The Wolves of Asgeird Ridge

The Scouting Party

The morning dawned brisk and windy. Saluki rose with the sun and padded out to the entrance of the den. She lifted her nose in the air and smelled the same scent she had discovered before - the cold. 

With a rustle she was joined at her left by Terra, who nipped her affectionately. 

"Morning!" Terra yipped as she trotted into the clearing, her brown bushy tail waving merrily. Terra never seemed tired, even in the early hours of the day. 

"Yes it is," Saluki laughed and knelt on her front legs in a playing position. As she and Terra tussled in the short dewy grass of the clearing, a mess of brown and white, the other pack members filed out of the cave one by one. Omar arrived last, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. 

"What will we do today?" Loki asked. She was standing next to Bliss, whos round belly bulged out around her sides. 

"I feel that we should treat it as we would any other day," Alpine said. She looked up at the sky, where leaves flew in the air. "Perhaps a party of two or three should scout out any signs of..." here she paused to look at Omar, "Firenze and his pack. Two more should try to get some food." 

Everyone looked at Omar, who stood quietly. Finally he said, "I agree. I will be out for the day, so feel free to decide among yourselves who wants which job." 

He abruptly turned and loped into the forest, leaping over a rotting log with grace. Saluki had gotten used to Omar's disappearances during the day, but she was still curious where he went. 

The rest of the pack gathered in a huddle to discuss the day. 

"Saluki and Terra, do you want to scout, while Seneko, Loki, and I try to find prey?" Fern asked. 

"Sure!" Saluki barked, eager to go exploring again. Scouting trips with the light-hearted Terra were always fun. Loki and Seneko pawed each other in playful rivalry. Seneko hadn't managed to beat Loki in a hunting game yet, but he seemed determined to prove that he was as good as her.  

"Leaving me and Alpine behind again, I see," Bliss growled with a nudge to Alpine, who chuckled. 

"I think they may be leaving more than just us two, Bliss." 

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"Tonight may be the full moon," Terra said excitedly and she and Saluki cantered through the underbrush towards the boundary of Omar's territory. Saluki's heart leaped at the thought of the Howling happening again. 

Every full moon the Omarians would travel to Tigra cliff, the place where Saluki and Loki had fought what she now knew was a mountain lion when they were very young. 

They would face the moon and all her stars and howl to her for luck and guidance with whatever was troubling them. The surrounding forest and even the mountains far to the west would resonate with the sound of the pack's song to the moon. 

"How do you know?" Saluki asked Terra, who was now trotting with her nose to the ground and tail straight up. Terra turned with her brown eyes twinkling. 

"I feel it in my booones!" Terra imitated what Alpine always said before it would storm. Saluki laughed and bounded towards Terra, who was quickly becoming both her and Loki's closest friend. 

The two young wolves loped together and then rolled together, carefree in the crisp air of autumn. Fallen leaves crunched beneath their paws and pine-cones and burrs became trapped in their thickening coats. 

How lucky can I be?  Saluki wondered as the world spun with every tumble. 

"Wait!" Terra's short bark of alarm stopped Saluki abruptly in her joy. She stood up quickly and faced in the same direction of Terra. 

Terra was right- a strange, menacing smell was wafting through the trees to their left. Saluki squinted in the sun and peered through the trees. The forest continued for about a hundred feet before opening into a grassy field. The stump with the clump of flowers resting on it that marked the end of Omar's territory was behind them. 

They were officially out of their home territory. 

Saluki could see a large rock at the far edge of the field, where several wolves paced outside. 

"Firenze," Terra growled softly, her hackles raising. Saluki felt her own hackles rise as she remembered the hunt the night before. 

"They aren't in our territory yet," Saluki muttered, "But they're close." 

"They won't wait long to invade," Terra said, her intense gaze never leaving the enemy wolves. 

"What do we do?" Saluki asked. She was glad that they were downwind of the pacing wolves outside the rock. 

"We run back and hope to find Omar," said Terra, "hopefully he'll have an answer."