Animal Story - Wolves' Walk

I padded through the dense forest; the only sound was the dead leaves that crunched and broke to pieces beneath my paws. A cool breeze ruffled my pelt as the heavens grew dark and the deceased spirits shone brightly miles and miles above my very head. I was returning to the den after an unsuccessful hunt with the others at my heels. Our source of food was rapidly diminishing because of the strange, furless animals on two legs and we all knew that.

They bore weapons that could kill with one movement of their strange, elongated paw. We had no defense for that kind of weapon that had an almost deafening sound when they used it, and neither did our prey. Our prey was being continuously killed, rather quickly at that and we were beginning to starve. Our only choice now was to move the pack to a new den, and I was the one who had to tell them, as I was their leader.

They all looked at me with hopefulness in the eyes as I entered the den, but when they saw I had nothing, they feared the worst. I averted my golden eyes momentarily before allowing a heavy sigh to escape me and I looked back at them. I could see that they knew exactly what I was about to utter, but it would make it all the more real if I actually said it.

“I come bearing bad news, my friends,” I began slowly. “I am afraid we have to move the pack somewhere else.”

“It’s because of those animals, isn’t it? They keep taking our prey!” one of the others growled in anger, his eyes clearing narrowing and showing malevolence though he knew there was nothing we could do to prevent what was happening.

I nodded and then told them, “We have to leave soon, or we won’t survive. Also, the coming of the White Rain is soon, so that will make it all the more difficult to move.”

The White Rain, the coldest time of each year. The White Rain made it difficult to move the pack, especially with the small ones. It came in large quantities and built up until it was very deep and that meant we would have to move quickly to make it to a new den before it came. We most certainly couldn’t travel for a long time on it as it was harshly cold on the bottoms of our paws. It would cause trouble in walking and many would fall behind. I didn’t want that.

---

The Fiery Circle ascended into the heavens the next day; on this day, two others and myself would be going to search for a new den. We would be travelling into the mountains to search, though we feared that it would be a tough travel since they were so extremely high. The winds that day were fierce, making it all the harder to travel since we could easily be pushed around by it. I wouldn’t want to fall from that height and I would never want anyone else to either.

The two I was going with were named Rackon and Barron and I trusted them both with my life. I’d known Barron since I was small, but Rackon and I became comrades later on. I took them because of that and also because we worked well together. Unfortunately, I could not say the same for others in my pack.

We headed for the base of the mountains to search for a den that would be suitable for the whole pack. It couldn’t be too high, for there were many small ones and they wouldn’t be able to make the climb as well as a few elders that wouldn’t be able to either. It would be a tough search, however it was a strict necessity that it be apposite for the entire pack.

I lead the way with Rackon and Barron close behind me. The mountains were quite a distance away, thus we ended up reaching them by nightfall. The Fiery Circle had left the heavens as the Pale Circle rose to take its place. The thick, greyed cloaks that hung in the heavens hid the spirits from our view, but still revealed the Pale Circle. The wind continued to blow, still just a strong as before, though it didn’t hinder us to the point where we had to stop.

“Finally we’re here,” Barron sighed in relief from the long walk, though he knew there would be more walking.

“Yah, but it will be harder to find a new den in the dark,” Rackon nodded, probably thinking that whatever dens we found now would be occupied by the night sleepers. He was probably right.

“We still have to try,” I told them and they both nodded in agreement.

The three of us split up and went in different directions to search. I could find nothing, not one single den; not even an occupied one, which I had expected. It appeared as though they had all caved in or as if they had all been destroyed. Perhaps it was those two-legged creatures, attempting to stay one step ahead of us to take us as main prey next. I wouldn’t have put it past them, ever.

I met up with the others not long after and luckily, Barron had found a vacant den. I’d sighed in relief, especially after what I’d been thinking previously. Rackon seemed just as relieved as I was and I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been thinking the same thing. I was snapped out of my wondering state though when Barron spoke.

“Come this way,” he instructed as both Rackon and I followed.

The empty den was big and would be, very fortunately, perfect for the pack. It was only a bit up the side of the mountain and was hidden away between other pieces of Earth that stuck out of the mountain’s side. That would make it hard for any predators to find us though we couldn’t find any scent of any predators though, just the scent of our prey not far off. Because of that, I secretly hoped that they would not be able to discover our new den before we made it back with the rest of us.

We began our trip back to our current den; it was nearing the rising of the Fiery Circle when we left to head back. The days were not only becoming colder, but shorter as well, which meant that the White Rain would be coming very soon. Naturally, I dreaded that we wouldn’t make it in time and that the White Rain, by whatever controlled it, would start falling just to spite us.

The travel back was uneventful, and by the time we returned, it was mid-day. The others were waiting patiently for us to arrive and when we entered, they were anxious to know if we had found anything. We told them the good news without hesistation and the location of the new den; they were overjoyed to hear it. I didn’t want to disturb their sighs of relief and their happy chattering with my worry of the White Rain, so I held that to myself.

“We leave at the rising of the Pale Circle,” I announced when they’d quieted enough for my instructions.

---

Just as planned, we left at the rising of the Pale Circle. The small ones were tired and wanted to rest, but we pushed them forward, telling them that this had to be done. The journey was longer then it had been before, for we had to stop many times to let the small ones rest their paws. When we forced them to begin walking again, we inevitably heard their complaints, muttered or not, and informed them that they could rest as long as they pleased once we’d reached our destination.

Some of the pack, including Rackon and Barron who were in charge, went on ahead to check for any danger. There had been no scent of the two-legged animals directly surrounding the den, but the path there had their scent all over it. The group that went ahead came back every once in a while to check in, but at one point, they didn’t return. We made attempts to call for them, but there was no response.

“Stay here!” I ordered. “I’m going to see what’s going on,” I told them and ran off ahead.

They stayed, just as told, and they watched as I left. I dreaded the scene that my anxious mind concocted and I had to shake my head various times to make it go away. I stopped suddenly, when I heard the language of the two-legged animals, skidding to a halt as quietly as my paws would allow. Lucky for me, for the moment they didn’t hear me.

I crouched behind a bush and peered through its branches the best I could. I listened to the two-legged ones, though I didn’t understand what they were saying to any extent. I looked around the area where they were, checking for the missing scouts, but the beast belonging to the two-legged ones caught my eye first. Their large beast lay dormant behind them, unmoving and as far as I could tell it wasn’t breathing either. For a moment, I wondered if it’d died, but I didn’t want to dwell over that thing’s current state. I wasn’t sure what the beast was, but I had seen it once before and knew it moved with incredible speeds.

My eyes traveled, falling upon the missing scouts. Their bodies lay on the ground motionless, but they weren’t dead. A shiny object bearing the fur of the flying animals were stuck in their necks. I had also seen those before; they made animal fall asleep almost instantaneously. They were being placed in closed dens that you could see through; I knew we wouldn’t be able to help them now.

With extreme reluctance, I turned quietly away from my comrades and left to go back to where the others waited. When I reached them, I told them what I had seen with a lot of difficulty, as I hated to lose any comrade of mine. However, we would continue ahead and try to pass them; some had protested against this idea, but they were finally convinced that it was the only way we had a chance of surviving.

Determined to get to the new den, we moved forward, drawing closer and closer to the two-legged animals. We were completely silent; we couldn’t have them hearing us. We were so quiet that they couldn’t even hear the sound of our paw-steps, or at least I don’t think they could since they made no acknowledgment of our presence.

Once we had them in view, we hid within the darkness and crept by them. No one made a sound, except for the two-legged ones as they prepared to leave. They were putting their weapons and our trapped comrades in the back of their beast. They then proceeded to go to the front of the beast and enter into it from the side. They brought it to life in a matter of seconds and it roared as it awakened. They tamed it, making it fall nearly silent as its eyes opened, creating a bright light in the darkness that none of us could truly fathom. It ran down a dirt path, different from the one we were taking.

Once it was gone, we were able to move faster and get to the new den without worrying about them for the time being. As we approached the mountains, the Fiery Circle had already begun to rise to start the new day for us. Naturally, it glared down at us, trying to hinder us through means of causing our bodies to produce mass amounts of heat. The Fiery Circle had been cruel like that since the day I was born and probably even before then. I could never understand why it would want to cause us this trouble, but it did hold it’s good qualities as well.

The small ones wanted desperately to rest, as did some of the others, but we wouldn’t let them until we reached the new den for we were too close now. As we climbed their paws ached and they panted for air; the den was only a few paw-steps away though if my memory served me well and it did. We reached the den, clambering to its insides to investigate the space and even rest. As they explored, wordlessly approving of it, I stood at the mouth of the den.

I gazed around the mountainside and with content saw that our prey was grazing not far off. But then my eyes traveled upwards when I felt a cold wind that was colder than it had been moments ago. The cloaks still hung in the heavens and looked as if it were about to burst open since it was so large. Right after I had thought that, the White Rain descended from the heavens and sprinkled lightly down to the earth. We had made it just in time before the White Rain, and to me that was a sign. A sign that we would be able to live there for a long time, even if we had lost some of us in the journey there. So with one last look at the White Rain, I turned and went into the den to join those who remained.

End

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Honestly, I still find this piece a bit vague even though I edited it, however, I didn't want to change it too much from what I'd originally written. This is because I'd written it in grade eight for English class and was very proud of it then. Like I said though, I did edit it a bit because there were grammatical and spelling errors that were bugging me.
The point of this story, as assigned, was to tell a tale from an animal's point of view. The catch was that you couldn't use too many nouns that we as humans would use because we naturally think that animals would not know these things. This was a difficult task, however I think I did okay. I also think that you, the reader, were able to figure out what each thing was, if not just say so and I'll perhaps explain.