A Trail of Snails

Casting Stones

Escargot paced the river, back and forth he trod as the first of the winter's snow flakes began to swirl around him. His pack was starving and they had yet to vote on moving to the winter feeding grounds, a large valley that held all the prey they could ever need for such harsh conditions. He paused, baring his teeth in a snarl as he thought of bringing up the vote once more. It was too soon, the pack would veto his decision in an instant. They aren't used to being moved so early in the year, but did they really have a choice? With a huff, he turned his back to the bubbling river and paced through his silent forest home. As he went, the collar that was tightly wound around his neck began to beep, a sharp, irritating sound in his ears. Pausing, he lifted a hind leg and itched at the blasted thing. It was no use, it wouldn't budge. Great, he grumbled to himself, just another thing I get to worry about. The beeping meant they were tracking him, the humans. His bright yellow eyes darted between the trees, trying to catch sight of them, but he knew they observed from the safety of their buildings. Blasted beasts!

Suddenly, a twig snapped to his left and his head shot up in an instant, his ears pricked forwards and his tail raised, level with his back as he assessed the situation. Calamari, his mate and beloved alpha female, stepped from the foliage, her head low and nose to the ground. Her sky blue eyes landed on him and her ears swiveled backwards in the blink of an eye. She had been caught, doing what, he didn't care. "What is it? Your presence was not requested, Cal." He let his rump sink to the ground, shifting his hind legs under himself and tucking his tail beside him in a neat, fashionable manner. Calamari lifted her head and picked her way towards him, her paw steps noticeably quieter now that he knew of her being there. "The pack is restless, dear. We need to cast our stones now or starve." Escargot could feel the anger boiling inside his gut and he lifted his chin defiantly, his teeth bared as he licked his chops. As if he didn't already know his pack was going hungry!? "They will veto and you know very well that they will. We have no pups to feed this season, so why worry about moving this early in the year?"

Calamari's silver tipped ears folded backwards and she lowered her gaze from her mate. Escargot stood, his tail lifted to the level of his back as he paced towards her. The attack was quick and sudden, his jaws snapping in her thick ruff of fur along her neck. Calamari was on her back in the matter of seconds, Escargot's teeth pinching over her neck and his fore paws firmly planted on her chest. He held her still, a low rumbling growl in the back of his throat until she curled her tail tightly between her legs. With one last push on her chest, he backed off, letting her up so she could shake the leaf litter from her fur. "We will cast stones and then you'll see. The pack has spoken once, I doubt they'll have changed their minds so quickly. Now move." Calamari gave a silent dip of her head, hurting after Escargot as he raced his way back to the packs main resting grounds. Without hesitation, he leapt up to the large stone that served as his platform for speaking. The pack was busy, their eyes and ears gone to the wind as they talked amongst themselves.

"Pack! Your alpha is speaking." Calamari's voice rang around the clearing, echoing off of the rocks and boulders that lay strewn about, the remnants of a landslide. Escargot sat upon his stone and glared down at the pack as they all hushed their voices and turned to look up towards him. They were a small pack, no more than ten wolves at a time and even elders were scarce and pups non-existent. "We cast stones again. Gather around the branch and vote. This will be our last casting. If you chose to stay, then we will not be leaving the northern camp until later in the year. Remember, your castings decide what happens to the whole of the pack. As is tradition, I will go first and Calamari second." Escargot let his words settle with the group, but as soon as he leapt from his stone pedestal, the pack burst into hyper activity. He folded his ears back, tail still lifted as he paced to a large branch that cut the clearing in half. It was half buried from many years of resting there and the wolves' deliberate work to provide an easy voting system. Crudely, Escargot scraped a single paws worth of claw marks on one side and two on the other side of the branch.

"Two paws means leave, one means stay. You know the drill." Escargot's voice was like that of stone against stone, rattling and loud, full of power and intimidation as he spoke to his pack. The alpha male took up a stone from the top of the pile that rested at the very bottom of the old branch. His pack watched as he placed his stone where he would always place his stone, at the very center of the branch. He almost never voted outside of neutrality, to keep his pack on their toes and make them participate. Escargot left his stone, turning to bound back up the stair-like stones that lead to his boulder perch. From there, he turned his glimmering yellow eyes on his mate, it was her turn to vote. Defiantly, Calamari took up her stone and lifted her blue eyes to her alpha male. Without breaking eye contact she dropped her stone on the 'leave' side of the branch, then turned and paced to her den off to the side of the camp clearing. Escargot lifted his lips in a sneer, but laid his head on his paws and watched as the others cast their votes.

It was a quick casting, more than half the meager pack placing their stones on the 'leave' side of the branch, with a total of three voting to stay. He watched in silence, letting the stones sit for minutes before he finally stood and barked for his pack to gather one last time. "It is clear, you've voted to leave. However, I think it was a bold,s tupid decision. We have prey enough here and the herds have yet to move. Brie, step forward." Escargot's fierce gaze landed on a thin framed, emaciated old wolf that lay at the back of the pack. Brie lifted his head, his body shaking with his age as he stood and limped to the center of the clearing. "Yes, my alpha?" His voice was raspy, like he had breathed too much smoke and perhaps at some point he had. The alpha male's gaze hardened on the elder and he only seemed to grow ten times more menacing. "Tell me, father, why you think we should leave. You lead this pack at some point, you also cast your stones and held your own debates. What made you cast to leave today?" Brie let out a shaking sigh as his son spoke to him, voice dripping with malice.

What he wasn't expecting was for his elderly father to have something to say. It was out of place for anyone, even family, to out speak the alpha. "You know damn well why I cast for us to leave. You're a bastard spawn, calling yourself an alpha, it's a disgrace. You'd rather us to stay? To starve while the herds grow thin due to packers and fires? We're dying, Escargot, and you're nothing but a heartless monster!" Escargot snarled and leapt to his paws, jumping down from the boulder and marching to come face to face with his father. "Blasphemy! You're nothing but an old, delusional fool!" He swept forward, his teeth snapping around Brie's shaking neck as he flung him to the ground. The old wolf's skin was so thin and frail, breaking easily as his son snapped and locked his jaws around him. He cried out, not because of the pain, but because he knew this was his untimely ending. Brie fell still as Escargot's teeth fractured his windpipe and tore through the walls of his trachea.

The elder was dead before his ill mate had the time to wobble towards him, falling at his side as he drew his last breath. "What have you done?" Fig turned her olive colored eyes to Escargot, tears welling in their green depths as she grieved her fallen mate. "Don't ever think you can challenge me. None of you! You may cast your stones, but I hold the last say on my tongue! Understand?" Escargot let his gaze flick to the remaining seven wolves that were strewn about the clearing, before letting them land on his mother as he spoke his final word. Fig glared back with hatred in her eyes, but she stayed silent as her son turned and stamped his way to his den. The snow flakes that had been falling before were falling heavier now, clumping together with one another to form massive flakes that stuck to his fur. "We leave in less than a suns tick. Be ready or you can die here like Brie." He gave his pack a sideways glance before stepping into the cold shadows of his den, searching for Calamari.