FicWad

Chapter Three
The sun rose over the horizon and the mist that had concealed the mountains all the way through the night parted to reveal the navy-blue forms once again. There were no animals awake at such an early hour, none except for the she-wolf.
Ulva, who was still dreaming of a better place, drooped from her mouth, as he had done when he was a newborn pup. He was weak, tired and hungry.
The sun rose higher and it gained strength, power and momentum, warming the world below and giving life to the trees that rustled their leaves eagerly.
The brown she-wolf and her pup continued over the many hills at the top of the gorge until it came to a dramatic end. Pondering what to do, she put the pup down for a moment, which was enough to wake the poor thing.
“Mother?” he yawned, his eyes still half-shut. “Where are we?”
“Safe, for now,” she replied, looking over her shoulder to check that the wolf was not watching them. “We must find a new den though. It would be foolish to turn back to the old den when the male is still on our tails. Do not worry. I will carry you the rest of the way and when we get there, I will let you suckle.”
“Alright,” Ulva agreed, unable to manage anything else, as Mother carried him down the side of the gorge.
Once they were at the bottom, the she-wolf stopped for a while. The bottom of the gorge was wide and a narrow stream meandered down the middle with grass growing everywhere and trees in full bloom. It was like heaven on earth, except that there were no deer or rabbits or any type of prey. They could not stay here. They had to find somewhere else.
Most of the mud flakes had peeled off now, so the crusty bits were not doing any good. Mother walked half way to the stream and set Ulva down on the ground next to a puddle of clear, glistening water.
“Have a drink and a wash,” she told him. “We have some time to bathe and get the mud out of our fur now before we have to move on.”
Ulva flopped lazily into the shallow puddle and wallowed for a long while. He shifted himself often, allowing some of the mud to loosen off and then flick out when he moved. Mother came over after cleaning herself off completely and licked him thoroughly until she was sure there was no more left in his white fur.
During his time in the puddle, Ulva had woken up considerably and when Mother asked, “Do you fancy a swim?” he eagerly replied, “Yes!”
He bounded into the water after the brown she-wolf and she did her best to stay beside him in case he got into any trouble.
“It will be quicker to travel this way with the river helping us and we will save energy this way,” she explained to the pup, who was enjoying the swim.
“This is fun!” he replied, obviously without a care in the world. He had now completely forgotten how serious this situation was. “Where are we going?”
“I do not know,” she replied honestly, looking around at the trees. “We shall go where the river takes us.”
“Do we have to go where it takes us?” Ulva replied in an odd voice, staring ahead with an unnatural concentration.
“No, I suppose we do not have to. Why is that?” Mother asked. She soon followed the pup’s frightened gaze and saw what had caused him to act this way but by the time she realised it was too late. She watched Ulva fall out of sight and then she too found that she was falling through the air, with water pummelling her back legs and tail, making her turn and tumble as she fell.
She hit the surface of the plunge pool with a deafening thud and everything went black. She suspected that she was either blind or unconscious but, since a waterfall could not really blind you, she decided that she had been knocked out.
*
Ulva swam to the edge of the pool and clambered out. Shaking the water out of his fur, he turned round and shouted, “Mother! Mother, where are you?” He felt frightened and did not know what to do. He smiled nervously and shifted his weight from one paw to the other, all the while his eyes locked on the water, looking for any signs of life.
Then, a heap of chestnut and brown fur bobbed up from the black depths of the pool and floated across to the bank. Could it be her? It was. It was Mother.
Ulva shouted across to her, “Mother! I’m over here, Mother!”
She did not reply. She did not even move.
The little pup had never felt so worried in his life and he found himself jumping through the air and landing in the water with a massive splash. He swam over to her as fast as his legs would let him and he prayed that she had not gone.
As he scrambled up the other bank, he cried to her, “Mother! Oh, please say something, Mother!” He threw his head up to the sky and let out a mournful howl that seemed to last an eternity. When he looked down again, he found tears running over his cheeks and he sobbed again, “Oh Mother! Why?”
He buried his face in the fur on her chest and lay pressed against her, wanting her to clean and lick and make a fuss over him like she had done only yesterday.
How his life had changed over the past few months. He had only been born four months ago and now, Mother was gone. He had lost the only friend he had ever had and now he was all alone.
He felt his chest heave as the tears trickled from his eyes into his mouth and he tasted them on his tongue: salty and bitter.
Just then, as he began to cry and whimper again, the chest underneath him lurched and Mother coughed up a gallon of water and emptied her stomach onto the bank.
Ulva leapt onto her, screaming, “Mother! You’re alive!” and knocked her onto her side. “Mother! I thought you were dead! Oh Mother! I love you so much!” He licked her muzzle furiously and for a moment he did not care about anything else in the world. As long as Mother was there, he was happy.
The stunned she-wolf sat up and asked, “What happened?”
“There was a waterfall and then we fell and then you washed up and I thought you were dead... Oh, I love you!” he exclaimed, still licking her.
“We need to get going again. We need to find a den before the sun sets this evening,” she said, standing up and leading the pup away from the bank.
“Where are we going now?” he asked readily. “Are we going to follow the river anymore?”
“No, I suppose we do not have to,” Mother said again. “We shall go where our noses take us. Come.”
She sniffed at the ground and raced away with Ulva trailing behind her. The pup was slow and was soon left behind. He yelped for Mother to come back and carry him. After a moment of apprehension and anticipation, she appeared on the hill in front and barked at him to come to her. He trotted up and she picked him up by the scruff, continuing along the trail.
“What are we following, Mother?” Ulva asked.
“A deer trail. This path was used recently and there is bound to be a suitable den site nearby. It would be ideal too because we would know where the prey is and we would not have to travel as far to hunt,” she explained, turning suddenly off of the main track and setting the white pup down again.
She walked towards a clump of young trees and pushed her way through a gap between two leafy bushes. “Ulva, come look at this,” she said excitedly, her tail slicing quickly through the air from side to side.
Ulva crawled under one of the bushes and came out into a clearing.
The trees that surrounded the circular clearing were saplings and were small enough to let the midday sunlight over to shine where the grass grew high and the butterflies and bees danced in the warmth. The little brook that had led down from the waterfall split the clearing in two but was still narrow enough for both Mother and Ulva to jump across to the smaller of the two sections. Facing the pup was a pile of rocks that was piled in such a way that a cave had been formed and a small mammal, maybe a rabbit or hare had tunnelled down into the ground, creating a small but comfortable shelter for whatever animal needed to use it.
“It’s perfect Mother,” Ulva said, as if in a dream. “Can we stay here?”
“For now, yes,” she replied, walking over to the rock pile. “This is a decent den site. The den is well-structured. It still needs a bit of work but it will do nicely.”
She began to dig a deeper cave underneath the rocks and her pup offered her his help by rolling in the mud pile she was creating.
A few minutes later, she was finished. “There. That should do for now,” she said, walking towards the two bushes.
“Mother, where are you going now?” Ulva asked, stepping forward, eager to go with her.
“Hunting. I want to see what prey is here. You can come with me if you want,” she offered, standing still while the pup ran over to join her.
Together they jogged further along the deer trail, Mother lowering her head to sniff the ground every once in a while, and soon they came upon the herd.
Mother turned to Ulva and said, “Wait here.” She then crept forward on her belly, heading straight towards a pregnant white-tailed doe.
The victim, oblivious at this point, bleated gladly once and continued nibbling at the grass. The deer took a step forward and trotted after the rest of the herd, with the she-wolf following close behind.
Mother neared her prey, she began to crawl faster and then broke into a gallop, taking massive strides and pointing her toes as the gap between the two shrank.
Ulva watched as she leapt at the doe’s hind leg and clung on with all of her strength. The deer twisted round and bucked and reared, kicking all of her legs in a frantic attempt to escape the hunter’s grasp. Soon, the poor doe was exhausted and she stood still for a moment.
Mother took this opportunity to release her grip on the leg and move onto the throat. She gripped it and jerked her neck slightly. Then the prey dropped to the ground and fell with a thud. Then the she-wolf stood over her kill, the blood dripping from her muzzle, and she called for Ulva to come.
As Ulva sat down away from her to watch her eat, she told him, “Come. You can eat this meat now.”
The pup thought about what she had said and then hopped over to the doe’s broken body and began pulling at its skin, unable to get a grip.
“Here, let me,” Mother said, pinching the carcass with her teeth and peeling off the skin. “There you go.”
Ulva bit into the succulent meat. It tasted exactly how he had dreamt it would and he savoured the flavour, licking the blood from his lips every now and then. After he had eaten, he said, “That was delicious.”
“It is much better than the half-digested slop you are used to,” she laughed. “It is more nutritious as well. It will build up your strength for when you start to hunt with me.”
Ulva shivered with excitement. “I can’t wait!” he exclaimed, leaping around Mother in a circle.
“It will not be long, you will see,” she said wisely, wandering towards the den. “We will head back and have a nap then we will do something else before the night comes.”
“Alright,” he replied, cantering after her.
The two soon arrived back at the clearing and Mother slumped down in the centre, next to a beautiful flower. Ulva sat down next to her and watched as a red butterfly landed on one of the fragile petals.
“Look,” the she-wolf said, gently poking the flower stem with her nose and watching as the insect flapped its silky wings and fluttered away out of sight.
All of a sudden, Mother pounced onto her pup, licking and nuzzling the fur on his belly and under his chin. Ulva wriggled about and they both lay down together and laughed in the sun.