Wolf-Brothers

I left as soon as the machines were out of sight, taking the one trail that Catherine and I had never taken, the one that led out of our valley. I knew that as soon as I entered the passes that led out of our home, I could only rely on the sun and stars to lead me. To try any other method would only get me lost, and eventually, dead.

I followed the trail until I reached the end of our old home, and saw the passes began immediately upon leaving the valley. The trail entered a thin line in a solid wall of rock. Even from a great distance I could see it would be no more than about six men wide.

"Well." I thought, "At least I can't be ambushed."

I made my way into the fissure, and almost instantly the temperature dropped by at least ten degrees. The shade caused by the high walls prevented heat from entering the pass unless the sun was directly overhead. I knew that if I was not going to freeze to death in these passes, I had better get out of them by nightfall. I could sense that there was something else in these passes besides me, and it wasn't afraid of anything that might encroach in its domain. I could almost hear its breathing, a silent echo that bounced off the walls, just too low to actually hear.

I walked for what must have been six hours, and twice I had to stop to get my bearings from the position of the Sun. The paths split and twisted in unpredictable ways, and had father not taught my sister and me how to navigate by moon and Sun, I would have been lost in a matter of minutes. Even still, I knew that the only way to get out of these passes was to keep going west. Otherwise I would be going in circles and would never escape. All the time the presence still haunted my mind, always just out of sight, but following my every move, waiting for me to weaken and stop for a rest. I knew I had to get out of these passes soon, or whatever it is that was following me would grow impatient and attack.

I did not stop until I could see the light being bounced off the fissure walls, which could only mean the pass had opened up enough to let light in at a more shallow of an angle. I hoped that it was the end of the path, because I was about to collapse from exertion. Suddenly, the presence took on a stronger tone, whatever it was knew I was almost out of the passes, and had decided to attack while I still had no room to move. I could definitely hear it now, hot ragged breaths that grew louder with each passing moment. The fear that had lay low as a mild undercurrent now sprang into a full-on panic. I turned and ran for the end of the tunnel, hoping that with some room I might be able to fight this thing on more even terms.

I burst out of the pass and into an open field, and I turned around to see the biggest bear I had ever seen lumber out of the pass. Its fur was matted with dried blood, though I could not tell from what creature, and its eyes were blood-shot and half-closed in sickness.

"This bear is rabid." I thought to myself, "I won't be able to defeat it in a fair fight, I'm going to need some kind of plan if I'm going to stand a chance."

The bear looked around, and I realized it could not see me through its swollen eyes. It was using its other senses to track me, and now I realized why it had stayed in the passes. It could track its prey with scent and hearing, and once it came upon the prey, the prey had nowhere to go in the cramped tunnels. But out in this open field I had the advantage. I could now move around so the bear would not be able to track my movements, and then I would be able to attack while it was confused.

At that moment its red eyes locked onto my position, and it charged full-on, not giving any room to stop if I was able to dodge. It came with force like a rock-slide, but I knew that at the last moment, I could jump out of the way and it would be unable to track me for a short time. That would be my chance to strike.

As it drew nearer and nearer, I had to fight down my growing instinct to run, and wait for the absolute last moment to jump. Just as it was about to hit me, I threw myself to the side, and it blundered past me without realizing I had moved. It slowly came to a stop, shaking its head in confusion, and at that moment of indecision, I ran up behind it and loosed all of my flame on the beast's broad back. The fire took hold with a wild frenzy, and I realized the dried blood was making its fur more flammable. The great bear roared its pain and fell on its back in a pitiful attempt to smother the flames. All it succeeded in doing was spreading the fire to the rest of its body.

I turned my back as the entire creature was swallowed by the flames, and waited until the blood-curdling roars faded to silence. I turned back to see the only remains of the bear was a white pile of bones, centered in a crater of ash. I was just about to turn and continue on my journey, when out of the bushes came a pack of grey wolves. They surrounded me, and given that I had used all of my flame reserves on the bear, I could do nothing as they made a circle around me, blocking all escape.

I watched as a large female with silver fur stepped forward and the rest of the pack sat down as a sign of respect. I realized the female must be the Alpha of the pack, and her first words confirmed my thoughts.

"I am Silverclaw, leader of the Windrunner Pack. Why have you entered our hunting grounds and why is it that we find you near to a human kill?" She paused for a second in thought, "Are you one of the dragons that live on the other side of the passes? If so then why are you so far from home?"

I sat down as well to show my respect, but I did not avert my gaze when I spoke, "My name is Aaron, and I am one of the dragons that used to live in the valley above. My family was betrayed and captured by humans, and I am going to the Capital city about a month to the west." I lay down on my belly to further show submission, "I will need help on my journey, so I ask you if you will be my guides through your hunting grounds. I know that I have nothing to offer you, but I am a desperate dragon in need. Would you really turn down an orphan asking for help?"

I looked up to see Silverclaw was nodding her head, "I see that you will need to travel through our territory whether we help you or not. But if we help you through our territory, you will need to become one with the Pack. Only pack members are allowed within our territory, all others are driven out unless they have very good reason." She paused in thought, "Usually we would use the Ceremony of Bonding to admit you into the pack, but since you will not be staying with us once we reach the edge of our territory, I think we will need to find some other method."

"What about the Sign of Friendship?" asked one of the wolves in the circle, "It will allow him within our territory, but he will not become a permanent member of the Pack."

Silverclaw looked at the wolf who had spoken, "A brilliant idea Shadowfur, I should ask these things of you more often." She turned back to me, "Once we begin the Sign of Friendship, all you will have to do is follow my movements, and speak the Pledge at the end. Once it is complete, you will be an ally of the Windrunner Pack, and we may begin our journey."

The next hour was filled with complex movements and weird postures, but when it came time for the Pledge it was a simple promise to protect the pack with my life, and respect the leadership of Silverclaw at all times. We finished just as the Sun was going down, and Silverclaw walked up to me with a simple tap on my head with the tip of her nose. The gathered wolves howled their approval, and we all walked out of the clearing, and stopped at the Windrunner Pack den to get some much-needed rest before we began the long journey to the end of their territory.

The next morning we left just before the Sun broke the horizon, and the Pack set a constant lope that would be easy to maintain, but would eat up the miles in very quick order. That was the way it went for the next two weeks, and I could feel my body growing stronger with each passing day. My legs grew thicker as muscle built onto a stronger core, and my stamina grew to such an extent that I could out-distance most of the pack members. Only Silverclaw and her mate Howlingstar were able to maintain the rigorous pace that we had set through the entire day. One evening as I lay down for the night, I found myself wishing that I could become a wolf, so I could move with their languid grace and speed. I fell asleep wanting nothing more than to change into a wolf.

I awoke to find I had been pinned to the ground by three of the pack members, and Silverclaw was standing in front of my nose, looking down on me with hostility. "Who are you, and what have you done with our friend Aaron?" Her voice was a deep growl, and I was both scared and confused as to why I was being detained.

I looked up at her and asked, "What do you mean 'What have I done with Aaron?' I am Aaron!"

She threw back her head and laughed, but it contained no humor, "Do you really expect me to believe that? Aaron is a young dragon who was traveling with us, you are nothing more than a wolf with rocks for brains."

Wolf? What was she talking about? I then looked at my feet to see that they were no longer my own talons and scales, but deep russet fur and long black claws. I realized I had unwillingly transformed myself into a wolf with my thoughts as I went to sleep the night before. Father had told me about our shape-shifting abilities, but I had never been able to successfully do it. I realized that I had to transform back if I was going to prove I was really Aaron the dragon. I closed my eyes and imagined my true form, my long, smooth tail, and deep green scales, and my great flame and my soon-to-form wings. I felt my body shift, and I heard some wolf off to my left gasp as my form shifted from that of a wolf, back to that of a dragon. I felt the wolves that had been holding me down jump off, and once I could no longer feel the shifting sensations, I opened my eyes to see the entire pack staring at me.

"What?" I asked, "All dragons can shape-shift, I didn't know that I could do it at such a young age, so I didn't tell you."

Silverclaw seemed to shake off the shock of my transformation, and said in a slightly shaking voice, "I agree that it was unwise to not tell us of your kind's ability, but I will not hold a grudge for an honest mistake." She turned to her pack-mates that had been pinning me, "Apologize to Aaron for you actions and let us hope he can forgive our foolishness."

The three wolves apologized in quiet voices, and Silverclaw turned back to me, "I think it would be easier for you to follow us if you return to wolf form. The body shape will better suit you for the journey, and we will be less likely to encounter trouble as you pass from one pack territory to the next." She saw my slightly confused look and said, "Yes, you will need to enter another pack's territory in order to continue on your guest. We cannot follow you all the way to the human city, but the Riverhowl Pack's territory borders on that of the humans'. If you can travel with them to the city, you should be able to get there within the next week and a half."

"That's great news!" I said, but then I saw Silverclaw's hesitant look, "What is wrong? Is there something I should know about the Riverhowl Pack?"

She seemed reluctant to tell me, but apparently whatever it was she needed to tell me could not be left unsaid, "The problem with going through the Riverhowl Pack's territory is that you must be part of the pack in order to enter their territory. You will have to fight one of their members to gain entrance into the pack's ranks."

"So?" I said, "I do not see the problem, all I have to do is defeat the member and they let me join. What is so bad about that?"

She hung her head, "I am sorry to tell you this," she raised her head again to look me in the eye, "but you will not have to just defeat the pack member, you will have to kill the pack member. You cannot enter their pack unless one of their original members is removed from the ranks. The Riverhowl Pack is a battle-centered pack that focuses on the members' powers of battle, not what level of leadership they possess. And you cannot reveal that you are a dragon, because they feel that all other creatures are inferior to wolves, and will reject you outright if they find out you are not a wolf."

I thought about what she had said over the next couple of days, as we grew ever nearer to the edge of the Windrunner Pack's territory. I could see no way out of my predicament, but I knew I had to cross the Riverhowl Pack's territory if I was going to ever find my family. Once I entered the rival pack's land, there would be no going back.