The three alphas followed Max to a field to meet Lois and Daria "Now i must warn you two Daria had a.. accident that left her scarred and blind in both eyes and her sister hates it when people stare at the scars so please don't stare."Max said firmly.
Kate Garth and Hutch looked at each other in concern wondering what happened after a few minutes of walking they got to a den,and a tan furred female with light blue eyes who looked about 4 years older than Kate.
"Hi honey."Max sat kissing the wolf on the cheek "Kate hutch this is Lois my wife and Tribe leader." Kate's eyes widened a little after hearing that Lois looked at Kate and Hutch with confusion "Can i help you?"
"Um yes we came to ask you some questions about your tribe."Kate said Lois cocked her head to the side "Like what?"
"Like why are you guys still here living next to the Dark Forest and next to the shade." Hutch said that name made Lois tince up and squeeze max's hand who comforted her. "Did someone say Shade?"a voice said coming from out of the den Kate looked into the darkness of the den and she make out the outline of a Wolf sitting down.
"Yes,are you Daria?"Kate asked with the tilt of her head.
"Who's asking?"
"Kate of the United tribe,you've probably never heard of us."kate responded even in the dark Kate could see Daria turn her head a little "no we've heard of you you're the ones that abolished the alpha and omega laws." Kate smiled proudly as she reputation proceeded her.
"Why are you asking about The Dark Forest and it?"Daria asked with curiousness in her voice
"It's like this we were actually looking for a couple of Wolves that i believed went to the Dark Forest against my orders and we stumbled on to your tribe living next to the Dark Forest and we were just wondering if you knew about the legend that surrounds the Forest but to our surprise you guys were the ones that started it."
Kate could see Daria's ears flicker as she stood up and began to walk towards the entrance and towards the light when she did kate nearly gasped after seeing Daria. Her fur was a pale gray mixed with cream and her eyes were a pale green with healed scars running over her eyes and down her cheeks kate could tell by the scars it wasn't just an accident she was attacked by someone or something.
"That legend...it was supposed to be a warning but our cries fell on deaf ignorant ears." She said with bitterness as she gently grabbed lois's hand as they walked towards a spot a few feet away from the den Kate Garth and Hutch followed as Daria sat down with Max and Lois. Kate,Hutch and Garth sat down in front of them as Daria began speaking.
"We don't know what it actually is or how long it's been here all we know it's a frightening monster."she said with a trembling tone as Lois spoke.
"Our tribe was never from here in the first place we were from further North but the carribu disappeared from our territory and we discovered that they came down here for some reason so we moved here,and it was well and good until we found that Forest."Daria said with regret.
"We were just pups at the time,our curiosity got the better of us and we explored the Forest ignoring the bad feelings we got until we arrived at the black cave it's home."Lois said.
Both girls went quiet for a second "Us and a bunch of other pups we were hanging with were playing tag in the Forest when we stumbled onto the Black cave, the inky blackness of the inside of the cave was unsettling and creepy."Lois said shivering.
"We were curious to know what was inside so one of the pups dared me to go inside although i was hesitant at first I eventually summoned the courage and went inside and i instantly regretted it."Daria said sadly. "What happened?"Kate asked as daria shuttered at the memory of it "i never saw it coming, the only thing i remember was feeling a sharp pain on my face as i was knocked back by something powerful i heard Lois and the other pups screaming as i covered my bleeding face."
"i grabbed Daria and we the other pups ran out of the Forest we told everyone what had happened and an army of 100 wolves immediately went to the Black Cave to kill the creature but no weapons was able to bring it down,no arrows,daggers,Tomahawks nothing they were completely defenceless against this thing,nearly half our tribe was injured by the Shade as we dubbed it,seeing as we couldn't stop it we ran away to a tribe not too far from here the leader was someone named Samson."Lois said.
Kate's eyes widened at that revelation she knew Samson as the Leader of the Northern tribe and Nathaniel's father and a friend to Winston,when he first told the story to her he said a wolf that was passing through told it to him when in fact terrified and injured wolves that came to him for help did.
"We told the Tribe what happened but they thought we were just making it up despite seeing the injured,after we were treated and after a long heated debate half of the tribe decided to comeback but we forbid anyone from going into the Dark Forest out of fear of the Shade's wrath,and it worked we hadn't had any problems with him since."Max finished.
"Oh and due to the severity of my injuries i became permanently blind."Daria said with a hint of bitterness Garth was starting to feel bad about laughing earlier he was beginning to realize how serious this is to these people. After seeing Daria's scars a thought ran through Hutch's mind as he turned to Kate and whispered to her ear "Wait If the Shade did that to Daria for entering the black cave why didn't do the same to Hunter?" kate shrugged her shoulders "he said he ran away before the Shade could possibly do anything."
"Who's Hunter?"Daria asked curiously Kate and Hutch looked at her in surprise that Daria was able to hear them clearly,Kate just laughed "Oh no one important." but Daria wasn't going to take that for an answer "Has someone from your tribe encountered the Shade before you must tell me."Daria said pressingly.
Kate knew she wasn't going to let this go anytime soon so she decided to tell her what happened to Hunter,"just a couple of days ago a group of pups from my tribe went to the Dark Forest by themselves although they didn't find anything one pup named Hunter decided to back to the Dark Forest alone at night after he said he heard noises coming from the black cave, when he did go back he went straight into black cave."
Lois,Daria and Max looked at Kate with complete blank expressions "Did he see anything while he was in there?"Max asked curiously "not really he told me that all he saw was blackness and that the torch in his hand didn't light a thing and he couldn't even tell if he was in a cave anymore."
Lois,Max and Daria knew that description very well "the alphas said the same thing when they went into the cave it was like they were standing in a void and it was daytime and no light shined through,it was creepy."Daria said with a shiver.
"Then he said heard footsteps and growling then he said the Shade appeared and that scared him so much he ran out of the Dark Forest, when he told me this truthfully i didn't quite believe him because pups have an overactive imagination i just thought the darkness was playing tricks on him but as i saw the look on his face as he begged me not to let anyone else go into that forest i could tell he was serious about it so I told everyone not go to the dark forest anymore,but apparently the message didn't get through a couple of thick skulls."Kate said referring to Link and Lyle.
"Which of course is the reason why we are here we are looking for Link and Lyle." Garth said It took a few seconds for Daria,Lois and Max absorb everything Kate told them "We'll I'm sorry like i said we haven't seen you Link and Lyle in our tribe,if you want my honest opinion they're probably dead somewhere."Max said which caused Lois to slap him upside his head angrily "don't tell them that you don't know that." lois said "What?!"Max exclaimed.
"Ignore him,don't stop looking for your friends Kate."Lois said as Kate nodded rather uncomfortably and gave Garth and Hutch a look that said time to Leave.
"Well Thank you for your time,come on guys."Kate said standing up along with Garth and Hutch and walked away.
They exited the territory and entered the Dark Forest as they continued back through the creepy forest Kate immediately stopped as she noticed the black cave just 30 feet to the left of her. "There it is the black cave."Hutch said "it's even scarier in person,and Hunter said he went in there?"Garth asked in disbelief.
Kate stared intensely at the cave as severe uneasiness rushing through her body,the 3 alphas stared intensely at the cave for several seconds until Garth turned to his sister in law "you really think the Shade is there Kate?" Kate narrowed her eyes staring at the cave a part of her wanted to check out the cave but the more sensible side of her told her she needed to turn her butt around and leave the Dark Forest and never come back.
"You and i both know there's only one way to find out but I'm not going in there."Kate said staring at the cave "neither am i."Hutch said and garth nodded in agreement and so Kate turned to leave along with Garth and Hutch out of the Dark Forest and never coming back. However unknown to them they were being watched as the Shade stepped out of the Forest and watched them leave.