Author: Kieran Alexander Fallow

First Hunt:  Part II

Luna continued her exploration of the area around her pack’s cave, sniffing around in a clearing she had just entered.  After circling it for a few minutes, she sat down at the center.  
“You there, behind that tree, come out.”  The white wolf sat with her eyes closed, listening intently to every movement the light creature was making behind her.  “I’ve heard you following me for the past hour now, there’s no use hiding now.”
“That goes for you two as well.”  Damien said, silently walking into the clearing with Connor at his side.  “You in that tree, and you behind that one.”  The three wolves sat back to back in the clearing, each facing a direction where they knew one of their followers was hiding.  The only sound that could be heard was the gentle rush of the morning wind through the trees.  “If you don’t come out, we will drag you out with our teeth.  We know you’re there, so don’t make us come after you.”
For a moment there was still nothing.  Then, a young human boy walked out from behind the tree in front of Damien.  He was almost as tall as from the ground to Damien’s head when the wolf was standing on all fours.  He wore a brown fur around his waist, with another brown fur that covered his back and was clasped at his neck, leaving the chest open.  With one hand he held a spear, the other was clenched tightly and trembled a little.  His bare chest, face, and legs were covered with black markings, in a way very similar to the hunter’s clan markings.  He had short, blond hair, brown eyes, and seemed quite young.  The boy stood on the very edge of the clearing, obviously very apprehensive with the idea of approaching the wolves.  To him, the wolves were the a little bigger than large horses.  He hesitantly motioned for his comrades to come out of their respective places.  Another human with a white fur around its waist and short white hair jumped down from the tree and landed lightly on the grass in front of Luna.  It too carried a spear.  Between those two, a third walked with its head down from behind the tree in front of Connor. This one had long brown hair, but it wore a tan fur around its waist and under its arms, and had a brown messenger bag made of thick cloth on one hip.  It didn’t appear to have a weapon of any kind.  Both of the newcomers were also covered from head to toe in black markings.
With another motion from the blonde boy, the other two humans slowly walk around to him.  As they did, the wolves shifted their position to face them side by side.  
“Hey,” Connor said, taking a step forward.  “This one smells different than the other two.”  He leaned towards the one with long brown hair.  His intent was only to get a better smell of it, but the second he bent his head towards it, the other two humans stepped in front of the brown-haired one.  They stood back to back in front of it, spears at the ready.
Damien stared between them at the brown-haired human, examining every inch of it.  “Its shape is different as well.  And the other two moved to protect it from you.  I’d say that that one is probably a female.”
“The two males have weapons, but she doesn’t,” Luna observed.  “Certainly her comrades wouldn’t let her be in danger without being armed?”
“That one has a wound on his leg.  That’s why he wasn’t in the tree like the other male.  I imagine they were probably in a fight; she must have lost her spear during it.  He probably got that wound from trying to protect her, just like he is doing now.”
“What should we do with them?”  Luna asked.  “They may still decide to follow us around, and I personally don’t like being tailed.”
“We could eat them.”  Damien said plainly.  “They certainly wouldn’t be following us around anymore, and it’d save us the trouble of having to hunt.  I doubt they could put up much of a fight, and there’s enough meat on the to hold us over for a few hours”
At that the humans tightened their grip on their spears, and stepped closer to the female.
“You can understand us, can’t you…?”  Connor asked, a little surprised.  He noticed the change in their stance as Damien mentioned his idea.  And they did come out when Luna called to them; the wolves weren’t expecting them to understand them word for word when they planned that ambush, they just wanted them to get the general idea and back off.  
After a few moments the blonde boy nodded.  
“Please…”  The voice was quiet and fearful, but it also seemed sad.  Then the wolves realized it was coming from the female human, who was still hidden behind her male companions.  They turned and looked at her, a little shocked that she would try speaking to the wolves.  “We’re just becoming hunters, so that we might help provide for our families...  We didn’t mean you any harm, we’ve just never seen creatures like you before.  We had no idea if you were dangerous or not, and we followed you to find out.  Please don’t eat us…  If you do, then our families will have less people who can provide for our village…”
Her male companions looked on at her in surprise, but then turned to the wolves and lowered their spears.  The female looked sad, but she was not crying.  They all clearly had the will of a hunter, and would not give up on their families easily.
“Relax,” Damien said, taking a step forward and leaning towards the humans as Connor had.  “Eating you would not be a very smart thing for us to do.”  He grinned down at the three, giving them a reassuring look.  
“It wouldn’t?”  Connor said.  He was moved by the girl’s speech, but it wasn’t like Damien to turn down such an easy meal without a good reason.
“No, it wouldn’t.  Think about it.  We’re a day’s journey from home, in an area we’ve never been in before, with creatures we’ve never seen or heard of and know nothing about.  We could sneak about, studying and scouting all week till we find something good to catch…  But on the other hand:  Here’s a creature that not only understands us, but also lives in this area.  They will know the layout, the other animals, and where we might find something impressive for us to bring back.  As hunters, they know how best to go about catching and killing, and could help us.  In return we’d be able to help them hunt faster and would be able to defend them pretty well.  And of course, we wouldn’t eat them.  I say we ask them for their help, and partner up with them.”
Connor seemed impressed by the idea.  “Well, what do you guys think?  Does that sound better than being eaten?”
At the mention of working alongside the wolves, the two males’ eyes lit up.  Though their excitement was probably due more to the not-getting-eaten part.   They nodded profusely at Connor’s question.
“I like this idea as much as you two do, but wouldn’t they slow us down?”  Luna asked.  She usually was the more realistic one; always tempering her male companions’ wild imaginations and daring spirits.
“Not necessarily,” Damien smiled.  He leaned closer to the blonde boy and put his muzzle to the ground right in front of him.  Before the boy had time to react, Damien reached behind him with a paw and pushed the boy onto his nose.  Then he stood up and tilted his head back, causing the boy to flip over and slide between Damien’s ears, down the back of his neck, and finally coming to a stop between the wolf’s neck and shoulders.  
“You alright up there?”  Damien asked, obviously amused.  The boy sat with one leg over each side, his feet swinging a good ways off the ground.  He put his hands on the back of Damien’s head to steady himself, a little dazed and very surprised.  
The boy shifted his position to get more comfortable.  “A little warning next time please…  Ow…”  
“I barely feel any weight,” Damien said, flexing his legs.  “Well this will do nicely, as long as you can hold on that is,” he grinned again.  The nervous boy silently hoped his team wasn’t getting themselves in too deep with this sudden alliance too these large creatures, but at least they weren’t lunch.
Connor approached the remaining two humans smiling gently.  He moved toward the female, as he found her scent to be very pleasing.  But as he got close, he saw Luna’s white paw slip between around the girl.  The wolf softly escorted the girl over to her side, and helped her onto her back with her paw.  “I’ve seen these two behave all my life,” she whispered to the girl.  “There’s no way I’d let another girl get stuck with them.”
“I was going to tell you the same thing about my friends,” the girl whispered back, laughing.  
Connor gave Luna a rather dissatisfied look, holding the gaze as the two girls giggled at his reaction.  That can’t be a good sign…  He thought to himself.  
With a small sigh, Connor looked down at the white haired boy.  The child was giving him the same look a mouse would give an eagle.   Connor was also shy, so he recognized the apprehension the boy had.  The wolf leaned toward the boy till his nose almost touched his bare chest.  
“Please don’t throw me,” the boy whispered quietly, cringing and closing his eyes.  Clearly he wasn’t impressed by Damien’s handling of his friend.  
“I’m not going to flip you like that,” Connor laughed.  When nothing happened, the boy opened his eyes and stopped cringing.  The wolf gently licked the boy’s chest and face in one pass.  “I might do that every now and then though…”  He laughed, then found the boy cringing again, his eyes tightly shut.  “It’s okay, I promise I’m not going to hurt you!”  Connor turned to his side and lowered himself to the ground, trying to make it easy for the boy to climb onto his shoulders.  “Comfortable?”  He asked as the boy stopped shifting.
“Your fur is really soft…”  The boy said, leaning towards the wolf’s ears and speaking so only he could hear him.  Connor smiled and whispered his thanks for the comment, rising back up to his full height and turning to face his friends.  He already liked the shy kid on his shoulders.
Luna and Damien had already secured their riders, and were discussing what to do now.  
“Let’s take them back to the cave,” Damien said.  “We need to make them familiar with our camp, and the wound on this one’s leg needs to be treated.”
“I’m our medic,” the brown haired girl said from Luna’s back.  “I would have treated him already if he hadn’t insisted on following you.”  She emphasized ‘insisted’ with what was almost hatred.  Clearly the idea had not been one she agreed with.
“Alright then, hold on tight and keep your head down!”  With that all three wolves dashed off in the direction on the cave, darting around the trees and over roots with unhindered ease.  Each of the human kids instinctively lay against the back of their wolf’s head, clutching their ruff so as not to be thrown off by the speed. 
“Well this will certainly be interesting…”  The exam proctor said quietly to himself, sitting in the shadows of the clearing and watching the young hunters leave.  “I’m sure the Instructor will be impressed, he did expect something more from this group.”  Once the wolves were gone, he turned in the opposite direction and began heading back to the center of the woods.  
*****
	Archer felt well rested when Vega came and gently shook him awake, happy to see that he had regained his normal shape.  He stood and stretched, yawning expansively.  The forest was now alive with the morning light that bathed it from top to bottom.  The young wolf shook the dirt and dew off of his fur while Vega nudged Eva awake on the other side of the clearing.  She mumbled a few times about something that didn’t appear to make sense her, then drowsily came to.  
	“It’s about time we started looking around,” Vega said, walking to one edge of the clearing.  “You guys know the drill.  Be back here in an hour.”  He didn’t wait for them to respond before disappearing into the brush.  The other two looked at each other and shrugged before heading off in different directions.
	Eva paced between the trees a good distance from the clearing.  This place didn’t seem that much different than the woods she was used to.  There were a few tracks that seemed strange, but none of them that interesting.  A strange new scent crossed her nose as she passed between two large trees.  She stopped and sniffed at the air, the new scent was getting stronger.  Her fur stood on edge, something was wrong here.  
Suddenly a whistling sound came to her ears.  A sharpened wooden spear was sailing right towards her.  She acted as her instincts told her, crouching low and rolling.  The spear buried itself in the ground where she had been standing.  As she searched for where the spear came from, she heard the whistling again.  She rolled again, dodging a second spear, only to see a third one coming from another angle.  She was already in mid dodge, and wouldn’t be able to avoid it.  That was a smart tactic.  Right before it hit, a black blur rushed over her as Vega leapt from the woods, catching the spear in mid air with his teeth.
	“Archer!”  He said, spitting the spear on the ground.  
	“Got it!” The younger wolf said, rushing out of the forest at full speed.  He leapt at one tree, turning in the air and kicking it full force with his back legs.  Using the kick to propel himself forward, he launched at a second tree and kicked it as well.  Repeating the move one last time, he hit a third tree and landed back to back with Vega.  The trees shook violently, and the smallest of the three had cracked a little.  The sound of hundreds of angry birds squawking as they flew away filled the forest for a few moments.  Then one by one a human dropped out of each tree Archer had kicked.  Seeming pleased by his work, the younger wolf caught the first of the humans as it fell in his paw.  He turned and pinned the human to the ground between him and his pack mates.  Not gently either.  The kid, a male with short black hair, whimpered and gasped for breath as he was violently slammed to the ground.  The other 2 wolves took his idea, pinning the humans in between the three of them.  
	“Seems to me like we were being hunted for a change,” Eva remarked with an impressed smile, looking around first at the three humans then at her team mates.  All three of the humans were male, each with a tan skin around their waist.  Covered in intricate marking, the only difference between them was the color and length of their hair.  Archer had pinned the one with short black hair, Eva one with long white hair, and Vega one with short white hair.  They were all quite young, and now quite scared.  
	“Looks like it,” Vega shifted his weight, putting more of it on the boy under his paw.  “I don’t really like being chased by something half my size.”
	“Did you really think this little piece of wood would do you any good against us?”  Eva laughed, flicking the spear the jutted from the ground by her left flank.
	Archer simply smirked hungrily at the human who he was mercilessly pinning with far more strength than necessary, his blue eyes burning mercilessly into the frightened boy.  He looked around at his pack mates to see if they had the idea of eating them.  The boys were far too frightened by the wolves, and so surprised that the wolves spoke their language, that none of them even thought about begging for their lives.  
	“These hunters have fallen prey to real hunters then.  But don’t blame us; you’re the ones who attacked.  We might have left you alone if you had stuck to the shadows.”  Eva regarded the human under her paw, getting the idea Archer was conveying to her with only his eyes.  “Looks like hunting for breakfast is off the to-do list.”
	Archer looked at Eva with a smile, then at Vega, waiting to see if he protested.  He said nothing, still regarding the boy under his paw.  The youngest wolf took the opportunity, not waiting for anyone to change their mind.  “You heard the lady,” Archer grinned at the breathless boy.  He turned his paw, under the boy, lifting him up to his nose.  He opened his maw wide and dropped the boy into his soft tongue, letting him slide headfirst towards the back of his throat.  He tried to muster a scream, but Archer had already sealed his lips around the boy’s chest.  
	The boy under Eva tried to turned to see what the noise behind him was.  Then he felt the weight of the heavy paw on his chest shift.  He turned back to look at the grey wolf, who was now laying in front of him with her nose at his feet.  She lifted her paw from the boy, who immediately got up and tried to run.  She smiled and opened her mouth, slipping her paw around the boy’s front and thrusting him back towards her.  He landed back first on her tongue, sliding right up to the edge of her throat.  Right before he could get up and make another run, she sat up, tilting her head back and sealing his fate.  
	Vega looked down at the boy he had pinned with solemn eyes.  The boy shuddered as he looked up, seeing the fate of his friends.  “Pl-please don’t e-eat me…”  He cried quietly, tears streaming from his eyes.  Vega suddenly realized that the strange creature under him had just spoken, and in a way that he understood.  
	“Guys, this one can talk, maybe we should…”  He looked at his pack; Archer was swallowing gently, a small lump in the top of his throat was the only remaining indication of his prey.  Eva was fighting down a pair of struggling legs, and was winning easily.  Neither of them heard him.  He sighed, looking back down at the frightened boy.  “Sorry,” he said sympathetically.  The boy looked up at Vega; his light blue eyes seemed to beg for the boy’s forgiveness.  Then he saw the wolf’s head slowly lean towards him, his lips parting and revealing the sharp white fangs and soft pink tongue.  Clear saliva coated everything, and strings of it connected his teeth to his tongue forming a massive web that spanned the length of his maw.
	He let go of the boy, only to use his paw to lift his head gently.  With light movements he lifted the boy up and pressed him softly into his tongue.  The boy tried to free himself as his face broke though the strings of saliva.  He continued to work the boy carefully into his mouth until he reached his waist.  Closing his lips firmly around the fur , Vega stood up and tilted up his head.  With a gentle pull from his tongue, he swallowed the boy’s head and slurped up some of his legs.  Aligning his throat with the rest of his body, the wolf slurped and gulped powerfully but with care, pulling the boy down his throat all the way up to his waist.  He pitied the boy, but enjoyed his struggles anyway as he closed his mouth on his feet.  The boy tried to squirm within the hot, tight throat as Vega coated his legs with saliva.  But it was no use.  The muscles held him fast, and they squeezed him forward a few times as Vega swallowed.  As his ankle’s slid into the wolf’s throat, he knew it was useless. He couldn’t struggle even if he tried.  He surrendered to Vega’s embrace, allowing the soft muscles to escort him to the wolf’s stomach.  It wasn’t nearly as painfully tight when he stopped struggling.  The warmth and tightness of the wet muscles were almost enjoyable, but the inevitable end they spelled for him made it impossible to think about the pleasure.  
	“It’s a lot easier to swallow them when they don’t have fur,” Archer commented, watching the bulge slip into Vega’s chest and out of sight.  He was licking his lips curiously, “They tasted different too, I liked it.”  
	Eva seemed to be agreeing with Archer, and Vega did agree that his prey was quite tasty.  But, it unsettled him to take something that thought on the same level as him, spoke the same language as him, as a food.  Not even food for survival, but one of luxury.  To him it seemed tantamount to cannibalism.  It was already too late for the boy in his belly, but he decided that any other creatures like this he came across he would not eat.  And if possible, prevent him team from eating.  That would be taken as a weakness by his comrades though, and he didn’t like the idea of feeling vulnerable to them.  
	“It was good,” Vega admitted honestly.  Then he put one paw on his stomach and gently pressed against the motionless lump in the depths of his chest.  “But it’s not sitting that well with me…  I’m not sure my body agrees with these things…”  Hopefully that would cover his bases and excuse him from eating another if they encountered one.  It was true to, knowing that he had eaten something that was aware of its own existence made his stomach churn.
	“You don’t think they are poisonous to us do you?”  Eva wondered, hoping they hadn’t screwed up so soon in the exam.  
	“I doubt it, this one’s not coming back up.”  Vega said, patting his stomach, then he looked up at Archer, who was still aimlessly licking his lips and thinking of food.  “Besides, if they are, he’ll be the first know.  He swallowed his down a lot faster than we did, and he’ll have it digested long before us regardless… if it hasn’t been already.”
	Eva also fixed her gaze on Archer, who suddenly realized they were watching him.  He looked from side to side quickly, then blushed.  “What?”  He asked laughingly.  He rubbed the back of his head as he often did when he was embarrassed.  “I was hungry!”
	Vega and Eva simply shook their heads.