Watch out, this chapter gets a bit bloody. So be prepared!
...
Heat streamed from the flanks of still warm flesh - an elk lying grimly on its side - its ribs bare to the sky like a maw of flesh coated teeth. Blood stained and curdled in the churned up snow about it. Figures jerked at the body, jostling and snarling at each other as they found a place among the carcass. A pack of wolves crowded around it - five of them – their breath misting in the icy air and forming a swirling haze of vapour around them. Their sides and muzzles streaked with crimson, their eyes wild with blood thirst. A single black wolf snapped at another, lashing out with his fangs at a wolf that leaned against him as it fed. It cringed, shuffled along and began to feed again, all forgotten in the ferocity of their hunger.
But single wolf hung back, her silver coat glinting in the glare of the sun. Her eyes narrowed in distaste as she watched the ravenous pack.
They eat like creatures that have just tasted blood, like creatures with no respect for the lives they take to get it, like monsters...
Kyrie shook her head, feeling grim.
But, in other animals eyes wolves were always monsters
Surely we can simply even eat with dignity, not like starved dogs! A conflicting voice raged, making the fur along the she-wolfs spine bristle.
It is the blood thirst, every hunter that tastes flesh cannot escape it. Even man could not.
The silver wolf snarled softly to herself.
It was their downfall
With stiff steps forward, Kyrie joined the pack around the kill. As much as she tried to control herself, soon her vision tinged red with ire, and she was tearing at the elk with as much ferocity as the rest of the wolves.
But before she lost herself, a clear thought came to her.
Am I the only one it bothers?
...
She remembered the past, not hers, but a story.
Of how humans fell to their knees.
Wolves of course did not know the exact details, they were animals – cut off from man's world. Even though they may have lived side by side, humans had drawn so far away from their instincts that wolves did not know the reason behind why they did things.
Wolves know the blunt basics - why a deer runs from a hunter, the joy a she-wolf feels for her cubs and how ferociously she would defend them if need be. But wolves could not comprehend why man did things, they could not understand – they lived with their instincts to survive, while man had nothing to survive apart from perhaps illness and age.
And death ... from their own blood thirst.
Fier gazed sombrely over the land, his scorching copper eyes dulled. The black wolf stood at the edge of an overhanging cliff, the snowy world unfurled beneath him like an open map. He swung the graceful curve of his muzzle behind him, to the three wolf cubs nearby.
"Come here children, do you think I brought you here so that you could sniff out mice?"
A grey cub raised his head from the patch of scrub he had been investigating. Hoar and ice streaked his coat. Snow pinched between his toes, burning dully. Ignoring the pain he padded stiffly to the black wolf. But when he reached the cliff edge he baulked, scrambling to a stop behind Fier.
"It awfully high ... do we have to go near it?" He moaned in a high childish voice, his brilliant ember eyes glinting nervously.
The two other cubs, roused at his words warily came to his side.
Kyrie stepped past Ember. Her azure eyes were full of curiosity; and had not begun to clear to gold yet. They widened with disbelief as she looked over the cliff edge.
"What is that?"
"That, is the man place," said Fier gruffly.
It was a ruin. Old structures crumbled across the landscape, buildings that had been torn and blasted to rubble. Although a wolf could not comprehend what they were, skyscrapers and once great towers stood desolately among the wreck of the old city, looking dishevelled and lonely. It was the sheer size that amazed the wolves; it sprawled over what seemed for many miles, gray and forlorn.
"Or was," Fier finished.
A white cub – Siri – cautiously approached the edge, timidly looking over.
"What is man?" Ember asked.
"First I will tell you of the beginning."
"Beginning?" Siri tilted her head to the side.
"Of how we came to be."
"The story about the first!" Ember eagerly piped up.
"It is no story," Fier growled.
"But how do you know that it is real?" Kyrie asked.
"Quiet," Siri barked irritably. "I want to hear the story." Her tone made Fier chuckle; Siri shot him a questioning glance.
"I do not know Kyrie, but it makes the most sense? Just because you cannot see, smell, hear or touch something does not mean that it does not exist?"
"That makes no sense" Ember grumbled.
"Do you want to hear the story or bother me with your endless questions?"
"Story!" Siri yapped impatiently.
Fier sat down, his haunches sinking into the snow with a crunch. The two cubs lay beside him, ears pricked. Kyrie looked out over the cliff still, but her ears flicked backward to hear Fier.
"Filtiarn was the first."
Fier swung his gaze over the cubs, who watched him intently.
"They say his appearance was that of an immense white wolf, with great curving fangs over his maw. Others said he took on many forms – that of a fierce mountain cat or even a lamb. But what all creatures knew him by were his smouldering golden eyes, which were like a fiery blaze in his sockets. Although his appearance was menacing and intimidating, he was fair and good hearted."
"Accali was the mother, the bearer of all wolves. She was a wolf, but solidly in her form unlike Filtiarn. Her pelt was a luxurious pale silver and her eyes a warm fluid honey russet. Together they brought forth the wolf firmly into being."
"But they did not create the earth. No there was one before even them."
"Who did-?" Ember asked, but was silenced by a harsh look form Fier.
"Do not interrupt" he growled. "Taica Allmother was the maker, she molded the world and all beings," Fier continued.
"They say, when the world began all creatures ran side by side. No animal preyed on each other, there were no predators. While all creatures romped and played together, they thought each other equals. But one creature felt maliciousness in him, a burning desire in his heart. The craving to be superior to all animals, to hold authority over them. To have power."
"Man," he whispered, a snarl rising in his throat.
"Man whispered lies into the ears of all hunters, although they were not then. He told them, that to be great, they must taste flesh." Fier eyes narrowed.
"He told this to the wildcat and its cousin the cat, the hawk and eagles, the mink and stoat, even the shark that lived in the great waters. He told the wolf and the dog, and we believed him," Fier snarled, disgust seeping into his voice.
"The world fell into chaos, man at the head of it. Then Taica Allmother still walked the earth, and when she saw this she felt great rage. She looked at man, and told him that if he wished this so it would be. Creatures would hunt others for blood, but Taica promised man – that they would hunt his kind above all. So she gifted all hunters' sharp fangs and keen senses, and most of all; a deep hatred of humans. The she turned to the animals that were preyed on, and gave them what they needed – agile swiftness and horns, hooves and claws to protect themselves - to survive the hunters and mans onslaught. Lastly Taica removed all creatures abilities to speak to each other, so that humans could never side with animals again."
The cubs murmured among themselves, and then Siri asked "Why did wolves fall for mans tricks?"
Fier shook his head. "I do not know, the wolves of that time are different to us today. Perhaps they wanted power themselves? Or wished to be strong under Taica's eyes" Then Fier continued. "But Taica Allmother gave man one thing, she gave him the ability to create and a great mind – but warned that if humans did not use their gift right, they would eventually destroy themselves. Man did not believe her, and with-
"The ability to create?" Kyrie asked.
"To mold the world around them into... things. Like the great dens they seemed to carve from stone." Fier pointed with his muzzle to the great sprawling city. "They made tools with their clever hands too, but evil tools. Like a great black branch that fired sharp black stones with such force, they had the ability to kill."
"Kill," Siri echoed.
Fier nodded. "They created a burning light, that if you were to touch it with your pelt, you would burst into flame. Fire... cubs, what wolves fear most of all," he stared at the ashen grey buildings and then shook his head. "You cubs always sidetrack me with your questions," he chuckled.
"How do you know all this?" Ember enquired.
"No more questions now," Fier growled, his tolerance short. "Would you rather hear about the story or nothing at all?"
"Story..." Siri hissed quietly to the other cubs. "Be quiet."
Fier fixed Siri with a thoughtful gaze and then began to speak again. "Man did not believe Taica, and his new cunning and mind was used wickedly. Soon a change came over the humans. Their fur dropped from their shoulders and their limbs elongated. Their tails shrunk away into nothing, they wore strange coloured pelts to hide themselves – because they were ashamed of what they were. Taica gave them a choice, they could be good or evil. She gave wolves a choice too; she gave it to all hunters."
"No wolves are evil," Siri snorted. Fier lifted his lip at her, showing his fangs. Siri flinched and quieted.
"With his new power over the world humans wrought great things, but he exhausted the world. He destroyed forests and slaughtered all creatures – even his own kind. For even man could not escape the blood thirst, as all hunters know it. Humans spread across the earth until there was no room left to share. As Taica predicted, man slowly fell. A great war befell humans, not against the creatures of the world, but themselves. They shattered their own country with their hate, and their own fire consumed them. But still some humans survived, living in their devastated dens but disease and illness eventually killed them off."
"All humans are dead now?" Ember wondered out loud.
Fier sighed. "You never learn to be quiet do you?"
Ember ignored him; he was used to the grumpy black wolf. "Are humans dead? What if they aren't ... they might be coming for us!" The grey cub shuddered.
"Perhaps some survived, but they are no danger to us. For now at least."
"But if you said that humans could choose too, couldn't some of them be good?" Siri tilted her head to the side.
"Yes, but how could a wolf tell what is in a human's heart? When we see them we feel fear, and hate. Taica made it so." Fier sighed.
"Is... is Taica real?" Kyrie whispered. The other cubs rounded on her with astonished looks.
Fier looked at her sorrowfully. "I don't really know Kyrie. But I believe. If there was nothing like Taica in the world how could we exist? And how can we live without believing on something? Something we can turn to when the sun is bleak"
"But she allowed man to ruin the world unchecked, how can she be truly good because of that?" Kyrie spat.
"Hush, this is not things that a cub should ponder. Let us be happy with what we have. Our nature is that of the fang and claw – we shouldn't question the world. We live by our instincts; we are wolves, the true hunters," Fier said solemnly.
"Now cubs! Enough of this talk, who would like to hunt!"
"Meeeeeee!" Ember trilled, leaping to his paws. "Look Siri! I'll show you my best hunting crouch."
Embers paws sank into the snow as he crouched, his nose touching the white mush and his rear impossibly high in the air.
"You look like a fat rabbit sticking his white bottom in the air!" Siri chortled.
Ember immediately sat down, a flash of hurt flickering in his eyes. Siri laughed and pounced on him, scuffling and nipping him in the snow. She pinned him down. "I have caught the rabbit!" she scoffed. Kyrie grinned as she watched.
Ember growled playfully and twisted in Siri's grip. Tumbling over her and eventually catching her between his paws. He bit her lightly on the neck. "Looks like the rabbit has bested the hunter!" He cried. "You are dead."
"No I'm not, do I look dead to you?" Siri mocked.
"Do I look like a rabbit, I mean really?" Ember replied roguishly.
"Would you like to hunt or not!" Fier laughed, cuffing Ember over the head with a paw. Then all the cubs turned their heads towards the black wolf, grinning mischievously. Kyrie stalked towards his back and then launched her silver form at him. The other cubs surged over Fier, knocking him to the ground. Fier struggled under them, but the cubs nipped and prodded him with their paws – snarling playfully.
"Okay! Okay! I give up," He chuckled, going limp beneath the cubs, his tail beating against the snow good-heartedly. The wolf cubs leapt from him, and Fier pulled himself from the ground. Ice and snow covered his pelt, he shook himself wildly making the cubs grin.
"Now let's actually hunt," he growled and leapt away, the cubs at his tail.
...
Blood thirst huh? Sounds creepy. Big bad wolf telling the cubs just how bad we are, I feel kind of mean now...
Some people may not agree with having Taica Allmother in the story, but I figured that if warrior cats get Starclan, why can't wolves have something to believe. Longest chapter so far – lets hope they start getting longer.
Thanks everyone for reading, and if there are any – reviews... hoping.