Warclaw

by Samantha McGivern

  “Hey Marko, I think I just found my pack!” Walking over to Warclaw, Marko looked down on the floor and saw the wolf Warclaw was looking at. “So I am guessing that this wolf was one of yours?”

  “Yeah it was. I can’t remember who though.” Warclaw said slightly concerned. “I can’t see your father anywhere Marko.” Warclaw was more concerned this time. “Well we shall have to keep looking for him.”

  “Okay, we may as well start looking now.” They looked at each other and Marko nodded to Warclaw and spoke with calmness “Agreed.” Walking forward, they started walking towards the horizon checking each dead body that they walked past.

  After some time, they came across six dead wolves. These were the last wolves to have died in what looked like a death war. Warclaw looked down to the first wolf and noticed that it was one of his. Walking passed the wolf; he looked at the next wolf and noticed that the wolf was one of Marko’s. Looking at the eyes of the wolf, he saw that the eyes were not a red colour but a brown colour. ‘Why were all their eyes red when they were alive and now are back to their original colour when they are dead? It must have something to do with the crystal.’ Warclaw thought to himself. Looking over to Marko, Warclaw looked at his eyes and saw that they were a blue colour. “Warclaw, come over here. I found him.” There was sadness in his voice. Warclaw walked over to where Marko was. Looking down to the ground, he saw that this wolf looked old and drained. And to be honest it looked like he had had a horrible death. Warclaw felt sorry for Marko, as he had to see his father like this. “Sorry Marko.” Warclaw said sympathetically. He patted him on the shoulder and walked to the other wolves that were on the floor. “He wasn’t as bad as you think he was Warclaw. My father was great once, but that stupid Atlas Crystal corrupted him and then it just went cold. We all became so empty. I knew I had to do something but I couldn’t. It felt as if I was being restrained. I found a way around the barrier though and I pushed past it. I managed to find you, although my father had ordered me to come and get you anyway. Why did it do this? Make us all mad?” Marko questioned.

  “Marko remember when I said to you when we were walking down that beach that there are some things that you cannot understand, will not understand? Well this is one of those answers you don’t want to find out or know.” Warclaw plainly stated. He had spoken with the upmost command in his voice. “Fine but still, it wasn’t nice.” Marko shivered. “What now then, Warclaw?”

  “Well by the looks of it, none of your pack has survived, whereas the majority of mine has. I’ve seen hardly any of my pack lying dead on the ground, so I think it’s a case of going to Meg Mell to look for them. I need to know how many of them have survived. So you can either stay here or come with me to Meg Mell, Marko. It’s up to you.” Warclaw went to walk off when Marko spoke quite timidly to him. “Can we at least dig a hole and bury him? Seeing as he is my father, could you do that, please? I know you did it with Willow so could you? Please?”

  “Yes I did it with Willow but that was different but if it what you want then yes I will.” Warclaw walked up to the lifeless body of Mathew. He picked it up gently with his teeth behind the shoulders, before moving it over to somewhere where it was clear of the littered wolves. Placing Mathew gently down on the floor, Marko started to dig a hole. After placing him down on the ground, Warclaw walked over to Marko and helped him dig down into the earth.

  When the hole was finally deep enough to fit Mathew in, Warclaw went over to the body and picked it up. He then carried it over to the hole before dropping Mathew into it. Warclaw walked into the trees to let Marko have some time alone with his desist father. Warclaw came back a few minutes later, and as Marko said his final goodbye, Warclaw started to cover the body with dirt before walking away. This was an end of an era for Marko. His father and pack were dead and now he was all alone. Marko walked next to Warclaw. It looked like he was going to have to take up on Warclaw’s offer and join him. What choice did he have? He had nothing to go back to or any-wolf to help him except Warclaw. “Warclaw is it okay if I take up that offer? You know when we were walking to Manto the other day? Do you mind if I take it up now and join you?” Warclaw looked at Marko and smiled. Being happy was now something Warclaw enjoyed and he was sure that having Marko as a disposable asset was a big advantage if he ever had one. “Sure Marko. Welcome to freedom.” Warclaw said happily.

  Warclaw’s plan had started to take shape now. Warclaw had decided on the best way to get rid of his pack, but unknowingly to Marko, he was going to be the bait for Warclaw’s master plan. Marko still believed that Warclaw was pleasant and that he would never harm him but that was not the case. No, in fact Warclaw only thought about protecting himself and looking after himself. Marko was going to have to come up with a good plan if he wanted to survive and live a lot longer than Warclaw. But for the mean time there was peace in the land. Or so it was thought…

  ******************

  “Where the hell did those wolves come from?” Wren shouted.

  “I don’t know Wren. I honestly don’t!”

  “Well they aren’t working for Warclaw. I asked one of them.” Wren huffed annoyed. “Well I am sure we’ll have something soon Wren.” Will said empathetically. There was movement behind them. Will turned around and looked towards the movement. The bush rustled and then it stopped. “Come out!” Wren shouted. There was more movement. “NOW!” Wren shouted again but louder. Slowly a wolf came out from behind the bushes. “Quicker.” The wolf picked up pace and kept their head hung low. “Wibeke?” He asked confused. There was silence. The wolf slowly raised its head. Their body was weak and their fur was covered with bits of bush and dried blood. Wren walked up to the wolf and looked into its eyes. “What happened, Wibeke?” Wren instantly knew who this was. He could tell by her weakened posture and her eyes. “Where have you been?” Wren embraced her in a hug and then stood back to look at her. “Are you hurt? Have you eaten?” Each time a question was asked Wibeke said nothing. She was ashamed to have left the pack like that. It was wrong of her to do such a horrible thing. “Wibeke say something?”

  “I’m sorry.” Her voice was just as weak as her body. Wibeke’s body started to sway from one side to the other before finally falling onto Wren. Seeing that Wibeke was going to fall to the ground, Wren ran up to Wibeke and caught her just before she fell to the floor. She lay across his back and he then gently rested her against a rock, before lying in front of her. “Why are you sorry?” Wibeke didn’t say anything. Walking up behind Wren, Will gently placed his paw upon his back before saying, “Wren let her rest.” Will advised. Nodding his head, Wren pulled Wibeke over his back and took her to where she could rest. She looked torn and broken. It broke his heart seeing her like this. The row they had had days ago had caused so much destruction to the pack as Wibeke was their leader and some-wolf that they could trust, but then she had just vanished into thin air. And now she was badly hurt and broken. As Warclaw had said, it was all down to Wren.

  Coming to an area that was quiet, Wren lay Wibeke down. He looked around to see if there was any-wolf near but there wasn’t, to his relief. “Will,” Wren calmly said before walking over to him “let the pack know that Wibeke is back. But tell them that she needs to rest so to leave her alone. But give them the good news. Just don’t tell them what condition she is in. If they as say she is well. We need something positive after that slaughter.” Will nodded and ran back into the bushes to find the pack and tell them the good news.

  Watching Will run off into the bushes, Wren laid down next to Wibeke. Watching her sleep, Wren watched her chest raise and then fall. Slowly falling asleep, Wren could hear all the other wolves howling into the night’s sky in happiness. He smiled and then closed his eyes.

  Another day had come and gone, much like the wolves in both packs. Marko’s pack was down to one and soon the population would become zero. For what Marko didn’t know was that he was Warclaw’s bait. And what all the other wolves didn’t know was what Warclaw was planning. But w
hat Warclaw didn’t know was what the crystal was planning. Maybe he was the bait all along...

  Chapter 10: Being the bait.

  The sun started to shine over to the horizon, blasting light across the land. The birds began their chorus in the trees and the wind gently brushed against the trees, making the leaves rustle. The bushes rustled quietly in the background and made a quiet whistling sound. It was perfect. The sky was pure blue and the air was cool. It was peaceful for a brief moment in time. The land was bright and alive for at least a moment.

  The wind blew gently against the fur of Wibeke and Wren. Wren slowly opened his eyes to see the land out in front of him. The sunrise was perfect in every little detail. Looking down to Wibeke he noticed that she was moving slowly and her eyes were slowly opening. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Wren said happily. Wibeke turned her head in the direction of the sunrise, and smiled. The sun felt warm against her cold fur. "Yes. Yes it is Wren." Wren smiled. He was glad that Wibeke had said something to him. "Beautiful. Like you Wibeke, in every little detail." Wibeke smiled knowing that she was back in safe arms. "Why?" Wren spoke to Wibeke this time. He turned his head to her and looked into her eyes. Staring back into his, Wibeke spoke "I had to get away from it all. Warclaw was after me not you or the pack. But look at what happened when I left." She lowered her head. "Wibeke, believe me when I say this, it wasn't your fault at all. We didn't even know that there was another pack near here, did we?" Wibeke shook her head.

  "Maybe now you are here, we better keep to the truth hey?" Wibeke looked into Wren's eyes.

  "Wren is there something you want to tell me?" She questioned.

  "Yeah, when we had that argument days ago well..." He paused. 'The truth is better.' He thought. "I and Willow did have a relationship." He paused, waiting for some sort of reaction off of Wibeke. But there was no reaction, just a blank expression on her face. Deciding to continue he spoke again "We weren't together then besides it didn't last long. Just a few weeks. It was only when you weren't around Wibeke." He looked at Wibeke and saw a lone tear roll down her snout. "I'm sorry Wibeke. I really am sorry."

  "I know you are Wren. I know you are sorry but how could you do that?"

  "I don't know. I guess I just needed some attention whilst you were away. But we weren’t together, so I thought it didn’t matter.”

  "That's no excuse but I forgive you." Wibeke went to get up but fell back down to the ground. "You need to rest Wibeke." Wren said walking to her side. "Here let me help you. You are weak Wibeke."

  "I'm fine!" Wibeke snapped back at Wren.

  "No you're not! Sit back down!" Wren said firmly. There were still things that he wanted to say. Wibeke sat back down on the floor and looked at Wren. "Can't we just forget all this? Forget all these mistakes that have happened? Forget all these problems between you and me?" Wren begged.

  "Fine!" Wibeke snapped. “But you have a lot of work to do to make up for it!" Wren nodded. "There is one thing you must tell me though!"

  "Yes?"

  "How come we are so many down on the pack? There are hardly any when I came in. And how come we aren't in our den?"

  "It's a long story that I don't know all the answers to."

  "I have time." Wibeke smiled.

  "Alright." He paused then carried on. "When you left we started to get ready to fight Warclaw. About a day or so later Warclaw contacted me telepathically; well that’s what we think. " Wren paused to make sure that Wibeke was taking it all in. "Go on."

  "Well he taunted me about you, as we hadn't seen you in a while but it had only been a day or so since you went missing so we were waiting for your return. Anyway, Warclaw taunted me and then said how I would never get you back. He also mentioned that he had a message for you."

  "What was it?" Wibeke quickly intervened.

  "We don't know. However, we believed that Warclaw had done something to you, but by the looks of it he hasn’t. He has a plan thought, I know that much."

  "So what happened to the pack?" There was concern in her voice.

  "Well a few days later – yesterday – we came under attack. These wolves came out of nowhere! Their Alpha was Mathew. They were from Manto from what I believe. The weird thing was..." Wren paused in thought "was that all their eyes were red but when they died, their eyes changed back to brown, blue, green etc. Their normal eye colour you could say. When I asked one of the wolves from that other pack, a question, namely 'Why are you working for Warclaw?' they simply stated that they weren't. That's what confused us."

  "Hmmm..." Wibeke paused in thought. "You're right. But the question is why were they attacking our pack? We have not threatened them in any means..." Wibeke paused again.

  "Or have we?" she asked, willing for the information to be told to her. "No we haven't. Not that I know of, at least." Wibeke walked up to Wren but then looked behind him. "What's up?" Wren questioned before turning around. "Oh, it's you." Wren said with relief.

  "Yes it is me! Who else would it be?" Wanbi said laughing.

  "Wanbi?" Wibeke questioned, squinting her eyes to see.

  "Yeah it's me. Geeze Wibeke, you look different. Done something with your fur have we?" Wanbi joked.

  "Yeah it's called the bush look." Wibeke said sarcastically, laughing at her own joke. "And yeah I suppose I look different. Losing the weight and all. So what are we doing waiting here?" Wibeke turned back around to Wren. "We're here Wibeke because they are all dead. That pack that attacked us, are all dead. We killed them all. But we loosed some of our pack in the process."

  "Oh." Wibeke paused. "So what about Warclaw? Was he with them or not? It is pretty suspicious for an attack on the pack and for Warclaw to not be there with them. He is behind it or at least that crystal of his is." She stated.

  "You are right Wibeke. There is something suspicious going on here but for some reason nothing is making sense. It is like every pack is trying to kill us off but what have we done to them? Warclaw is trying to kill us off, that pack tried to kill us off, how many more packs out there want us dead?" Wren distressed.

  "You are both right. However we need to focus on Warclaw as I have recently heard from one of the patrols that Warclaw is on his way here with another wolf. I don't know who this wolf is but whoever he is, we take them both down!" Wanbi said in a dominating tone. Wanbi had finally chirped up. Wibeke laughed. "Why are you laughing? You are in no shape to attack him anyhow; we need someone strong and capable of taking him down... namely me." Both Wren and Wibeke burst out laughing. "Why do you both mock me?" Wanbi questioned confused. "I am being honest. I can take this other wolf down, what match is he against me?!" With Wibeke and Wren nearly in tears laughing, Wanbi was insulted. Very insulted! "Wanbi honestly, we both love you very much but you... you attack another wolf?" Wibeke said between laughs.

  "Why do you judge me? Since you the storm, I have trained every day and night for this, to finally be capable of taking down Warclaw, or any-wolf that he throws at us."

  "Wanbi, I admire your courage and admiration but Warclaw is more powerful and dangerous than you could ever know and can ever possibly imagine!" Wren said angrily.

  "Yes I know that but if we work as a group then we can finish him once and for all!" Wanbi argued.

  "Your funeral!" Wibeke plainly stated.

  "What do you mean my funeral?" Wanbi questioned.

  "Well for starters, Warclaw is smarter than you so would expect an attack from us. Secondly, why do you think he has been trying to get an accomplice for? He needs another pair of eyes to watch out for things that he wouldn't be able to see on his own." Wibeke smiled. "You are still young Wanbi and have so much yet to learn. You are not matched for Warclaw!"

  "Fine. But what do we do?"

  "We wait for him to come to us." Wibeke laughed evilly.

  ******************

  The sky was becoming dark and the stars had started to come out. Warclaw and Marko had been walking for a while. Their legs had started to ache from all the walking and running that they ha
d done. Warclaw looked back to see that Marko was far behind him and stopped, "Do you want to rest a bit Marko?" Warclaw asked. He could see that Marko wasn't used to this amount of walking. Warclaw had travelled long distances in his life, many miles across lands and poor Marko hadn't. The furthest he had probably travelled was Wayland and no further than that. Marko nodded his head and lay down. Neither of the two wolves had eaten for days and they were both famished. They hadn't had any drink either so their throats were soar and parched. They needed to get food and water soon, else they would die. Marko would anyway. "Warclaw we need some food and water, I'm parched and hungry." Warclaw started walking towards Marko. "We do need food and water. But we aren't near any water for another mile yet, and the only food around here is a berry, that’s it. So unless you want to become a herbivore then I suggest you wait. "Warclaw stated plainly. Marko looked down at the floor and shook his head.