Huoren

Part 1

I wrote this when I was in 9th grade, dont judge too hard, yo-

Mist's nose twitched. His eyes opened from his nap and he took a look around. Something wasn't right. Standing up onto his paws, he looked around at his family surrounding him. His father, the alpha achiwolf, was looking off into the trees blocking the horizon. His mother, the alpha female, was trying to calmly usher the rest of the two-month-old pups into the den. Mist was confused as to whether or not he should go to the den as well, considering his mother wasn't trying to call him back.
"Father?" Mist said hesitantly. "What's going-"
His father shushed him. "Listen," he said simply. Mist noticed that his ears were twitching. Mist turned his ears toward the direction that his father's were. He heard pawsteps. Big ones.
"Those are Dire wolves," his father said, seeming to be talking more to himself than to Mist. "If they head this way..."
Mist was confused? What were Dire wolves? Were they anything like achiwolves? Why did his father seem so serious all of a sudden, when before his nap he was playing keep-away with the pups?
Mist continued to listen to the pawsteps. He noticed that the closer they became, the quieter the forest got.
"That's close enough," Mist's father mumbled, then rose his voice and spoke toward the den. "Flash, get the pups to the waterfall!"
"Come on, children," Mist immediately heard. He watched as his mother came out of the den, carrying his youngest brother in her jaws, the rest of his siblings following close behind. He could tell that she was trying to walk quickly, but she didn't want to leave the pups behind. The two-month-olds had fear and confusion written on their faces, but they kept quiet and didn't start to squeal.
Mist rose and began to follow his mother.
"Not you," his father said. Fear immediately rose is Mist's throat. "Come here and sit for a moment."
Mist opened his mouth to protest, but decided it was better to listen to the alpha.
"Amalthea the Stargazer fortold this would happen. I thought she was wrong. I thought she was crazy. It appears I have misjudged her." Mist's father turned to look at him for the first time since he woke up. "She told me that you would be the only one to survive this day. Your mother, brothers and sisters, and I will all perish, I'm afrai-"
"No," Mist shook his head. "Amalthea has to be wrong."
"I wish that were true," Mist's father had a look in his eyes that he had never seen before. It was a mix of desperation and defeat. The look soon turned into determination and he stared into Mist's eyes. "Mist-Eye, follow your mother. I'll try to keep the Dires off of your trail for as long as I can. Tell your mother that I said to make sure that she and all of you swim before you enter the waterfall cave."
Mist nodded and slunk away, making sure that his father actually meant for him to go. When he was sure he was supposed to, Mist ran toward the direction his mother had gone.
Following their scent, Mist found the waterfall. He saw none of them swimming to disguise their scent. Did they already enter the waterfall cave?
Making sure to disguise his own scent in the water beforehand, Mist entered the cave, expecting to see only his mother and his brothers and sisters. Instead he saw two other families, one of wolves and one of a lioness and cub. All of them were wet, so Mist knew that they had gone through the water.
"Mother?" Mist called out in a small voice. His mother, who had been licking one of his sisters dry, looked up at him, relief in her eyes, and stretched out one of her enormous wings. She wrapped it around Mist and slid him over to her and gave him a few good licks on his face. "Mother, what's going on? Why are all these types in the cave? Who are the Dires?"
"Hush, little one," his mother said. "That's unimportant. We just need to stay here and keep absolutely quiet for a little while."
Mist said nothing as his mother licked him dry. He kept an ear out for any pawsteps that might be his father's. Where was he? Did the Dires - whatever they were - get him?
Your mother, brothers and sisters, and I will all perish...
Mist shook his head to get rid of his father's voice. Instead of the pawsteps of his father that he hoped to hear, there was the sound of fifteen different animals all breathing, the sound of pups' and cub's shaky breaths. Instead of his father's familiar scent, there was the scent of ten strangers that mingled with those of his mother and siblings.
And then, finally, Mist heard something - not pawsteps, but a howl. It was his father.
I am badly wounded. I cannot return to you, my family.
Stay where you are. Do not reply to me.
Make sure that you stay-
The howls were cut short. The faint smell of blood reached Mist's nose. With it came the scent of his father. His shaky breaths came more rapid now, and tears filled his eyes. For some reason, he was unable to sit still. Mist rose to his paws and spun once in a circle, and began to cry out. His tail tucked tightly between his legs, Mist turned around and made another circle in another direction, yelping madly. He tried desperately to stop his cries as his mother, also tearfully, told him to please be quiet. After it was apparent to everyone in the cave that the pup couldn't be quiet, most of the adults in the cave began to growl at Mist's mother.
"Keep that pup quiet!" "He's going to give us away!" "He'll get us all killed!"
"Mist-Eye, hush," Mist's mother slid him close to her with her wing again and he buried his face into her fur. His cries subsided into soft whimpers, but his breaths still came loud and quickly.
Another howl pierced the air. This time, it wasn't Mist's father. This howl was deeper in pitch and carried a threat rather than a message:
Kin of Tempest the achiwolf:
We are aware of your location. Don't try to run from us, or else we will kill you without hesitation.
Mist's mother tensed up as she felt all of the adult's eyes on her. She kept her muzzle low to the ground and avoided any of their eyes. Eventually one of the wolves on the other side of the cave stood.
"Come," his deep voice demanded. His mate and their three pups rose to their paws and followed the father out of the cave. The lioness and her cub soon followed. As the lioness walked out, she bowed her head to whimpering she-achiwolf.
"Good luck," was all she said. Then she left, her cub right behind her.
"Mother, what's gonna happen to us?" One of Mist's sisters asked after a few moments of silence.
"I... I don't know," their mother said. "We'll just have to wait and see." Every nerve in the she-achiwolf's body told her to gather her pack together and run. However, a part of her brain kept replaying the threat over and over in her head.
Don't try to run from us, or we will kill you without hesitation.
Shuddering, the she-achiwolf stayed where she was. She knew that the Dires weren't bluffing. She'd seen what the jaws of a Dire could do to adult achiwolf's bones. Her pups wouldn't stand a chance if they were caught.
Sooner than any of them would have liked, pawsteps began to emerge from the silence. The she-achiwolf tried counting. She stopped trying after she thought she counted four. The smell of blood was strong in the air.
My God, thought the she-achiwolf, they're soaked in it.
There were five splashes once the Dires reached the river, letting the she-achiwolf know that there were five Dires. She herself could hardly take down one, let alone five. They were doomed.
The Dire leading the march stuck his head through the waterfall and stared down the she-achiwolf before walking all the way into the cave.
Mist cowered down as low as he possibly could. The Dires were huge. They looked like huge achiwolves, except without wings. Their fur looked so rusty-red that it was hard to imagine them being any other color. Despite the blood, it was the size that frightened Mist the most. They were at least twice the size of his father, and his father was the biggest creature he knew!
"Your mate," The Dire spat the word. "Killed off one of my best warriors."
The she-achiwolf stared the Dire in the eyes, even though every nerve in her body told her not to challenge him. She didn't want to seem weak. She wanted the Dire to know that she would protect her pups until the very end.
The other four Dires, all a bit smaller than the first, sat beside the biggest Dire in an organized semi-circle manner.
The biggest Dire averted his eyes from the she-achiwolf's and looked at one of her pups. It was a small female who was cowering with all of the others. She had been looking at him, but she looked away when he looked at her.
"Were you staring at me, pup?" The Dire asked.
"N-no." The pup said, her voice barely a whisper. Her ears were pinned back in fear and her tail was tucked tightly between her legs.
The Dire growled, leaning down so that his nose was almost touching her head. His muzzle was bigger than her entire body. "I can't hear you."
"No," the pup whimpered, shaking harder than she already had been. Tears streamed out of her tightly closed eyes and her lips were drawn back in a grimace as she tried to hold back her cries.
"Liar," the Dire growled, opening his mouth to grab the pup, when something slammed into his side. He was thrown across the cave and landed hard. He struggled to get his breath back and to get onto his paws.
The pups and the she-achiwolf looked up to see Tempest, wings mangled beyond use, favoring one of his back and front legs, patches of fur and skin missing. There was a gash along his throat, and his breaths came as whistling whimpers. One of his ears were missing, as was his left eye.
With a snarl, one of the smaller Dires leaped upon the achiwolf, closing his jaws around the circumference of the achiwolf's neck. The Dire bit down hard, and the achiwolf's neck broke with a sharp snap. All of the achiwolves screamed in terror as Tempest's lifeless corpse was thrown through the air toward the back of the cave.
Snarling, the biggest Dire lunged toward the family, grabbing the small female pup he had been trying to get a moment before. He bit down on her fragile baby wing, turned his head to the left, and then to the right. The wing broke off from the young pup's body with a snap, and the scream that she let out was unlike anything any of the achiwolves had ever heard. The mother achiwolf screamed and stood up, aiming to grab her child away from the Dire when he picked the pup up and threw her. She didn't scream as she flew through the waterfall, but there was a short squeal right before the splash of her small body hitting the water outside.
"Fructa!" the mother screamed, darting toward the opening in the cave. Two of the smaller Dires jumped in front of her to block her path. She tried to dodge around them, then collapsed to the ground, sobbing, when she realized it was useless.
She didn't stay down long, though. She heard the rest of her pups' screams grow in volume, and saw one of her sons fly above her head and through the waterfall, flailing as his sister had. The mother rose to her feet and began screaming at the top of her lungs, racing back and forth from the pups she had left to the entrance of the cave as more of her pups went flying.
"Please, stop, no," she begged pathetically as the Dire chased down her last pup, Mist, and effortlessly tossed him through the waterfall with the others. As soon as she heard the splash, she collapsed, sobbing loudly.
"Please," she begged. "Take my life quickly. I have nothing else to live for!"
As if they had rehearsed it, all of the Dires at one time lunged at the she-achiwolf. She didn't try to fight back as she was ripped limb from limb.
---
"There's one alive on the bank," Mist heard hazily. He felt numb from the cold of the river and struggled to take in each shallow breath. He was bleeding from the bite wound the Dire had inflicted on him. He was in so much pain, he wished the Dires would come back and finish what they had started.
Your mother, brothers and sisters, and I will all perish...
His father, his siblings, and his mother were dead. Amalthea had been right.
Through his half-open eyes, Mist saw one of the smaller Dires walk up to him. He looked to his left as the big Dire walked up. They just seemed to stare at him, and then they began to chuckle.
Why do they continue to torture me? Thought Mist. Why can't they just kill me already?
"He looks like his father," the biggest Dire said, leaning down and grabbing Mist's scruff in his teeth. "If he has the same guts as Tempest, he would make an excellent apprentice."
As he was picked up, Mist's body went limp. Half because of the fact that he was being carried like his mother carried him, and half because the hurting pup finally slipped into unconsciousness.