HEADING SOUTH

Icalave trudged through the hallways of Icizlwen, other Wolvians turned to stare at him as he headed for his groups meeting place. Usually the Wolves were supposed to check in at least once every two days but Icalave had been out for more than three. This would've caused an uproar of who was next in charge in most groups but Icalave had told his group that this was to be expected of him occasionally.
  He walked along in silence, hearing all the scratches of claws against the ice floor but didn't take much notice because he was considering whether he should try and contact the Slitca or let that horrid little small Wolve that he did not trust the slightest bit to do it. After about five minutes of thinking this over he decided, with great reluctance, to tell that agitating little Wolvian the news to pass onto the Slitca. But he wasn't going to do it straight away. He was incredibly curious about the things that were happening down in No-Manns Land. He wanted to know why Mann was polluting their major water source and why the horizon down their was slowly growing browner everyday. He figured that t couldn't be good.
  When he reached his groups meeting place, there were already about five of them there. they all looked at him with excitement and relief.
  "What happened?" called out one of them.
  "Where have you been?" asked another with a deeper voice. Icalave looked at their now eager faces, all of them waiting for answers and hopefully a detailed recount of what had happened over the past three days. So he started explaining.
  As he got down to telling them about the Wind Wolves, he realised something else. What were the Wind Wolves doing up there? It wasn't their time of year to be hunting and they hadn't been attacked. The others read this on his face. Soon they began asking questions, "What were they doing so far North? Why were there only two of them? What were they doing so close to Bullgamae?" This last question started a new curiosity in Icalave, but it was going to have to wait.
  "I don't know," was all that he could say," but I'm willing to find out," he added on. "My fellow brothers, who would be willing to come with me South to investigate the doing's of Mann? I have noticed that Shamrok River has started having strange brown bubbles around its edge and the water tastes fowl." He got two willing, but only out of their own curiosity, responses. The other three had heard too many nasty rumours, myths and legends about Mann and how Mann had created a weapon so powerful it had wiped out the Reflected Wolvians. But they didn't know that not all of them had been wiped out.
  Icalave understood their concerns, but asked them not to tell anyone else of their intentions. They agreed and he and the other two, Arssneq and Rossmend, set out for No-Manns Land.
  Very carefully and cautiously they passed through the streets of Icizlwen, trying not to draw attention. Icalave found this harder than expected as he was gaining a fond reputation amongst the Ice Wolvians, and no doubt, he thought, amongst the Nature Wolvians too.
  They eventually managed to get past with as little commotion as possible (Icalave had two females approach him squeaking with excitement, but ignored them and they went away throwing nasty looks at him). Soon they were outside the gates, the three of them standing in the shadows as not to be seen from the pale glow of Icizlwen's lights by anyone. They slipped off into the surrounding forest into the darkness, there was no moon, trying not to disturb to much snow so they couldn't be followed. It was snowing as well so it made it easier for them to hide their tracks, but not their scents. So they moved as fast as the silence would allow. They headed South-East first, making their way through the valley of the two mountains towards Shamrock Lake.
  Their run was long. It was about an hour before sunrise when they reached the lake. Rossmend was looking tired and went to drink from the lake.
  "URGH! That's fowl!" he yelped. Icalave hadn't noticed what was happening as he was discussing what was going to happen next to Arssneq. Icalave wiped around to look at Rossmend, cutting off mid-sentence.
  "I can see the bubbles you told us about," Arssneq informed.
  "Yes. They seem to have come from upstream from Shamrok River and I have a good guess that it's coming from No-Manns Land." Icalave replied with a distant tone. They continued at a walking pace, following the lake round South that took them to Shamrok River and eventually down to No-Manns Land. They walked slowly because all three had become exhausted from running, especially Icalave who had ran from the Grand Stack to Icizlwen in six hours.
  They found a sheltered spot where they could rest and he gave Arssneq the first watch, for he had more energy to stay awake than the other two. With great relief, Rossmend flopped down and almost immediately fell asleep. Icalave took a few more minutes to fall asleep, watching Arssneq sit as still as a statue as he kept guard.
  Icalave woke with a start. He saw the other two had gone. He raced out of the shelter only to find them by the river, each grabbing the end of a fresh piece of meat and yanking at it until it was torn in two. He noticed how hungry he was himself. He knew that he could go a couple of days without food but four days was pushing his luck.
  The other two had stopped fighting over who had the bigger piece when they heard the growl of Icalaves stomach.
  "Good afternoon Icalave. Have a good sleep?" Icalave hadn't noticed what time of day it was but had noticed that he was hungry enough to eat a large animal; something about the size of Rossmend.
  "Em, we got you a separate catch for you," squeaked Rossmend, noticing the hunger parched face on Icalave," I hope it lives up to your standards."
  At the moment I could eat anything." He noticed that he had started to drool. Before he knew it, a huge lump of meat was thrown in front of him and he was tearing it to shreds, pulling off huge clumps of meat that he swallowed in less than two bites. The other two looked at him frightened. They continued eating their own pieces of meat without any more complaint.
  After stuffing themselves full of food and having plenty of sleep, they once again headed off South. Icalave heard a rustle behind him where the bones remained about 20 meters behind. He turned and saw one of the bones with a little flesh still on it had gone, but he just assumed it was a little creature that was scavenging on the scraps. Shaking his head they moved on.
  Shamrok River laid to the left of them and as Icalave could see, a small rising hill with a forest on top in the distance of the South-West he could see Tredwood Forest. The plain ahead of them seemed to stretch on forever; the river running on the left and Tredwood Forest on the right.
  Icalave was about to set off again when he heard another rustle. He also smelt something that had a Wolvish tinge to it. The rustle happened again with a small quiet gasp from a nearby bush. Icalave looked at the bush. He could hear panicked breathing, but it was attemptedly stifled. So he walked over to the bush, signalling the others to remain where they were. He gave a sideways glance at the bush with a narrowed eyed gazed. He could hear the panicked breathing quicken and when close enough, could hear the loud pounding of a heart trying to escape its fate.
  As quick as lightening, Icalave opened his jaws and plunged his head into the bush, found a warm furry creature and snapped his jaws closed on it. It was followed by a loud high pitched yelp as he wrenched the creature out of the bush and landed flat on its back.
  Icalave was quickly over the top of it. The black ball of fur that he had pulled out from the bush was quivering and sulking. He growled and the ball only tightened.
  "Who are you?" He bellowed. The ball only quivered more. "WHO ARE YOU?"
  "P...pp...p...pl...ease...don...don...t...k...k...kill...me," came a small muffled voice from the middle of the fur ball.  The small voice reminded him of a young pup.
  "No?" Icalave in a faked taken aback voice. He was pretending to be kind to the little brat. "Then how did you get out here and why were you following us?" A small nose and eye popped up out from all the fur. It had purple markings around its eye and Icalave tensed. The others saw this sign and immediately began setting up a perimeter around them.
  The pup was a Shadow Wolve that live in Tredwood Forest. Icalave backed off and before he let the pup answer the first questions he bombarded him with new ones. "Are you alone? What is your purpose here?!"
  "Y...yes. I...I'm alone," said the ball as it began to unravel. Just as Icalave thought, it turned out to be a young Shadow pup with the purple markings and a long, but soft, shaggy black fur puppy coat.
  "M..m...my name's Budney...a...an...and I'm here b...b...because I r....ran away."