//------------------------------// // 1: Croitas' Crime // Story: The Story Of Zolziac // by Trainboy //------------------------------// The alpha strode up to his part of the ledge. He was a particularly muscular wolf, with dark grey fur and a scar over his eyebrows. He looked down impressively at the anxious faces of the pack below. They all wanted to hear what he'd say. Now that the moon was high in the sky, and that it was clearly full, he cleared his throat. "My beloved pack" he began "We are gathered tonight to sentence a wolf to his punishment." The pack looked towards a wolf isolated on a rock. He had black fur and shining blue eyes. "This wolf" the alpha continued "Is none other than a sneaky betrayer. He is being charged tonight with one of the worst crimes a wolf can commit." He looked down at the shivering wolf. "Becoming tame!" he finished. Wolves in the pack snarled and growled at the isolated criminal. "Niak?" the alpha looked towards a white wolf sat on a lower ledge. "Does the guilty wish to say anything in his own defence?" Niak said, looking threateningly down at him. "Please your honour" the wolf protested "I can prove that being tame isn't all bad..." "Croitas" the alpha interrupted "Please. Think about what you're saying." "But your honour" Croitas went on "The ponies have food, warmth, shelter, everything we need to survive that isn't here." The wolves behind him snarled loudly. Niak raised her paw for silence. "Croitas" she said "Please think about this. Are you saying we should all become tame?" "Well" Croitas paused "If it please your honour, it wouldn't harm anyone..." "Wouldn't harm anyone?" the alpha interrupted again, as the growling from the pack grew louder "You full well know the sentence that we have for wolves who become tame" Croitas looked horrified. "Oh no your honour." he begged "Please not expulsion!" "I may have to consider it" said the alpha "It all depends on what the witnesses say" "Bring forth the witnesses!" Niak called. Three pups strolled out from the pack. One was black, the other white and the other orange. "Please speak your cause" Niak said. "We saw him in the clearing today" said the black pup "He was talking with a pony" said the white pup. "Talking with ponies?" the alpha snarled "You know that is strictly forbidden!" "He even accepted meat off the pony" the orange one finished. "Meat from ponies?" Niak growled "You said you'd hunted a rabbit!" "Clearly" the alpha said "This case has been closed by the final pup. Croitas, you are officially expelled from the pack." In the pack. A young wolf pup watched all that was going on. This young wolf pup's name was Zolziac. He had heard about a tame wolf, and had come to see what all the manic fuss was about. He shivered and stood closer to his mother, Claudic, as he watched the goings on. "But your honour" came a voice from the pack "Surely he has broken more pack laws than we can count!" "Who speaks?" Niak called. Another white wolf strolled out from the pack. "If you ask me" she snarled "This diabolical criminal has done the exact opposite of all the pack laws" she looked at him "and we all know what that means." Niak paused. "What does the pack think?" she called. The pack answered with long howls of agreement. The alpha shifted uncomfortably. "Very well" he said "Take him, and kill him when the moon is in the height of the sky." Zolziac watched, shaking, as Croitas screamed and begged his innocence as wolves took him behind a large rock. The pack looked up and counted down the seconds until the moon was in the height of the sky. "Ten... nine... eight... seven..." Zolziac tried to shut his eyes, but he couldn't resist watching the shadows of Croitas, still screaming his innocence, and the pack still counting down. "Three... Two... One... Zero!" the pack finished. "Let this be a lesson to all of you" the alpha said "That the tame one will not only be expelled, but will also be killed at the full moon" When the alpha had finished his speech, all eyes turned to the shadows on a tall rock. Croitas, still screaming, wriggled helplessly under the wolf that was pinning him down. Zolziac watched on in his horror, as he saw the shadow of a second wolf coming in and grabbing Croitas' head. "No! Please!" Croitas called "Please!" The second wolf then twisted Croitas' neck around. Croitas screamed in his agony, as his neck was twisted 360 degrees, until... CRACK! ... Silence fell over the pack, and Croitas was no more.