Chapter 4- Discoveries

The snowy mountain rustled with swift winds. Chanoue’s eyes snapped closed in the frost. “This is ridiculous; we are going to die out here”! Lupus complained behind them. Chanoue had enough and turned slapping Lupus with his paw. Lupus stayed quiet but sneered. “Kanoue, how much farther”? Kanoue jumped slightly. “Right there”! He was pointing at a sheer opening in the mountain side that rested above them. Chanoue grinned with evil glee. “Finally”. He climbed forward against the rocky mountain. His claws streaked into the jagged rock crumpling away slowly with each grip. Chanoue’s head leaned over the opening and a gust of wind rushed past him. Kanoue climbed up as well, the cold rock froze his paw. “Kanoue get in here”! Chanoue’s angry voice sounded in a low snarl. Kanoue pulled himself shaking the frost from his fur. “Yes-s-s…”? Chanoue glared at him and gestured his head to order him to follow. Kanoue scuttled behind Chanoue turning back to see the other wolves climbing up. Chanoue stopped, leaving Kanoue to walk into his brother’s tall leg. “What in the world is that”? Lupus called out. He paused behind Kanoue and looked down at him and turned away disgusted. Chanoue looked down. “What is that Kanoue”? Kanoue looked up to face his brother’s direction. “The Crystal of Mirrors” Sitting perfectly in place at the middle of the cave was a pedestal. The crystal sat upright on a metal frame. The air around it appeared light blue and snowy. Kanoue stared and twitched his ears. The strange air color confused him. “Why is the air blue like that”? Chanoue gritted his teeth impatiently. “Well”? Kanoue looked up lost in thought. Chanoue gave him a smack. “What is that”! Kanoue’s eyes snapped to Chanoue. “What’s what”? Chanoue growled. “That pillar holding the crystal and what is wrong with the air around it”? Kanoue stepped forward while all eyes watched him. He sniffed the air cautiously; it was icy cold in his nostrils. Kanoue slowly extended his arm though the cold air cloud. His arm shot back and he squinted in pain. It was horribly cold; the temperature in the air was almost deadly. “Master, it’s cold, it chills to the bone, look”. Kanoue extended his paws in front of Chanoue. Others gathered to look. His paws were blue in color and small icicles had grown from the water dripping off his paws. “Damn”! Chanoue shouted angrily. “I’ll be frozen before I can retrieve it”. His cold eyes scanned over to Lupus. “You, you will get the crystal”. Lupus had a stupefied look spread his large face. “Why me? He asked annoyed and glared. “I didn’t agree to sacrifice; I said id come along and help where I’m needed”. Chanoue smiled in that slimy way that spoke his true devious intentions. “And your help is needed right now”. Lupus’s face turned a ghostly white. His eyes dropped down. “Chanoue please”. His voice sound shaken. He lifted up again to stare into Chanoue’s cold eyes. “Do as you are told, that’s an order”. Lupus looked past Chanoue to look at the crystal. He shook with fright. Lupus, in his hunched and curled up form approached the pedestal. Chanoue gave him a kick sending him hurrying over to the icy mist. He looked back to see the concerned stares excluding the numb and terrorizing Chanoue. His gaze slowly came back to the crystal. His terrified expression shined back at him from the crystal reflective layer. He slowly extended his paw into the mist. Almost instantly a splitting pain shot up his arm and he shivered nearly falling off his feet. He couldn’t take it. Lupus threw his arm up and grasped it under his other arm. He turned back with tears growing in his eyes. “I can’t get it”. Chanoue’s face turned to a snarling sneer and he moved forward. “You will get it”. Lupus turned back fearing the result. His small paw extended out. Again, the sheering pain shot up his fur all the way to his body. His eyes had snapped shut but he quickly opened them. The crystal nearly hovered before his claws. Reaching just a bit more, he managed to wrap a claw around it. His arm was literally turning to ice. He pulled back and the crystal rolled out of the misty cloud onto the cave floor. Lupus tugged again with his arm, but it did not move. The ice locked arm was frozen to the pedestal. Again he pulled but this time he did give way. His arm had frozen completely into ice and all that remained was a small portion of his still fleshy arm. The rest was still frozen in place upon the pedestal. He keeled over in terror and shock almost unable to process what had just happened. Chanoue ran up and clasped the shiny crystal in his paws. He smiled triumphantly ignoring Lupus’s screams of agony. Lupus gripped his open arm wound howling. Chanoue looked at the rip and noticed the blood covered patch along Lupus’s chest. He was utterly coated in his own blood. “You have made a great sacrifice”. Chanoue said quietly returning his gaze to the crystal. Lupus turned with his tormented face. “You sadistic monster”! Lupus tried to stand and shout but dropped to the ground sinking into the puddle of blood. Chanoue rolled his eyes unsympathetically and waved his arm to two standing wolves. “Tend to him please, I do not wish to listen to his whining”. The two wolves rushed to the wounded Lupus. Chanoue pulled out the crystal examining it with interest. A sudden red glow shot out at him. Chanoue covered his eyes in surprise. “Gah”! He growled. “Kanoue look at this”! Kanoue scuttled over. “What is it”? Chanoue shook his head. “You know what this is now tell me”! Kanoue stared at the red light and then suddenly it snapped. “That’s the Shadow Stone”. Chanoue looked at Kanoue angry; his eyes were still affected partially by the blinding bright light. “What is that”? Kanoue sighed. “The next item on our list”.

 

“So what have the humans been doing besides killing these wolves”? Raves shrugged and tucked his head around the hall corner. “Like she said, they might be testing us, I saw some others be taken away then come back with tags on their ears”. Shadow’s ears twitched in confusion. “Tags”? Raves looked back and blinked a bit annoyed by Shadows lack of knowledge. “Yeah, their tiny little plastic things they stuck on our ears, I didn’t get one”. The dim lit hallways began to flash red in Shadow’s eyes. He dropped down to his knees and held is head. The other two had not noticed as they were ahead of him. He looked up and the room cleared back to its regular color. “It’s just past these rooms; we will have to cut through there”. Raves was pointing his paw out around the corner. Shadow stared at his paw which was misshapen and bloody. “What happened to your paw”? He asked. Crystal turned her head and looked down at it. She gasped; a bit surprised. Raves looked at him with almost glaring eyes but he sighed giving a more relaxed expression. “I struggled to keep a human from touching me. I bit him and in return they stomped on my paw”. Shadow was still looking at it in disbelief. “It’s a cruel world boy, you learn to live it”. Raves turned back and rounded the corner while Shadow and Crystal followed.

 

They stepped past a wooden door into a dark and black room. The lights apparently were turned out. “It appears the humans aren’t here, quickly let’s move”. Raves motioned to the two and moved behind a wooden shelf on his left. Shadow and Crystal followed while letting their eyes wander among the bookshelves. The shelves stood about as tall as the wolves being small and lined with books. “All these books, I wonder what they read”. Shadow asked. “These are books right”? Raves gave a half-hearted laugh at Shadows knowledge dent. Shadow simply ignored him. Crystal gave a short growl. “I can only imagine they read horrible texts on torture, if they knew the pain their inflicting, they…” Crystal was cut off by Raves’ loud Shh. He held his paw up to stop them then made a motion for them to get down. Shadow looked around and his heart raced. The sudden stomping of feet began sounding nearby. The lights shined on, flooding the room in bright illumination and shining the three wolves in plain sight. “Just stay down”. Raves commanded under his whisper. Shadow tried to see the humans from behind the bookcase. He looked down under the shelf to try to see them. At the moment, they were not close by. Shadow saw nothing but the other shelf across from him. The footsteps sounded almost all over the room. Shadow peered under the bookcase again. This time, human shoed feet could be seen across the room. His heart almost stopped and he held his breath. They were slowly approaching. Shadow didn’t hear any voices, just the droning clicks of their shoes growing louder. The steps stopped just over Shadow. The humans lingering form was just above him. The human had slipped something onto the shelf’s top but still somehow had not noticed him. Shadow was relieved as the clicking left his ears, growing more and more distant. But faster then the panic left him, it returned in a flash. The something was a book and it slipped off the shelf and landed onto Shadow’s back then slid onto the floor. The loud noise it made caused Shadow flinch and look up. Crystal and Raves turned their heads. Shadow could hear the distant clicking stop; it then turned and grew louder again. “He’s going to see me”! Shadow’s mind roared. Before he could think of what to do, the human was staring down at him from above. The human jumped back in surprise. Shadow jumped to his feet in utter shock “Run”! Raves shouted. Shadow quickly began moving forward before dropping to the floor with a thud. The blue rocks in his back exploded next to his face. The human’s hands were gripped on a metal gun like object. “I got one”! The human shouted. Shadow felt like a dropped rag doll. He was sprawled across the floor almost unaware of everything around him. The fumes in his face sucked right into his nose. He heard two more thumps and shouts of humans. Everything dropped black before Shadow’s eyes and all went silent.

 

The grassy frozen tundra echoed with howling winds and snapping icicles. The vast landscape of rock and snow and even grass enchanted an observing hawk. The birds stretched wings hung in the sky like a majestic angel. Its golden yellow eyes centered downward over the terrain. Its eyes would twitch at the sign of any movement. A small speck, small as a pebble, darted out from the covering shadows of a small rock. The bird dove downward. The target of choice was a small mouse. Before the creature could secure cover, it was snatched off the ground and lifted high in the air. Chanoue stomped by. Such a small and innocent creature deserved the fait. In his eyes, everything small and weak deserved to be destroyed by their larger predators. Kanoue looked up at the slowly disappearing bird with fright. He turned his gaze back on the towering Chanoue who continued his pace. Kanoue wondered for a moment; why only did he know what Chanoue needed for this task? Why was it he that only knew where these pieces were? Chanoue stopped abruptly. Kanoue stopped short and stared up at him. He was drinking from a small creek between the rock grounds. He lifted his head and turned to the others with that glazed look. “Water; drink now”. He walked away and sat alone on the rocky ground. Kanoue looked around nervously. He trotted forward in a nervous skip. “Chanoue”. Kanoue’s voice quivered in rhythm with his trembling body. “What exactly do we need these for”? Chanoue looked at Kanoue with a curios face. “I thought you knew”? Kanoue shook his head. “I only know we need these to open the door and where they are but I don’t know why or what’s behind the door”. Chanoue coked his head in pure confusion. Such an idiotic wolf, can’t even fathom why he’s doing these tasks. Chanoue’s eyes scanned and he turned his head back to the snowy valley in front of him. “It’s a secret of mine”. Kanoue looked surprised. “Really? What is it? What’s behind that door”? Chanoue didn’t want to tell Chanoue what he was planning and he jumped to another conclusion for Kanoue. “Well, if you want to know, you’ll have to follow me through with it”. Kanoue persisted further; it was surprising considering his fear of him. “Tell me Chanoue”. Chanoue glared. “I believe I might be able to bring back our- my father to life”. Chanoue turned his head. Kanoue dropped his head feeling rather bad. “Oh”. Chanoue sneered. “Well now you know”. He lifted his paw swatting Kanoue away. “Now go away, ill be with you and the others in a moment”. Kanoue strode away before turning back. “I’m glad to help you brother”. Chanoue raised his eyes and turned back looking at him blankly. Kanoue ran off joining the others at the creek.