Star led Ivy through a nettle patch.  Neither of the two spoke, nor did either of them attempt to start a conversation.  Both were lost deep in thought.  Though autumn had arrived and dead leaves coated the ground, neither made a sound as they trotted along the border of Forest Pack territory.  A strong breeze ruffled the fur of the two females and caused the leaves to rustle overhead.  Ivy stopped and growled pleasurably.  She crouched and raised her back end into a play bow.  She pounced!  A rabbit leapt out of the undergrowth, and Star watched as Ivy chased the rabbit around and around.  Finally, she caught it.  The two shared the rabbit in silence.  

“Shouldn’t we be turning back now,” asked Ivy, speaking up for the first time.  “It’s getting dark.”

Star shook herself and her eyes seemed to lose the glazed look they had been accumulating in the silence.  “You’re right. Race ya back to the Cave!”  The two females set off, racing through the undergrowth, laughing.  They collapsed in a heap in front of the Cave, still laughing.  Thunder came out of the Cave to greet them.  His eyes were grave.

“Welcome back, Star.  I have some bad news.”  The tone of Thunder’s voice made Star’s laughter die on her lips.  Ivy sat up straighter as Thunder continued.

“Storm has been severely injured.  He will survive, but he is in pain.  He stepped in some sort of metal mouth and it clamped down on his foot.  The bone is not broken, by Moon’s estimate, but it will take time for him to recover.”  His voice was calm, but his eyes betrayed his anxiety. 

“Well,” said Star.  “Well, I’d suggest that we round up every wolf that is out of camp and get them to meet here.  We don’t want anyone else getting bitten by this… thing.  Second, we should send a small party of strong wolves to free Storm.  If any wolf cannot be found, we must assume that they have been bitten by the thing.  Finally, no wolf must be allowed to leave camp with out someone knowing where they are going.  We must mark the location of all the metal thingies and stay away from them, until further notice.”  Thunder nodded.

“It is a good plan, Sister,” he said in the same grave voice.  “It shall be carried out at once!”  The Pack leapt in to action.  Gale quickly began to organize a patrol to free Storm.  A bluish silver wolf, named River, began to take roll call.  Those not chosen to go on patrol began to dig a den for the injured Storm.  Three wolves were sent to tear a leg off of a recent kill for Storm, going slowly and carefully.  Thorn waited by excitedly, waiting for Gale to ask him to come on the patrol.  And though he realized that it would have to be a very select group of extremely strong and careful individuals, Thorn still hoped he would be chosen.  Suddenly a panicked River raced to Thunder’s side.

“Has anyone seen Cattail and Pond?”  River’s dark blue eyes scanned the camp for her adopted pups.

“Are they missing, River?” asked Thunder.

“Yes, Alpha.  Those two are no better than way-ward pups!”

“I’ll find them,” said Thorn loudly.  Conscious of the whole Pack staring at him, he continued in a softer voice, “I think I know where they might be.”

Thunder nodded.  “But you shouldn’t go out alone.  River, go with him.”  River nodded.  The two set off in the direction of the small pond near the Plain Pack border, Cattail’s favorite hideout.

Star insisted that she be allowed to come and rescue Storm.  “If you just pull him out, it might pull all the skin off his leg.  You need brains as well as brawn,” she said stubbornly. 

“All right,” Thunder replied.  “But you must be careful.”

“May I come too?” Ivy asked hopefully.

Thunder shook his head in amusement.  “No, you should probably stay here and dig Storm’s den.”

“Could I go and catch him some rabbits?”

“Ivy!  You just want to get out of camp, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Ivy said sheepishly.

“Well, you can go out and try to identify all the places where traps are located.  Take a companion in case you get bitten by one during your search.”

Ivy nodded.  A brownish wolf named Pine volunteered to go with her, but Owl pulled her back.

“Pine,” he growled in a low voice.  Ivy knew he didn’t mean for her to hear, but her ears were very sharp and she couldn’t help but to eavesdrop.  “Pine, you can’t go with that… that… that dog!  Dogs are traitors to us, to nature!  They betrayed the ancient ways by befriending, by serving—“

“Oh, be quiet, Brother,” Pine snapped.  “You’ve been going on about the ‘traitors’ ever since Thorn’s first hunt.  Get over it.  I’ll choose my own friends: don’t try to suck your ‘little sister’ into your ‘Dogs are Filth’ campaign.  I’m not a helpless pup anymore and I don’t need you to make my decisions for me.”

Owl looked affronted, then affectionately concerned.  “Now, dear Sister, don’t take it like that—“

“Oh, but Brother, how else am I to take it?  Like I have told you a thousand times, I am no longer a pup for you to control.  I am old enough to make my own decisions.”  Pine’s soft dark eyes gazed into Owl’s, until he had to look away.

“But Sister—“

“No, Owl.  I go where I choose, when I choose, with whom I choose.”  With this parting remark, Pine turned and trotted toward Ivy.  Owl stared after her, mute with disbelief.

The two she-wolves nodded to each other without a word, then trotted off to do their Alpha’s bidding.

*   *   *   *   *

Ivy sat down and panted.  She and Pine had patrolled nearly the whole territory, and had come across about ten traps.  Pine had nearly fallen prey to one, but she had managed to jump aside in time.  On an inspiration by Pine, the two females had closed each trap by sticking sticks into them so that they closed on the stick and were no longer a danger to passing wolves.  Ivy had carefully noted the exact location of each trap to report to Thunder.  In five of the traps they had found dead animals, like foxes and rabbits, caught by the neck and killed instantly.  It made Ivy’s stomach flip to think that Strangers, possibly the ones she used to live with, were the cause of these sad deaths.  Wolves did not flinch from killing, for they had to kill to survive.  However, they never took more than they needed and unnecessary death disgusted them.  Pine too was disgusted by the bodies and was eager to report them. 

“I think we’ve covered the whole territory, Pine.  Perhaps we should turn back now,” Ivy said.

“Sure, but shouldn’t we check the pond, over yonder?” replied Pine.  Ivy nodded, and then grinned.  Despite the fact that Owl was her brother, Pine and Ivy had become great friends over the walk.  Throughout their conversation, though, they had treaded lightly around the topics of Ivy’s ancestry and Pine’s relations.

“Let’s go.”  Ivy hurried off.  “I’ll race ya!” she cried over her shoulder.

  The two raced neck and neck until they reached the pond, where they collapsed into a heap.  When an aroma of Stranger invaded their nostrils, however, they leapt up and became alert.  They scanned the surrounding territory for the telltale glint of metal, or the nauseating scent of a dead rabbit or fox.  Ivy sniffed again.  There was no scent of death, but the scent of Stranger was much stronger than it should have been.  Pine noticed too.  The two wolves melded into their surroundings, and waited for their quarry to surface.

They didn’t have to wait long.  Three males emerged from the brush, making enough noise to scare off all the rabbits within half a mile and carrying fire-sticks.  The Strangers marched over to an open area where the ground was trampled from all the animals coming to drink from the pond.  The largest one pulled a glistening trap from his pocket and set it on the ground.  The three then commenced to noisily nailing the trap to the ground and setting it in the ‘trap’ position.  They even tested it by jamming a stick in it, and then resetting it.  Ivy sniffed anxiously.  She did not recognize any of the men. 

Then, they loudly set off in the direction of one of the traps that Ivy had found.  The two females breathed a sigh of relief as the Strangers disappeared behind a hill. 

“Okay, I’m glad we checked here,” Ivy whispered.

“I know.  Now, let’s close the trap and return to camp.”

*   *   *   *   *

“Heave!” Thunder commanded.  “Heave!”  The patrol of males that had come to free Storm pushed as hard as they could.  They were wedging two stones twice the thickness of Storm’s paw into the trap to try to wedge it open far enough for Storm to pull his paw out.  Star watched anxiously as her plan was put into motion.

Finally, Storm was able to wrench his paw free.  The patrol cheered.

*   *   *   *   *