Ol' Flint the Crow

The Runt's Tale pt. 3

After countless hours waiting for The Second to respond, he did eventually get up. Although, he did look dreary and much older now as he trudged next to me back to the den. Yet he tried his best to lift his head up in a dignified manner.

We entered the wolf sanctuary at about midday where we were greeted by one of my sisters who had not taken kindly to the fact that I had seemingly stolen The Second's heart away from her. Out of spite, she belittled me in front of the alpha's son.

When she became so bold as to scratch me with her claws and bite me on my wounded ear, like she was accustomed to, The Second suddenly growled from the recesses of his belly. With a spring, he leaped on my sister and clamped his jaws on her right leg. The sound of my sister's calf bone breaking and blood vessels snapping brought a chill over me. Even if I didn't like my siblings, I couldn't help but fear that The Second would kill her.

With a frantic bark, I pleaded with The Second to stop. Like he had awoken from a deep sleep, he unloosened his teeth and stepped back from my sister. Wailing and crying her eyes out, my sister limped and didn't bother me again. She hobbled around everywhere she went from that day on and eventually died a year later from infection.

~~~

Life in the den went on rather smoothly. None of my brothers or sisters dared hurt me or talk down to me again and all the wolves showed be deep respect, thinking that I was The Second's mate and would be the female alpha very soon.

We ended our war with the bears of the north and devised a peace treaty between us. This kept our focused on trying to quarantine the plague which was spreading amongst us. Eventually, the disease was thwarted and became a relative nonissue within a few years. Unfortunately, The Second's father and mother were inflicted with a bad case of the disease. They had to be separated from the pack. Because of this, they had to impart their royal decrees to their son who would make sure to carry them out.

However, he was rather reluctant at first. Such a responsibility was meaningless in his eyes. But with much encouragement, mostly coming from me, he eventually accepted. Yet he remained melancholy and kept to himself as long as he could manage. Spending countless hours coped up in his room, the only time The Second was among the other wolves was when he was forced to give them the commands from the alphas. These task he took no enjoyment from.

What he'd rather do was sprawl at the foot of the boulder which held the articles that reminded him of the human woman. There he would cry his eyes out when no one was looking. I only caught glimpses of him doing this, but he would immediately wipe the tears from his eyes and try all he could to smile at me. I would weakly grin at him back. Clearing his nostrils, he would help me with my writing lessons without any more release of emotions. He was a rather skilled teacher.

Another year came and went. The Second was given more and more control over the pack as his parents' health slowly deteriorated. Everyone knew that they were at death's door, and they were still without a grandchild. This spread about more rumors that The Second was in fact infertile and could have no children. There were even whispers that I was barren as well. All these murmurings brought the moral of the pack to a greater low, and there were concerns that other wolves might try and seize the title of alpha during this state of uncertainty.

Fearing the worse, I came to The Second's bed chambers to speak with him. He was lying on the ground like one of those animal skin rugs humans are so fond of. He barely moved or breathed. Yapping softly at him, his left ear snapped in my direction.

I nervously scribbled on the dirt, 'Your parents are very sick.'

He gave my writing a sideways glance and scoffed.