Luna the Lone Wolf

by Forest Wells

  Martol, however, would. “Luna. For as long as you live, remember I—”

  Toltan snarled her away. I looked back at her, hoping to catch the rest. Instead, I found the snapping jaws of Toltan. I sprinted away before he acted on his threat.

  I only saw my path enough to avoid running into something. My ears told me he wasn’t there, but after seeing my own father try to kill me, I couldn’t stop. My mind still couldn’t even imagine such a thing, much less accept that any of it was really happening. I ran and ran, until my legs had nothing left to give. Even then, I kept walking. Blood and water were still drying on my fur. Between my fight with Calon and Toltan’s pin, my tail was the only thing that didn’t ache. None of it compared to the host of spines cutting into my heart.

  He’d really done it. Toltan had banished me based on a lie. He was punishing me for something I didn’t even do! How could he? I could still remember his nose touching mine before I could see. I remembered feeling his aura, his presence. I knew he would give his life to protect me. How could he do this to me? Why did he do this to me?

  A long, deep howl echoed from behind me. They were mourning Calon. I tried to think some howled for me as well, but that only made it hurt more. My pack... my family... they would shun me now. If I ever came back, they’d kill me. Even Lonate.

  I resumed my path away from my home. With my insides finding some measure of cohesion, I noticed that the forest had changed. It seemed darker than I remembered despite the sunlight. My ears found things they’d always ignored. And why not? Lonate and Toltan had always been there to protect me. Except they weren’t anymore. No one would be.

  For all my talk of wanting to be treated like an adult, right now, I might as well have been a newborn. I still wanted my mother’s comfort. I wanted the soft warmth of her belly fur. The cool, wet touch of her nose. Her power lying beside me, ready to snap a mountain lion in two. I’d have given anything to be under Lonate’s watch again. I wouldn’t complain anymore. I swore I wouldn’t.

  My offer was met with Toltan’s territory marker. I remembered him dropping it the day before. A short time ago, it was home. Now it was a place I would have to avoid, forever. As I walked by, I felt like a tree went through my heart. This was really happening. Nothing I said or did would change anything.

  I dragged on for what felt like days. I had nowhere to go. No one to help me. I would have to find whatever I needed on my own. Every hunt, every meal, I would need to catch alone. But there was no chance of hunting today. My wounds had only just stopped bleeding. My legs protested every step I took, so running was out of the question. No, for now, I needed to find cover. Some semblance of safety where I could let my heart and body recover.

  I set out looking for an old den I could expand, or a thick bush I could curl inside of. My search came up empty until a mockingbird fluttered over my head. My jaws just missed him, but as I glared at my near-snack, I saw an odd pile of rocks. It seemed to be a random pile in the middle of the forest, almost as if Wolfor had dropped it there.

  Whether he did or not, even at a distance, I could see an opening. I walked right up to it, first sniffing the rocks and the area around them. The only scents were far too old to be from a current owner. A look inside revealed a tunnel that ran no more than the length of an adult. I could see it expanded after that, so I dragged myself inside. The tunnel ended in a small cavern that had a thin layer of dirt inside. The lack of paw prints further confirmed this den was unclaimed. I went against the far wall, and flopped on my side so my body could rest at last.

  While I wouldn’t call it comfortable, the den proved to be enough. The rocks were so thick and tightly packed, they’d provide all the cover I’d need. They would likely keep the rain out too. Were I not alone, it would have been more than enough to raise a litter in.

  That thought sent another spine into my heart. Were I not alone. As if I had a choice in the matter. I was a lone wolf now. My own pack... Toltan... they would kill me if they found me in their territory again. Even now, as my body felt a thousand times heavier, I couldn’t process that thought. I ran the image of him snapping at me over and over, and it still seemed like a nightmare. It wasn’t real. I knew it was, but it didn’t feel like it. The only real thing I felt was the pain that had nothing to do with my wounds.

  How could he do it? How could Toltan do this to me?

  CRAACK!- cshoo-shoo

  My ear’s shot up. That sounded close. How close proved impossible to tell. A short sprint away? Just outside? The sound echoed around the rocks, hiding the answer. Despite my weariness, diligence forced me to creep outside. If that strange thunder happened often, I needed to find a new den fast.

  I stopped just inside the entrance. My ears found silence, and my nose found less. Certain that at least the immediate area was safe, I ventured out so my nose and ears could get a better reading of my surroundings.

  I flinched when chirping shattered the silence.

  “Hunt done, enjoy the sun. Hunt done, enjoy the sun.”

  I followed the call and found a small bird sitting on top of the rocks. Like all mockingbirds, his body was dominated by gray, while his wings and tail were mostly black. As he preened a wing, the white splotch on the inside of each wing was shown, as was the white edge of his tail.

  My ears perked as I wasn’t so sure he wasn’t the same one I’d almost caught a moment ago.

  “Hunt?” I said. “What are you talking about?”

  “Beasts of two legs. They came, hunted, and went. So much time was spent.”

  “Beasts of two legs? What are you talking about? Where are they? What are they?”

  “Be aware, heed your fear, they bring death to all things near.”

  The bird fluttered away before I could shake my head into thinking again. I should have known better than to expect a conversation with a bird.

  CRAACK!-cshoo-shoo

  That was definitely close. Though not as close as I first thought. My ears followed its path clearly this time, giving me direction as well. Were I still with Toltan, I would have left to tell him...

  The thought triggered a growl. There’s an irony. Being exiled meant I no longer had to follow Toltan’s rules. I could do what I wanted for a change. I could hunt on my own, explore as much as I wanted, play with anything that interested me. My banishment had given me my freedom. The more I thought about it, the more the idea excited me. So much so that I ventured forth out of spite. It didn’t matter that Toltan would never know. All that mattered is that he would never have allowed it. Show him to not believe me over Rajor.

  Spite or not, I moved slow and silent. Something my legs appreciated, since they still hadn’t recovered. My head stayed still with each step, though my ears were frozen forward. I tested the air with my nose at each pause, finding stranger things the more I moved. Icky, stale scents like when lighting struck a tree, musty scents I couldn’t account for, sweet and salty mixed together as if some strange nut had bonded with tree sap. What am I tracking?

  The sounds ahead proved just as confusing. There was something that sounded like barks, yet these seemed to flow constant like howls, but also changed pitch mid-howl multiple times. The energy in the barks suggested joy, maybe. I couldn’t find a single familiar sound. For all I knew, they were killing each other.

  I finally caught sight of something in the distance. It looked like a gathering of half a dozen or so creatures, all standing tall on two legs. Their heads were bare, save for some fur on the top of their heads. Well, except for one, who had no fur at all. Their front... top... “paws,” for lack of a better word, were also bare, but seemed devoid of claws. So do the big cats, until they are loosed on their prey, I reminded myself.

  Strangest of all, they all seemed to have gathered around a fire. I had only seen fire once, and it was barely a flicker. This was a raging fire, yet it remained in one place, never growing. My head turned in confusion when I saw the creatures were holding their bare paws out over the flame. They weren’t
close enough to burn, I don’t think, but still very close. I suppose if one didn’t have fur, gathering around a contained flame would be nice.

  Except they did have fur, or some kind of hide. Their legs, bottom paws, and bodies were covered in thick, colorful hides. My ears shot up when the two closest to the fire shed their hide like it wasn’t attached. Their... skin? Fur? Whatever it was, underneath was still colorful, just not as thick.

  Are these the two-legged beasts everyone’s been worried about? They didn’t seem that dangerous. I’d seen sharper fangs on birds than what these had in their mouths. There was the chance they were incredibly strong or fast, but I couldn’t see anything that suggested a bite to the neck would be any less effective. If anything, it might be easier on these, for they had no antlers to put in my way.

  I continued to watch as the sun moved across the sky. These creatures barked on and on, at times holding small rocks up to their ears and barking to no one in particular. At least birds sing. Finally, three of them left the group. They each grabbed a long, thin stick that seemed oddly smooth, almost as if it were river rock embedded into bits of wood.

  One gave a stick to another, younger member, who barked in excitement. Then they marched out with their sticks hanging on their backs. I followed close behind, careful to remain hidden and silent. They were going somewhere, and the young one held all the tension I remembered from not that long ago. This was his first hunt, and I was about to learn with him. Only difference was, I was there to learn how to avoid them.

  The group trudged through the trees and brush, making quite a racket as they pushed through limbs and leaves. Either they weren’t trying, or they were the loudest hunters the forest had ever seen. If so, they wouldn’t be hunting for long.

  Though I began to second-guess that when they made a path to the field of dead rats my pack had encountered earlier. The stone teeth had found more victims since then. A crow caught by the chest near Rolin’s body, a fox killed the same way as my brother, and an older wolf trapped by the paw just as the other had been. Except this one was still alive.

  One of the two-leggeds bumped the younger one’s shoulder. His kill? Good luck with that. The young one barked eagerness, seemingly unafraid of the wolf’s snarls.

  Despite my age, I wanted to act. I could feel my legs bracing for more sprint, despite still not recovering from my last two. My shoulders rocked as I thought about who to go for. The leader, the pup, the other, didn’t really matter. I could take any one of them. If not, I could easily distract them enough to let the wolf get away.

  One of the beasts looked my way, but I merged with the shadows before he could catch sight of me. The beast watched a moment longer before looking away. I never lost sight of my quarry. I wanted to act, but I wanted to learn more. I’d never get to see how these things hunted in such safety again. Now alone without a pack, I had to know.

  The younger beast had taken his stick in his paws. The wolf snarled challenge, but his flat ears and tucked tail betrayed his fear. The young two-legged leveled his stick, pointing it at the wolf. My ears perked to try and find—

  CRAACK!-CSHOO-shoo-shoo

  I hugged the ground, too startled to remember much. My eyes were locked on the two-legged, or rather, his stick.

  What magic did these beasts control? The sound had clearly come from the stick, but Wolfor, what a noise. My ears were still ringing, and I was some distance away. I could only imagine what the other wolf was going through. He was still snarling, which surprised me considering his ears had to be bleeding from being that close to the noise.

  My ears cleared enough to realize, that wasn’t a wolf snarling. Too much rasp, not enough rumble, too high a pitch. Soon after, the rumble itself felt familiar, from a time before I could see.

  I followed the sound to a mountain lion charging toward the two-leggeds. No, wrong, toward me. Its eyes were locked onto me as if I were already in its jaws. It snarled and roared as it ran. It had found a meal, and I had no pack to defend me this time. I stood frozen, too terrified to run. Even if I could, what was the point? I’d never outrun an adult mountain lion. I had no pack and no Martol. I had zero chance of survival.

  CRAACK-CRACK-CRACK!-CSHOOSHOO-shooshooo-shoo

  I felt years fall off of my life when the sticks of the other two-leggeds went off. My body shook so hard, I was certain they could feel it, which only made it worse. Yet the terror faded, or at least diminished, when I found the mountain lion dead in front of the two-leggeds. Their sticks were all level, as if pointing them at the big cat. As feeling returned to my body, I wondered how far the wolf had gotten during the distraction.

  When I turned to look, the terror came back with friends. The wolf hadn’t gotten far at all. He too was limp on the ground, his eyes were closed, and blood seeped from a hole in his forehead. They did that. Their sticks... they... they... I was shaking so hard, I could hardly breathe. Two great predators, killed by these beasts. I was still a pup. What chance did I have against them?

  My paws edged, edged, then blew away as fast as my legs could carry me, despite their complaints at a third sprint. I didn’t care. I had to get away. I had to escape to survive. I tore a path all the way back to the rock pile, swept inside, and hugged the inside wall. Even then, my body shook so much I worried I might bring it down.

  “Wolfor,” I prayed. “Wolfor, protect me. Please. I was innocent. I didn’t... I didn’t kill my brother. Please keep me safe. Shelter me as my mother no longer can.”

  For a second, I thought I felt something. A warmth, a breath, something, seeping into my fur, calming me.

  I doubted it was real. After so much time with Rajor, I’d gotten pretty good at lying to myself. But for the moment, that lie felt a lot better than the truth I’d just experienced.

  Chapter 4

  “NEW DAY, NEW DAY, FIND some prey?”

  That bird is lucky he’s too fast to eat.

  I might not have minded being woken up like that if it didn’t come with another reminder of my new situation. I’d gotten lucky with a few mice the day after I was banished, but the spoils of previous hunts with Toltan had finally faded. I needed a real meal if I was going to survive.

  I stretched, yawned, and ventured out to find a calm morning with more birds chirping in the trees. The same mockingbird sat where he’d been the last couple of days, atop the pile of rocks, twitching his tail at me.

  “Good morning, good morning,” the bird sang, “a hunt will start this morning.”

  Where are those two-leggeds when I need them? Though he was right about one thing: a hunt was about to start. My first as a lone wolf. Time to see what Toltan taught me, besides betrayal.

  It appeared to be not much. My nose found sweet tree sap and, ew, skunk droppings. I chose another path, finding nothing again, and again, and again. My “hunt” had become more of a wander as I tried to find anything. Then when it did, it was a territory marker I didn’t dare violate. I turned away from that path and stumbled across a much better one. It was a fresh deer trail that was strangely familiar, though I couldn’t say how. Curiosity, and a lack of other options, had me following the trail over log and thistle. Despite the risk, I wanted to know why this deer was so vivid to my nose.

  I panted a laugh when I found it. Not only was it a foal, it was the same one Toltan wouldn’t let my siblings and me hunt on our own. Amazing that it had survived this long alone. I laughed again when I realized I now had a chance to conduct the hunt I was denied. Well, most of it, since I’d be doing it without my siblings. At least there’s no Rajor.

  I stalked forward, trying to get as close as I could before it saw me. It was searching for me, but it was young. It didn’t know what to look for. My paws flowed silently onto the ground with each step, my mouth drooling at the thought of such a meal. My hunt. My kill.

  My legs filled with energy, and I used it. Once I got as close as I felt I could, my legs launched me into a sprint without a thought, as if they were separate from my body. The
foal turned and ran, crying out for help I knew would never come. Just as I had no pack, so too was this foal without a herd.

  I slowly closed the gap, my legs burning, but my stomach snarled for a meal, and I was determined to get it. The foal turned around a tree, pushing for all the speed it could find. I kept pace, too intent on eating to let him get away. After another turn, I pushed my legs to their limit, bringing me just close enough to snap at the foal’s legs. Two snaps missed, then the third got hold of a leg. The foal cried out as it tried to shake free, but to no avail. I planted my paws and pulled, bringing him to an abrupt halt. He tried to pull away, but my fangs were too deep into his outstretched leg. Eventually, the foal stumbled onto its side in a mess of tangled limbs.

  I released my hold so I could rush forward for the kill. An adult deer might have done better, but this foal knew too little. Its hooves didn’t even slow me down. I found its neck with ease, and death came soon after.

  I laid still, panting from the exertion before I asked my body to do anything more. What a rush. The chase had tested me even more than my fight with Calon, and I had a fresh kill to show for it. Too bad Rajor wasn’t around. Let’s see him find an insult to counter this one.

  Once my insides had settled, I dug into my kill. As blood stained my muzzle, I went for the best meat. The lack of competition made the bits slide down with more joy than I’d ever felt. It was so warm, so fresh, so perfect. Who knew isolation would change so much? I didn’t have to worry about anything but my own needs for a change. I didn’t have to listen to anyone either. Best of all, no more Rajor to spoil a perfect day. It all felt so good at one point, I tried to swallow a hunk of meat as slowly as possible, as if I could meditate on it and all the feelings I had running through my blood right now. Why is this bad again?