Lyla
I paced round nervously.
"Should we go back, and see if he needs any help?" I directed at Mark, who was casually sat on a large rock peeling the bark off a stick.
"There's not really much we can do now," replied Mark, "he's probably already out of the game, and the last thing he would want is for us to go and get caught after he sacrificed himself so we could get away."
Mark had a good point, but that didn't make me feel any better.
I stared at him, wondering how on earth he could look so calm. How could he not care that we'd just left poor Joel facing that beast of a wolf?
Mark sighed. "It's because I have faith in him. Don't you?"
It took me a few seconds to realise that he must have been able to tell what I was thinking, by the scowl that was directed his way.
"Of course I have faith in him" I replied, although there was uncertainty in my voice.
Mark just smirked and went back to his stick.
"I can worry as well you know," I said, getting increasingly annoyed by Mark. "He's our friend. You're supposed to care."
The smile left Mark's face and he looked over at me.
I lowered my eyes as I felt his gaze scan over me, like he was analysing everything about me.
Suddenly he was next to me, and had thrown his arm around me.
"I promise you, he'll be fine," he said, and then he leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "and don't forget that his new best buddy was also there to keep an eye on our Cub."
I sniggered at Mark's use of the name "Cub."
"We should totally start calling him that!" I said, imagining the look of pure annoyance on Joel's face.
Mark smiled and walked back to his rock.
"Oy you two!"
I turned round to see Eric looking rather weather worn. I suddenly felt a little guilty that I hadn't really been pulling my weight on the team.
"Don't just stand there," he said, "go and get some flags! There's only about 8 of us left!"
I was about to shift back into my wolf form when a brown wolf came hurtling out of the trees in front of us.
"JOEL!" I shouted, running over to greet him.
He turned back into his human form and strode right past us and over to the base with purpose, his eyebrows furrowed together.
I looked back at Mark, who shrugged in response to my silent question.
We both cautiously followed him into the tent.
Inside the tent Joel was busy emptying the bucket that contained all the flags that our team had collected.
I was starting to worry that he might have gone a little mad.
Suddenly I was pushed to one side by a large grey wolf, that quickly changed into his human form.
"Oy, what the fuck do you think you're doing?!" he shouted at Joel.
I recognised the guy as one of the Guards, but he was young and only recently recruited.
"Saving your backside Drew, is what." Joel replied.
There was a bit of a scuffle while Drew and Joel snatched flags off each other.
"STOP!!" shouted Mark gruffly, surprising them both enough to actually make them stop for a second.
"Joel, it might help if you explained to us what it is you're actually doing," Mark said calmly.
"Fine!" he moaned back rather huffily. "From what I can gather there's not many of us left, which means a raid on our base is getting more likely....yes?" he said pointedly looking at Drew.
Drew just shrugged non-committedly.
"And if they do manage to get in here," Joel continued, "don't you think it would be better if the flags were scattered, instead of kept in a nice handy bucket for them to just pick up and carry off?"
Drew again didn't say anything, but he glanced around him at the flags and then the bucket, and I could almost see the cogs turning in his head.
"Now spread them out," Joel ordered, passing the few flags he had in his hand over to Drew before storming back out of the tent.
I briefly looked at Drew, who looked a bit shellshocked to be ordered around like that, but sure enough, he started placing the flags in different areas of the tent.
I turned and ran back out of the tent, quickly catching up to Joel and Mark who were already in deep discussion.
"What the frick is going on Joel?" I demanded, hands firmly planted on my hips.
"Were going to win this damn game, that's what going on," Joel said with determination.
I let out a slight snort of laughter. Mark snapped his head round to face me and glared in my direction.
"Okaaaay?" I said, wondering what had happened to my two best friends.
"Come on Lyla, I think we can do this," Mark said. "Are you in or are you out?"
"Oh, I'm totally in!" I said, wondering what plan Joel had up his sleeve. Joel was always scheming in one way or another. Admittedly, his plans were usually all about getting us out of doing things like this, but I suppose he would be just as conniving even if he was playing by the rules.
Joel waved me over and we huddled round with our heads together. "Ok then, this is what we're going to do....."
Ok, so his plan was slightly insane, but I figured it could work......maybe.
The three of us changed into our wolves before running off, deeper into our territory, away from the other team's territory.
"Hey!" I heard Eric shout, "You're going the wrong way, idiots!"
We had less that half an hour to execute our plan so we wasted no time. We ran to the far edge of our territory to find something that was pivotal to our plan. Hockwort. Hockwort was a plant that Joel had introduced us to years ago, and all three of us knew where the only patch of it was in these woods.
Hockwort, when rubbed all over the body, could mask the scent of even the smelliest wolf. We had used it on many occasions to avoid detection when we were bunking off various training sessions.
The plant itself was totally non-descript. It reminded me of clover but larger. It stood about a foot high, and had tiny little white flowers in clusters.
The three of us dove into the Hockwort and rolled our bodies manically all over it, as only canines know how to do.
30 seconds later we were off again, following Joel as he led us back towards the blue team's territory.
As we got closer, Joel slowed down, and I saw him tasting the air to determine where the other wolves were.
He motioned for us to follow him, and he led us slowly round bushes and over rocks until we were about 400 meters away from the blue team's base.
We crouched down in a row on a slightly raised ridge, looking down at the scene below us.
From what I could see there were two wolves guarding the base. A smallish brown wolf, and Jamie's big monstrous black wolf.
Joel motioned to us with his head, and we took that as our cue to head out.
Me and Mark headed back, and circled the tent in a wide arc, then crouched back down on the other side. All we had to do know was wait for our signal.
I looked over to where Joel was still hiding. I could just about make out the tips of his ears, and then in a blink of an eye he was gone.
I put my head to the ground and flattened myself down as much as I could. I could feel my heart beating loudly. I felt a heady mix of both fear and excitement bubbling inside me. I couldn't believe we were doing this. I hoped I didn't screw up.
Mark edged his body closer to me, until his side was pressed up against mine. It was strangely warm and comforting, and I found it did calm me down a little.
Suddenly a strong smell hit our noses, like a wave rolling over the ground.
He had done it. He had cocked his leg and peed in the blue team's territory.
The two wolves below us snapped to attention, and shot off in the direction of the scent. Jamie's huge wolf let out a growl, that reverberated round the trees, sending a shiver down my spine.
Mark nudged me and we both shot up and headed to the now unguarded tent.
We ducked inside, and just like Joel had said, the huge pile of flags were nicely stored in the bucket, just ready for us to lift and carry off.
Mark swiped the bucket in his jaws and bolted out of the tent. A few flags fluttered to the floor so I snatched them up too on my way out.
We headed straight back up the ridge and then in the opposite direction than we came, going further into the blue's territory.
We made our way right to the back, then down to the river, crossing at a small narrowing.
We then headed south as far as we could, before turning in, back towards base.
All the time we ran, we could hear a commotion from inside the heart of the blue's territory. There were howls, and barks, and even the occasional human voice shouting an order.
I wondered how Joel was doing. We knew that he was unlikely to make it out with his collar intact, but he just needed to buy us enough time to make it back unnoticed.
We slowed down as we approached our base. Mark dropped the bucket and changed back into his human form so he could speak to me.
"You go ahead and check it out. Signal to me if it's clear."
I nodded my head and slowly made my way out into the open and headed towards the tent. As I walked round to the front, I saw Drew sitting on the floor a few meters away, with his head in his hands. I changed back into my human form.
"Hey," I said walking over.
He lifted his head, and looked at me, clearly surprised to see anyone.
It was then that I noticed he was holding his collar in his hands.
"Oh no! Were we raided?" I asked.
He nodded, and looked back to the ground. "Good thing your friend made me spread the flags around. At least we still have some left," he mumbled.
I looked over to where Mark was hiding and gave a slight nod.
"Don't be too hard on yourself," I said, "I'm sure you did everything you could. Anyway, look." I said holding out the couple of flags I had been carrying, "I managed to get a couple more."
Drew smiled at me, although it didn't quite reach his eyes.
"I'll go put them in the tent" I said, "the horn should be sounding at any moment."
I entered the tent and saw the bucket overflowing with flags sat in the middle. Mark had already disappeared.
I threw my flags on the ground and headed back out.
A loud horn sounded in the distance signalling the end of the game.
After a few seconds, bodies began to emerge from the trees, some with collars on, but most with them in their hands.
There was suddenly a bit of a commotion coming from one side of the woodland and Jamie burst through the trees, steam practically coming out of his ears.
I edged away and hid slightly behind a tree.
If Jamie was here, where was Joel? I scanned through the trail of people that had followed Jamie here, but Joel was not among them.
Drew stumbled to his feet as Jamie whooshed passed him, followed closely by a rather amused looking Casper.
Jamie barged into our tent.
"FUUUCK!" came resounding out from inside.
I heard Casper laugh.
Jamie stormed out of the tent, and flopped onto the floor, covering his face with his arms.
Casper emerged from the tent with his arms full of flags.
A collective gasp went up around us, as eyes started scanning the crowds for green collars.
My hand involuntarily went up to my neck, and I pressed my back further into the tree.
Just at that moment, Eric suddenly stepped forward and raised his hands in the air in victory.
Other members of the green team stepped forward and began to join in the celebration.
I felt myself relax and smile, joining in the clapping that had spread like a wave through the rest of the gathering.
I noticed Drew staring right at me with his head tilted to one side. I smiled and winked at him, while putting my finger to my lips.
He looked puzzled, but grinned back at me.
I saw Mark appear and head over to the victorious green team, so I followed too, running over to him and jumping on his back.
As he galloped around with me on his back, hooting in joy, I noticed a figure slowly emerge from the trees.
I nudged Mark and he stopped in his tracks as Joel stepped forward, his collar still sitting round his neck.
I whooped with joy and jumped off Mark's back to go run over.
I slowed to a complete standstill as I saw Joel step back into the shadow of the trees and remove his collar.
Only then did he walk over to us, a huge victorious smile on his face.