Over the course of the next few weeks, the puppies, whenever they were having time to play with each other, whether in Saku's or Faro's territory, they were bonding close to one another, as if Aniu could see Saku II and Taku as her brothers and Nita as her sister and even the triplets saw Aniu as their sister in some sort of way.
February was coming to the end as so had the snowstorms. Spring was coming and while the wolves and other animals prefered winter over any other season, they deeply respected the seasons mother nature had offered to them. If anything, the days had started to prolong and it could mean more time to hunt for the wolves, young and old.
On the very last day of February that year, or should it be night, Saku was on a night stroll with his daughter whereas Tala and Hunter had settled down in the cave for some sleep. Aniu closely followed her father as the two were on the peak of the rocks from where they had a lovely sight on the landscape surrounding them, being bathed in darkness.
"Aniu, what do you say? Isn't this all beautiful?" Saku showed to his daughter the nature around them and did the little puppy sparkle in joy and curiosity. The night sky was clear, without any clouds out there as her look was facing upwards. She excitedly said: "This is so beautiful, papa! Oh, oh, oh! The stars are so pretty and shiny tonight!"
She was not lying, because the entire black sky was splattered with these stars tonight and Saku couldn't deny it. It could have been some kind of sign for them, but since Saku had no knowledge in shamanism, nothing could come to his mind. Then, one star flashed in the sky and rapidly descended into the skies - the falling star!
"Did you see that one, Aniu?! Wasn't that one pretty to you?" Saku wondered whether his daughter was gazing towards that direction and her answer was: "I saw it! I saw it! Was that a falling star?!" Her father nodding was mildly put, the answer she was seeking. Yet, she was still sparkling in curiosity as she gazed at the trail of the fallen star: "Papa? Is it true that the world is much bigger than it is? Bigger than I see out here now?"
Saku was genuinely touched by his daughter's curiosity and wisdom to ask something like that and so he answered to her: "The world is far bigger than we would ever imagine, Aniu. There are a lot of things in the outer world that we do not know of yet, but when you're grown up like me, your uncle Hunter and your mother, you will one day explore the outer world all by yourself!"
Aniu looked at her father's eyes and with her innocent puppy eyes she asked: "Really?" All that wisdom Saku had soaked back in the days was now being passed on his one and only puppy and Saku whispered, soft as wind: "Yes." Then, Aniu had descended deep into her thoughts as she had one wish: "Papa, I wish I could be, when I grow up, that I'll be as strong and brave as you are! And mama and uncle Hunter!"
No doubt, she was truly his daughter. Not only that she had lots of excitement and energy, but she also had the wisdom no other puppy would ever have at her age! Saku lowered his head and nuzzled her by head just to tell her: "And you will, my dear Aniu. I can see in the future that you'll be a strong wolf! Now, come on, let's go back, we need to get some rest!"
Aniu obediently nodded and she stuck close to her father's legs as he was the only one she could be protected from any dangers lurking out there on their way to the cave. In the end, they had safely returned into the cave and as Tala and Hunter were already asleep, Aniu used her only chance to snuggle by her father's chest in the sleep, what he greatly appreciated.
In the territory that was neighbouring them, under the firm rule of Faro and Sami, things were more or less the same way like with Saku and Aniu. Sami and Faro were seen entering the cave they inhabited, followed closely by their triplets after their night stroll. Once they had found the most comfortable ground to settle down, Faro and Sami laid down first.
"Saku, Taku, Nita! Come here, it's late now, you need to get some sleep!" Sami said this in a very motherly tone. All three of them obediently came to their mother and each of them snuggled by her chest, yawning, but not falling asleep. Little Nita looked at her mother with her dark blue eyes and asked: "Mama, will you please sing us a goodnight song?"
"Please? Please?" Taku soon followed, knowing that his mother's lovely voice was going to be good enough to tuck them into sleep and keep them sound and safe from the cold night. Faro knew how much this would mean to them and with his encouragement, Sami looked sweetly at her triplets and whispered: "Alright, I will now."
The puppies were excited to know that their mother's lullaby was coming and her sweet and mellow voice echoed in the cave and brought the warmth in the chilly cave. It was working, as her puppies, first Nita, then Taku, had become sleepy and with their eyes shut, they had dozed off. Saku II, on the other paw, still had a little bit energy left before the sleep took him.
"Mama…? Will you… and papa… be always… with us?" He asked this while yawning sleepily. His mother's sweet voice gave him the answer he desired: "Of course we will, my son. No matter how far we are from each other, no matter what happens to us and no matter how long it will take to meet one another again, your papa and I will always be with you."
Saku II gave that last smile as his mother gave him his word that neither she nor Faro would ever leave them and yawning one last time, he muttered as the scent of his mother's fur was taking him to the land of dreams: "Good night… mama…, good night… papa…" With his eyes shut, it meant that he had finally fallen asleep and joined his siblings in so.
"Good night, Saku, my son." Sami whispered to him and all while Faro silently, but happily observed, looked at his mate and nuzzled her by cheek to tell her: "Sami, your singing never ceases to amaze me. Good night, I love you." Then she rested her head against his shoulder as her answer was: "Thank you, Faro. Good night, my love." The family was soundly and warmly snuggled against one another when the new month was coming to them tomorrow…
With the first day of March, this meant that both clans had to gather around and have a mutual hunt to celebrate the coming of the first spring month. That morning, both clans gathered in Saku's territory and with the puppies following, it was decided on Sami and Tala to guard the four puppies while everyone else would go on a great hunt today.
Indeed this was a great hunt for them all. Hunting down two elks, three caribous and few rabbits, this all seemed like a great start for March. Carrying the dead prey to Saku's territory where the combined feast would take place and have both clans celebrate their amicity and cordiality, this seemed like as if nothing could ruin their day at all.
While the puppies were playing with one another, Aniu, Saku II, Taku and Nita, alphas had the grandest elk to feast on, thanks to Saku and Faro for being the ones who had tackled it down first. Faro glanced at the clouds at the southern sky and frowned slightly, heard by his mate: "Faro, sweetheart? What's the matter?"
Faro's mood remained positive, even with the arrival of the dark grey clouds from the south, to which he, after taking a good bite of the dead prey's flesh, told: "Nothing, Sami. It is just how it could be a rain or snowstorm later. I can see it by the clouds in the distance to the south." This made Saku and Tala, and even Hunter, who was allowed to join on the grandest elk, to gaze at the south.
Hunter chuckled Faro's concerns off by simply telling him: "Relax, Faro! Rain or snow? Does it matter? We all can seek cover in the caves if it goes really ugly! Besides, it's still…" He did not get to finish his words when someone's voice boomed in the distance and judging by the upcoming reactions of every wolf out there, be it male or female, puppy or adult, no one saw it coming.
"THERE ARE THOSE FILTHY SAVAGES THAT RUINED AND DESECRATED OUR PROPERTIES! NOW IT IS ON THEM TO PAY THE PRICE FOR THE DAMAGE THEY HAD CAUSED!" Every single wolf gazed towards the voice coming from that direction and judging by the looks on their faces, they were shocked to find out to whom it belonged.
Humans. At least dozen of humans. All of them wearing head covers, coats made of fur and boots made of tight leather. All of them had some kind of metal and wooden sticks in their hands and each of the humans, whether they had the hair on their faces or not, had quite angry looks on their faces. Soon enough, they had started raising their sticks.
"Pups! GET TO THE SAFETY, NOW!" One of the many wolves jumped in front of the puppies to cover them from the view of humans. The puppies were already startled by the yelling of one of the humans. But there was nothing as frightening as soon as the sound, as loud as thunder, echoed in the den and the horror had just begun.
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" Nita screamed in terror when something swished by, as small as the pebble, straight through the head of the wolf who stood between them and humans. The hole in wolf's head was visible and he dropped down, motionless and life being taken away from him. Soon enough, from the hole in the head, the red liquid started to pour our and created a pool below. He was shot and the very first casualty of this madness!
This was the game of cat and mouse, with the wolves being either cats or mouses. This was going to be a complete massacre, skirmish, if they were going to flee or just stand in here. Looking at Faro, Saku knew that there was only one thing to protect the ones close to them and that was when Saku screamed: "EVERYONE! FALL ON US! WE MUST DEFEND OURSELVES FROM THESE HUMANS IF WE WANT TO LIVE!"
The puppies needed to get to the safety, but they were still frightened by the sight of one of the wolves being shot in the head while trying to protect them. All the wolves from both clans formed into a steadfast formation to go on a stand against humans. As frightened as they were, Faro and Saku screamed at the top of their lungs: "CHARGE!"
And so all the wolves, who had desired to protect their loves and the clans altogether, charged against the enemy as if they were the cavalry sacrificing themselves for the good of the ones they cared the most. More shots were fired and some of the wolves had fallen down on the ground, shot dead, mortally wounded or only slightly wounded. The bloodbath was inevitable.
While the humans were busy to reload their sticks, the wolves had lunged on them to take the advantage of their lack of concentration and while wrestling the humans as the stray shots were fired in the air, Tala gazed around to see Saku fighting off the tallest human with the dark bushy mustaches. While he was safe, Hunter was not in sight.
"Hunter?! HUNTER?! Where are you?!" Tala had that horrifying feeling that Hunter was among the first fallen ones in the charge before, but she noticed that no black wolves had fallen in that charge. While connecting all these dots, she did not notice that the human had the aim on her and was ready to fire, ending her life once and for all.
"ALPHA TALA! Watch out!" One of the younger wolves from Tala's clan screamed and by the time Tala reacted, he had leaped in front of her and the hunter who had fired from his stick. Tala was spared the death in here, but the wolf who leaped had been hit in his stomach and was mortally wounded, much to Tala's horror.
"NO!" Tala screamed as soon as she saw that wolf falling down on the ground, heavily breathing as the pool of blood started to form on the snowy ground all while the growls, screams, yelps and shots were echoing in this madness. In anger and despair, she had growled and leaped at the hunter who had shot him.
Biting him hard in his arm, the human hunter screamed in pain loudly as it as a very strong bite that made him let go off his stick and all the lead pebbles in the snow, mixed with ordinary pebbles in there. As much as she wanted to inflict the pain to this hunter, who looked like he was the youngest of them all, seeing her packmate crawling after being shot made her realize what she had to do right now.
Letting go off the hunter, who had winced in pain after sustaining the injury in arm, making him feel hurt while trying to clench his fist, Tala rushed to the young wolf's aid and grabbed him by his neck scruff in despair, telling him: "I'm here! I'm going to get you to the safety!" The wolf looked weakly at her and muttered: "Alpha Tala…"
"No! Don't say anything! I'll take you there to heal you up!" Tala shushed him as she had hoped that this young wolf wouldn't be a goner anytime soon. While reaching the safety behind there rocks, the young wolf muttered: "Alpha Tala… I'm not going to make it…" But Tala did not listen to him as she had carried him behind the great rock, away from the sight of the bloodshed in there.
"Don't say that! Save your strength! I'm going to make sure that you live another day!" Tala's voice screamed in despair, not noticing how severe the wound was on his stomach and the blood trail left behind. Then, he had weakly reached for her leg and used the last bits of his strength to tell her, which could not make her change her mind.
"Alpha Tala… I leaped in front of you to… make sure you live… you're more important to our clan… like your mate and your… puppy are… It was my honor that… I've been in your clan all… these months back… never forget me or any of us who… had given our lives for… you…" The wolf was saying his last lines as one could notice the blood on his fangs from the interior wound.
All while Tala was motivated by these words, doing her best to make sure that if he could not live any longer, she'd stay with him. The stray shot fired two meters above her head and it missed her just like that. Tala was witnessing how the young wolf's eyes started staring into void and how his body went motionless. The tears in her eyes rampaged swiftly as she'd witnessed the passing of her young packmate, muttering: "I'll… never forget you… or any of you who'd died for us…"
Since there were many more who'd lost their lives by now, this one had affected her the most, seeing how painful it was to lose someone, even if it was someone with whom Tala had not spent nearly enough time. Then, the voice, coming from her mate, echoed in despair: "Aniu! Aniu! Quick, get inside! Hide, get to the safety!"
Tala knew that Aniu and Faro's puppies were still out there and she made a mad dash across the field where some of the wolves were wrestling the humans, which some of them started retreating, while some others were shot. Just in time, Tala made it to the cave where Saku put their only puppy inside, who screamed in despair: "Mama! Papa!"
"Aniu! Stay inside! We will be back!" Tala came just in time to nuzzle her daughter, who was trembling and shivering in fear from this slaughter and noise. Saku did the same thing to make sure that no harm would come to her at least. Faro's voice came from behind: "Saku! Help us get our puppies to the safety!"
Looking behind, noticing how Faro had Taku in his jaws and Sami had Nita in hers, leaving Saku II exposed to the fire, Saku made a mad dash to him and grabbed the frightened puppy by his neck scruff and making a swift move in the snow, rushed ahead to Saku's II parents, who put all three of puppies with Aniu, all of them wishing for this madness to end.
"Mama! Papa! Don't leave us!" Taku cried in terror as he ran to grab his parents by their legs, as so did his siblings. Faro and Sami, as much as they wanted to make sure that their puppies would be with them, put them back with frightened Aniu and nuzzled each deeply and lovingly, with Sami telling them: "Puppies! Stay with Aniu! Your papa and I love you very much! We will return for you when this is over!"
As much as the puppies did not want to leave their parents behind, they obeyed their parents words as their parents had to return to the fight to defend themselves from the invaders, alongside Saku and Tala. Then, the swishing noise was heard, the pained scream and Sami's voice screamed in terror: "FARO!"
The lethal lead pebble hit him in the neck and the dark brown collapsed, with the small pool of blood forming below his wound and all while Sami rushed to her mate's said as his voice weakly muttered: "Sami…" All while Saku and Tala watched in horror how their friend was just shot, but nothing was worse when Saku's voice screamed the loudest that day: "NOOOOO!"
It wasn't just because how Faro was shot there in neck, but as soon as he said it, another lethal pebble flew by and it hit Sami straight in her chest, who screamed in terror and had collapsed right in front of their eyes, just in front of her mate and friends… Faro and Sami… shot just as they had said that they'd tell their puppies they'd be back… this was NOT happening!
All the anger, despair and terror had flown into the veins of Tala and Saku as this was the last straw for them. With all that combined in their body and incredible speed, they had swiftly lunged towards two separate humans out of three, as most of them had retreated to the safety, leaving the field with numerous dead wolves.
The two wolves had no chance to fire at them as they hadn't aimed their weapons at them and when Saku had attacked him, first he'd bitten the lethal stick from human's hands and with all the anger festered inside him, he'd bitten so hard that the wooden part of the stick was broken in half, rendering the weapon useless and the hunter frightened.
And as for Tala, she had managed to knock off the weapon from the hunter's hands when he screamed in terror: "Run! RUN FOR IT! We cannot take this fight on them anymore!" Just to make sure, if she was not going to kill him, at least her deep bite into his leg would teach him a lesson for murdering the wolves she'd cared a lot for the past few months!
The hunters that had been swiftly attacked by Saku and Tala made their retreat as one of them was limping because of Tala's bite, whose fangs had stained in his blood as he was leaving the trail behind him. But there was the sound of loading the weapon as there was the last human hunter… the most vicious looking one out of them.
"This is your lesson for attacking us!" The human's voice exploded in anger as his wrinkled face and dark, long hair, had revealed the malice and hatred towards the wolves. But as he was about to fire his weapon, the black wolf had leaped on him and wrestled the weapon from his arms, which had fired the stray shot high in the air!
"Hunter!" Saku had realized that Hunter was fiercely fighting off the human, but soon he was heard yelping when the human had clenched his fist and punched him in the chest, causing the beta male of this pack to fall on his back all while the hunter was dishonorably crawling towards his weapon few meters next to him.
"Hunter, no!" Tala screamed as she realized that Hunter was not noticing how the human hunter had reached for his weapon and how Hunter had not enough time to find cover from the death that was coming to him. Just as the hunter aimed the weapon at him and readied it to fire at him…
The weapon clicked in his hands and the human's eyes, full of malice, became full of disbelief as the weapon had no longer any ammunition, not even after trying to fire it few more times. He had stuck his hands in his coat to find the ammunition, but the sweat and anxiety had revealed he had none of it left at this point.
And now he was facing the furious black wolf named Hunter, whose emerald green eyes flashed in fury as he gazed at him after being punched. The hunter had no other choice but to grab his weapon and make a run for it with the other humans like a coward, which he had done as his voice screamed in fear: "Wait for me, boys! WAIT FOR ME!"
As much as Hunter wanted to give him that fatal blow while he was unarmed, he had just remained in there while recovering from the punch as he stood there until Tala rushed to nuzzle him frantically, stuttering: "Oh…. oh, Hunter! I-I… I almost l-lost you today!" Her voice was choked up with the tears that had been streaming down her cheeks.
All while Hunter was recovering from his madness as he licked the tears off Tala's face to tell her: "Tala! TALA! Calm down! I'm alright! I'm alive! The humans are gone… but for the great prize…" These last few words he said was when he had looked at the field and had noticed numerous wolves from Saku and Faro's clans, dead, with the snow stained red from the fallen ones… this was all a Pyrrhic victory in the end… much to their horror…
They had gazed around the field and had seen that many wolves from both Faro and Saku's clans were… dead. There were some survivors, whose wounds were not terrible and were still able to walk. Tala counted them and realized that only two other wolves from her clan and four others from Faro's clan were left alive, including her, her brother, her mate, her daughter, Faro's puppies… but what was with Sami and Faro?!
"Papa! Papa, wake up!" Taku was heard desperately moving his father head with his, trying to see if Faro was going to react. Saku II and Nita were helping their brother. As all three of them had exited the cave in fear and despair, Tala heard the white wolf puppy yipping: "Mama! Mama!" It was little Aniu, who after being held by Saku at first, rushed to her mother.
"Aniu! Oh, my baby! I was so scared that we'd leave you behind!" Tala could feel the stone falling off her heart as she got to hold her daughter tight, noticing the tears in her eyes as she was scared to death that neither her father nor her mother would return. Hunter's warm voice lifted off the tension for a few seconds as he told her: "Aniu, don't worry, your parents are safe and so are you! But…"
"Faro! Faro! Wake up, come on, wake up!" Saku was seen rubbing his paws against Faro's chest and no matter how hard he tried, Faro's eyes were not opening and there was no breathing from him either. The wound on the neck left the pool of blood below him. No, he couldn't be… he just could not be…
"Mama!" Saku II saw someone moving and so did Taku and Nita. Sami was still alive, but she was hardly moving, crawling better to say. The wound on her chest was looking pretty bad and her fangs were stained in her blood as she was breathing hard. As soon as she came close to Faro, she had collapsed, but remained conscious.
"Sami! Oh, Sami, you're still alive!" Saku felt the bit of relief flowing through his veins as he saw his old friend looking at him from below while her triplets cuddled around her to make their mother comfortable. But her words that she had said were anything but comfortable: "Saku… I'm not going to make it… it's over for me…!"
"No! Don't say it! You're not giving up, Sami! I know that you can make it at least!" Hunter's voice, filled with despair and fear, echoed as the wind blew from the south and the thunders were heard from that same direction. Like Saku and Tala, Hunter bonded quite well with both Faro and Sami. But it seemed like it was inevitable for Sami when she looked at Hunter: "Hunter… I know how much you care for me… but there's nothing to be done for me… I'm joining Faro soon…"
Much to the horror of Tala, Saku, Hunter, Aniu, the triplets and the remaining wolves, their nightmare had been realized. Faro had perished in the fight, laying on his side, motionless, breathless and eyes shut, never to be opened again… Taku's eyes, like Nita's and Saku II's, were filled with tears as they nuzzled their deceased father, with Taku being the loudest: "Papa… no…"
Seeing the little ones nuzzle their dead father, who had given them all the care in the world, made the remaining ones feel heartbroken and their eyes filled with tears, with Aniu crying from all the horrors out there as she was hiding behind Tala's legs. Sami carried on: "Saku… I'm fading away… I cannot live for much longer…"
"No, please don't say that! Please! I know that you can! Saku, Taku and Nita need you! We already lost Faro! I don't want to lose you!" Saku screamed in despair as he came with his head close to hers as he could not let his puppyhood friend die in here. The air echoed with more thunders coming from the south as Saku was embraced in fear of losing.
"Saku… no, please… let me join Faro… if there is anything I want you to do for me is…" Sami begged him to let her reunite with her mate on the other side and before she finished, she coughed out some red liquid from her throat before she gazed at him to let her old friend know: "...I want you to take care for my triplets, Saku… raise them as your own with Tala… and Hunter."
This was something that had Saku taken off the guard as his dying friend had asked him a favor to do… They already had one puppy, which was all they needed, but to take under their paws three more? Looking at Tala, who in one paw held their only puppy crying by her side and with her head she was crying on Hunter's shoulder, whose tears were streaming down his emerald green eyes.
"Saku… you're the only one, along with Tala and Hunter… who I'd have ever given my trust to look after my puppies… we've known each other since we were puppies… we've been friends for a long time… will you do it for me… Take care of my puppies…?" Sami's voice got slower and more pained as she could feel the death coming to claim her.
As her triplets came to their mother, with the tears in their eyes as the one who had given them all the love they needed, was dying. They wouldn't make it on their own if Saku was to choose one answer so he had to choose the another one and it was: "I will, Sami… I will take care of your puppies, Sami. We will give the mother love and father care to them for you… I won't let you down this time…!"
"Thank you, Saku… my old friend." Sami weakly said this and smiled to the one she would trust, even if it had some letdowns back in the past. Saku could feel the tears getting bigger and stronger in his golden eyes and it didn't help when he heard Nita yipping: "Mama! Please, don't leave us! We love you! Stay with us!"
Sami's eyes were filled with tears as she raised her head to nuzzle each of her pups, one by one, and sorrowly told them: "Saku… Taku… Nita… I'm so sorry that I won't be with you here soon anymore… I'm joining your papa soon… But promise me that you will stay strong no matter what happens in your lives… Saku, Tala and Hunter will take care of you… and you listen to them… as if they are like your papa and me…"
The thunder echoed the loudest from the south and the rain pouring from the sky was coming to them. Saku II spoke in the name of his siblings: "We… we promise, mama… we'll listen to them… we love you, mama…" As for Aniu, she had to be thankful that her parents and uncle were not in Sami's position, but she was quite upset about this scenery.
Sami got the good glance on Tala, Hunter and little Aniu, to whom she weakly smiled and reminded her puppies one more thing: "And now that little Aniu is with you… be nice and friendly to her… as if she were your sister…" The puppies, with the teary eyes, looked at the snow white puppy by Tala's paws and little Taku told his dying mother: "We will… mama… we will…"
Now the death was closer to her more than ever and she stretched her paw to invite her puppies to one last hug as the puppies tearfully accepted, while her voice was sounding like as if she was fading for real: "Goodbye, Saku II, goodbye Taku, goodbye Nita... " then she glanced at her friends and Aniu to give them the last of goodbyes: "Goodbye Saku… goodbye Aniu… goodbye Tala… goodbye Hunter… it was an honor…"
"Goodbye… aunt Sami…" Aniu finally spoke, trembling and crying as she feared that it could have been Tala and Saku who'd be among the dead. Tala, with the tears streaming rapidly to the red stained snowy ground, bid her final farewell to her friend: "Goodbye, Sami… we will make sure that your puppies will survive in wild under our care…"
With the last bits of her strength, Sami smiled and gazed the final time to her puppies, who had her hugged as she said her final words: "Saku… Taku… Nita… your papa and I will always be with you and always love you… even if we aren't going to be here with you anymore… know that we'll be always with you… in your hearts… no… matter… what…"
With these words said, Sami shut her grass green eyes one last time, drew her last breath and let her head land gently on Faro's chest. She exhaled… but never inhaled anymore… Her eyes were shut, never to be opened again and like her mate… she went full motionless… she had passed away, along her mate.
The puppies were crying the loudest, Hunter was comforting his sister, even if he was very pained by Sami and Faro's passing, along with the passings of the others on the first day of March. Fighting back the tears, Saku wanted to say one more thing: "Goodbye… Sami and Faro… you were my friends… and I won't let you down… not this… time…"
The thirteen wolves survived this skirmish, and these six wolves who stood by side, were devastated with the passing of these many wolves. The rain had poured on the field and had the bodies and the ones alive soaking wet… but no one cared… not as many fallen ones had been there… especially not to Saku…
The grief had finally overcome him and with the pain, sorrow and grief filling his voice, Saku had howled in front of the bodies of his deceased friends, showing how devastating this was to him… soon Tala and Hunter howled along… and so did the rest of the two clans… and then Aniu, Saku II, Taku and Nita… howled sorrowly in the rain as the night had fallen…
With the night taking over, the rain and thunders had died down and carried on their celestial journey. As for the remaining wolves, who just let the rain soak them wet, they knew one thing - this was the place they could live no more. But at the same time, they could not leave the bodies laying around… there had to be a proper send off for the fallen ones.
Saku saw the six survivors approaching, being driven to the tears for this loss and one of two of Saku's clan muttered: "Alpha Saku… we're so sorry for your loss… if there was anything we could do, like take the chance to have Faro and Sami live on." As much as Saku wanted to have his old friends alive, he knew at least them being alive was a relief.
"No… I could not bear to have even more dead than we already have. I'm not mad at you and I do appreciate how much you care for what had happened… but another dead would have devastated me." Saku told them what he had thought of their idea of sacrificing themselves just to keep the two alive.
"And then, because of this slaughter, I do not expect that you'll stay with us and let me and Tala be your alphas anymore. You've suffered losses like we had." Saku had that foreboding that these six would leave them for this and this was their intention, but one of the wolves from the remaining of Faro's clan, spoke: "Saku… there's something we had in mind."
He looked at them each, as they had revealed their plan: "If anything, before we leave you, we've considered doing two things to have you know how dedicated and great you were. First, we'd help you put all the fallen ones to their resting place and then we'd follow you to wherever you'd settle next and then… then we'd set off on our own."
This was quite honorable of them and seeing how many there were to be put on their resting place, Saku nodded as she water drops were falling off him immensely. He told them: "Then that's a deal. We will put them all in our cave and seal the entrance with the boulder so one would ever disturb them in their resting place."
That kind of genuine respect for the fallen ones was something that made these six wolves bow down to him in their final times under Saku's leadership. Saku decisively turned around and said: "Hunter! Come on, we'll take all the fallen ones to the main cave for their final rest! Tala, you just stay here with the puppies and let no more harm come to them!"
"Coming!" Hunter agreed and he joined his best friend to get working on something that could have taken the entire night. Tala nodded silently as all four puppies were sleeping uneasily, Aniu by her chest and Saku II, Taku and Nita cuddled by their deceased mother. It was decided that Faro and Sami's bodies would be taken last.
Over the course of the next few hours, the surviving wolves spent finding and dragging the bodies to the main cave of Saku's former territory. Soon enough, the time had come to take Faro and Sami's bodies to the cave and this was something Saku and Hunter were going to do as they walked up to Tala and puppies.
"Saku, Taku, Nita… wake up. We're going to take your parents to the final rest in the cave." Saku said it clearly and loudly so the puppies would know it was time to part. Even if they did not want to leave their parents, they knew that if once put on their final rest, it'd be honorable for them so they gave the last few nuzzles to their deceased mother and father.
"I'm going to miss mama…" Saku II said this as his beloved mother was watching him from the other world. Taku spoke: "I'm going to miss papa…" And Nita said: "I'm going to miss both mama and papa…" Her brothers repeated their sister's words as they knew that they could not miss just one parent, but both of them.
"Puppies, we know how much you're devastated by the loss, but we promised to your parents that we'll take a good care of you." Tala wisely told them, as she was crying no more, but the grief in her voice lingered. Aniu was awake, seeing that the burial was going to be over soon. Nita spoke: "Thank you… aunt Tala…"
"No aunt… just call me Tala, Nita." Tala warmly and motherly told the arctic wolf puppy and so Hunter followed: "Puppies, you may call me Hunter." Even Saku made it clear to them: "And you can freely call me Saku, or Saku the First." In the end, they were going to be their adoptive parents and they'd never be their "mama" and "papa".
"Mama, what are we going to do now?" Aniu asked, noticing how all the wolves who had fallen today were no longer around. Tala looked at her only daughter and let her know: "Your papa and uncle Hunter will take Faro and Sami to their final rest, seal the entrance to their resting place… and we'll find a new place to live. We'll give our tribute now."
Sure enough, Hunter grabbed Faro's body by his neck and carried him to the cave as Saku did the same thing with Sami. Entering the cave, which was full of the fallen ones, Saku and Hunter placed their bodies on the warmest and most comfortable spot in the cave, as if they were hugging each other like they were asleep.
Glancing one last time at all of them, Hunter and Saku had left this cave, now being a tomb for them all. He looked around and found, near the next cave, a boulder big enough to seal the entrance. He had them all, save for Tala and puppies, called to come and push the border easily and gently.
Eight wolves did it slowly and steadily and once the boulder had sealed the entrance to the cave where little Aniu was born, they stood back, all of them. The tribute, in the name of all, was spoken by Saku: "To all of you… fallen brothers and sisters, Faro and Sami… we've put you to your final rest and may you never be forgotten for your brave deeds on this skirmish… we will always have you in your memories for everything we've been through!"
Then, in Saku's eyes, flashed all the memories how Saku, as puppy, was playing with Sami, alongside whom he learned to hunt, albeit a bit backed up, the first time he'd met Faro and how they all had the fun and happiness in world… now it was just him and only that was left of them was their puppies… their legacy…
Tala came to his right side and as a real mate, nuzzled him as she could feel that he was possibly going to burst in tears. She just reminded him: "It's alright, Saku… they are proud at you from the other side… they'd want you and us others to stay strong… you gave them a tribute they deserved…" He knew that it was the best he could offer.
Hunter came from his left side and let him know: "Saku, I know how much this will pain you, just like us all, but we better get moving from this place. The dawn is breaking and we'll have to find another place to live." He was right, this was no longer a place for joy and happiness, but sorrow and tragedy that had befallen everyone.
As for the puppies, who slept uneasily, they knew that they needed some sleep and so each of them decided: "Puppies, you may sleep. We'll carry you each to our new home, with the escort of the remaining ones, who'll leave us when we find our new home." The puppies knew that it was going to be too exhausting for them to go without any rest.
And so it was, Hunter grabbed Saku II by his neck scruff, Tala helped little Taku to put him on Saku's neck where he'd rest, as he was the weakest of the four, all while Saku was going to carry Aniu. As for Nita, Tala grabbed her by neck scruff and it was ready to go. The long day was awaiting them.
"Come on, we should leave this place right now!" Saku led the expedition to their new home, which was going to be more isolated from humans and deep in the mountains and forests, where they were going to start the pack anew with the new wolves who come to their territory. All while the dawn was breaking on the east...