Chapter 3

Nightpool felt shivers running along her spine at Fire's ominous words. She blinked and noticed that her vision was blurring madly. She blinked again and to her relief, her vision cleared. Looking around she saw that Fire was gone and she was left alone in a void with a silver wolf staring at her. But what scared her the most, was that the wolf's eyes were white. No iris or pupil showed. He stared at Nightpool unblinking. Nightpool let out a yelp of terror and took a step back. Only to stop as her foot ran into something warm, something furry and sticky. Nightpool turned around and let out another scream of horror as she saw the body of the limp lifeless wolf. Blood still spilled out of a long gash in his neck and his eyes were rolled back looking lifeless at the sky. His nose was sliced into half, his ear was torn and his body was awkwardly twisted into one side as if a giant twisted and squeezed the life out of the wolf. That wolf she was staring at was Timber.

Nighpool noticed other wolves appearing beside Timber having the same manglied position and the same violent lacerations. She noticed familiar faces, Palebird, Tigerlily, Puma, Dark, Leaf, Bramble, Claw, and a face she never met before. She could barely make out the color of fur through the layer of blood, but Nightpool saw the blueish color of gray and blue sightless eyes and the teeth bared in a last snarl of fury. Nightpool buried her nose into her paws wishing that this dream will end. A voice seemed to echo in her mind. The same voice at her pupil ceremony, the same voice at her hammock the voice of Fire. This is not a dream. This is the future. And you must prevent it from happening…

Nightpool woke up in her hammock gasping. " You okay sis?" a voice sounded underneath her. She looked down and saw Tigerlily staring up at her with wide concerned eyes. " Yes, I'm okay, just a bad dream." Nightpool said curling up to sleep again but Tigerlily woke her up again. "Timber is waiting down the tree. You better not keep the Delta waiting." Tigerlily said and disappeared through the hole in the bark. Nightpool yawned and went down the tree and greeted Timber. " We better get started. Today is a extremely busy day. Follow me." Timber quickly headed toward the camp gates. Nightpool stopped at the water pool and drank water and followed Timber outside. As soon as the gates flung open and Nightpool stepped out, she couldn't suppress a yelp of excitement. The shimmering of orange and red were gone, replaced by shadows of the leaves and rays of sunlight escaping through the canopy of branches and leaves. The grass grows freely stretching out many many wolf lengths without stop. It was damp and cool and the soft breeze ruffed her fur while Nighpool breathed in the air of prey and felt the warmth of the sun along with the chill of the shade. Timber looked at Nightpool patiently waiting for her to get all this in. " Aren't ancient spirits amazing?" He said. Nightpool felt suddenly confused. " What's that?" She asked. Timber gazed at Nightpool with amusement. " You see we wolves follow the ancient spirits. The spirit of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. They created this world and gave life and peace to animals." Timber said. Nightpool gazed in awe at the forest. This must be the Fire Spirit's creation.

Timber stopped at a river on the other side and a fishy smell drifted to her nose. Nightpool wrinkled it. " What is that smell!" She said gaging. Timber looked at Nightpool with amusement. " The Moonwater Pack. They eat so much fish that they will turn into fish! This is the border of the river. And don't be surprised if they attack you if you swim across."Timber said. Nightpool looked at the churning and tossing river. It was too high current to swim across anyway. They soon arrived in a field with the grass peeled off. Many green plants with strong smells sprouted off of the soil. Before Nightpool could ask what it was, Timber answered it for her. " This is the Healer's Garden. It is where healers come and care for their herbs and harvest them. Smart huh?" He said. Nightpool nodded. Her pack was really organized! As They now arrived at another border Nightpool guessed it was the Earthstone Pack. She had heard of it from her mother's stories. The trees thinned out and became grassland. " This is the Earthstone Pack at the border. Want to scent mark it? Nightpool nodded. She scratched the nearest tree and sprayed some urine on it. Then followed Timber to a clearing. The sun was shining here, no shade but perfect warmth. Some rocks were on the other side of the clearing shining with sunlight. " Is this the Sunning Place?" Nightpool guessed. Timber shook his head and turned to the shining rocks. "THAT is but this clearing is called the Training Clearing. It is where you will be training from today on." He said. " Am I going to train now?" Nightpool said. Timber lightened up. " Actually YES!"

" You see other wolves don't climb trees, they hold onto the fear that they will fall. But we let go of that fear. Climbing trees is our specialty. That's also how we surprise intruders like cats who think we can't climb trees. They go up the tree thinking they are safe only to figure out that we follow them up the tree." Timber said. " We climb the trees and jump down from below. That's how you will hunt. Today I will teach you the basic hunting tactic." Timber went near a rowan tree and gripped the bark with his front claws. His front legs were halfway wrapped around the tree, giving more balance as Timber pushed up and gripped the bark with his back legs. Then he lowered himself, crouching on the bark, his tail erect, his started upward. Then he jumped on the lowest branch and looked down at Nightpool. " That's how you do it." Timber said.

Nightpool nodded determinedly and started up the tree. Taking a deep breath she gripped the bark with her claws and pushed her way up the tree. Then, she looked down at Timber who was nodding in approval. A soft smell of rabbit drifted toward her nose. Nightpool turned toward the smell and found herself looking at a fat hare who was nibbling on some weeds. Unaware of the wolves. Crouching low, she flattened her ears and jumped lunging at the helpless hare who was crushed underneath Nightpool's weight. "Nightpool! Nightpool!" Timber ran up to Nightpool worry in his gaze. As he saw the rabbit Nightpool was holding, his eyes grew wide. "Did you do that?" He said. Nightpool nodded, full of pride.