My tail, fluffy from the cold, wags furiously from the good news.
"We should tell Alpha about this immediately!" I say, turning to Dodge with a grin on my face.
He raises a white eyebrow, looking at me like I'm the biggest idiot in the forest.
"During this snowstorm? We'd get lost in a minute." He laughs.
I pace in a circle, grumbling. I know that we'll have to wait out the storm, but I'm rather impatient with it. We're one step closer, and waiting here is just making the Pack hungrier. I'm eager to see Alpha Granite's reaction.
"Come on, I'm sure we could make it." I suggest feebly.
"Nope. We'd get lost and freeze to death." Dodge says, shaking his head.
"Dodge is right. Just be patient, and wait until this storm passes. It won't be long." Furrow tells me with a chuckle.
My ears slump backwards. I poke my snout out into the storm, and it's met with a torrent of freezing wind. Maybe it was a good idea to stay inside, I think to myself, pulling my nose back in and brushing the snow off with a front paw. I back away from the blinding storm, and sit down on the packed snow of the den floor next to Dodge. My amber eyes are still watching the outside longingly.
Furrow stands up straighter and shakes out his tail.
"Well, I'd better be back to my own den. I apologize for these rough accommodations. We didn't expect for you two to be staying for more than a night." The yellowish-brown Alpha apologizes with a sorrowful nod.
I flick up my ears in surprise. The Eagle Hill Pack has been nothing but friendly to us. My mind wonders what brings Furrow to apologize. I open my mouth to say something, but by then, I can see his brownish tail disappearing into the storm. The crunching of the snow beneath his paws is drowned out by the screaming wind in seconds. I hope his den is near, that cold seems painful to walk through.
I curl up on the hard ground, and let out a yawn. Waking up so early may not have been the best idea.
"Did he actually just apologize for the quality of this den?" Dodge asks me, pretty shocked.
I chuckle.
"Eagle Hill wolves tend to be like that. But I wouldn't suggest crossing them. I hear they can be absolutely vicious fighters."
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of fighting one of them," Dodge says in a very monotone, tired voice.
"Now, excuse me as I try to take back some of the sleep that you stole." He jokes.
I whack him in the face with my grey-tipped, bushy tail before curling up tighter. I curl my tail over my snout and tuck my legs under my body, trying to conserve as much warmth as I can. Freezing air is bombarding me from the mouth of the den, and I shiver.
I've situated myself behind Dodge again to hide from the wind, and he jokingly growls at me.
I find myself falling back asleep rather quickly. I know that I won't have much time, as the end of the storm will approach soon enough, but I suppose that I should get as much rest as possible. The path home is a long one.
I shudder when I realize that the fog is back. My ears perk when I recognize it, and I immediately know that it's a dream. Oddly, that does not fill me with bravery. It fills me with fear, as I know that anything can happen. I can't see far, and my amber eyes are glowing through the thick fog. I trod forward, cautiously stepping with white paws.
Unlike before, I hear a howling in the distance. My body grows stiff and rigid, ears pricked up and waiting for another noise. My tail is high in the air. I can hear my own rapid heartbeat, and quick breaths. My working pupil is darting around in all directions, hopelessly searching for the source of the howl.
I take a deep breath, and make a decision. I howl back. It's just a dream, whoever's howling can't kill me, right?
My own song resonates through this odd land, and it isn't long before I get a response. Whoever is howling is getting closer. I howl again. I am met with another response. This is repeated until I see a shape in the fog before me, and I go still. The fog is parting before the canine approaching me, and eventually the shroud disappears completely. We are in a ring, surrounded by a swirling sphere of white.
Whitetail's amber-yellow eyes glint in the odd light that the white mist seems to give off. My eyes are wide, even the one that I constantly keep in a squint.
For the first time, I hear him speak.
"You're doing so well, Cadmium," Whitetail tells me, his voice deep and slightly distorted.
I wonder if this is just a dream, or if it really is Whitetail speaking to me. I decide that, since I'm already here, I might as well ask.
"Is this really you...? Whitetail?" I whisper, my voice barely working. A wolf so grand could make even the bravest warrior timid.
The huge wolf lets out a soft chuckle, and smiles faintly.
"That is your choice to decide, but for now, I come to you with warning. There is a wolf in your Pack that isn't to be trusted," He speaks solemnly, his strong voice booming through the fog.
"What do you mean? Who isn't to be trusted? Who am I supposed to trust?" I spill out questions, knowing this dream could fade at any minute.
"Who do you think you can trust?"
I don't even know how to respond to these cryptic words. I try to back away, but my paws are frozen in place by fear and ice.
"You may not be able to answer that now. But you will soon." He tells me.
I shuffle my paws in the unseen snow when I hear another howl in the distance. Whitetail's ears perk up, listening, and he turns his head. He fades before the dream does. For a moment, I am left alone and confused in an infinite cloudscape. But that fades into blackness, and I fall into an oddly peaceful sleep.