Path Not Taken

Part 8: Stories

    For the next few days, my brother and sister were now called Berry and Sage. I was called pup and sometimes fur ball by my brother. We had finally learned to climb out of the den. The cliffs were bigger than I remembered. I could see the buildings not too far away from us as Father chewed on a deer leg. It was the first time he had ever watched us by himself. Usually he lead the hunts, but this time Bandit did. My brother was still panting from the sun that had beamed hard on us that day and was now going down.

     Sage was playing with father's tail as it moved from side to side. Berry put her front paws on Father's shoulders. "Can you tell us a story?" she whined.

     "You want another one of your mother's stories?" he asked.

     "No those stories are boring!" Sage said.

     Berry glared at him, "no they're not."

     "Yes they are!"

      Father's glare and silenced them and he looked over at me. "What do you think pup?" he asked.

      Berry's eyes pleaded with me, but my tail wagged with the thought of listening to one of father's adventures. "Tell us one of your stories," I said. Berry glared at me for the first time before getting off father and chewing her hind end.

     "Okay," he said. "Let me tell you the story of Night and Cloud." Father cleared his throat. "Cloud had gone from territory to territory, looking for a she-wolf to be his mate. He went to bear bluffs, the back forty and the acres pack. To join these packs, a wolf must possess a certain skill, each pack is protected by a spefic ancient wolf, to keep their protection the must strengthen a skill the best they can that matches the ancient ones ability. Cloud had lived with his mother who was a wanderer, though some claim she came from a pack in Slough and was kicked out. He spent most of his young life scavnaging and moving from territory to territory and trying not to get caught by the pack wolves. When it came time for him to find a mate he went into the heart of the pack territories. Starting with the bear bluffs. Cloud was already at a disadvantage since pack wolves will refuse to let any wolf in that's no longer under the protection of the ancient ones. But still a few she-wolves would met him in secret and they would test him. However, Cloud wasn't prepared for these tests and failed to show good skills in any of the abilities which were strength, speed, and stamina."

     "But that's all the wolf territories here in Lost River!" Sage said. "How can he-"

     "Shh," Berry said, her eyes now focused on Father. "Just listen to what comes next."

      Father continued, "Cloud thought that surely one day he'd be good enough at these skills. However, a year passed and the she-wolves of Lost River had found their mates and he had not."

     "That's not fair!" Sage said. With small tuffs of fur bristling.

     Berry glared at him, "not every canine gets a mate Sage." Sage jumped on her and then Father began to chew on his bone again. I walked up to him and licked his face in respect.

     "That can't be all of the story is it?" I asked. Father looked at me and my siblings looked back at him.

     He sighed, "that's not all of it, but you're not allowed to know until you're older."

     "I want to hear it now," Sage and Berry whined while I looked at him with pleading eyes.

     "Alright, alright," he said. "But if you get nightmares from this none of you are going to tell your Mother it was my fault right?" All of us wagged our tails and nodded.

     "During the time of Cloud's adventures, trees were being cut down and dirt was being moved by the furless creatures. With them came a new canine, -a dog. One day Cloud had caught a hare and saw a skinny black dog try to catch her own. She tried and tried, but she could never catch them. Cloud walked up to her and gave her the hare. She ate all of it with her tail wagging and said, 'you are such a smart and kind wolf, surely you have a mate.' And Cloud said, 'I do not have enough strength, speed, or stamina to have a mate.' The black dog paused few a moments and then said. 'I think you are smart wolf and I would like you to be my mate.' Cloud said yes and they spent the next year roaming Lost River together."

     "This is gross," Sage said, "I thought there was going to be a fight or something."

     "You need that part of the story to understand the gruesome part of it," Father said.

     Then Mother and Bandit came back and we engulfed the food they had for us, but with Mother back we knew the story wouldn't be continued until we were alone with Father again. But what I didn't understand was how the story could have a bad ending after Cloud finally found what he wanted. To start a pack, to have a family. Then River's story came to my mind and realized once more just how dangerous adulthood would be for my siblings and I.