cursed, he would love to have that most sneaky wolf put down right now, but he knew he could have his pack search for him the whole month and never found a thing. If the black wolf did not want to be found, no one can even smell his presence. Besides, Karani knew that the ‘Assassinator’ will eventually appear, once all his other pack mates had been dealt with.

The black wolf did not return, and Dakea and some of the more influential wolves were putting the pack together, and calming those who freaked out while tend to those injured.

“None of them are killed, sir,” Dakea reported as the alpha approached, “They are just plainly unconscious, not sure what that Assassinator did to them, probably knocked them out with an extremely painful strike, but nothing more serious than that.”

“How many?” asked Karani, but it was as if he cared more about the number of soldiers he would have in the battle that would follow rather than the welfare of his own loyal followers.

“Including the two trapped in the hole? That makes it four.” Dakea reported, on his face showed concern, but his alpha intentionally chose not to notice.  “They are very vulnerable to our enemies right now, especially with the ‘Assassinator’ around. Perhaps we should get them to a safe place before we proceed on our march?”

“Nonsense!” snapped Karani without even considering, “We need all we can spare to take down our hated enemies, they are wicked, and skilled in running and striking in the dark – even if it is morning right now!”

“But sir, we can’t leave them to the enemies out here!” Dakea protested, another wolf that accompanied the Beta nodded supportively.

The argument last for quite a while, the Beta stood firm in his position, he insisted strongly that they must never abandon their pack mates even if they were to delay a greater course. Karani the alpha, on the other hand, thought only about the attack he issued and led. He wanted there to have no mistake on his entire raiding plan.

Wolves gathered around uneasily and watched as the debate heated. Just as some began to expect blood to be shed, their leader slapped Dakea, silenced him, and roared, “Shut up! This is getting ridiculous! We have already lost our precious element of surprise! The ‘Assassinator’ no doubt is racing for his collaborators to warn them of our presence, if he hasn’t reached them already!” He turned to stare his Beta with a pair of rage-filled eyes. “And, to satisfy your… concerns for our pack… pick two of the wolves of your wish, and stay. Watch over them, just like how you so wished.” He turned away and rallied the wolves himself.

Dakea wanted to help his alpha on the frontline, he was, nevertheless, a fighter worthy of his claws and fang, and he was the Beta of the pack, the second most influential wolf in the pack, his presence would be useful to the entire pack. But his alpha had made it clear.

He did not turn away from Karani’s fiery eyes. And within them he got the message. It was an order, and if he tries to object once more, his alpha would tear him apart. Confused, he sighed and went on to obey the command that was so harshly forced upon him.

Sighing, he chose two of the wolves that showed equal concern for their fallen comrades, one silver and the other dark brown, and left the main crowd.

Karani did not even spare a second to glance at the wolves his Beta chose to stay with him. “March forth!” He issued, and all had a shiver down their spine as they felt the anger and determination in his voice.

The Assassinator had dealt a serious blow to Karani’s force. Before the battle was even start, they had lost a big part of their number. But this only infuriate the crazed alpha even more, the expression he wore as he led his pack members into the enemies’ territory would scared away any birds on the branches without even making a sound.

They had a stealthy and uneventful march for the next few minutes. The surrounding woods were unnervingly quiet, but to the wolves that had gone through two times of narrow escape, the serenity only increased their anxiety. Every tree, every rock, seemed to house a hidden trap, and every shadow seemed to have an ‘Assassinator’ behind them.  But, trained soldiers as they were, they would not allow such pathetic reasons to stop them from their track and their orders.

It was six minutes since they had start off when something disturbed their quite march. One of the scouts that scouted ahead came rushing back, she urgently reported that she picked up two scents of wolf, but they had the unmistakable dog scent mingled in them.

“I suspect they are wolf-dogs,” reported the female scout wolf, “Also, their scents are highly alike, and it took me a good whole minute to decide that they are two separate beings instead of one. By this case, I also believe they are twins, or at least related to each other.”

Karani stepped forth, his eyes stared intensely at the scout and made her swallowed under his piercing graze. “Is any of the scents familiar to you? Are those you smell our targets? Or perhaps they are just some other twisted mutts happened to live in this place?”

The scout took a step backward under the iron stare of her alpha, “The scents were almost identical. But I was sure that I had smelled, at least, one of them back in our territory. If I am not mistaken, it should be the scent of the wolf-dog our rival’s alpha brought to us for negotiation before the war.”

The scout before his was one of the best in his pack even back in the days when his pack was a complete one. She had the enviable ability to remember all the scents she had ever detected and distinguish them in mere seconds; she was even able to recall the name or title of the owner of the scent.

“And the other scent? Is it a familiar one?” asked Karani sternly, and not necessary in a kind tone.

A sign of fear touched the surface of the she-wolf’s otherwise emotionless face, “No, no sir. I have never pick up that other scent. Though they are highly alike, I can swear I’ve never smell scents that similar before.”

Karani eyed this scout wolf with renewed interest. He knew every wolf that followed him across the plain for the hunt, but this wolf just daringly suggested something that would well cost her life. “You are actually suggesting they have, somehow, found some distance relatives here?”

The scout gulped, “Yes.” Despite the pressure her alpha exerted upon her, she held firm to her view, she trusted her senses.  

“And perhaps this also means that we would have something… extra, to fight?” 

“Yes sir. It’s… it’s not for sure… but… it’s possible.” The scout stammered.

Karani pondered for a moment, if their enemies had somehow acquired help from the wolves or dogs or whatever canine that lived in this area, there would be no telling how many Karani and his remaining pack members would have to fight and destroy.

It doesn’t matter. Whoever sided with the demons that caused the downfall of my pack don’t really need to be punished the same way those Valley’s Ends must suffer. He decided after much debate with himself, all we need is to punish those who broke my pack, and leave.

“We march forth, no matter what.” He told the scout, “Pass the message down that we will only tend to those who destroyed the harmonic balance of our once invincible pack and ultimately caused its downfall, ignore the others as best as we could.” We can entertain them later… He added in his thoughts with a wicked smile.

The two almost identical wolf-dogs returned to cause disorders in Karani’s pack almost as soon as they start their march again. They leaped around and causing confusion among Karani’s wolves. Sometimes they got dangerously close and tried to land scratches on some of the wolves. But Karani’s battle seasoned wolves responded fast, they calmed down, and had their eyes focused on the intruders, all in mere seconds.

That was the time when the two wolf-dogs started to retreat back; they ran back the way they came, darting among trees and jumping around making Karani’s wolf having trouble locating them. But still, the wolves gave chase with great discipline and vigilance when as Karani gave the order to do so, splitting into two groups by an unvoiced understanding of each other’s notion.

The two wolf-dogs led them into the denser part of the forest, moving in tricky ways, swapping positions, running into bushes, trying to lose the pursuers. Karani’s wolves responded with supreme agility, swapping targets without looking at the other group at all.

Before they caught any of the two wolf-dogs, Karani ordered them to stop. Most of his wolves were confused by the order, but all of them reacted to the command immediately. Looking around, they found themselves in the middle of a dense forest, snow-covered, silent, and potentially deadly.

“Spread up into small groups of two and sniff out their dwellings! If you catch their trails going out of this region, send an alert, Dakea and his wolves back there should be able to take care of them.”

 

Chapter 12: Cornered

“They’re sniffing around our territory now, in no time they will find us. Does that go with your plan?” Balto asked rather harshly as he and his brother returned to the rendezvous point where the white wolf Lyya was waiting. Usually for Balto, he would not speak that way to someone he barely knew, but being chased by a group of

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