curved her mouth in a smile, and opened her mouth slightly.

“Don’t give me that devilish sneer!”

Midnight got ready to dodge a bullet.

The man shot at her, but Midnight quickly dodged him and leapt, snarling at the arm holding the gun. He shot again, this time skimming her arm, causing it to bleed. Midnight hit the ground in pain, rolling a bit then stood up, and leapt at him.

Suddenly, right before the man shot again-this time he was actually aiming, and it looked like he would’ve gotten Midnight-Russ trampled in, stepping on the human and throwing him into a tree with his massive head.

“Russ!” Midnight screamed as the man pointed his gun at the stallion.

Midnight flung herself at the man, cause his to fling the gun into the air. Midnight leapt back as she heard the bullet strike a tree branch. She fled to Russ’s side as the branch crushed the man.

Russ walked up to the man and looked down at him. “He won’t be causing any more trouble.”

Midnight walked over too, and saw that the man was dead as a doorknob. She looked up at Russ. “Thanks for saving me.”

“And you, I! You saved us all, Jackal. We owe you our lives. If you’d not killed those humans, they’d have turned us all to dog chow!”

Midnight smiled. “I owe it to the most magnificent creatures that roam the desert.”

Russ smiled. “How could we ever repay you?”

Midnight shrugged. “You saved my life, I guess that’s enough.”

Russ looked down at her. “Would you like to come with us to the Place Where The River Parts?”

Midnight’s eyes widened. “Could you? Do you really know where it is?”

Russ nodded. “We travel there every time the desert turns cool, or at least, not as hot as it normally is.”

Midnight nodded. She knew what they meant. The river was always flooded then, the season Spring. “It’s called Spring. A beautiful time of year.”

Russ looked at Midnight. “Spring? It sounds beautiful.”

Midnight nodded. She knew all about the seasons, her mother had told her. She got up and shook off. “We nest get going. I here the Place Where the River Parts is from here.”

“It is. It’s very far. You’re lucky you were this close. We’ve been journeying for days now just to get here.”

Midnight was puzzled. She wasn’t close to the River at all! But they must have been much farther, if it took them days to get here. She looked around at all the other horses. “No one was lost on the journey, right?”

Russ shook his head. “No one…except for Mitch. But he was old, and we paid our respects to him already.”

“Well, we best get going!”

Russ looked down at her and nodded. Then he took off.

Midnight didn’t hesitate to follow, excited about reaching her father’s pack. She knew it wouldn’t be half as exciting as if she’d found her father, but she wanted to be with his pack, even if it meant that she’d have to depart from her horse friends.

Midnight and the others finally stopped and rested for the night. She dug a hole in the ground, not that deep, but deep enough to keep her a little warm in the sheer cold of the desert night. She settled herself in a good position, and the closed her eyes. But sleep wasn’t what came to her. It was a terrifying thought of humans attacking them, slaughtering everything, and destroying what was left of King’s family.

Midnight’s eyes flew open. Sleep would never come to her. Not with the knowing that the humans were out there, looking for her. She knew that the humans she’d killed were not the only ones out there. She tried desperately to sleep, and finally, late into the night, a light sleep came over her, and soon she drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

 

When morning came, Midnight woke to the sound of horses whinnying and snorting, hooves clanking on the ground and desperate cries sounding. She opened her eyes and saw nothing more than a blur of hooves stomping on the ground, and stabbing blindly at the sky as horses reared and kicked.

Midnight could faintly hear the angry voices of men above the terrified horses. She leapt to her feet as she spotted Russ tied up to a tree with ropes all over him. Midnight dashed over to him, stumbling as she tried to dodge the horses’ hooves.

“Russ!” Russ turned his head as he heard his name. “Russ, what happened?”

Russ didn’t struggle or try and escape. “They came. They were looking for…”

Midnight’s eyes widened. Her. They were looking for her. It was her fault. It was all her fault that they’d all plunge into death and suffering.

“Russ, I’m sorry…I-I’m…”

“No, Midnight, you have done nothing. It was us who needed help from you, and you gave us help. You saved us. And then this. This was more our fault than your’s.”

Midnight shook her head. “No. No, that’s not true.” She backed away from him. “Don’t lie to yourself, Russ. It was me, and I’m not letting it end this way.” Midnight rushed away through the crowd of horses, ignoring Russ’s desperate cries of “No! Midnight come back!”. She ran straight at the humans, leaping in front of them, to where she was in their view.

“It’s that Jackal! It’s the Jackal that killed Bob and Rusty!” A man called out.

I’ll die for them…I’ll die for Russ, I got him into this, and I’m getting him out! Midnight did not attack. She ran. Of course, the men were trying to kill her, so they followed, abandoning the horses that they were dealing with.

Midnight ran for a long time, trying to be sure that the humans were far away from Russ and his herd.

“Shoot her!” A man called out to his companion, and they whipped out guns, and pointed at the fleeing Midnight.

I’m not going down that easy! Midnight began running in zigzag formation, no man would ever have good enough aim to hit a fast-moving target. She ran like this for at least an hour, as the men followed her on their horses, when finally they gave up, and stopped. But Midnight kept running, and she didn’t stop for days. Finally, she stopped when the river was in sight.

“I made it…” She muttered. “I must go on. I can’t get this far and give up.”

Midnight walked onward, towards the river. After a few more days, she’d reached the river, and she could drink.

“My father drank from this same river, and walked on this same ground.” Midnight sat down. She heard a strange noise behind her, and whipped around, barring her teeth.

A strange, fox-like creature approached her.

“Midnight, is it?”

Midnight’s eyes widened. She nodded. How does she know?

“Yes, I know what’s rushing through your head. “How does she know?” Well, it’s clear that you’re the daughter of King, and I just assumed you were Midnight. He speaks of you much, back at the pack. He tells us all that you will come one day, to be our Ruler.”

“What do you mean he speaks of me much?” Midnight said quietly.

“Well, he loves you! And everyone can talk, huh?”

Midnight was confused. Her father was dead! How could he talk at all?

“I’m Feather. I know I can be a little strange sometimes, but you’ll learn to live with it.” Feather said enthusiastically. “I’m a Fennec Fox mixed with a Jackal. And you must be the legendary Wolf Jackal mix, heh?”

Midnight nodded. No one new she was half wolf except for her mother and father. And they were dead…or were they? Midnight almost collapsed from the exhaustion of all the confusion, and shook herself.

“Well, Feather, can you take me to my father?”

Feather laughed. “Oh no, honey, he’s long gone.”

“Dead?”

Feather looked up at her, shocked. “No! He went on a journey! Why would he be dead?”

“I was told…”

“No, no! Don’t tell me, just come with me. I will get you all fixed up. You look like you just got finished fighting a gang of angry men!” Feather said with a laugh.

“Actually…I was…”

Feather looked up in shock. “Men? There’s men here?”

Midnight shook her head. “Not here, but they were back over there.” She jerked her head in the direction of the men. “They were trying to kill my friends, so I had to fight them.”

Feather nodded. “Who?”

“Russ, Russ and his herd.”

“Russ? You mean the stallion?”

Midnight nodded. “Yes, do you know him?”

Feather nodded. “I know him. You shouldn’t risk your life for him!”

Midnight was taken aback. “Why?”

Feather laughed. “He’s a backstabber, honey! I know your probably wondering why you’re listening to an old fool like me, but it’s all true. He’ll become your friend just for protection, and then when you need his help, he’ll run like a newborn pup!”

Midnight shook her head in disbelief. “Well, thank you for warning me. But, where has my father gone?”

“No where important. He’ll be back soon.”

Even though she was boiling with curiosity, she nodded. “Okay.”

“Now, come on. Follow me.”

Midnight followed Feather to a dark underground place. She looked around. On the walls of the underground cave were carvings. She recognized the pictures from somewhere. She looked closely and saw something that resembled her mother, and looked at Feather.

“Yes, that’s your father’s story line. Every Ruler has a story line. The Carvers are still working on his, they still need to add your birth and your mother’s death. And then when your father retires or dies, they will start your story line. If he dies, he will have an entire section of his story line drawn about how he died and his bravery and loyalty.”

Midnight nodded slowly and studied the pictures more closely.

“Come on, let’s keep going.” Feather said and gave Midnight a shove.

They traveled onward, toward a place where the bushes ended and the land was pure desert.

“Feather, where are you taking me?”

Feather laughed. “To the Place Where the River Parts.”

Midnight’s eyes widened. “Impossible…”

Feather looked at her strangely. “What?”

“How do you know where that place is?”

Feather laughed again. “Well, incase you’ve already forgotten, I am a member of your father’s pack. And I’ve been so for a long time.”

Midnight shook her head. “But they said only my father knew of the place…”

Feather nodded. “He does. But I’m the co-leader of the pack, so he showed me the place so I could take you when I found you.”

Midnight stopped.

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