Fallen Wolves #1: Dark Stars, Katie Radgowski [classic books for 12 year olds .txt] 📗

mixed with the red blood as it carried it downstream. 

 "Now, you must promise you won't ever come back. Got it? Or if you do, I'll kill you myself." Fang growled. 

 "But we have no where to go, sirs!" The brown rogue whined. "We ain' go no foods or no homes! We dun knows how to hunt, eithers!" 

 Fang growled. Of course, rogues were stupid, mindless and iditoic wolves. Fang decided he should probably lead them back to the Pack, so they can get proper food and some fresh water before they settled out. 

 "Okay, you'll come back with me to my Pack." Fang decided as he let them up. The rogues licked the mud and reeds from their pelt. "My Packmates will probably give you some prey and water but that's it. You gotta go after that. Maybe my mentor will teach you how to hunt properly." 

 "Oh, thankies." The white rogue sighed. "I was so 'orrieds we woulds starve." 

 "My name is Muddy and this is Frostpaw." The brown rogue announced. "What's your names?" 

 "Fang." Fang replied simply as he led them back to the hollow. "A Hunter, in your correction." 

 

 

Chapter 14: Newcomers

"You brought rogues to the holllow? Have you gone mudbrain?" Storm barked to Fang. "These wolves are cannibals! They ate their own species! How do you think that get's them? It makes them horrible!" 

The Pack surrounded Fang and the rogues in the hollow. The rogues cowered next to each other, head's lowered as Fang stood boldly in front of them. Carers dragged the Pups close as the mentors blocked the new curious Trainees from sniffing at the rogues. Moon Leader was silent as she looked at the rogues, frosty eyes narrowed. 

 "Hey, I don't like them either, ok?" Fang retorted. "But just give them some fresh prey and water for the night, with shelter, and they'll be gone by morning." 

 Storm was silent for a moment as he looked at his paws. He seemed to change so much after Snowflake was shot. He became harder and tougher to get your emotions too and always seemed to trail off at different subjects. Fang didn't know if he was his father anymore, by his new self. It made Fang feel empty, without his father's usual love and encouraging phraises. 

 "Fine." Storm replied thickly. "Just keep them away from the Infirmary and the Trainee Den. I don't want them to stir up trouble." 

 Storm padded away with Moon Leader as the wolves retreated into the dens. Fang led the rogues to a small den below two boulder crevices that were near the Defenders den. It was what Fang's Pack usually kept rival Pack prisoners in and other enemies. Fang felt pretty bad for the poor condition off it, with soggy moss beds and a dripping roof. 

 "Sorry guys," Fang said, "rules are rules." 

 "Yeah, we knows." Muddy replied as he curled into a ball in the small den. "Goodnights." 

 Fang dipped his head as he padded away, the rogues stares boring into his fur. 

 ... 

 "Ew, get your little butt in that rockpool!" Seed snapped to Muddy. "You smell as if you were rolling in a lake of elk dung!" 

 Muddy obeyed as he clambored into it. Muddy and Frostpaw were in the back of the Infirmary, where the rockpools were. Rockpools were like baths. But more natural and were deep. Carers usually cleaned Pups back in the rockpools when they were done playing. 

 Fang sat and watched. He remembered how Snowflake would put him in a rockpool, tickling his belly with her fluffy paw as she washed the mud from his pelt. He used to love the suds that fizzed from it. He always dived underneath the surface, feeling the warm glow of sunlight as it crossed into the water. Snowflake would dry him off with wool from elk. He loved the clean smell that reflected from his fur. 

 "It's c-cold, ma'm!" Frostpaw complained as he slid into the rockpool with Muddy. "I hates it! Turn it warms!" 

 "Well sorry for not having the powers of warm water!" Seed snarled back. "Just live with it! Be glad that your getting a bath, the stinky lot of you." 

 Fang surpressed a soft chuckle. Seed had a temper with these rogues now. Fang could see why. The rogues were picky. They wanted the freshest prey, coldest water and warmest bath. Fang would go crazy after one night with them. 

 Seed poured in some suds. The suds were pink, made by Acorn with water, salt, blossoms and limestone. The suds smell traveled through the Infirmary, clean and soft like. Seed started scrubbing the suds into the rogues fur, getting fleas and ticks out. 

 Muddy blew a bubble at Frostpaw. Frostpaw blew one back. Soon, it became a bath fight. Seed barked and jumped back as a wave of cold water splashed into her. Muddy and Frostpaw tried pinning each other down, their fur wet as they sprinkled it onto the nests of other wolves. 

 "Sit down, you filthy animals!" Seed howled as she shook the droplets from her pelt. "Or I'll bubble you till you die!" 

 Fang jumped from his post and padded over. He bared his fangs as he snapped to the fighting rogues. "Listen to Seed now! Or I'll throw you in a river filled with hungry, dangerous alligators waiting for wolf snacks fresh from the shore!" 

 Frostpaw and Muddy went still. They flashed each other hostile glances but made no sudden movements. 

 "Thanks." Seed muttered to Fang under her breath. "They really need to be thrown into a river filled with alligators, for the Pack's and my sake!" 

 Fang laughed. "They do, don't they?" 

 Even the rogues started bursting out laughing. Some bubbles floated into the air, pink and glowing in the dim light. 

 There strong wolves. They just don't know it. Fang thought. They'll make it just fine out in the forest by themselves. 

 

Chapter 15: To Be A True Hunter

Fang felt himself glow as Moon Leader stepped forward. It was Fang's day to be a true Hunter. Storm was there with the rest of the Pack. Even the rogues were aloud to stay, or to see his ceramony. It wasn't the same without Snowflake, but Fang would live with it. 

 "Fang, Spirits have chosen." Moon Leader murmured as she looked at him. "Your full name is Fang of Jaw. It represents courge, strength and boldness. Your now a true Hunter, to hunt all kinds of prey for your Pack. Your the future of the Pack's survival, use your skills well and live up to your name with your boldness." 

 The wolves cheered and howled his name to the sky. Fang swelled up in pride. He felt Snowflake's warm scent around him, wrapping him in a soft phraise. Fang dipped his head to his cheering Packmates. They settled down, waiting for him to make his speech. 

 "I lost alot since I was born." Fang began, loudly and clearly. "I've lost my Carer and some other deep down traits. But now, with my new name and rank, I can start over. I can hunt, focus on my duties and make you all proud of my true, inner self that is growing to be a strong Hunter. Maybe I will fail in winter, with endless snow and frost and failing to find the herds and rabbits. 

 But I will make it up to you. I will find mice, fish, birds or even sleeping mole and bring back fresh-kill. Not any junk with rotten spoils. Something that is delicous, warm and fresh. Every pawstep our Trainees take to a new rank is our future. We must courage them to move on, to make the right choices and be on the honest side. Thank you." 

 More cheering. So loud and clear that Fang's ears almost busted. Misty, who gotten her name that was Misty of Mist, Feather's name, Feather of Bird and Twig's name Twig of Branch, were nearby. Fang padded down and joined them. They cheered him too. 

 Everything was going great. 

 Snowflake's comforting smell lounged into his mind. He could see her frosty eyes gazing at him, with a bright smile over his muzzle. 

 Fang knew no one could replace her. Soon, he'll find out who his real mother was. But he felt as if he didn't want to. 

 He only wanted one mother and that mother to stay in his heart forever. 

Snowflake. 

Chapter 16: Revealed At Last

Fang followed Storm into the forest. Fang's heart pumped loudly in his chest. Storm was going to tell him who his real mother was. Storm was silent the whole way, pushing past undergrowth and vines. Fang kept up, feeling older and more responsible. 

 And he liked the feeling. It made him feel different. A kind of feeling of a different Fang. 

 Storm led him to a small sandy clearing that was surronded by tall boulders and thick, green vines that came down from two large maple trees around it. The territory was quiet, except for birds chirping and Star Gulley Creek's noises of it's water pounding against the shoreline. Fang felt comforted by the forest. 

 Storm hesitated as he spoke. "Fang, I never wanted to tell you who your real mother was. It makes me feel... sick. I didn't love her as much as I did to.. S-Snowflake. But remember," Storm's gaze locked into his, "I wouldn't have a Pup with a female wolf I didn't care about." 

 Fang nodded. He understood. It made sense and Fang didn't want to hear who his real mother was, but a clatter inside him was nawing at his body to know who it was. 

 "It's... it's...." 

 Fang stepped closer, ears perked. 

"Stream of Prairie." Storm admitted at last. "In the Pack of Silent Winds." 

 Fang felt himself go still. ANOTHER WOLF FROM ANOTHER PACK? 

 Fang stepped back, shaking his head. "No. No... it can't be." 

 Storm stepped closer, his eyes wide with guilt. "Yes, it is. Fang, I'm sorry. I loved her so much when I was younger. She then had you, and