Elegia
Legacy Name: Elegia

The stench of wood smoke permeates the air, blotting out the sweet perfume of musk. The hunt is ruined. My lip curls in disgust at the sting in my nose. The humans have never invaded this far into the forest before. They do not like what is untamed.

Man's only instinct seems to be one of destruction. Humans mark their territory in lines of fire and hunt with the power of thunder. They do not honor the timeless traditions of predator and prey but kill everything they encounter, leaving their kills bleeding rather than delivering the mercy blow.

Giving my head a shake, I turn away from the smell of danger. My pads make no sound on the freshly fallen snow as I trot the edge of a frozen stream. My winter coat blends well with the subtle stripes of the birches that mark the western border of my land. The stream ends in a patch of reedy plants that still bear a few seed pods awaiting the coming of spring.

The markers of the Moon Cry pack are fresh. The wolf that left them is young, male, and terrified. I know what they say about me when they gather for pack song. I am the man-marked demon with the sun in my eyes. I am the she-wolf whose song brings death. Cubs quiver and hide beneath the bellies of their mothers when I pass and even the Alphas hesitate to cross my boundary lines.

I need no pack. The bitterness of my song is my own.

A snarl bursts from my lips before I can contain it. A new scent is on the air, one of dead trees and the choking fumes of human monsters. A great roar is followed by a shriek of protest as a majestic pine crashes to the forest floor in a mess of branches. Three humans clamber over the trunk, snarling at each other in their harsh voices as they use bright claws to rip the tree apart.

There is a stronger smell of human nearby, along with some odor I cannot place. I come to a stop at the edge of a clearing hastily made by human hands. Many trees were sacrificed to build the structure that serves these men as a den. Sap still bleeds from the gaps. The direction of the wind has changed and I realize this is the source of the vile smoke. It curls in wisps from the stack of stones that pokes out of the den's roof. The strange smell that is not quite wolf hits me again. I slink around the back of the human den, never leaving the safety of the trees.

Large sticks prop one another in the air, serving as support for the pelts hanging neatly in a line. The pain is so great that I fall to my belly. I cannot think, nor do I have the strength to run. Once again I am a cub, screaming helplessly as my world turns to fire. I crawl beneath a hollow log heavy with fungus, oblivious for the moment to the slime sinking beneath my fur. I bury my nose beneath the tip of my tail as the memories snare me.

My earliest memories are of the caressing tongue of Mother. The winter of my birth was harsh. Only two littermates survived and we knew from the moment we first tasted the wind that we must fight for our needs or die. Every hour we struggled for the fullest teat and the warmest curve of mother's body. Elatia's frost-streaked fur was exquisite but she was the runt of the litter. Ebrion was black like our father but did not have the makings of an Alpha. I have the color of a true Gray and only Mother could reign in my dominant spirit.

Mother loved us all equally but I was Father's favorite from the moment I stumbled into the wider world on unstable legs to bump into his massive paws. I took Mother's chiding in silence, waiting until she fell asleep to tell my siblings about the expanse of sky so bright it hurt my eyes and the alluring scent of blood on Father's fur.

Our day to be welcomed by the pack could not come quickly enough. Every day found me sneaking toward the cave mouth. I nearly lost the tip of my tail when Mother's patience was finally exhausted. She could cuff a cub into submission but time was indifferent to her claws.

As the alpha pair, our parents had assembled two mature wolves to hunt and fight and sing at their sides. Elkin earned his name by tricking a buck over the edge of a cliff not long after he won the right to hunt with the pack. The pack was able to gorge twice on its carcass. Yuni was the omega, ranked above us only for her age. We minded her as long as it took the hunters to leave our sight.

I took to wandering while Yuni amused my siblings with silly cub games. Sometimes I got Ebrion to accompany me, but he would always complain of sore pads until I chased him back to the family caves in disgust. It was not long before Yuni ceased to growl when she could not find me. Her mind was made up that there are some lessons a cub must learn for themselves and that a scare would do me good.

The smell of fire had no meaning to me then. Smoke was a curiosity rising from the cluster of human dens that Father always spoke of with a snarl. For many days I could not bring myself to set a paw over the invisible boundary that marked the edge of the forest. The trees were safe and familiar, but they were also boring. My eyes could not be turned from the flickering flames that vanished to be reborn as the wood that was their meat was fed by human hands.

Even at a distance I could feel the heat that soothed and beckoned. I chose my moment to emerge with care, waiting until every human was busy examining their pelts or tearing at the hunks of white flesh that had no meat smell. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Surely a creature that could create such warmth knew better than to eat deer food.

I was enchanted by the flames and watched as a spark broke free, floating on the air to touch my nose. I leapt back with a yelp of surprise, telling fire in a growl what I thought of such unfair tactics. I could hear the humans barking in amusement. I plunged back into the safety of the trees, looking back often to make sure they would not follow. Their laughter rang in my ears.

The snow was rapidly melting, but I was able to find one good patch to soothe my smarting nose. My attention was so caught that it took me a moment to realize I had a follower after all.

The girl's eyes widened at my snarl and she ceased her approach. Moving slowly, she pulled a strip of something free from her fur and tossed it into the air. It smelled like meat but looked like a branch. Without thinking, I lunged forward to grab it. She bared her teeth in a human grin and backed away.

I returned to the caves with my head held high. My siblings would never believe my daring in stealing food from a human!

The whole pack looked at me in disapproval, their faces smeared with the blood of a fawn. Father towered over me, growling that I stank of humans. Mother hung her head in shame. Even timid little Elatia curled up her nose and snorted.

I tried to explain about the warmth of firelight and the interesting smells but they were all ready to brush me off as a foolish cub. Father turned on Yuni, laying her on her back and snarling that if she could not mind a trio of mere cubs, she would soon find herself without a pack. She tucked her tail deep within her belly and laid her ears flat, taking his harsh words without complaint.

Perhaps I would have heeded Father's advice if not for her. She tried to keep me in the clearing, reminding me often of the cruelty of man. Every attempt I made to explain the curious smells was met by a snarl. I could not even tell Ebrion about the meat strip, knowing he would take the story straight to Father. I would not be humiliated in front of my pack again.

Yuni's weakness for warmth was no less than mine, though she satisfied her craving in sunlight. I waited each day until she fell asleep then snuck away. Elatia and Ebrion would whine and tell me off for a fool, but they knew I could lay them flat if they told on me. My visits to the girl were always brief and I never let her get near enough to touch me though I eagerly accepted the gift of meat strips. Her soft voice was almost like the croon of a mother to her cubs. I could hear the hurt when I turned my back on her, but she never tried to follow.

I was wary when the girl brought another human to see me, but by his scent I could tell they were linked by blood. My own father was the center of my world. I could hardly blame the girl for following the orders of her own Alpha. The man stared at me for long moments before taking the girl's paw and leading her back to the village. I was disappointed when she did not throw me meat, but the pack had just had its fill on a stringy old buck so I was not too hungry to forgive.

For three days I saw no sign of the girl and only the faintest trace of her scent lingered in our usual meeting place.

My concern for the girl was forgotten when Father announced we cubs were ready to become pack and join in the hunt. We could not know there was an entirely different kind of hunting party forming.

We three cubs sat before the home cave, quivering with excitement that was highlighted nicely by a distant peal of thunder. Father looked up to the starry sky with a growl of concern. Slowly the fur rose on the shoulders of every adult though we could not yet understand why.

Father's head snapped up. His eyes met Mother's for one brief moment. My chest felt hollow as I recognized for the first time the tang of fear in my father's scent. I did not protest when Elkin grabbed me by the scruff, plunging into the undergrowth with Mother and Yuni close behind. Ebrion grunted in discomfort as his tail bumped the hard ground over and over. Elatia was too stunned to even complain. The last time I saw my father he stood before the home caves, his fur standing straight up and his teeth bared in defiance at the line of fire that descended from above.

Now the thunder was not only above our heads but in the ground below. Great beasts of many colors surrounded us, bearing men on their broad backs. I watched in horror as a man clubbed Mother over the head. Elatia was flung into a thorn bush, her protests cut short by a blast of fire. Elkin shoved me behind a hollow stump as I watched Yuni fall. I could hear Ebrion's fearful snarls as the humans stuffed him into a sack and threw him, still struggling, over the back of one of their beasts. Elkin fought with the ferocity of a bear, spilling human blood and leaving one flat on the ground. The leader of the human pack howled his rage, lighting up the night with a burst of fire.

I panicked, leaving the safety of my shelter and running blindly for the trees. Fire bloomed along my flanks and licked eagerly up my shoulder as the thunder roared over my head. I screamed, but my cries did me no good. I ran until my legs collapsed beneath me, awaiting the sharp blow that would end all pain. It never came.

As awareness returned, my attention fell on my wounds. Though it hurt, I licked my fur until the nasty taste of man was entirely removed. By the time I made it back to the clearing, the bodies of my family and the dead man were gone.

The drip of water on my nose brings me back to the present. I curl my lip in disgust at the mess that tangles my fur and sucks the warmth from my body. Though the taste is unpleasant, I work my tongue through every knot, fluffing out my coat against the growing bite of the wind.

The hunting here has never been great. I turn back to the heart of the forest, my ears pricking at the shriek of Snowfall the white hawk. We have an agreement, the sort that can form between a lone wolf and a bird of prey without a mate. He rides the air, alerting me to the movements of the herds. I leave a portion of my kill for him to satisfy his hunger. He will never be pack, but he is the closest I have to an ally.

The buck is injured and slow, putting up little resistance when I move in for the kill. For weeks his leg has pained him, the result of a human pit he did not see in time. I eat my fill, moving off to let Snowfall claim his portion before I go to work on the bones. The sweet steam of a fresh kill and a full belly are all I ask of life now.

CREDITS

Profile by Forest

Story by Pureflower

Character + Overlay by User not found: anastasia

Wolf Image

Forest Background