Yellow Red is encouraging me to explore the den more and more. Today, while she was sleeping, I found the snack she obviously left for me next to my burrow. Unlike my fallen pack-mate, Bud, Yellow Red left no confusion this time. She had set a pile of the Unmoving Tribe corpses that Whiteflower is so fond of only a few paces from my burrow after having poured over them for much of the night, presumably checking for parasites, beetles, or fungi which could harm us.
That she would take the time to prepare a treat for me is beyond anything I could imagine an alpha doing. I have been starving slowly, but seeing as how they are all so ill, I understand the need for sacrifice. That they would still offer me shelter, that they have chosen not to simply prune me from the pack and eat me in their dire time is evidence enough of their respect for the pack. That Yellow Red would put so much energy into preparing a meal she could clearly use herself - that she would do so at her own expense - and simply leave it for me to consume at my leisure...
After my meal, I decided to thank her. I climbed out of the small territory she had offered me, a loose area she kept shaded with a thing, not unlike the one which keeps the sky at bay, above and strange artifacts to the sides, and proceeded to struggle up the thick-fog which she prefers to sleep upon.
It smells of the sky and dirt and Yellow Red and Bud... or Bud's close family, I'm not certain. It is... unnerving to stand upon. It is both firm and weak, giving at the lightest touch yet refusing to give way. I do not understand why she seems to like it so. Regardless, I crept up to her carefully since one does not startle a sleeping alpha, even one as gracious as Yellow Red.
Some few steps before I could lick her, she seemed to sense my presence and one of her great eyes opened and stared at me.
It was the most unnerving thing I can recall. She looked at me, unblinking, for several seconds before her eye seemed to change color before me, sliding up into her head and changing to a white, somewhat brighter than Whiteflower. She must be a very special alpha to have such strange powers. I don't believe I have ever seen any other wolf change the color of their eyes.
Thankfully, I appeared to have been forgiven as she slowly closed her eye again. With permission thusly obtained, I crawled forward and curled up next to her, careful to keep my thorns and roots away from her trunk.
As powerful as she may be, her bark is still a sickly yellow and seems to be so infested that it feels like nothing so much as a feather-fine moss. I couldn't risk injuring my alpha, in her state even an accidental brush with a thorn or damage to her roots could prove disastrous.
I had just settled down to nap when Yellow Red moved, draping a branch over me and pulling me closer.
I have a good alpha: even in her fever sleep, she wishes to protect me.
I awoke to the sound of the Unmoving Tribe's remains being disturbed. My alpha is clever. Even while she is out hunting, by using the bodies of the Unmoving Tribe as part of her den, their voices call out when an intruder disturbs them. Safely in the dark of my burrow, tucked under the sky-barrier with the thick-fog above, I was well hidden from the intruder.
Even so, I knew what to do. Quietly, so as not to alert the intruder to my whereabouts, I crept along the back of my burrow and hid among the gifts she has given me to play with, then laid down and relaxed, gently settling in among them.
Keeping my eyes as only slits, I waited while the intruder stalked around Yellow Red's den, fearless.
It wasn't until the intruder started to growl that I knew for certain what it was: Ambercrown had come to claim Yellow Red's den.
The implications were horrible. Either Ambercrown was brazen enough to oust Yellow Red outright, a feat she could potentially accomplish with brute force, or she was scouting for a future raid, willing to scavenge for now in hopes of a larger meal later.
That Ambercrown would be willing to do either was distressing. Yellow Red had little enough as it was, despite her clever methods of changing the world, but she could hardly afford to lose her den. Even if she chose to abandon it, to make another would require hunting and killing even more of the Unmoving Tribe, something that Whiteflower would (no doubt) enjoy, but would set the pack back weeks, if not months.
I had just decided that I must protect the den when the Unmoving Tribe screamed out in alarm as Yellow Red announced her approach through a series of progressively louder clatterings. Before Ambercrown could even respond, an entire section of the den wall swung inwards and struck Ambercrown, sending her tumbling to the ground. For the briefest of moments, her great green eyes glinted in the light before her head struck the floor with a resounding howl of the Unmoving corpses.
I closed my eyes and waited.
A few moments later and the two were howling and barking at one another again.
Somehow Yellow Red forced Ambercrown to flee, once more sparing our pack the insecurity of being without a den. I scrambled out a moment later to congratulate my alpha, but instead of joy, she spun at me with fire in her eyes.
Once more, I am reminded that a pack looks out for its members.
She must have been angry that she had to fight off Ambercrown by herself, having to resort to her odd magics and using the den as a weapon since I did not come to her aid.
In her anger, she flailed the remains of my snack repeatedly above me, barking and growling the whole time.
Clearly she was indicating that if I didn't even help to protect her or the den that no more treats would be provided.
Seeing as how much time and energy she put into preparing them for me, at her own expense, I cannot help but be ashamed.
I should have flung myself at Ambercrown, root and thorn, briar and barb, and held the den until Yellow Red, Whiteflower, or Dirtysap had responded, or I had moldered away.
I feel so very ashamed. I slunk back to my burrow and hid under the dark damp.
Even the dark damp seems to be ashamed of me: it has long since become the dark dry and offers little comfort.
It has been two days since Yellow Red has offered me a treat, though she did occasionally check on me. Once more, she brought a plump bud to keep me company, though it as well passed away shortly thereafter. Perhaps that is my place within the pack? To provide companionship to the dying?
She once again honors me.
I cannot explain how proud I am of her trust in me, and it pains me to recall my cowardice in the face of Ambercrown.
I have resolved to defend Yellow Red against Ambercrown should the need arise once more... though, I hope it does not come to that.
Dirtysap has returned from her scouting. It's a strange thing, even though it risks revealing our pack to the others out there, I admit that the strange growling that Dirtysap seems prone to is oddly comforting in its familiarity. It was a very odd experience for me, waking to the faint buzzing and finding my tail swaying in anticipation of her arrival.
Dirtysap wouldn't have hidden from Ambercrown.
So when she burst into the den, it was no surprise that she utterly ignored me, instead prancing around Yellow Red and expressing her joyful return in a rapid exchange of barks and yips. I watched quietly from the edge of the den, trying not to anger them as Dirtysap related her, no doubt, dangerous adventure.
When Whiteflower entered a few minutes later, my shame was driven even deeper.
While Dirtysap was likely scouting, picking off stragglers and the infirmed (something evidenced by the sap of the Needle Clan), Whiteflower bellowed her glorious victory as she cried out in triumph. Upon her back lay scores of the pressed corpses of even MORE of the Unmoving Tribe.
I have no doubt at all that Whiteflower would have leapt to Ambercrown and torn her roots clean off, broken thorns or no.
I couldn't help myself. I curled up and tried to make myself as small as possible. I didn't deserve to be in the same pack as those three, let alone the same den.
So it was with infinite surprise when I felt something nudge me and a soft murmur coaxing me to look out.
Whiteflower was inches from me, one of her thin branches gently stroking my trunk. Behind her, Yellow Red gave me a dirty look before seeming to decide upon something.
After a few more moments, the three were barking and yipping again, though Whiteflower seemed to keep pointing at me. Yellow Red, understandably dissatisfied with my performance in defending the den, seemed against whatever it was while Dirtysap seemed indifferent either way.
In the end though, Whiteflower seemed to win out, perhaps because of our dire need of food.
Before I knew what was happening, they were all on the move, leaving the den.
I had just started to slink back to my burrow when Yellow Red stepped in front of me with one of her strange creations: a smaller burrow, similar to the one Whiteflower brought back the Unmoving corpses in, and pointed for me to get inside.
She is going to abandon me for my cowardice, but I cannot fault her for it. She must see to the good of the pack and I... I am a weakness we cannot afford.
Yellow Red loves me. Whiteflower loves me. Dirtysap... tolerates me.
Yellow Red did not decide to abandon me at all! The pack decided to take me on a hunt!
As clever at Yellow Red is, she hid me in the corpse shadow and snuck me out passed Ambercrown into the open world outside of the den.
I do not know how far we have come, but when she let me out, I found that we were in a smaller den somewhere else.
A HIDDEN den, away from the prowling Ambercrown. My alpha is a genius.
While Ambercrown may have scouted out our den, our pack has been secretly constructing a second, hidden from the prowling eyes of her wicked stare. While she may, even now, be preparing to ambush our pack, we are safely away; comfortable and protected.
May her roots be infested and her branches rot. Ambercrown is no match for my alpha.
While I do not have a burrow here, Yellow Red showed me around while Whiteflower and Dirtysap watched. To my surprise, I discovered that this den is not only hidden, but is actually connected to one of the Unmoving Tribe itself! Somehow, my alpha must have intimidated it into service (probably with Whiteflower's battle prowess), and has since allowed it to live in exchange for its silence.
That, of itself, is incredible, but what I discovered next was both the most amazing and horrifying thing of my life.
Outside of the hidden den, Yellow Red showed me our territory and hunting grounds.
There are Unmoving Tribe outside the hidden den, standing in formation, for as far as the eye can see. Their numbers are such that their leaves taint the sky and their trunks play games with the eyes, hinting at paths and tunnels that disappear when one moves.
And I discovered where Bud came from. Bud was of the Unmoving tribe.
I was not to have been his companion, it seems, but his executioner.