by Bryce THOMAS
The third remaining wolf had yet to experience Rhamin’s weight and height advantage. He bounded away from the other two and met the last wolf in mid air as they both jumped at each other. The attacker fell backwards as Rhamin’s front paws hit it in the chest. He continued to travel forward, and as his enemy struggled to try and keep on its feet, Rhamin grabbed the back of its neck and, using his momentum, jerked it backwards. They both landed several yards further away from their point of collision, Rhamin splaying his legs to stay upright, his victim on its side, yelping to the others for help. The others had not been slow to respond and, as all wolves do when attacking, they tried to co-ordinate their movements. Two wolves bore down on him now, while he was still holding their comrade. Rhamin jerked his head upwards, lifting his quarry up and swinging him towards the two oncoming wolves. As he did so, from the corner of his eye, he saw Silvah gliding through the air. She had run towards them and had jumped and taken off from the ground just yards away. Her jaws squarely hit one of Rhamin’s attackers on the side of the face, teeth sinking into its jowls. Taking the advantage, and almost simultaneously, Rhamin stopped the other wolf in its tracks as it hit its companion in mid air. As the two fell to the ground, Rhamin was upon them, killing one instantly with his huge jaws crushing its throat. The other turned on its back in submission, but Rhamin did not spare it. Somehow, he knew that these wolves were responsible for Silvah’s condition. Not only had they invaded his territory, they had waged war. These were not innocent wolves passing through; they were soldiers in an army that gave no quarter. Towering over the prostrate, yelping wolf, he grabbed it and, shaking it like a toy, snapped its neck. When he turned, he saw Silvah through the trees battling with the remaining wolf under a fallen tree. His vision was impaired by the branches and tree trunks, and as he bounded towards the two snarling wolves, he saw Silvah dispatch her opponent by hanging onto its throat, crushing its windpipe until it could no longer breathe.
‘That will teach you,’ Silvah said through her teeth as life passed from her defeated opponent. Rhamin saw its eyes acknowledge the fact as it passed from this world.
‘You can leave go now,’ Rhamin said to his friend, some time later. ‘Come on, Silvah, leave go!’
Silvah sank down on her belly, leaving go of the deceased and spitting its fur from her mouth. ‘Hello my young Rhamin,’ she said, now almost too weak to speak.
Rhamin went over to her and pushed his muzzle into the thick coat of her neck. ‘You had me worried,’ he said eventually.
Silvah seemed tired. ‘You have good cause to be,’ she stated in a weary voice. ‘They,’ she said, nodding to the dead wolves, ‘are only part of our problem.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
Silvah was very weak, for despite her strength being sheared up by the presence of her leader, she had been systematically starved. The first thing Rhamin did was feed her. He had eaten well that evening, and now, regurgitating some of his meal, he let Silvah eat. With food, strength seemed to flow back into her body quickly. Rhamin, still concerned that there was a likelihood of another attack, walked over to the gap in the trees from where Silvah had come, and lay down keeping his ears strained for any sound from beyond the small clearing. He watched her, letting her take her time, not asking her to answer any questions. Eventually, she stood up straight, shook herself from her head to the tip of her tail and, only a little unsteadily now, she walked over to him.
Despite the fact that Rhamin was all alone, Silvah felt safe. She had nurtured him when he was a pup and she had loved him as her leader. She would die for him without any question, but she knew that Rhamin would do the same, not just for her, but for any of his pack. That is what made him so special. And that is why, his pack stayed so closely bonded to him.
Now, settling down beside him, she could tell him what had happened to her and why she had not been able to come home. Wolves have been known to go for seventeen days without food, but, although she had been allowed to eat a little, Silvah had been deliberately kept short of food. ‘We have to go back,’ she said, pointing her nose towards the interior of the forest.
‘I take it that there are more where they came from,’ Rhamin said, looking at one of the dead wolves.
‘Oh yes,’ Silvah confirmed with a nod. ‘Fifteen more to be precise, including…’ She paused, unclear as to how Rhamin would take it.
‘Phew, that’s a big pack,’ Rhamin panted. ‘Including?’
‘Solin,’ Silvah began to explain. ‘It’s his pack.’
‘Solin!’ Rhamin stared towards the thickest part of the forest, his eyes cutting through the trees as he visualised his half brother. ‘Well! I knew he wasn’t content in my pack.’
‘No, he wasn’t.’
‘So what happened?’ Rhamin began to lick her coat where the wound had wept.
Silvah moved forward a little on her belly, so that Rhamin could reach it properly. Patiently, he let her take her time to explain. He was in no hurry. She was safe now, or at least as safe as she could be with a pack of fifteen renegade wolves possibly hunting for her and their missing scouts. But it was important to get the full picture and, at the same time, it was equally important to give Silvah time to fully regain her strength for he knew that, despite his size and strength, in a fight he would not be able to take on fifteen wolves alone. Shortly, he and Silvah would have to run for their lives.
‘Well,’ Silvah began, ‘it started several moons ago when we all went on our territorial expeditions. Solin had gone north. He went way beyond our boundaries and eventually he tracked down some members of the Pagin mountain pack. They too were split up and travelling around their territory. According to his bragging, he kept a low profile, keeping out of sight and watching them, and getting to know who was who. He said he had travelled up north as far as that the year before and had narrowly missed being caught by the whole pack. It seems like he met up with some young males that had left the pack and he had been able to get a great deal of information from them. This year he went back there and waited until their leader was out on his own, and then he ambushed him and killed him. As Solin tells it, it was a great battle, but I doubt if he took any risks with his own life.’
‘No, but he’s a pretty tough nut, Silvah, I think you know that.’
Silvah growled a begrudging acknowledgement. She sighed. ‘Hmm, well, I hate him,’ she gesticulated, barring her teeth at the thought of him. ‘He was always trying to persuade the members of our pack to leave you. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Rhamin said and then, ‘But in every large pack you can expect some dissention.’
‘As I was saying,’ Silvah endeavoured to explain, ‘Solin defeated the leader of the northern pack and then he intercepted each of their pack members and told them so. He challenged any of them for leadership and only one accepted. It seems like he defeated that wolf in a fight to the death, but then spared him at the last minute. By doing so, he gained an ally and that wolf gathered in the rest of the pack, all except for Pagin’s mate and this year’s pups who refused to join him. They went on the run so that Solin and the pack couldn’t find them.’
‘So what is Solin doing down here at the far corner of our territory if he has taken over the northern territory?’
‘Well, he didn’t want that as badly as he wanted to take yours.’
‘So it’s personal,’ Rhamin said sadly.
‘Oh yes! Very personal,’ Silvah confirmed. ‘He has hated you ever since you took over as leader.’
‘I always put it down to sibling rivalry.’
Silvah shook her head. ‘Oh Rhamin, you can be so naive sometimes! You always see the best in your wolves, don’t you?’
‘I am proud to say I do. The Rhamin pack is the best. Some of them may be new blood from other packs, and some are direct family, but they are all worthy wolves.’
‘Not all of them, Rhamin. You are going to have to face up to the facts. Solin is your enemy.’
‘And what about Natan and
Rowan? Where are they?’
‘Natan and I met up with Rowan one night and we were celebrating our reunion when Solin burst upon us with his new pack. He must have been watching us for some time because I can’t think it was just by accident that he caught us all together. Well, you know that Natan has never got on with Solin, and when Solin and his pack surrounded us, Natan told him where to get off.’
Rhamin grinned proudly. ‘I’m sure I can guess just how he put it!’
‘And more!’ Silvah said proudly. ‘He challenged Solin but Solin had the backing of the rest of the pack. It was never a fair contest. As they fought, the others kept nipping at Natan from behind, and pushing him off balance and doing things like that.’ Silvah’s voice became sad. She sniffed back a tear. ‘Eventually Solin got the better of him and I knew he would kill him. So I shouted for Solin to stop.’
‘And did he?’
‘He stopped when I shouted a second time. He turned to me and said I was going to be the next to die. I said there would be no need for that if he spared Natan. I told him that I would join his pack so long as Natan was in it. Rowan barked that she would do the same.’
‘And of course, he couldn’t resist the offer!’ Rhamin stated, nodding his understanding. ‘So he gained three members of our pack. Quite a coup. He could brag about it for years to come!’
‘Well I think that was his reasoning to start with,’ Silvah agreed. ‘But as the days passed, and as he turned matters over in his own mind, he decided we would be better as lures to get you to come looking for us. He has travelled close to our pack several times, but he gave strict instructions that none of his pack should use calls to each other by way of communication because he didn’t want to give his position or any other advantage away.’
‘And on top of that, by forcing you to stay with his pack, he had hostages if by any chance I began to get the better of him.’
‘That’s right. But he’s changed. He’s not the wolf who you knew as your brother. He’s become bitter. He flies into a temper if any other wolf disobeys him. For the past couple of weeks he has treated me like a prisoner, and the other two had to go along with his behaviour for my sake. He has forced them and me into submission. And the only howling he allowed was for us to lure you to come out here. He seemed to know you’d be on your own or at least, poorly backed up.’
‘He was right there!’ Rhamin contemplated his own vanity. Breaking out of what was becoming a depressing train of thought, he continued, ‘So where is he now?’
‘He is still in his camp. He expected those four pitiful examples there to kill you on their own.’ Silvah sighed. ‘But he’ll know different soon. He’ll also know I have joined you.’ She paused and then said, ‘He knows we’re going to have to make a run for it.’
‘That is what he’ll expect, Silvah, but when he finds those dead wolves, he is likely to take his revenge out on his captives.’
Silvah looked into Rhamin’s amber eyes. ‘You mean…?’
‘Yes, I mean I am going to get Natan and Rowan if it’s the last thing I do, and I’ll have to do it fast. Soon those scout wolves will be missed. And then he’ll realise you are missing too. You’ve broken the original contract, Silvah. Natan and Rowan were his lever on you.’
‘Either way, run or fight, he’s got numbers on his side, Rhamin. Can we possibly do it?’
‘Well, I wasn’t thinking of we.’
Silvah looked her leader directly in the eyes. ‘Huh, you’d better believe it!’
‘Well then,’ Rhamin said decisively, ‘if he thinks we are going to make a run for it, then we had better not disappoint him.’ With that final thought, the two wolves headed away from the forest in the direction of home.
By mid morning, in a clearing beneath a cloudless sky, Silvah spotted a pair of deer. One was limping badly, supporting its hind leg off the ground. Despite their urgency the lame deer was an opportunity not to be missed, and on a hillside overlooking the clearing they attacked it and brought it down. They fed well on it, watched from on high by a gathering circle of vultures, sailing on a thermal, watching and waiting for their opportunity to feast on the remains.
Birds of prey have exceptional eyesight and as the vultures watched and waited high up in the sky, so they in turn were spotted by a number of other birds, with equally good eyesight, many miles away. As those birds flew closer they recognised their wolf friends Silvah and Rhamin. Corvak and Corvus, accompanied by their young offspring, flew in low beneath the circle of vultures and landed beside the two wolves. One of the vultures saw the cue and began a long silent descent, but as it stretched out its long bony legs in preparation for its landing, it was sharply dispatched by Rhamin, flapping wildly to reverse its descent as it struggled to take back to the air.
‘Hi there,’ Corvak said cheerily as Rhamin looked around. Silvah replied first for she, like Rasci had spent much time with Zelda and was able to converse easily with her black feathered friends. ‘Oh, Corvak, how good to hear your cheery voice!’
‘You look like you’ve been fighting,’ he observed as he pecked a fly off the wound on her shoulder.
‘It’s an old wound,’ she said dismissively. ‘But no doubt I shall get a few more cuts and scrapes very soon.’
‘Oh!’ Corvak squawked; his body wrung with apprehension. ‘And just where would that be?’
As Silvah explained what had happened to her and her friends, Corvak cawed and bobbed up and down in an agitated manner. He was noticeably distressed by the news. ‘I must help you,’ he said boldly. ‘Yes! I must help you!’
‘That’s very good of you,’ Silvah replied, ‘but there is little you can do to reduce the odds against us. I know how brave you are, but you would have no chance against any of Solin’s savage pack.’
‘Ah,’ Corvak cawed, ‘but he cannot reach me! I can torment him; I can sweep in and attack from the air. Whoosh; hit; and away!’ He enthusiastically feinted several attacks on Silvah’s tail. ‘I’m going to be unstoppable! Yes! I can see air power being an invaluable asset now I’ve invented it! ’
‘That’s a wonderful offer my small friend,’ said Silvah, trying not to burst Corvak’s bubble of enthusiasm. ‘I know you are brave and courageous, but the problem is,’ she went on, to try and dissuade him from doing anything he or she would regret, ‘we are not sure just how we are going to face them. We have no time to fetch the rest of our pack so we are outnumbered seven to one.’
‘Hmm, long odds even for your brave leader,’ Corvak commended.
‘Too long,’ said Silvah.
‘Well,’ Corvak squawked; his enthusiasm in no way diminished. ‘I can be your eyes in the deep forest. I can scout for you and they will never be able to reach me. They might see me but they will not suspect a thing. I’ll be a spy! Yes, a spy! That’s the way to defeat the enemy!’ he said, eyes glazed, looking upward into a visionary bubble.
‘That’s a much better idea,’ Silvah said. ‘Rhamin could use a spy to great advantage. It would help him break into the pack, knowing just where they all are and what their plans are.’
‘Well that’s settled then!’ Corvak agreed, coming back to reality with a jerk.
Silvah licked her friend on the wing. ‘It’s a brilliant idea,’ she said, as Corvak responded by ballooning out his chest with pride.
‘We’ll, explain to Rhamin what you have suggested. I am sure he can use your skills to lessen the numbers against us.’
Rhamin had been listening, picking up on bits of the conversation. Eventually, Silvah explained what Corvak had said.
‘Well, one thing I do know, Solin will know where we are by now. If Corvak spotted the vultures then his pack will not have missed them. So they will either be on our trail or they will think we are fleeing back to the Darin.’
‘I can find out what they are doing,’ Corvak suggested eagerly. And with that, instructing his family to stay and feed, he took flight and disappeared into the distance.
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