Wolf River - Chapter 3
#3 of Wolf River
The snow had stopped sometime during the night and the clouds had drifted off to dump snow on the lands somewhere to the east. A bubble of crystal clear blue sky blossomed overhead in the wake of the storm and the woods were still and silent. The sun was just on its way up and the first rays of sunlight lit up the snow covered peaks of the mountains to the west. It was the start of what looked to be a spectacular day.
The sound of gentle snoring drifted out into the still air, disturbing the silence of an otherwise idyllic morning. A partially collapsed orange tent that stuck out among the trees like a sore thumb looked to be the source of this noise. Inside the tent, cocooned in a military green sleeping bag buried under a pile of clothes, was a vaguely human shaped lump. There was no activity from the lump for several minutes until there was an abrupt end to the snoring. After another moment of stillness, the lump stirred and a head covered in an unkempt mat of greasy brown hair poked out into the cold air and blinked blearily at the morning light that filtered in through the tent walls. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the head retreated back into the warmth of the sleeping bag. There was some more movement followed by a prolonged groan. Shortly, a hand emerged from the sleeping bag and rummaged through the pile of clothes. It latched onto a pair of blue jeans and withdrew back into sanctuary. After a moment of silence, there was a muffled exclamation and the form hidden in the depths of the sleeping bag thrashed about briefly before settling into a quivering silence. It was cold out there this morning.
Perhaps an hour or so later, bundled up in a heavy winter jacket, toque and gloves to ward off temperatures that had dropped to the improbable side of the freezing point overnight he sat once again on the cooler in front of the fire. A steaming mug of coffee was cradled in his hands which he sipped in an absent-minded manner as he pondered his situation for the thousandth time.
It was the morning of day six now, and he was starting to get really worried. On his explorations into the surrounding forest over the last few days he had come across no cut lines, clear cuts, power lines or even a hint of anything man made. It was disturbing and he was starting to wonder if something was really wrong. In his experience there were always signs of civilization to be found even if you weren't looking for them. Beer bottles, pop cans, the inevitable bits of plastic garbage that always showed up everywhere, even the remnants of old fires from travellers long past almost always showed themselves during any hike in the bush. This place was different, and different in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was like humans had never been here before. This wilderness was just too pristine, too perfect. He shook away the unease that crawled up his spine and took another swig of his coffee. Steam wreathed his head, freezing into tiny spheres of ice that clung to his eyebrows and his toque. He scratched the six day old stubble on his chin and sighed. The lack of any evidence of other humans, he could deal with that without a whole lot of problems. After all, there were possibilities that presented themselves on that front. He could be stranded in the middle of a national park or some sort of wildlife preserve or something like that. That would explain a few things. However, there was one thing that he was having trouble with. The few animals he had seen over the past few days didn't react to him as he thought they should have. He was having a difficult time believing it, but it seemed that they didn't have the instinctual fear of humans that was so commonplace that it was taken for granted. He frowned as he contemplated his half empty mug of coffee. The deer that he had shot yesterday certainly didn't react to him the way he it should have. Instead of running when he spooked it from it's afternoon feeding it had stopped and stared at him curiously, offering him an easy shot. He shook his head slowly from side to side. He really hoped he'd just been relocated to a national park or something, as unlikely as that was beginning to appear. The alternative was just too disturbing to contemplate.
The lines on his face tightened as he set the coffee mug down beside him. He knew beyond a doubt that the simple act of touching off a round from a high powered rifle in a national park should have had the place swarming with wardens and wildlife officials yet things had been eerily silent since his successful hunt. He hadn't even heard the welcome sound of a chopper in the distance.
Fortunately, a faint glimmer of hope had found it's way into his thoughts. His food problem had been solved for the time being and on his hunt yesterday he had come across some tracks in the snow that he thought had been made by another person. He wasn't one hundred percent sure though. The small prints had been ill defined in the loose snow, but he was fairly certain that someone walking with a bipedal gait had made them. The prints just didn't look right to him though, and he wasn't quite sure why. He had followed them for a couple of hours before snow began to fall again and he was forced to turn back. As soon as the snow had stopped, he had returned to the forest and tried to find the tracks again. He had no success in his search even though he had spent the better part of half a day wandering through the trees. Despite his failure, it had come as no small amount of comfort to realize that there was someone else out here in this wilderness besides himself. With a little luck, the person that made those tracks might see the smoke from his fire and come and investigate. If the unknown stranger did show up, he hoped that he'd bring a few answers with him. He was getting the feeling that he was going to go insane soon if he didn't figure what had happened to him and where he had ended up.
He reached over and refilled his coffee mug from the pot that was suspended over the fire on the end of a large stick. He sat still for a moment before he stood up. Well, he thought, since his chances of being rescued seemed to be getting more and more remote with each passing day, he figured was time to set up a more permanent camp. He had found a good location right beside a small stream not too far from where he had shot the deer. There was a small clearing beside the stream there and he thought that it would be a good location. It had good access to fresh water, a nice view overlooking the valley and it was good and wide open so maybe a search plane would be able to see him if one flew overhead. The only problem with the new campsite was that it lay about kilometre and a half away and it was uphill the whole way. Even with his meagre supplies, that still meant three or four trips. He didn't relish the thought. Just the effort from butchering the deer and bringing it back to the camp yesterday had left him with enough sore muscles for one day. Now he was going to have to drag everything, including the remains of that deer back up that damned hill again. To make matters worse, his backpack and coil of rope were wherever his truck was, and that was still a mystery. He let out a big sigh and moved over to the tent. He disappeared inside for a moment then emerged with an armload of paraphernalia. He dumped it unceremoniously into the snow and began to dismantle the tent, an unhappy frown on his face the whole time. Muffled curses drifted out into the still air as he fought with the tent poles.
There were few things he hated more than moving.
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Kendri paced back and forth inside the cabin like a caged animal, her ears flat against her skull and eyes wide with concern. There was something very strange going on, and she was worried about what path she would follow from now on. She was beginning to have a faint understanding of what was happening and to be truthful, it scared her half to death. She suddenly felt as if she was no longer in control of her own life.
She stopped her pacing for a moment and went outside to sit on the edge of the porch. She drew her knees up to her chest and breathed in deeply, taking in the subtle scents carried to her nose on the breeze. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, trying to calm her frayed nerves. It was such a beautiful morning, but she had too many confused thoughts running through her mind to be able to enjoy it. It appeared that after two long years, that some of the pieces of the puzzle were finally coming together. Memories of events that she had tried so hard to forget had been brought to the surface, a strange creature had been dropped from the sky, and now she faced a crucial decision. She sighed and rested her muzzle on her paws. What the final outcome of all this strangeness would be was still a mystery.
She had returned to the cabin the previous night intending to meditate, something that always helped to calm her down and sort herself out, but for some reason things had not gone as planned. Meditation required discipline and good control over one's mind, and not for the first time, she had wondered if she was starting to lose her mind. Time after time, she had tried to calm herself, to quiet the confused jumble of thoughts that cluttered up the inside of her head and sink into the meditation trance, but it was always just out of her reach. She kept snapping back to awareness and finding herself staring at the wall in confusion. She became more and more frustrated with each unsuccessful attempt and after several hours of failure, she let out an exasperated snarl and gave up. Her failures were troubling but she pushed them from her mind and tried to concentrate on other things. She went out to the old shack next to the cabin where she kept her stores of food, and hacked a small chunk of frozen meat from the meagre remains of a quarter that hung from the rafters. She returned to the cabin and turned her attention to cooking a small meal. When she was done eating, she spent a short few minutes grooming herself as best as she could with her blunt claws before she curled up on an old deerskin and tried to get some sleep.
Sleep did not come easily. She tossed and turned as the days events played over and over in her head. How could that creature have killed a deer when it was so far away that she could hardly see it? She remembered the tales told to her by her father when she was a pup, the ones about the monsters that lived in the clouds and threw bolts of lightning from their outstretched paws. Could this creature be one of those monsters? She didn't know what to think. The weapon it carried unleashed the sound of thunder, but the creature itself seemed too frail, too mortal to be one of the monsters from the old stories. She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling for what had felt like half the night, struggling with old memories, almost hearing her father's voice whispering to her from the shadowy corners of the cabin. She eventually rolled on to her side and faced the door of the cabin, contemplating the unknown that lay beyond that door, hidden away in his strange hut down in the depths of the valley. Those old stories she remembered were told just to scare pups anyway she told herself, but she couldn't quite bring herself to completely believe that. No, perhaps not a monster from the old stories, but whatever that creature was, it was powerful. She felt drawn to it for some odd reason, maybe because his situation was so similar to the one she had endured for the last two years. Both of them were alone and both of them were far from home...
She had stood up, stretched and yawned briefly and then turned in a circle a few times before curling up again. Finally, she managed to drift off to sleep.
The dream had swept over her with the terrifying swiftness of a summer thunderstorm as soon as she closed her eyes. Images flared to life and died in a single instant, emotions were tossed about like leaves in the wind...
The dream solidified and she found herself standing on the open grassy plains where she had lived for so long. The sun was up high and shone like a diamond in the cloudless sky. A warm wind gently swayed the long grasses and she looked around at the rolling hills that receded into the distance. She hung her head and did her best to fight back the tears that threatened to flow all to freely. It took her a moment but she managed to get a grasp on her emotions, enough that she was able to raise her head and look upon the scene that stretched out before her. It was her old home, a place that she could never return to. A tear trickled from the corner of her eye and crept down the side of her muzzle.
A remnant of sadness still pervaded this place. Where once there had been the happy cries and laughter of pups at play, now only the wind whispered mournfully through the long grass. The Great Circle, where generations had sung and danced their thanks to Creation had all but disappeared. Only a stone or two scattered through the tall grass hinted that there had once been anything there. Of the rest of the village, scarcely a trace remained. Nearby, a circular depression showed where a hut had once stood. A family had likely lived there, a mated pair, their pups, maybe even a grandparent or two. A family who's bones were now scattered about, glaring white against the green grass. Overcome by emotion, she sank to her knees and cried, the tears running down to soak the fur below her eyes. Why did it have to happen this way? She asked herself for the thousandth time, her despair giving way to anger. So many lives had been lost for no reason. She shook her fist in anger and yelled her frustration at the clear blue sky overhead. What had they done to deserve this? She sighed, sagging into the soft grass. Everything and everyone was gone, and the question was the only thing that remained.
An oppressive silence ruled over her and only the whispers of the wind reached her ears, keening and wailing through the grass. She regained some of her composure and rose unsteadily to her feet. The ghosts would never leave this place, she could hear their mournful voices whispering on the wind. She turned and walked away, wishing that she was able to forget all of the family and friends that she had left behind in this place. She stopped and looked over her shoulder one last time before fleeing this place of sadness as she had on the day that her life had been ripped away from her. She fled west towards the distant hills, vainly trying to leave the whispers of the ghosts behind her. She ran for what seemed like hours, she ran until she had nothing left. Panting hard, she crested a hill and stopped. The sun was just on the horizon and as the last rays of light from the setting sun gave way under the oncoming darkness, she gathered her breath and let loose an anguished howl that rang with despair and pain. As the last echoes of that howl faded into the sunset, she collapsed to the ground, totally spent. It took so much effort just to think. Her anger and pain had evaporated but nothing yet had taken their place. The sky radiated fantastic colours of red and yellow as the sun went down but she did not see it. She sat within the silence of her mind, hearing only the faintest echos of the world around her.
For a time she sat there, her perceptions clouded by the complete withdrawl of sensation. Then slowly, her consciousness surfaced from the depths and she opened her eyes to a new world.
She no longer sat on the open plains among the undulating hills but instead sat high on a rocky outcrop surrounded by stunted spruce trees, the sun shining bright above her. A cool breeze brushed gentle fingers through her fur as she gazed out over the forested valley that stretched out below her. She pushed herself to her feet and shielded her eyes from the sun as she turned in a slow circle, surveying her new surroundings. Jagged, snow encrusted mountains loomed up from the horizon to the west. The valley whispered to her, calling her down into its depths. She descended among the rocks and the trees until she stood alongside a well used trail. From there it only seemed natural that she should follow it. Several hundred spans later and she found herself at the bottom of a small hill. She could see the cabin through the trees and followed the trail to the edge of a small clearing. The cabin was perched on the crest of the hill, a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney, and a lone figure out front gathering an armload of wood. She sniffed the air carefully, cautious as always. She let out a joyful bark and ran the rest of the way up the hill with happy grin and her tail wagging furiously as she recognized Rennik, her old friend. Rennik slowly turned to face her, features and body changing in one fluid motion as he did so, transforming into the creature that she had been following the last four days. The creature raised a paw in greeting...
And Kendri had jumped awake.
She never did get back to sleep after that. The dream had left her feeling so twisted up inside that she was almost at the point of breaking down into tears. Only once before had she ever had a dream that was so perfectly real that she could feel the grass beneath the pads of her feet and feel the sunshine warm against her fur. That dream had come to her nearly two years ago. In it, she had been shown the way to this deserted old shelter on the north wall of the valley. What really concerned her was that both dreams were almost identical. They both started out at her old home and they both held the same feelings of despair and sadness but the first one had ended abruptly when she had reached the cabin. Rennik and the creature were not in it. That raised a few questions and perhaps gave her a clue.
Kendri had always felt that she had been led to this old shack that clung precariously to the north wall of the valley, high above the sparkling river that wound its way through the trees in the distance. For what reason she had been drawn to this place, she never knew. It had taken her considerable time to overcome her loss and come to grips with the knowledge that everyone and everything she knew was gone forever. She had recovered somewhat, but the old wounds had never fully healed. Now she was beginning to have an inkling of what was going on and why she had been led out here to this unknown and inhospitable wilderness.
The dreams held the key.
As she sat on the edge of the porch watching the shadows of the trees inch across the clearing, her ears perked up and the faintest of smiles came to her muzzle. The words her father told her when she was about to come of age echoed in her head.
"Where one will fail, two may succeed. One person is just that. One. Alone. It is only by working together that we are able to survive. That is the way of the pack".
She stood up and stretched, smiling into the warmth of the sun. She felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Tomorrow was another day, one that for better or for worse, would break the solitary pattern of the last two years of her life.