leaving Quick. I love Hawk”

Quick opened his mouth but for once, he couldn’t think of a thing to say.

“I’m going to have pups soon. I’m not going to get caught up in something that’s going to get me killed. You should do the same... I’m sure Hiatus would take you back under his wing if you showed him you were loyal. Bring him Everest or something! Just think it over... it’s bad now and there’s no way you guys could win it. Hiatus and Hawk are just too powerful and they’re getting more help. Sure it’s bad now but once they’re finished, think about how great it’ll be! We won’t have to worry about a thing!”

Quick didn’t know what to say. She was the only family he had... but what she was saying was ridiculous. 

“Tosca... I-”

“Quick, what brings you here?”

Quick whipped around to see Hiatus. Quick opened his mouth to snarl something, but Hiatus hit him in the head with a paw, knocking him out cold.

Just around the corner, deeper in the woods, were Everest and Fly, happily asleep in the den with their new pups. Once the sun had reached the center of the sky, Everest finally opened his eyes, yawning widely. He smiled warmly when he saw Fly curled around his pups but as much as he wanted to stay, he needed to go back to his pack.

“I’ll see you later” Everest whispered softly, rising to his feet and nuzzling Fly one last time.

Fly smiled, mumbled a goodbye without opening her eyes and curled tightly around her pups. Everest smiled and slipped down the tunnel that led to outside. He peered around cautiously and once he was sure that no one was around, he stepped out into the bright early spring sun and turned toward the Aklark pack’s territory. He didn’t take two steps before he caught sight of another wolf, making him freeze until he recognized that it was Quick. The grey wolf was sulking back, tail and head low. 

“Quick? What’re you doing?”

Quick jumped but stood rigid when Everest approached.

“I uh... went to go see Tosca” Quick stammered, looking at the ground. 

Everest squinted and walked closer so he could see the other side of Quick’s face. His right eye was black and swollen shut.

“You found Hiatus instead”

“I don’t want to talk about it” Quick mumbled darkly as he started to head back to the Aklark territory. Everest stared after him suspiciously, but followed anyway. The two walked in silence for the rest of the way back, looking at the pines and shrubs around them instead of each other. Once they came to the territory line though, Everest had to pause, ears twitching. 

“What..?” Quick asked grumpily. “I don’t hear anything”

Quick and Everest made eye contact, eyes widening. No one rushed forward to greet them. The scouts weren’t guarding the territory line. Will wasn’t in sight. In unison, both jumped forward and raced toward where the pack was supposed to be. As they got closer, they could see that the pack was, in fact, there. But something was definitely wrong. Numerous wolves were laying on the ground, some in a coma-like sleep, others clutching their stomachs in pain. Will, among his sick pack members, saw Everest and Quick running and rushed forward to meet them. 

“What’s going on?!” Everest demanded.

“I don’t know!” Will cried, crazed look on his face. “Everything seemed fine until this morning! Then a few of the younger wolves said they didn’t feel good and the next thing we knew, half the pack’s on the ground shivering and rolling around in pain!”

Everest scanned the chaotic scene, spotting Tempest and Altea running back and forth, trying to figure out the source of the illness. Like Will had said, more then half of the pack was sprawled on the ground. The rest of the pack was either staying as close to their siblings as they could or staying as far away as possible in case the sickness was contagious. From what it looked like, Cedar was one of the sick wolves, explaining why the pack was so out of control. Willow however, was fine and on her feet, trying to comfort her mate.

“What do we do?!” Will moaned worriedly.

Everest bit his lip and thought. “Round up Odin and Comet and tell Altea and Tempest to keep working on finding something to fix this”

Will nodded, better off having something else he could focus on. With that, Everest turned to Quick, “And you separate the sick ones from the healthy. We don’t need anyone else catching this if it can spread”

Quick nodded and sprang off just as Will returned with Odin and Comet. 

“Alright Will, try to get some control of you father’s pack. Try to calm them down” Everest ordered, shouting out commands as fast as he could think them. “Odin and Comet, ask the sick ones what they’ve been doing and what they’ve eaten”

Will, Comet and Odin nodded without a word and leapt off to where they were needed. Everest grimaced at the mess unfolding before him, but clenched his jaw and rushed over to where Altea and Tempest were bustling around. 

“Do you know what’s going on yet?” Everest asked as Tempest rushed from a pup to one of the older pack members. 

“I have no idea” Tempest blurted, not stopping to talk. “I’ve never seen anything like this”

“Neither of us have” Altea added, rushing after Tempest. “But we’re figuring it out a little”

“How so?”

“Well we know you can’t tell when you’re sick until it gets bad enough to hurt. Then you get a sudden pain and it doesn’t go away. Then you get really cold and start shivering. And if you get even worse, you start to sleep”

“Sleep?”

Altea nodded somberly. “The ones that have are still alive... but most of them aren’t waking up”

Everest glanced over at the sleeping wolves, four of the packs youngest members, now separated from the rest of the sick wolves thanks to Quick. Odin and Comet rushed over to Everest, grabbing his attention. 

“We think we know where it came from...” Odin panted.

“All the sick wolves said they had gotten meat from them” Comet finished, pointing to the four sleeping wolves.

Everest trotted over, Comet and Odin in stride with him, and attempted to wake one of them.

“Hey kid”

At first there was no response. But once the golden wolf nudged the pup, the young wolf managed to open an eye.

“Where did you get the food from... the food from last night?”

Using all the strength the pup could muster, he pointed towards the woods. Everest grimaced. Now he knew exactly where the sickness had come from. The direction the pup had pointed at was near the trail that had brought Odin and Everest to the Aklark pack in the first place. When they had run away from the territory that Hiatus had taken over...

“Tempest!”

Tempest rushed over from wherever she had been, irritated look on her face. 

“I can’t be running over here every time you have an idea!” Tempest snapped. “I need to figure out-”

“I think we just did” Everest interrupted, motioning for Tempest to follow him.

Everest and Tempest sprinted off in the direction of the trail and soon enough, they stumbled upon the already eaten deer. Both approached cautiously. No strange smells hovered around. Nothing seemed visibly wrong. 

“Well we know where it came from” Everest offered, looking toward the Ublureak territory.

“But what is it?” Tempest wondered aloud. Both stepped forward, sniffing the deer, but nothing about it seemed strange. 

“Maybe they ate all of whatever ‘it’ was?” 

“Even if they did, there should be something left”

“Well it came from Hiatus...”

“Then it’s probably some kind of... food poison or something. But it doesn’t seem natural. It’s like something designed it. But maybe now we can try to figure out what to do about it. Eating grass is supposed to help with stomach problems...”

Tempest smirked, considering it and took off to collect some grass. Everest stayed for a moment, thinking to himself. Hiatus was getting better... he’d even gotten past Fly.

“Beautiful... isn’t it?”

Everest looked up. Arrow was leaning on a tree, grinning from under it’s shadow. There was no one else Everest hated as much. 

“Good detective work there” Arrow chuckled darkly. “I can’t believe that it took the brilliant Everest that long to figure it out”

“What do you want Arrow?” Everest growled, trying his best to hold is composure. 

“Me? I’ve got everything I want right now” Arrow grinned, standing and moving the get a better view of the Aklark pack. “A position of power, a mate that could’ve been yours and four pups that’ll be next in line to take over my role”

Everest had to hide a smile once he heard that. “Right....”

Arrow paused and frowned, seeing that his arrival didn’t seem to anger Everest the way he’d hoped. So instead, he pretended to look sadly over the devastation. 

“It’ll be a pity to see what could’ve been go to waste” Arrow stated. “They shouldn’t last to much longer”

Everest squinted and glared angrily. “Tempest is already