The Living Wind in the Forest

Chapter 6

Snow gasped and dashed towards the creature and flung herself onto its back. DIgging her claws in deep, Snow sank her teeth in the closest spot she could reach and clamped her jaw into the fur of the beast until she could taste blood. The beast roared in agony, tossing Snowflake as far as it could and thrashed, trying to throw Snow off. Panicked, she leaped off and ran next to Snowflake's side. Her eyes were closed and she seemed unconscious. Opening her mouth, she howled "Moon!" As loud as she could.

Her head spun as she dashed around, trying to think. What would Moon do? "Moon!" She howled again. Cobwebs! She remembered. Spotting a wad, Snow swung out her paw and clawed out a pawful. Dashing back, Snow pressed onto the bloodiest gash she could find and set all her weight on it. Shaking with fear, Snow winced as Snow twitched with pain.

"Snow!" A voice made her jump.

"Moon!"

"What happened?" Moon panted,"Here, let me," Moon peeled off the cobwebs and folded it up into a firmer, smaller patch,"Get me some water," Moon ordered. Snow dashed to the nearest tree she could see and scratched at the moss. Spotting a pond, she soaked up water in the moss and ran back. Moon used the water and cleaned away the blood. Chewing up an orange flower, Moon trickled the juices into the wound,"It's Calendula, that'll prevent infection, and help heal the wound," Moon explained as he wrapped a fresh wad of cobwebs around the wound, securing it with a pat,"Now we can only wait."

"We should move her somewhere warmer," Snow suggested. Lifting Snowflake gently by her scruff, Snow dragged her to a patch of sunlight.

"What happened?" Icicle ran up to Snow, gasping.

"She got attacked by a creature," Snow said.

Icicle's eyes widened,"I'll make a nest," he suggested. He padded over to his sister, Rain, and murmured something in her ear. Rain's eyes widened and nodded, and the two of them padded into the woods.

"WIll she live?" Snow asked.

Moon looked away, "I don't know, I never healed before," he admitted.

Snow nodded,"It's all in the Great Spirits paws."

Moon cocked his head, "Spirit?"

"Remember the dreams I had? They were the spirits of the dead," Snow explained,"I named them the Great Spirit, to tell everyone the dead are always with us."

A ghostly pale wolf appeared next to Snow,"That is indeed correct Snow," her father said.

"Father!'' Moon said, shocked.

"Dear Moon, how much have I missed you," his father said,"When you and your sister got separated from your mother, I had to choose you."

"Did you have to leave Branch?" Snow asked. She remembered when Father was still alive, he and Branch were like siblings and were close friends.

Her father shook his head. Lifting up his head, the stars that surrounded his paws began to rise. Slowly, one by one, a pack of wolves that died came into view, some that Snow didn't even recognize.

The group that Snow was with lifted their heads to see the ghostly wolves.

"Berry!" Icicle shouted with jubilance. The two wolves ran toward each other with jubilance.

Names were shouted out and the air was filled with reunion and joy,"Now let's just not hang around and be happy, we need to set up a camp," a wolf named Bamboo said.

Daisy's eyes widened,"Bamboo! You're here!" She exclaimed.

Bamboo swung around. As her eyes fell onto Daisy, she immediately looked guilty,"I'm sorry you had to go, I should have been a better leader," Bamboo said.