Chapter 2- Wounded but alive

In a shallow bog, a wispy fog settled over the forest floor leaving a moist warm felling in the air. The trees reacted to this with their drinking of the rich nutrients. Squirrels were running along the ground gathering nuts when one happened to pass by a large black form. He stopped and looked. “It’s a wolf”! He thought with terror but it didn’t move “must be dead” he thought. The squirrel then moved along on his way. The black figure was in fact Shadow, but he was not dead. Shadow slowly woke and stirred around in the wavy stream. He lifted his head to sniff at the air. He reached out with one of his paws to feel his mother’s fur but found only an empty space of air. He opened his eyes looking around but only seeing a foggy mist surrounding him. “Where am I”? He said to himself. “You’re in the bog of the mist” came a quiet voice. “Who said that”?!  A silvery gray wolf stepped out of the fog in front of him. “Who are you”? Shadow asked. The wolf came closer and her features stood out. “I’m a she wolf I’m mostly a loner, my name is Crystal and you”? She was a very silvery light grey color with light blue eyes and black claws. “I’m Shadow and is that why you’re out here all alone”? Shadow asked standing on his paws and looking around to be sure he was correct about her about being alone. She gave him a nod. Shadow turned his head to look out into the foggy bog.  There was a creek below him that flowed to a small body of water reaching across the land and trees that were dry and whitish brown dipping over the water. The ground was soft and muddy with several leaves stretched across the forest floor. He turned back to Crystal, “follow me it looks like you are pretty beaten up”. Shadow started to follow her as she turned and walked into the wispy fog but he started to collapse as he limped and fell into the mud. Crystal turned back and looked at him. She came from behind him and snagged her head under his arm and lifted him. She led him forward into the fog. At first all Shadow could see was grey fog in his face then suddenly he was in clear air again. He was looking into a forest area with the same tall pine trees he remembered when he was with his parents. “Over here”. Crystal’s soft voice said and she pointed to an open burrowing cave. “I’ve been here for a while; the other predators don’t usually come around”. Shadow looked at the burrow with a comforting felling then took in what Crystal said. “Other predators”? “Yes there are plenty of them, bears and mountain lions but like I said they don’t come around much”. Shadow gave a shiver at the thought of encountering any of those creatures. He’d never seen a bear or a mountain lion but the vision came as two giant beasts on hind legs. Crystal carried him into the burrow; they came down a dirt hill and into a large underground like cave. She settled him down in a pile of leaves and moved to the other end of the cave. There were picked holes in the ceiling with a sparkle which provided some sunlight but for now only let in wispy dull fog. “This place is very pretty”. Shadow said gawking at the room around him.  Shadow suddenly found himself asking “why are you alone and don’t have a pack with you”? She snapped her gaze on him and bared her teeth angrily. Shadow gave a face of shock from the angered expression she gave him. “I was just asking”! Her face relaxed and she sighed. “I suppose I could tell you what happened”. Shadows eyes widened with interest. Crystal walked over and sat herself down beside him. “Before I became a lone wolf I had a pack I lived with including my parents”. Shadow’s ears perked up listening intensely. “We were a traveling pack, well during our travels I broke my leg when I fell and caught it on a log”. Shadow thought about himself crashing into the rocks in the river. “It left this scar”. Crystal said lifting her leg to reveal a scar just above her paw. “What’s that got to do with you being alone”? Shadow asked. “Well, my pack found me in the snow injured; they took me with them although I was slow due to the injury too slow for the pack”. Crystal suddenly started to look sadder and sadder and her face drooped. “We stopped three nights after the injury and when I woke up the pack was gone”. Shadow was shocked by what he heard. “I saw their footprints meaning they simply left me”. Shadow couldn’t imagine his pack doing something like that. “Well that’s just not right”! Shadow stood to his feet angrily “Why would any wolf do that”? Crystal simply looked at him. “It was for strength in the pack I was too weak for them”. “I guess I should be considered lucky I only got separated from my pack”. Shadow said calming down “Please lay down you need to rest before you move again the sun will be setting soon”, Crystal said. Shadow looked at her “was she not bothered by what her own pack did to her”? There was no time to think about it he simply lay down and shut his eyes waiting for what the future may hold.

 

The morning sun had just peeked over the river among the hills leading down to the bog. It had been two months since Shadow had met Crystal; he had healed substantially and was in the best of shape. In the time Shadow was staying with Crystal they had become close friends sharing stories about both their travels and Shadow had also told Crystal about how he came to be with her. The time passed to the point Shadow knew if he didn’t move soon he would be too far behind his pack to catch them. He would have to leave Crystal in order to catch his pack, but he couldn’t bear to do that. Then he thought “maybe she will come with me”. The idea was a long shot but worth a try. He came to her after an early mornings fishing, he climbed over the waters shallow edge and squeezed into the small opening in the burrow. Shadow peered down seeing Crystal licking at her paw. She stared back at him with her diamond blue eyes. Shadow took his gaze off hers and trotted down the small bank onto the burrow floor. Shadow looked back to her, how should he tell her? He had no idea how to approach the situation but started speaking without any plan. “Crystal, I need to start moving, I need to reunite with my pack”. She replied only with a small frown and she lowered her head. “But maybe you can come with me.” He said in an attempt to reassure her. In fact it did, Crystal looked back up almost immediately and smiled waging her tail. “But what if your pack doesn’t want me”? She asked. “Not like you! Oh come on do you really think my pack wouldn’t like you? What’s not to like”. Crystal had no response to this, simply turning around to face the end of the burrow and then turning back to Shadow. “I’ve tried to get other packs to accept me but I always came to no avail”. She said speaking in a chocked voice, obviously starting to tear up. Shadow stared back at her then approached slowly. He nuzzled the side of her face reassuringly. “But my packs different” he said, “I’m sure they will accept you”. She looked at him, her eyes filled with tiny pools of tears they reflected Shadow’s eyes staring back at her. “After my parents abandoned me I gave up hope of ever finding another pack to live among, these are harsh times and I’m brandished”. Crystal lifted her paw again to show the scar, it shined as the light from the cavern crystals. “This is nothing more than a mark of pain not of shame” Shadow said quietly. “It makes no difference who you are or what your past was to my pack, we welcome newcomers with open arms”. This seemed to make her feel better, she was starting to wag her tail again and a small smile slowly formed across her face. “Maybe you are right, but what are the chances we ever do find your pack again” she asked. “Have faith Crystal”.

 

They headed west if anything we will find them one day”. Although now, even Shadow felt concerned for there chances. “West”? Crystal suddenly asked. “How far west did they go”? Shadow was staring into the soft dirt on the burrow floor when he heard Crystal speak again, “Oh we were heading to some place known as the Sierra”. Her eyes looked out the burrow entrance “The Sierra… Sierra... it sounds familiar”. “Arnoue used to say it was a place many wolves would go to find a new home”. Crystal suddenly snapped out of her thought, “Wait now I remember, my parents mentioned the Sierra all the time calling it a magical land of beauty and salvation”. She said then rolled her eyes. “Sounds so majestic, too majestic to be true”. Shadow sat and thought for a moment, what if his parents really were going to a place that didn’t exist. “Well my parents and the pack were heading for somewhere, better or worse I want to find them”. Crystal looked at him “Then when do we begin this journey”? “We start now, we need to make some tracks and start moving winter has ended and the spring is a good time to be traveling”. The two gathered up along side each other and climbed out of the burrow, opening up into a bright sunny afternoon.

 

It had been months since Sarina had lost her son to the river. Although a long time had passed, the horrible thought of his death still rung in her head like a loud bell. She lagged behind the rest of the pack with her head hung. “My only pup, taken from me just like that”. She thought to herself. Sarina blamed herself for what had happened, why she hadn’t jumped in to save her son, why couldn’t she have suggested they not cross. James had tried time after time to convince her time would heal the open wound in her heart, but she knew that this event would forever scar her mind. “It’s my fault he’s dead, I should be banished for my crimes”. She thought. No other wolf thought it was her fault but as she fell deeper into her depressed state, there was less chance of bringing her out of it.