Tales From the Alps Short Stories #4: Forgotten Friendship

Chapter 1

Get me out of here! Get me out of here! Mommy, please!

One-eye had to strain his muscles in an attempt not to shake. Everything that had just happened...he could barely cope with it. That catamount had come to his territory, taken out his eye, and forced him to come with her. Now, like that wasn't enough, he was going to have to kill other wolves.

I can't do this! How am I supposed to kill Lone Ones? But the words of the big, copper-colored cougar rang in his ears, especially when she repeated them again.

"If you don't cooperate, you've doomed your own family." So...if I were to say 'yes 'and try to run away...they would... One-eye swallowed in fear. I can't let them do that to Mom and Laika, and Dad, too! I...I'll...I have no choice...

He spoke up, looking into the green eyes of the catamount. "Alright, alright, I'll do it for my family! But I refuse to kill Lone Ones with families! I just can't!" Killing lone Lone Ones must be easier...at least they won't remind me of my own family. One-eye blinked away the tears. What did I just agree to? I should've let them kill me, I'm worthless anyways!

The catamount gazed upon him. She sighed, but looked somewhat relieved. The wolves standing beside her, one grey and one brown, kept staring at him, their eyes barely blinking. They scared One-eye.

Behind the brown wolf, the small cougar that had been there when the reddish one had scarred him, was standing, her eyes big and round. Stop staring at me! I hate being stared at!

"Looks like we're finally getting somewhere. And that isn't a problem. You'll work for us, but you'll only kill lone Lone Ones, no Lone Ones with families. I get it." The catamount nodded in agreement, made a gesture with her tail, and the wolves instantly turned around, leaving.

"Come," the reddish cougar said, and she walked away in their tracks.

***

Until now, One-eye had spent his time alone, locked up in a small, moist, abandoned fox den just outside the huge clearing that contained so many animals. In the den, he'd been constantly watched by at least two guards.

It had been a terrible week. He'd seen barely any daylight because the entrance of the den had been blocked with sticks and stones, to prevent him from possibly escaping, and he'd hardly been fed. He was also close to dehydration, only being able to lick the moisty rocks that surrounded him, and the tiny, human-made thing the guards referred to as a Schüssel filled with a little water, which they gave him once every two days.

But the worst thing was the loneliness. No mother to comfort him, no sister to play with. One-eye even preferred Blaze's neglectful presence over this endless solitude. He'd cried for hours on end, begging to be let out of this awful confinement, but he didn't get any response, not even a "Stop crying!" from an aggressive guard.

One-eye sighed. He turned around again. The den was so small that he could barely rotate himself in it, and even he, with his hump that caused him to slouch when he sat, couldn't sit down without hitting his head on the rocky ceiling.

He heard the dim sounds of the guard in front of his prison moving. I wish I could move, he thought. He looked up when the noise got louder, though.

The branches and rocks covering the den's entrance, and thus blocking almost all light, were moving. Then, with a loud crash, the coverage fell inside the den, hitting One-eye, who could barely move, right in the face.

Not a second later, a wolf shot through the now-visible entrance, and grabbed the pup roughly by the sensitive spot between his scruff and his hump, dragging him out. "Yeeee!" One-eye yelped in pain.