Chapter 3 | Dwell

I checked my bag and I had caught two rabbits, mutton for today’s meal, and was thankful for it because I hadn't seen any rabbits on the way back in no man’s land. I headed south to a small and well-hidden smokehouse I had built to smoke the meats I caught. If I ate in one form – human form or wolf form – then I am full in my other form as well. Because my wolf shape was so small, I usually ate in my wolf because I’d get full quickly and it allowed me to stretch my food supply much further, saving the extra meat for the next days.

Eating raw meat is not a problem in my wolf form but I prefer it cooked and clean at least. As I wait for the food to cook, I sharpened the tip of my arrows and took big feathers out of my bag. Bow and arrow, quite good with this weapon actually than melee combat. As I said, I wasn’t built to be strong and big compared to other normal wolves, I had to use different tactics and weapons to survive in no man’s land.

I looked at my reflection in a pot of water, and my blue-colored eyes returned my gaze. My brown shoulder-length hair was braided and kept on the right side of my shoulder. Then I stood up – I wasn't the tallest person in my human form, standing just over five feet tall, but I had seen shorter people. My slender frame was designed for speed rather than strength but I do wish I was born normal. I could’ve helped my parents on that day the feral wolves attacked my original pack.

I crouched and scanned the surrounding, feeling uneasy for some sudden reason. I quickly climbed to the tree I'd been leaning against and peered down through the branches. My instincts were sharp, and I didn't want to question nor doubt them, even if I didn't know what triggered them. It had kept me out of trouble on numerous occasions in the past.

Then I heard a faint noise below and I turned my gaze in that direction. I squinted through the dense foliage and there I saw eight wolves stalking silently through the forest. No, there were twelve of them. Several people had been lingering further back. I didn't recognize their fur patterns, and the way they moved made my skin crawl and chills slide down my nape to my spine.

I came to a halt when I noticed their red eyes. Wild, merciless wolves… these are feral wolves. Bloodthirsty creatures who killed animals, including other wolves, even when they are not hungry. They were the closest a wolf could get to insanity. They couldn’t even shift. Although some of their human craftiness and reasoning ability remained in their permanent wolf form, their human mind was nowhere to be found. One can never reason with a feral wolf once your head is close to its mouth. Certain feral wolves appeared to be driven to kill anything, anyone they saw, almost as if they were rabid, crazy, and heartless.

I didn’t move an inch and remained silent until they were completely out of my sight. I began moving through the forest quietly, using large branches high above the ground. I met a rogue when I was twelve, his name was Raphal, and he showed me how to travel through these branches years ago. Raphal referred to it as the forest highway.

Werewolves rarely traveled through the trees because their huge wolf form was better suited to run along the ground, not to mention the fact that they would have to be in human shape to travel from branch to branch.

I used the forest highway a lot because my wolf form was small and very few people looked up into the trees. Another advantage of traveling through the trees was that scents high up in the forest were nearly impossible to track from the ground – that is, if anyone on the ground picked up the scent at all.

It was unlikely that the feral wolves would smell me. I had a habit of rubbing a mixture of local plants on my clothing and skin to mask my own wolf scent. The majority of rogues did it out of habit. We smelled like the forest, that’s how we survive and avoid one-to-group fights with the feral wolves and other wild animals.

I shifted into my wolf form while carefully perching on a thick branch when I was quite a distance from where I had been. I threw up my head and howled an alarm into the almost evening sky. The pack sentries would hear it and be on high alert in case any trouble arose. The feral wolves may be planning on ambushing the east pack.

I quickly shifted back and used the forest highway to put some distance between myself and the location where I had howled. Those feral wolves obviously heard the howl and might try to track down the wolf that had alerted the east pack of their presence.

If ever my location is discovered, I was relieved that they couldn't transform into humans and climb into the trees to chase me. But it would be even better if they never found me at all. I really didn't want to be followed and chased by tenacious and aggressive wolves on the ground below. All of my rogue life, the chase could always mean my death and last breath. I moved through the tree branches quickly and quietly. The only animals who noticed my presence were the birds and squirrels.

As I sat high in a spruce tree, I kept an eye on the ground. I must have been lucky because I had not seen or smelled the feral wolves throughout the afternoon and evening. I hadn't heard anything from the border, either, so the feral wolves might have abandoned their ambush when their cover was blown by my howl. I stayed close to the smoker while it smoked the rabbit meat. The smoke was carefully funneled up a long piece of pipe into the tree canopy until the scent became faint and scattered.

I have been nervous and on the edge since the feral wolves appeared. Tonight, I didn't want to be on or under the ground. Feral wolves were persistent enough to break up bramble branches until they were close enough to dig up any burrow I used to hide. It may have taken them the majority of the day to completely get me out of a deep burrow, but logic didn't really apply to them so they wouldn’t mind spending a lot of energy on digging until I am caught and dead. They will and forever chase me even if I stop running.

My small wolf form did have another advantage. I was small enough to change forms without falling out of a tree. It was a skill that no normal-sized wolf could accomplish. Because the sun was setting and I didn't want to be out after dark tonight, I took the forest highway to go over to the tree with a deep, hollow hole.

Years ago, when I first came to this place, I built a small structure – a hiding place – in a nearby tree. It appeared to be an old hawk nest, but it had a deep hole and was hollow. The inside was a little larger than the rabbit den, so it was the right size for my wolf form. I also made a nest on the highest part of a tree in case this type of trouble arose.

I settled on top of the bulk tree with a tree hollow. I carefully shifted into my human form and arranged the nest to my liking. I sat in the middle of it, getting cozy and my head resting atop my front paw while watching the sunset. As I yawned, I heard a movement in the forest below. I looked down and saw a small group of wolves slowly making their way towards the east pack border. It was those feral wolves once more. I had already warned the pack, so I stayed put. Once the feral wolves walk past, I decided that I should just sleep inside the tree hollow rather than in this nest.

***

I awoke hours later to howls in the distance. My ears perked up and my wolf body sneaked into the deepest part of the tree hollow. The feral wolves appeared to have launched their attack. Unfortunately for the feral wolves, I recognized the howls of dozens of other fighters winning the battle as well as the howl of the defeated cries from the feral wolves and their failed ambush.

Feral wolves preferred to hunt at night, and the pack had clearly been expecting them. As I drifted off back to sleep, I wondered if they had captured all of the feral wolves or if some had escaped. I do hope they had captured all of them for my night may become more and more petrifying like sleeping on the devil’s den.