*Star*
The fire destroyed
almost everything. I say almost because the wolves and my father were
alive. We were sitting on the preserver
net. Actually, my father and Redlance
were watching out, while Cloudchaser and I had fallen asleep for the second
time in almost 7 moons. Cutter's body
was lying underneath the net, and to be honest, it was nauseating.
When I reawaked, the
sky had cleared a little. I sniffed the
dark air. I scented something in the
wind. With a hint of amusement, I noticed
that both my sire and Redlance were asleep.
"Wolfriders!" I
shouted into the woods. From the depths
of the darkness came a reply! I looked into the dark and saw the wolfriders.
Nightfall, who was crying because she didn't know that Redlance was safe with
us; Strongbow, Moonshade, and Dart, he being supported by his mother, Leetah,
who by her bond to Cutter knew that he was dead; and Treestump, looking eagerly
onto the net to see if we had Dewshine. I didn't see Ember or Suntop anywhere.
I jumped off the preserver net followed by Cloudchaser.
"You foolish cub!
Where are you going?" Treestump shouted as he felt around for Dewshine.
"To find Ember and
Suntop!" Cloudchaser called over his shoulder.
"Wait!" the cry
faded.
We raced into the
woods and I soon spotted a clump of singed red hair.
"Father?" Suntop
called. Suntop? I walked over and
cradled Ember's head in my arms.
"Starr. Father... is
he?" her eyes cracked open slightly. She didn't need to finish her question.
"Uh huh. So that
makes you chief." I whispered.
"Starr…." Suntop
moaned.
"Cloudchaser, he is
your father. Go to him!" I ordered.
"Ember, you're chief
now!" Cloudchaser cried, helping his father to his feet.
"Not for long… take
care of mother…" after she said that she took a breath and died.
"Ember…" I sobbed.
"FATHER!!!!!! Wake up!
Please wake up!"
"Cloudchaser?" I
raised my head from Ember's body. Cloudchaser turned to me with tears in his eyes,
"My father is dead."
We picked up the
bodies and carried them to the preserver net, holding out tears back and trying
not to be sick by the touch of clammy flesh. As we neared the preserver net
there were many hands to help us up. We laid Ember and Suntop down on the net.
**They're dead**
Strongbow sent.
**No duh.** I hissed
privately to Cloudchaser.
The tribe bowed
their heads and closed their eyes. Treestump threw back his head and howled for
Cutter, Ember, and Suntop. The tribe joined him, howling their grief to the
black sky. Then they stopped short.
"Wait. If Cutter and
Ember are dead, and so is Suntop, then who's the new chief?" Moonshade asked.
I pointed at
Cloudchaser. They all turned to look at him.
"What the?"
"Well, he is the son
of Suntop, and Suntop was the son of Cutter. The warring blood could have been
passed down to Cloudchaser!"
I think if he could,
Cloudchaser would have heavily socked me.
But we all knew that
it was true. Treestump walked over to Cloudchaser with his sword drawn. He
picked Cloudchaser up off his feet and reached for his hair.
"AHHHHH! No! No! No!
The first thing that I wanna do as chief is to KEEP MY HAIR!"
"Puckernuts. I think
you would look good with short hair." I muttered.
To Be Continued…
Colt: Hee hee…
Logan: Ha ha.
Colt: Okay, Logan wrote most of this part…I added a little, but not much. Logan gets credit for this chapter.
Logan: Thank you, thank you…
Colt: (Shoves Logan off the chair) We don't own Elfquest. We just use the characters and make up our own.
Logan: Yeah. 'Can the Wolfriders come out and play?'
Colt: Shade and sweet water!