Teen Ink

Confusion

I lay in my den when I heard the sharp snap of a branch. My muscles tensed and when I saw that it was just one of my own pack mates, I relaxed a bit.
“Ler? Is it ok if I tell you something? I don’t want to disturb you if you don’t want to hear,” she said. Her voice was so smooth and gentle. It was hard not to respond to that voice.
“Yeah, go ahead,” I replied sadly and ashamed. She probably wanted to cheer me up. I couldn’t imagine her saying anything else.
“Ler, I think you should go apologize to Scul. You were like a son to him, he loved you like one,” she said in a cautious voice. I suddenly felt a rush of anger. Did she not care about me? Why didn’t she say anything nice to me to cheer me up?
“Why should I?” I roared standing up, filled with anger like an overfilled cup. “If anything he should be apologizing to me! He insulted my father of being the thief of the Soul Stone! He denied my thought that it was the Huemons! He hates me now!”
I barked ferociously baring my teeth to show that she should leave now. It was my den; I shouldn’t have even let her come in. I ran outside into the forest. I barely saw what I passed with the trees and wind rushing past me. I felt that a little of my soul leaving me once again and I saw a hut that I have never seen before. I stopped in front of it. I inhaled a big breath of forest air. The hut was small no bigger than a garden shed. It was made of stones and a pine needle top strung together with a crisscross pattern of tree roots. The stones had bits of moss on it and a couple of red salamanders oozing from it. I looked at it in disgust as I stepped closer.
I looked to the ground and saw that the ground was carpeted with pine needles and dead leaves with vines crossing over them making it look like a checker board. I swiped my paw over it and a blast of wind forced me to my back. As I got up I saw another wolf standing in front of the hut. He was light grey with three gold rings pierced through his right ear and his left ear was ripped. His chest had three claw marks and each was dark brown. His right leg had been suffocated with bandages that had a slight tinge of yellow and he had an eye patch over his left eye. His paws were enormous and so were his claws.
“Hello Ler. I have been expecting you,” he said with a voice so low it made me shiver.
“Uh, hi. How do you know me and who are you?” I asked baffled by his knowledge.
“The Soul Stone has been stolen. Who do you think it was?” he asked.
“First answer my question,” I barked stubbornly.
“Who do you think it was?” he repeated sternly and quite demanding.
“The Huemons,” I spat.
“You can’t blame everything on them,”
“Oh great. Now you too? What’s wrong with this pack?” I replied, rolling my eyes. This was getting tiresome.
“Pack? Oh no. You’ve got it all wrong. I live alone. I am an exile from your pack. I want to get revenge badly, but knowing that you belong to that pack and the other warriors I cannot.”
“Warriors? What warriors? What are you talking about?”
“They haven’t told you yet? Goodness, how could I have trusted someone as stupid as Loupus to hold such a grand responsibility? Come. I will tell you everything,”
I was stunned. For once I was at a loss of words. I actually kept my big mouth shut. He used to be in the Mobon Pack? Exile? Warriors? Way too much information for me to process.
“Who are you?” I asked again.
“I am Huntch. Apprentice of Warrior Wolf of Earth.”
My jaw dropped. There it was again. That word that I didn’t understand at all. Warrior.