The Bloodwing Pack: Journey of Souls

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Chapter 3 Decisions As everyone slept, Shadowmist watched over her small pack....fighting sleep to the best of her ability. She had a strong feeling Nicaisis was still close by, still wanting to attempt another attack. However, as the night wore on....sleep was catching up to her and she couldn't fight it any longer. She lowers her head onto her forepaws and let's her eyes close. Meanwhile, Deca was deep in the thralls of sleep. At first she was dreaming about becoming one of the best hunters her mother has seen...but then her dream suddenly switching. A visitor had evaded her dream....turning it from a pleasant dream to that of a vision. In the vision, the visitor was that of an ancient black dragon, nearing the end of his time. He calls out to her...having found her name with ease by going through her memories. **"Deca'dere... Dubenac.... Talö your presence. The karnacka seeks to destroy all good in this life....including any healers, kunarr's, and kootrân's." She looks over hearing and feeling his presence. His voice was mighty like the mountains....yet soft enough like a gentle flowing river. Soothing colors of blues, and greens swirled around in her mind, melding with each other. "Miron dumär....I hear you. But...what can I do to help you? I still don't know how to hunt good. How can I be of any use to you?" His large eye becomes hidden briefly as his inner eyelid slides over his golden orb. Soft hues of golden yellow swirl around her mind as he spoke. "I have seen into your nosarr.....and it holds a strong sense of that of a kunarr.....a healer. Right now it is dormant...." She cuts in before he could continue, "dormant?" A soft sigh could be heard. "Dormant means asleep, dubenac. I can help awaken it.....but I would need you here in order for you to be trained in such ancient arts. The knowledge I have of such things is great...and my time here on this plane of existence is nearing its end." She sits down, tilting her head. "But what about my mother, my father, and my brothers and sister? Mother says we are heading to our winter pack lands...." "Your Daben, Dackran, Iba's, and Ifa are welcome to come along. Your Dackran's avonar will be safe in ara darrento. There are plenty of toönarackí, barana, shenar, onârk, leran, kerna, and keenouk to hunt in the glen below my darrento." She licks her muzzle. Although she didn't fully know all the ancient words....the list of choices that he named sounded good and bountiful. "Miron dumär.....is it the same way as we have to go? I don't know if Mother or Father will be willing to leave their trail." "Dubenac, from what I can see of your recent danooks.....it will force you to deviate off your path. As the two Illunir, Luna and Kiarnack chase each other for two cárríns and two shinens....you can follow the Wolf Fang River till it splits off into three. From those three rivers...you will want to follow the one heading Wyvarnä." As he spoke the directions to where she would have to go, the soothing colors of blue, green, and yellow grow more serious...turning into hues of dark blues. "As you continue to follow the river heading Wyvarnä, the river will disappear under the mountains. From there, you will have to continue following the path of the sukran and shriknë. There will be a pathway along the ledges and cliffs of the mountains.....however, you will have to be careful during the shinen. For during the shinen; kiracks, dravekens, and large flesh eating bats take wing freely within the mountain pass. If traveling wisely, you should be able to make it to my darrento within ten cárríns. Once you made it to my darrento...you would be in a safe haven from any attackers of the cárrín or of the shinen. Remember these directions.....for if you deviate from them...you will become lost to the mountain pass for it has ways of losing its guests."** The black dragon fades from within her mind....the swirling colors of his warning and emotions slowly trailing after him. Even though the vision was only a few minutes in her mind, the sun was already starting to rise. Deca yawns and stretches, shaking her body and causing her fur to ripple over her muscles. She looks around at her siblings and parents...noticing that she was the first one to wake. Not wanting to wake anyone up before they felt like it, she just watches the sun rise....trying to remember everything the dragon said to her in her dream. She thought it was nothing more but a dream...but it felt so real, as she didn't know much about visions or dreams....only thinking it was nothing more than pretty or scary images in her sleep. Satchel lay close by, yawning as he woke up slowly. As his movements caught her short attention span, she looks over and tries to make her way through the sprawled out limbs of her siblings and around her mothers two tails without disturbing their sleep. Almost throughout that challenge, she nearly woke up each one of her family that she passed by....by nearly stepping on their tails, paws, and a few noses. With each moment she nearly woke someone, she froze in place instantly....not even wanting to dare to breathe. After what seemed like an hour, even though it was five minutes, of trying to get over to Satchel, he was already grooming his right forepaw. She sits down next to him and lightly brushes her paw against his left shoulder. His tongue finishes its stroke along his fur before it slipped quietly back into his mouth. Looking over to his young pupil, he tilts his head slightly. "Yes Deca?" She fumbles her front paws about not sure of how to start her question. She looks up. "Mentor.....something.....happened while I was sleeping, but I don't know what to do?" His ears perk, listening. "Well, why don't you start with what you can remember...from the beginning?" Her ears slightly flatten as she tried to remember. "Well....a big, black, winged lizard appeared...." Satchel interrupts briefly, "a dragon...is the word you are looking for". She nods her head in understanding. "A dragon...." correcting herself, "came to me....telling me how something called a kara....a karna....something....was going to destroy all good. He wanted me to go to his darre.....something....so he could teach me how to be a healer.....saying that it was dorman......or something like that. He gave me directions....but I don't know if I should tell Mother and Father..." While she was talking to Satchel, Shadowmist was waking up. Having heard her daughter start saying portions of the ancient language, her ears perked and listened closely. Shaking her body, her wings unfold...stretching out any stiffness they had in them. Once she was finished stretching, she made her way over to her daughter and friend. "I have heard your tale, my daughter. And I recognize your attempts at some of the ancient language. Maybe I can help you figure out their meaning and what was said?" Deca jumps startled as her mothers voice rolled along the wind like silk behind her....having not heard her wake or approach them. Satchel just chuckles softly to himself as Deca looks up at her mother who had just sat down, before he went back to grooming his fur....cleaning off the morning dew that had collected on it. As the suns rays of light start to shine over the mountaintop, the dew on the grass shimmers and glistens while the gentle morning breeze brought its moist scent up to their noses. Deca turns around to face her mother and started to tell the story again. A dragon...came to me....telling me how something called a kara....a karna....something....was going to destroy all good. He wanted me to go to his darre.....something....so he could teach me how to be a healer.....saying that it was dorman......or something like that. He gave me directions.....to where I would have to go." Shadowmist listens closely...picking out the ancient words with ease. "So..this dragon told you that a karnacka was going to destroy all good, wants you to go to his darrento, and want to unlock your potential as a healer which is dormant. Am I correct?" Deca nods her head, but tilts it afterwards. "He already told me what dormant meant.....but what do the other words mean, mother?" Shadowmist lowers her right forepaw which she was licking and looks at her daughter. "A karnacka is an evil name for something that doesn't care about anything good. A darrento is what he lives in...since he is a dragon, he lives in a cave." Deca's ear perk finally understanding what those words meant. "Ooooooh. Ok." She smiles happily like all little ones do when they finally understand something. Shadowmist chuckles softly at her daughter cuteness. "Well....when Kiba returns from his scouting, we will see what we have to look forward to. Then your father and I will decide if it is alright to change our course to go visit this Miron dumär, ok sweety?" Deca nods her head, then practices her pouncing on Satchels' moving tail. Shadowmist looks over to her sleeping husband, smiling lovingly as she noticed Nya and Haven attempting to suckle their fathers side while still sleeping. Sol Kais was just starting to wake up, feeling them pushing their paws up against his side, forcing his fur where they were pushing to slide upwards. Licking their small bodies, he nuzzles them lightly then looks towards his mate...having felt her gaze upon him. She murrs lovingly, rises to her paws, and walks over to him before she nuzzles him and licks his ears. "They must still be dreaming that they can enjoy the taste of milk....as it only has been one meal of flesh that they have had." she chuckles softly as she rests her head against the back of his neck. He murrs lovingly, enjoying the earthy scent of his beautiful black-furred wife. He licks some of the dried blood off her pelt, noticing its coppery scent was still there. "Bavar tooren, it seems you haven't gotten far in your grooming today." he lightly scolds her, amusement rolled around in his voice. She lightly nips his ear in reprieve. "I was listening to our daughters tale of her dream. Grooming while listening is not polite." He chuckles as she defended herself over nothing. "Peace, kira dravic and nosarr. I was only messing with you." He licks her left cheek, his tongue brushing over the scar that lay under her eye. She nuzzles her mate as he licked her cheek. "What will I do if I ever lost you bavar tooren?" He stops and looks at her. "You will continue to move on and watch our children to grow." His ear tilts, hearing the undergrowth of the forest rustle. Looking over towards the source of the sound, he tenses, readying himself to launch himself at the one approaching if it was not a friend. Kiba breaks through the undergrowth; leaves, dew, and mud clinging to his white pelt. Sol Kais relaxes his tensed muscles as he noticed that it was Kiba. "Welcome back Kiba. What have you noticed ahead?" Kiba sits down panting a little heavily. "Well Alpha, I have noticed a lot of movement going on with the Dashains. They seem to be trying to avoid a lot of things, as I have caught the scents of draveken and kiracks. The purebloods seem to be searching for something....or they are sensing something else altogether." Sol Kais nods his head. "It does sound like something is up. What do you think ne sononakou?" Shadowmist looks over to her mate. "Well....our daughter Deca has had a vision. An elder has come to her through the vision. It was a líthmä." Sol Kais's ears perk hearing her words. "What did she see bavar tooren?" Once Kiba had caught his breath, he started to clean his fur. Using his teeth, he plucks the leaves out of his pelt while listening to his Alphas. Shadowmist looks at her mate then towards Deca. "From what I have heard, a dragon told her that a karnacka was going to destroy all good, wants her to go to his darrento, and wants to unlock her potential as a healer which is dormant. However, I have a feeling that it will cause us to change our heading. What do you think we should do? Change our course...or stay on our path?" Sol Kais closes his eyes as he thinks. "Mhmm, well I would not mind our daughter being trained by a Miron dumär. But I worry about what would happen to our chance to reach our winter pack lands. If we change course, would we still be able to make it to our home?" Sol Kais opens his eyes and looks towards his mate. "That is something we will have to keep in mind, my love." Shadowmist nods her head also contemplating. She looks over at Moonshadow, Shadowfire, Haven, and Nya. "I worry about our little ones, about how we are going to feed our pack if we don't make it home." She sighs quietly and looks towards Deca. "However, with the threat of the karnacka, it would be best that she learns this training from the líthmä. Especially if the karnacka will be going after everything, that could mean the Miron dumär could be in danger and be attacked. So this might be the only time she will get this training." She sighs and looks at her mate. "So what do you think we should do my love?" Moonshadow yawns and stretching, waking up. "Momma, is everything ok?" Shadowmist and Sol Kais look over to Moonshadow. "My son, everything is ok....we are just talking about what is going to happen today." Moonshadow tilts his head and yawns again. "Do we have anything to eat yet Momma?" Shadowmist smiles warmly and looks to her mate. "Well, bavar tooren, do we have anything for our ackniva's and sernavin's to eat?" Sol Kais chuckles softly and licks his mate, then looks towards his son. "I will get some breakfast. Can you hold out till I return and watch over Nya and Haven while I am away? Will you be the protector of our family while everyone is asleep?" Haven nearly jumps to his paws, puffing his chest out trying to look like a Alpha. "Yes Daddy. I will be as strong as you, Momma, and big brother." Sol Kais smiles and licks Moonshadows fur. "Good. I will trust you with this big responsibility." Shadowmist smiles lovingly, watching her mate and his stepson that he adopted as his own. Sol Kais looks over towards Shadowmist and nods his head before he took off to go hunt. Shadowmist lays down around Nya and Haven. Satchel and Kiba become fully alert...going into a more defensive mode while their Alpha went out to hunt. Nya and Haven squirm against their mothers side, taking in her scent. Deca walks over and climbs onto her mothers back while she was laying down. Shortly after Sol Kais left, Shadowfire rouses from his slumber, stretching out his front paws and arching his back trying to remove the kinks in his muscles and joints. He looks over to his mother. "I am assuming Father went to go hunt?" Shadowmist nods her head, "yes my son. He will be returning soon." Shadowfire nods his head and started to groom his fur, cleaning the dirt from his fur. After about an hour of being gone, Sol Kais returns, dragging a doe behind him. Shadowfire and Satchel were the first to notice his return, then Kiba and Shadowmist, and then last the younger siblings. Shadowmist nuzzles Nya and Haven, waking them up. They half yawn half squeak from being woken up, then try to attack their mothers' ears...as they could not see their father coming up behind her. Smelling the fresh kill, Shadowmist picks up Nya and Haven and carries them over towards the does corpse. She sets them down, which they then proceeded to paw at one of the deer's hooves...stumbling over the leg. While Nya and Haven were playing, Shadowmist shreds some of the meat and let's the meat fall from her jaws down to the ground where Nya and Haven were playing. They both stop playing once they smelled the shredded meat, remembering how it tasted last time. They stumble over each other and fall into the small pile of meat, then started to eat what their mother had given them. Shadowfire, Deca, Moonshadow, Kiba, and Satchel gravitated towards the kill, waiting for Sol Kais and Shadowmist to start eating before they too joined in the feed. Sol Kais started, taking the first bite. His sharp teeth sink into the soft flesh of the underbelly and rips the meat away from the corpse, blood runs down the body as the severed blood vessels pump out what remained of the stilling blood. Shadowmist took the next bite, severing some of the flesh and internal organs away. Once both the Alpha's take the first bites, the others joined in. Shadowmist glances over towards her mate, knowing that they will have to come to a descision on what they should do after they have finished eating. Sol Kais nodded his head, knowing exactly what she was thinking. Having had his fill, he walks away from the carcass and started to groom his grey fur, cleaning the blood, flesh, and organs off his body. Soon after, Shadowmist walks over to him and sat down, then started to groom her own pelt. Having finished grooming his own fur, Sol helps her with her fur. Her tails lay against his as she murrs, taking the time to enjoy the help and the presence of her mate. While the others continued to eat, Shadowmist looks over towards her mate. "We have to decide quickly about what we are going to do. Do we continue on to our pack lands with this threat looming near, or do we take our daughter to the líthmä?" Sol nods his head. "Well, I think that we should take this opportunity for our daughter to learn from the líthmä. Like you have mentioned, this might be her only time to learn. Do you by chance know where the Miron dumär is located?" Shadowmist shakes her head. "No my love. Deca hasn't said where we must go yet. I wanted to see what you would think of what we should do first before I possibly asked and got her hopes up." Sol nods his head again in understanding, then looks over to Deca. Kiba walks over having finished eating. Bowing his head, he addressed Sol Kais and Shadowmist. “Alphas….I am ready to give you the report of my scouting.” Shadowmist nods, “Go ahead, Kiba.” Kiba sits down. “Our path is starting to become covered in snow. Winter is coming faster then it usually does. Elk and Caribou are migrating west of our winter grounds. What do you suggest we do Alphas?” Sol lowers his head thinking. “Kiba, hold on a moment while I check something…then I will let you know what I would like you to do.” Kiba nods his head in understanding then laid down while he waited. Sol looked over to his mate. “Beloved, go ahead and ask Deca where we should go.” Shadowmist nods her head and heads over towards Deca. “Sweety, can you tell me the directions that the Ancient One told you?” Deca looks over, hearing her mother. Her tail wags at her mothers interest and she closes her eyes tightly, trying to remember what was said. “Umm….he said….As the two Illunir, Luna and Kiarnack chase each other for two cárríns and two shinens....you can follow the Wolf Fang River till it splits off into three. From those three rivers...you will want to follow…… the one heading Wyvarnä. Umm……As you continue to follow the river heading Wyvarnä, the river will disappear under the mountains. From there, you will have to continue following the path of the sukran and shriknë. There will be a pathway along the ledges and cliffs of the mountains.....however, you will have to be careful during the shinen. For during the shinen; kiracks, dravekens, and large flesh eating bats take wing freely within the mountain pass. If traveling wisely, you should be able to make it to my darrento within ten cárríns. Once you made it to my darrento...you would be in a safe haven from any attackers of the cárrín or of the shinen. Remember these directions.....for if you deviate from them...you will become lost to the mountain pass for it has ways of losing its guests." Deca opened her eyes and looks at her mother. “Yeah…That is exactly what he said.” She smiles happily like all children do when they did something they were proud of. While Deca had been telling her what was said, Shadowmist nodded her head listening carefully to what was said. Having heard the directions, she rises to her paws, “Thank you sweety. Your father and I have decided to take these directions. We will pass our time for winter at his domain.” Deca wags her tail happily. “Yay!! We get to go somewhere new!” She bounced about happily, unable to contain her excitement. Shadowmist headed back over to Sol Kais and nuzzles him before she sat down. “Beloved, I got our heading. When would you like to start heading out?” Sol was grooming his fur when she was approaching him. He looks up and nuzzles her back. “Oh? Where do we go from here?” “For now, for two days and two nights, we follow the Wolf Fang River till it splits into three.” He nods his head listening. “Once it splits, we follow the one heading west.” His ear tilts, then he looks towards Kiba. “Listen closely to the directions, I want you to scout ahead following them.” Kiba nods his head and listened closely. Shadowmist continued on with the directions. “As you continue to follow the river heading west, the river will disappear under the mountains. From there, you will have to continue following the path of the sun and moon.” Kiba’s ear tilts as he listened while Sol licked his left forepaw. Satchel watched over Haven, Nya, and Moonshadow. Nya and Haven were tumbling over each other, nipping at each others fur and ears, while occasionally Nya or Havens paw would find itself in their mouth. Shadowmist smiles lovingly and continued on the directions. “There will be a pathway along the ledges and cliffs of the mountains.....however, you will have to be careful during the night. During the night; demons, vampires, and large flesh eating bats take wing freely within the mountain pass. If traveling wisely, you should be able to make it to the Ancient Ones home within ten days.” Kiba nodded his head, “I understand, Alpha. Shall I make my leave now?” Shadowmist looks at Sol, who nodded his head. She looks back at Kiba, “Yes, please. Travel safely, Kiba. May Luna light your way on your journey.” Kiba bowed his head, rising to his paws, and started to head out on his task. He looks back towards his small pack, “I will return as soon as possible, my alpha’s.” Sol and Shadowmist nod their heads. Afterwards, Kiba trotted off, following the directions that was given. Moonshadow headed over to Deca, trying to stalk her. He crouches down when he was behind her, then pounced. Deca and Moonshadow rolled from the impact, giggling. Shadowmist watched as her children played. There were times where she envied her young children, who didn’t have much to worry about in the world. However, she knew there were dangers….humans, demons, vampires, even other nightbanes that wanted to cause harm to them. She sighed quietly, knowing that they were safe for the time being…even though this detour of their journey was going to be filled with dangers on the way to the dragons home. She wondered if they should make their way now…or wait till Kiba returned from his scouting. She looks towards Sol, quietly wondering what was on his mind. As for Sol, he was busy thinking about how they were going to provide for their pack since they were not going to be staying the winter in their winter pack lands. Satchel rose to his paws and followed Moonshadow and Deca, making sure they didn’t stray to far. Shadowmist turns her gaze towards the path Kiba had disappeared down. An ear flicks as she thought to herself, coming to a descision. Rising to her paws, she walks over to her mate and nuzzles him. “Beloved, it is time for us to start walking. We had given Kiba a good head start and we will still have to move slow with Nya and Haven.” Sol sighs quietly and nods his head. “It is your choice, my love. I will follow you wherever you go.” He nuzzles Shadowmist lovingly and waits for her to gather their children. Satchel nudges Deca and Moonshadow, “Come, my young apprentices….it is time to get moving.” Deca and Moonshadow practices their pouncing…using each other as target practicing. Shadowmist picks up Nya and Haven, carrying them by their scruffs. Her ear tilts, listening for anything out of place. She was still worried that Nicaisis was still close by. She didn’t want him and his pack of darkness and hate following them. Sol noticed her wariness, brushing his tail against her side. “I understand your wariness beloved…but any more slower, we might not make it in time. I will remain on alert…as I do not have our pups at the moment. Once we get to the first marker, we can switch.” She nods her head and started to head out. Deca and Haven follow after…this time their attention driven towards their mothers moving tails. Sol catches up with Shadowmist with ease and takes the lead….remaining alert for her evil brother. Satchel falls in at the back of the pack….making sure Deca or Moonshadow didn’t fall behind and get lost. Deca and Moonshadow continue to practice their pouncing till Satchel called them over. “My apprentices…time for your next lesson.” Deca and Moonshadow tumble over to him…tackling each other while trying to nom on each others ears. Shadowmists ear tilts towards them, chuckling softly as she heard them play. Thinking to herself. It is good they are still able to play and enjoy life. When they get older…life is going to be a lot tougher for them. With all the responsibilities of being an adult member, worrying about the pack…they wont be able to live carefree. She closes her eyes briefly and focuses on the trail ahead of them. She couldn’t help but stare at her husbands ass, with his two tails swaying in front of her nose. She murrs lovingly. Mating season was drawing near, she could feel it in the air. But before she could let her basic instincts draw near…she had to focus on getting her family and small pack to a safe haven. That safe haven was going to be the ancient dragons home. Birds fly overhead…flittering through the branches like an obstacle course. They sing their songs, calling out to each other in search for a mate. Some of them were carrying items back to the start of their nest such as twigs, string, feathers, even wool or cotton. With their movements catching her attention, she smiles softly…knowing that if there was any danger, the birds and crickets would go silent. Occasionally, acorns drop from the trees as squirrels and chipmunks scurried along the branches of oak trees…waiting for the large wolf kin to pass by so they could gather their dropped harvest.