The Wolfyn

Wolfyn
By
James C Rafferty

Wolfyn
Chapter: One
It was nice snuggled up to mother. I felt safe and warm, I could feel my sister and brother close but giving me room. We were in one of the birthing caves that my people have used for over a thousand years. Fortunately, we were born with the knowledge to survive, my brother and sister may be close but they had tried their best to beat me even at three weeks old it may have only consisted of pushing each other but it was still so important.
I knew I was first born larger and stronger than they were. I had to keep both of them in line or mother would tear me to shreds, the same went for my sister she had to keep our young brother in line. This would continue until we were one year old then it would fall to father to watch for weakness if found we would be killed.
The reason for this was the weak would destroy the genes we were born with. As I slept, I dreamed of the day I would stand as tall as my mother and father fourteen to fifteen feet and walk proudly through the woods and mountains. When we were three years old, and hunting on our own only then would we be free of death from our parents, but we would still have to fight our way in the pack to try to reach as high a position as we could this ensured only the strongest and smartest would lead us.
Only my young brother was immune to this law, as it was his job, to push both his older sister and me to the limits, only we could punish him, as this was our law.
The reasoning behind this was if we were weak in any way he would expose it, and likewise we would expose the ones younger than us if they had a weakness
Five months had gone by when we lost our sister, Tye had pushed her into me when she hadn’t been paying attention, when I slashed at her face with my teeth Tye used the distraction and bit too hard on her rear leg and it snapped, unfortunately she must have had brittle bones.
Before she had time to yelp mother had killed her and eaten her, and Charr was gone, it was a lesson I would never forget, there was no sadness as having bad bones, she would have had pain all her life, and never have been able to enjoy her true potential.
Tye tried a similar trick on me four days later by pushing me into mother when she was feeding. There was a good reason mother called me lightning, by the time her teeth came together where I had been, I had leaped Tye and tore the side of his muzzle I then gave him a sound thrashing using my teeth and claws mother looked on with pride, and Tye learned a valuable lesson.
He never tried that trick again; when we were around two and a half years old, we learned to work together and became the youngest team to hunt with success.
We brought in a young buck, we had killed it was our first big kill, we had taken hours stalking it, then the run to bring it down, but we could not eat it. As it was our first large kill, we had to present it to the pack. The leader a very large female called Tynns, was first to eat but she sniffed both Tye and myself first; she then said something to our mother and father which seemed to please them.
Tynns then ripped open the buck presenting the liver and kidney to her partner Pell, Tynns then took the heart for herself.
Mother and father were next and took small bites, so everyone in the pack could have some, and then one by one the rest of the pack in order took small bites, and came up and rubbed noses with us.
We felt like kings, Tye may have been smaller than me, around fourteen inches but he was built like a tank, he had a broad well-muscled chest with a strong built frame, and yet he moved in silence, but did not have the stamina to keep up with me when I ran.
I loved to run I would seem to float over the woodland floor like a shadow. I would run for miles, yet no one could catch me, and when I was challenged, I was strong and fast like greased Lightning. I also made sure they never wanted to challenge me again I would tear into them and give as much pain as I could but without real injury.
When I reached the age of six, I had reached my full Height of fifteen feet six inches high, Tye was fourteen feet two inches, it was a very hard winter most of the deer had went too far down the mountains chasing after the grass in the lowlands near where the humans farmed.
All the hunters were out separately and this was always a dangerous time for us as the humans may see us, we would not have scouts out to watch for them we would have to rely on our senses to keep us safe.
I was far down the mountain and close to our border when I saw a herd of deer; they had their heads down grazing. There were around eight that I could see but with more in the tree line that I could smell.
I spotted the stag high on a shelf of rock keeping a keen eye out for danger fortunately from where I was he could not see me. I knew I could take one down with no problems just by running it down, but I needed more for the pack to survive I would need at least five.
I shaped a spear out of a branch using my razor sharp talons, it really helped. I worked my way slowly into position at the rear of the herd and downwind, once I selected the ones I would kill the five that would hold back the herd the most, three does and two bucks. I then ran at the herd, at first they had no idea what happened, and I managed to kill the three older does by stabbing them in the heart, thrusting my spear in just behind their front shoulders. The herd was off I had to run as fast to reach the other two I had selected. Two young bucks, for there was to many young bucks, in the herd, we covered about a mile before I could bring down my fourth, just then my fifth stumbled and I got him just before the herd vanished into the trees.
I then had to drag the two young bucks by the antlers all the way back to my first kills. When I arrived I tied the five on their backs, the back threes heads were tucked and tied between the front twos rear legs, and all their legs were tied together, so they wouldn’t drag, or fall over onto their sides. Once I had them tied, and made into a type of sledge, I used the rest of the rope to make a harness to fit over my shoulder.
Then came the hard work, I knew I would have to drag them back up the mountain about ten miles before I could call on help. Off I went it was easy at first the antlers of the two stags I had tied at the front would hit the back of my legs now and again, by the time I had dragged them six miles the back of my legs were bleeding and I was really tired. I then realised there was a wolf pack following me, they were also starving or they would never have dared to chance it. They were lowland wolfs with dog blood mixed in and very poor specimens they were. Unfortunately, for me, there were around thirty of them more like a wild dog pack. I had to keep going for if I stopped and challenged them they would just run around me and ruin the meat by tearing chunks out of it and the ones I was after would just stay out of reach.
I had only one choice keep going while I was strong they would do nothing but follow me waiting until I weakened enough for them to challenge me, they were cowards.
Before I carried on, I thought I would leave them with something to remember me by, I still had the spear and I could see the alpha male at the back staying well clear.
Well they wanted a meal I would give them one I stopped and spun around so fast, he was just coming down a slight slope and watching where he was going, just as I had planed I snapped the spear through the air by the time he looked up it was smashing into his heart. I had also picked up some good-sized rocks so without a pause I smashed the heads of three more, the rest took of fast yelping.
I knew they would be back but first they would feed on their dead and pick a new leader. They would not be so hungry next time, and maybe not so eager. Fortunately, three miles further I came across my brother and two other hunters. Tye had a large male mountain goat (a Ram) and one other had some hares, but one had nothing at all, which was happening more often. Yarrow who had not managed to make a kill went ahead to let the pack know we were coming and send help. This was very important as it meant the mothers could let milk down for the cubs, knowing food was on its way. This could save cubs from dying. I was being helped by the other two, which meant we could make better time. Just as we thought, we were at last clear; with help on the way, the wolf pack that had followed me earlier must have thought it a good time to attack us.
They had come in from downwind and had been so quiet they thought they had us? However, we had known they were there, as we had very good sense of smell and our hearing is excellent and you never fully trust starving wolves, so we had watched for them. The new leader was a female, and she drove the others on, a large male leapt at my throat but I grabbed its head and crushed it and threw it on to the pile of deer, we could eat it later. That is where the rest ended up, that did not escape. We had added seven wolves to our haul before nine more of our pack arrived. Wolf meat is not something we normally eat as usually we get on really well, but as I said these were more like a wild dog pack than wolves. They could barely speak our language, which true wolves can with no problem.