Cadenza started as someone crashed through the underbrush towards him. It was still completely dark and his nerves were on end after meeting with the raven. Gulping down a piece of tough meat, he stood and growled, hackles bristling slightly. He recognized the scent as Lorza crunched through the brush before him.

“What -”

“What is wrong with you?!” she shrieked.

Denza snorted. “Me?”

“Yes,” Lorza snapped, shoving her face right up into his. “You leave Caspar alone!”

Denza sighed audibly, turning his head slightly. “We're not traveling together anymore, so don't let me stop you.”

“Because a raven wanted to make you a little nervous around your own pack -”

“I am not just a little nervous,” Denza hissed, pushing Lorza back several stumbling paces as he advanced, “And you are not my pack!” He turned away again.

“But -”

“It was you,” Denza retorted, looking over his shoulder, “who came grovelling to me when I had food and you didn't.”

“We were trying to help. To stay together.” Lorza's voice became more calm, shaky in exhaustion, even. “We need to.”

“You do that,” Denza replied simply. He leaped over the brush before him and took off into the woods, with what little light that came from the moon as his guide.

He found himself surprised when Lorza did not call after him. Pleased with his ease in leaving his lesser valuable companions behind, Denza trotted onward, eager to make space between them. Every time they came across each other, Lorza managed to abuse his generosity And he allowed it.

The grey male shook his head. Never again.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed a glowing, green orb up ahead. Squinting, he realized that the orb was a cluster of glowing items nestled in the ground. He approached cautiously, curious as ever.

Six short, little mushrooms grew in a cluster, forming an almost complete circle. They were the smallest mushrooms he had ever seen, yet they glowed incredibly. Lorza had said, the first time, that she had seen other wolves eat them, and then go mad.

Denza found himself wondering if these strange glowing mushrooms had any link to the green sickness they had seen so many times. Perplexed, he stepped carefully around the little shoots, careful not to touch them.

He started and leaped aside when he heard the fluttering of wings above him. Realizing that other animals could see the mushroom's glow cast on him in the dark, Denza backed quickly into a dense shrub. He listened intently, hardly daring to breathe. His heart pounded. He wondered if anyone else could hear it.

Subtle, gentle scraping sounds of claws against bark came from overhead. Another flutter of wings. Clacking of beaks.

Denza craned his neck to look upwards, to count how many of the birds there were, but he couldn't see at all. Afraid to be illuminated by the green glow, he remained hidden under the bush. He wondered how far away Lorza and the others were and if they were being stalked as well.

He looked up sharply at a gentle grunting sound from above, a clack of twigs on beak and the flutter of wings. A single raven landed heavily onto the ground just next to the mushrooms. The bird's eerie eyes and glistening feathers were illuminated brightly by the green. Denza watched in fascination as the bird turned its head, then gently but gingerly grasped a shoot in its mouth, wobbling it back and forth until it broke from the soil. The bird turned and quickly rejoined its countless companions in the tree.

Denza leaned forward again, shivering as a cool night wind ruffled his fur and the bushes around him. He heard the leaves in the trees rustle against one another like the quils on a porcupine's back. It made his skin crawl.

His eyes adjusted to the black of night, he could faintly see the outlines of only the nearest birds on the lowest branches. Their silhouettes were draped in the green cast of the shoots just a leap in front of Denza's nose.

The raven with the mushroom leaned forward and gave it to a companion. The second raven opened what looked to be some sort of a bag, in which the mushroom was placed.

All was dark again. The clacking of beaks sent chills down Denza's spine. What need did they have for the dangerous shoots?

He watched in utter silence as, one by one, all but one of the mushrooms were plucked from the ground by various members of the group, and placed into the same bag. Once it became almost totally dark again, Denza shuffled back under the brush, waiting for them to leave.

But they didn't. It was suddenly completely quiet, no sound at all. He could hear his own hushed breathing and he tried to become even quieter. He shut his eyes for a moment, focusing on becoming totally invisible.

He snapped them open as the sounds of someone stealthily approaching reached his ears. He looked straight ahead. Something small and probably stocky was approaching.

Caspar.

Denza wondered if the ravens were still in the trees, or if this was another member of their group coming to take part in this ritual. Too afraid to sniff the air and give away his presence, he continued to wait, crouched low and barely breathing.

A moment later, a surly raccoon parted the grass under the bushes across from Cadenza. The grey wolf watched as the raccoon came closer and closer, sniffing with each pawstep, hesitant, unsure.... The raccoon reached the single last standing mushroom and very carefully grasped it with its paws. It then placed the mushroom shoot softly and carefully into its mouth, then began to back slowly into the bushes.

Only an instant passed by before a frightening cacophony of wings and shrieking ravens startled the wolf. The raccoon tore off into the bushes, the ravens close on its tail. Denza huddled further back into his hiding place, shocked at what was going on. He could hear the raccoon scrabbling up a nearby tree and his eyes locked onto the scene of dozens of ravens stabbing at its fur with their sharp beaks and pulling at its tail. The raccoon screamed and lashed out, but the ravens were quicker. Denza noticed the green ooze from the mushroom dripping down the raccoon's front. The raccoon suddenly dropped the mushroom, chattering and shrieking as it clambering further up into the tree.

The ravens suddenly ignored the raccoon, some delving down to grab the mushroom that had landed at the base of the tree. Then, as quickly as it had happened, the black birds disappeared into the dark. It was quiet once more.

Denza waited several minutes after the incident, allowing himself to breathe more freely, but still remaining hidden beneath the bush. He was unsure of what to make of the incident he had seen. It had looked, to him, as though the ravens had waited for the raccoon to arrive so that they could ambush the creature. Why would they want the raccoon's help to pull the final shoot from the ground?

It didn't make sense yet, and Denza found himself even more frustrated – and then even more so as he realized he had to do the right thing and warn Lorza. And her pack.

Her pack, he mused with an eye roll.

He battled internally with himself for several minutes. Frustration and exhaustion were beginning to take their toll and he forced himself to stand. It was utterly ridiculous, the number of times he and the others had met up, disbanded and met up again... he needed to make a decision and stick with it.

Feeling lowly about himself, Denza finally slipped out from under the brush and made his way back towards the others. It frightened him to realize that they had been moving through these parts of the woods, so close to a human village, even, when the ravens were brutally attacking other animals. He realized that could have very, very easily have been himself.

As he approached the sound of Lorza's voice, he began to make his steps more audible and he brushed up against bushes and tree trunks and stepped on twigs and leaves. While they should have been more alert and noticed him coming without his haphazard aid, he made sure to snap a few of the smaller twigs under his paws. Lorza's voice immediately stopped.

“Lorza,” Denza began, “it's just me... you need to hear something.”

He peered over the bushes at a very flustered Lorza.

“You scared me half to death,” she grumbled, stepping aside as he rejoined the group. Caspar lay huddled in a tight ball close to Lorza, and Nyre lay sprawled out further away.

“You heard all that, right?” Lorza asked, ears swiveling.

“The ravens?”

Lorza nodded. Denza noticed Caspar creeping ever closer to the young female. He looked to be shaking. Denza looked from him to Lorza for answers.

“There's... some things we need to tell you, too.”

Denza nodded, but remained silent in spite of welling internal exclamations of I knew it! and I told you so.

“Caspar says he's seen where the ravens take the glowing mushrooms.”

“Really?” Denza looked to the cowering pup. “Well?” He insisted.

Lorza gave Denza a look, but continued. “He says they treat... victims... with them.”

Denza fought a scowl. The pup should speak for himself.

“Victims?”

“He said they make a paste out of it. The ravens. Then the others paint it onto the coats of their pack members.”

“So... our kind?” Denza raised an eyebrow.

Caspar nodded. “Wolves.”

“How do you know about this?” Denza narrowed his eyes at the small black pup.

“He was there,” Lorza stared back. She put a paw around Caspar and brought him closer to her. “They took him there.”

Denza narrowed his eyes at the pup. “Are you treated?”

Caspar shook his head quickly. “I got away....”

“How?”

“They made me go out with a bunch of others, they were all hurting and too sick to focus... so I slipped away.”

Sounded too simple to be useful to Denza. “Seems to moot the point.”

“Well,” Lorza interrupted. “What matters is that he's safe now.”

“They're still learning about it,” Caspar's small voice peeped from behind Lorza's paw. “He... they... didn't know. That I could get away.”

“We need to know more about the camp,” Denza looked steadily at Caspar, ignoring Lorza's look.

“It's... just lots of brambles that keep everyone inside. The ravens keep watch over the entrance. They were building it up when I got there. It wasn't much....” Caspar looked away.

Caspar snuggled closer to Lorza's front and hugged her front paw with his own.

Denza turned away and ignored Lorza's soft spoken voice as she assured Caspar that she could care for him and prevent him from harm.

He knew better than to make those sorts of promises. The world of the woods were too unpredictable for such thoughts.