Hello everyone, glad to see that there is growing interest. Here we finally get to the ground.

Couple of notes:

Italicized = Trigedasleng

Bold = English Translation

Chapter IV - Welcome to the Ground

Clarke awoke with a start. She sucked in a deep breath and her eyes flew open. Suddenly her senses came flooding back and she groaned out loud. Her body ached all over and her mouth felt like she had been eating dry sand. Taking stock of her surroundings she slowly unbuckled her safety belt and fumbled for the door release. Grunting with the effort Clarke pulled the handle up and then winced slightly as the door unsealed with a low hiss. The door, though no longer shut, made no visible attempt to raise itself. With a sigh Clarke took hold of the bottom of the door and, using her entire body, pulled the heavy piece of metal upward. It swung up following it's normally automated path until it was no longer in sight.

Clarke's breath caught and her eyes went wide, as the door moved out of the way the scene she was greeted with was beyond anything she had ever imagined. More beautiful than any of her drawings, there were more colors than Clarke knew existed and more shades of green than Clarke could put names to.

Stumbling out of her small drop ship Clarke marveled at the way the earth gave way under her feet. She fell to her knees and put her hands flat against the ground. She wiggled her fingers and closed her eyes, marveling and delighting in the new scents, feelings, and sounds. Clarke had never thought of air as having a scent but down here it smelled like a million different things. The sounds too! Up on the Ark there was only the constant thrum of machinery but down here Clarke could hear birds chirping in the trees, leaves rustling in the wind, and even small animals scuttling through the brush.

Suddenly Clarke cried out in pain, her eyes flying open. She brought her left hand around to grasp the spot where the blocker device was implanted. It felt like a series of electric shocks were zapping her from the inside. Clarke grit her teeth, her muscles were tense and the electrical shock was becoming more and more painful. As she fell to all fours she felt the rush of power that was becoming less foreign. Her senses flared and her body cried out in protest. Eyes glowing and teeth clenched Clarke felt something in her lower back shift. Then there was pain, physical pain the likes of which Clarke had never experienced; it felt like her back was breaking. Clarke curled into a ball only to then collapse, spread on the ground, as a wild spasm wracked her body and she let out a tortured whimper. On top of the pain there was a tingling sensation across her entire body, she felt her nails begin to curl and thicken. Clarke screamed out as she felt every bone in her body crack and suddenly the power that was a part of her was flowing through every vein in her body. She felt her muscles ripple and expand and as her skin began to tear she could only continue to scream.

After what felt like an eternity Clarke lay on the ground panting heavily, her eyes were still clenched tightly shut and as she lay loosely on her side she could still feel phantom pain running up and down her body. Clarke let out a last whimper before taking a deep breath and trying to come back to her senses. Attempting to stretch she frowned, her fingers felt short, and what was that tight feeling above her butt?Her eyes snapped open and she rolled over before standing up, on all four feet. Clarke stood for a moment stunned, she stared down at her forepaws. Clarke closed her eyes again, she was a wolf, she had shifted, the very thing her mother had warned her to fear her entire life. The world poured in and broke Clarke's train of thought, scents from the surrounding forest were intensified and Clarke's ears perked, picking up far off sounds that she hadn't noticed in her human form. Clarke took a deep breath and let her eyes open again. It was like seeing for the first time and the experience was every bit as amazing as Clarke's first look at the forest just minutes ago. Gazing at the world around her, experiencing everything with this new intensity, Clarke couldn't fathom what could possibly be so bad about letting their wolves come out. Aside from the pain Clarke couldn't see a downside.

Moving her feet under her Clarke frowned in annoyance at the rubbing of the clothes that were still clinging to her form. Then she frowned noticing that they were already nearly entirely torn from her body. Clarke moved her weight from foot to foot and felt new muscles tensing and stretching. Somehow her shift had not only altered her form but had also given her mass. Clarke had grown in size and strength amassing muscle and body structure in a period of time that shouldn't have been possible. Clarke couldn't remember reading anything about growth with shifts in any of the old books.

Clarke could feel her tail straining to get out from her shorts and so using her teeth Clarke ripped first her shirt and then her shorts from her body. The expected feeling of being naked never came and grinning to herself she started to jog and then run. She broke through the treeline and didn't stop. She padded over fallen leaves and sprinted past the brush, leaping over a fallen trunk she let out a short howl of pleasure, she had never felt so alive, so free. Circling back around she came up short back at her half buried drop pod. Panting heavily Clarke approached the pod, she quickly noticed that despite being on all fours her head was nearly at the same height as it had been when she was human, she really had grown.

It was then that the thought first crossed her mind that she had no idea how to shift back. Closing her eyes Clarke let her breathing and heart rate slow, she focused on her human form. Imagined what she looked like and how it felt for her body to shift, willing herself to shift back, but nothing happened. Clarke opened her eyes and she was still stood on all fours, still covered in a thick warm coat, and definitely still a wolf. Frowning, Clarke tried to think of the little information she had been able to get on what life had been like before the Ark. There had been almost nothing on shifting but Clarke did know that it was supposedly all in the mind and she was pretty sure there was no particular trick to it. She had shifted into a wolf easily enough hadn't she? She hadn't even meant to! So why couldn't she shift back the same way? Then Clarke remembered the device in her arm. It shouldn't have let her shift in the first place, but what if it had been damaged in the landing? The device could have temporarily malfunctioned, but now if it was working again... What if the device, meant to keep her human, was now the reason she couldn't shift back?

Clarke looked down at where she could still feel the implant in what was now her front leg. Did that mean she was stuck like this? She strained to get her teeth around to the spot to see if maybe she could get it out herself, but it was nearly as high up as her shoulder and in this form she wasn't quite able to reach it. Looking around Clarke wondered if maybe there was some kind of sharp edge she could use but she quickly realized it was useless. Something like this would need to be more precise than just ramming her shoulder into a stick, plus she would have no way to clean or treat the wound afterward, she was suddenly glad that she hadn't been able to reach the spot with her teeth.

Thinking about Cleaning the wound made Clarke realize just what sort of position she was in. She had been so taken in by the sight of the ground and then so preoccupied with her shift that she had forgotten the situation she was actually in. She had to get going, she had to gather what supplies she could and then get to Mount Weather.

Clarke had been rummaging around the drop ship for about ten minutes when she smelled the first sign of them. Her head came up and she perked her ears, unsure of exactly why she was so uneasy at the new smell, she quickly grabbed the backpack she had been filling and quietly but swiftly retreated to the far edge of the woods. Hunkering down she waited, and as she crouched there the sounds of something moving through the trees grew louder. They were faint, careful, and Clarke couldn't pinpoint an exact location but the scent was clear as crystal. Whatever it was smelled like earth and copper, there was also a hint of blood. What really set the scent apart however was the smokey tinge of fire, whatever it was had recently been near something burning, and Clarke didn't know of any bird or rodent that could start a fire.

About two minutes after Clarke had first caught the scent the source broke through the treeline. Clarke's eyes widened, there weren't supposed to be people down here. There wasn't supposed to be anything bigger than a worm. Clarke tried to wrap her head around it, it's true she had seen birds and squirrels, but people? It was hard to believe but here they were, three of them, not thirty meters away. Clarke crouched lower and watched intently as the figures cautiously approached her drop pod. One nodded and the other two moved around the pod while the first one crouched and stepped inside, Clarke leaned forward slightly hoping to hear them say something.

After what felt like ages the first grounder exited the ship, he was holding the built in radio having obviously yanked it from the small console, there were wires sticking haphazardly out of the end that used to be embedded in the pod's computer system. Clarke had been unable to get it out with her paws, but she had the portable one, all she really needed. So she just watched as the man exited and the other two came around to meet him. One of them took the radio and then nodded to the first guy, "oso beda gon we kom nau, Heda gaf sen in hashta dison." ("We should go now, the commander needs to hear about this.")

Clarke's breath caught in her throat, though she had no idea what the man had said there was something achingly familiar about the language. Clarke absently rolled her left shoulder where she could still feel her second soul mark beneath her fur coat. Whoever these people were, however many of them there were, one of them was her second soul mate. This train of thought led to thoughts of Raven; Clarke shut her eyes doing her best to keep the tears at bay. Raven would make it down to the ground, they would see each other again. Clarke was suddenly overcome by the fact that she hadn't even said goodbye, the most important person in Clarke's entire world, and Clarke had let her think she had simply bailed on her birthday. Clarke flopped down with a low sigh, what was Raven thinking now? Had Clarke's mother told her what had happened? Or was Raven just sitting somewhere believing whatever the council had said about Clarke's disappearance?

Clarke snapped out of her depressing thoughts when she heard the slow approach of the three grounders. It seems they had not missed the sound of Clarke collapsing to the ground. Stupid, Clarke chided herself, all you had to do was stay quiet until they left. Their forms moved steadily towards Clarke's hiding place, swords and spears raised, while Clarke huddled further down into the brush making herself as invisible as possible.

Suddenly, all of their heads spun to look back towards the far end of the small clearing. From somewhere beyond, deep in the woods, came the sound of an echoing horn. The sound carried out across the trees and the three warriors in front of Clarke reacted immediately. Clarke saw their eyes widen in alarm and then watched as they seemingly forgot about her, turned, and bolted back the way they had come.

What did the horn mean? Why were they so frightened? Clarke wasn't sure, but she knew she wasn't going to wait to find out. While on the drop ship she had taken a minute to study her map as best she could and it turned out that Mount Weather was only about fifteen miles away. That was where Clarke needed to get to, hopefully it wasn't where these ground people called home. They had gone running in a similar direction but it seemed like they were going too far left to actually be going to Clarke's destination. If they lived close that might be a good thing, It may mean that Clarke could eventually make contact.

Quickly grabbing her pack in her teeth Clarke started to run, she skirted around the right side of the small clearing and continued towards where she knew Mount Weather to be. After ten minutes of running Clarke suddenly caught the scent of something foreign, something she never expected to be on the ground. Though at this point Clarke supposed she should really start expecting the unexpected.

As Clarke continued forward she passed by a waterfall and small forest pool, a good spot to remember for later if she found herself needing a water source. Less than five minutes later and the strange smell had increased tenfold. It was like chemicals, the smell was almost sulfurous and Clarke snorted as it began to burn her nose. Slowing down considerably Clarke perked her ears and looked intently into the woods in front of her. The fur on the back of her neck stood on end and Clarke let out a low growl. Something wasn't right.

Then she saw it, curling through the trees towards her came a thick yellow fog. It rolled down the hill towards her and Clarke didn't hesitate for a moment. She was tired and sore, her body, even in this form, unused to so much physical activity. She had never run such a distance in her life, but now she had no option but to flee. She turned and booked it back the way she had come. She risked a look behind her and the fog was gaining, hearing the falls ahead Clarke dropped her pack and picked up the pace, her body screaming at her for pushing so hard. Full sprinting now she didn't pause as she leaped into the pool below the waterfall. It was just deep enough for Clarke to keep her head under and, holding her breath, she looked up to see the fog roll overhead.

After a minute underwater her already deprived lungs were on fire and Clarke couldn't hold her breath anymore, she chanced a break of the surface. Immediately her nose and snout started to burn and Clarke pulled herself back down. The problem with this of course being that she had hardly gotten a breath and she was now quickly feeling the need to go up again. Desperately she half walked half swam as quickly as she could over to where the waterfall was actually coming down. Now, with a pain in her chest and a burning in her throat, she hastily shoved her head up into the cascading water and tilted her head down, the small pocket of air she had created was enough and Clarke gulped down a few hasty lungfuls of air. However, despite the much needed reprieve, a new problem soon presented itself as her neck quickly became sore from the pounding water. Turning her head she accidentally inhaled some water and, coughing, she stumbled backwards almost falling back into the pool. Disoriented and again forced to hold her breath Clarke reared up trying to feel for the wall, her whole life as a human telling her to feel around with her hands, but of course now all she had were her forepaws.

As it turned out her lack of the sensory appendages was a non-issue because as she pushed forward she was not met with the resistance of a rocky cliff face. Instead she fell forward, her chest and belly meeting the rough rock while her paws and forelegs were met with nothing but open air. Realizing what this meant Clarke pushed off with her hind legs and with much difficulty she scrambled her way, pushing against the water, until she stood on solid ground. She breathed in deeply and turned to where the water was still crashing down. Turning around Clarke's face split into a grin, she seemed to be in a cave of some sort. The entrance was completely cut off by the pounding falls behind her and the air was completely breathable, if slightly musty. Light filtered through the water and it was especially bright on either side, the cave only went back about ten meters but it was more than enough space. The ceiling started off a bit low and Clarke had to duck her head slightly but it gradually sloped up and, in the center of the space, it was at least a meter over her head while standing upright. The splash from the waterfall only made it a few feet into the cave and after that the place was also fairly dry. Moving forward Clarke shook herself trying to get her thick coat to dry, man she wished she had a towel, and hands...

Clarke shivered, it was a bit cold what with the water and being out of the direct sunlight. How long would the acid fog last? Clarke was now almost sure that it was the source of the ground people's fear, and the horn that she had heard must be some kind of warning system. Which meant that it must happen semi-often but also that it must eventually let up. After shaking herself as dry as best she could, Clarke moved a little further into the cave and curled up on the rock to dry off and wait. Earth was not at all what she had expected.

It was probably about an hour later when Clarke finally couldn't take it anymore. Cautiously, she went over to the edge of the entrance to the cave and stuck her snout through the water. At the edge the water pressure wasn't nearly as strong and she was met with little resistance. Leaning as far out as she could she managed to get most of her head beyond the water. Looking around and occasionally shaking water out of her eyes Clarke took a deep breath, it seemed as though the toxic fog had disappeared as suddenly and as thoroughly as it had appeared.

Pulling her head back Clarke took a few steps backward before taking a running leap. Breaking through the sheet of falling water she managed to land on the grassy bank, just on the edge of the water pool. She shook herself again, having gotten pretty wet as she passed through the falls. But now she was out in the sun, she arched her back and sighed, she would dry quickly. Clarke trotted off into the woods to find where she had dropped her bag, she found it without too much trouble and sniffed it to see if there were any traces of the fog. Surprised at not finding anything off she sniffed it again and to her confusion there really were no lingering effects at all. In fact, the fog seemed to have had no effect on anything at all, looking around it was like it had never even been here. Sure, there were no signs of animal life, all the forest critters must have either left or found places to hide, but everything else was untouched. Clarke frowned, the only way that was possible was if someone had purposefully created the deadly gas to specifically target a creature's lungs. The grounders Clarke had seen earlier had been carrying swords and spears, what was such a primitive people doing with a masterfully and carefully created bioweapon? Unless...

Suddenly Clarke heard voices through the trees and quickly crouched low to the ground. Her ears twitched as they got closer and thinking quickly Clarke grabbed her pack between her teeth and then quietly hunkered down beneath a fallen tree. The voices got steadily louder as their owners got closer and Clarke was suddenly startled by the realization that they were speaking english.

"-will want more than just this you know."

"Yeah but that place was freaking me out, plus you know as well as I do that the savages were in those trees. Better to take what we found and get out."

"Wallace won't be pleased, we were meant to find proof of life."

"The ship's door was opened, proof enough."

"not even close, the savages got there before us, they could easily be the reason for the open door. We found no food, no radio, no means to build shelter, just this radiation detection device. It looks to me like the pod was most likely unmanned, sent down with scanning equipment to see if earth was survivable. All we have to do is make sure that whoever they are think that it isn't"

"But doesn't-"

Clarke had caught sight of them while they had been talking, they were not like the other grounders she had seen. In addition to speaking English these men had on full body hazmat suits, not unlike what the sanitation workers on the Ark wore when there was a chemical containment breach. Clarke wondered what they were protecting themselves from. The acid fog maybe? But if that were the case then why did they still have the full suits on after the fog had gone? Surely it was hot and uncomfortable in there? Her initial curiosity turned to anger at the statement about making sure that her people would continue to believe that the ground was uninhabitable. Despite herself, Clarke forgot momentarily about maintaining her cover and let out a low, throaty, growl.

The reaction was instant, the two men raised their guns (weapons that Clarke had failed to notice) and fired a quick burst of bullets towards the sound. Clarke yelped as one bullet grazed her flank and she took off into the trees. There was more gunfire behind her but it was now way off target and Clarke quickly realized that she had lost them. Slowing to a stop she heaved in deep breaths of fresh air, her body shaking from a mixture of exhaustion, pain, and fear. They had shot her. Clarke looked down where a red line on her upper-right foreleg was slowly dripping her life's blood. Clarke took a moment to assess the wound, the bullet had only grazed her, she would be ok. Now she had to get the hell out of here. Wait, Clarke froze suddenly, her backpack. She looked around frantically but it was nowhere in sight, of course it wasn't, she had dropped it when she had been shot. She took a deep breath, she had to go back for it. Gingerly, as quietly as she could manage, she began to make a slow arching path back to where the strange people were.

Staying low she watched as the pair lowered their guns still casting their heads about presumably looking for any further signs of danger, "Savage or actual wolf do you think?"

The other man shrugged, "doesn't matter, it's sure gone now. Hope that shot killed it. I think I got it right o- woah!"

Clarke watched as the man who had been talking tripped and fell right over the very same dead tree she had initially been hiding behind. The man cursed and got back to his knees before suddenly freezing.

"John, what about this? This 'proof of life' enough for you?"

To Clarke's horror he came up holding her pack in his hand. She could only watch as he opened it up and, through the plastic of his headgear, Clarke could see the smile grow on the man's face. "Food, a canteen of water, radio, fire starter kit, first aid kit, blanket." He shoved the open bag towards his companion so that he could see the contents, "looks like a survivor kit to me." The man's eyes suddenly widened, "woah check this out." Clarke watched, horrified, as the man pulled Clarke's partially shredded shirt from the bag. "John, I think that mutt from before was our passenger."

"Shit, that means they were probably headed to Mount Weather. We could have captured them easily, now whoever they are won't come near us."

"So what? This is still a good thing, with the radio we can now totally cut off any transmissions that they send. Plus," the man grinned, "irrefutable proof of life. And, without their rations and fire starter they should die out here within the next week or so anyway."

Shit, this was bad. Clarke shut her eyes and tried to think. It seemed like Mount Weather was home to these people, and if they got back then they were going to make sure that the rest of Clarke's people never followed her down. That Raven and Clarke's mother never followed her down. That couldn't happen. Her eyes snapped open and a low, nearly silent, growl began to build low in her chest. Clarke couldn't let that happen.

The two men had no time to react, the first went down hard. He shouted out to his companion as Clarke bit down into his neck. She felt first the suit and then flesh tear beneath her teeth. Clarke heard the shuffle of leaves as the other man spun around and Clarke relinquished her hold on the first man tucking underneath him as a spray of bullets flew by her. Clarke yelped in pain as one found purchase, tearing through the cartilage of her left ear. Clarke's mind raced for half a second, desperately trying to figure out what to do next, then there was a solid thunk and her attacker let out a strangled cry.

Clarke shrugged the dead man off of herself and looked up to where the second man was now pinned to a tree. There was a spear shaft protruding from his chest and the man let out a final gurgling gasp of air before he slumped forwards, hanging limply. Clarke cast around quickly, the danger was far from gone. Growling into the trees in front of her Clarke scanned the area for the spear thrower, she could smell him, just couldn't see him. Her eyes flashing, she caught movement as a man emerged from the branches of a nearby tree. He dropped to the ground not five meters away and slowly raised his hands. Two more grounders stepped out from behind trees on either side and lowered their bows. They appeared to be similar to the ones that Clarke had seen poking around her drop ship, and they were certainly different from the two men in hazmat suits. They stared into Clarke's eyes and with surprise Clarke realized that they looked almost fearful, they did not approach and the man at the front raised his hands in an obvious sign of peace,"mochof Wanheda, Maunon laik baga kom osir hogeda." ("Thank you Wanheda, the Mountain Men are enemies to us all.")

Clarke relaxed slightly, she had no idea what he had said but it didn't sound like a threat, and their weapons were all lowered. Clarke stood her ground not making a move and the three grounders slowly backed away until they were a good distance before turning and disappearing into the woods. Clarke let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and felt her body relax.

She stood there for a while longer, panting and shaking. They had called her "Wanheda," whatever it meant; it was the same name that was permanently written across her shoulder blade and Clarke was now more sure than ever that her soul mate was one of these people. With a final sigh, Clarke picked up her bag, took one last look at the two dead men from Mount Weather, and turned to begin limping her way back towards the direction of the waterfall cave.

Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

As always please leave a review if you feel so inclined. Thoughts on Wolf Clarke?

I am trying to stick to a roughly weekly/ every other week upload schedule but I am getting close to the end of my current draft so uploads might get further between.