Ashes Of The Night (on hold)

Chapter 1

We heard the humans before they because visible. Gunshots rang out around the cliffs and echoed steadily.

'We must run! Go!' Jago said in a panicked voice.

The northern sun was barely peeking out from behind the mountains of Toten, casting long shadows over the bare land. The hunters approached quietly, a clan of men with fearsome weapons at the ready. Our pack had been through so much heartache and fear; we couldn’t afford to lose any more of our dearly beloved. I saw them moving closer, silent as night time creatures. I tried to slink back to the cliff wall, to blend in with the grey and chipping stone. A smooth rock moved beneath my silken paw, despite my slow and calculated movements.   The head hunter locked eyes with my shaking form and yelled orders to the other men who were instantly alert. The ledge where I had been standing so boldly and exposed was showered in led bullets, each one whistling by my ears.   I felt one barely graze my left shoulder-blade. My body flinched away instantly.

I ran.

There was only one way down from our temporary refuge, the way we had come up many nights ago. The entire troupe looked panic stricken as we all scrambled down the hill at the back of the cliff. I could see the dying shrubs and trees from where I was standing, with their blackened leaves gentle floating towards the ground. Mehto, a reckless young he-wolf with dark brown matted fur, was the first the bound down the hill covered in lose shale rock. A whimper escaped his lips as the shale cut his paws, leaving blood smears on the surrounding rocks. The men’s heavy breathing and constant yelling was nearer then before. Our hope for survival was fading. Jago nudged me forward. I stared at my pack mate’s as they all made the dangerous decent on shaky legs and fear rolling off their backs.  I leapt forward, sliding and stumbling down the sharp edged shale as Jago stayed close behind me keeping watch for the hunters and there weapons of mass destruction and grief.

The others reached the valley quickly, but with raw open wounds and empty stomachs we had next to no energy to run away from the mortals that pursued us. All that lay before our troupe was an empty field with withered plants and only stumps remaining of the great forest that used to stand here, strong and mighty trees silent as the sun. The hunters would soon reach us, and the wolves around me began to weep and fear the worst.

Jago led the pack into a sprint across the bare, dusty landscape. There was no coverage as far as the eye could see, only occasional rocks that were no higher than our mud covered chests. I was lingering near the back of running pack, keeping watchful eyes over the ridge for any sign of the humans. The pack was running as fast as the unstable terrain would allow. My paws barely touched the dusty ground; my entire body was filled with this sense of purpose as I felt at any second I would be lifted from the ground. For just that one second I believed that I could fly, to be carried by the southern wind into some place of sanctuary.

But then, that second ended.

Gunfire sounded, bullets sprayed the ground and kicked up more orange dirt then our paws could have. The men yelled and reloaded there guns. Blood spattered the ground ahead of me. Tarenda was limping, a small hole beaded in blood forming on her left ankle.

‘You must carry on!’ She cried, ‘I will go on to live with the lost ones.’

Rankion skidded to a halt, seeing his sister in the direct line of fire from the ferocious humans. Jago bit at his shoulder to keep him running. I took one last glance over my shoulder at my fallen comrade, just as the humans opened fire again. Tarenda fell, her eyes rolled back into her head and a dark crimson pool formed around her torso. Her brother cried out her name, as the entire pack looked grief stricken at the loss of another member. I kept a steady pace and lifted my head to the sky, crying out to the moon to spare our lives for one more day.

I couldn’t bare the pain anymore, the loss and the longing. It was digging a hole in my heart. My parents were lost to such creatures as these. I wanted to stop, to go back and fight these humans. I wanted to protect my pack, to keep them safe from such suffering. We had almost reached the foot of a mountain, when I spotted a sight I’d never seen before. Lush green undergrowth that was thick with branches, and trees pushed tightly together.

‘This way, here my brothers!’ I called out to them.

Jago turned the pack in an instant as we fled into the shelter of the small forest. We would not have long before the humans would be upon us again. The large grey rocks scattered along the ground were the only sign that we were still in Toten, otherwise this looked like an entirely different land. The moon had answered my prayer, and given us a sanctuary.  Rinel scouted around for a place to hide, out of the sight of the hunters. He was a good tracker, and quickly found a small cavern shrouded in thick bushes.  Rankion wept at the loss of his only family member, the last remain oracle. Without Tarenda we would not be able to speak with the moon, to feel its presence as we used to. I looked up into the sky and saw the white moon on a clear frame blue. Even in the day light, the moon was still visible to us.  

‘Please watch over us,’ I whispered quietly, but I doubted moon could hear me.

Jago stumbled upon a dead pig, decaying and nearly rotten. But it was something to fill our empty stomachs and I was grateful to the moon for providing for us. Jago, Rinel and Rankion patrolled the small forest and were look-outs for any sort of danger. Sabre and Pentra stayed at the cavern, as we curled up inside, letting fatigue take over our bodies.

‘Wake brothers!’, Jago called out to us, ‘The human are upon us!’

How long had I slumbered? The sky had turned from purest blue to darkest black, and moon was in its full glow once more.  I barely had one eye open before the smell hit me. Charred wood, smoke and rage.

The hunters had done a despicable thing to the only place we held sanctuary.

They set the forest on fire.