A Close Call
Intro: Night casts its shadow over the land once again, and we now resume our grand tale. A week has passed since the four wolves were forced to leave home by the death of their parents, and so far have been able to survive the harsh Alaskan environment without too much difficulty. That, however is about to change, for they are soon going to have to solve their first big problem, little suspecting that it may end the life of one of them....
The snow fell in endless spirals and waves as the Northern Lights blazed a path across the sky. Icicles hung from the branches of the trees of the forest that surrounded the small cave that harbored four wolves as they slept. Although, it would be more accurate to say that three of them slept, for one of them could not sleep. Veena lay with her eyes wide open, her ears swiveling back and forth, and her feet ever ready to break out into a run the moment she was sure she was in danger. She had not been able to get a good night of sleep for the past three days. Veena kept waiting for something to pop up out of the shadows and attack her. She tried to tell herself it was only her imagination, something was keeping her on edge but she didn't know what. So she continued to try and go to sleep, and was finally able to a few hours before the sun spread out its light from the edge of the horizon.
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Winter stared out across the ice-covered river before her, shook her head and said, "I don't know what to do."
Jared's jaw dropped for a second before he nearly yelled, "It took you half an hour just to figure out that you didn't know how to get us across a river!"
Winter winced at his loud voice,and responded, "Well I really can't tell weather or not we'd break the ice and fall in as soon as we got half way across. I was considering any and all other options. I think that you now know that I couldn't come up with any."She had intended to say more,but someone else spoke before Winter could continue.
"I don't think you have thought of everything, sister.", Twilight's chilling voice cut silently through the air. He was laying down a few feet away with a thoughtful look upon his face. "Why is it some of the simplest ideas are overlooked, but in the end turn out to be the most effective ways to solve a problem such as this?", he asked, more to himself than to his siblings. When all they did was give him blank stares that had 'Speak english' written all over them, he said, "Let me be more specific." He got up and used his paw to swipe away a bit of the snow covering the river bank. He selected a stone from the ground, clamping onto it with his jaws, and hurled it at the edge of the ice. The rock bounced off the surface and went sliding farther out across. Then he just stared at them, waiting for one of them to figure it out.
Winter didn't understand at first, but after a couple of seconds,realization dawned on her face. "That's a great idea!", she said.
Jared, who was still confused, asked, "What are you talking about? What's a great idea? All he did was throw a rock!"
"Exactly! Don't you see? We throw the rocks at the ice to see where it is safe to walk. If the rock bounces off the ice like the one Twilight threw did, it's safe for us to keep going, but if it breaks through the ice, we know that we can't walk there and we'll have to go around."
Winter looked to Twilight for confirmation of this and he nodded to her. "That is precisely what I was thinking.", he said. "So, let's start gathering stones shall we?" Veena, who had been watching from nearby got up to help.
Once they had gathered up enough stones, Winter went out in front of them and said, "Alright, I'll be in front and you'll follow behind me in a single file line. Got it?" When they nodded, Winter nodded back and, after taking a deep breath, stepped out onto the ice. She threw the first stone; it clattered harmlessly across the ice, and the group began to move. Another stone flew and another, and yet another one, all of which failed to break the ice. Veena was no longer paying any attention, as she could see that they were almost across. Winter threw the next stone, but this time it broke through the ice with a loud cracking sound. Winter silently thanked her brother for his great thinking and threw another stone. This one didn't break the ice, so they moved in that direction. They were only a few feet from shore now and Winter was out of rocks, so she decided to run the rest of the way and pray she didn't fall through. She made it to the other side just fine,so she turned and was about to tell the others to follow when the scariest sight since finding her parents dead met her eyes. Veena, being distracted with her thoughts, had wandered away from the group... and was standing right over the hole that the rock had made in the ice.
"Veena, move!", she yelled. Veena saw where she was standing and realized her danger, but it was to late. The ice cracked once more, and she was sent into the dark waters that swirled beneath its icy prison.
It was lucky for Veena that the river's current wasn't strong, this made getting back to where she had fallen through much easier. She broke the surface and cried out for help as she desperately tried to cling to the ice on one side of the hole.
Winter was trying to find a way to help her when Twilight gave the answer yet again. He nodded toward the tree behind her, where a fallen limb lay at the base of its trunk. Jared rushed over to it brought it to the edge of the ice river, and the three of them pushed one end out towards Veena while holding onto the other. "Grab it!", Winter shouted. Once Veena had a good grip on it they heaved her out with all their might. When she reached the shore, she collapsed in the snow as Winter came over to try and warm her up, for Winter knew that if one fell into a river during winter (no pun intended), then they would freeze unless they were able to get dry quickly. Fifteen minutes later, Veena was shaking uncontrollably. Winter looked on in worry, as she realized that they hadn't gotten to her fast enough.
She sighed and turned to Twilight. "What are we going to do?", she asked.
Twilight, however, couldn't hear her. An odd sensation had flooded over him, and now there was only the tree in front of him. Nothing else mattered. He saw an oddly shaped tree limb that looked remarkably like a hand, with a late-spring flower bud growing at the end of the pointing finger. He focused on this, and saw that it was pointing to the north. Then, just as quickly as it began it ended, and he heard Winter asking him once again for advice on what to do.
"I can't be sure, but I have a strong feeling that we should head north.", he saw her questioning look and answered, "I can't explain it, but I know that this is what we must do if our sister is to survive."
Winter looked like she wanted to know more, but she just nodded, turned to Jared, and said, "I need you to carry Veena. We're going to get moving. Can you do that?" He nodded and so she turned and started walking north.
Twilight brought up the rear of the group, and as they walked away, he took one backward glance at the tree, and then moved on with the others. Behind them, the flower bud at the end of the pointing stick began to bloom...
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"What do we do now?", Jared asked as the group crouched low to the ground. They were near the outer edge of a town that they had found after about an hour of hiking north.
Winter thought hard about what to do. Roan had briefly touched the subject of a town once, and she was trying to recall everything that she knew about them. Then, an idea struck her. "We'll use this to our advantage." Jared looked at her, not knowing what she meant, and Twilight gave her curious look, so she explained, "Dad told me about towns once, and he said that every town has some sort of boiler room that provides all of their hot water. If we can find this room, we can use it to warm Veena up."
Twilight took this in and mulled over it in his mind. "It will be difficult to get there without being noticed by anyone.", he said.
"Well it's worth a shot.", Winter said. She thought for awhile,and then said, "Okay, Twilight. You and I will go into the town and search for the easiest way to get to the boiler room without being noticed. Jared, you stay here with Veena." The two nodded, and so Winter and Twilight set out for the town.
"Now that we're here we should split up to cover more ground.", Winter said as they passed the first buildings of the town. Twilight nodded and the two went off in different directions.
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Lance watched curiously as the two wolves entered town, and then split off to go different ways. He had heard many frightening and terrible stories about them, but rather than be afraid, he found that the more he heard, the more fascinating they became to him. He would give anything just to see one. And now, here were two of them walking right into town!
Lance was a tan-furred husky, and wasn't well known among the other dogs in town. Those that did know him made fun of him most of the time, except for two, Zack and Leah, who were his only friends. He just had to tell them about this. So he hurried off to tell them about what he had seen. He rushed through the ally-ways behind the buildings, for he knew them well, as he often used them to avoid being seen by those who would pick on him. Lance rounded another corner, close to his destination, and rammed right into what seemed to be a furry wall of white. He started to apologize, but then his words caught in his throat as his eyes met a sight most amazing. Standing before him was one of the two wolves he had seen before, the white-furred female. He was about to give a greeting, but before he could speak, the wolf rushed past him toward the end of the ally.
"Wait!", he called. The female hesitated and glanced over her shoulder briefly, but then she started to run again. Unfortunately, she took a wrong turn, and ended up at a dead-end. Lance rounded the corner and the wolf crouched in a defensive stance. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you.", he said.
Her eyes narrowed; she still didn't believe him. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"Do I look like I'm not telling the truth?", he asked. The female took a moment to scrutinize him. Evidently, she decided to believe him, and she relaxed, but kept herself on-guard.
"What do you want?", she asked.
"I'd like to know your name." This was so exciting. He was actually talking talking with a wolf!
"My name is Winter,", she said. "and I really must be going. There is something urgent I must do, and I must find what I'm looking for, so if you'll excuse me..."
"Well I could probably get you where you need to go.", Lance said. "I know this town like the back of my paw."
Winter seemed like she was about to decline, but then she considered it. "Could you get me to the boiler room?"
"I sure can."
Winter nodded. "Alright. Lead the way." A few minutes later, they stood at the corner of the building that housed the boiler room. Winter turned and smiled at him, "You have no idea how big of a help this was. Thank you."
Lance felt a rush of pride at such praise coming from a wolf. "It was nothing.", he said. "My name's Lance, by the way."
Winter nodded, "Well thanks again, Lance. You've been most helpful." Then, she rushed off in the direction of where she entered town, but Lance knew that he'd have one last chance to see her, for he could tell that she'd be coming back. Then he rushed off to tell Leah and Zack.
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Winter found Twilight again and then they returned to the others. Winter briefly told them of her encounter with Lance. Nightfall was only an hour away by the time she finished, and they formed a plan. When night fell, the group snuck back into town, with Jared carrying a now rapidly weakening Veena, and stole into the boiler room when nobody was watching, except for the one dog in town that knew they would be there.
Over the next three days, Veena thawed out and regained her strength. On the fourth day, she announced that she was ready to go. Winter checked to see if they were clear to leave without being seen, and was surprised to see Lance standing there. He looked surprised as well, but he quickly recovered and said, "Winter, you have to leave now."
"Why? What's wrong?", she asked. She would've liked to ask other questions like 'How did you know I was here?', but the urgency in his voice told her to ask the more important questions.
"A sled team from our town just came back from a race, and they plan to use the boiler room as a meeting place to discuss what they could better next time.", he replied. "You get yourselves out of here, and I'll go see if I can stall them."
"You don't have to do that."
Lance gave her a smile, and said, "I know." Then he turned and left to keep the team busy for a little while, This, he knew, would be easy to do, because the sled team was one group of dogs who delighted in picking on him. As he rounded the corner and nearly ran into the lead sled dog, he wondered if he would ever see Winter or the other wolves again. Then he had to deal with the insults that were now being thrown at him.
As Winter and her siblings left the town, she silently thanked Lance for all his help. She was sure that if they'd been discovered, the dogs would have attacked them, for it isn't uncommon knowledge that dogs see wolves as a threat and wouldn't hesitate to kill one. Then she had no more time to think on this, as she took the lead and they once again began their long trudge through the snow, heading west. She was sure that if they'd been discovered As they resumed their journey, Winter looked back at Veena, and felt greatly relieved that she was alright, and so she smiled, feeling that for once, everything seemed to be going their way.
Later that night, Veena looked around at her siblings and thought of how they had risked their lives for her, and knew that with such caring family, nothing could do her harm without them trying to stop it first. She gave contented sigh, laid down, and got her first night of good sleep in a long time.
Far away, by the icy river, the flower had fully bloomed...
Closing: ... and so disaster has been avoided, but our tale is far from over. What new dangers and challenges await these brave adventurers? Meet me again when darkness falls upon the land, and I shall share with you the next chapter in the lives of these four young wolves.