head.

“Know what?” Dash said, as he walked into the chamber.

Shadow sighed.

 

Dash couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe what Shadow had told him.

He walked toward his chambers in a daze.

Talkeet, his son, dead?

It didn’t seem possible.

Dash thought back to what Talkeet had said earlier that week.

He wondered if this was some kind of poetic justice.

Dash finally made it to the chamber, and stopped outside.

“What am I going to tell June, how…” He thought.

He sighed, and walked into the chamber.

June stood up as he walked in.

“Dash!”

She ran over to him.

“Oh! I’m so glad you’re alive!”

She nuzzled him.

“Shadow told me that the fighting was pretty intense where you were, and I was worried sick!”

She smiled.

“How’s Talkeet?”

Dash sighed.

“Honey…. I…. I don’t know how to tell you this…. but…. he didn’t make it.”

“What?” June said, as she stepped back.

Tears filled her eyes, and seeing her crying, made Dash unable to conceal his own grief any longer.

“You mean he’s….” June started, but was unable to finish the question.

Dash nodded.

“Oh no!” June said, tears streaming down her face.

She stepped forward, laid her head on Dash’s shoulder, and cried.

Dash cried with her.

After a minute or two, she stepped back from him.

“How?”

Dash sighed.

“I don’t really know, but the wolves he was with said that he fell of a bluff in a big fight.”

June looked shocked, her expression matched Dash’s.

She turned, and walked over to the wall, where the other children were sleeping.

June fell on her side beside them.

Dash walked slowly over to her.

June rolled over onto her stomach, and put her head on her paws.

Dash laid down beside her, and put his paw on her shoulder.

June lifted her head, and looked at him.

“Hold me Dash.” She said.

Dash wrapped his leg around her shoulders, and pulled her close.

June buried her head in his shoulder.

They both cried.

 

Talkeet was thrown roughly into the chamber.

He hit the ground and rolled, smacking into the wall.

His two guards laughed, and took up their post with their friends outside.

Talkeet laid there and shook.

They’d asked him a lot of questions, none of which he had answered.

He couldn’t even remember what they were.

All he could remember was pain.

Talkeet didn’t know if he could stand up.

He decided to try, and found he was right.

He couldn’t.

He just settled for rolling over, and licked the blood from his shoulder.

Among other things, they had opened up the wound he’d gotten when he’d hit the boulder.

It stung.

He continued to care for himself as best as he could, and thought of what everyone must think happened to him.

They probably thought that he was dead.

That made the possibility of rescue very bleak.

Talkeet shuddered,

He didn’t know how long he could keep this up, if he could keep silent next time.

They’d asked him a lot of questions about Aleu, and he thought that they were trying to find a way to attack her directly.

Talkeet had buried that information deep in his mind, but it was only a matter of time before he broke.

He knew they wouldn’t kill him, they’d just hurt him; hurt him again, and again, until he talked.

He shuddered again, and closed his eyes.

Even though he was hurting, his exhaustion took over, and soon he was sleeping….

 

Talkeet was roughly woken up by his captors the next morning.

“Daie wants to see you.” One of them said.

The other laughed.

“Yeah, he said something about playing with you today.”

The wolf’s friend cracked up.

“That’s a good one Ralph, play!”

His expression turned to one of sternness.

“Now move it.”

Talkeet hung his head, and walked out of the chamber.

 

“So, what should we talk about today?” The red wolf said, as he stood in front of Talkeet.

He took a step forward, and smiled.

“I know, I’ll let you go, right now, all you have to do Talkeet is give me a time when Aleu will be alone. “

Talkeet glared at the wolf.

“I’ll never talk Daie, you might as well just kill me!”

Daie laughed.

It was an evil sounding laugh.

“Oh, I can assure you you’ll want to…”

He stepped forward again.

“Tell me Talkeet, just one time, I’ll let you go…. when will Aleu be alone?”

“I’ll take that information to my grave.” Talkeet said.

“We’ll see…” Daie said.

He nodded, and the two wolves that had been guarding him walked up beside him.

The fat one walked around in front of him.

Then he belted Talkeet in the mouth.

Talkeet felt blood in his mouth.

He shook his head, just as the wolf hit him again.

Talkeet didn’t know if he could remain standing. And fell, as the wolf hit him again.

Talkeet struggled to his feet.

The wolf to the side of him, hit him in the side of the head, and then bit his shoulder.

Talkeet screamed.

He threw the wolf off of him, and was rewarded with four more strong blows to the face from the other guard.

The guard that he’d thrown, stood up, ran over, and hit him twice in the side of the head.

Then he bit the back of Talkeet’s neck, and spun around, throwing him face first into a big rock.

Talkeet folded.

He was breathing hard.

As he lay there, he saw a stream of blood running down his face and onto the ground.

Talkeet stood up, and licked his paw, wiping it over the wound.

He shook his head, and watched, as the two guards advanced on him, an evil grin plastered on their faces.

“So starts another day….” Talkeet thought.

 

 

Chapter Four

 

Talkeet was thrown, again, roughly into the chamber.

When he stopped rolling, he didn’t even bother getting up.

It hurt too much.

He just laid there.

He’d still managed to keep quiet.

It had been almost a week since he’d been captured.

Talkeet didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up.

Today had been awfully close.

Eventually they would break him, he’d talk, and Aleu would probably die for it.

He sighed, and found that hurt his sore ribs.

“They really worked me over today.” Talkeet thought.

He heard footsteps then, and voices.

One of them was female.

The other two, Talkeet recognized as the guards outside.

The third, he didn’t recognize.

“We’re done with her.”

The two guards laughed.

“You know,” the female said, “we are more than playthings.”

The third joined in the laughter then.

“Were sweetie, were….”

There was a pause, then the female again.

“Hey, Hey, get your paws off a me!”

Talkeet heard growling then, and a yelp.

“Mind your place,” The third wolf said.

The female didn’t respond.

“Does she even have a place?” The other wolves said, still laughing.

“No,” the third said, “no, I suppose she doesn’t.”

“I said, get your paws off of me!” the female said again, this time growling.

Talkeet heard the third wolf yelp in pain.

He smiled.

Then he heard the two guards join in, and the female yelped four times, then…. all was silent.

Talkeet stood up slowly.

A few minutes later, the third wolf’s voice came again.

“Hit me will ya, well, we’ll see how no food for the next few days changes your attitude.”

The two wolves laughed again.

Suddenly, a young gray female was thrown through the entrance to the chamber.

She hit the ground and rolled.

When she stopped, she was still.

Talkeet was afraid she was dead, but then he heard a whimpering sound.

He realized she was crying.

Talkeet walked over to her.

“Hey.”

She looked up at him, confusion of her face.

“Hi, who are you? You weren’t here when I left.”

“I’m their prisoner I suppose.” Talkeet responded.

“Me too.” She said.

“Are you okay?” Talkeet asked.

The female shook her head.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again.”

“What did they do to you, you’re… you’re bleeding.” Talkeet said, walking over to her.

The young wolf’s face was covered in scratches, that oozed blood.

She hung her head.

“Some of them are kind of rough….”

“What do you mean?” Talkeet asked.

“Well…” She started, unable to think of how to put it.

“The captured females are regarded as the packs playthings.”

“What?!” Talkeet said, standing up. “You can’t mean they…”

The female nodded.

“”They’ve killed two of them, I’m the only one left.”

“But… but that’s just wrong.” Talkeet said.

She nodded.

“Yes, it is.”

Talkeet didn’t know what else to say.

“Sometimes…” the female’s voice trailed off.

“Sometimes what?” Talkeet asked.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Well,” Talkeet said. “my mother always said that it was better to talk about things than to keep them inside.”

She sighed.

“Sometimes I think

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