the Starnik gene in them, but how many had powers? That was the big question. Was it just him now? Or were there more? Three, ten, twelve…forty?! How suppressed was the Starnik gene really? He wished he could find out.

That was one of the topics they spoke of as they trudged their way through the Alaskan forests, nearly chest deep in snow. Everything below that was starting to become numb from the cold, the snow sticking to their fur and freezing more as the night came, adding to the cold temperature to beyond freezing. Their breath was like a mist now each time they breathed out. Tiredness and fatigue was growing, not to mention hunger. So it was a matter of time before someone gave in, and it was Aquila who tripped and couldn't' get back up. The boys heard, and Tarka ran back to help her up. "This is getting ridiculous!" He exclaimed. "We're going to freeze out here Jonah, we need to find shelter."

"No, it's fine." Aquila insisted. "I can keep going."

"Don't be stupid." Jonah replied, seeing now this was as far as they were going tonight. There was a tiny bit of light left in the sky, and looking up dark clouds swirled above. "It looks like a storms coming, we'll build a den and wait it out."

"What about food?" Tarka then asked. "We haven't eaten since mid-day."

"I'll go find something." He answered. "You two start on the den, there's nothing out here so we'll have to make one. I'll go hunt and bring back what I can find."

"I've got more experience with hunting." Tarka added before Jonah started to walk away. "I live in the woods, I hunt everyday. Maybe I should go and you stay here with her to build the den?" Jonah looked at Aquila, their gazes locking. No, it wasn't fair. Those feelings he managed to bury down during the coach trip came back as he looked into her eyes, finding himself drawn into their beauty. No, he couldn't think these things. It wasn't fair on him or her. He shook his head, both to say no and to clear those thoughts away.

"I've got it." He replied. "I can hunt, I'll…I'll be back soon."

She actually wanted him to stay; she wanted Tarka to go and Jonah to stay. She had feelings for Jonah, more then she had before. She wanted to be close to him, she wanted to spend more time with him then she'd do before. She watched him walk away into the night, a torn feeling dwelling inside her. This was a horrible feeling she was experiencing, love for a friend. Jonah kept his eyes ahead of him; he dared not look back at her. He felt just as bad, torn. Love his friend and possibly ruin something great which they had, or keep things buried.

Night came faster then Jonah anticipated, he was plunged into darkness with no lights and near zero vision. It was a good thing his eye sight was sharp, heck, it was a good thing he was a wolf all together in this moment. He'd been trudging around for nearly an hour now, Aquila and Tarka must have had some luck with the den by now. He however…nothing. There were no tracks; any tracks that were here had been covered over by the fresh snow that must have fallen recently. And any prey that might live around here had already taken cover from the snow storm that would hit any moment now. This was harder then he first thought, maybe Tarka was better off being out here. He was the more experienced hunter, living in the wild still and all.

No! He shook that thought from his head straight away and growled angrily at himself. He didn't want to be near her, he didn't want to even think of her. Each time he did, he only thought back to those feelings…that kiss. "It meant nothing for god's sake!" He shouted up into the sky. "Just stop it already!" Nobody would hear him, the only thing he heard back was his own echo. He had grown fed up of this, he wanted to unleash something. He felt a presence listening, and although there was nobody around, he sensed someone, whether that be his imagination or not, listening to his shouts. "Look, this has to stop." He continued a little quieter, lifting his head high and looking up to the dark clouds. "You've pushed me around, you've pinned me to this spot I find myself in and I can't get up." His ancestors, that's who he was addressing. "You want me to kill someone, so that's what I'll do if that makes everyone else safe. But what's happening to me has to stop. I can't do all this and everything you're asking me to do like I am now. You don't tell me what I need to know and you defiantly haven't told me how I'm supposed to kill Sam. I get a new power that I still can't get over, I've lost my cousin and I have no idea if he's safe, I've lost my home and now I'm on COWEL's most wanted list and right now I'm in the middle of no-where talking to nothing! It's not fair, you decide its fine to kick me while I'm down, so if the message wasn't clear enough, I'm a little pissed!" He then began to lose his temper a little more. "I don't know what you want of me now, but it's going to stop. I'm going to stand right here until it stops! You're going to tell me how to kill Sam in straight words and you're going to stop whatever it is that's happening to me. What is it? What do you want me to do? I don't love Aquila, is that it? Is that what you want me to do? I don't love her, SO STOP IT!"

He bore his teeth up at the sky, his eyes narrowed and his hackles raised his was that furious. He was that angry, this wasn't fair. He didn't love Aquila, he didn't want to. He'd fight it until his death bed. It wasn't right, he can't love his best friend in that way, not when she didn't feel the same way towards him. Of course he didn't get an answer, so he just lowered his head and looked down at his paws, closing his eyes and exhaling loudly. He was screaming at the frigging sky, was it really getting that bad? "I can't do this." He whispered. "Not when you're being unfair to me." His eyes looked to the left on the floor as a fresh snowflake fell. Then another the other side of him, and another, and another. He looked up as big, but gradual, snowflakes began to fall. He couldn't help but laugh as his anger peaked far beyond what he thought was capable. "Perfect, just…perfect." He sighed. "Thanks." He heard something move to his left. He gasped and spun around, just seeing a big, dark figure suddenly run away into the darkness where his eyes couldn't see. A bear? No, it looked too lean to be. A deer? Defiantly not, way too fast. A wolf perhaps? Nope, too big? Wait… "A Dire Wolf? Hey…WAIT PLEASE!" He shouted and beginning to chase, hoping he went in the same direction it went in.

"Please wait…just stop!" He shouted again as he tried to follow the prints. He was only able to follow them for a few minute until the snow had already covered them up. They were wolf prints, that must was for sure. But the size of them, he'd never seen such giant sized prints before; it had to be a Dire Wolf's. But where had it gone? So where were the rest of them? The family stories of the Starnik said they lived in a hidden temple like the one in Idaho; it had to be around here somewhere. He was beginning to beg now, he was so close! He then heard it again, another rush and scampering off paws beside him. He didn't wait to look and started running again, finding and now following another set of paw prints left behind. It was fast, too fast for him to keep up with. "Please…" He shouted again and begging now more then ever. "I need…" SMACK! He ran full force into a low branch of a tree, so hard he ended up somersaulting backwards before landing on his back and sliding a little way.

His vision blurred from the impact, he could taste blood inside his mouth and more trickling down his face. It hurt, that much he was certain of. He lost grip on reality quickly, but not before something appeared over his head. Through the layer of blur, that black silhouette now stood over him, its breath freezing and blowing on his face. It rumbled deeply as its green eyes gazed down on him. He couldn't speak, he couldn't beg for mercy as a set of white teeth descended down on him.

"Jonah!" Aquila shouted. He'd been gone longer then they hoped for, and now she was beginning to worry. Tarka and her had set a rule, while out here, they don't go anywhere where they can't see one another, so she stood a few metres away from the den they had made for the night and called and howled for him, all with no response. She was scared for his sake, this was unknown territory, nobody knew the dangers of this place and what other predators that could be out there. Tarka stood at the start to the den; it was small but big enough for three to sleep and stay warm.

"Maybe he found a den and is taking shelter." Tarka wondered.

"No, he'd still reply if he did." She didn't look at him; she continued to scan the darkness with her eyes. "Something must be wrong; he can't have gone that far away."

"Look, there's nothing we can do about it now." He replied and coming to her side. "You're going to freeze out here. Let's just…head back inside and we'll look for him in the morning and catch some food on the way."

"I'm too worried to sleep or eat." She responded with watery eyes. "We have to find him." He stopped her before she even took a step.

"You go out there now and you're just as well off as he is." He snapped. "Jonah's smart, crazy…but smart. He'll be fine, all we can do is head inside before we freeze and wait for him to come back." She was reluctant; of course she didn't want to leave him out there when this snow was getting heavier. What if he was hurt? What if he was hurt and about to be buried under a possible twelve inches of snow? But she saw reason, and she felt selfish to not show more care.

But then they heard something, something dropping and then quickly running away. Looking behind them, three dead rabbits lay in a pile just outside the den, and looking away to the right of the den, the snow trailed in a way that showed something had just run that way. Jonah? No, so who? Aquila ran in the direction the thing ran in, but stopped upon reaching the rabbits. She looked down to them as Tarka walked up to her, a note written in the snow above them read. "He's safe." That was all. But who was it? Who did this? Who had Jonah?

Hey guys, I know it's been a while, but I've had a lot of working to do and very little time to type. So i'll ask again, who was it? Who did it? Who has Jonah? Who was he chasing and what is the artefact? You might know what it is, if you know my story well enough that is. :)

On another note, I can't help but get the feeling that I might be losing some of my readers. I don't know if this is because this isn't about the usual Starnik characters or something else, but I can't help it. I think it's because once again I'm only seeing three people reviewing when in the previous series I had around six or seven. I'd like to have more readers and reviews so I know how to improve my stories.

The FalconWolf