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Ch 2. The Message.

The door slowly opened up to Icewaver's room, the wolf was still sound asleep as the intruder came in. In an instant Bright light came through the window as the wolf standing in front of it moved the curtains out of the way. Icewaver instantly buried his face under the pillow and let out a long groan.

"Mom, do you have to do that this early." The wolf said with a muffled voice from being covered up.

She smiled as she walked over to the bed and sat beside him, placing a paw on his shoulder and nudged him a couple of times. "You need to get up sweetie."

Icewaver let out another groan, "I will later."

The wolf shook her head and stood up, "Ok, get him." She yelled. Icewaver didn't notice in time the noise of three pups running into the room and jumped on him. The wolf growled and groaned as the pups bounced on his back, pulled on his tail, and yanked on his legs.

"Boys make sure he gets up." Icewaver's mother smiled as she left the room.

"Yes grandma." They all said in unison.

The three pups continued their assaults till Icewaver finally removed his head from under his pillow, sleepy eyes looking at the pups. "You three can be a real pain in the ass you know that."

The pups laughed as they all jumped at the wolf and hugged him tightly, Icewaver couldn't help but smile even with his depression that he is going through. "Ok, you guys win. Now please leave so I can change." All the pups jumped off his bed and darted out the door way, Icewaver sighed happily as he plopped back down and closed his eyes.

After a couple more hours of sleep Icewaver finally got up and dressed himself in shorts then started to make his way outside, when he walked out into the common area he was greeted by the slave that he happened in charge of. "Morning sir." The human said with a bow.

"Morning," Icewaver replied, "I need you to fix my bed and high dust in the room." The wolf said while walking out of the room. The human bowed but before he could answer the door closed with a slam.

The wolf walked out of the palace and into the courtyard where two ranks of ten guards stood patiently, when Icewaver came around the corner all the wolves popped to attention. "Morning sir." They all said.

Icewaver stood in front of them, "Morning, you all ready?" All the wolves nodded. "Good," he pointed to the wolf on the farthest to the left. "Take us to post six."

"Yes sir." The wolf yelled and started to run out the back gate of the palace followed by everyone else. Icewaver started to have everyone run every other day to keep them all in shape, post six was his favorite rout because he liked to look towards mountains as they ran towards them. He lost himself as they ran as images of his pup runs threw his head, before he knew it they reached the post and everyone was panting hard.

Icewaver smiled and was satisfied at their time, he told them to get into ranks and the wolf chose one of the guards to lead them into various excursuses. When almost done with their set of sit-ups Icewaver heard a voice from the post.

"My lord there is a solder running this way."

Icewaver and the others stood up and waited patiently till the wolf arrived. When he did the wolf almost collapsed in exhaustion. Icewaver caught the wolf and gently set him down on the ground. "What's going on?" Icewaver asked.

The wolf held up a letter. "For the alpha."

Icewaver took the note into his paws, when he saw the red seal on it his eyes widened. The wolf stood and looked at the others. "Let's get him back into town." Icewaver said while standing, he looked to one of the higher ranked guards of the group. "We are on alert now, I want men at every post and send messages to the outer posts on their status."

"Yes sir." The wolf said as he started to run back to the palace. Icewaver and the others carefully took the solder back to the palace to rest. Upon their arrival Icewaver ran inside as fast as he could, searching every study room and chambers till he found his father. Once located the wolf ran up to the older wolf.

"We might have a problem." The wolf said out of breath.

His father placed his paws on his son's shoulder to steady the wolf and keep him from collapsing over. "What's going on?" he asked with concern.

"One of our soldiers from the outer post appeared at post six." Icewaver held the letter out in front of him. "He was carrying this."

The alpha took the letter and broke the seal, he opened it and read the contents inside. His expression went from concern to rage in matters of seconds. The alpha quickly looked up to his son. "Get the captains now." He yelled.

Without hesitation Icewaver turned and ran out of the room.

.................................

They all sat around a table patiently, the five captains of the wolf clan. The alpha and Icewaver walked inside the room together but Icewaver was behind his father a little. Everyone stood and waited for the two to take their seats, once seated questions started to fly.

"What's so important that we have to have this gathering alpha?" One asked.

The alpha glared at the black wolf, the captain's ears flatten and leaned back in his chair, obvious speaking out of turn.

"Earlier this morning on my son's run with a handful of the guards, a soldier was found. He was carrying this message from his superior." He placed the note on the table.

The wolf that sat nearest to Icewaver spoke softly. "What did it say?"

Galle took a deep breath, "Well apparently the bear clan has invaded our Southern boarders and is moving northward."

Icewaver turned quickly to his father with concern, the alpha didn't need to look at his son to know what's going through his son's head.

The wolf that spoke out of turn started to laugh, "I don't see why they would attack us though. We haven't done anything and they don't have a big army."

"Yes, but still this doesn't show the fact that they have destroyed our post and invaded our territory Trimoph." Galle said.

Trimoph sighed. "Then what would you have us do my lord?"

Icewaver sat impatiently, his ears laid back as he stared at his father. Galle shook his head as he rested his face in his paws. "Fine..." he said while looking at his son. "You and Trimoph will take his men and go south. Negotiate first, I don't want any blood spilt unless necessary." Icewaver nodded.

The alpha looked at everyone in the room. "Dismissed." They all got up and bowed before leaving the room. Icewaver left the room right after his father but was caught up by Trimoph quickly.

"My lord, when do you think we should leave?" The wolf asked.

Icewaver looked back at the wolf. "As soon as we can, get the men ready outside the town."

The wolf bowed and took his leave, Icewaver made his way to his room, once he arrived the wolf looked at the slave that waited patiently, "Pack me a bag now." He said while going to his closet. The slave moved quickly and packed a bag full of clothing while Icewaver was busy strapping his armor on his shoulder and placing his sheath to his sword onto his back. Soon his door opened and a small pup ran inside and hugged him tightly.

Icewaver looked down and frowned at what he saw. "Uncle don't go."

Icewaver knelt down. "Froshen I'm sorry but I must." He hugged the pup tightly.

"But what if you don't come back?" Froshen said his face now full of tears.

Icewaver smiled and licked the pup's face. "I'll be back, don't you worry."

"But why do you have to go?" Froshen whined as tears started to form.

"I must." Icewaver picked up the small pup and walked him over to his bed, laying him gently onto the blankets. "You can sleep here till I get back, ok."

Froshen licked at Icewaver's face as he hugged him one more time. Icewaver stood and petted the pup's head before walking to the slave and grabbing the rest of his things before leaving. He slowly walked outside where he was soon greeted by his mother.

'Damn.' Was all he could say to himself when she walked up and gave the wolf a tight hug.

"Be safe." She said before kissing the wolf onto his cheek.

Icewaver blushed at being kissed by his mother like this in public. "Do you really have to do that out here?" He asked looking around and saw wolves giggle at him.

"Yes I do." Heavshal said as she hugged him one more time. "Bring him back safe." She whispered into the wolf's ear.

Icewaver couldn't help but smile. "I will." He said before letting his mother go and making his way through the southern part of town.

....................................

Icewaver sat impatient as he waited for the wolves to come. The captain was there moments after Icewaver arrived. "How much longer till we can leave?" He asked the captain.

"Not much longer," He responded, "Still waiting on some late arrivals."

"They need to hurry." Icewaver said while tapping his foot paw on the ground.

"Impatient aren't we?" Trimoph asked.

Icewaver glared at the wolf. "Yes, right now I am."

Once everyone was gathered and put into ranks, they all started to march southward. That if the bears attacked the southern post that was a week march away and a solder ran back to the palace, that would take him about a three days run. The bears would be moving north and with the army moving south then they would meet the intruders somewhere in the mountains. Icewaver clenched his fist as he thought of what might happen if Kyo's village was spotted by the bears, he knew deep down that they wouldn't hold back on the humans.

'We aren't moving fast enough.' He thought to himself

It was a long day of walking, the army ended up stopping twice before they decided to camp for the night. Not having slaves with them means that the wolves had to set up camp by themselves, Icewaver had some help and was the first to have his tent ready. He sat beside the fire with some of the wolves, listening to the stories that were being told. The wolf looked at the fire and started to get lost as the color of the flames danced between red, yellow, and orange. Icewaver jumped when he felt a paw fall onto his shoulder, he looked up to see all the wolves smiling at him.

"Thinking about that special someone back home?" One wolf asked.

Icewaver's frowned while he picked up a stick nearby and started to poke the fire. "I guess you can say that."

"Tell us about her?" Another one asked.

Images of Kyo ran threw his head, the wolf opened his mouth to speak but just couldn't come up with any words. Eventually he stood up and made his way back to his tent without a word. The wolves looked at each other confused when Icewaver walked away, wondering if they said or did something wrong.

Icewaver walked in and fell onto the small bed that was laid a crossed the ground, he rested his face on his crossed arms thinking about his love. Hoping that he was alright, trying his hardest not to shed a tear and let sleep that hasn't been pleasant for the wolf come and take him for the night.

.........................................

Trimoph woke up early in the morning and walked outside of his tent to get ready for the days travel south. Amazed he saw Icewaver sitting at a dead fire pit with his tent broke down and already to leave. The captain made his way to the wolf with a small smile upon his muzzle.

"Didn't sleep my lord?" Trimoph asked with a small chuckle.

Icewaver slowly looked glanced sideways to the wolf standing beside him. "Couldn't sleep."

The wolf let out a more joyful laugh. "I see you're anxious for the battle, but you still need to get rest."

"I am anxious yes..." Icewaver said while looking back to the ground like he was before. "But not for battle." The wolf stood and slung his belongings over his back. "Get the men up, we need to get moving."

"Yes sir." Trimoph said before he started to get the rest of the wolves up. Within moments wolves had tents broke down, breakfast downed, and ready for the long march. Icewaver waited patiently for everyone to be ready so they can once more headed south. Along the way wolves started to complain about the long travel and sore paws, Icewaver looked back and seen that some of the men started to linger behind so against his will he called for a break stop. The wolves were grateful to have a small time of rest, Icewaver sat beside a nearby try staring at the mountains in the distant.

"You really seem to love those mountains." Icewaver looked to see the captain staring at him. "You've been looking at them almost the whole time we've been traveling."

Icewaver scooted a little to offer the wolf some room to sit. "It's more like who's there that I love."

"Ah." The older wolf said while sitting next to Icewaver, Trimoph rested his arms on his knees as he smiled at the wolf. "So...you're going to be the new alpha?"

"I guess." Icewaver said as he looked down to the ground and dragged his claws into the dirt.

"You don't seem too thrilled about it." The captain implied.

The wolf didn't look up at Trimoph as he let out a small sigh. "What would you do if you hit a two way road, would you walk down the road that consists of be with someone that you want to be with or the other where you have a duty to the family?"

The captain leaned back against the tree and stared up into the sky, not say a word as the question ran through the old wolf's mind over and over. "Well..." Trimoph said after a while and looked down at the wolf with a smile, "I would have to follow what my heart says. You only live this life only once," he said while getting up. "So live this life the way you think you should. Don't depend on what others think of you." Icewaver pondered on what the wolf said as the captain walked away. "I'm going to get everyone ready, we should get moving."

Icewaver nodded and pushed himself up off the ground with the sling to his bags in paw, slipping it over his head and onto his shoulder as he headed back to where everyone was starting to get ready to move. Once securing his sword he gave a nod to the captain, the wolf gave the signal and the army started to move forward once more.

"I'm coming pup." Icewaver said in a whisper as he once more looked up at the mountains they were shortly coming up to.

To be continued...