The pups walked away from the cave, following the stream, their usual happiness masked by despair. The rain poured down, drenching their coats.
'We need to find shelter somewhere. It can't be good for us to stay out in the rain like this, and the humans have probably already left the area. We should be safe for now.'
The pups found a hollowed out tree stump that could provide a bit of shelter from the rain. Pulling the rabbit in after them, the three curled up next to each other, pressing against each other as if to preserve their warmth… or to help ease the trauma of the past events. Soon they drifted off into sleep, and it was morning by the time they awoke.
The sun shined down from above, making the dew covered plants sparkle like jewels.
Fern grabbed the body of the rabbit and began tearing into it. Soon all three of the pups were scarfing down the meat, replenishing the energy that they spent dragging it the previous day.
After their meal, Ash led the pups into the woods. They would have to find a better shelter, and they also needed to make sure there were no predators around their new home.
Wandering through the towering trees, the three pups were on high alert. The smallest noise would make them jump in fright, sending them running to the nearest tree.
^I don't think this is how wolves are supposed to act. Wolves aren't even supposed to be able to climb trees!^
After wandering for hours, the wolves still couldn't find anywhere suitable for a home, but they also didn't encounter many living animals. Occasionally rotting animals could be found on the ground. The humans had over hunted the forest to the point that no animals dared to peek their heads from their hiding holes, not even to scavenge the meat left lying by the wasteful human hunting party.
All of the meat was too far spoiled to be eaten by the young pups. Their immune systems were too weak for the dirty, rotting food, and sickness at this time would spell doom for them.
'They are killing everything, but they aren't eating any of the meat! Are they just killing everything for fun? The only things they seem to take from the bodies are pelts, so why kill everything that moves?'
'Also, how did we have so little food back at the cave? Surely the adults could have snatched some freshly killed food left by the humans, right?'
Roth shrugged, but then responded.
^I'm guessing humans killed that adult that went missing a while ago. The others might have been too afraid of getting close to humans, and finding a fresh kill would mean they are too close for comfort. They probably ran whenever they got close to a human.^
The wolf pups didn't have the luxury of hiding, they needed to eat again. After searching for an entire day, the three were once again starving.
The three pups stalked through the woods stealthily, trying to imitate what they had seen the adults do in the past. Their target? A squirrel was hopping around on the ground in front of them. It was watching the forest dutifully, but it couldn't sense the incoming wolf pups. 10 meters… 7 meters… 5 meters…
The wolf pups slowly crept forwards, with Ash in the lead. They moved forward at a snail's pace, stepping carefully so as to not make any noise. The thick underbrush obscured the squirrel's sight and soon it was almost in pouncing distance.
Suddenly, the squirrel sat straight up, sticking its nose to the air. It quickly turned and bolted up a tree before Ash had a chance to react.
'Ah! I need to pay attention to what direction the wind is coming from if I want to ambush something. I guess we won't be eating tonight because of my mistake.
Dispirited, the three pups found another hollowed tree stump to sleep in for the night, curling up and trying to ignore the hunger eating at their stomachs.
The next few days passed in a similar manner. Prey was too scarce, and everything in the forest was on high alert. During the three days, the group of pups was only able to catch a single squirrel when Oak climbed a small tree, discovering a shallow squirrel nest with an unsuspecting occupant.
The meat from one small squirrel was hardly enough to satisfy the growing bodies of three young wolves, and they grew desperate for food, wandering further through the woods each day.
They were unknowingly getting closer to the human hunting party with each passing day.
'Roth, how long can we keep going on like this? If we don't start finding food soon, we are all going to starve.'
^Not very long. We need to find some way to hunt, but everything in this forest is too attentive. Even if we go downwind of our prey and make no noise approaching it, is always seems to notice us before we can jump on it!^
Roth didn't take over their shared body very often, letting Ash have control over it almost all of the time. He wasn't sure why, but he felt content to just be an add-on, an extra voice inside of Ash's mind to provide him company.
'Yea, I wish i had paid more attention to the adults and tried to learn how to hunt from them. We wasted too much time playing around learning to climb trees… well, I guess it did save our lives, for now at least.'
^Well, the adults mostly hunt by chasing prey until it tires out and can't run any further. This won't work for us though, all of our potential food is too small and has somewhere to hide that we can't reach.^
Suddenly in front of Ash, who was lost in his own mind, Oak stopped and went into hunting mode.
Potential prey had been spotted!
A small hog, most likely a baby, was in a little clearing in front of the wolves, its family was nowhere to be seen.
In the face of a fully grown hog, adult wolves might have to back down, let alone the pups, but this one was quite young.
It was large enough to provide a nice feast for them, and while it would be a challenge to take it down, it wouldn't be impossible.
The three wolves spread out, surrounding the hog before slowly converging on it. The pig had no idea its life was about to be threatened, and was calmly rooting around on the ground.
All three of the pups managed to get within pouncing range of the boar without it noticing. As soon as it put its head down towards the ground, the three sprung on it at once.
Ash was the largest of the three wolves, tackling it and knocking it down. Oak helped hold it down while Fern went for its throat, tearing at it, trying to end the fight before it had any chance of running.
The pig squealed, throwing Ash off from his back, but Oak kept it locked down long enough for Ash to join back in holding it down.
The longer the fight went on, the weaker the pig's struggles got, before it finally remained still.
The pups stepped back, admiring their prey with looks of satisfaction on their faces.
'Finally, a turn for the better! This thing can feed us for days!'
The three pups were starving, and immediately dug in, too distracted by their newly acquired meal to pay attention to their surroundings.
A group of humans had heard the squeals of the dying pig, making their way towards the source of the sound.
On their arms, insignias resembling two birds holding an arrow could be seen.
Three chapters out today, I hope yall enjoy :)
If the pups hadn't been so engrossed in their meal, they might have noticed the change in the atmosphere in the woods around them. The birds grew quiet, and the few squirrels adventurous to wanted the woods had quickly made their way back to their nests, cowering in fear.
The human hunters were experienced, this could be clearly seen by how efficient they were at hunting. The group slowly encroached on the small clearing housing the wolf pups, stepping as quietly as possible so as to not be noticed. Soon they had vision over the clearing, and a hushed conversation broke out among them.
"Wolf pups? I thought we already hunted all of the dire wolves in this area."
A bulky man with a dirty orange beard spoke. He was the second in command of the mercenary squad known as the Red Falcons.
The Red Falcons was a small mercenary group, known for getting their jobs done quickly and without fail.
As of current, they were collecting pelts in the Dep woods.
Pelts were a valuable commodity in this pre-machinery world, and good pelts could sell for even more than they could earn from an average caravan escort assignment.
The bulky man spoke again, this time to the leader of the group.
"Karl, these things are too small to provide much hide, and their fur is all matted. My guess is that these pups were members of that pack from before, we must have missed them. We won't make hardly any money by skinnin 'em, but we can make a good buck if we sell them alive. I hear that a lot of noblemen enjoy watching these stupid animals fight."
Karl responded in a… particular accent.
"Now how do ya reckon we do that, ye bloody dolt? Ain't like they gonna just let us grab em, ay Jorg?"
Another member of their squad spoke up, this one a thin lad who appeared to be in his late teens. He was the youngest member of their squad.
"Well ain't they just pups? It can't be that hard to grab them. Let's just surround them and tie them up. I'll grab that big one with the dull gray coat (Ash)."
Karl acted overly excited about this, patting the skinny lad on the back and confirming their plan.
"Fair dinkum idea, Ed. This why we keep ya around, ay. You're too weak for anything, but ya got a nice head on ya. I'll grab the gray one, you take a rest, mate."
Jorg decided to take the small brown female (Fern), and another member of their squad was assigned to tackle the black one (Oak).
The wolves were still digging into their first meal in days while the humans made plans to catch them, too focused on eating to notice even as the humans approached.
SNAP!
One of the humans stepped onto a twig, alerting the pups.
Seeing the incoming human, the pups immediately panicked, trying to escape, but no matter what direction they turned to, there was another person there.
The three pups backed up into each other, snarling at these monsters who had taken their families.
'Any ideas Roth? How can we get out of this?!? Damn, I shouldn't have let my guard down!'
^If they already have us surrounded, why haven't they killed us yet?^
Ash thought for a moment before realizing they were trying to capture the wolves alive.
'I don't think we have any chance of escaping. These are the same people who killed our whole pack, there is no way a few cubs can escape from them. It is probably best to not resist now, and try to find a chance to escape later.'
Ash nudged the other pups, trying to signal him that there was no chance of escape.
Oak seemed to understand, and lay down, trying to display his surrender to the humans.
Fern, on the other hand, seemed to take it as a signal to attack.
Baring her teeth, she charged at the nearest human, who happened to be Jorg.
Jorg viewed the incoming wolf pup with disdain, shouting out at her.
*"Come on you dumb bitch, fight me."
Fern feigned biting towards Jorg's left side, and he fell for it.
She tackled him to the ground, trying to reach his neck. Rage shined in her eyes.
She was about to avenge her family.
CRACK!
Fern's body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, blood leaking from the side of her head.
Fern's head was twisted at an unnatural angle.
Karl stood by Jorg's side, brandishing a hammer, its striking face now smeared with blood.
Jorg shoved the body off of himself, then let out an overly loud laugh.
*"Ha! I almost got offed by a wolf pup! These damn things are smart! Thanks for the help boss."
Oak and Ash looked on in horror at the collapsed body of their sister.
Both of they had lay down, trying to surrender, but Fern didn't get the memo… and now she was dead.
Jorg looked at the two remaining pups, who seemed to be cowering in fear.
*"Hah! The other two are too afraid to fight back. Stupid animals, but at least they are making our job easier."
(People speaking in languages Ash can't understand in his hearing range will be denoted with a * before the quote.)
Ash could hear them speaking, but he was unable to understand even a word that they said. He cursed the humans in his heart, but he knew that if he tried to fight, he would end up just like Fern.
Oak and Ash didn't resist the humans, and soon their muzzles were tied closed and ropes were fastened around their necks.
The Red Falcon squad seemed happy with their haul for the day, dragging the two wolves back to their base camp before locking them inside of a crudely fashioned metal cage.
Despite the poor workmanship, there was no chance that the pups would be able to escape from the cage.
The mercenary squad spent the night drinking to their heart's content, celebrating their harvest in the woods.
Towards the end of the night, Karl stood in front of the twenty or so mercenaries.
"Oi… OI! Ye bloody dolts, listen up! We've cleaned out this -hic- woods of everything worth carryin. We got some fahkin nice pelts and some company for the -hic- ride back, ay."
Karl first gestured to a horse drawn carriage filled with pelts, and then to the two wolf pups, who were huddled together inside of the cramped cage.
Most of the mercenaries drank to the point that they passed out. The drunk men would often approach the wolves, jeering at them or throwing random objects at them.
The two cubs finally managed to get some sleep only after most of the humans had passed out.
I should have described the wolf cubs better in previous chapters, still trying to figure out how to pace this better. I don't want to rush through the story.