Prologue
The northern pack's stomachs were
growling like the pounding elk hooves in summer, though the wolves missed that sound and longed to hear the snorts of protest coming from the elk's nose, as they hunted them down. Oflan did miss that. His stomach felt like an empty valley, steep, and
narrow, longing to be stretched with the red meat of delicious caribou. The small game had even moved away,
hoping to find better vegitation, since there was nothing left. The wolves had to hunt- find food where it was plentiful- and Oflan thought of just the place...
Chapter 1 Hunger
"Northern Pack, we have gathered today to meet on a very important issue. As we all know, the food source has been extremley low."
Oflan's face looked dull and crusted in dirt but he had still held the glint of severe hope in his eyes. His rib bones jutted out of loosley furred skin, now framed over a skinny body, but loosley fitted, waiting to be nourished with the taste of food. His ears pinned to the back of his head as he looked hopefully into the sky.
"We will have to endure some extreme measures, for it is drifting slowly to fall and as soon as you know, it will be winter, and we will starve. We will die on the ground if we have to- relieve out broken stomachs.."
Every wolf looked at him with a tinge of confusion in their eyes. Oflan usually trudged through problems, facing them with open eyes, but hunger was his soft spot. Iolf, a scrawny wolf even before the famine, had walked out of the crowd, cocking his head in sheer confusion. This had been his first fall without food so far, and he was getting thinner by the day. His small eyes glinted in the moonlight, and even in this time of famine, held his head up and asked Oflan a question that he had dreaded
"What will happen," Iolf managed to squeal."I-I, i'm getting thinner, and thinner, and-"
Iolf managed to spat out another and before he collapssed down on the floor. His breathing was thin, and Oflan sent out a medicine wolf to haul him to her den.
The medicine wolf, Nyla carefully picked him up and took him to her den, and from what was left of the river, poured water onto his face, waking him up.
