paws. Rayne smirked, knowing she was the winner here.

“Rallan, surrender and admit to your crime and I’ll end your pain, swiftly so you don’t feel a thing…” Rayne offered, shaking her head slowly, “It’s over… Don’t put yourself through anymore pain… Just admit to what you did and it’ll all be done with…” Once more, Rallan shook his head in the negative, this time much weaker than before.

“No Rayne… I won’t…” Rallan replied as best he could, his voice hoarse and scratchy, “I can’t… because I never killed Varim… and Dad was killed in self-defense…”

Rayne stood there in stunned silence. Even when he was knocking on Death’s door, Rallan still stood by that as the truth of the matter. Something was amiss here. If there was one thing Rayne had always found true, was that dying wolves never spoke falsely. She blinked a couple of times, unsure of what to say. As she took a step closer to Rallan, a cracking noise could be heard. Both Rallan and Rayne looked around before they both glanced down at the ground. The snowy ledge Rallan was standing on had split off from the cliff! Rayne gave Rallan a startled look and he returned it just before it broke apart and Rallan went tumbling off the edge into the abyss of white far below.

“Rallan!” Rayne shouted out, watching as he vanished into the whiteness. She quickly glanced around, finding a few ledges at the side of the cliff that wound downward to the bottom. Hurriedly, she made her way to the bottom of the cliff, searching around for her brother.

“Rallan!” Rayne called out, searching about desperately, “Rallan!”

From a few feet away, a weak cough was heard. Rayne gasped and spun toward the source of the sound, gasping even more when she saw what made the noise. It was Rallan. He lay pinned beneath the snow that he’d fallen on, a small pool of blood formed beneath him from the impact he’d made with the ground. Rayne quickly rushed up to him, no longer seeing him as a mortally wounded criminal, but as her dying brother.

“Rallan… Please, say something… Anything…” Rayne said softly, trying to dig him out as fast as she could.

“Stop…” came a croaky, weak voice from Rallan. His eyes slowly opened as he glanced up at his younger sister, the lustrous glow dimming within them. A thin trail of blood ran down the side of his muzzle, showing that he was wounded both externally and internally. There was no hope for him now.

“Rallan, you… you weren’t lying when you said you were innocent…” Rayne said softly, “You really didn’t do anything wrong, did you? And I hunted you down like some kind of savage animal… Rallan, I… I’m so sorry… My ignorance did this… I don’t deserve to be Alphess of the Lylrite Pack… I don’t even deserve to live!”

“Rayne….. Shut up…..” Rallan said softly, just to quiet her down for a bit, “Don’t speak like that… You’ll be… a fine Alphess… You deserve… everything you have… It was my destiny to end like this… like it’s your destiny… to keep on leading our pack… Go home, Rayne… And let everyone know that I was innocent… Let them know… what really happened… And let then know… what happened to me…”

“Rallan, please forgive me… I’ve been horrible to you… I just… Oh, I just wish there was some way I could make this up to you…” Rayne said, tears now in her eyes as she stared down at her brother.

“There is…” Rallan replied faintly, “Kill me… Finish me off… End my pain and suffering…”

“Rallan, I can’t do that… I can’t-”

“Please, Rayne… I’m going to die anyway… Please…” Rallan said dimly, a pleading look in his eyes. Rayne, unable to deny her wronged brother his last request, hesitated for a bit and then nodded slowly.

“Alright Rallan…” she whispered, then bent down to deliver the final strike.

“Wait…” Rallan whispered back, “To the west… is a den… Krystal’s body is in there… Please, bury it in the… Lylrite Forest… where she belongs… And please… whatever you do to her… please do to my body as well…” Rayne nodded slowly again.

“I promise, Rallan…” she whispered, “I promise…”

Rayne then bent in so her muzzle was an inch away from Rallan’s throat. Rallan nodded slowly to her and closed his eyes one last time, waiting to feel the final strike to be dealt. Tears flowing down her face, Rayne parted her jaws and bit down on Rallan’s throat, ending his life swiftly. After holding for a few seconds, Rayne let go and pulled back, gazing mournfully down at the body of her brother.

“Be at peace, Rallan…” Rayne whispered softly before continuing to dig his body out of the snow to grant him his dying wish…

            Twelve months later, a cold winter breeze cut through the lands of the Lylrite Forest. From atop a large hill, a wolf with a gray and white coat watched over the forest. Activity amongst the pack had died down recently, but she knew it would pick up again soon. She sighed heavily and turned around, walking over beside a large den and gazing down at two snow-covered mounds in the earth. She sighed softly as a lone tear traced down her cheek.

“I’m so sorry, Rallan…” she whispered into the breeze. The wind picked up briefly, blowing the tear off of her muzzle as if to comfort her. She smiled slightly, then sighed again. From behind her, another wolf approached, this one about a year in age.

“Mom? Captain said you wanted to speak to me…” the wolf said. Rayne turned around, smiling at her son who looked nearly identical to her.

“Yes son, I did… I have something to tell you…” she said softly, walking over to the edge of the hill to watch the sunset, “Come join me… I have a story to tell you…”

“Alright, what’s this story about?” the wolf asked, sitting down beside Rayne and giving her an inquisitive look. Rayne smiled slightly.

“It’s about a wolf who was wronged in his lifetime, yet he didn’t harbor a grudge… About a wolf who, no matter what the trouble was, struggled on in his life… A wolf whose story deserves to be remembered by all for his nobility, courage, and strengths…” Rayne explained, turning to smile at her son, “It’s where you got your name from…”

“Rallan?” Rallan asked, “There was someone named Rallan before me?” Rayne nodded slowly.

“Yes… He was my brother… And this was his story…”

The story of a wolf named Rallan.

The End