The glow disappeared and the caves went silent.
The Winter Tiger picked up two torsos, and bit the heads off both with one foul yank. Another gulp and he’d consumed them. With the remaining four chunks of dead rat he did something unexpected. He began launching them way up into the air, Star turned his gaze upwards to watch them land with impressive accuracy in his side of the cave.
‘Eat up, you’ll need your strength. We’re well into day two now and I fear my ambush is near and your pack is lagging behind.’
‘How can you be so su—?’
‘Sir!’
‘General Winter!’
‘Winter?’
Various voices called out above.
‘Down here,’ bellowed the Winter Tiger. ‘Looks like I win. Pity, I was beginning to enjoy our time together. In another life we could’ve been great...’ he paused, ‘allies. Such a shame, this isn’t the type of death that’ll end in songs written about you.’ He sung, a pleasant smooth sound, ‘There was a young Wolf who hunted a Tiger, to conquer all was his only desire. He ran out of breath and fell to his death.’ The singing ended with a chuckle. ‘You see, not much to it I’m afraid. Well, at least you tried.’
Star’s fur bristled, and his stomach rolled, he had no response as dozens of Tigers loomed at the cave entrance.
‘Everything alright sir?’ enquired Hitback. The Winter Tiger’s monstrous right-hand man was already lowering a thick vine down into the cave for the Tiger’s leader.
‘And what do we have here?’ said Steelclaw. Star recognised his seductive tones from their recent encounters. ‘The Wolf who nearly ended Oakenclaw with that damn Badger.’
Steelclaw scraped his metallic tip claws over the rocks, the sound unbearable. He drew out a laser gun and pointed it directly at Star Wolf. ‘Any last words you filthy W—’
‘Lower your weapon,’ said the Winter Tiger. Steelclaw drew the weapon back without hesitation, an automatic response, despite the fury etched across his face.
The ambush of Tigers surrounding the Winter Tiger, now he stood back on solid ground up above, glared at Star Wolf and back to their leader, unsure what was happening. Star could see Steelclaw flexing his jaw but remaining silent, the Tigers sick-yellow eyes were horrible to behold. Tension reigned overhead and Star was left awaiting to discover the mode of his death.
‘Listen, and listen carefully. No one is to harm Star Wolf.’ said the Winter Tiger, and to Star’s surprise a few of the Tigers growled. Though none within striking distance of Winter. Star’s heart skipped a beat, hope filling his body. He’s going to let me live.
Star discovered there was nothing worse than having your hopes built up.
‘He doesn’t deserve a quick death, the Wolves are beyond inferior,’ the Winter Tiger bent to his knees and glared down, his fiery eyes blazed with fury, ‘they won’t find him.’
Laughter erupted throughout the Tiger ranks.
Star’s heart sank, and he was unable to hide his fear, which brought about more raucous jeers from above. Some of the Tiger’s threw rocks and handfuls of mud down at Star. A rock crashed into his muzzle, another slammed into his shoulder, both knocking him to the rocky ground. Pain shot through his wearied limbs, his nose throbbed as blood trickled from the open wound.
‘That’s enough,’ ordered the Winter Tiger, he glanced around an odd, uneasy expression across his face, ‘let’s move. Be quick now, I want to be on Darkchurch and off this sweaty cesspool within two hours. NOW!’
The Tigers vanished.
The Winter Tiger paused, walking away slowly, before turning to regard Star Wolf with a sad and solemn face.
‘Goodbye, Star Wolf, I’ll see you soon.’
Star sat there, tasting his blood, mulling over the confusing sentence.
‘But I’m dead?’ Star Wolf asked.
14. The March Hare
Given the position of the sun, Star guessed it was around midday, which was unfortunate for him as it shone and landed in his rock cave prison. It’d been hours since the Winter Tiger and his ambush had left the area, they’d taunted and whooped all way until they were out of Star’s earshot. With them left the tracking device, which the Winter Tiger had duplicated from Star’s original, and therefore his only hope.
His communication system was long gone, the rip in the collar of his thin shirt a reminder of another failure. He’d been forced to put his shirt back on to keep the sun from his fur. As the hours passed by Star attempted the trick the Tiger leader had shown him, a scratch across his forearm and drops of blood spread across the crystal walls. Since then more time dragged, and all Star Wolf could do was wait whilst listening to the maddening dripping of water.
Water at this stage was a curse and lifesaver.
The more he drank the longer he’d survive but every extra hour stuck in the humid pit was more torturous than the last. He was wasting away. It was a death he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy. That’s not true.
At last the sun’s position shifted enough for his cave to retreat into shadow, the cooler climate at least provided some small respite. What he needed now was another rat, or three, to fall for the trap but it seemed more unlikely now.
‘They can probably smell their own kinds’ blood,’ he said aloud, startling himself as his voiced echoed off rocky walls. The thunderous sound jolted something primal within him and he began howling, deep and long, in the hope that some creature nearby would hear his cries for help. His howls went unanswered late into the night. Two moons, foreign to Star, now hung overhead looking down on a stranger. Star missed Lupus and the beauty of its solitary moon, Lunalupus. He sobbed thinking about how he’d never see her resplendent beauty again.
With his throat hoarse and the night bringing far colder temperatures than he envisaged possible he curled up into a ball, shivering himself to sleep.
THE SCENT OF GAME AWOKE Star Wolf, his belly growled with optimism that prey was on its way. Perhaps the trick he stole from the Winter Tiger would work. With every passing moment the smell of Rabbit, or perhaps Hare, drew closer. Star salivated thinking about a potential meal, a source that might sustain him for another day or two. Hope, the biggest killer when out in the wild.
Tension gnawed at Star Wolf, his every fibre wanting to spring forth from the shadows and attack the approaching creature but that wasn’t the way to secure a meal. Patience he uttered in his mind, a mantra to keep the predatory instincts at bay. He thought on the skill and restraint the Winter Tiger displayed. All it took the glorious Tiger was one swipe of his sword and three animals, three meals, fell at once.
A gentle breeze above ground filtered down into the cave, heavenly and frustrating in equal measure. The cave was sweltering, a hole never offering up a full breath of fresh air. It was a Hare approaching. Star had hunted and devoured enough of the cousins Rabbit and Hare to differentiate the subtle differences between the species. A Hare would mean a larger meal but a more difficult foe to take down, Hares were almost as fast as Wolves but given Star’s state he worried he might not be quick enough. Failure would mean death in the next ten or twelve hours he guessed; he couldn’t go on much longer.
All the thinking about food sent a wave of delirium through Star. He could hear a jaunty whistle. A tune he’d heard in many bars over the years, that type of song where you know it but couldn’t name it to your fellow Wolves even if they offer you all in the meat on Lupus. He shook his head, and still the tune continued, getting louder by the second.
‘There once was a Hare, who lived without care, oh the happy Hare, the happy Hare. There once was a Hare, as big as a bear, oh the happy Hare, the happy Hare. There once was a Hare, who marched here, there and everywhere, oh the happy Hare, the happy Hare,’ the words were sung, loud and disjointed. With a slight slur, followed by the occasional belch. He’s drunk!
Star couldn’t believe what he was hearing, a drunken Hare singing songs about the legendary March Hare out in the middle of nowhere on Ranae, the Frog planet a long, lo
ng way away from the Hare’s homeworld Lepus. The name of the Hare’s planet was always a source of annoyance for the Wolf, such a close name to Lupus, home to the Wolves an older and more powerful race. The Wolves took it as a slight, and it was meant as one.
Star flexed his limbs, bracing himself to strike, if the Hare, obviously touched by the Universal Beacon, was fool enough to stumble into the cave he was going to pounce with lightning precision. Things had gone too far for him to care about killing a creature with a cognitive mind.
‘Oh my,’ the words were broken up with a hiccup, ‘what do we have here?’ said a dark-brown Hare, in an eccentric, well-pronounced accent. This was a Hare of status and wealth, which only added to Star’s confusion. He must be a rotten drunk on this planet getting up to no good, away from the prying eyes of the House of Hares, a pompous and stuffy family that ruled the Hares with a ruthless boringness.
The strange Hare chuckled, a horrible high-pitched and nasally sound, straightening to his full length, which was an impressive height. Including its long, near-black ears it would’ve reached Star’s torso squared up, which wasn’t happening anytime soon.
‘Oh dear, looks like a little Wolf cub has got lost in the woods and fallen down a hole, oh how delicious. Have you been down there long? You poor thing, you must be famished? The stench of death is upon you.’ The Hare continued ranting in an odd, excitable manner that was strangely familiar to Star. It can’t be?
‘The March Hare?’ asked Star.
The mention of his name seemed to arrange the multiple threads appearing to run through the Hare’s mind. ‘Oh yes, the very one.’ The March Hare beamed with pride. ‘Though I must admit,’ he paused as a butterfly floated by, watching the mindless creature seemed to strip the March Hare of all rational thought, ‘hmmm. Where was I?’ His head darted around in the most erratic fashion until eventually he turned his big black eyes back to Star Wolf. ‘Oh, look a Wolf pup!’ he exclaimed, seemingly stunned to see Star Wolf.
What on Lupus is he doing?
‘Yes, we established that,’ said Star Wolf.
‘Of course we did.’ His long white whiskers twitched all the while he spoke and as he adjusted the chequered waistcoat he wore. The mustard and burgundy pattern was nauseating to behold, though Star suspected he might well be hallucinating. His mind, as a final foul joke, decided to bring a Hare before him to take him off to the House of Lupus buried deep beneath the earth on Lupus.
The March Hare pulled a pocket watch from a pocket in the waistcoat. ‘Oh my, is that the time? We must be getting on, hadn’t we? Are you coming up dear Wolf? What is your name, anyway?’
‘My...’ Star had to think for a moment, the weird Hare was throwing his senses out of sync. ‘I am Star Wolf, Son of Sun Wolf and Heir to Lupus and the House of Wolves.’ A set of titles he hadn’t uttered since he was a young Wolf and belted them out with vigour and pride. Now, they just weighed heavy around young shoulders cursed with a mind drawn to failures and lost causes.
‘Star Wolf, fabulous, fate has brought us together.’ The March Hare hopped up and down, his olive corduroy trousers nearly fell to his ankles before he pulled them back up and tightened the brown leather belt tighter.
‘I beg your pardon.’ Star Wolf moved into the open and hoped to talk the strange Hare into lowering some vines for him to climb out. ‘I don’t understand. Fate? What are you doing out here? On Ranae?’
After the round of questions Star realised he no longer had the energy to stand, it was all he could do to not pass out, so he sat down and crossed his legs.
‘Oh my, you don’t look well. You’ve been down there a while, here, let me help,’ said the March Hare, vanishing out of sight. Star’s heart skipped a beat and he whimpered, a pathetic attempt to call the Hare back. To his immeasurable relief the scatty animal returned ten seconds later, with a huge chunk of vine. The vines looked incredibly heavy and yet the diminutive Hare hauled them with ease, dumping them at the precipice of the hole.
‘Wow, what a hole!’ He fastened the vines to a tree stump, ‘here take this,’ and with that he flung down the long green vine. Star scrambled to it, clambering up without any grace or care, he wanted out. With his last ounce of energy he dragged his body out of the hole and collapsed in a heap, wilting underneath the oppressive sunlight.
‘Thank you,’ rasped Star Wolf.
‘Can you move?’ asked the March Hare. Up close and personal he had a strong, wiry frame and bulbous eyes crazy and busy. To make matters worse he was armed, both ankles on his hind legs had knifes in leather pouches, and about his hip he had a whip, the metal barbs shimmered in the intense sun. A crack of that whip would be agony to the unlucky recipient.
Star wheezed, unable to stand or respond, struggling to keep his eyes from fluttering shut. He couldn’t take a full breath in the scorching weather.
‘You need food, wait here.’ He chuckled. ‘Not that you’re going anywhere. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Take care Star Wolf.’ The March Hare dragged Star toward the tree stump, it provided little shade, but some was better than none. Star’s eyes closed shut as he watched the March Hare bound away at the furious pace.
WHEN STAR AWOKE THE sun had shifted a little, he guessed an hour past. To his immense relief the March Hare sat before him and was skinning a Rabbit. Star’s eyes shot open and he shuffled back a fraction, his obvious horror must’ve been etched across his muzzle.
‘Don’t panic it’s just dinner,’ said the March Hare, ‘and before you think it, it’s not my dinner. You hardly want apples and blackberries, do you? Or do you? Don’t tell me you’re one of these free age Wolves who doesn’t eat meat? My that would be a surprise.’
‘No, it’s not that.’ Star leaned against the stump. ‘I’m just surprised to see you skinning a cousin of yours.’
‘Ah, I see, well let me tell you this, the Rabbits are no friends of mine, meek little creatures. Did you know ninety-nine percent of Rabbits in the galaxy are mindless puppets? They are a species not worthy of the Universal Beacon. I have no love for the Rabbits or the Rabbits. As I’m sure you don’t regarding the Dog? Though I must admit I do find it strange that you’re keeping company with Bloodhound. Do you want this
scrawny beast cooked?’
‘No, I’ll eat it raw,’ said Star Wolf, licking his lips.
The March Hare gave an approving nod and tossed the Rabbit to Star, it was the finest tasting animal he’d ever consumed. He didn’t care that he hadn’t caught it, and he didn’t bother asking if it was a mindless creature or one of the rare Rabbits who had cognitive function; he’d have eaten the meat either way. He was fast learning to survive in the galaxy he had to toss his principles aside, especially if he was going to defeat the Winter Tiger.
‘Hang on a minute, how do you know I’m with Bloodhound?’ Star said, suddenly very suspicious of the mysterious Hare before him.
‘Why I saw him running all around the capital looking for you! The stupid mutt was beside himself, sniffing here, there and everywhere. He’s not a very good tracking Dog you know, though I suppose his talents lay at sea.’
‘And how did you know where to find me?’
A sly grin spread across the March Hare’s face but he didn’t answer the question. ‘I have the sharpest senses in the galaxy.’
‘Do you know where my Wolves and Bloodhound are now?’ said Star, still devouring meat.
‘Of course I do, still in the city. I must admit I’m a little underwhelmed with the Wolves you’ve brought with you. If we’re going to defeat the Winter Tiger we’re going to need some finer creatures than your current crop. It’s a good job I found you.’
‘I beg your pardon, defeat the Winter Tiger?’
‘That’s your goal, isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ said Star, reluctant to admit the fact to a relative stranger but at this stage it didn’t seem important, once his strength returned he could easily kill the Hare. He shuddered at the callous thought; he sounded more like the Winter T
iger. Perhaps that’s a good thing. ‘But why would it be your goal? You vouched for the Winter Tiger back at The Council of Worlds.’
‘Indeed I did, but so would you if he had your family.’ Spittle came out of his mouth, his lips shook as crinkled his nose.
‘He has them hostage?’ said Star Wolf.
‘Most likely, unless of course the three Hares you witnessed murdered on Tigris were my family. Did you get a good look at them?’ his words took on a desperate tone.
‘I’m afraid not.’ Star hung his head. ‘It was too dark, and we were running for our lives.’
‘As were they,’ said the March Hare. ‘The Winter Tiger has me in his employ, and I will allow him to think that for now. I will help you defeat him but do not stand in my way when the time comes to kill him.’
‘I understand,’ said Star Wolf, finished with his meal. ‘Now take me to Bloodhound, and my pack.’
‘Of course, sir.’ The March Hare elaborately bowed. ‘So I move from the jaws of the Tiger and into the Wolf’s. You know some creatures will think I’m quite mad.’
Star couldn’t agree more but remained silent.
15. Brunneis Ursus
The Brown Bears were a race the Wolves respected. They had earned it through blood and toil. It was a fragile understanding between Bear and Wolf, one that any act of aggression would surely shatter. With such low numbers, on account of their reclusive nature, the Brown Bears were never a serious threat to any race within the galaxy despite the obvious Apex status.
If Star could get a handful of them on board, with the help of the March Hare, Bloodhound and his Wolf pack, then he would count himself lucky. Brunneis Ursus wasn’t a planet he wanted to spend too long on having visited many non-predatory planets in recent times and still finding himself the victim the heinous attacks he figured it unwise.
Star Wolf: A Space Opera Fantasy (Songs of Star & Winter Book 1) Page 13
