Warclaw (5 page)

'That was easier than I thought it would be. I didn't think he would understand how I feel but he has. I have some-wolf that can stand by me now, taking on the weight as well as me.' Wibeke could feel Wren embrace her tightly, raise his paw and put it onto her shoulder. She laid her head down on his shoulder, resting it. Raising her paw, she placed it down onto his smooth black and sable back. Wren could feel Wibeke embrace him. He could feel the warmth come off of her body. It felt nice considering everything that had happened recently. Although the breeze was cold and you could see your breath spread out in front of your eyes, her body heat was warm. There was a breeze was cool and Wren could feel the breeze ruffle through his black and sable fur as he embraced her. 'It's lovely to finally have a calm and embracing moment with Wibeke.' Wren thought.

Taking a step back, Wren let Wibeke compose herself and put her fur back into place. Looking up towards Wren, making eye contact with him, she could feel the breeze ruffle against her black and sable fur. It felt like the world had stopped around them, for a brief moment in time. Closing her eyes, she let the cold air fill all her senses. She remembered how perfect the packs lives had been only a few months ago. Now though, their lives had changed so much. Their Alpha was gone and so was half or even more of their pack. Warclaw was their new Alpha and was starting to ruin their lives. This was not good, as both Wibeke and Wren knew that they had try and fix their lives before it got any worse.

******************

Warclaw looked out towards the sea, before looking behind him towards the lightened forest. It looked more alive now as it had more than natural light coming from it. The only thing that you could see in the background was dark black smoke and from what Warclaw could tell, it was heading his way. 'Forest fire!' He thought. 'Better make a move.' Turning back around, he looked out towards the calmness of the sea. Warclaw started running, heading towards the sea. It was getting nearer and nearer and nearer. He could hear the fire roar in the background. It surrounded him. It laughed at him. Mocked him. Warclaw ran in every direction he could see but there was no way out. He howled...

Opening his eyes, he could see the sky above him. He looked around and there was no fire. The fire had gone. The ground beneath him moved. He looked at the ground that he lay upon. It was smooth golden sand, with glitter like crystals shinning in it. Sighing with relief, Warclaw stood up and breathed. Each breath filled his lungs with the sense of relief and the calmness of the ocean. Knowing now that it had just been a nightmare, he was relieved as he felt like a massive weight had just been lifted off of his shoulders. The wind blew a gentle breeze that was cool and as it ruffled through his fur, he could sense that what was in that darkened room, in that lighthouse, was slowly disappearing. Yet, this confused Warclaw as he knew that his treasure couldn't just disappear. So why was it calling to him like this?

Warclaw stood onto his feet. With his pads sinking into the soft ground, he started walking towards the calm blue sea. Although he was still not sure how he was going to get down to the lighthouse, he carried on walking towards the ocean. Warclaw realised that the sea was receding. It acted like it was running away from him, like it was frightened. Warclaw wanted to sprint into the cowering sea. With his mind set on the treasure, he kept heading towards the sea. Underneath him, the rubble from the lighthouse appeared again. He was closing the distance between him and the lighthouse. The rubble started to increase as he closed the distance between them. The closer he got, the more rubble there was. Finally, he appeared at the lighthouse of what was left of it. Walking towards the lighthouse remains, he climbed over the rubble, heading straight for the window that had once been stain glass. Suddenly, as he was about to take the first step into the lighthouse again, there was a fierce growl behind him. There. There stood Wibeke.

Chapter 7: One Wolf’s Stupidity, is Another’s Gain!

The den was quiet. There were no birds singing their chorus in the forest that surrounded the wolves. The trees were quite, too quiet. They didn’t rustle their leaves nor did they rustle in the breeze. The sky was crystal blue and had hints of white fluffy clouds. There was no wind. There was a light breeze but it wasn’t strong enough to lift a strand of fur. The pack had settled down. It was morning and the sun shone brightly from above the trees. It looked like the Earth had stud still from above. It was finally peaceful. Or so it was thought…

******************

Wren searched intensely around the den, looking for Wibeke, but there was no sign of her. ‘Where could she be? Where is she?! I hope she hasn’t done what I think she has! Please let her not of done that and has just gone for a stroll. I swear, if she’s done anything stupid, it’s going to be my fault!’ Wren thought, emotionally. His thoughts wandered and so did he. Wandering about the den endlessly, he searched every nook and cranny where he knew she would have most likely gone to think. But when he got there, she wasn’t. There was no sign of her. There was no sign of her because she had done exactly as he had thought and what he feared!

******************

Warclaw turned around to see that Wibeke was standing at the side of the old lighthouse remains. He started walking down off of the lighthouse and towards Wibeke. Standing her ground, Wibeke kept her eyes trailing Warclaws every movement as he walked towards her. Warclaw jumped onto the smooth soggy sand, before speaking gently “Wibeke, what are you doing here?” Before giving her a chance to answer Warclaw’s voice turned cold. “I know about that storm that hit the pack, and to be honest with you, I had rather hoped that you were among the dead!” Warclaw teased, laughing at his cruel comment. Wibeke took a step back. She was shocked at how a wolf could think such horrible thoughts. “How can you think that? We are your pack! So why do you want us all dead and decomposing?”

“You act as if it was I, whom had created that storm over your den, wrecking your measly little lives.” Warclaw smirked. He walked up to Wibeke and circled her before standing right beside her. “Although...” he paused “Now you come to mention it, maybe I did have something to do with it!” He whispered evilly into her ear before walking around so he was facing her.“Warclaw. I am not here to play your pathetic childish games! I came here to warn you of what is to come if you do not hand
it
over!” She lifted her paw and pointed it over to where the lighthouse was and to the darkened room where the object laid.

“My childish games?” he said disgustedly at her. Warclaw circled Wibeke again, before stopping at her side again. “You insult me! These ‘childish games’ you so call them, take a great master mind to conger up. But it’s not like you would know!” Wibeke growled at the insult that had just been thrown at her. Warclaw chuckled before carrying on “As far as that pathetic warning you tried to scare me with, whom is it that dares threaten me?” There was a hint of anger in his voice. Moving away from Wibeke’s side, he turned around to face her head on, locking his eyes on hers. Wibeke could feel her heart pound in her chest and her instinct telling her to run for the hills, but she couldn’t stop herself from looking at his perfect blue eyes. ‘Wait. Perfect?!’ she thought, amazed at what she was thinking. “Well?” Warclaw asked again with his voice slightly raised, demanding to know who would want to threaten him. Wibeke felt her lungs start to constrict, as they searched for oxygen that she didn’t have; if she didn’t breathe soon. Taking a consuming breath of oxygen, she filled her constricting lungs with air, before answering “The pack is!”

******************

Wren ran to Will as fast as his little legs could carry him. He knew luck was not on their side and he knew deep down that she had done what he feared. Will was lying down on the dirt next to Winnie. He was listening to one of her many stories that she often talked about. The story was on about how her life was very joyful and how she first met the old Alpha, Waya. Winnie was one of the oldest members of the pack. She was certainly one of the wisest; she was almost as smart as an owl. Winnie talked about freedom and how the wolves used to fight for what they believed in. Also how there was no betrayal of their Alpha, being loyal to a fault. ‘That would certainly get Wibeke down!’ thought Wren. It was one of the stories that the wolves had heard many times, but yet Will took it all in as if it was the first. He didn’t moan at how she talked about the old times. Will had the up most respect for Winnie; after all Winnie was the wisest of them all! Winnie’s fur was a silvery grey, yet she had the odd white spot here and there but still she remained graceful and beautiful.

Wren stopped running when he got to Will. Will looked around to see what the commotion was. He saw Wren standing there, with a look on his face that said that there was something wrong, very wrong. “What’s wrong Wren?” Will asked worried, as he clambered of the ground and onto all fours. “Will have you seen Wibeke?” There was distress in his voice.

“No...” but before Will could carry on, Wren cut him off.

“She has gone missing!” Wren cried. Winnie got gracefully up off of the dirty ground and walked casually over to Wren. “Oh dear,” she said sympathetically.  “Well maybe I can help you find her.” Wren looked up at her with doubtful eyes.

“How?”

“Where the ocean meets the horizon and the land meets the gold sands. This is the clue to where she will be!” There was silence again as the two wolves puzzled at her riddle. Wren looked at Winnie with confusion. ‘What does she mean by that? I don’t have the time for riddles!’

“Don’t take too long!” Winnie laughed “That’s a simple one!”

“The beach!” Will shouted. Winnie smiled at Will. Wren’s jaw dropped.

“What’s up buttercup? Amazed at the answer, are we?” asked Winnie, who was quite amused by the two wolves.“No, no, no! It’s not that! I know why she has gone there!” Wren’s heart sank. He knew Wibeke had done what he had feared she would do. Winnie and Will looked at each other before looking back at Wren. ‘For once Winnie’s confused.’ Wren chuckled to himself. Will was first to speak. “Why?”

“Why?” Wren paused. Will nodded. Wren spoke again “Because you complete idiot, she’s gone there to threaten Warclaw on be-half of the pack!” Wren growled angrily at them. Winnie and Will gasped.

******************

Warclaw took a step back in astonishment. They had proved to be more stupid than he first thought. “Why would you want to warn me?” Warclaw was confused. “What would you gain?” He questioned.

“Because Warclaw, we don’t want
you
destroying more lives than
you
already have. So give
it
to me!” Wibeke stated, putting more harshness in the word ‘you’ every time she spoke.

“Why should I?” Warclaw paused, smiling.

“Well, put it this way. If you do give it us, we will leave you alone and not decide to kill you.”

“Oh,” Warclaw started laughing “really? You think that I will simply give it to you? How dumb are you wolves?” He stopped laughing and spoke with firmness in his voice. “And what would happen if I refused to do so?”

“If you don’t…” Wibeke paused. When she was thinking earlier on, she had never anticipated that he would say this. She had to quickly think of what she was going to say. “Well?” Warclaw smirked. He could tell that she hadn’t thought about this earlier and was panicking about what to say to him. “Come on, we haven’t got all day love!”

“First don’t call me love,” Wibeke snapped “and secondly I’ll tell you what we will do if you refuse. We will attack you and fight you until the bitter end, until we have it in our grasp.” Warclaw laughed. ‘They really think that that will stop me?’ He thought dryly. Wibeke looked at him in shock. With such a threat why would he laugh? Warclaw was laughing so much that he was starting to howl with laughter. “For some-wolf who is supposed to be smart, your not are you?” Warclaw said in the midst of laughter. “Wibeke, you don’t know much about me do you?”

“No, I don’t. But why should I?” Wibeke asked.

“Because...” Warclaw paused before smirking “You would know not to threaten me!”

“And why would that be?”

“Well let me tell you a little story...” He paused before taking in a deep breath. “Once upon a time, around eighty years ago there was an Alpha. His name was Wallace. He was much like the old Alpha, whatever his name was...”

“Waya, his name was Waya!” Wibeke had cut him off speaking proudly of Waya.

“Oh yes, well anyway he was smart and powerful but when it came to war, he was naive, very naive. You see...” Warclaw started circling around Wibeke. “There was another wolf called Wasil. He himself was much like me. Good lucking, smart, powerful and wasn’t naive at all when it came to war.”

“Where is this heading Warclaw?” Wibeke asked.

“You’ll see if you let me finish!” Warclaw snapped. “Well about seventy years ago there was a war between the two Alphas. Wallace was preparing the wolves to fight from the ground but Wasil had decided to fight from the ground above. I hear you question, what they were fighting for? They were fighting for a power, no wolf could possess.” Warclaw paused for a dramatic effect before carrying “Magic. But this was no ordinary magic, it was dark magic. But the source of the black magic had fallen into molten lava. The source had sunk deep into the earth and had formed as a crystal many centuries before. However, unbeknown to the two Alphas, another pack had got a hold of it, in its crystal form. But the Alphas didn’t know that another pack had it, so there was a war.