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here's the deal. me and huttserwolf have made different versions of the book. we want to know what u like, so we're having a poll. whoever gets the most votes wins. get it. great! heres my version:
Chapter 1The forest has been called home for a long time. The animals that roam the floor, the birds that fly around free among the tops of the trees all to the fish in the water and the insects living in the ground. To them they knew the forest as "life". The sole purpose of their existence. But then others moved in. They walk on two paws, have weird shaggy clothes that cover their furless skin. They carry long sticks that can kill from a distance and they sleep in dens that are built out of the ground. Humans.
They’ve not come for food like the Chichewa (Indians) but instead cut down the trees, blast large wholes in the mountain and shoot the animals and leave them to rot. These are not like the Chichewa, not at all.
: Two eyes watched the strange encampment, studying everything. Their alien movements, the cloud of smoke that rose out of the stone chute. The chute stretched out of the tree den and he saw the whole they blasted into the mountain. Two of the creatures sat by the tree den, cleaning their killing sticks. The other, the one with a lot of fur on it’s head, stood by the fire and was cooking something. The great aroma filled the air, the warm delighting smell filled its nostrils. He could almost taste the smell. The saliva dripped off his tongue and splattered onto the grass. That was it. He turned around and padded back into the den
The den was dark, the time of the day when the sun seeped behind the mountain and darkness fills the sky. The wolf’s eyes met hers. "Para." he said. "The beasts have not stopped. Today they have cut down two more trees, and has made the whole in the mountains bigger." He looked sadly at his wife. It had seemed that the gods have punished her to be pregnant now. He knows that every day the burden gets heavier, and it is very hard on her. For now the pack is safe, but the beasts move more every passing sun. Closer to them.
Para winced as she tried to move. She looked long fully into his eyes. "I know, Sant. It won’t be long now, I know it. I feel it."
Sant had lost his temper. "Para, you’ve been saying that for days now, and every passing sun they get closer. We need to know. I will not sacrifice you and the pack because of our pups."
Para was shocked. "What? This is our future we are talking about. These pups are our packs future, and you are about to throw that away?"
Sant knew she was right. This might be the last chance to have pups. The beasts have moved much closer and cut hunted many of the animals. The pack is struggling for food. Sant left Para unhappy, he needed to think. Yet when he tried he couldn’t. His mind was jumbled up with to much thoughts. Beasts, cubs, pack, food. And it was now that he realized, how much of a situation this really is. If they didn’t do anything the are going to die. This is when the hatred set in. "Why?" he asked himself. His voice turned to a low growl. "Why did they have to come!"
He shot a glance at the Human settlement. He trotted along, not really sure of where he was going. He found himself on a large hill, invisible from the beasts, and forested around. Sant could barely make out the smoke coming from the den. He was remote, but he felt too crowded, to close. His anger turned to sadness. The nagging fate of the pack. He had once thought of what the humans would do to them, if they found out that there was wolf packs roaming the woods.
"Death." he thought to himself. The word pulling his muzzle down, chewing him
up on the inside. This made him feel even more helpless. As the leader of the pack, Sant made the decisions. Decisions that could help or endanger the pack. Some turned out hard to choose, and that is what we have now. A hard decision. To move and remain safe from the beasts or stay and hope that they won’t find them. The regular decision would be to move, but it is not the wisest. A good wise leader knows how to think.
Sant knew Para was right. They had struggled but made it this far, and it would be mindless to throw it away. If they moved, they did not have the chances of returning to it all. Para could barely walk now, and journeying would surely kill the pups. Also, the chances of finding a new den, and continuing life as it was is slim.
Now Sant was confident. Confident that the pack can remain hidden from the beasts, at least till the pups are born. He had made his decision. The pack will hide it out, spend winter in the den and leave early spring. That should give them time.
The consequences of his decision seeped back into his brain, but the idea never changed. The eyes of the wolf looked back at the humans’ den. "They won’t hunt in the winter as much." he thought to himself. "The pack will be safe, and the pups, safer."
Sant returned to the den long after sundown. His late appearance startled the pack.
"Sant?!" jumped Pallum. Pallum was the ______________ wolf, or second in command under Sant. He cared deeply for the protection of the pack, and would do anything to help another. Sant liked him the most than the two other males. Bear and Gart looked up from the hare on the floor. Bear was the ____________ wolf, under Pallum. Sant liked him also, but was easily pursued. Bear was the younger brother of Pallum. Gart was the ___________ wolf, or weakest of the pack. Sant too, liked him. Pallum found him caught in one of the beasts traps. Luckily the weather had rusted the metal and he was able to slip out. Now he is easily scared, and still walks with a limp. He too cares much about the pack, but isn’t a good fighter.
Sant continued into the den and sat down by Para. He looked from the pack to the floor. It seemed that all they caught was the hare.
"Was this all you caught?" asked Sant. Pallum looked sadly from Sant to the floor. "This is all we found." sighed Pallum. "The _________ are afraid to come out, since the beasts came." The consequences of Sant’s decision were back in his brain. With barely any game, it would be harder on the pack.
He noticed how much Gart was eyeing the hare. He was terribly hungry. It had been like this for awhile now, but every sun the game seems to disappear more every day. Sant was hungry also, but he put it in the back of his head.
Like all packs do, they give the meat to the female when pregnant. He pushed the hare closer to Para with his paw. "You must eat, Para."
Para looked around at the pack, noticing how depressed they looked. She felt guilty that she got the attention, while the others needed it also. But she too, could not resist the satisfying meal that was set before her. Putting a serious face on, she began to tear into the hare. Gart began to feel proud to be in this pack, and as soon as the pups are born, he would be an uncle. "Uncle Gart." he thought to himself. "Uncle Gart."
Pallum was also just as hungry, but his mind wasn’t on that now. Secret questions were racing through his head. "What if Sant found out? Would they be able to hide it from the pack? Stay safe from the humans?" His thoughts became a mental traffic jam of worry and unknowing. "Still," he thought to himself, "Sant and Para must not find out." He spared a look at the couple, putting a lid on the unknown secret.
Gart swallowed with dissatisfaction as Para finished the small meal. Sant looked up from his mate, and faced the pack. "I have made my decision." he growled. "We shall remain here, and try to stay hidden from the beasts."
The pack looked dumfounded at the __________. "But how are we going to stay hidden?!" growled Bear. "Yea, were safe now, but when the humans come to close, what are we going to do then? It is almost season of the frozen rain, and we can’t travel through the snow with the pups that age. We canno-"
"Are you questioning my authority, Bear? Who is the ________. I make the decisions, not the ***** ________." Sant was yelling at this point. Bear sat back down and looked away, angered. "Think again." he muttered under his breath.
Sant’s glaring eyes looked away from the __________. "We will remain hidden at least till the pups are old enough to journey on." He looked back to Bear. "That is my decision." he said out loud.
Pallum couldn’t believe this also. "What are you doing?" he asked to himself. He too, would have objected. But he had known better than to confront Sant.
Gart was more scared than shocked when he heard this. He did not want anything to do with the beasts in the valley. He had seen how their killing sticks kill at a distance, and had caught his paw in one of their traps. This made him think of all the bad things that could happen to the pack. He was deathly frightened now.
"Please, Sant. Think again about what you are doing." he tried to stand up for himself. "I want what’s best for the pups and this doesn’t seem safe for them."
Sant was at breaking point now. His voice was a loud growl, his teeth sticking out. "Don’t tell me what’s best for my pups." he snarled. His eyes were fixed on Gart’s neck.
Gart realized that he had done something terribly wrong. He showed Sant his throat, and sank back farther into the den. Sant found himself ready to lunge at Gart when he came back to his censes. He looked around, embarrassed of what he had done. He looked back at Gart. He was shivering with fear. "I’m sorry." he blurted out. "It was not my place." He turned around and padded outside.
Para looked at Gart as to say "I’m sorry." and followed Sant outside. He was sitting on the rock face, looking out over the valley. She felt sorry for him, he was only trying to do the right thing. She padded over and sat down next to him. "I’m sorry Sant." she said.
Sant looked down at her. He was much taller than any other wolf, and Para was much shorter than him. "For what?" he asked. "You were right from the beginning. We must stay." He looked back to Para. "We shall stay till the pups are born, and when they are old enough, as soon as we can we shall move away."
Para was relieved. She had no intention of moving. Her thoughts came to the pups, sleeping harmlessly inside her, not knowing anything of this situation. "We shall stay, Sant. We can remain hidden, we can make sure our pups are safe." She looked gracefully into his eyes. "We will make it."
Sant couldn’t help smiling. Right now his heart was to burst with pride and joy. "We will make it." he said calmly. "I shall do what ever it takes."
* * *: The pack sat together in the den, each member feeling braver and hopeful now. They had gotten over their disagreement, and now were talking about what to name the pups. "I like Tisha if it’s a girl, or Bran if it’s a boy." said Bear.
"Bran is a ________ name." snapped Pallum, using the name of what meant the weakest of the pack. "Bern or Farv. Now that’s a impressive name," he said.
Sant looked up, and gave a satisfactory nod. "Farv it shall be, as the _________ shall be called- Lesa."
The pack pondered a bit, finally Bear piped up. "Why name it Lesa, ‘all knowing’?" Sant knew Lesa meant ‘all knowing’. But the name came from deep inside his past. When he was a little cub, there was a _________ or the ‘story teller’ of the pack. She always kept alone, and barely spoke, but when she told her stories, they fascinated him. And as he listened to the fables, some of the wolf god, _______, or the forest wolf, he noticed that she had the slightest sliver of greenish-gold in her eyes. But when she kept to herself, there was no sliver, just the fading brown. He found himself always asking, or talking to the old she-wolf. He wanted to know more, wanted to know all.
He found himself mumbling in front of the pack, waking from his memories. The pack looked back at him stupidly.
"You were talking to yourself, Sant." said Bear.
"Yea, something about a old she wolf. Something about a sliver of greenish-brown eyes?" repeated Pallum.
“Oh, sorry about that, I was just thinking about the name Lesa. It reminded me of this old ________. She was talking of the wolf gods. It was if she was all knowing,” replied Sant, “ anyway, how about a better name for a ____________, like Vala, that sounds pretty good…”
“How ‘bout Zell or Kryl! This is so fun,” said Gart realizing what he was doing, “sorry, I’m getting so excited. For a second, I forgot about the humans. All of a sudden, everyone’s faces dropped. They were still worrying about the humans. They knew that if they can’t do anything to stop the humans, then they would be all killed. A long, howling wind breezed in the cave. Thunder clashed with the trees in the forest. A flash of light blinded all of the pack. When the light cleared, Kharlan, Sant’s nephew was at the entrance to the cave. He was bloody, limping, practically dead.
“Kharlan!!! What happened to you. Who did this” asked Para.
“You were hunting some more food close to the den, you couldn’t have got hurt” exclaimed Pallum.
“Pallum’s right, nephew, what’s happened to you. I couldn’t bear to witness Nora and Inted , your parents, die. I’m not going to let that happen to you. Now tell us what happened!”
Stuggling, Kharlan was able to mutter just a few words. “Humans!”
let me know which version you like so far. there might be more versions on different forums
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