Raising Kings E-Book

Joan Walsh

• Herausgeber: Revival Waves of Glory Books & Publishing
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

It was a time of happiness, but it was also a time of fear as the white wolf cubs are born into the Wilds. Animals of all sorts begin streaming into the Wilds; fleeing the violence of the black wolves. Tor and his army have been gone for months checking to see if the rumors of the refugees were true. Were there still black wolves out there? Somewhere in the distance were the Blackstone Mountains. Is that what the wind was telling him, warning him about? Yes, it was speaking to him about things that no animal, wolf, or otherwise could stop.
Tor and his army are captured by Warrior and Snuffer, who lived through the avalanche brought on by the oryx during the Blackstone War. Tor is to be executed for stealing the land called the Wilds and killing Deuce and Staver.
Khoa sets out to find Tor. While he is gone, his son, Tristian, and Tor’s son, Challenger, are taken hostage along with other animals. Saved from drowning in their cages by a young raccoon, the two pups set out to make it back to the Wilds. Everyone, from Pieces and his ‘wild bunch,’ to the black wolves are in on the search for the stolen cubs. Tristian and Challenger meet friends and foes along their trek across the Black Lake Road. Just as it seems they will make it back to the Wilds, Knox, the beaver, betrays them. As all seems lost, the cubs find an unlikely ally.
In an ironic twist, Warrior learns that the white wolves hold his two sons as captives. An arrangement for a trade is made, but the dark wolves bring no white wolf cubs to the exchange; claiming they were taken by a lone black wolf in their camp. By the slip of a slingshot and a single stone, the war begins anew.
 

Leseprobe

THE BEAST TALE SCROLLS

Raising Kings

Book 2

JOAN WALSH

Raising KingsCopyright © 2015 by JOAN WALSH. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Revival Waves of Glory Books & Publishing.

Published by Revival Waves of Glory Books & Publishing

PO Box 596| Litchfield, Illinois 62056 USA

www.revivalwavesofgloryministries.com

Revival Waves of Glory Books & Publishing is committed to excellence in the publishing industry.

Book design copyright © 2015 by Revival Waves of Glory Books & Publishing. All rights reserved.

Paperback: 978-1-68411-073-5

PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 RUMORS OF WAR AND HUMORS OF WAR

CHAPTER 2 PIERCING THE LIGHT

CHAPTER 3 THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

CHAPTER 4 WOLVES AT THE DOOR

CHAPTER 5A PARABLE OF NATURE AND SPIRIT

CHAPTER 6PAX

CHAPTER 7CAPTIVES

CHAPTER 8BACK FROM THE DEAD

CHAPTER 9 MIRACLE IN THE RAIN

CHAPTER 10 BODGERS BADGERS

CHAPTER 11 ALL THE VALIANT HEARTS

CHAPTER 12 AVEC LES LOUPS

CHAPTER 13 GLIMPSING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

CHAPTER 14 THE LOST SHEEP AND THE WILD BUNCH

CHAPTER 15READING THE STARS

CHAPTER 16 THE THERAPY OF THE QUIRK

CHAPTER 17 ALL PATHS ARE CHOSEN PATHS

CHAPTER 18 THE IRONY OF THE BLACK WOLF’S TRUTH

Also Available By Joan Walsh

RAISING KINGS

He changes the time and the season; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. Daniel 2: 21

FOR

GRANDMA ANNA THORESON

AND

ANN HANCOCK

WHO ALWAYS WALKED IN THE LIGHT

CHAPTER 1RUMORS OF WAR AND HUMORS OF WAR

As was his custom, Khoa was on the rise above the valley of the Wilds making his rounds. It had been the practice of the white wolf to come to the topmost hill every morning. From here he could survey the valley below. Most mornings he would wait until the sun had risen high enough to burn off the mist from the lakes and the valley before heading back down.

Today Khoa paced back and forth over the rise. There was something that disquieted him. He looked again in back of where he stood, back to where the forest lay. Nothing was stirring but the wind, which now and then rustled the leaves into piles about the forest floor, and then dispersed them again. It was nature breathing in and out. There had not been enough rain this spring to mat the leaves to the ground. In the intermittent gusts of wind, the rustling leaves created a watchful eeriness in the wolf.

Khoa turned to look again at the Wilds below and out over the lake. He stood facing into the wind. Only the mist rose up. All seemed quiet, too quiet, but it spoke loudly to him. Khoa kept searching over the lake. Something was out of place, but what was it? Then it came to him. There were no birds hovering over the lake, skimming gracefully over its surface, and seizing their prey almost as if in a single motion. Nothing stirred. It was like every animal, every creature was holding its breath.

Were they waiting, too, for the return of Tor? It worried Khoa that Tor and his army were weeks late in arriving from their patrol to the north in the Blackstone Mountains. There had been reports of clashes with dark wolves who had begun to take over towns from the white and mixed wolves. Some of these animals had managed to escape, and now lived among them in the Wilds. They were pouring in faster than the town could absorb them. Tor and the warriors had gone to verify the rumors.

Khoa ran through the refuges stories in his mind as he watched them in their settlements on the edges of the Wilds. Their stories were similar. Mixed and dark wolves had begun to move into their towns. The newcomers had lived peacefully at first and accepted the rules. Little by little, these foreigners had demanded that they have rights just like all the other animals.

“We animals thought that the newcomers were making ant hills into mole hills. We didn’t know what they were talking about because they were not kept from doing anything in our towns, but we agreed that they should have whatever rights they wanted. It was a way to keep peace,” one wolf had told them.

“They wanted their spots on the school tribunal, the city tribunal, and the worship tribunals. One by one, issues came up,” Bayer continued. “On the school tribunal, they claimed that teaching the Way in text books was distressing for those students who didn’t practice it and wanted all mention of it taken out. Over the years any mention of the Way was removed from all books and now can only be spoken of in the cathedrals, not among the diverse population.”

The animals were all in agreement. “Yes, and in the city tribunals the newcomers said the mixed wolves weren’t being treated equally. Then, and this still seems strange to me, within a few days a wolf, who was of a mixed breed, was arrested for stealing. He was let go after agreeing to repay the beavers for the fish and clams he had taken, but within hours the leaders of the ‘Raiders,’ as they called themselves, were rioting in the streets claiming that he had been beaten almost to death by vigilante citizens.”

The others nodded their agreement with someone saying, “We had never known any animal among us to attack anyone and we just couldn’t see why it would happen of a sudden.”

“Tell them what you know, Leap,” Bayer encouraged the deer, who was standing beside him, to step forward and tell his story.

“Next, it was the fact that the only worship available was the Way. They wanted their religion, ‘All Ways’ to be accepted and honored. They told the town that it was a fairer religion and didn’t brag about being the only one that had answers, but gave freedom to any form of worship. They carried banners that proclaimed ‘Many gods, Not one,” and ‘All gods or No gods.”

“It sounds like things became fair to all except those who practiced the Way,” Tor said.

They animals nodded their agreement.

“One day they brought up the fact that the town was not safe, that the city militia wasn’t doing its job. We regular town’s animals couldn’t see their reasoning, but before we could settle the matter our cubs and babies began to disappear. The wolves went on a rampage, telling the town that what they had claimed about it not being a safe place to live was true. The old way of protection needed to be thrown out and their way adopted, they said. They claimed to have talked with the enemy factions of wolves in secret to bargain a peace treaty and keep our babies safe. It was war or peace, they said. We could keep peace if we let them change our laws to fit their model of fairness, or we could fight them. They claimed those who practiced the Way were bigots and sought to oppress all others,” the deer explained.

Bayer took up where he left off and added, “The town wanted peace at any price by this time, and told them to make their deal. The next morning an army of dark troops lined our streets. Shops, offices and even the worship center had signs that said, ‘Closed for your protection.’ No one was allowed on the streets. Those of us who still had our children, left before they could be stolen.”

A gust of wind roused him from his thoughts. What had Tor said about the strategy used by the wolves in making the towns submit to them without a fight? Create a crisis and solve it. Create another crisis and solve it, and then another and another.

This had a snowball effect on the public and created a sense of desperation in them Tor had told the assembly. The only cost had been that the animals had given their freedoms away an inch at a time during each faked crisis by letting the dark wolves solve the crisis under the guise of protecting them. This cycle actually got animals to be willing participants in helping the new regime take over; gave power to them unanimously without a struggle.

The dark wolves were again at their door step. They just had a new method. The new strategy used peaceful, covert means instead of open acts of hostility, which made it difficult to tell they were actually waging war. Instead, it made them look like pacemakers, but only at the onset. By the time the town’s animals realized what was happening, it was too late; the dark wolves were in power. Like Tor had said, “They’ve gotten smarter.”

Khoa turned once again to look behind him, to look northward. No warriors of the white wolves could be seen returning home. What could be keeping them? Somewhere in the distance were the Blackstone Mountains. Is that what the wind was telling him, warning him about? Yes, it was speaking to him about things that no animal, wolf, or otherwise could stop. So what was it telling him he was supposed to do if he couldn’t stop it? He sensed there were impossible odds assembling, coming together somewhere in the distance. Khoa looked up into the sky. The sun was still low in its arc, having just risen in the east. Yes, what he was feeling moved by a force like the path set by the sun, and it was just as immutable.

That morning Pieces was up early and just coming over the rise when he saw Khoa standing on the summit. For a moment the rabbit was startled by an odd feeling of familiarity that seeing the lone wolf brought to him. Why was it so disturbing this morning? The uneasiness of the thought kept him from moving a muscle one way or the other. He felt paralyzed. What was it? Then it came to him. It was the stories his mother had told him about Khoas’ father, and their life before the Great War and before their sudden departure from the Wilds. A fear gnawed at the old rabbit. He had not moved from his spot, but Khoa had sensed him immediately and acknowledged his presence.

“Pieces, you’re up early.”

Although the rabbit heard his friend, it took a while for him to respond. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“You’re moving a little slow this morning,” Khoa agreed.

“Yeppers,” Pieces said trying to shake off his feelings of uneasiness. “How about you? You’re up earlier than usual, too.”

“I thought it best to do my pacing up here away from Ani.”

“Ah.” The rabbits voice was distant, low, and quite unlike him.

When Khoa didn’t answer, the rabbit continued. “Seems more like fall than early spring, doesn’t it?” he asked, looking up at his favorite tree. “No buds out yet, either.”

Khoa stared at his friend. “Are you sure you’re alright? I mean, anything in particular bothering you?”

Pieces shook his head. “Just a queasiness in my stomach is all.” He looked briefly at Khoa and then away. He didn’t want to worry him. An expectant father didn’t need to hear the alarms that ran through an old rabbits mind.

“Bad clover?” Khoa laughed.

“Let’s hope so. That’s why I came all the way up here. I need some of the sweet stuff that grows underneath this oak, but it doesn’t look like there’s any to be had.”

Pieces couldn’t take his eyes off the wolf’s face. They stood looking at each other.

“Somethings up. You’re staring at me.”

“Sorry, Khoa. It’s just that when I saw you standing alone here I couldn’t help but think back to all the stories my mother had told me about your father. He used to stand just where you are now.”

Khoa looked away from the rabbit and back out over the lake below them.

The rabbit shivered. “I wish this fog would hurry and lift.”

Khoa wished so, too. A slight wind blew against him. It was colder than it had been the moment before. It spoke of war, of change, of things he thought he would never face again. He looked back at Pieces and he knew what the rabbit had not said out loud to him.

“This is where my father stood that morning before the Great Fire and the Great War began, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” was all Pieces answered, still looking into the distance where the wolf looked. Remembering that story deepened the feelings of dread he already felt.

“That was the day the world changed, fell apart,” Pieces answered, nodding. “Your father felt that change coming. He just didn’t know what it meant. At least that is what my mother and the others who told the story related to us.”

“Yes, change. I feel it today. I’m not sure I’m ready to become a parent. Ani is. She takes everything in stride. I need to learn that from her.”

The wind blew against him. ‘No,listen,’ it said. ‘There is something more.’The voice had caught him off guard. It hadn’t spoken to him this insistently for quite some time. He felt it had something to do with an idea he had read in the Book.

He turned to Pieces. “You’ve helped me to begin to understand something I read in the book that I didn’t grasp all the way.”

“I have?” the old rabbit asked more than a little surprised. “What?”

“One of the truths in the Book says, ‘watch for a sign in nature for it will repeat itself in the spirit.’

“That’s beyond me.”

“No, Pieces. You of all animals should understand it.”

“How so?”

“Remember when the clouds covered us and ran ahead and you were scared of its shadow?”

“Yeppers. It turned me cold inside.”

“Well, that’s the first part, the part the Alpha reveals in nature. The warning, the omen.”

He waited for the rabbit to nod.

“Then remember what happened after that?”

“Yeppers. The Venger came.”

“That’s the event that took place, that repeated itself in the spirit.”

“Hmm. I see, but I don’t.”

“Let me put it this way, Pieces. The first was an omen of something bad, the shadow of the great bird that took away the light of the sun. It was tangible. You could see it in nature, but nothing happened that day.”

Pieces waited quietly for the wolf to go on.

“The second happening was that shadow in its repeating form, its real form. Venger. He tried to take the light out of all animals in their spirit, their heart for real.”

“I can see it afterward, but how do you tell before?”

“That’s part of the mystery I’m trying to unravel. Like the Book says, ‘the Great Wolf gives mysteries and it is the work of animals to divine them.’ “

“Divine?”

“Understand, figure them out.”

“Can I practice with you?”

“You have a knack for it, Pieces.”

“I do?”

“Yes, you sense things.”

“Is feeling the same as seeing?”

“In a way I think it is, but remember, it speaks to you quickly and only once. Mostly when you’re not ready for it.”

“I felt like that this morning when I came up here. Is that what you mean? Is that why we miss it?”

Before Khoa could answer the rabbit, he heard Zen, who was acting as midwife, calling to him from the cave. As he turned towards Pieces, the rabbit noted a pleading in his eyes. He could see the wolf was torn between answering his question and fulfilling his duty to Ani. “It’s time Pieces. The cubs are coming. “

“Go on. You have a higher calling than to answer the questions of a foolish old rabbit. We’ll talk another time,” but the feeling that something was about to happen wouldn’t let go of him.

As Pieces watched Khoa bound off the rise, he caught a glimpse of something dark overhead and stepped back. Talk about shadows, he thought, and looked skyward to see a family of owls coming in to land in front of where he stood. They seemed to be watching after Khoa and staring towards the crowd that had gathered at the entrance of the cave.

“You’d think these cubs were the only babies to be born in the Wilds, or in the world for that matter,” the old mother owl commented as she tramped up and down in front of her brood. The owl family seemed to take no notice of Pieces under the tree even though they were within touching distance of him.

Pieces recognized the old owl. It was Oh-Oh, who had made the comment. They had come, like so many others, seeking refuge from the war being waged by the dark wolves. They had come, too, to see what all the hub bub was about. Was there a king or wasn’t there? The old owls name was really Who-Who, but she was a nosy sort of a flyer and every animal that saw her soaring above them would turn to warn others who were nearby by saying, “Oh, oh,” and the name just sort of stuck. She wasn’t one of Pieces’ favorite newcomers in the Wilds.

Pieces was irritated and angered by the owl’s comments. Deciding to set the record straight he said, “Of course they aren’t the only babies to be born in the Wilds. It’s spring. There were many white wolves born this spring. Tor and Zen had four cubs, Scout and Sara had their trio of girls, Fisher and his new bride, KT, had six.” Pieces hopped a little closer to the owl, who continued to look at him with popping eyes. “Hmmmm,” she hooted.

“Yeppers. Almost fifty new wolves. A hundred or more babies if you count all the other species in the Wilds,” he boasted.

Oh-Oh ignored Pieces’ census of the new births and turned back to her owlets and husband as one of her babies said, “There must be hundreds of gifts piled outside that cave, mama.”

“Thousands,” his brother hooted.

“Can we go down and see them?” one of the other owlets asked, which seemed to agitate the mother owl further.

“I’ve never have seen such a fuss made about a few wolves coming into the world.”

What Oh-Oh was referring to was the fact that everyone in the Wilds had come by the little cave and brought gifts which were stacked two mountains high. They had all made a personal call on the wolf family.

“Never have seen such a fuss,” the owl repeated in her mocking tone.

“He let you stay here didn’t he? Build your homes here, didn’t he?” Pieces asked her.

The owl kept her silence. Pieces hopped around to see her face. “Enough said. You wouldn’t have stayed in the Wilds if you didn’t think Khoa could protect you. You might be tolerant of our customs here and Khoa.”

“He’s the king, you know,” her mate, Swoop, reminded her, but he knew it didn’t carry much weight with her.

Oh-Oh turned away from the old rabbit and motioned to Swoop and he took flight, seizing Pieces in his talons.

“Why does everything happen to me?” the rabbit asked in a low voice.

“I’m just giving you a ride down to where all the excitement is. I mean you no harm,” Swoop said, looking down at him.

“Such a fuss over some animals come into the world,” Pieces heard mother Oh-Oh repeating behind them.

“It’s her way. Try not to pay her too much mind,” Swoop said.

“He made you and all the others welcome here, didn’t he? He fed you and helped you build your homes, didn’t he?” Pieces called back to Oh-Oh.

The owl still didn’t answer and Pieces looked up at Swoop and directed, “Put me down right there where Khoa is.”

“The white wolf king?” Swoop asked.

“Yeppers, the king.” At least Swoop had respect for their customs.

Directly after Pieces was set loose on the ground, he hopped over by Khoa and began walking back and forth with him to show his support and prove to the owl family that he was a friend of the kings. The pair tramped up and down for some time before Serious called out, “Sit down, Khoa. You’re wearing a hole in the earth.”

“Yes, I’m out of breath,” puffed Pieces, pacing alongside of Khoa, turning when Khoa turned, stopping when Khoa stopped.

“You sit down, too, Pieces. You’re not the father.”

“No, but I’m the grandfather.”

“How long is this going to take? We’ve been waiting all night,” Khoa said aloud. He was thinking so hard that the sound of his own voice startled him.

“Yeppers,” Pieces said, turning to Serious. He walked over to him and stood directly in front of his friend. “You’re the teacher. You’re supposed to know these things. You know everything else. Why don’t you know this?” he demanded.

“Yes, come on. I’d like to hear this myself,” said Washer, bursting in through the crowd that was gathered around the cave. He was dragging a line of fish with him.

“Well,” Serious paused and then continued with a shrug. “It takes as long as it takes.”

The raccoon was shaking his head in disgust. “That’s no answer. We’re paying you too much if that’s the best you can come up with.”

“Nature has her own ideas. Some things don’t have a definite answer.”

Then Serious, noticing the look of disbelief on the raccoon’s face, added, “Just take my word for it. After all, I am the teacher.” It was a proclamation in partial defense of himself.

“Yes, and you know everything,” Washer said, irritated, and waved back at him without looking, “until someone asks you a question.”

Washer stood facing the throng of animals. “I brought supper for everyone,” he announced, dropping the line of fish by the crowd. He turned and pulled a few fish off the line and threw one over to Serious. “You better eat this.”

Serious picked up the fish and threw it back at Washer. “I’m a rabbit. Keep your brack‘n‘snaffle, brack’n’fraffle fish. I need greens. Carrots. Crunch cruncher stuff.”

“It used to be good enough for you.”

“That was in hard times. You eat what you have to. I ate enough fish to last a lifetime. You need to be considerate of us animals who don’t eat fish. You need to be considerate of me as a teacher. You’re not. Never have been.”

It took everything inside the young rabbit not to begin stomping his hind leg. He was getting into that tone, that cadence of short words. He was determined not to let the raccoon know he had gotten the best of him by thumping.

“I am telling you right now that birth doesn’t happen on a time schedule. You can’t say, Oh, by the way, the little cubs will arrive at 9:15. Nature doesn’t have a time schedule for such things,” the rabbit continued. By now he was holding his back leg still with his paw. “I shouldn’t have to explain such things.”

“I wasn’t asking for an exact time. I know they don’t come at some exact time like 9:15. I was just asking for a general idea about how long it usually takes,” Washer answered, picking the fish up and hurling it back towards his friend.

“There is no timetable for such things, general or otherwise,” Serious yelled back. By now he was almost spitting the words out. Just as he finished talking, the fish struck him in the stomach. He hadn’t seen it coming.

“At least you’re not thumping,” Washer complimented him. “You’ve risen above it.”

“That does it!” the rabbit warned and Serious was on the raccoon in an instant, slapping him about his head and body with the fish. Scales and small pieces of flesh littered the air. Serious hit him over and over until the fish slipped out of his paws, and then he began pounding at the raccoon with his back kickers. “You eat it,” he was screaming. “You inconsiderate…. ignorant….. black faced…. black hearted….black footed…..” Here the rabbit paused for an instant, unable to find another word to describe his friend, and then just blurted, “rascal.”

Someone in the crowd yelled, “He doesn’t want fish, Washer,” which sent the gathering into roars of laughter.

Another animal called out, “Let him thump, next time. It’s safer.”

Everyone had read the sign above the entrance to the schoolhouse and knew Washer was the one who had placed it there, though Pieces had been blamed for it at first. It had since been taken down, but a new sign had been placed a few days ago, which had reinvigorated the tenseness between them.

Washer was so dumbfounded by the rabbits’ antics that he was unable to move. He was completely defenseless. Finally, Bigger came and picked up Serious and carried him away still kicking and yelling. The bear held him away from his body so the rabbit couldn’t hurt him.

“He’s just all nerves what with the cubs being born and all,” the bear called back to the crowd.

There were chuckles and titters all around.

Washer stared down at the fish lying at his feet. “No one can eat this fish, now,” he said quietly, picking the fish scales out of his fur and brushing them off in downward motions. “It hasn’t even been washed.”

Just then the old stork, Sticks, appeared in the entrance to the cave. His irritated manner and self-important air was apparent to all. Sticks had arrived with an attitude of scoffing and it hadn’t changed. When he had first alit by the small cave he had said, “I was told that these were offspring of the king. I must be lost. Where’s the palace?”

When no one answered him, the great bird looked around at the crowd, raised up higher on his legs, and began flapping at them.

Springer, the deer, came forward. “There is no palace, but this is the right cave. The king lives here.”

Sticks at first had refused to help deliver the cubs because he was the chief stork and these cubs were ordinary and not the king’s as he had been led to believe. It was Zen’s teeth snapping around the small of his neck that made him change his mind.

It was nearly five hours later when the great stork reappeared. His manner was more arrogant and abrupt than before, having been forced to deliver the cubs by Zen against his will.

“How many?” came the cries.

“Is Ani alright?”

“Can we see them?”

Sticks wiped his brow and then flapped his wings at the approaching crowd. He clearly was not paying heed to any of their questions. “Back off. I don’t want any of your germs to get on me.”

When the throng crowded in closer, Sticks ran forward, making a great motion and noise with his wings. “Get back, I said. Father only. Where’s the father? I don’t even see a wolf here. I need a wolf father for these five new cubs.”

“Khoa!” everyone began calling.

“Where is he?” the animals began asking.

“Someone went to get him hours ago.”

From the back of the crowd Khoa heard his name, and felt Pieces pushing him from behind.

“Five,” he kept saying over and over, and looking behind at his friend.

“Yeppers, five. Now get going,” came Pieces’ winded voice.

“Make way. Move,” the rabbit scolded, waving at the mob.

Slowly the crowd parted, and Khoa made his way through them. His steps were slow and tentative. The wolf was aware enough to sense the animals were staring at him with their mouths hung open. He couldn’t help his plodding movements. His feet felt like they weighed a thousand pounds each. It took a tremendous effort on his part to struggle forward. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

“Here I am,” Khoa managed, his voice cracking with each word. With that said, he fainted dead away.

The stork moved up to the wolf, and looked down over him. “First timer, huh?”

Everyone nodded, and Pieces exclaimed, ”Yeppers. You can see, can’t you?”

“I thought he was the king,” said Sticks. The bird stood on one leg and shook it, and then stretched his wings leaving his wide mouth open. It was clear that this stork meant to do things in his own time and on his own terms. He closed his beak, shook his head and muttered condescendingly, “Not very kingly, if you ask me. He’s filthy.”

“That’s because he’s been pacing back and forth in the mud wait’in for you,” Pieces said, stepping up to the stork.

After the gasps from the crowd quieted, the bird asked, “Any smelling salts around?” Sticks looked matter of factly at the crowd, and blatantly over the head of Pieces. The rabbit was not about to let the storks snubbing of him go unchallenged. Pieces had had enough of this bird, and he waved back at the raccoon and motioned for him to look down at his feet. Washer did so and smiled knowingly.

In a second, an object flew through the air and landed at the stork’s feet. It was the battered fish.

“Try this,” a voice called out. It was Washer.

“I see others don’t respect this so called wolf king, either,” the stork said, looking straight into the old rabbit's eyes.

“Oh, we respect our king. The dead fish is for you. It’s yours. Payment in full,” Pieces replied and the other animals in the crowd rushed in on the stork as he struggled to take flight.

“Let him go,” called Zen from the cave entrance.

Once he was safely in the air, the bird called down, “I won’t be back. No stork will deliver here. I can assure you of that.”

“Yes, and make sure you tell them that roasted stork tastes like duck, too,” Washer yelled back.

The great stork dove down over them as they tended to Khoa. “King? Look at him lying in a heap. Why, that wolf is no more of a king than I am.”

“What would you know of kings?” Pieces yelled up at him. “He has a good heart.”

Washer came up alongside of Pieces and put his arm around him. “You amaze me sometimes, old rabbit.”

The rabbit just shook his head and said worriedly, “This doesn’t bode well. That’s two bad omens in a day. What’s next? They come in three’s, you know.”

“Only if you can count,” the raccoon said.

CHAPTER 2PIERCING THE LIGHT

It was just into early summer and the meadows were full in bloom. Khoa looked at the litheness of the purple and white columbines as they waved among the slender light green grasses in the wind and the daintiness of the yellow and blue violets that sprouted amid them. The colors were light and airy shades, and the blue in the violets matched the color of Ani’s eyes. Honey comb butterflies and Indian paintbrush flowers added a stark splash of red that caught his eye. Sand dune sunflowers with their red heads and daisy like petals gave a vibrant yellow to the mix. It was a startling array of colors that stretched clear to the base of the foothills in the distance. He loved to lie in the midst of the field. It brought a sense of reverence to his being. It was quiet, and when the wind breathed gently through the field of flowers, they tippled ever so slightly forward; bowing as if they sensed the Great Wolf was passing by.

Today the white wolf found that even the meadow with its brightness failed to raise the veil which haunted his spirits. He had been given to dreams in the weeks since Tor was gone which carried over into his waking life; taking the lightness and the joy out of his fatherhood.

A voice spoke within him, reassuring him. ‘It is not the time, Khoa. The sun will set as usual. Your life will go on as it has. Things will be as they have been.’ It struck him that these were strange thoughts, not like his usual ones, not his own voice. It was familiar, yet something about it had left him off balance. He was trying to discern what that odd feeling was when he saw Ani, Zen, and the cubs coming out of the trees below the ridge. The voice and the thoughts vanished as if he had never heard them.

When Tor left, it had been arranged that Zen and the cubs would stay in the cave with Khoa’s family. They all shared in the cub’s development. Khoa showed them how to challenge one another in play by nipping at their heels; teasing them to chase him. When they caught him, he would turn suddenly, and facing them, he would pounce towards them until they pounced back. Ani and Zen showed them how and where to fish and what the names of the flowers in the meadows were. At night he and his brother had taught them about the stories in the skies and about the Great Wolf who gives all life. Before Tor had left they had spent each night together by the cave and Khoa had watched his brother raise his cubs so he would know what to do when his time came. He now carried on what he had seen Tor do.

In the eighth week they took the cubs to the water fall and christened them. All five cubs, Tristian, Arro, Savor, Anna, and Jen were pledged to follow the Way just as Tor had committed his four cubs before he left. Zen and her cubs had come for the witnessing as Khoa and Ani had come to witness Challenger, TJ (Tor Jr.), Hunter, and Ginny’s’ pledges the month before.

As his cubs stood in the water, Khoa read: “Now count your spirits among the lions in the House of Alexander, whose teeth are sharp as swords and whose word is truth. You have given oath to the Great Wolf. Know he walks on the mountains and in the tall grasses, in the shadows of the valleys, and in the dry lands. Trust in his heart, trust in his power, trust in his love.”

That night Khoa toured the perimeters of the Wilds until he was tired enough to sleep. There was too much happening all at once and he couldn’t seem to get a hold of it. The voice kept whispering, ’Dark days are ahead. Prepare. You have let them come. You have not listened.’ The more insistent the voice became, the more he seemed to resist it. This was supposed to be a time of joy and celebration and happiness, yet everything was falling apart. Ani was steady and unwavering and seemed to be able to push the unimportant issues into the background. He was trying, but having Tor gone and the nine cubs to look after was more responsibility than he felt ready for. There were many everyday details which demanded his attention. Everything that went on seemed to be out of his hands. Nothing was under his control. What to do with all the new arrivals, the tiff between Washer and Serious seemed to grow wider as the weeks passed, and whether or not to send a unit after Tor. Why had Tor not sent a runner back? It had been months. Whenever he thought about Tor, a feeling of inaction paralyzed him with fear. He had to do something, anything that was action. It’s time,he told himself. In the morning he would send a runner or go himself even if he had promised Tor not to risk coming after him. With that resolved, he trotted back home to sleep.

It was cold in the predawn when Khoa awoke again. He felt an acute pain in his right side. The dream had been so vivid he could actually feel it. Had something attacked him in his sleep? He opened his eyes and looked around. No, it was a dream and nothing more, he said to himself, but the pain in his flank was real and he turned to lick at it.

Noticing his sleeping cubs and Ani, he rose quietly and walked out. Ani felt him stir and woke as well.

“What’s the matter, Khoa? You’re limping,” she whispered over the cubs.

“My dream. I can’t get over how real it was. I can still feel it. It’s as if the dragon in my dream actually attacked me.”

Ani moved from the cubs. “Let’s go outside.”

“Show me where the dragon touched you.”

Khoa pointed to his left flank. Ani went to him and searched over him a long time before telling him, “I don’t see anything. Does it still hurt?”

“It’s fading, but I still feel its sting.”

“Tell me about the dream,” said Ani.

“We were all in the meadow. The cubs were chasing each other, and then I saw this tiny box sitting among the flowers. I knew it was for me so I went up to it. I wasn’t afraid because I already knew what was in the box. I knew, but I didn’t know,” he said, pausing to look at his mate. “That sounds like I’m off center doesn’t it?”

Ani shook her head. “I know what you mean. You just don’t remember it until it happens.”

“Yes,” agreed Khoa. “That’s it. It was like reading a story over and over, but not remembering the ending until you heard it again. I barely touched the box when a huge dragon appeared all at once. It didn’t frighten me because I already knew there was a dragon in the box. I kept asking myself how it was possible for this gigantic dragon to fit into such a tiny box. I was more concerned about the size of the dragon than the fact that it was a dragon.” Here Khoa paused and shook his head.

“Anyway, the next thing I realized, I was running, but I knew I had always been running just like I knew everything in the dream. No matter where I went the dragon was right behind me. There was a sentry wolf standing on the wall calling, ‘The dragon has pierced the light.’ That’s when I woke feeling the pain in my flank. Even after I opened my eyes, I could hear the sentinel calling out his words like they were some final lot of judgement passed that could not be altered. The light had been pierced. It was as if he was in the room with me. I knew there was a dragon in the box, I knew I would run, and I knew what the sentinel was going to say, but I couldn’t stop it.”

He looked up to see Ani studying him pensively. “What light did the dragon pierce?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see it, I just felt it,” he said, and twisted around to look at his flank again.

Ani looked over her mates flank another time. “There isn’t any visible mark or blood,” she said before coming over to place her head across Khoa’s back. It was a habit of hers Khoa loved and he marveled at how she knew the times he needed her comfort most. They had so little time alone since the arrival of the cubs and even less now that Zen lived with them. Nine little cubs prancing about kept him busy.

Just as he thought that, Zen came out with her cubs and Ani lifted her head from Khoa’s back to look at her.

“I didn’t mean to disturb you, but the cubs needed out,” Zen said, emphasizing the word out.

“Me, too,” she added laughing. She sat with Khoa and Ani and watched the cubs. Ani howled to her own cubs and waited for them to come out.

As the cubs bounded away Zen turned to them. “You’re up early.”

“Khoa didn’t sleep well.”

“I haven’t slept well since Tor has been gone,” said Zen looking at Khoa.

Khoa walked closer to Zen and put his paw on her. “I know. He’s been on my mind, too. I decided in the middle of the night I was going out to find him. I have to do something. It doesn’t make any sense to keep waiting.”

“Thank you, Khoa. I know something has happened. Not because Tor hasn’t sent word, but I just have a feeling. I can’t explain it,” she said, turning away from both of them.

Khoa knew she was crying, but thought it best to let her have her privacy and kept his distance. Her words left him cold and he couldn’t get them out of his mind.

Zen still did not turn to face them. “I better see to the cubs,” she said and bounded after them.

Ani moved around to look at her mate. “There’s something else isn’t there?”

Khoa nodded and explained about discovering a secret he had started unraveling about how the Alpha used patterns that repeated in nature and spirit to warn animals about things which were to come.

“I’m sure this dream is an omen, but what? It is telling me directly that the light has been pierced. But what light? Is it something that has already happened, about to happen, or is it way off in the future?”

Ani began to walk around in small circles. “Yes, I see what the dilemma is. Look at it for what it is, not what it will be. It seems to me to be simpler that way.”

Khoa nodded, but Ani was sure he hadn’t heard her. He was already half way down the path to the training ground. There was one thought on his mind now and that was Tor. He was on everyone’s mind.

As he ran, the voice intruded on his thoughts again. ’You know what you thought you didn’t. Listen, Khoa. You let the dragon grow.’ The time for listening was over, he said to himself.

It was months ago that Tor and his army had left for the Blackstone territories. The first part of their journey had been over easy terrain so Tor and his army had loped effortlessly until they saw the dark pines of the Blackstone Mountains ahead. They were still in the lowlands and the spring migration of birds was at its peak. When Tor and his warriors approached the marshlands to drink, tremendous flocks of swifts, swallows, and warblers took to the air. The sky was black with them. Being small birds, they rose quickly, noiselessly. The only sound was their song, which when heard from a single bird was faint, but now, heard in unison from thousands, became a crescendo. The wolves stopped to watch them as they took formation. A single bird would fly point, then directly behind it two birds fell in line, then three birds, then four, until a giant V took shape. In seconds, out of the seemingly panicked and scattered take off, thousands of birds were all in formation. All birds were accounted for in their specified place.

“That’s precision drilling,” Winter commented.

“Nature’s best disciplined army,” Tor added. “We could learn something from that.”

“If we could fly.”

“No, from the way they signal. Silently.”

“How about learning that their noise hides an advancing army?” a loud and unknown voice called out to them.

Tor and Winter turned to face the voice. A dark wolf stood looking at them and they could see they were surrounded by dark wolves. Tor estimated there were hundreds of dark wolves. His patrol of fifty was no match against them. It was not the time to fight.

“So the hunters find that they are the hunted,” the dark wolf taunted.

They had planned the ambush well,Tor thought. They had been watching us and they had counted on us coming to drink at the marsh.

“What is your name white wolf?”

Tor remained silent. “No matter. You are one of two white wolves. Twins? Am I right?” he said, pushing Winter and Tor forward through the shallow water.

“I am Warrior. I fought against you five summers ago, or rather I fought against the avalanche your horn created.” Warrior was looking directly at Tor as he spoke. “I see my name means nothing to you. So looking you over, you are not Khoa, but the twin.”

When Tor didn’t speak, Warrior said, “My father was Deuce.”

Tor felt the dark wolf push him again. “I knew of him.”

Another dark wolf came up beside them. “I have a brother as well. This is Snuffer. Another one your avalanche failed to kill. So now it shall be brothers against brothers. Interesting, wouldn’t you say?”

As Warrior spoke, they were being herded across the waters of the marsh and its tall cover of reedy grasses. Soon they had crossed it and come onto dry land. They seemed to be headed for the base of the mountain directly ahead of them. When they drew closer to the mountain, Tor could see an opening like an entrance to a cave. What looked like a pile of boulders jutting out from mountain suddenly began to move apart. It was like an apparition before his eyes and startled him until he realized what was opening were two great doors. There was no cave behind the rock like doors, but a great embattlement with open sky above. He could see the inside had been carefully constructed as a military compound. The two giant doors were made to look like rock boulders when closed and part of the mountain itself. No one would guess those boulders were doors and hid a fortress behind them. It was the best piece of camouflaging he had ever seen.

Inside, and at the opposite edge from the entrance, was the real face of the mountain which afforded maximum protection from behind and rose nearly a mile straight up. With the use of their fake boulder walls, they had extended the front of the mountain some four to five hundred yards beyond the natural one. It was a spectacular feat of construction, thought Tor. You couldn’t tell the fake boulders from the real ones.

“Take these two to the hole,” Warrior said, pointing at Tor and Winter. “Put the others to work until tonight,” he ordered and walked off with Snuffer and two other officers.

Tor watched as his army was led away to help finish the new sides of the mountain, which were still being built for they were only a foot or so high. The front, with its magnificent boulder like doors, was finished; closing the fortress away from the outside world. It was obvious that they had taken all manner of animals captive to be used as workers in this project.

He quickly took stock of everything around him. Barracks lined the