respect that such a billet deserves.”

Still more cheering.

Talkeet smiled.

“With my leadership, we will take down the Talbourne, and then true peace will come to the wolves in Alaska, to the world!”

Talkeet paused.

“Our first target is the Storme clan. They have been aiding the Talbourne, and have refused my offer of negotiations, we strike tomorrow!”

The wolves cheering grew to near deafening volume, as Talkeet and Gareth, as well as the remainder of the units, dispersed, and walked away.

Aleu walked carefully through the forest.

She hated to be out here, as she presented a prime target for the Uniea, but the clan had to have food, and she was leading the hunting party.

Timbre and Dash were walking alongside her.

Shadow had made it clear, once he gave in to Aleu’s stubbornness about coming out here in the first place, that the entire two units would accompany her, in case of any conflict.

Aleu suddenly noticed that the forest had grown very quiet…

… too quiet.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and Timbre was in front of her.

Aleu felt warm fluid, an all too familiar feeling, splash on her face, as Timbre collapsed to the ground.

Dash was instantly on top of the hunter.

One glance at the infuriated wolf, and the twenty or thirty behind him, was enough to convince the hunter that he needed to get out of there, and he ran away.

“I think he’s gone Aleu.” Dash said, as he ran back over to her.

“Aleu?”

Dash stopped beside Aleu.

She was crouched before Timbre, tears in her eyes.

“Oh no…” Dash said.

Chapter 10

Talkeet walked down into the lower levels of the cave.

It was early in the morning, and the prisoner they’d taken from the Storme clan was proving to be uncooperative.

Gareth had come to get him, to inform him of this, and Talkeet had decided to talk to him.

Gareth was waiting at the door to the chamber where the wolf was being kept.

“Good to see you Talkeet.”

“How’s he doing?” Talkeet asked.

“We’ve been working him over for the last two hours, but he won’t say a word.”

“What’s his name?” Talkeet asked.

“We don’t know.” Gareth said. “He hasn’t told us anything.”

Talkeet nodded.

“You leave that to me.” Talkeet said, as he walked into the chamber.

It was a gray wolf, and he was in pretty bad shape. Evidently Gareth and his unit had been doing their jobs quite well.

Talkeet walked over to him.

“What’s your name?”

The wolf spit at him.

“You won’t get a word from me traitor!”

Talkeet looked at his paw, and shook the spit off it.

“So you’ve heard of me?”

“Shadow wants you dead, he’s told all his allies that you are to be killed on sight.”

Talkeet nodded.

“I figured as much.”

“Just kill me and get it over with.” The wolf snarled. “As I said, you won’t get a word out of me.”

Talkeet sighed.

“Can you just tell me your name?”

The wolf remained silent.

“You know,” Talkeet said, “that as the Alpha of this clan, that I can have you killed, right now, correct?”

The wolf nodded.

“Look,” Talkeet said, “I don’t want to hurt any of you, but I can make life very easy for you, or very, very difficult, it’s all up to you.”

“Look…” The wolf started, but Talkeet cut him off.

“I know, I won’t get a word out of you.”

Talkeet paused.

“Do you even know why Shadow is mad at me?”

“You’re going to kill Aleu.” The wolf said.

“Probably, you’re right,” Talkeet said, “but do you know why?”

The wolf shook his head.

“Well let me enlighten you.’ Talkeet said.

He paused.

“You know it’s really hard to talk to someone without knowing their name, can you at least give me that?”

The wolf sighed.

“Hiruam.”

“There,” Talkeet said, “that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

The wolf remained silent.

“Well, Hiruam, I’ve seen the light. The late leader of this clan, Daie pointed out what I should have seen long, long ago, when this bloody conflict first started… peace is an illusion. You think you’re fighting for peace Hiruam?”

Talkeet laughed.

“You’re not fighting for peace, you, like I was a few months ago, are simply fighting so that the next time your Alpha doesn’t agree with someone, she, or he, your Alpha’s a he isn’t it?”

Hiruam nodded.

“At any rate, so that he can just declare war, ‘in the name of peace’ and wipe them out. That my friend is not peace.”

Talkeet paused, and Hiruam still said nothing.

“Don’t you see?” Talkeet said, his voice growing louder. “They don’t care about us. Oh sure, they appear to, they look all sad and heartbroken when we suffer losses, but in the back of their minds they’re already thinking of how their next attack will go. You think that your Alpha is going to try to rescue you?”

Hiruam started to speak, then decided against it.

“I was in your place one time, and my pack, my Alpha, my family abandoned me for dead, didn’t even see if I was alive. Your Alpha will do the same thing, because at heart, they’re all the same.”

Talkeet sighed.

“They… they try to appear sad, but… but they don’t care… They put on their little show for the pack, talking about how sad they are that you’re gone, but that you died defending the pack, defending freedom… what freedom? I was a Lieutenant, as you probably know, in my clan… I saw so many of my fellow wolves die fighting what I thought was the enemy, but… but I learned that I was the enemy. That’s why I have to, and will try my hardest to, kill Aleu, and anyone that chooses to try to bring her way of ‘leading’ back into the wolf world. Don’t you see? If I am successful, true peace will come to the wolf race, they’ll be no more wars against each other, because we’ll all be one clan… one family.”

“If all of us were united, instead of just always fighting one another… just imagine what we could achieve! No human would stand in our way, in fact… if we wanted, we could wipe them off the face of this earth. The world sure would be a better place for it.”

Talkeet looked straight at the wolf.

“All I need to do is take down the leader, sever the head, and leave the body as intact as possible. Don’t you see? They’ve been blinded and corrupted by the power they wield, by pride, and they are so afraid to give it up, that they will sacrifice however many of us it takes to keep it.”

Talkeet paused.

“Please, just give me a time when he’s alone, I’ll go by myself, I assure you, your family and friends will not be harmed, only the leader.”

Hiruam sighed.

“Talkeet, as much as I don’t want it to, what you say makes sense, I… I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

The wolf looked Talkeet straight in the eyes.

“You can promise me you won’t hurt my family?”

Talkeet nodded.

“I give you my word.”

Hiruam sighed again.

“Kitok spends the evenings outside the cave, alone, if you’re going to strike, that would be the time.”

Talkeet smiled.

“Thank you Hiruam, your help is most appreciated.”

Talkeet stood up, and walked to the entrance to the chamber.

“Gareth?”

Gareth ran up beside Talkeet.

“Yes sir?”

“Kill him.” Talkeet said.

“But… but sir….” Gareth stammered.

Talkeet cut him off.

“He talked, we can’t afford to have someone like that in our clan, do what you have to do.”

This last statement was clearly an order.

Gareth sighed.

“Yes sir.”

The young wolf turned and walked back inside the chamber.

Talkeet began to walk back up to the ground level of the cave.

Suddenly he heard a yell.

“Talkeet! Talkeet you double crossing traitor! I can’t believe I helped you!”

Talkeet smiled as he continued walking up to the next level of the cave.

“I can’t believe I…”

Hiruam’s voice was cut short, and Talkeet heard several yelps of pain, then… silence.

He smiled again, and chuckled to himself as he entered the ground level of the cave.

Chapter 11

Melody was standing in the main chamber.

She’d just gotten off of sentry duty, and she was very tired.

Just as she was about to head back to her chamber’s however, she heard approaching footsteps.

She turned around, and saw Dash run into the cave, followed by Aleu.

Aleu was very upset.

Dash ran over to Melody.

He was out of breath.

“Sis, maybe you should leave.”

“What’s going on Dash, What happened?” Melody asked, concern evident in her voice.

“I don’t think you’re going to want to see this.” Dash said.

“See what…” Melody started.

Her voice trailed off as another of the wolves ran into the cave and on his back was…

“Timbre!” Melody