Chapter 11: Star’s Dream

The Forest Pack returned home.  The new Stone Pack Alphas had promised peace between the two Packs.  Thunder had gladly sworn not to attack Blaze and Vale’s Pack, and was glad that the war that had been going on for the several seasons could finally be ended.  Thorn was furious with himself for not keeping a closer eye on Owl during the battle of Bone and Blaze.  Pine, on the hand, was almost happy that Owl had escaped.  She had not wanted Owl to battle Thorn, because, although he was a traitor, he was still the older brother who had looked after her after their mother had died, and she didn’t want to see his blood spilled.

Ivy, Pine, and Star quickly became inseparable.  The three females had a lot in common and loved to go on outing together to hunt rabbits or patrol the border.  Ivy, true to her name, still loved to find patches of the plant and roll in it.  Pine liked solitude more than the other females, and she didn’t talk as much.  Star and Ivy accepted her long silences without comment and merely settled for being her friends.  The two were far more talkative than Pine and would fill the quiet woods with their chatter and friendly teasing.

Cattail and Pond were steadily growing larger.  Cattail’s bold spirit was tamed some by a doubled punishment for going with Owl.  It was a lesson well learned.  Pond continued to amaze the Pack with her maturity and quiet confidence and skill.  Cattail continued to be mischievous and playful, but Thunder had high hopes for her.  It was almost time to have her taken on a hunt and given the chance to make her first kill.  Then she could become a full member of the Forest Pack.

Falcon had been thrilled when Vale and Blaze had offered him the position of Beta of the Stone Pack.  With Hawk’s death, Falcon felt as if a great burden had been lifted from his back, and now he was able to soar to greater rank in the Pack.  Falcon hardly grieved for his brother, for there had always been more animosity than affection between the two.  Hawk would constantly criticize his brother, bringing Falcon’s morale down very low and nearly breaking his spirit.  Falcon felt he could not push his way to the top, and he fell in rank.  Hawk, meanwhile, pushed and shoved his way to just below Beta, and even tried to become the Beta once.  Now, Falcon felt like he was right where he needed to be, by his cousin’s side, high in rank, but still obedient.  He didn’t want to Alpha, for that would take a truly dominant wolf like Blaze to do the job right.  For the first time in his life, Falcon could feel fulfilled and joyous.

Storm finally was back to his old self, with one minor exception.  Before, he had always been gruff and rude to everyone in the Pack, but now there was one exception.  Never once did a single disparaging remark leave his mouth about Ivy.  With spring approaching, he and Ivy were spending each night curled up together in the very back of the Cave.  Their relationship was gossiped about by the entire Pack.  Who knew that the shy and sweet hybrid would end up being the perfect match for the biggest and toughest wolf in the Pack?

With the war with the Stone Pack over, Thunder was feeling far from triumphant.  Mating season was coming around again, and Thunder was hit hard by the fact that he was still alone.  The constant battles had so totally occupied his mind that he had pushed the idea of a mate into the corners of his mind.  Even his grief for his mother, father, and brother had been lost in the constant struggle of daily Pack life. Now his loneliness and grief hit him full-force as the mild winter slowly came to an end. He knew that it was important that he found a mate before next spring.  Storm was deeply in love with Ivy, and Star was growing closer to Thorn each day.  All of his siblings had friends and very close friends, while he, as Alpha, had no mate and was considered more as a high and mighty leader by the Pack than a friend.  Gale was a great help but in order for a wolf Pack to function well, there really must be both and Alpha male and an Alpha female.  For a long time, Bone too had been unable to find a mate, and his Pack had gone without pups while the Forest Pack had Cattail and Pond.  Bone had allowed no one but himself to mate, unlike Thunder, who was fine with Gale and the other males finding mates.

Star herself was happy while the sun was up, but when the stars came out and the moon began to shine, she was beset by a feeling that all was not finished, that there was something left undone.  Though he never mentioned it, Star could see Thunder’s loneliness and wished she could do something to help him, but there was nothing she could do.  She was his closest sibling and one of his greatest companions, but only a mate with whom he was truly in love with could soothe his troubled mind.   Her mother’s prophecy troubled Star’s sleep, and she spent the nights tossing and turning in her bed of moss and feathers.

A month after the Battle for the Stone Pack, just when the plants were beginning to come back to life in the first warm breath of spring, Star had a dream.

She was in a clearing she did not recognize.  A pool of clear water was near-by, and Star walked slowly over to it.  The grass was lush and green beneath her paws.  Star looked up at the sky to see that it was night, but the moon and the stars were bigger and brighter than she’d ever seen them.  One star seemed to grow even larger and brighter as Star watched.  Without warning, the star broke free from its place and zoomed across the sky.

“That is a falling star,” said a soft voice.  Star spun around to see her mother standing behind her, pale and ghostly, with wings sprouting from her back.  Other winged shapes seemed to form out of mist to come and stand behind Holly, hundreds of them, until the entire clearing was full of them.  The scents of all three Packs washed over Star, but there was something else to the scents, something mist-like.

Lightning and another male stepped out of the throng to stand next to Holly.  Star felt as though she was rooted to the spot as the three Forest Pack wolves approached.

“Star, my little Star, how you’ve grown!” Holly said, smiling.

“Mother?  Father?” Star gasped.  “How is this possible?  Am I dreaming?”

The third male laughed.  “Of course you are, Star,” he said heartily.  “I am Juniper, your mother’s father, once a member of the Forest Pack, now a member of Amaroq’s Pack.”

Star felt the heat of the sun on her back and looked up in shock.  Where just moments ago there had been night sky, there was now the sun, traveling across the sky at an alarming rate.  As she watched, the sun set and the sky darkened again, but like the sun, the moon traveled far too quickly.  The sun rose yet again and the sky brightened.  Star was shocked.  Time itself seemed to bend in this place.

The three wolves laughed at Star’s astonished expression.

“This is a different place, little Star,” Lightning said.  “We of Amaroq’s Pack reside here, where the sun and the moon travel quickly and there is no hunger, no thirst.  Here we can meet those who have died in other places, far from here.”  A beautiful silver wolf with a scent like nothing Star had ever smelled before approached.

“I am Aurorna,” she said in a voice as soft as a feather.  “I once lived in a place called the Comyagona, a place of snow and ice.  My whole Pack came with me to this place, all except for two.”

“What disaster could wipe out an entire Pack, so that only two were left?” Star asked.

“What you call a Stranger, what I call a human.  Some have evil in their hearts and seek to wipe out all the wolves they can, for we hunt the prey they believe belongs to them.  A great helicopter hunted us down like caribou, and shot us all.  My two daughters escaped their fate, Akelah and Lunita.  They live on, saved by the ones who sought to kill them.  Humans who care about the natural balance of things, rescued my daughters and brought them to a place of safety, called a reserve.”

Holly stepped forward.  “What Aurorna says is true, Star.”

A sudden thought hit Star.  “Where is Rain?” she asked, craning her head to look around at the wolves in the clearing.  “He is here too, isn’t he?”

Lightning shook his head.  “Rain lives on, little Star.  The Stranger who shot me was like those who shot Aurorna and her pack, and the ones that took Rain’s body after the Battle were like those who took Akelah and Lunita to the reserve.”

“But he was killed by the Stone Pack wolf, the same wolf who killed Mother!”

“No,” Juniper interrupted.  “He was only knocked unconscious.  Rain lives still, but he is far away.  I will show you.”  Juniper spread his great wings and howled.  The rest of Amaroq’s Pack howled and spread their wings as well.  The howling noise hung in the air as the winged wolves dissolved into mist that began to swirl around and around, quicker and quicker, and Star felt herself leave the ground, lifted by the force of the swirling mists.

She traveled far over lush forests and shining streams, enveloped by mist.  Finally, she landed at the top of what she recognized as the Fire Mountain in her own territory.  The mist once