Chapter 2: Dreamer

As the following moons rose and fell through the sky, Whylee and Melena had been sure to keep their muzzles shut about the strange night's happening. Gareth had yet to tell the two she-wolfs about what had happened in the sky as well, hoping he would forget about it that way - that whatever it meant couldn't come true if he didn't think about it. But as the pups grew, their future seemed to become more and more clear to the parents...

--

"Tag, you're it!"

The petite white she-wolf swatted her paw at the light brown male, leaping away as her brother swung out towards her, a warrior-like look in his eyes. As the she-wolf leapt away, though, out of her brother's reach, the game began to send them both running playfully around. Two others were running along with them, teasing the brown wolf as he harmlessly swatted his paws towards towards them.

"You'll never get us, Trey!" Laughed the she-wolf who had tagged him, leaping from side to side out of her brother's grasp. The male didn't seem to take notice - he seemed to determined to tag someone.

"This is why dad always tells you not to sleep all day, kid." The other male in the group growled in humor, although if one listened hard enough, a snarl of hostility may have been heard. His siblings, however, just laughed along, long enough for a sense of pride to sweep over the grey male, drawing his attention away from his attacker.

"And this is why dad also tells you to shut your yap once in a while and actually look out for what's attacking you, Dolfy." The voice came from behind the grey wolf, but before he could react, he was pinned to the ground by Trey, his younger brother and attacker. Adolfo let out a small 'oomph', then rolled over, shoving Trey off of him. His sisters had already seen.

"Trey's right, Dolf." Tala, the one who had tagged Trey, laughed. Her sister, Tara, giggled along. "I bet one day, you'll be so proud of something you do, you won't even see the wolf that'll kill you lunging at you."

Adolfo frowned as his siblings laughed, and he swept a paw out towards them, shoving Tala over a bit as he did so. "You'd like that, sis." Adolfo began, "But one day, I'll be the best fighter and hunter this pack has ever seen. I'll kill the intruders and - and - " Adolfo seemed to be stuck on his little day-dream, but quickly found something to say. "And I'll fight by dad's side! And together, we'll be the best rulers in the land! Dad even says I'd make a good Alpha and - " Adolfo wasn't able to finish. Trey knocked his paw to his brother's head, forcing him to stop talking.

"You keep on dreamin', bro, but everybody knows that I'll be the best fighter and one day, I'll - " Tala seemed to have enough of her brother's ramblings. She swatted Trey's face with her tail, shutting him up quickly. He knew to listen to his sister.

"Honestly, you two! I don't know how I put up with all this 'I'm gonna be the best hunter in the world!' bragging. Just shut up, and let's get on with our game! We're still young enough to have some fun just running around! The pack'll decide what's best for us when the time comes. Let's just play now, not boast and day-dream!"

Trey and Tara exchanged glances, seeming impressed by their sister's little speech. They then nodded, looking quickly towards Adolfo, wondering what he'd say. He seemed to be in a state of annoyance, although his strange orange eyes seemed to be flickering. Why was unknown at the time. 

"Speaking of day-dreams, where is that Dreamer-runt anyways?" Adolfo sneered, his hackles seeming to rise. This wasn't an odd thing to happen to him; Adolfo didn't seem to like his youngest brother a whole lot. The pack didn't seem to, either.

No one cared much for the Alpha's youngest son. The male was too strange for many to understand; even his own parents had seemed to give up on him. The pack saw only dull and painful happenings in his future life; things that no wolf ever dreamed of happening to themselves. He didn't seem to help out with the pack a whole lot, and the elders often complained about him. Many things would be said that he wouldn't even hear. Things only the cruelest of wolves would dare say behind their pack mates back. But sadly, it seemed only cruel wolves made up the Karpok Pack.

Some members had rumored to other packs that he had been born deaf or blind. Some had said he had been born with a lack of oxygen, damaging his brain. Some had just said that he was simply anti-social. But the worst rumor, and the one most believed and feared of him, was that the male had been cursed at a young age by one of the former members of the pack. One who had not been around for quite a while. But Gareth and Whylee dismissed these rumors with a warning, although inside, they tried not to let their secret visions slip.

Tala looked towards Adolfo, glancing around as if to look for her brother. She was really the only in their litter that seemed to like him, although he got along alright with Tara and Trey.

"You mean Ash?" Trey spoke up before Tala could even dare open her mouth. "He's probably over at that stupid rock mound. You know, the one over looking the valley? Seriously, I don't know how he stays there all day. That place gives me the creeps." Trey shuddered dramatically, his pelt shaking, causing his siblings to laugh. But one voice didn't join in. Instead, it started talking.

"That runt. It's like he thinks he's all special or something. Mom seems to favor him, even dad seems to like him a lot more than he likes us at times. I don't even see why the pack thinks mom and dad stopped loving him, anyways. The freak's probably just spread some sort of... of... depressing rumors around about how he 'never gets attention.' I'm sick of it, and I'm sick of him." Adolfo spat out the last words, yet continued on with his rant with large amounts of passion in his words. Any wolf in his right mind could tell he was serious about all that he said.

Tala pretended to listen. She didn't like it when others made fun of her youngest brother; she felt somewhat protective over him. He never really opened up to her, but they had shared a few small conversations before. He seemed mysterious to her most of the times - confusing, almost. But he was her brother, and she hated it when her siblings talked behind her back.

But still, she stayed. She didn't want to be rejected by them for sticking up for her brother. She wanted to be accepted, and didn't exactly see what was wrong with sticking around them when they were teasing others. It wasn't like she was joining in on the ''fun'' or anything. But something still felt wrong.

Tala just shrugged the feeling off, realizing that Adolfo was still rambling on. His teasing had turned to insults, causing the other two to laugh slightly, although a mature wolf would wonder at why they were laughing at such boring tales – especially ones that were such lies, anything could tell they were made up.

"... And remember that one time, he got all mad at us, and he was all 'I'm a demon wolf thing with my angry eyes and sharp fangs,' " Adolfo walked around, putting on an angry face, imitating his brother, which made Trey and Tara laugh. He continued, laughing as well. "And we were all 'Yeah, that's nice' and we smack him to the ground. Ha, I don't even know why he dared show his face in the den that night! Then there was that other time - "

Adolfo stopped, stealing a look towards the bushes located right of the small group, his eyes getting attracted to a dark shape that swept away out of sight quickly. His ears pricked up - the figure didn't seem to be running, nor did it seem to have taken notice that the wolves had seen him. Adolfo smirked. The perfect opportunity.

"Hey guys, let's go... runt hunting." He snarled under his breath, leaping towards the bushes as his siblings followed after their older brother, grins coming across their face. They had used the term quite a bit before, and knew what it meant. Trey had come along Adolfo's side quick, with Tara following close behind. At the back of the line, Tala sulked drearily, not wanting to join in with their immature game.

--

The dark figure swerved his way through the trees, picking up his pace as paw steps sounded behind him. There were panting noises, and the wolf knew what was causing them.

His siblings.

The wolf had been making his way back from the place the Karpok wolves had called 'Dreamer's Ridge'. It was where many historic events had taken place - it had been used as a look out for intruders in the early times. Now, it was just used mainly for a story that could frighten any young pup. But not this wolf. He was reaching adulthood, although he was still very young - he and his siblings were still considered as pack 'pups' by the elders, although the members had begun to call them 'young apprentices.' Personally, though, the wolf didn't like any of the names he was called.

The voices behind him had died down, and the wolf stopped, his bright green eyes flashing from side to side as he looked around for danger. And eerie silence rang around him and through his ears as he listened for anything. But all he heard was nothing. Until he started to relax.

"Hey runt, where do you think you're going?" Adolfo sneered, flattening Ashur towards the ground. The younger wolf yelped in fear, un-codeable thoughts running through his mind as Adolfo batted him over. It didn't harm Ashur, but it did hurt for the moment. "Trying to run away from us after sneaking in on our conversations, eh? Tsk, tsk; that's no way for a brat like you to behave! Unless you were just going to rat on us for teasing you again." Adolfo shoved his muzzle in the view of Ashur's face, causing the younger wolf to close his eyes shut, shrinking back. Trey and Tara laughed in the background.

"I don't tell on you, Adolfo." Ashur spoke, his voice shaking at the sight of his intimidating older brother. He swallowed, trying to regain his nerves. Adolfo grinned slyly, causing a shiver to run down Ashur's spine.

"Not believing your lies, Ash." He laughed, and Ashur knew his brother could tell that he was telling the truth; he just didn't want to make it look like he believed it. "You'd better think up more lies, Ash. Yours don't sound very convincing. Then again, shrimps like you are apparently always bad lia - "

"Adolfo! Let your brother go." A large dark brown wolf stepped in front of the small group of siblings, and Adolfo backed away from Ashur, leaving him to pick himself up. Ashur coughed slightly, then backed away from the male wolf who stood before him. It was Gareth.

"Where have all of you been!?" Gareth snarled, his voice booming in his offspring's ears. "You were supposed to come to the clearing at sun-high! It's way past that time!" Gareth seemed frantic as he shouted, but the siblings knew he was over-reacting. The sun was still high in the sky, casting a golden light across the forest surrounding them. But inside, they felt guilty. They had forgotten their evaluation today. Today they would have been checked to see which rank they would receive the following week.

"We're sorry dad. We lost track of time. You know how playing can get," Adolfo laughed slightly, and he noticed a dim smile rise across him father's face. Gareth didn't know how wrong his judgments of his eldest son really were.

"Yes, but really. If any of you ever want to get a high rank, you have to learn how to arrive at pack meetings on time. There will be no toleration of being late because of ‘’playing’’ from now on. You are all almost reaching adulthood – you need to realize how to be responsible. Now," Gareth sighed and turned around. "Let's head back to camp before your mother starts worrying about you all even more." With that, the lean male leapt away, everyone following behind him. But before Adolfo took his place in line, he cast a threatening glance towards Ashur.

"One day, I'll show you what true fear really feels like. I promise." A sneer came across his face, and Adolfo leapt away, leaving Ashur to pad frightenedly after his brother. If Adolfo was destined to become Beta, or even Alpha, there was no questioning what he would do. Ashur only knew Adolfo always kept his promises; no matter how horrible they were...

All characters [Ashur, Adolfo, Tala, Trey, Tara, Gareth, Whylee, Melena, etc...] [c] Blake

Plot and Story [c] Blake

Please do not copy or take from my ideas. Thank you.