I awoke to the darkness of night outside. What little light there was came in slivers from the moon. It took me a while to adjust to the darkness, to be able to see where I was. From the looks of my surroundings I was under the exposed roots of the tree. I began to stand to all fours but toppled back to the ground as another wolf's paw struck me back down and pinned me. "Hey wh..." I began to ask but another paw covered my muzzle cutting me off. I recognized it as Leva's but remained silent as she apparently wanted me to. Leva turned to me and whispered as quietly as she could, "Stay quiet, there after me."

            "Wait who's after you" I whispered back.

            "Arson's soldiers"

            "So they're just after you and not me"

            "Ya, Arson said to just let you go, you'd die eventually, but if anyone was dumb enough to follow you to assist your survival he'd have them beaten and left to die"

            "And let me guess... you came after me"

            "Well, duh, why wouldn't I" I only shrugged in answer and watched as Arson's soldiers sniffed the air for a scent. Most likely Leva's who turned to me again "So what do you think you’re trying to do? Running like this?”

            "I don't know, I can't go back after that though."

            "Where exactly will you go? It'll be like this almost everywhere," Leva said then thought for a second about what she said, "I mean, like this everywhere." I could tell from the way she turned away that she lied to me.

            "Wait, what was that about?" I asked curiously. Despite my question she just kept her head turned away. "Are you trying to say you've heard of someplace better than this?

            "No it's.... it's nothing, ignore I ever said it"

            "Okay, be serious Leva, I'm not going back there ever if I have to stay here my whole life I will, so if there is somewhere free of these wars, forced drafting, and bitches giving birth to unwanted pups, now would be a good time to tell me so as I can actually have somewhere to go, okay?" I stated. Leva turned back at me and smiled slightly nodding her head then sighing. She looked out between the tree roots inspecting the area for Arson's soldiers.

            "Common, follow me," she said as she gestured with her muzzle for me to come. I was curious to where she was leading me but knew she'd want me to keep quiet. I followed her every move no matter how precise it was. I looked around at the forest that surrounded me, it was awkward and I was unfamiliar of all my surroundings. However, I noticed Leva moved through the woods as if she had learned the location of every twig and leaf.

            "How do you know these wood's so well. Have you been here before?" It was a dumb question to ask on my part because I knew the answer, but I had to know for sure. Leva stopped at a large tree with a carving at the base of the trunk. It was a circle with what appeared to be a snowflake inside of it. And at the center of the snowflake were seven wolves howling. The detail was astounding, but I ignored it still awaiting an answer from Leva.

            "Of course, you should have been able to tell that. Beside how else would my father eat if I had never brought him any food?" Leva had a large smirk on her face as she put her paw on the marking for seven seconds then removed it.

            "Wait you father? Food? Hold on, I'm not following you," I said with a confused look to my face.

            "You'll get it soon Kay, trust me. Now common we need to get you to safety."

            "And what about you Leva?"

            "Ya, Me too I guess" Leva smiled as she jumped around the tree and began to dig in a small spot that where the soil appeared to have been disturbed before. The ground under her paws quickly poured away and slivers of light shown from the opening made by the falling dirt. Leva looked back at me again a squeezed her body through the hole she had made. I was startled to go in at first, but as I heard voices approaching I quickly followed.

            Once inside the small hole I noticed I was in a comfortable den and the hole me and Leva came through but begin closed again by an older wolf. I recognized the slight resemblance between Leva the old wolf, for he was her father. That’s when Leva began to introduced me to who we were with. "Kay I'd like you to meet Avis, my dad. Dad this is Kay, a good friend of mine" Avis smiled and nodded in acknowledgement then returned to his task of filling the entrance me and Leva created.

            "Hey, Leva, what's going on here exactly," I questioned

            "A rebellion, well it was supposed to be one until... well you should know you were there," Avis answered.

            "Wait, do you mean the parents attacking today was...," I began to asked my voice raised in surprise, until I was again answered by Avis.

            "Yes, it would have gone off without a hitch too, if that damned Arson had not put you pups against us."

            "Okay, well still, that doesn’t really answer my question of why I'm here"

            "Like I said Kay, were protecting you from these soldiers, they have every right to do whatever they want to you, your presumed dead to the world" Leva said still listening through the dirt entrance to the soldiers that sniffed the land just outside their hiding.

            I acknowledged Leva then turned back to Avis and questioned him, "So Leva was telling me about some place not like this. What we've seen today that is. So, is it really true, is there such a place?"  Avis turned and looked at Leva who was giving him an innocent smile.

            "My daughter speaks the truth. But to get there you have to travel through all of the ten pack territories, and you know how pack take strays and wanderers these days. However, it is to the north a small piece of land large enough for a pack of fifty wolves. Most of our prey has wandered there, but we were too caught up in our territorial wars to follow them. So we stay here and fight over these barren lands of small amounts of prey. We who attacked the training grounds were going to lead you pups there, but our plans failed, we never thought you would attack us, your family. So I have thrown away hopes of ever finding the food that roams in those war free lands." The old Avis's story was about to continue when Leva charged between the two of us, half whispering half shouting.

            "Get down, they've uncovered the scent of the food there right at the entrance."

            Avis turned to Leva and stepped back from she and I and shook his head, "No, you two have to go, Leva you know the way out, take him to the lands I was telling him about"

            "But dad," Leva objected.

            "No, Leva you need to go, I'll buy you as much time as I can" Avis shouted. Suddenly the area patched with dirt that served as an entrance began to break away, the sounds of growls and snapping jaws pouring