Cursed and Blessed.

How Lunitone received her scars and what happened to her family. (These chapters ARE from my developing book!!! Don't Copy!!!)

Chapter One: Barely Escaped

"Run, run! They've come; they've come to kill us!" the elder of the wolves screamed to his pack.

"No!" commanded a younger male wolf, "We shall stay and fight! Lunairia did not create us to be cowards!" Some of the wolves stayed with the young male, while the rest fled. The fleeing wolves yipped and whined in fear and pain as they listened to their bretheren being slaughtered by man. One couple, a tan female and dark brown male, seperated from the rest, and ran as fast as they could down a hill and into the creek below. As they started to cross the creek, they heard the thunderous sounds of gunshots going off, and the yelps of the rest that fled with older male as they were killed.

"Keep moving Tilania," the brown male urged his mate, "They'll catch us if we stop."

"I'm tired though Jukula," the tan wolf, Tilania whined, "You know I tire easily now," the she-wolf glanced quickly at her stomach, and the dark brown male, Jukula, understood.

"I know," he urged, nudging Tilania's shoulder softly towards the other side of the creek, "But for their sake, keep moving, or they shall never see Lunairia or Sulanei."

The two wolves crossed the creek and up the other side of the hill, and looked at their once wonderful home. Their territory was guarded by many trees of all sorts, and in the middle of it all, a large clearing of green grass and a lake. There was also a large enough cave for the whole pack to stay in. Their pack was different from the other wolf packs, they let any female have pups, and not just the alpha. But ever since Radikin, the young wolf who ordered the others to stand and fight, killed one of the man's dogs, they were hunted down. Finally, the men have found their den, and slew most of the wolves of their pack. Tilania and Jukula were the only wolves, that they knew of right now, that survived the slaughter. The two continued on through the bush and tree maze of the forest. Jukula looked up and saw the sun was setting, and the sky was colored a blood red color.

"Sulanei knows what has happened," he mumbled, "He has taken the spilt blood of our dead members, and has spread it across the sky for everyone to see. He knows now that us, the children of Lunairia, are becoming weak, and are being used for sport. Let us hope he doesn't send the Usuril clan upon us this night," and he trotted up next to Tilania's side and walked with her far away from their dead forest.

They walked on until Tilania could not go on much further. They were about ten miles away from their old territory and needed a new one. They stopped at a nearby river that was as black as the moonless sky above them, and drank its contents. The water was so cold and wonderful and was as fresh as a deer fawn's blood. They drank their fill and laid down next to the sandy river bank to rest. Their full bellies weakened some of their hunger and stregthened their drowziness. Tilania placed her head on her paws and closed her heavy eyelids, and immediately feel asleep. Jukula, was about to do the same thing, but he remembered the humans, and faught the tiredness in his eyes.

Soon, he gave in and rested his head on his mate's neck and feel asleep with her.

When Jukula awoke, it was morning and Tilania was still asleep. He sighed in relief that they survived the night without anything finding them. He stood up and stretched out, arching his back with his snout high in the air. He shook his fur and sniffed the air for any danger. Nothing. He nudged Tilania's cheek softly enough to wake her up. Her blue and red eyes appeared from the opening eyelid and she stared at him. She smiled tiredly and got up too, strectching out and shaking her fur. They both took a quick drink of water and walked on, hoping to find a new home. They walked through a dense forest. The floor was dotted with wild flowers, and little streams of sunlight were piercing through the tree leaves above their heads. They finally came to an opening where a large open field stretched out for miles. It was like the one at their old territory, but bigger. Jukula looked around, and sniffed to see if it was clear. As he looked left, he saw some rocks, and soon a mountain about five miles away from the field.

He trotted across the field with Tilania at his heels, toward the mountain. Once he arrived, the way was blocked by a six story high rock slide pile. Some of the rocks were jagged and sharp, but the rest were round, flat, and easy to walk on. He placed his front paw on one stone, and climbed upward. He turned and looked at his mate.

"Follow every step I take Tilania," he ordered, "I'll choose the easier route up so you don't slip."

Tilania nodded and followed his every step. If he jumped to one rock, she jumped to the same rock when he was out of the way. After climbing five stories of rocks, they looked up upon a solid rock wall in their way. In between them and the wall, was a thrity foot deep trench with rocks at the bottom. Whether the rocks were sharp or not neither of them could tell, all they knew was that no one would survive the fall.

"Lets go back Jukula," Tilania begged, looking at her mate's disappointed look, "We can always find another place to live," but he wouldn't buge. He looked left, then right. Jukula smiled in happiness and success. Tilania looked at what he was smiling at, and saw a long chunk of thick rock laying across their side of the trench, all the way to the top of the wall, serving as a bridge. Jukula leapt from rock to rock in happiness towards the rock bridge, and Tilania leapt also a few times, and then walked the rest of the way. Jukula placed one paw on the rock bridge and put all his weight onto that paw, seeing if the bridge would hold. He jumped on the bridge, and walked slowly to the middle and stood there. Tilania whined in worry, and laid her ears back against her head.

"It's alright Tilania," Jukula said, walking back to her and jumping off, "It'll hold. You go first."

Tilania climbed up onto the hunk of stone slowly, and stood up hesitantly. She walked forward slowly, one paw after the other, and got to the other side. Jukula then got on the bridge and trotted over to the other side without hesitation, and jumped down next to her.

"One more story to go," he smiled at her, and she sighed in grief.

"May we rest for a while?" Tilania asked, panting as her tongue hung out to the side.

"Sure, why not?" he replied, laying down on a rock next to his mate. She laid down also, and breathed heavily from exhaustion. She looked up at the blue sky and stared at the white fluffly clouds and remembered what their old pack would do on days like this. They would play, lay next to the lake, and hunt for big game. Hunt. That thought suddenly came to her and she looked at Jukula.

"What're we going to do for food?"

Jukula's eyes widened with rememberence, and his ears lowered in sadness. He had forgotten all about food since they were looking for a safer place to be.

"I'm not sure," he admitted, "Maybe there's some game in the forest, hopefully," he got up and jumped to a rock and looked at Tilania, "We better get going now," and he climbed over more rocks, with Tilania following him every step of the way. Jukula jumped from one rock to another, and found a flat stone floor in front of him about three miles wide and long. The stone platue had a short and chubby rock near the edge of the cliff that was large enough for a wolf or two to sit on and look at the field below. There was also a cave in the wall of the mountain at the other end of the platue. It would serve as a home for him and Tilania until they get rested up.

"Guess we'll rest here for tonight," he said, trotting up to the cave and sniffing it, "The cave seems to be abandoned, so we'll have no trouble with intruders, hopefully," he added.

Tilania walked into the cave first and layed down upon the dirt ground in relief. Her paws ached from the climbing and walking; and so she licked her tired muscles to relax them, and she went to sleep eagerly with her head on her paws. Jukula looked at her and smiled. Her stomach grew bigger everyday, and it wouldn't be too long before the puppies arrived. he sat down next to her sleeping form and sat guard, in case any wolverines came in to claim the cave as their own.

"One territroy falls," Jukula mumbled to himself, "and another is born; and so is life."

Chapter Two: Prey for the Pack

The next morning, after getting his sleep, Jukula went out to look for any sign of food for Tilania and himself. He'd been searching for quite some time before he came across the scent of deer. He followed the scent, with ears laying on his head, and his body in a straight line to make himself less visible. He stopped at a bush and heard the grunts bellows of two bucks fighting for territory. He sneaked closer for a better look and saw the two deer. One was a jouvinile, with only ten points on his antlers, while the other was more older with fifteen points on his antlers. The younger one bleated at the older one and pawed at the ground with its hooves. The second bleated back, accepting the challenge, and also pawed at the ground, swaying