Fan Fiction ❯ The Boundries ❯ Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

The Boundries

The wolves' cracked pads broke the hard, winter's earth as they travelled on their way. Their long and tiring journey was hard for the drapper as she was carrying not just her own body, but four others as well. They stopped only to rest the pregnant alphine female and when they did, it was only for a short while. The pack had been travelling for suns now, and the four lumps that existed inside their mothers belly, were due within the next full moon. Hunter lifted his head and gave a warning glance towards his pack. He too was wary and was worried for his mate. He growled as he lifted his muzzle into the air.

"Man." He snarled, "They are near, but we will avoid them as swiftly as is possible." He nodded the pack onward and they passed the human's clearing. One of their hounds barked and tried to escape its leash in order to get to the passing wolves. A young child sat up and started to whine. A large man wearing a sheepskin cloth kicked out at the dog. Indoria noticed it had a scar on its coat of entangled grey fur. He had ugly, black stubble and matted black hair.

"He must be the dragger." Thought Indoria, Hunter's pregnant mate. The dog whimpered and retreated back to its master.

The pack hurried on as the wind lashed its threats around them. Finally, Indoria slumped down in the shelter of a tree.

"I can't." She growled as Hunter tried to nuzzle her on. "I carry a greater load than any of yourselves. The pups-The pups are heavy now."

"You can," Hunter nuzzled her once more and persuaded her to rise. "It's not far now." He spoke softly, meaning it to be reassuring; however, he meant it to the whole pack. "Lets just pray to Leela that we will find familiar home grounds before dusk.

They stumbled on, when Kharress scampered forward. The gamma had her muzzle in the air and was sniffing around excitedly. She had sensed something familiar to her.

"It's the hollow!" She cried breathlessly, "The hollow where I was born!" She looked around at them eagerly, and then returned her nose to the scent.

"How far?" Asked Kovern, coming up behind his mate.

Kovern was Hunter's brother, but they had little in common. They had the same deadly black coats and although they had the same blood running through their veins, the two brothers thought little of each other, or each other's judgments. Hunter snapped at Kovern's tail. He was angry with him. He had told him to stay at the back and bring the pack together.

"Close." Replied Kharress, turning her gaze to the sky. "We could make it by sunset. If we are to do so, then we should move fast before the snow thickens even more."

Hunter nodded his head and turned to look at his mate.

"If we are to get there before the sun reveals the moon, then we should stick together. Kovern, stay behind and bring up Branta, help her if she needs it." He nodded respectfully towards the old and weary nurse. She nodded back and gave a weak smile to Hunter. The she-wolf had nursed nearly the whole pack when they were born. She had taught Olvidado, the young and kindly Beta. She had brought up both alpha's of the pack and had cared for Kovern, who had easily been the most disobedient.

"I thank you, Hunter. However I must face this world alone. I must guide myself through its treachery." She nodded at Kovern, who obediently trotted back to his mate and brother. Hunter sighed. He tried the best for his pack. He really did. He was worried for them, but as dusk approached, so did they advance to the Hollow.

Finally, the pack lay down in the earth hole that had been their destination. Long ago the tree had been struck by lightning and had gone down to reveal a small hide out den just big enough for a pack to survive in. Its roots concealed the entrance but the pack managed to wriggle their way inside. Hunter lay down by his pregnant mate and licked Indoria on the muzzle. She smiled back at him and then laid her head on her paws to rest. Olvidado stepped over Kharress and Kovern, then sat down by the two alphas.

"Hunter, will this den be safe? With the human's clearing so close, surely their hounds will smell us out." Hunter looked down at Indoria then around at the rest of the pack. It was small pack to be sure. They would not be much use when it came to protect Indoria, or indeed, four blind pups. "We could take it in turns to guard the entrance." She went on, "that would insure all our safety."

"Yes," He agreed, "tell Kovern to go until sunrise. If you could go from there and then Kharress will take over. Ask Branta if she would be willing to care for Indoria." Hearing his name, Kovern padded softly over.

"What's going to happen?" he growled inquisitively.

"You will stand guard of the hollow entrance until the next moon falls. Olvidado will take over then and then Kharress." He nodded towards his brother's mate, who was licking a cracked paw. "Notify her." He growled as Kovern turned to take his place by the den's retreat.

"Come Branta," Called Indoria, "come sit with me." She looked up at her mate. "Is there any hope of finding prey at this time? The whole pack is weak with hunger. We have not eaten for moons." The nurse approached and sat looking curiously at the two.

"May I speak with Indoria," She asked Hunter, "alone. I won't be long." Hunter stood up and nodded respectfully to the two she-wolves. Branta reached out and licked the drapper on the muzzle. "My dear, I am very happy for you. You are very lucky. A drapper of a pack, the mate of a very handsome and strong titan. However-" She paused and bowed her head. Indoria looked into her friends eyes, concerned. She loved the nurse and the nurse loved her. Branta had brought up the whole of the pack and the families before.

"What is it, Branta?" Enquired Indoria, "Why did you want to speak alone?" The old wolf looked up with sorrow in her eyes.

"I'm dying, Indoria." The drapper's eyes widened with pure forbidding. "It has been clear for a while now. I am getting weaker as I stand. I am regretful to say that your pups may be the last that I tend." She smiled reluctantly at Indoria and then coughed. A single tear was making it's way down the she-wolf's muzzle. "You must make your own way out into the world now. I know you can." She sat up and turned towards the remainder of the pack. Indoria held her breath, imploring that Branta would not inform the pack of this. Instead she sat by the entrance and looked out to the full moon.

Hunter trotted over. He had a dead lynx, which he laid down in front of Indoria. "We should be safe enough. For now at least. The humans are not as near as I feared they were. If we try to keep out of sight while the pups are still young then the pack should be safe." He spotted the fear and dreading in his mate's eyes. "What's happened?" He growled, his voice reflecting how she felt inside. "What did Branta ask of you? You did not accept-"

"No, it wasn't like that." Her voice was harsh and firm. The lynx remained untouched. She turned to her mate. "I need some time alone to think things over. The pups are ready now and I would like to be alone with Branta when that time comes." She snarled at her mate. "I fear this time is already upon us and-"

"I'll clear the pack." Growled Hunter softly. He was hurt. Indoria was hiding something and that was something she had never done before. "There is another cave not far from here where we can take shelter." He explained, "We can reside there." He padded slowly out calling the pack to follow.

"Kharress, wait." Indoria sat up as the gamma came close. "I have not spoken to you for a while." She laughed softly, and then lay back down. Kharress smiled back and sat own on her haunches.

"I have been meaning to speak to you myself." She said, "I have ideas for the names of your litter!" Indoria nodded her on enthusiastically. "I was thinking, maybe if all the names were linked. You might use the four seasons, or the planets; Youri, Breasobn, kilyte." She paused to think, "I had another idea," She looked at Indoria, "Am I tiring you?"

"No, indeed I like your ideas. Please continue."

"Well, it links into the planets. Maybe if you used words which described things that are essential to our lives." Indoria looked at her, confused. Noticing this, Kharress explained. "The sun. It has many ways in which it dances around the sky." She looked into Indoria's eyes once more. "Rise." She said simply. Indoria looked at her unmoved, thinking that the gamma was ordering her around. "Set," She continued as Indoria understood. "Dawn and Dusk. The sun is important to all our lives. We need the sun for man's crops. We need the crops for the Lera, and we need the Lera to survive. What do you think?"

Indoria smiled eagerly at Kharress. "I think it's great." She replied as she felt a lurch in her belly. She screwed her face up in pain. Kharress gasped and ran to fetch Branta from the mouth of the den.

Kharress trotted into the den where her mate, Olvidado, and Hunter where sitting. Olvidado was enchanting them with another of her mystical myths, but as the gamma came in she stopped and went to sit by Kharress.

"Is everything how it should be? Is Indoria sleeping?"

"The pups are coming." Growled Kharress with her voice enriched with worry. "Now." Hunter sat up and growled.

"Is Branta with her?" He barked, and as Kharress nodded her tore out of the cave and raced towards the Hollow. He ran up to the entrance with his heart pounding when Branta ran out and stopped him.

"No," She snarled, "you must heed her word. You must give her time." With that she trotted back in. Hunter lay down outside the mouth of the cave to assure that none of the pack dared to enter.

By morning his coat was thick with frost, but the remaining snow around him was beginning to thaw. He sat up and stretched out his hind legs. His eyes turned to look at the Hollow and he observed that the nurse was sleeping just inside the entrance. He stood up and padded in, his sodden, black coat dripping. He smelt something and looked around. Two tiny, dead pups were lying, motionless in the snow. They both had black coats and one had a silver dot on it's front, left paw. Hunter sighed and turned back to Indoria. She was obviously awake, as she was whispering something, but she had her back to him. He sat down quietly just behind her and listened to what she was saying. She was singing softly to them but then one of the pups whined and she stopped.

"Don't Set." She whispered softly nuzzling a little ball of reddish fur, just like her own. She licked the other pup who snuggled closer to Indoria's belly. "It's alright, Rise." She was saying softly, " You are one of the safest pups ever to be born in this den. You have the protection of the whole pack and-" She paused, then turned back to the pup. "The kindest and most loving father." She laid her head down upon her paws and brought the pups closer to her. Hunter licked her lovingly. She looked round surprised, then licked him back. "Look at them Hunter. Aren't they beautiful?" She looked back down at them. The youngest was a female and was weak. She was worried for it's safety.

"Oh, hurry up Rise." Growled Set and pounced on her playfully. Rise hurried up behind Set and then looked around guiltily.

"We're not meant to be here, Set," She hissed anxiously at her brother. "Daddy will get angry."

"Why do we always have to do what father says? You're always being so boring like that. We're not pups any more. Well I'm not anyway. I'm a big hunter like uncle Kovern." He pounced at a passing butterfly, but missed and fell down a steep bank. He landed next to a fast and dangerous river, which entwined itself around sharp rocks and sheer drops. Set yelped and scrambled back up. Rise had hidden her face in her paws. "See?" He panted and pounced on Rise, who screamed.

"Set." A sharp firm voice cut through the air and pierced the pup's heroicness. "What are you two doing here? Your parents are sick with worry. They've been searching all over the wood." Rise whimpered and scurried forward to burry herself in Olvidado's fur. "You have no idea about what dangers there are in the world. Man. Kerl." Rise shivered, but Set looked up inquisitively. "I'll explain later she growled coldly. We must get back to the Hollow. Something terrible is happening even as we speak." Set gulped and followed Olvidado as she picked up Rise in her gentle jaws and lead them back to the Hollow. As their parent's came into sight, Rise freed herself from the beta's grip and ran forward to her mother, with tears in her eyes.

"Mamma," she cried quietly, "I'm sorry. We didn't know you'd get all scared. We thought you wouldn't mind." Indoria licked the small muzzle of her daughter. She knew that it was not Rise's fault. She had been watching when Set had persuaded her to go with him. Set was sitting by his father looking up at him with a mischievous grin on his face. Hunter was snarling angrily at his son. "No, Hunter." Growled Indoria padding over. "Don't make it worse. We must break it to them as softly as possible and getting them all distressed before is not going to help." She looked down at her pups and let them snuggle into her. "Set, Rise, something very important has happened within this sun and I fear it may change all our lives." She pulled them close and lay down by her mate. "Branta is no longer with us. She is dancing happily through the clouds with Leela and Crest, the powerful wolves who made us and the earth that we live on." Set gaped at his mother and Rise once again buried her head into her mother's coat. Olvidado shook away the tears which were once again over coming her. Hunter turned away trying to ignore the misery and hatred that was burning up inside him once more. Then he stepped forward and spoke.

"Children, the last thing she said was `Don't break the last boundry'" He looked at them inquisitively. Rise lifted her head.

"What of them?" She whispered.

"Then you know of what she spoke of?" Asked Indoria, looking toward her pup.

"Olvidado knows it too." Whimpered the pup, as Olvidado looked up and stared straight into her eyes. She smiled.

"Of course." She muttered softly, then turned to the alphas. "It is a myth. An old and long ago forgotten story that has not been spoken of for hundreds of moons until now. It is feared by most."

"But why?" Asked Indoria. Olvidado looked into her sisters eyes.

"It speaks of the great, evil hound Thunderstorm, who wiped out many brave packs with his three powers; Fire, Ice and of course the most powerful; lightning and thunder." Indoria turned towards the Hollow and Olvidado nodded. "He took our parents, our sister, our brother," She bowed her head, "the whole pack." Indoria shook her head in disbelief. She had tried to forget that moment.

"I do not believe in powers, curses or anything of that kind. How do you know that it wasn't just a normal storm that struck down your family?" growled Hunter.

"Because- Because I remember looking into his eyes. I remember him laughing at us when Branta tried to hide us. Branta was his nurse." There was a long pause. Hunter stared. The pups sat up and looked bewildered at their mother's sister who was shaking. "We have crossed two of the boundries already. By returning to the Hollow we crossed one. It is cursed with his anger and hatred for us wolves who do not follow in his sinful paths. The second is the pups." Set and Rise huddled closer together. "They were named into the sky."

"I'm confuzzled." Interrupted Set. Rise nudged him and Olvidado went on.

"Their names refer to the movements of the Sun and the ways it orbits. Thunderstorm's power has been taken over by a pup that has been born with the most extraordinary ability and control." She looked down at Rise and her face broke into a small smile. "This pup is one of the most powerful who ever roamed the earth. She too has his powers and yet she has one that is different from his. Rise-Why, she can control the sun." The whole pack gasped. Including Kovern and Kharress who had been listening from behind. Rise looked up at her mother. "Have you not noticed the change? Since the birth of the pups the sun has been rising in the west and setting in the east." She was right. The pack looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was setting in the east.

"But I don't want to control the Sun." Muttered Rise but Set interrupted her.

"Why can't I control anything?" He moaned, angry that he had been pushed aside by his younger sibling. "Why does she have to?"

"You must not be envious of Rise," She snapped at the small pup who began to sniff. "She has great dangers ahead and the whole pack must help to protect her. That includes you."

"Why do we need to protect her?" Asked Set, confused once more.

"Rise does not yet know how to use the powers that the great Leela and Crest gave her," Explained Kharress coming forward, "and Thunderstorm will hunt her down until he has finished the whole pack and gained her powers." Set whimpered and then ran back to his mother. Rise was looking up at the Sun, terrified.

The next few suns passed quickly. Hunter had become very protective of his daughter and snapped viciously at Set when he tried to talk to either of them.

"It's not fair," He sobbed to Kharress, one afternoon. He had just been shouted at by his father about disturbing a hunt and had run off in tears. "He's always ignoring me and playing with Rise. She never plays with me any more." He sniffed and shuffled his front paws together. Kharress looked at him disapprovingly.

"Why did you interrupt the hunt any way? You know how hard it is to find Lera. I'm not surprised he was angry."

"Why does everyone always take his side?" He mumbled as he padded away from the gamma, his head bowed low. "Stupid, insignificant little sibling." He mumbled. He padded deeper into the forest," She thinks everyone is her slave." He padded on when a large eagle flew down a buffed him on the head with it's wing. The small pup fell down and whimpered on the ground. The eagle settled on a branch and started to draw a small shrew apart. Set whined and looked around. He abruptly realised for the first time, that he was lost. "Mamma? Mamma, I wanna go home now. Mummy?" He shivered and looked around him, very aware of how venerable he was. He had the strange feeling that he was being watched. The pup sniffed the ground and found a small dip underneath a bush. He huddled up and buried his head beneath his paws. A tear fell softly onto a dead leaf. "I want my mamma." He wrapped himself together in a little ball and dug himself deeper into the small earth dip.

When Set awoke the next morning, the Sun had become very low in the sky. It was early, the birds had not begun their customary song, and the eagle had flown off the night before, searching for more harmless Lera. Set, kept his eyes screwed tight. He was scared of what he would find if he opened them. There was a loud squawk as the eagle returned; carrying what looked like a small squirrel. Set sat up and moaned. He looked around him once more. He listened very closely. He could hear voices, heavy feet running across the ground. Terrified, the pup scurried into the hole again, as man and their hounds raced into the clearing. The dogs barked at him and strained on their leashes, trying to reach the pup. A large man, who Indoria had thought the Dragger, came over and knelt down by Set. He smirked viciously at him.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." His voice was slimy and harsh. He stood up and swung back his leg. It came back at Set full force and he was knocked further back, wheezing. There was silence. Suddenly, without warning the whole pack were on the humans. Hunter had jumped out first and landed on the Alpha. His claws dug, sharply into the man's chest. Kharress and Kovern ran forward snarling at the hounds as Olvidado leapt onto what was left of the man. Indoria rushed forward and snatched up her son in her mouth. She took him to the edge of the clearing where she left him with rise. The drapper ran forward as the hounds cornered her.

"Keep your muzzles out if you know what's good for you." She snarled menacingly. They formed a circle around her then one of them stepped forward. She snarled forebodingly at him and he did so back. He had a scar upon his grey chest and he growled once more showing jagged teeth. Indoria stopped and stared.

"I do not slave for the humans," He snarled, "No, not I. I merely," he paused, searching for the correct term to use, "work for them, give them a helping paw if you know my meaning." He gave an evil grin and then his face froze into an icy glare. "Leave the Hollow."

The hounds turned and padded away followed by the injured humans. Indoria fell down and closed her eyes in anguish. Hunter limped over. He was not wounded but suffering shone bright in his eyes.

"It was him." She growled, "We must leave the Hollow."

"Not in this moon. We must stay until the pups are stronger." He padded over to his daughter and picked her up. He padded back towards the Hollow with Set trotting along behind him, head bowed.