The Story Of Red Fur III

There wasn't much to do in the cave. The wolf pups took interest in Miuo and played with him a little. They jumped up and down from his lap and licked his face. There were three of them. One was very mischievous and enjoyed nipping his blind spot. Miuo had to position his body so that his back was against the wall. That way, the wolf pup wouldn't be able to bite his back. One of the adult wolves watched the four as they played but lost interested after some time and went back to sleep.

Before the boy knew it, the sun had already set and was replaced by the moon. The snow also stopped falling and all the wolves were up and active. It was hunting time. All the male wolves went out to find prey in the snow while the female and the young stayed in the den. The night was frigid cold. Miuo had to move all the way to the back of the cave to keep himself from freezing. Eventually, the pack came back from hunting with a deer. The wolves began to eat. But since Miuo couldn't eat the meat raw no matter how hungry he was as he would likely get sick, he was left out.

One of the wolves noticed that Miuo wasn't eating and went back outside. A few moments later, the wolf returned back carrying a branch full of red berries in its mouth. He walked up to Miuo and dropped the branch on his lap. Miuo looked up at the wolf. He wasn't sure what to say or do and after a second thanked the wolf and started eating. The berries were sour but Miuo didn't complain. He wolfed them down and tossed the branch away. He was still hungry but the berries did quell a bit of his hunger.

After he finished eating, Miuo had nothing to do so he decided to start naming each of the wolves since it seemed like that he will be living with them starting from now on. He started with the wolf that gave him the berries. Miuo was almost certain that he was the leader of the pack since he stood the tallest and also seemed to be giving orders to the other wolves. But since he couldn't understand what each bark or howl meant, he wasn't a hundred percent sure.

The wolf had fur as gray as any other wolf but the difference between him and the other wolves was that there were dark patches all over his fur. Some areas had fur darker than the rest, and it was mostly around his head and neck. It was a strange pattern that none of the other wolves had. The rest of them all had uniform gray fur going throughout their entire bodies. He was the odd one out, being the only wolf with a pattern in fur color.

Because of that, Miuo decided to name the wolf Io, which in his language meant one, which can also be interpreted as one of a kind as he didn't fit in with any of the other wolves. After naming all of the other wolves, the boy grew bored and with nothing else to do, fell asleep.

Time passed and Miuo slowly adjusted to his new life. Every so often when the pack went out to hunt, he would join them. There was also one time when they went hunting fairly close to the village and Miuo decided to take a peek at how they were doing. Instead of seeing it hustling with activity, he found that the village was empty. Thin decaying bodies lied in every single house and there was not a single living person. They had all starved to death.

Miuo felt no grief looking at the bodies even though he knew that he was the reason why the village had died. But in honor and thanks to the villagers for raising him, he dug a grave for every single one of the bodies he found. He worked from day to night, never stopping to take even a break, only resting once the task was done. Miuo was drenched in sweat and covered from head to toe in dirt, but he didn't care. It was the least he could do to atone for his mistakes.

Years went by and Miuo continued living with the wolves who accepted him as part of his family. He learned to understand what each bark, howl, or growl meant. Miuo was content with his current life and hoped that it would stay this way forever, but tragedy is a wicked thing that strikes when least expected.

During one autumn night, while Miuo was out gathering fruit, berries, and wood, he heard a howl in the distance. He dropped everything in his arms and immediately ran back to the den where he found the pack gathered around something. As Miuo got closer, he saw that it was blood. There were several pools of blood in the middle of the den and a trail leading outside of it. He looked around the den and realized that the female wolves and the pups were all missing.

Something had found the den and taken them. The pack quickly set off and followed the trail of blood through the forest and found a campsite. Gathered around the campfire were five men armed with weapons and talking amongst themselves.

Miuo didn't know why but Io suddenly let out a rage-filled howl that startled not only the five men but also the rest of the pack. None of them knew why Io did that but they very quickly saw the reason why. Piled up next to a tent were the bodies of the female wolves and pups. A few of them were already skinned and their fur was put up to dry. Anger swelled in Miuo's heart when he saw what the hunters did.

The wolves all moved in for the kill, taking the five hunters by surprise. One of them fell instantly after Io jumped on him and tore out his throat while pinning him down. Miuo charged and grabbed another one of the men and stabbed him with his hunting knife. The other three, however, were quick on their feet and managed to evade the surprise attack. They ran behind the campfire and took out their weapons.

The three men knew that they were going to be surrounded and put at a disadvantage if they did nothing so they all grouped up and charged at the closest wolf. The wolf jumped back and dodge the four men. The other wolves then closed in on the men and jumped on them. All of them fell very quickly since they couldn't defend themselves from every single side. The fight ended so quickly that Miuo wasn't even able to do a single thing.

After confirming that all of the hunters were dead, the wolves ran over to their dead companions and howled mournfully. Miuo walked over to the pack and kneeled down, praying that their souls made it safely to the other side and that each of them died a quick and painless death. He then howled at the moon, tears streaming down his face in grievance of the death of his family members.

Miuo got up and looked around the camp while the other wolves were still grieving and saw that something was off. Why were there so many tents despite there only being five men? It didn't add up. Before Miuo could warn his pack about it, he heard a whistling sound and turned just in time to see something thin and small fly through the air.

*Yelp*

A wolf fell to the ground with an arrow sprouting out its neck. The entire pack was immediately on guard and spread out as more arrows whistled through the air and landed around where the pack just was.

The sound of footsteps could be heard from all around them as hunters flooded the area. Miuo took a quick glance around at his surroundings and counted at least twelve individual hunters gathered behind the trees and bushes. From what he saw, it seemed that every single one of them was armed with a weapon. The pack was surrounded and was in trouble.

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