Arduous: Plight At Dawn

Chapter Three

     The wolves surrounded Willow with a tight circle as they led her to their camp; the white wolf that had attacked Willow earlier was in the lead. "I'm Breeze," The wolf said, not looking back when she spoke. "I am the beta of Emberpack."

     Beta... Willow knew that was another way of saying 'second in command', just as other packs might say 'deputy' or  'assistant'. In Willow's mother's pack, Shellpack, they would say deputy. She had heard stories of the earlier packs saying assistant though.

     "I'm Archer. A hunter," The light gray male said, his voice harsh. Archer was obviously not a wolf to mess with.

"I am Twilight, a hunter as well." The dark black she-wolf muttered, almost as if she were talking to herself.

     The black and white she-wolf was next. "I'm Ray," She paused. "I'm also a hunter."

Lastly was the brown male. "I'm Timber. I am also a hunter." He said, glancing at Willow, his eyes not half as cold as they were when Breeze had attacked her. He looked back to the ground and muttered under his breath, obviously not meant for anyone to hear. "You'd make a good hunter also from the looks of it..."

Willow opened her mouth to protest, but stopped once she realized it would only make trouble for the broad shouldered male. She was not going to stay with this pack. The moment they let me go free, I'm going to be long gone.

It wasn't that long of a walk before they had reached what looked to be the camp. It was surrounded by bushes and branches, making it quite hard for any enemies to break through. The entrance was a hole dug into the ground and under the fence of bushes and branches. Part of the barrier was pushed up to make the entrance hole a little bigger.

     Breeze was the first one to crawl under the fence and into camp. The other wolves surrounded Willow, making it so there was no way to go besides into camp. She felt a nudge on her back and quickly swung her head around, her teeth showing. It was Timber. He lifted his head again and he had a flash of surprise in his eyes before nodding, signaling for Willow to go forward into camp.

     Willow reluctantly closed her mouth and crawled into the camp. It was a lot bigger on the inside than it was in the outside. In the middle of the camp was a grand weeping willow that sheltered practically the whole camp; prey was surrounding the base of the tree. Behind that, parallel to the entrance, was a small cave, its entrance covered from ivy. The top of the cave was pretty flat, possibly for pack meetings. To the right of the cave was a nursery made out of a hole dug into the ground underneath a thick bush. Just outside the nursery was a light gray she-wolf with two pups, one male and one female, playing at her paws. The nurser rose to her paws and muttered something to her pups before slowly padding over to Archer with warmth in her eyes. "Hello, Archer." She said, rubbing her muzzle against his. These two were undoubtably mates.

"Hey, Shard." He said, returning the warmth in her voice with a wag of his tail. He shot a glance at Willow and leaned in to whisper something to Shard. Willow watched the two as Shard shot her a fearful glance and quickly went back to her pups and ushered them into the nursery. Willow rolled her eyes at their concern and continued gazing around camp. It's not like she would ever hurt any innocent pups.

Next to the nursery was a large den made of bushes and ferns. It was just barely underneath the weeping willow. Willow cocked her head in confusion; she didn't know what that den was for.

     "That's the guards' den. They patrol the territory and protect camp." A voice in Willow's ear made her jump. She glanced over her shoulder to see Timber looking at the den Willow was staring at.

     "And that," Timber turned and pointed with his muzzle at a den on the other side of the cave that seemed to have to multiple parts to it and was made of thick ferns. "Is the healer's den. It has two parts to it; the main clearing, where sick or injured wolves stay, and the second clearing, where the herbs are stored and where Tide, the healer, sleeps. Hopefully you won't have to go there much when you become part of the pack. That is, if you are becoming one of the pack." Timber looked at Willow with questioning eyes.

Willow returned his gaze and sighed. She couldn't say no to this wolf; he had been the kindest wolf she had seen that day. He seemed to actually care, despite them just meeting. "I don't know..." Willow trailed, moving her gaze to the ground. "Are you sure you're supposed to be telling me all of this? I mean I jut arrived and I'm not exactly welcomed..."

Time seemed to stretch on forever before the brown wolf responded. He just twitched his ears uncomfortably at what Willow has said. He ignored it and instead went right on with what he was saying. "Okay, right there," Timber changed the subject by nodding to a den next to the healer's den that looked quite a bit like the guards' den. "That's the hunters' den. Hunters mainly do what is in our name, hunt. We do more then just hunt though, if there is any fox attacks, we fight and try to get the pack to safety. If there are any wolf attacks though, we all fight. The hunters, the guards, the omega..." He glanced at a very small den in the corner of the camp. It wasn't sheltered by the tree, and it was just made out of a thin bush.

     "So that's the omega's den?" Willow asked, already knowing the answer to her question.

    Timber nodded. "The omega's name is Nip. Be careful of what you say to him. He can be a bit... impolite." He paused, staring at nothing for a minute before pricking his ears up. "Oh! That's right! I forgot to show you where you will most likely be staying for a bit." Timber padded off into a different corner of camp; Willow was trailing close behind.

     "This is the prisoner den. It could also be referred to as the guest den. Whichever sounds more homey to you."

"The guest den definitely sounds more homey." Willow looked at the small den. It wasn't as fallen apart as the omega's den, but then again, it wasn't as sturdy as the hunters' den. It was built mainly out of twigs and bushes, with a pile of leaves on the inside for a nest.

"That's right!" Timber exclaimed. He paused, looking confused for a second. "I never got your name."

"I'm Willow." She said, glancing at him.

A rustle of grass sounded behind them. "I'm sorry to break up this tour, but this prisoner has to talk with Alpha." Breeze growled.

Willow narrowed her eyes and cringed at how she was so deep under their command. "I have a name, you know."

Breeze raised her head, adjusting her paws to make her look taller. "Fine, what is your name?"

"It's Willow." She said clearly, meeting Breeze's gaze.

Breeze nodded, her eyes glistening. "I like the way you act." Willow couldn't help but hear the humor in the she-wolf's voice. "Well, shall we get going?" Breeze turned around and trotted to the front of the cave that Willow had noticed on her way in.

It must be Breeze's and her Alpha's den. That makes sense why it would be flat on top, so they wouldn't have to go far to hold meetings.

     Before following Breeze, Willow exchanged a glance with Timber. He mouthed the words 'good luck' as Willow walked away toward where Breeze was standing. Breeze acknowledged Willow's presence with a friendly blink. "I'm going to walk in with you, but I may have to leave later so just the two of you could talk." Breeze whispered, her voice suddenly filled with warmth. "Good luck. Also, you should probably not be so aggressive around Alpha. He can be very harsh at times."

     Willow nodded to Breeze, thankful she had warned her. Even if Willow wasn't going to follow the advice, it still showed that Breeze had cared.

     Willow pushed her way around the ivy hanging outside of the cave. Although the cave wasn't very large, it still had a very big and empty vibe to it. The cave was pitch black, besides the light that spilled through the entrance and a hole that was in the back of the cave. Willow felt Breeze's fur brush up against hers, probably trying to comfort her from the threatening darkness.

Suddenly, yellow eyes appeared to glow in the dark and Willow stopped in her tracks, her fur bristling. The scent of wolf was in the cave, but there could be a predator practically anywhere.

"Calm yourself, wolf. I have just brought you here to talk."