The Valley Of The Wolves

A prophecy?

"What was the dream about?" Irakusa asked, nudging my side again.

"I don't know, a black creature and a silver fox with three tails," I grumbled. "Let me go back to sleep."

"Did the fox say anything?" He asked, wagging his tail.

"Something about Wakkkir..? I don't know."

"Foxcraft?"

"Yeah that's what she said. Why do you know it?" I asked, raising my head.

He walked over to Kuinsa and shook her awake. She had a similar reaction to me.

"I'm sleeping." She grumbled, "Can this wait till the morning?"

"How do you tell if a dream is a prophecy?"

"I've told you." She rolls over. "If it occurs in a real world place, if you feel in your body, or if there's a fox in it."
Irakusa looked over at me and I nodded.

Irakusa turned back to her. "And if it had foxcraft in it?"

"Especially if it had foxcraft in it."

***

In the morning I told Aki about my dream. She nodded and said that it probably meant nothing but just in case we'd go to the river and wash away the bad energy, and that it was probably time for the pack to have a bath anyway.

The pack walked together as one. Breathing and foot steps sinked, just a great wolf moving over the land.

The white ground had still not thawed, but the snow was thinner.

Small chunks of ice bobbing down the river, and I shivered dreading the cold shock of water. As the wolves padded to the bank and drank from the cold refreshing water one by one they jumped in. Splashing and yipping to one another, I joined them.

I slowly lowered my paws into the water one at a time. The chill sent a shiver down my spine. One wolf splashed a sheet of ice cold water on my back. I growled and jumped in to splash water over their head.

After a solid 30mins the whole pack was winded. We had swam back and forth over the river chasing each other's tails while the pups stayed in a little outlet that came off the river.

Aki led me out to a rock in the river. The rock had water moving around it rapidly making drops fly into the air. She helped lower me into the water. Holding tightly to me so I didn't get dragged away. My paws clung to the slippery rock as some other wolves chanted some things under their breath.

I focused on the water, letting it flow through my already wet fur. Eventually she dragged me onto the rock. My skin was wet and I was shivering but now the bad energy was gone.

We waded through the water back to the bank and at once everyone shook out their fur in a flurry of water droplets. A pile of caught fish dead at our feet.

"Let's go to the springs." Aki declared, leading the group into the forest. Everyone helped carry the fish bounty.

As we got closer to the destination the air was warmer and the snow thinner. There were pools Aki insisted we don't step in. We eventually made it to a place where there were lots of big pools of steaming water. Aki made us all promise we wouldn't step foot in one, which we all agreed.

There were also steam holes from deep in the earth that we huddled around. The warm dew stuck to our coats, but ultimately the heat made us warmer.