Chapter 4

     Stormbird awoke felling cold and stiff. When he cracked his eyes open, he couldn't tell where he was. He glanced at the furry mounts of his pack on the ground. Stormbird suddenly remembered his visit last night with the Higher Beings. 'We must be on the surface then' he concluded. Stormbird quickly set to work on awaking his pack.

     "Where are we?" Seasong asked drowsily.

     "We are on the surface," he informed her.

     While Seasong roused to her paws and stretched, Stormbird continued to wake his pack. He stood and waited patiently for his pack to take in their surroundings. Once they quieted down, he spoke.

     "I know that you all are very curious as to where we are. All I know is that we are somewhere on Earth's surface, probably either Alaska or Canada. Now, the Higher Beings warned me last night that we are not allowed to use our elemental abilities on the surface. We need to scout out this area that we are in and make sure that we are not in any pack's territory. Since Earth wolves are color blind, they will not see our power marks. As far as anybody knows, we are normal gray wolves," Stormbird explains.

     The pack nodded in agreement. Stormbird led the way deeper into the snow covered forest. After a while, the pack split into three groups; Seasong, Eclipse, and Aurora headed East, Shadowfire, Frostbite, and Sunstar headed West, and Stormbird, Starlight and Soulseeker continued going north. The pack had agreed to howl to each other if they found something.

     Stormbird and Starlight were sniffing an old caribou carcass for scents. They had come across it when Starlight had picked up the scent. Soulseeker smelled the surrounding area to see if there was indeed a pack in the area.

     She trotted up to them. "The scents are too old and mixed for to be able to tell where the hunter had gone. Did you two find anything?"

     "No, the scent is also too mixed up to tell who killed it," Starlight reported.

     Soulseeker huffed in disappointment.

     "Come on, let's keep moving, we do not want to meet who ever took down this caribou," Stormbird suggested and lead them off in a different direction.

     Meanwhile......

     Seasong and her group had caught a scent in the snow as they were passing by. They smelled it curiously.

     "It smells like wolf scent," Eclipse said gravely.

     "Aurora, step over the border and see if you can catch the same scent," Seasong suggested.

     Aurora took a step over and started sniffing the ground. "I can't tell from here, I'm going to go a little bit further," she said and trotted off.

     Seasong and Eclipse waited patiently for Aurora to return a few moments later. "Did you find anything?" Seasong asked.

     Aurora ignored her and continued sniffing the area. She suddenly looked at them with wide eyes. "We are in a pack's territory," she murmured.

     Meanwhile......

     Shadowfire snarled at the large wolf standing in front of them.

     "You thought that you could just trespass on my territory without permission," the large male huffed. "It's not like I would have given you permission anyway."

     "I swear to you that if we had known that, we would have avoided meeting your displeasureful self," Shadowfire growled.

     "Yeah, so if you don't mind, we would to gather our pack and kindly leave," Frostbite voiced from behind Shadowfire.

     "Pack? Well, then where are your she-wolves?" the alpha male asked slyly.

     Shadowfire glanced behind the alpha. All of the she-wolves that were present were scrawny and their once beautiful pelts were coated in scars. The loyal she-wolves growled at Shadowfire and his group bravely.

     Shadowfire looked deep into the alpha male’s eyes. 'I don't need Soulseeker's power to know that these wolves are downright evil,' he thought in disgust. "That is none of your concern," Shadowfire answered gruffly.

     "Pity, it would have been nice for my pack to claim a prize after we shred you three to pieces," the alpha male stated.

     Shadowfire and Frostbite howled the challenge of war while Sunstar coward at their paws.

     "Why did you do that? They already out number us," Sunstar moaned fearfully.

     "Now, the rest of the pack knows where we are and what is going on," Frostbite whispered into Sunstar's ear. "Now stand up and fight like a wolf!"

      Sunstar obediently stood and waited patiently for his life to end.