stepped forward.

“Yes it does,” Talkeet said. “This is the only way.”

“No.” Aleu said. “Talkeet please.”

“Don’t Aleu.” Talkeet said, continuing to step forward. “Don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

Aleu gritted her teeth, and wiped the tears away from her eyes

“If you think I’m just going to take this lying down, you’re wrong. I’ll fight you as long as there is life in my body.” Aleu said.

“As I knew you would.” Talkeet said, continuing to walk forward, until he stood right before Aleu.

Then he stopped.

“So this is the way it is.” Aleu said.

Talkeet nodded.

“So be it.” Aleu said.

She took a step back.

A fire blazed in Talkeet’s eyes, a fire that Aleu was all too familiar with.

“Shade!” She said.

Talkeet jerked once, and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, they were red.

“Aleu.” He said.

Aleu shivered.

“Aniu give me strength.” She said quietly.

Then Talkeet attacked.

Aleu managed to block his first attack, but the second caught her in the face and threw her across the room.

She struggled to her feet, and watched, as Talkeet advanced at an impossible speed.

One moment he was standing across the chamber from her, and the next he was right in front of her.

Talkeet grinned, and hit her in the face four times, before turning her around, and kicking her with both his back legs, throwing her through the air, across the room, and into the other wall, which cracked on the impact.

She slid to the floor.

Talkeet smiled and walked over to her.

“You’re no match for me.” Talkeet said. “I don’t think Aniu much likes you.”

Aleu glared at him, as blood ran down her face from a cut above her eye.

“Actually, Talkeet continued, walking forward. “That may be the problem, you see, maybe she likes you too much, maybe she wants you to be with her.”

Talkeet laughed.

“I don’t think I know you.” Aleu said, malice quite evident in her voice.

She struggled to stand up, fell, and stood up again, this time, making it to her feet.

“You… you will fail…”

She coughed a couple of times, took a moment to recover, and continued.

“…evil will never triumph.”

Even though Aleu appeared to be strong and determined, inside she was falling apart.

“It’s not possible,” Aleu thought, “Aniu, I can’t do it, he’s too strong, too fast.”

Suddenly Aleu felt a great calm come over her.

“Trust me... …my child.”

“Aniu?” Aleu said.

“Yes,” Talkeet said. “You’ll see her soon enough.”

Talkeet bit down on Aleu’s throat.

Aleu knew this was it, and though she was sad, she was at peace, and had accepted it.

Dash walked out into the cave.

“I’ve got to go see June.” Dash thought.

He stepped into the main chamber, and all thoughts of going to see June left him.

“Oh my… God.”

He ran into the middle of the chamber.

There were eight dead wolves in the middle of the chamber, and they were all torn apart.

“Talkeet.” Dash thought.

He walked toward the pathway to the shelves of rocks.

He stopped, and saw Lightning.

“Oh no…” Dash said.

He ran over to his friend.

Blood was plastered across his face, and ran out of his mouth.

He coughed.

“Lightning?!” Dash said, as he knelt down beside his friend.

Lightning tried to say something, and wound up coughing so much that Dash couldn’t understand him.

“What?” Dash asked.

Lightning coughed again, and took a minute to gather some strength.

“Aleu.” He choked out.

Dash stood up, and patted Lightning’s shoulder.

Then he looked up toward Aleu’s chamber.

“Talkeet.” He said, then he ran up toward the shelves of rock, which led to Aleu’s chamber’s.

Talkeet drug Aleu up to the edge of the open part of the chamber.

“Look,” Talkeet said. “look at this.”

Aleu watched, as the battle unfolded before her. Shadow and his team were pushing the Uniea force back.

“Looks like you’re losing.” Aleu said.

“Yes, I was expecting that…” Talkeet said.

A new flood of wolves suddenly charged Shadow’s group from behind.

“Oh, no,” Aleu said, “Shadow!”

Talkeet laughed.

“Too bad he can’t hear you.”

A tear ran down Aleu’s face.

She watched, as the battle drastically shifted, as Shadow tried to fight what had now turned into a two front battle.

The Storme clan maneuvered around Shadow’s units, and then began to push them back into the cave.

Talkeet threw Aleu into the middle of the chamber.

“Now, it’s time for you to go home.” Talkeet said.

He walked over to Aleu, and drew his paw back, intending to bring it down, and end Aleu’s life.

“TALKEET!”

He stopped, and turned.

“Dad?”

Dash looked furious.”

“Talkeet, what are you doing?!”

Talkeet glared at his father, as he turned away from Aleu and started to walk toward Dash.

“I’m doing what must be done, she must die.”

“Talkeet, listen to yourself.” Dash said.

“Stand back, let me do this,” Talkeet said. “I don’t want to have to kill you.”

“Talkeet Please!” Dash said. “Listen to yourself, to what you are saying!”

Talkeet laughed.

Dash shook his head.

“You’re not even my son anymore, you’re… you’re someone else.”

He sighed.

“If I must, I will fight you, unlike you, my loyalties are not swayed.”

“Do your worst.” Talkeet said. “I can beat you.”

“It is you who will be beaten.” Dash said.

“You will try.” Talkeet said, then he rushed his father.

Dash darted out of the way.

“Talkeet, look at what you are doing, I’m your father!”

Talkeet glared at Dash.

“You don’t love me, when I tried to tell you what I believed, how I felt, you turned against me, you all did, and now you will all pay for your uncaring behavior.”

Talkeet rushed him again.

This time, Dash wasn’t quite fast enough, and Talkeet’s attack scored a hit on his jaw.

Dash fell to the ground.

“One.” Talkeet said menacingly.

A tear came to Dash’s eye, as he recognized Talkeet’s allusion to the way they scored hits during sparring matches, during the training Talkeet had undergone as a pup.

Dash got to his feet and shook his head.

“I’m sorry son. Somewhere along the line I’ve failed you. I don’t know how… but..”

Dash dodged again, as Talkeet charged yet again.

Dash’s next move caught Talkeet completely off guard.

He attacked.

Several vicious swipes of his paw contacted Talkeet’s face, and the young wolf flew through the air, and rolled a few times.

“Talkeet, come to your senses!” Dash yelled.

“Why don’t you!” Talkeet said, as he attacked yet again.

Dash dodged the attack and hit Talkeet again.

Talkeet shook his head.

“If it’s a fight you want old wolf, it’s a fight you’ve got.”

Then he and Dash charged one another, meeting in the middle of the chamber.

Shadow had no idea what to do.

The enemy was everywhere.

They were behind, in front… everywhere.

His force was slowly being whittled down to nothing.

He dodged another attack, and sent the wolf flying backwards with a kick.

This wasn’t going to work.

Shadow sighed.

Then he turned to his few soldiers.

“Fall back into the cave.”

“… but sir,” one of the young wolves said. “they’re there too.”

“I know,” Shadow said, “that’s why we’re going up.”

The wolf looked upward to the View, far above them.

“Can… can we do that sir?”

“We have to,” Shadow said. “We have to…”

Talkeet stumbled backwards, under another fierce attack by his father.

An especially strong attack landed on his left front leg, and Talkeet felt it give way, as it broke.

He fell to the ground.

Both he and his father were covered in wounds, some small, some not so.

Dash limped over to Talkeet.

His son didn’t move.

“Talkeet?”

Talkeet’s vision was blurry, and he felt dizzy.

Talkeet was aware of a vague pain in his head.

His thoughts were a little jumbled.

“Why did you have to do this?!” Dash yelled, as he watched his son struggle to stand.

“You were the best! Where did I go wrong?! What did I do?!”

Talkeet said nothing.

Dash shook his head, and walked over to Aleu.

Talkeet was dying.

The last time he’d fallen, he’d hit his head on the rock too hard… he was bleeding to death.

“It’s not fair.” Talkeet thought. “It’s not fair, Aleu…”

Talkeet stopped and thought of Aleu.

Gradually, as he thought back to the times they’d spent together when he was but a pup, when he’d decided to join Shadow’s team, all the times that