AE_PUBLISHING

Growing up, Sharpe always knew there was something different about him-something not quite right. He couldn't understand why he had to put on wool every day before leaving his home when everyone else in the Sheep clan had their own. 

He was always malnourished and tired. Sometimes, an unstoppable urge to escape would bubble up inside him, and he'd run away, even if it is for a short while.

 A short while would be all it took to forget about feeling like an outcast. This short while was a time that he could count on, to just be himself. Until one day, he hears a strange and hauntingly familiar call in the distance. He goes to investigate. But as it seems, some things are better left unknown.

 The struggles of clashing identities wrack Sharpe's mind as he is made to choose between the blissful lie of a life he lived, and the harsh reality he now knows. Is there ever a time when the matters of the heart outweigh the differences between wolf's fur and sheep's wool?

Wolf In The Flesh

"So you are taking responsibility for the desecration of bodies over the years?" Elder ram asked.


"Yes," Sharpe lied, "it was all me from the start, I realized I was different and hid it well. Until I met others like


me outside the borders and realized I have been living a farce."


Sharpe stood proudly no longer wearing the wool. When he was discovered in the graveyard a few sheep ran at


him but he defeated them with ease. Bark had to beg them to stop and soon guards came and took both to the


Elder ram. Despite being mad at his parents he took responsibility for the desecrated sheep from tonight and all


other times. He still loved his father enough not to want him exiled.


"I had feared such a day might come," Elder ram sighed, "patrol has seen wolves a few miles away from the


border. Soon they will discover our home and there will be another war. One that we have avoided for over a


decade before you young one led these wolves right to our doorstep."


"Maybe if you never lied to me my entire life this would not have happened!" Sharpe countered.


"Do not raise your voice at me wolf sheep!" Elder ram bellowed, "I will be respected."


Sharpe bowed his dead despite himself. No matter what the Elder ram was their leader.


"Now you have betrayed this clan, desecrated our graves for food and showed blatant disregard for all that we


have done for you," Elder ram listed, "for that you will be exiled immediately. Feel free to join that wolf clan out


there if you like. But know that the second they find out about your past they will tear you a part."


"Can I tell my adopted family goodbye?" Sharpe asked, "since your clan killed my first one?"


"You can tell Bark goodbye and he will tell the others," Elder ram said.


Sharpe turned to the Bark who he had seen even now as his father. "Goodbye. I am sorry for making things so


hard for you. But you should not have lied and killed..." he looked away.


"I know and I was the one who killed your mother," Bark admitted, "I did not realize she was just protecting


you. We attacked in retaliating to...it doesn't matter now."


"Time is up," Elder ram said, "take the wolf to the border."


Sharpe went with the guards without a fight. As soon as he reached the border he broke out into a run. No one


Bark sat stiffly in a meeting to prepare for battle with the wolves. Everything had come to a head and there was


no question that the wolves had discovered their village. Now was the time to prepare to defend his home. He


had no time to quibble over the fate of his now exiled adopted wolf son.


"The wolves are at our doorstep," Roulf their head battle strategist spoke from up front, "it has been three days


and we have refreshed ourselves as best we can. Now we wait for the inevitable and win."


Chapter 4