What lies beyond the pack: The Quest Begins

Chapter eight (Shadow)

Shadow woke up, right when the sunrise just happened. The grass was blowing with the wind, and was shining. The moss on the trees were fresh and wet, so it must have rained. Shadow went outside the den, and her paws felt wet with the fresh rain. 

"Hey Pollen" she said when she got out. Pollen was munching on a squirrel, and asked Shadow to join her.

Shadow took a gulp on the squirrel. It melted in her mouth, and was warm like she just ate a fresh rabbit. She was hungry, but didn't want to eat it.

"I don't want more." she said, nodding to the squirrel. "You can eat it."

"You sure?" Pollen said, but she was already munching on the squirrel. The squirrel was thick, and brown furred. A good catch really.

"Do you know who wrote the note?" Pollen asked after she had finished.

"Nope. When are we going to start?" Shadow replied, looking at the woods.

"Now." Pollen said and headed to the woods. "Follow"

Shadow obeyed, and followed Pollen in the woods. Immediately, the scent of pine went through her nose. She smelt the pine a lot, but never this strong. 

Shadow walked a little faster to catch up to Pollen. Pollen was sniffing this weird plant, that Shadow did not know.

What is she doing?

Shadow asked Pollen what she was doing. 

"Oh nothing. Just getting smells in my nose." She replied and moved away from the flowers. "Let's go"

Shadow and Pollen walked for many hours, and took a small break at a small stream under the pine trees. There sun was pouring through the leaves, and was really hot. Shadow took a drink.

"My pads are a little sore." She said to Pollen. Shadow knew Pollen was good with medical stuff.

"Wait" Pollen said and went to some bushes. After she came back, she was holding a large oval green leaf. It had a weird scent to it, and looked weird too.

"This is dock. Chew it up and put it on your pads" Pollen said, dropping the leaves at Shadows paws. Shadow chewed it up, and Pollen spread it on her paws.

"Let's go now" Pollen said heading north.

"Okay" Shadow said following her. 

The warm wind blew across her fur as she was walking. They walked for a long time, until it was night.

When it was dark, the stars shone in the dark blue sky, where the moon was full, and was shining bright. You could hear the sounds of crickets chirping, and the cold wind in your ears. They are reached a small moor, with a few trees.

Shadow yawned, and was sleepy. All the walking made her tired. She wasn't used to this kind of thing. Where her pads ached, her fur got really messy, and she was thirsty. 

"How about we stop for the night. Let's find a good place to sleep." Pollen said and left, looking at Shadow yawning. Shadow had to use her scent to find Pollen, because it was very dark and she could barely see a thing.

Pollen stopped so Shadow thought maybe she saw a good den. She was right, and the stars here were very bright.

"Let's stop here now and sleep for the night," Pollen said, flicking her tail to the den.

Shadow decided to groom herself, and sleep. Her rough tongue touched her fur, as she groomed herself. There were burrs stuck in her fur, and leaves here and there.

She went into the den. It smelled like a old fox den, and the scent was really stale. She curled up, but couldn't sleep. Later, her eyes drooped, everything was blurry, and she went straight to sleep.

In the morning, when Shadow woke up, Pollen was still in a deep sleep.

Ugh.

"Pollen! okay, your the one who wanted to-" Shadow started saying, but Pollen woke up yawning.

Sometimes, you have the brain of a rabbit. Shadow thought, but didn't say it out loud.

"Where are we going no-" Shadow started saying but she realized Pollen would not know. Has Pollen just taken her to a random place? They could die here. The scroll only said "take a turn" not go to the west. Buuuut........

"Do you even know where we're going?" Shadow finally asked, after some thought. She didn't know how Pollen knew where to go. 

"Yeah." Pollen said, but she didn't sound as she was sure. Shadow remembered how her older sister went on a similar quest, but was never to be seen again. Then, wolves started to not believe in prophecies, which anyway came very rarely.  So, most wolves didn't really get prophecies.

"Okay," Shadow, replied, following Pollen. They headed deeper into the meadow, which reminded Shadow of her own home, MeadowClan. She stopped near a bush, where there was a spider on its egg sac. The sac was small, but tough and looked peachy like the dried grass in greenleaf. Normally, she would kill the sac with a swipe, but she realized how sad the mother would feel since she lost her babies. Shadow sighed, and kept going.

Pollen didn't seem to even look at what Shadow was doing, so she stopped for a stopped for a second. 

Shadow was wondering who or what wrote the note. It was really confusing, because she didn't even know who the writer was. She didn't even know if she could trust whoever or whatever wrote the scroll.  Then, a thought struck her. If whoever wrote the note, and Shadow or any-wolf could read it, it had to be written by a wolf. And no wolf could write except a zaroz. So somebody had to be a zaroz. But who?