Sara’s family farm came into view through the dark veil of night.
Misha accelerated automatically, the young horse eager to get back home. Sara held the horse back, not wanting to go into a trot or galop in the dead of night.
Sara’s home shone with a silver shimmer, curtesy of the brilliant moonlight. It was situated at the base of the hills that marked the edge of the Wolf Kingdom’s territory.
Built in typical wolf style, the two-story timber A-frame structure was almost as tall as the nearby barn. Looking around, Sara could see the family’s herds of large shaggy beasts sleeping in the paddocks. They were curled up on the grass in large circular concentrations. In the half light of night the groups looked like giants furry marbles, all staked together neatly.
Sara was annoyed with herself. Having jogged out of town back to her waiting horse, she had been two eager to get back home. Away from the town lamps there was no chance to read her grandfather’s documents anymore. Once she got home it would be impossible to light a candle or lamp without someone noticing, she also carried no light sources on her at the moment, wolfs having little difficulty in seeing well enough to travel on a clear night.
Entering the courtyard in front of her house, Sara led Misha towards the barn.
Sara’s left ear twitched, then turned automatically towards a low rustling sound. The young wolf was not thinking clearly, in shock, she automatically reached for her weapon. She relaxed immediately upon hearing a threatening low growl, a growl she knew well.
‘Pitch you rascal, get out here,’ Sara instructed in a whisper.
It only took a moment before the growling creature appeared from the darkness. Bounding smoothly on all fours the animal’s long fury tail almost dragged in the dirt behind it. Circling Sara excitedly, the ossum rubbed its jaw against her legs. Sara could tell that the scruffy creature wanted to jump up, despite its training telling it not to.
‘Up Pitch,’ she instructed, giving the animal the all-clear to jump up.
Sara leaned down and caught the ossum’s front paws as it jumped up to greet her. She had to make sure that Pitch’s powerful claws did not destroy her clothing. She rubbed the animal’s head.
Pitch whined happily.
Sara hugged the young male ossum, happy that at least one aspect of her life was still simple. From the dark emerged the second family ossum, an older male called Tatch. Unlike his younger counterpart, the older ossum had fully developed spots, which stood out markedly against his dark tan coat in the moonlight.
‘Hello Tatch old boy,’ said Sara happily, letting the younger animal drop to go and pat the family’s veteran pet.
Pitch circled the two excitedly, trying to get more attention. Tatch was pretty much her father’s ossum, while Pitch had become close to Sara soon after they had purchased the ossum a few years ago. Patch began to whine slightly until Sara once again gave the younger animal more affection.
The smile on Sara’s face slowly drained as she realised that she would soon have to talk to her mother.
Perhaps it could wait till tomorrow? she thought to herself desperately. But it was no use, it was unlikely she would be able to sleep well in any case; it was only stalling the inevitable, she would simply have to get it over with.
After returning Misha to the stables and patting Pitch one more time, Sara entered her home through the front door. The bottom floor was dark despite the moonlit night outside; wolf architecture usually had smaller windows and thicker walls to increase insulation in the cold winters. Lighting a candle, Sara then made her ways to the timber stairs.
Sara considered quickly reading the letters, but she dismissed the thought, it was likely that someone would come down soon enough, now that she had lit a candle. If they found her reading the documents she would have little excuse not to let her family see them.
Soon she found herself in front of her parent’s bedroom door. Solemnly she looked at the woodwork, unable to bring herself to knock. She had used the hour or so riding home to think about how she would talk to her parents and how she would keep her grandfather’s secrets from them. Sara had gone through every scenario in her mind. What they would ask, what she would say. Now that she was here, however, it all simply left her, the fear returned, she would be found out.
Sara couldn’t help but to think about what had happened to her and her family. How had it come to this? Having to lie to them seemed so alien. Despite all the arguments lately, she had never lied to her parent, or… at least, not really. They had only been white lies, and now they had built up into something out of control. Not only was she in danger, but her family was as well it seemed.
The wolf youth frowned. Taking a deep breath and swallowing with difficulty, she tried to build up a new sense of determination. She would just have to get this over with. Her family was all that mattered now. Sara allayed her fears, concentrating on developing determination and passion for what she was about to do by thinking of her family and what she would have to do to protect them.
I can do this, the girl thought, encouraging herself. Raising her clenched fist, she nocked gently. From inside she could here murmurs and rustling. Soon her father’s face emerged at the door, his sleepy eyes looking out from underneath his mess of short, light brown hair. Subconsciously, he stretched his top lip, twitching his moustache and long whiskers.
‘Sara? What is it?’ he asked, not unkindly.
‘Grandfather has been attacked,’ she said simply.
Her father blinked a few times.
Not long after, the Kelgorn household was assembled in the large open kitchen. Fera came in just as the other three had taken their seats.
‘What’s going on?’ said Fera irritably. She did not appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night.
‘Your grandfather was attacked’ said their mother, her voice serious.
Fera froze for a second, looking at her mother with a blank expression.
Sara’s mother, Sallice, looked like a more mature version of Sara, having the same fur and hair colour as well as a similar haircut; but unlike her daughter, Sallice always wore her hair in a high ponytail.
Fera looked from one family member to another.
‘What happened?’ Fera asked eventually, her voice not betraying any emotions.
Sara’s father, Patt, raised an eyebrow at his oldest daughter’s clinical behaviour upon the grave news regarding her grandfather. Patt held his father in high regard, and like him, had similar grey fur and brown hair colour, he also had a small moustache in the same style as his father, though much smaller.
‘Sara was just about to give us all the details,’ said Sallice, her voice betraying a slight amount of anger. She was obviously upset with her youngest daughter.
Fera took her seat.
All eyes and ears turned to Sara, who then proceeded to give an identical account to the one she had told the wolf Mayor Petrice.
‘So the healer couldn’t say if he was going to make it or not?’ asked Sara’s father, once she was done.
‘No. Only that he would be unconscious for a few days…’ Sara replied, her voice downcast. ‘Assuming he pulls through.’
Even Fera looked upset now.
‘If there is any change in his condition the Voraks will send a message,’ Sara added, referring to her grandfather’s elderly neighbours.
‘What exactly where you doing there this late at night anyway?’ asked Fera, her tone taking on an accusing edge.
Distracted, Sara suddenly worried that her sister would go back on her word and tell on her about what had happened at RefugeCross. In all the time Sara had thought about what she would say to her parents, she had not included her sister into the equation
‘I couldn’t sleep, and I wanted to talk to him, that’s all,’ Sara replied, her own tone becoming defensive.
Sara and Fera exchanged glares, neither breaking the stare, as if trying to communicate without speaking. Sara was sure that Fera was close to going back on her word. Subconsciously, the young wolf began to fidget.
‘And what, again, was so important that it couldn’t wait till morning?’ Sara’s mother Sallice asked.
Breaking eye contact with her sister, Sara addressed her mother.
‘Nothing important, just stuff about my training’ Sara stated. The young wolf stole another side glance at her sister.
‘Why didn’t you tell us you were going?’ asked her father. His tone was more hurt then angry.
Sara’s pointy ears drooped slightly. Her mothers anger the young female could handle, it was her fathers disappointment that was always the more difficult to endure.
‘I didn’t want to wake you,’ she offered to him meekly. ‘And I thought if I asked that you wouldn’t let me go,’ Sara added, looking back towards her mother.
‘You are damn right I wouldn’t have let you go!’ Sallice sneered, her patience at an end. ‘And exactly because of what-happened-tonight.’
Sara glared back at her mother.
‘I’m old enough to take care of myself,’ Sara said in her defence.
Sallice was about to counter when Patt interrupted.
‘By the sounds of it she did save his life, it was very lucky that she was there,’ he said. Patt’s voice was conciliatory, trying to defuse the situation before it spiralled into a shouting match.
‘And she could have been killed just as quickly,’ replied Sallice sharply. As Sallice spoke, the volume of her voice steadily increased. ‘Who knows what these bandits were capable of, if they were bandits at all.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Patt, confused.
‘Bandits don’t carry daggers dipped in sirricon,’ Sallice answered. ‘And they don’t try to kill Anthros.’
‘I always knew he was up to something,’ interrupted Fera, a satisfied smirk on her face.
‘Fera,’ warned Patt, irritably. ‘We don’t know anything yet, let’s not jump to conclusions.’
But it was too late.
‘I bet he is part of the Mintury Society,’ continued Fera. She was happy for once to have her mother on her side of the argument. Normally Sallice would always defend Mr Thorntreck, but not tonight.
Patt shot Fera a warning glare.
‘They were probably trying to assassinate him,’ Fera couldn’t stop herself from saying.
‘Fera! Hold your tongue,’ snapped her father, who looked towards his wife for support.
None came, and an uncomfortable silence fell across the table. Sallice appeared deep in thought, while Patt was becoming more annoyed.
‘You are not to leave this farm without our express permission,’ ordered Sallice sternly. She was addressing Sara.
‘That’s not fair… I did save his life,’ growled Sara.
‘I, don’t, care,’ said Sallice slowly. Her voice was deadly low, and her pointy ears started to flatten slightly. Sick of being talked back too, she was tangibly intimidating her daughter. ‘If you disappear again, there, will, be, trouble.’
Sara caved in quickly, her own ears drooping to the side. Her mother did not often get like this. She obviously meant business.
‘There is something going on, and no one is to do anything until I know what it is,’ Sallice instructed, her voice still a low growl.
‘What are you talking about?’ shot back Patt, annoyed by his wife’s apparent lack of faith in his father. ‘Nothing is going on, he was attacked by bandits. This is ridiculous.’ Patt’s own voice became ever louder. The male wolf looked towards his oldest daughter. Fera was sitting back with a smug expression, happy that her mother Sallice was siding with her. Looking towards Sara, Patt could tell that she was beaten, he would get no support.
Anger welled within the adult male wolf. He and his wife had had numerous clashes recently regarding his father, not to mention the history of arguments regarding their family. This was unbelievable to him, a physical attack on his father should have brought his family together, not break it further apart. What was going on?
‘What has happened to this family?’ he asked angrily. ‘We should be heading over there right now to see if he’s ok.’
Sallice looked towards her upset husband. She couldn’t understand his blind spot when it came to his father. Years of defending her father in law, Mr Thorntreck, and doing what he wanted had not led too much. Mostly it had led to a feud between Sallice and her oldest daughter Fera, which was only now being healed. And now her youngest daughter was mixed up with the old coot. As much as this pleased Patt, Sallice was of the growing opinion that the interaction was not in the best interest of Sara. This was now leading to the growing rift between her and Sara as well.
Unfortunately, with her anger the way it was, Sallice was not in the mood to compromise, and uncharacteristically she let the argument continue in front of her children.
‘We are staying here for now,’ Sallice informed her husband.
‘Do you not care about our family?’ Patt growled. He himself also no longer cared if this continued in front of his daughters. His voice and expression had changed to match the intimidation of his wife’s. Behind him his tail began to flick around.
‘I care greatly about my family,’ Sallice growled back, turning up her forceful emotional projection.
Sara became fearful, she had never been around such open hostility between mature wolves before, and coming from her parents it was even more intimidating. Across from Sara, Fera was also beginning to cringe as her father intensified his anger. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, his ears pressed flat against his head. Sara’s mind screamed for her to run, she had never been so scared in her life, the energy from her parents seemed like it could push her off her chair. If it wasn’t coming equally from both directions she would have sworn she would have fallen over.
Sallice had had enough, she would not be told what to do in her own house. Leaning forward slightly, her nails dug into the table as her hands flexed.
Patt held out for a few seconds, but then gave in, he had made his point. Letting go of his emotional anger, he still did not submit fully.
‘Do what you must,’ he said with a slight tremble in his voice, not from fear but from exhaustion. ‘I am leaving immediately.’ With that said, he left the room, not stopping to look at anyone on his way out.
Sara stared at her father’s back, though his ears were limp and he was shaking slightly he still had a proud posture, he had not submitted fully. Sara’s mind was still too scared to react to the events. Later, she would wonder how her father had managed to withstand such a pressuring force of intimidation and not cave in to his wife straight away. There was obviously still a lot to learn about the power of emotional projection.
Sara blinked for a few seconds, across from her Fera was doing the same, also stunned. Sallice and Patt had argued often over the last few years and it had often become heated, nevertheless, this was the first time Sara and Fera had been in the middle of it.
As annoying as their parent’s arguments were for the two girls to listen to, it was not uncommon for Anthro wolves. They were more passionate creatures by nature and expressive with their emotions. However, to use intimidation so directly was not a common event, or at least it was not socially acceptable, as wolf males were emotionally, and so on their world ultimately physically, the weaker sex for Anthro wolves. This was despite them normally being slightly physically larger then the females.
Sallice was still calming down, not used to having to turn her emotions up so high. She and Patt had only come to this extreme point once before in their relationship, and now, like then, she was somewhat ashamed of herself.
He had raised the stakes, she told herself, and this was not a point she was going to compromise on, not when it concerned her family. Sallice had been told what to do with her family once too often, and it was time to take a stand.
Breathing in deeply, she looked at her two daughters. They sat back, looking with apprehension at their mother. Sallice became momentarily more ashamed, seeing the look of fear in her daughter’s eyes. Focusing back onto the matter at hand, she directed her thoughts towards her family, streamlining her mind to give her strength.
‘I am not proud of what just happened,’ Sallice said more calmly. ‘It should give you some idea of how complicated things are at the moment. So I would ask that you do what I say until I can find out more about the whole thing. There are many things about your grandfather that I don’t know.’
You don’t know the half of it, Sara thought to herself. Sara felt an urge to tell her mother everything, but with so many things going through the young wolf’s head, her mouth simply wouldn’t open.
‘You girls had better go to bed, it’s late,’ Sallice said tiredly. ‘We have plenty of things to do tomorrow.’
Sara got up, replacing her chair before she and Fera made their way up to their bedrooms in silence. Walking past her parent’s bedroom, Sara could hear her father grumble to himself as he packed. The young wolf would have most liked to have simply gone in and given her father a hug, but once again uncertainty stopped her. With a frown on her face, she rushed into her room, closing the door behind her.
Throwing herself on her bed the young female buried her head into her pillow.
‘What a mess,’ she whined to herself out loud. She had said or thought those words often the last few days, and every time, things had somehow managed to get even worse then before. Though her world had turned completely topsy-turvy the last few days, the one thing that she had felt confident about was her family, even if she had been distant from them lately. Suddenly it was made clear exactly how important her parents were to her.
Sara’s parents argued, but that was normal. What was not normal was what she had seen tonight, something that had shaken her belief in the stability of her family.
Had she been that distant lately that she hadn’t noticed how bad it had become? Or had it always been this bad, and she had simply never seen it? With her mind full of thoughts and emotions, she irritably turned to lie on her back.
She clutched a pillow to her chest as she stared at the angled ceiling with a blank expression. In the dark and silence, her troubled mind was quickly overwhelmed. Confused, upset and angry, she simply gave in, allowing her overflow of emotions to come out as tears. Clutching her pillow for comfort, the young female cried quietly to herself in the still, dark room.
Exhausted from her emotional release, Sara’s mind was empty as she lay on the brink of sleep.
Suddenly, she could hear movement from outside of her open window. Tired, she slowly got up, shuffling across to her window that overlooked the main compound. Down below she could see her father leading his travel-ready horse out of the barn. Pitch and Tatch had gotten down from their tree again to farewell the older grey wolf. Patting the two animals, her father was about to mount up when he stopped. Following where he was looking too, Sara could see her mother sitting on a fence railing that flanked the main path to the road. Hesitating for a second, Patt mounted up, moving off towards his wife.
Sallice watched as Patt approached. She gazed up once more at the stars before her husband got closer. Patt tried to focus on the road, but his eyes were automatically drawn to his wife as he felt her remorse as he approached. The projected feelings from his wife flowed over him like a sorrowful autumn day, growing in strength the closer he got. Anger and intimidation were not the only emotions that wolves could project, deliberately or accidental. Trying to ignore her feelings, he urged the horse on, refocusing on the road. Even his horse could feel Sallice’s regret and sadness. The animal faltered.
Sighing heavily to himself, Patt turned the animal around to face his wife. His mind struggled to keep his own emotions in check.
‘I have to go,’ he said calmly, his expression concentrated, his voice business like.
‘I know,’ said Sallice, her voice soft. ‘And I have to stay.’
Her tone was graceful but strong.
Patt could see that she had been crying, the moonlight caught the moist fur around her eyes. Sallice’s voice was steady and she made no effort to hide her tears. Crying in itself was not considered a sign of weakness amongst wolves.
Jumping down from the high fence, she took a few steps towards her husband.
Patt wanted to be stubborn, he wanted to leave, comforting her would be a sign of submission, and he was still upset about before.
Having been brought up in the best schools, Patt was only too well aware of the power and manipulation of female wolf’s emotions and how they projected it. He had stayed smart, had paid attention and knew how to play the game. He hated the manipulation, the power females had over males, but it was something that you could learn, something that you could use to your advantage, if you were smart. Sallice was different; she wasn’t one of those rich manipulative heiresses. She was honest, smart and headstrong, sometime too headstrong. Patt had to occasionally remind himself that she didn’t play the game, at least not deliberately.
Gritting his teeth, he allowed himself to be swayed, concluding that if he did it from his own volition he could still maintain some pride. Jumping down, he moved across towards his wife, enveloping her in a tender hug. Sallice rested her head on the physically larger male’s shoulder, her relief being tangible to both wolves. Patt allowed himself to be enveloped and Sallice felt her affections returned.
‘Why did I have to marry such a headstrong wolf?’ he asked softly.
‘I don’t know. You’re the romantic,’ she replied.
After a moment Sallice broke the embrace, looking into her husband’s eyes, her expression turned serious.
‘Be careful, and stay on your toes, this is not as simple as you think.’
Patt grimaced slightly, but then mellowed.
‘I’ll try and find out what is going on,’ he said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. ‘There won’t be anything,’ he reassured her.
Sallice gave him a meaningful look, and then gave him a kiss.
‘If something goes wrong don’t hesitate to come home, we are safest here,’ she said.
Patt shook his head, smiling to himself.
Back up in her room, a tiered Sara watched as her father remounted his horse then rode off into the night. Looking back, she could see her mother simply standing there.
Turning from the window, Sara fell back into her bed. At least that was one sign that things were not quite as bad as she thought. Too tired to contemplate anything else, the young wolf fell asleep. Her dreams would be troubled that night.
Sara awoke early the next day sprawled unceremoniously across her bed. Outside, the sky was just starting to get brighter. Not a real morning person, Sara stretched a few times before taking a deep breath. Her eyes were still closed, as if in denial of the new day. The noise coming from a wild colourful swarm of birds in a nearby tree had brought the young wolf out of a deep sleep.
Moving automatically, Sara walked downstairs and outside, her eyes still half closed. Only then did she realize that she had slept in her clothes. Taking the time to remove them, she had a quick morning wash-down from the large tank of water near the house. Not bothering to replace her bindings, she walked back upstairs, clothed only in her outer layer.
Memories of last night began to filter into her tired mind. They quickly multiplied to blow away the last of the cobwebs obscuring her thoughts.
‘The letters,’ she whispered to herself, now fully awake. Running upstairs, she was about to enter her room when her mother opened her own bedroom door from across the hall.
‘Sara,’ said Sallice.
Sara hesitated, cursing her luck.
‘After you do your morning chores, I need you to move the younger herd down to the lower fields.’
Sara grimaced, that would take her most of the morning to complete.
‘Get changed quickly, I will see you in the kitchen for breakfast,’ Sharlee added as she moved off down the hall.
Entering her room, Sara quickly got out the letters that she had hidden behind her small desk. Looking through them quickly, she could hear her mother through the door, awakening her sister.
‘Come on you two, get a move on,’ called her mother.
Faltering for a second, Sara held the letters in her hand. She then placed them back on her desk. Running to her closet she pulled out fresh undergarments and her sturdiest travelling clothes. The garment was a slightly longer skirt and top made of more durable materials, and containing more pockets. Dressing quickly, she finished by adjusting her chest straps slightly. Sara picked up the letters, stuffing them in one of the many pockets. Grabbing a large utility belt, she scampered out of her room just in time to run into her sister.
‘Ummmph.’
‘Hey! Watch it,’ said Fera. She was also not a particular good morning person.
‘Good morning,’ said Sara, her voice not really all that cheerful.
‘Good morning,’ replied her sister, the two exchanged a look that held much more meaning then their few words.
‘Breakfast is on the table!’ called their mother from below.
It was almost noon and Sara had still not had a chance to read the letters. The morning had been spent doing her chores. During this time she had been working near, or with, her mother and sister.
After initially becoming frustrated, Sara had then focused on her work, trying to get it done quicker so as to have a chance to get away. She and Misha were now close to getting the last of the livestock into the lower paddock, having done the hard work of rounding up all of the large beasts with the help of Pitch and Tatch.
Sara’s eyes scanned the animals, they were now assembled and simply following the routine. They knew the way; the tricky part was getting them to realize that that was where they wanted to go.
The livestock in question were not like cattle on our world, but they had the same function, providing meat and milk to the Anthro farmers. The livestock on the Anthro’s world actually looked like a giant version of an Australian wombat. They were called morsets and weight up to a tone or more each. Morsets had massive, round muscular bodies which sat atop stumpy powerful legs; a small round head with large furry ears was located at one end of the stocky body, with a short triangular tail at the other. On top of their head, with its small eyes and large mouth, were a series of plate like horns running from its wide nose all the way up to the top of its head. Morsets were normally covered in a greyish short fur and were actually quite tame, despite their large bulk.
Sara moved Misha forward to hurry the last of the smaller stragglers through the gate, their round bodies bouncing along as they scurried through the fence opening. Off to the side of the gate, Tatch was already lying under a tree, exhausted from the round up in the warm morning sun. Pitch had also disappeared. Looking up, Sara could see the young animal stretched out on a low branch, its four limbs dangling over the side as it panted happily while looking at its owner
‘Good job boy,’ praised Sara. ‘You to Tatch,’ she said to the older ossum, who was too tired to acknowledge her.
Moving Misha around, Sara closed the gate. Satisfied that she had completed her task quickly, Sara looked for a good spot to take a break. Just across another field was a small creek; it being the same one that she and Trex had eaten the stolen melons at those many years before.
‘Stay here,’ Sara quickly instructed.
The two spotted ossum males watched their master ride away from the comfort of the shade, their desire to move anywhere anymore in the increasing day’s heat being low in any case.
Sara knew this creek well. As her family’s neighbours had two young children of Sara’s age, it was a place she had spent many an afternoon until only a year or so ago.
The changes of entering adolescence had altered many more things in the young wolf then just her appearance.
Below the shade of the large trees that flanked the creek, Sara found her favourite large rock, right next to the small trickle of flowing water. She let the young horse roam free as she eagerly took the documents out of her pocket.
Thumbing through the letters, Sara inspected each of the envelopes. M