The North

Chapter 1 - Part 2

Here's the rest of chapter 1
I'm sorry if there's typos, I've caught a cold or flu so my concentration hasn't been the best

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Chapter 1 - Part 2

The stolen dress I wore scratched my skin raw with every small movement. I longed to tear it off, as did the younger pups who tugged at their tunics with scrunched noses and pouting lips. It was a first for all of them, a second for me. As much as we'd all have liked to run in fur or move in bare skin, in the day time, it was safer to travel try to blend in with the humans who always covered themselves in many layers of itchy wool.

To pretend to be mortal felt like a betrayal to our kind, but even the wild wolves, whose shape was always fur, were being hunted and slaughtered in sport by the chieftains and their men. Their furs decorated stone halls now, and warmed the shoulders of greedy humans. Our cousins in blood were facing the same extinction we were in our homeland, and we could do nothing to help them.

Fortunately, most in the Highlands didn't partake in such sport as often as the lowlands, and their settlements were small and far between.

Still, it was better to be wary.

Money jangled in the pouch strapped to my waist, enough coin to get us a place on a ship. If we made it. My uncle had given it to me before he died, almost as if he'd known what was going to happen. . .

Get them North. Get them to the Alpha. You must seek protection, Eabha.

He'd whispered those words as he'd bled out on my lap, his blood sinking into the grass; earth taking back the life it had given. Guilt had threatened to take hold for it was me the blood drinker had set its sights on, and my Alpha would not allow any in his pack to be harmed. Sometimes I wondered if that was the reason Fionnlagh grew ever more irritable with me, perhaps he too blamed me for his father's death.

I turned to the rest of the pack, studying each wolf as if it would tell me any different to what I knew. Fionnlagh had his mother's hand tight in hers as he guided her to where I stood. The pups were already running around, eager to be outside and down the mountain after being cooped up for so long. Father approached too, giving me a stiff smile with kind dark eyes as he brushed his knuckles across my cheek. "Will you help this old male climb down?"

"Of course," I replied, allowing him to slide his arm over my shoulder. My knees nearly buckled under his weight but I managed to remain upright out of pure determination.

Every one of us would make it across the sea, I promised myself.

Mother took the lead, finding the safest path down the cliffs while keeping an eye on the rambunctious pups who didn't really understand what was going on. I grunted as loose rocks shifted under my feet and nearly sent me sprawling. It was Father that saved me, grabbing onto the branch of a tree to keep us steady.

"Thank you," I breathed, taking a moment to calm my racing heart before moving again.

The sun glared down, burning away the grey clouds that remained from last night's storm. I hoped to make it to the port before sunset but we needed to leave the wilderness and find a road. There we might traders or farmers willing to take us the rest of the way. I'd learned how to act around mortals, enough that I might be able to barter for help should we need it.

Rest and sleep had at least been a saving grace for my father. After a while, his movements became easier and he managed to take more of his own weight when the land flattened out. I had to stop to catch my bearings, feeling lost in unfamiliar lands.