Run with the Pack: Chapter 13

It was a long walk back to where the family continued to head into the icy wind. A long walk during which Elha had to stop more than once to bark back at the white wolf.

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“Begone, little one, I am not your elfa, begone.”

Each time the young wolf would stop and wait and then continue to follow in Elha’s footsteps but from a safe distance. Elha, exhausted from the fight, did not have the energy to chase the nuisance away so she just continued on, ignoring her shadow. Occasionally, Elha would bark over her shoulder to warn the young wolf not to come nearer but, although it kept her away, she would only slink into the undergrowth before returning to the path to play follow my leader.

Soon Elha tired of constantly trying to discourage the young wolf and ended up just ignoring the stalker as she plodded back to her pack. Seeing the pups first she quickened her pace to walk right past them. The pups did not approach their determined elfa, fearful of the bloodied and battered appearance and the scent of death upon her. Instead, they watched, as the two adult wolves, their pack leaders, greeted each other with a sniff and a brief neck to neck embrace. Bahr, disconcerted at Elha’s appearance, began to lap away some of the blood that caked her jowls.

He could not know what had happened but had no doubt of his mate’s ferocity, when it was needed. The blood on Elha’s face was evidently that of another wolf and one that was either dead or very badly injured. No doubt the victim was the imaginary follower that was clearly not so imaginary after all. He was still unaware of the young female wolf that continued to follow them. It didn’t take long before Bahr started to notice the stalker but if Elha could ignore the other wolf, then so could Bahr.

Wherever Elha and the pack went, so the young, white wolf would follow. Far enough behind that she could not be chased away and yet close enough to always be in touch and to know where they were headed next. Where the pack went, so their little white shadow followed. It was not long before the unwanted companion made her name, and the name was Shadow.

So much did Shadow become a part of the pack’s everyday life, that they stopped taking any notice of her. To the point that Shadow became almost an invisible member of the pack. Always there but never seen. She never tried to get too close and never attempted to steal any of the pack’s food and none of the family gave any thought to how she would be able to sustain herself. She was not of the family and so she was of no concern. The pups were a little intrigued when they caught a glimpse of Shadow skulking about on the outskirts of the pack’s daily roaming territory but were otherwise uninterested.

Then on a day when Shadow had not been seen for some time, Bahr picked up a scent and started to track it along the edge of a clearing, breaking out of the forest close to a huge lake. It might have been sheep, but Bahr would not have expected to find sheep so far away from the mountains, which were visible over the furthest side of the lake close to the horizon in the distance. Elha, also detected a definite prey scent and started to zero in on the same direction that Bahr was headed, giving no thought to Shadow. The pups were sheltering in a thorny thicket, safely awaiting the eventual return of their parents, excited and eagerly anticipating the feast that they were sure would come upon the return of their ulfa and elfa.

As Bahr and Elha approached the sheep, for sheep it was, they were conscious, not for the first time, that not one wolf did not constitute a pack when it came to chasing a lone animal. For as soon as the animal was aware of their presence, it bolted. Bahr approached to one side and Elha the other but were unable to make much ground in the short time they had before they both became exhausted from the sprint. As they began to slow from the effort the sheep, itself slowed, undoubtedly itself exhausted from its panicked run. Both wolves then picked up the pace, making a concerted dash for their quarry and each was able to make a final leap directly at the creature. As they did so the sheep, with a final burst of energy leapt right over the wolves’ heads to land a body length behind them as their momentum carried them forward allowing the sheep to escape.

At least it would have escaped, had a white shadow not appeared out of nowhere to catch the sheep’s foreleg as it landed, causing the limb to snap with a fearful crack, followed by a wild shriek of pain and terror. Elha and Bahr, both collecting themselves, were upon the sheep in an instant, ripping and tearing at the unfortunate creature’s throat and belly at the same time, silencing its bleating cries. As the sheep was stilled, Bahr, looked up to find no sign of Shadow, who had disappeared back into the undergrowth. Bahr gave the young wolf no further thought as he buried his snout into the guts of the sheep and, with Elha, soon consumed entrails and offal before making short work of much of the sheep’s tougher flesh.

It was some time before the two wolves, replete, called to the pups to join the feast. When they did so, led by their sister, Blood, there was an additional member of the group. Shadow was among the pups, standing taller than the youngsters but otherwise every bit a mischievous young pup, jostling to be first to dive into the meat remaining on the sheep’s carcass. Elha and Bahr looked at each other, not sure how to react, but as Shadow joined the pups tearing away at the meat, they made no move to chase her off. The lesson of Shadow bringing up the rear to intercept the sheep they had failed to catch alone was not lost on them. Many wolves were stronger and more effective at the chase than one wolf or not one wolf.

So it was that Elha made no further attempt to chase away the young wolf, Shadow, but accepted her as one of the growing family. Neither was this the only time that Shadow helped to feed the family. The little white wolf was fast becoming a big sister to the pups, happy to share her food by vomiting up a portion for each of them or standing aside so that they could tear into a fresh kill first. For now, the pups were beginning to feed independently, able to rip away and consume entrails and even some of the flesh around the bones of a dead animal. They would also snap at any passing insect and sometime unearth a worm or two to sustain themselves as they awaiting any bounty provided by their ulfa, elfa and now their sister Shadow.

On another day, it was not game, not a herd animal that Shadow helped to catch, it was another kind of food altogether. It was on a bright sunny day when the rivers were flowing fast and there was an increasing chill in the air as the summer began to recede earlier than the pack was used to, so far into the cold winds had they roamed.

As the pack approached the roaring river, so the pups jumped into the shallows of the gravel beach in order to dip their snouts and take great mouthfuls of the chill water flowing past them. They were soon followed by Shadow who leapt after them, splashing and fooling about and nudging her adopted sisters and brothers so that they tumbled into the water, wetting and darkening their ragged coats. Seeing the high jinks Bahr was alarmed. He could see bear, a great number of the creatures, splashing in the water downstream, standing on rocks. Howling a warning to the pups and to Elha, who was walking a short distance behind them, he stood guard, ready to pounce if any of the giant fur coats came near. None of them did, as they were all staring intently into the water, occasionally splashing their front legs, dipping them down beneath the surface. Bahr did not know what it meant but bears were always danger, whatever they were doing, and particularly when they were in such number.

As Bahr watched, one of the bears flicked something out of the river with its paw as a second bear did the same a little way up stream. The bears then leapt onto what looked like some kind of a creature that wriggled in the shallows before being bitten and devoured. What was even more astounding was that one of the strange creatures appeared to be gliding under the water in the direction of Shadow, who had now leapt out further into the river and was watching the creature intensely, as were the bears. Bahr watched as the silvery creature continued to approach and he noticed that it had no legs, but was moving swiftly, like a bird flying under the water.

As Bahr watched, Shadow leapt across to where the strange silvery creature glided through the water and had snapped it up gently in her jaws, to snatch it out of the water and off into the shallows, as the pups followed her to see what was happening. Shadow then bit down, separating the head and the tail of the animal from the center portion, which she swallowed in one gulp. The pups then fell upon the other two pieces, the tail portion still wagging away for a moment, and tore away at the remains, each managing to swallow some portion.

Bahr was still looking over at the bears, as was Elha, both adults ignoring the breach of etiquette that saw the younger wolf and pups eating before their elders. Then Bahr, seeing more of the river shadows swimming upstream waded out further in the water to investigate. As the fish swam around and past his legs, he dipped his head into the chill water in attempt to capture one of them, completely without success. Each time he dipped his head into the water, trying to lock his jaws around the slippery skins of one of the creatures, it disappeared from where it was and reappeared deeper into the water. These river shadows must have been magical creatures like the spring hares, which also disappeared from one place to reappear in another, in order to evade capture.

Bahr tried again and again without success, leaping and bounding and splashing around in the water, scaring away the fish that approached. Elha kept a close watch on the bears which were taking no interest whatever in the group of wolves upstream of them. Meanwhile Shadow, followed by the pups, was again wading out into the running stream.

On seeing one of the legless silvery creatures approach, Shadow raised both her forepaws and pounced directly on top of its slippery, writhing form before dipping her head below the water and snapping off the head in a single swift movement, crunching the soft bones and swallowing them. This time, remembering her manners, Shadow picked up the body of the fish and bounded over to where Elha still stood sentinel and laid the headless body before her.

Elha, sniffing curiously at the strange form, was not sure what to make of it. Cleary it was food, however, so Elha wasted no time in devouring the strange meat, crunching the soft bones and flesh. Shadow stood before her elfa, head lowered, and forepaws extended. Dismissed with a snort, she returned to the river where the pups were cavorting in the waters, half playing half trying to catch a fish as Shadow had done.

Shadow caught many more fish that day and the pups, between them, even managed to trap one, before falling upon it to make their competed claim to the new kind of food they had discovered. A kind of food that made it easier for pups to consume quickly, hardly needing to chew or tear at the soft flesh, devouring the skin and bones in no time. Elha and Bahr too, were able to feast on fish, but neither managed to catch any. For Shadow appeared to be the only one of them that understood the fishes’ magical tricks and only she seemed to be able to defeat them. On this day, Shadow became the provider of food for the family, and took no more than her fair share. Only after offering the alfa-pair their right to feed first, did Shadow presume to feed herself and her new-found siblings.

And so it was that Shadow became one of the family. Without any thinking, without any planning, she just melded into the routine of waking, patrolling, sleeping, hunting, eating, feeding the pups. In some ways, Elha resented the way that Shadow had joined the pack, without being bidden, without asking. In other ways she accepted her as a younger sibling, a pup almost, to join her own brood.

Bahr questioned nothing. To have a third adult wolf join their little group of wolves, their mini pack, meant the difference between bringing down a prey animal and going hungry. For so small and so slight a wolf, Shadow was always there when she was needed. To stalk, to track and to kill. The feeling of Shadow belonging to his pack was mingled with the feeling that he had a full stomach, albeit full of a strange meat that did not sit as well within as the meat of a deer or elk. Yet his stomach was full, in no small part due to the arrival of the white wolf. As far as Bahr was concerned, Shadow was now a part of the family.

Coming soon: the 14th and final chapter.

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