Saphire:
"Saphire, I'm so glad your back" Jasmine greeted me as I returned to the nursery. A warm, milky scent greeted me as well.
"I'm glad to be back" I replied. I hurried in out of the cold to lay by my pups. While away I missed them terribly, even if it was for only maybe a day and a halfm, or less. I didn't care about time, I only cared about my pups like any good mother-wolf would. I sniffed them, but noticed five of them smelled a bit sour.
"Thank you Sweet Fur for taking care of them" I thanked her. I was truly greatfull she took care of them.
"No probablem, I'm glad your okay" she said. I nodded my head and moved my pups back. Four of them whimpered as they pressed closed to me for warmth. I began to wash my pups and licked their backs. Perhaps the sour scent was because they needed to be cleaned. Still the sour scent persisted and I lay down wondering if I should take them to see Berry.
"How is your side, the injury better?" Makita asked me.
"It's better; although, the fur is still pretty patchy and the skin is sore" I admited.
"Aw, I hope you feel better" she said, and gave me a friendly smile. She scratched her ear and lay back down on her side. I fell asleep beside my pups in the warm den, but not long later I woke up to hear coughing. It was the five pups coughing.
"Makita" I called to the pregnant wolf that lay awake.
"Yes Saphire" she replied.
"I think they're sick" I replied.
"I and the others noticed they smelled funny, but we just thought it was because they smelled like another mother-wolf. Are you sure?" she asked me. Her eyes were full of concern and she stood up.
"Lets go see Berry" she told me. We carefully picked up all five. I had one on my back, and two by the scruff while she carried two also by the scruff. We raced through the snow with the sick pups while three of the pups remained huddled up for warmth in the nursery den.
"Berry" I murmmered softly once I gently set the pups down.
"Berry!" I repeated myself a bit louder. I nudged the sleeing medicine wolf.
"huh? oh, Saphire what's wrong. Is your side giving you trouble?" she asked.
"No, I think my pups are sick" I told her. She frowned,
"Are you sure t-" she began, when her nose twitched. She stood up, and moved towards the pups. Berry bent over and sniffed the whimpering pups, and frowned.
"Yes, they're sick. Please go back to the nursery, and get your rest, I'll take care of them. We have plenty of wolf-mint for green cough" Berry told me. I gasped,
"Green cough! no let me stay and take care of them" I protested, but deep down I knew berry wouldn't let neither Makita, nor I help.
"It's simple, all we can do is give them herbs... and hope they recover" she said, the last part was quiet. Makita and I reluctantly left the den, and went back to the nursery.
Berry:
I pressed a wettened piece of moss on the pups heads. 'Surely they'll recover. These pups are a few months old, they'll recover' I told myself. Surely there was nothing to worry about, but after waiting a while their fever didn't go down. I licked the smallest pup, and forced it to swallow the wolf-mint I'd given it earlier. It swallowed finally and replied with a whimper. I sighed and lay down beside the sick pups to keep them warm. 'I can't let them die, it would crush Saphire, I'll do anything to keep them alive' I told myself. I lay down and fell asleep, sure they would be just fine. Outside it was just begining to snow on the icy ground that held very little snow. In only a few hours it would be heavily covered in snow.
Jinx:
A loud howl disturbed me, and I woke up. I stood up unhappily and stretched. I heard more howling, it sounded close. I left the den when a figure ran into me. I snarled furiously and snapped my jaws, but only recieved a mouthfull of falling snow. I then realized the ground was heavily covered in snow.
"Jinx, it's only me" Buckeye whimpered. A shadow moved over him, and moonlight poured down. Sure enough it was only him.
"Sorry, I couldn't see and-" I began to apologize.
"Enough of that, Jinx they're attacking. The ice is cracking" Buckeye blurted out. I rubbed my eyes.
"What?! You mean the rogues?" I asked, "Where's Ryder? I demanded to know.
"At the river border with everyone else. Venom, Poppy, Rebel, Razzor, Monty, and Matrix are also there" Buckeye told me. I nodded my head in understanding,
"Tell the girls in the nursery, and Berry to be- no wait let me go tell Berry" I told him. We dashed away in separate directions. I raced over the heavy snow, panting hard as I ran around trees and bushes. Finally I reached Berry's den. She sat at the entrance of the den, her head held low.
"Berry, the rogues are attacking" I told her, "We're going into battle, and-" I began to blurt out.
"That's just great, lovely. I'm glad they're attacking, maybe I can hand myself over so they can tear me apart" Berry snarled at me, she even beared her teeth at me no.
"Just what are you talking about?" I growled and held myself taller than her to show dominance. Suddenly she just broke down in sobs,
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I'm so sorry" she sobbed.
"Berry" I murrmered.
"Your pups, five of them were sick" she continud to sob, "Out of the five pups sick only one of them broke their fever. I gave them herbs, and kept them warm, but I woke up and four are dead!" she sobbed. I felt my eyes begin to water at the news. The rogues would be attacking, and I had four dead pups. At the momment I couldn't think about fighting, and instead I lifted my muzzle up towards the cloudy sky, closed my eyes, and let out a long mournfull howl. After a few minutes Makita, Jasmine and Saphire came padding up towards the medicine den, they'd heard the news in my howl.
"I'm sorry Saphire, I did my best. I'll resign, I don't know how I can call myself a medicine wolf" Berry sobbed.
"You'll do no such thing, Berry I can't let you resign. It's not your fault" Saphire told her. I looked into my mates eyes, a sad tiredness shown in them.
"She's right you know, it's not your fault" said a different voice. It was vaguely familiar, I turned around to see a faded, near transparent greyish-black furred wolf walking up. His faded blue eyes flickered from Berry to me. My muzzle hung open from surprise at the sight of the old wolf.
"Hunter" Berry breathed the name, and she bowed respectfully to the old wolf. Another wolf came up, with redish fur and yellow eyes. I lowered my tail to show respect as I was not the alpha here. The two new coming wolves were Hunter and Rose, the old alpha and luna of the pack.
"It's not your fault, they became sick and that's not your fault. Your a great medicine wolf, but no medicine wolf can preform miracles" Rose told her. The grey-black wolf spoke,
"Your going into battle son, fight strong and proud for this pack" he told me. He bent down and rested his muzzle on the top of my head. I bowed my head respectfully. Besides Rose's feet appeared five small pups. They wagged their tails and yipped happily before running towards Sapphire. She pressed her nose to her pups before they ran to me to do the same. They sat down at Rose's feet happily.
"I'll take good care of them as if they were my own, your a fabulous Luna for this pack" Rose told Saphire.
"Thank you" Saphire replied.
"Good bye, for now. I want you to fight with pride for this pack, with courage for the wolves of this pack, and with the strength of your pack behind you" Hunter told me.
"I will father, thank you mother, thank you father" I whispered as they faded away along with the pups. I heard a howl calling for me sound up from the west; they needed me to lead the battle.
"I'll sit vigil for them" Saphire told me. I nodded my head,
"Thank you, I wish I could stay and talk, but I must go" I said before dashing away through the snow. I made it to the river border in no time.
"Jinx, bought time your here. The ice will crack in any minute" Ryder snapped.
"I know, it's a long story" I told him; although, the more I thought about it, it wasn't really a long story.
"Long story my tail" Ryder snapped.
"Ryder watch your muzzly, it's not his fault. His pups, five of them got sick and well... you know. They joined the ice lunars" Buckeye said softly. Ryder's eyes widened in shock,
"I'm so sorry, I take it then that Saphire is sitting vigil?" he asked. I nodded my head and opened my mouth to speak when I heard a voice snarl,
"Your going down kittens" I heard a rogue wolf say and his buddies began to howl with laughter. A cold gust of air blasted across the land and it blew in a heavy fog down the river. The fog was strange, it was icy blue and it formed a sort of ice wall. I lifted my head up, the fog was like an icy wall. I starred at the scene before me. A wall of ice, and the faces of many rogues behind it. It looked like the dream of the rogues, they weren't beneath the icy water they were behind the icy fog. A sudden loud, attention-grabbing crackling sound as heard by all. A huge crack broke in the ice as well as in the icy fog. There was another hair-line crack in the ice, and it mirrored in the fog. A light shone through the cracks in the ice and suddenly there was another huge crack in the ice. The fog litterally sudenly turned to actual ice and just shattered into a million pieces of falling ice. Through the falling ice and across the river dashed the rogue wolves, and the final battle began.