Chapter 12- Hope on a Thread

The morning sun was overhead. The desert mountains were hot and the sand blowing up into the air made James’s eyes sting. They had traveled to a hot sandy mountain range. Sarina climbed across the rock with him. They had come to the mountain side. The sun shined on the wolves eyes. Sapientia ran up alongside. “This must be it! The Sierra! We made it”! The wolves hurried now. They ran up the rocky mountain. James ran ahead with Sarina. His heart raced. He felt strong; he had led the pack to the land they had longed for. James climbed over the hill and sat at the top to look over the Sierra. What he saw was far from his expectations. There was nothing, just more sand and rock. It was a large canyon stretching for seemingly miles. There was no water, no food, and no life in site. Sapientia ran up. “What… where is it? Where’s anything? There’s nothing here”. Her voiced dropped with each sentence. James’s face fell. He felt a great deal of failure drop on him. Sarina licked the side of his face reassuringly. “This isn’t the Sierra, we need to keep going”. She said now turning to the rest of the pack. Sapientia looked horrified. “I didn’t come all this way for nothing”! She quickly ran down the bank and slid across several rocks. “There’s got to be something anything”! She slipped and was sent tumbling. Sapientia screamed and she crashed down the rocks and slammed hard into the ground. James ran down to her. “Are you alright” he called out. He made his way down the hill and slipped in the loose sand as well. Sarina looked up. A cliff holding several boulders started to teeter. Sarina watched as the rocks fell from the cliff and began to roll down the hill. “James look out”! She yelled. James turned. The rocks were rolling down towards him and Sapientia. He rushed down to her. James came up along her side and looked up at the impending rocks. “Come on we need to move”! He yelled and he tried to shove her. She tried to shift but several small fallen rocks held her in place. James looked up and the two boulders were rushing quickly at him. Not much time was left. James gave a hard tug and Sapientia slid out from the rocks debris. The boulders slammed hard into where Sapientia had been laying. She looked up to James in shock and appreciation. “Thank you, not sure what else to say considering you saved my life”. James chuckled. “Don’t mention it. Sarina and the others ran down to them. “Oh thank Mother Nature no ones hurt”. Sarina said breathing heavily. Suddenly Bruce was yelling again. “You nearly got her killed”! James gave a sharp look at him. “It was an accident”. Bruce made a hideously angry face and backed up. “No this only happens because of you! I’m not going to stay so you can kill me as well”. He turned and ran off, back up the hill and didn’t even look back. James lowered his head.

 

Crystal slowly opened her eyes to a distressed Shadow. He looked down as her, his eyes seem to be filled with tears that had dried like an old river. “Thank goodness you’re alive”. He said exasperated. “I found you just a couple of minutes ago; you wouldn’t respond to me or wake up”. Crystal stood up on her paws. She found herself at the foot of the river in another forest. The quiet gurgling of the river rustled nearby. “I was in a cave and this bat, and Chanoue”. Shadow looked at her as though she was some sort of lunatic. She soon explained of her experience in the cave. “So Chanoue is trying to open his ancestor’s tomb”? Crystal nodded. “I’m not sure what’s inside or why he wants it”? Shadow shook his head and walked around. “But if it’s true then Nature will handle this, she can stop him can’t she”? Crystal laid back into the forest floor. “I don’t know Shadow, there’s so much I don’t understand or know yet. Its best we just try to reunite with your parents”. Shadow gave a small nod. “Let Nature do what she needs to do”.

 

The day moved on. Crystal had woken early in the morning and she realized how hungry she was. It was time for a hunt. The forest lacked herds; there appeared to be no deer or anything of the sort. Crystal and Shadow traveled most of the day heading West through the forest. Crystal spotted a rabbit near a tree, easy prey. “Ill catch this one”. She said motioning to Shadow to stop. She jumped forward and ran at the rabbit. It bolted as fast as Crystal saw it. It dashed through the dirt kicking up leaves into Crystal’s face. The rabbit dropped down into a small hole in the ground. Crystal didn’t stop there and she ripped at the ground with her claws. Shadow stepped behind her. He had managed to catch another rabbit. Crystal turned to look up at him. “How did you catch that”? Shadow gestured over to his left at another hole. The two shared the remains of the catch. They both were lying under an old tree. “Do you know where this tomb of Chanoue’s is at”? Shadow asked through a mouthful of rabbit meat. “No” Crystal said munching at her half. “It’s just a rumor”. Shadow shrugged. “You never know”. The wolves lay under the tree for a few hours before an uninvited guest arrived. A ravaged looking wolf stumbled by, not taking notice of them before falling into the dirt. Shadow stood up. “Is he okay”? Crystal looked over at the wolf. His fur was wrinkled and spiky. His eyes were bloodshot green and his legs looked chewed and ripped. “Maybe you should stay away”. Crystal said cautiously. “Be careful”. She warned as Shadow approached. The wolf had low growls coming from him. He sounded wheezy and choked. “Are you alright”? Shadow asked and he nudged the wolf slightly. The savage wolf swung its head around and snapped its jaws at Shadow. “Hey calm down”! Shadow shouted as he jumped back. The wolf slowly crawled at Shadow, still growling. The wolf had a foam covered mouth with its teeth bared sharply. “Shadow get away”! Crystal yelled and Shadow dodged another bite that flew at him. Shadow jumped and bit the wolves face causing it jump back. Crystal ran in and pushed several bits of dirt up into the wolf’s face. It howled angrily and slashed its claws at Shadow knocking him back.
What is wrong with you”? Shadow yelled but quickly had to crawl back as the wolf tried to leap at him. Shadow slashed his claws and scratched the wolf’s face. It didn’t stop him, but Crystal reacted by jumping onto the wolf’s back and pulling him down into the dirt. Shadow gained his ground and surveyed the battle. Crystal was biting hard into the wolf in multiple spots. Shadows opened his jaw wide and bit into the wolf’s neck and remembered Chanoue’s method, rip and tear. The blood seeped over his mouth. The taste was unbearable but he held tight. He could hear the wolf loosing breath, its voice lowering. It sounded gargled and blood was spat over Shadow’s back. He let go and stepped back, Crystal stood up from the body. The wolf lay motionless on the ground in a growing pool of blood. Shadow stared at Crystal confused and shocked. “What was wrong with him”? Crystal walked up to Shadow and walked around him in circles. Her eyes surveyed his body and neck. “He had rabies, a disease that’s common in wolves. If he bit you, you’ll end up the same”. Shadow gasped quietly. “Its ok, you’re clean”. Shadow sighed in relief. “You fought well. I’m surprised considering you never have fought before”. Shadow sighed. “I’m surprised myself; I think my father might have been a fighter himself”. Crystal stared. “I didn’t know my father that well, or my parents, I was only with them for a few months”. Crystal looked up into the sky and licked at her bloodstained paw.

 

Deserts, James heard a lot about these places but this was brutal. The sand was hot and stung like needles. There was almost no food. The sandy terrain went on for miles with no end in sight. James panted hard the sand slipped between his toes and delivered their horrid sting of heat. Maybe Bruce was right to abandon them like that; he knew what was to come, famine, pestilence and soon, death. The others around him seem to have given up hope as well. They carried on, the desert miles continued. James turned to see his pack falling apart. What was Arnoue thinking, why leave him with such a responsibility. He remembered though, he made it this far, why not farther? James stopped suddenly and turned to face his pack. They panted and dropped into the sand like dropped pinecones. “We won’t last much longer in this kind of condition; we must try to find food and water”. The wolves muttered among each other and chatter was heard carrying about. James watched over them with his brown eyes, shifting over the conversing wolves. One of them turned his head up to look at James. “We could try to find borrows, maybe some kind of creatures live there”. James pondered this. “There is an idea, but what about water”. Another wolf looked up too. “We can try to look in moist areas but I think we won’t find water for a long time’s travel”. James knew the wolf was right. Water would be impossible to find, but the idea of food was an opportunity to be taken. They walked the sand covered desert land before a discovery was made. “Hey look”! A wolf shouted out. “It looks like a rabbit hole”! He said with delight. James turned and walked back. The wolf was digging hard at the hole. James studied it, what is a rabbit doing in the desert. James heard an uneasy sound emit from inside the hole, but among the shouts of excitement and loud digging, no one else seem notice. It sounded like a thump with a ding sound to it. James slowly realized what he was hearing. But before he could conjure the answer, the wolf howled loud and painfully. A rattlesnake had jutted out of the hole and bit down into the wolf’s face. The snake jumped back after delivering the bite and it rattled its tail as it observed the other wolves backing away and helping the injured one. The snake slowly slid its way back into its hole. The other wolves gathered round. The wolf’s s name was Charlie. He was a light brown somewhat orange color. His eyes, usually yellow, turned black and he snapped his eyes shut and whimpered loudly. Blood was trickling over Charlie’s face. It touched the sand and soaked over the hot ground. “What we do for him”? Another wolf spoke up. James starred. “Aloe leaves, it’s our best choice”. James had read wolf writing he had seen about aloe leaves used by humans and wolves alike to heal wounds. “Aloe”? Barked one of the wolves. “That’s ridiculous, where are we going to find anything like that in this desert? You’re crazy”. The wolf grunted and turned his head back down to Charlie. The blood rushed over his face and it was drying quickly in the heat. “The sooner we find some, the better”.