With flattened ears Libby and Alex moved on, walking between Bandit and his companion. They're so cruel! Libby wondered what Pack they were from. And who was this Wessels wolf? Why would they give such horrible orders?

She also wondered about her Pack. What if they'd already lost the battle and were all dead? She pictured her mother and father lying on the ground and not moving, their bodies growing cold. Her stomach felt hollow at the mere thought.

No! The Pack of Fading Shadows is fierce! she told herself firmly. A bunch of ruffians would never win against our family! Pike is the best Leader, and Mom and Dad are strong!

Though she didn't know what exactly Alex was thinking, it didn’t seem positive. He walked low, his tail between his hind legs and his ears drooped. He was whimpering softly.

Libby wished she could say some encouraging words to her brother, but didn't dare to. She looked up briefly at the female, who made eye contact and raised her lip threateningly. Libby's gaze quickly turned to the ground in front of her again, and she tried to focus on her surroundings.

So far, the forest was awful. It was large, and lush, and deep green different from the pale yellow grasses of the Brightened Plains. Aside from birdsong, the engulfing branches and their shadows made it feel like she was suffocating. She missed the openness of the Brightened Plains, and couldn't believe that she'd ever wanted to go to a place like this. Hopefully, the wolves weren't taking her into the middle of the woods.

Suddenly, the she-wolf halted, her ripped ears erect. "Bandit," she addressed expressionlessly

"Yes?" he stopped walking too, and gestured for the pups to do the same. Libby and Alex did as indicated.

"I heard something..." She started looking around, her dark blue eyes gazing from left to right and scanning behind every tree and bush.

"Maybe a deer," Bandit muttered.

"No. Ugh, blast this wind!"

An unfamiliar snarl suddenly sounded, though Libby couldn't decipher from exactly where. "Not a step further, you scum!"

Pawsteps sounded from around them, and Libby was surprised to see four wolves emerge from the bushes, surrounding them. While Alex tucked his tail, Libby managed to gather the courage to raise her lips at them.

The wolf who had spoken before, an older nonetheless strong-looking and very pale gray male, approached. His golden-colored eyes narrowed. "Stealing pups, I see?"

Bandit stepped in front of the other kidnapper. "No, you brainless squirrel! She's my mate! These are our pups!"

The female made a gagging motion behind his back and whispered something along the lines of "I don't need you to defend me".

Libby moved closer to Alex, until their flanks were touching.

Alex replied with another whine.

"Let the pups go. Now," the pale male demanded.

"Nonsense! These are ours!" Bandit barked.

"Don't think we can't detect your disgusting, salty stench! You're Wessels' wolves! You're not welcome here! Leave now and give us the pups!"

Bandit lowered his head, baring his teeth and his hackles rising. "You want a fight?" he snarled. "Then you'll get one!"

He threw himself onto the pale gray wolf and went for his throat. The gray female went for a wolf that smelled neither female nor male at her left, a white one with red eyes and black ears.

Libby didn't want to wait and see if they'd be attacked or taken by these new wolves, too. "Run!" she barked, before rushing blindly in a direction. She heard Alex's paws close behind her as she tried to block out the horrible sounds of the fighting wolves. Snarls and barks echoes through the deep woods.

The siblings had no idea where they were going, and the dense undergrowth made it very hard to run. Instead of packed, sandy ground with less obstructive grass, there was nothing but thick foliage and looming trees with tough roots engulfing them as far as the eye could see. Libby let out a yelp as she avoided one bush, only to end up crashing into a patch of thorns. Trying to ignore the pain, she moved on with Alex still following. The sounds of the battle were becoming more and more distant. She almost thought she had escaped when yet another wolf stood in their path.

He had a gray coat with a white belly. His left eye had a deep dark gray color, while his right eye was rather pale and clouded over. Four scars scored from his forehead to his right cheek, across his blind eye. His muzzle was slightly gray, indicating his older age.

Libby and Alex braked before they collided with the half-blind wolf, eyes wide with fear. "Run!" Alex yelped, changing directions. Libby was about to follow him when the gray stranger jumped in front of them.

"Stop!" the stranger demanded. "We're here to help you!"

Libby tried to backtrack, but once more he was in front of them. "We're not enemies!"

"But you're attacking them!" Libby burst out before trying to scramble away. The wolf grabbed her by the scruff and put her on the ground beside Alex again, who was just sitting there, trembling with fear, too afraid to try to run again.

"They're the enemy, aren't they?" the gray-white wolf responded.

"Yes, but--"

"You're not their pups, are you?"

"No! Of course not! They stole us!"

"Then we're helping you. Come, let's go and see how the battle is going."

Libby glanced at her brother, who was staring dazedly at the ground. She then returned to look at the scarred wolf and swallowed. She didn't want to go with him, but knew she had no choice. Even if he was aging, he was still bigger, faster and stronger than them. Plus, she couldn't leave her brother.

She licked her lip as she followed the older wolf without words, nudging Alex to come along.

***

"No! He can't be dead!" The dark gray wolf was gaping in horror at the results of the battle as they arrived. Of the four wolves, only three had made it out alive, though wounded. The pale gray wolf that had led the rescue lay on the ground, throat ripped out, his golden eyes glazed over.

The older wolf sank down onto the ground beside the body and bowed his head, whimpering. "Brighten ... I'm so sorry. This is my fault..."

Libby and Alex simply stood at a distance, glancing at him and the three others.  To their dismay, it looked like their kidnappers succeeded in their escape. Libby wondered how, as their rescuers had outnumbered them by two.

The white and black wolf lacking a determinable gender to Libby stepped forward, their black ears drooping. They spoke with an accent Libby had not heard before. "We tried to save him ... but it was too late. That brown brute had his throat before we could do anything."

The one-eyed wolf did not respond, burying his muzzle in the coat of the deceased male. "He was my best friend..."

Another wolf stepped forward. This one was a very pale gray female with a black muzzle and forehead, and a black tail. Her icy-blue eyes were cold. "This is your doing, you know that, don't you, Dreven?" Her accent was the same as that of the red-eyed wolf.

The older wolf looked up. "It's not my fault! Brighten wanted to be the one to lead the attack!"

"Well, you could’ve helped him if you weren't hiding far away like the coward you are!" the female responded.

The gray-white wolf ignored her harsh words and nuzzled Brighten's coat again, before straightening up, as if to push away his sadness. "Brighten will be remembered. We'll have to carry him back to our rendezvous." His voice sounded weak.

Libby didn't know what to think of all this. She stared at the dead body in front of her. Her mind kept reminding her that it could be her mother or father there in front of them, dead.

Shivering, Alex buried his head in Libby's longer neck fur, not daring to look at Brighten's body.

The older wolf spoke again. "What about Wessels' wolves? They all got away?"

The white wolf spoke again. "We fought as hard as we could, Dreven, but they were too strong. That brown one in particular, he's huge. He was the one to kill Brighten."

"And the other one?" the wolf that seemed to be called Dreven inquired.

"Female. Pale gray one with dark blue eyes and some scars on her cheek."

The older male spoke with pain in his voice. "They seem like some of the Army's strongest wolves. No wonder they managed to..." He didn't finish his sentence, but instead looked ruefully at Brighten's body.

"What about these here pups, then, Dreven?" the blue-eyed female inquired, giving Libby and Alex a strict glance that made both of them uncomfortable.

The older wolf met Libby's frightened eyes. Alex still had his squeezed shut.

The gray-white wolf finally spoke again after a painful silence. "We cannot leave them here. We are to take them to our rendezvous site. There, we'll decide on what to do with them."

"Great idea!" the black-and-gray female barked sarcastically. "Bring two pups that aren't even our own into our site! That definitely won't make their homePack angry!"

"Ktea!" the older wolf snarled. "Shut you rude yap and help us drag Brighten to the site! I don't need your snide comments, especially not now!"

Libby, still deep in her chaotic thoughts, finally realized that the older wolf, Dreven, seemed to be the Leader of this group. She inhaled each of her rescuers' scents. They all smelled the same: a tang of moss, moist bushes, mushrooms and rain. She didn't know what Pack they were from, but concluded that they probably lived in this part of the forest.

The blue-eyed female called Ktea muttered something nasty under her breath before standing beside the red-eyed wolf whose gender was hard to conclude. Ktea grabbed Brighten by the scruff and hauled him over her back, while the Leader and the last wolf of the patrol helped adjust the body so that it wouldn't fall off.

The patrol then seemed to be heading home. Ktea led the way, with the seemingly mixed-gender wolf carrying the body behind. The older wolf exchanged glances with the last wolf of the patrol, a young and rather ugly looking female that could not be older than four months. Her coat was a mix of gray and cream, and one of her ears was bent in the middle.

With a nod from her Leader, the youngster made her way towards the pups. "I know it's hard to process all this," she said softly. "And I'm sorry that you had to go through all of it. But you're safe now. We won't do you any harm. You'll be back with your birthPack in no time."

Libby's eyes started to glimmer hopefully. "R ... really?" was all she managed to say.

The female nodded and blinked her yellow eyes. "Don't worry. We're taking you to our rendezvous for a short while to make sure you're okay." She nudged Alex softly in the direction the rest of the patrol had gone into. He started to follow them, while Libby moved at her own accord. Whatever was going to happen to them, at least they appeared safe for now.

The group trekked for what seemed like an eternity. The sun was already at its peak as they drew closer to this Pack's rendezvous site.

Libby spent the rest of the afternoon fretting about her family, Pack, Alex, and herself. She really didn't know what was going to happen to them, and feared for their future. Even if these wolves seemed nice, she didn't want to be fooled again.

She drank the musky scents of the forest as they moved on. She still disliked these smells, but she didn't feel quite as suffocated anymore.

The rest of the patrol was mostly downcast, especially the Leader, who held his tail and ears low. The only wolf who didn't seem particularly saddened by the death of Brighten was Ktea. She kept padding rather confidently at the head of the group, her black tail kept straight behind her and her ears pointing forward. If anything, she seemed more peeved by the death. The androgynous-seeming white-black wolf stared somberly ahead. The young trainee she-wolf who had talked to Libby and Alex earlier walked behind the two pups, softly urging them to keep going, despite their exhaustion and being distraught.

"I want to go home," Alex sniffed.

"Me too." Libby glumly looked ahead and blinked slowly. They had no choice but to keep following the patrol, even though every inch of her body screamed for her to run back home, and see what had become of her Pack.

***

"We're here," the young she-wolf with the bent ear whispered to the pups after a few more moments.

Libby looked up. The foliage grew really thick here. The adult wolves could easily look over the underbrush, but little pups like Libby and Alex couldn't see what lay ahead.

Before the wolves started to enter whatever lay beyond the lush undergrowth, the Leader made a sign with his tail that halted the patrol. He sat down and cleared his throat.

"Right. We're going to have to go about this carefully."

"Why? Because Mom well skin you when she finds out what you've done to Brighten?"

"Silence, Ktea!" The older male's voice was husky with emotion. "We lost a member of our Pack!" He bowed his head in grief again.

"You all right, Dreven?" the androgynous-looking wolf inquired.

He nodded weakly, slouching. "I'll make the announcement to the Pack before you come out with the body, Red Spirit."

"Yeah, that should give you a chance to make up some nonsense story about how his death wasn't your fault at all!"

"Ktea!" Red Spirit barked this time, their ears against their neck. "Have some respect!"

Ktea averted her gaze, and muttered something that sounded like "respect for a mongrel" under her breath.

The Leader-wolf's eyes turned to the pups for a moment. Libby felt uncomfortable under his half-blind gaze. "The pups stay here until I make the announcement as well. Umium, will you make sure they do?"

The young female trainee nodded. "Yes, Dreven."

"All right." The older wolf stood up and raised his head, trying to look as certain as possible. "Here we go. Ktea, not a word before I've finished my story."

"Bu--"

"I'll have you clean out the dung-pit for the next two months if you don't shut your yap."

Ktea growled, but didn't say anything further. The Leader-wolf went first through the thick shrubbery with Ktea on his heels.

Libby swallowed as the pair left. Now she and Alex were left with the remaining two, one of which was hindered by Brighten's body, the other young and inexperienced. Would this be an opportunity to flee?

An idea popped into her mind "You know," she yipped to the two older wolves, "my Pack won't be happy when they find out you've been hiding their pups. You'd better let us return right now. I promise I won't tell them it was you." She tried to make her voice sound as polite as possible.

Red Spirit and Umium exchanged a glance, but then both shook their heads.

"You want us to go against our Leader's order, then?" the former asked.