Vella and her pack. Not a day passed that she didn’t regret what had been done, what had happened when she ran from her sister, what Nemec had her unit to do to her. Now, with this young, heartbroken warrior standing before her, she felt a sort of motherly attachment to him, the same connection she would feel for the pups she never had, and she nuzzled him.

            “It’s alright, Cedar,” she said softly, “He’s in a better place.”

            Cedar nodded again, but this time he smiled.

            “Thanks.” He suddenly stopped and looked around. “Where are the border guards?”

             “Daciana asked me to send them each out a hundred paces further, just to be safe,” Sadera replied. “We’ve got our territory well-covered, despite being short a few who left to fight.”

            “You’ve managed to cover all our borders?”

            “Well, not all of them,” Sadera admitted. “The path along the river is open, but there’s so many cliffs hardly anyone would try it unless they knew the path themselves.”

            “I suppose not,” Cedar replied, lying down by the cave entrance.

            No sooner had he rested his head on his paws than he spotted a small trail of blood in the snow. So small was the trail that he had easily overlooked it when he had been talking with Sadera, but suddenly he remembered his wounds and leapt to his paws and followed the trail. Sadera, brought to curiosity, followed him as he followed the trail right to the rocky cliffs along the river.

            “I came this way!” Cedar exclaimed. “The trail of blood I left is plain as day, and…”

Just then, a strange, yet oddly familiar scent reached his nostrils, and he looked upwind, to where the tree line gave way to the rocky, unfertile soil of the cliffs. His heart skipped a beat as more than three dozen wolves burst from the forest, making straight for the cliffs.

“Sadera, they’ve followed me!” he cried.

Sadera took but one glance and whipped back her head in a howl to recall the border guards. Cedar shook himself and prepared for the onslaught.

From the bottom of the cliffs, Nemec growled under his breath as Sadera’s howl reached his ears. The element of surprise was gone. Now he could only depend on advantage of numbers, and if this pack had any number of warriors left behind from the assault they’d launched, his advantage might not be enough. Even so, he comforted himself in the knowledge that even as he advanced the Eir clan’s warriors were about to get a surprise of their own.

He nodded to a few of his warriors and together they slunk back down the cliffs…

Bertolf scanned the forest before him and motioned his warriors forward. Everything was going well so far; they’d advanced to within a few hundred yards of the Ice Mountain pack’s lair. Yet it unnerved him that they had not some much as scented even a single wolf. Could it be possible that they’d fled in the face of a war? A smile spread across his face at the thought.

With the new land, we’d never have to worry about food again!

That and similar thoughts occupied him until he reached the edge of a hilled clearing that separated he and his warriors from their goal. He stopped and, looking from left to right, waited until his warriors crowded the tree line. Then, with a wild howl, he signaled them forward.

They broke into a run, bursting from the forest and into the clearing in what must have been a both terrifying and awe-inspiring sight. Battle largely favors the side with the advantage of surprise. Sadly, and despite Gail’s thoughts, the Eir clan warriors had no such advantage.

Suddenly, there was another howl from up ahead and a horde of wolves rushed out from the other side of the clearing, and more appeared on both sides of the advancing raiders.

Bertolf looked about and his heart sank. Caught in the open and at the bottom of a hill, he knew instantly that he and his warriors were doomed, but he was determined that he would not go alone. These demons would die with him!

            “Form a circle!” he shouted to his warriors. “With any luck…”

            “…we’ll make it through!” Cedar cried, trying to bolster the Eir clan guards as they lined the cliffs.

            “We have the advantage of height, and their element of surprise is gone,” Sadera said. “If they want to reach Daciana, they’ll have to go over our dead bodies first!”

            The two forces clashed on the rocky slopes and soon the ground was red with blood beneath their paws. The cliffs and river bank below were littered with the bodies of wolves from both sides.

            Sadera spotted one of the guards buckling under two of Nemec’s warriors and leapt in. With one move, she bashed one off the cliff and pierced the neck of the other, who turned and ran. Yet as she was doing this, another made to take her from behind, but Cedar darted between them and tore at the attacker’s throat. In the brief respite that followed, Cedar and Sadera regarded each other with a mix of relief and exhaustion.

            “We may yet win the day,” Sadera panted. “They’re numbers are dwindling.”

            No sooner had the words left her muzzle than they both heard a howl from within their territory. There was a bark of pain and suddenly it stopped. Gail felt the hair on his neck rise as Sadera took off at a run toward the sound.

            “Cedar, take charge,” she cried.

            Her paws aching and lungs burning, Sadera burst into her leader’s den, meaning to warn her, but she skidded to a stop at the sight before her. Blood was spattered on the den walls, and the two guards she’d left lay sprawled on the ground. Behind their mangled corpses, a group of wolves snapped their heads around to look at her. Their muzzles and chests were covered in blood. Beneath their paws lay Daciana. One of them had a scar across his left eye, and he laughed when he recognized her.

            Sadera hardly had time to comprehend what had happened before they came at her. In an instant, she had the first one by the neck and with one twist he fell limp. The two others might have stood a chance had they worked together. Instead, they leapt at her one after the other, and though one managed to latch his teeth around her foreleg, she quickly flung him off and sent him crashing into his comrade. Neither would ever get up again. She looked around expectantly and cursed. During the fight, Nemec had slipped away.

            Twice you’ve ruined my life, Nemec, she growled to herself, spitting on the corpses, and twice you’ve eluded my wrath. The next time we meet, your hide is mine.

            She turned and dashed back toward the cliffs.

            “Daciana is dead!” she shouted, “Win for her!”

            The Eir clan warriors, filled with a renewed anger, began to push Nemec’s wolves back.

            But suddenly, Sadera’s voice rang out again, this time in stark alarm.

            “They’re coming from behind!”

Far away, Cloud Runner’s ears perked up as a distant howl echoed through the forest. Several others looked up in surprise as the call died away.

“Daciana is dead,” Cloud whispered to herself.

Desai padded quickly up beside her.

“What should we do?” he asked, turning to her. “They’re coming in our direction.”

 Cloud sighed and hung her head.

“I’d hoped to keep out of this war…”

Desai sensed her indecision and sought to convince her.

“My dear, we can simply aid the retreating Eir warriors and then fall back to our territory. No one knows this territory better than we; to invade our land would be suicide for the Ice Mountain clan.”

“Alright, Desai; choose a detail to go to them.”

“I’ll lead them myself.” Cloud turned in surprise. “Don’t worry; it won’t take but a few of our best to bolster their defenses enough for the journey here.”

Cloud nodded, and Desai turned to go.

“Desai?” He stopped and looked back. “Be careful.”

Chapter Six

Sadera let out a cry of rage as she struck down another of their pursuers. What remained of the Eir clan was retreating in a mass exodus as Sadera and a few others held Nemec’s forces away. Even she didn’t know where they would go. Nemec was persistent; he would likely