whimpering. Shard felt a pain in his ear. He refused to let go, even though he could feel the warm blood creep down his face as Death jerked at his ear.

“Give up, kid! You’ll never win!” Death growled aloud as the two wolves toppled into a clump of bushes. The two hit a tree root, and stopped in their tumble.

Shard let go of Death and leapt back, ready to fight some more.

Death gasped and choked before lying still. Shard hesitated, then realized the sharp root had pierced through Death’s back.

Shard watched in horror as a little devilish creature leaped out from Death’s open mouth. “Oh my god! He was possessed!” Shard was to shocked to say anything more.

Death gave a choke an d crinkling sound and then looked up at Shard with wide eyes. “I’m sorry, young one…” He breathed deeply. “That demon did something to me. I don’t know what came over me, but don’t let the others die. Tell your mother I said sorry. And tell Tinge’s mother I’m sorry.”

“Yes, Death.” Shard said bowing his head.

“Now you best be going, you might not want to see the death of a friend.” Death joked.

“No joke.” Shard said. “I’m sorry, too. This is all my fault.”

“No, it’s mine. I was the one who lied to the pack. I shouldn’t have even gone to see Satin. He just got me into more trouble than I was already in.”

“Well, then you weren’t visiting your mate.” Shard barked.

“No, and I shouldn’t have lied about that either. I’m sorry, Shard.”

“Death…” Shard whimpered.

“Go now. That’s an order” Death barked, resting his head.

“Yes, leader.”

Shard turned and walked away.

“Wait, Shard.” Death muttered.

Shard felt a pang of sadness to hear him so weak.

“You are the new leader…Shard-san.” Death smiled, and rested his head.

Shard walked slowly back to base, tears creeping down his cheeks.

“Shard! Shard-san! Leader!” Shard was surprised to here a chorus of voices shouting his name. He barked in delight.

“We heard what happened back there. We’re sorry, leader.” It was the tiny pup, Leo.

“It’s okay, Leo.” Shard barked, putting a paw over the pup’s shoulder. “We best train you up, huh? There’s a big battle coming, and we need a lot of soldiers. What do you say, Ms. Chi?”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Shard-san!” Leo’s mother Chi barked gleefully.

“Well then, you come with me, Leo, and we’ll have your first training course.”

“Yay! Yay! Yay! Let’s go! Come on, leader!” Leo barked, jumping around Shard.

“Alright!” Shard said, bolting for the bushes, Leo right behind him.

Chapter Two

Shard ran through the forest easily. He made it back to base in time for the Dinner Feast. He had brought back a duck to roast with the rooster he’d caught with Leo yesterday. He dropped it at his mother’s feet. She smiled, knowing her son was leader was a good thought.

“Thank you, Shard-san.”

Shard smiled crookedly in embarrassment. He never thought he would see his mother giving him so much respect.

Not wanting to stick around for the feast, Shard crept away. He walked for a long time, about three hours to be exact. He didn’t realize he was walking right into Western Wolf territory. He shuttered. The Western Wolves had quite a reputation. They showed no mercy, they were the only wolves out of the four packs that never settled disputes with compromise. They just fought. And most say when you look into their eyes, you see no light at all. He new to himself that the myth wasn’t a myth at all. He’d seen a western wolf before, and it was nothing any wolf would want to look at.

Suddenly he realized-as he was thinking-he had been venturing deeper into the forest. He stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned around and headed back to his own territory.

“Hello, puppy.” Shard shuttered as the thundering voice echoed through the black forest.

Shard somehow found the courage to say something back to the voice. “Going back to my own territory.”

“Why were you here in the first place?”

Shard hesitated. “I was wondering.”

The voice laughed and a black object-so fast it was a blur-darted from a tree on Shard’s right to a tree on the left.

“Who are you?” Shard snarled, trying not to show his growing fear.

The voice was not as loud. “You are scared puppy. I can sense it.”

Shard was no longer scared. He was angry. “Stop calling me puppy! I am not scared! I am Shard leader of the Eastern Wolves!”

The voice laughed. “Bravery. But, what happened to Death?”

Shard suddenly began to worry. This wasn’t a Western Wolf. None of the Western Wolves knew of Death, except for Cregg, but he was exiled and is now a rouge. “Who are you?” Shard said at last.

“You didn’t answer my question. Where is Death?” The voice thundered.

“Dead! Gone!” Shard snarled in aggravation.

“Dead?”

“Yes! Dead! He’s dead!” Shard growled. He must find out who this wolf was…if it was even a wolf.

“Who killed him?”

Shard hesitated. “I did.”

After a moment’s pause, the voice said, “Good.”

“What do mean, ‘good’? He wasn’t evil! He was possessed!”

“Yes, I know.” The voice said. “I know the whole story. I saw. We were the ones possessing him. We forced him to do something horrible so you would kill him. But at the last minute, he managed to choke up what was left of the poison. And for a moment, we thought he would live. But you got him real good. You put him at a point where all he could do was speak his last words.”

Shard jumped back as a big, red dog-followed by two more-came down from the tree.

Shard froze. The hell dogs! He thought in horror. All that time he was talking to them, the hell dogs. He was in complete shock.

“Our work here is done. We’ve no need to give this youngster a heart attack…unless Satin tells us to.”

Shard growled, his head down. “Don’t go.”

The biggest one-who seemed to lead the rest-turned. “Ha! Don’t try and act tough.” He laughed, followed by the others.

Shard felt a shadow fall across him. The clouds had blocked the moon.

“He’s done it.” One of the hell dogs muttered.

“That’s impossible! How can he block the exit to hell? Only Shama could do that…”

Shard’s eyes widened. His father. His father…his father could close the gates to hell? Why hadn’t he known? The power that he’d had when he fought Death, it came from the heavens! And his father! He had closed the gates to hell when he defeated Death, he remembered the darkness, and Death choked up that…thing. He should have known.

“Well, we might as well get going.”

Shard felt his lips rise in a snarl. He couldn’t control his anger. Those dogs were responsible for everything. Tinge. His father. Death. His eyes narrowed and he could feel them turn red through his rage. He wasn’t going to let those murderers leave his sight.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Shard screamed.

All three dogs turned around. The smallest one spoke. “Wh-what’s the kid doing?”

The biggest dog stepped forward and laughed. “Tryin’ to be tough like your old Pa, huh? Well, you’re not stopping us from leaving. And possibly, we’ll be back…to kill you.”

Shard looked up.

“Gosh, his eyes are red…” The small one said.

“Leave, puppy. Or I’ll make you!” The biggest dog leapt into the air and began to come down on Shard.

Shard was as quick as lightning and looked up and grasped the dog’s neck.

“He’s…” The middle dog stammered. The two other dogs stared in horror.

Shard threw the dog into a tree. Scarlet blood trickled down the dog’s neck. His breathing grew faster, then stopped.

Shard’s anger left him. He shook himself. He had no idea how he’d done it or how it happened.

He whipped his head around and glared at the other dogs. “We’ll never come back! We promise!” They echoed and darted away and disappeared. The moon reappeared.

                                            To Be Continued