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Chapter Eleven - Odds Piled Up

Comfort brought on from the wolf's tight embrace, hugging tightly around my torso, allowed me to ignore the discomforts of the night that would have woke me throughout it. We slept on a sleeping mat that kept the hard and cold ground insulated from our fur. The warmth from having a naked wolf pressed against my back made the night feel like it was a warm spring night, instead of the dead of winter.

Midnight's embrace made me feel safe, secured and cared for. I imagined the comfort his hug brought me was similar to how newborns felt when they were wrapped tightly in a soft blanket. That blanket of comfort unraveled though, and exposed me to the frigid air that I was disturbed from my sleep.

Cold washed over me like a wave at every slight breeze. My incredibly dense fur kept the cold air from touching my skin but enough warm air was robbed from me that I woke up by shivering. Reflexively I curled up in an attempt to keep the cold air out of my fur, but a more disappointing sensation flooded my chest. My source of warmth, Midnight's embrace, had pulled away.

Sleep still hazed over my mind but I twisted to put my paws beneath me, and pushed myself up. Supporting myself with one arm on the ground, I noticed that dawn still not had broken but it was close because the sky was a medium tone of blue. There was a gray tone riding through the middle of the sky but it was not the ash from the volcano. It was smoke from the wildfire that still burned toward us.

Looking around me in search of Midnight, I found myself surrounded by wolves. Alec had returned with two strange wolves, and a third stranger that I vaguely recognized. Lexandra stood with them, all surrounding Midnight who appeared to have hastily thrown on his clothes. Her two sons were bundled together underneath the cart, and Toki was still sleeping somewhat near me.

The two strange wolves wore a somewhat similar uniform as Alec, but their tunics were black and with a different emblem stamped on their chest. They were guards from another city, but the third stranger, I could still not remember why he looked so familiar. It didn't help that he was facing toward Midnight, and away from me.

He wasn't a wolf, due to his long tail that faded to black at the tip. Nor was he fox because of the shorter muzzle, and more rounded ears. Not a bear because of his small build, and not a hare for short ears. His attire was recognizable though, and when the stranger turned slightly I finally recognized him; Bran, the pine marten and bodyguard of the sick fox, Sage Velox. The same fox that gave Midnight and me the daggers that saved our lives from the assassin's first attempt to drown both of us.

What was he doing here? I didn't know to think if it was a good or bad thing that Bran was here. Curious, I slowly pushed myself up to my hindpaws. I was a little unstable because I was still tired but I took slow steps toward the adult wolves that surrounded Midnight.

"What of the fox?" I overheard Lexandra say. All of a sudden, I froze when I realized that the five adults had noticed me waking, and now they were staring at me.

The pine marten walked over and knelt down in front of me. "I can hardly recognize you with all that fur," he said kindly enough. "Last I saw you, you still had grey fur. Do you remember me?" I remembered him so I nodded in answer. "Can you show me the dagger that Sage Velox has given you?"

The dagger was buckled underneath my clothes so I had to lift up my shirt a bit to unbuckle it. Once unfastened, I surrendered the weapon to the adult. He inspected the maker's mark before smiling and giving it back to me. His large paw patted between my ears, and he stood up and returned to the wolves. The two guards were kneeling down next to Midnight and examining every part of his body.

"You sure this is him?" asked the guard to Bran. "There really is nothing about him that can tell us for sure."

"You both travelled all the way from Kietan to check this wolf pup," Bran replied. "Your relief ships back in the harbor can't wait long for us. We need to hurry. They're loaded with refugees eager to get out of the city."

"Which is exactly why we can't bring just any orphan back with us," replied the same guard. Bring us back where? "The ships are overcrowded already."

"I came from Lontra Harbor to show you this pup," said Bran sternly. "My employer is confident that this pup is worth bringing back to Kietan. Especially now after Mount Ignis erupted."

I walked next to Midnight, and we exchanged a glance. From the glance I knew that the black wolf was just as confused as I was. We had no idea what they were talking about, other than it was all about Midnight.

"If your employer is so confident, then why didn't he come himself?" argued the unfamiliar wolf guard.

"Sage Velox is in the southern city Lontra Harbor... visiting Otur Mika," Bran answered, though he looked uncomfortable bringing up the subject. "Great Lord Mika's youngest son. We had not expected to be back in the north until next spring."

"If I may, there was a hired assassin trying to kill this young pup," Alec quirked in, gesturing an open paw to Midnight.

"What?!" Lexandra exclaimed. She realized that she spoke too loudly as others around us stirred. She lowered her voice. "Is that how you got these wounds? Why would someone try to kill such a young pup?"

"Mother, father, what's going on?" From beneath the cart crawled out the eldest wolf pup. "Why is everyone talking so loudly?"

The adults glanced at each other, keeping quiet now that they've realized they were disturbing the camp. "We should talk more privately," suggested Bran. The pine marten started to walk off a bit toward the trees, with the two strange guards following.

"It's nothing Ena, go back to sleep," Lexandra said in a sweet voice. She knelt down to her son and ran her paw through the fur between his ears.

"I'm not tired anymore," said Ena, contradicting his yawn and the fact that he was rubbing his eyes with a paw. Following out from under the cart was his younger brother. Toki was also rising from the soft ground near where Midnight and I slept.

I supposed it was later in the day than the sky suggested. Mornings were late during the winter. If it were summer, the refugees would already be awake and moving under the morning sun.

"You're all up now," Lexandra noticed looking around at her pups. "Go play with Midnight and Snowy. We need to talk to the Kietan Guards. We won't be long."

"Why do you need to talk to them?" Ace asked. He also was trying to hide his exhaustion by trying to stifle a yawn but failed.

"Go get some rest or go play," Lexandra insisted. With Alec, she turned toward to the trees that the other three have gone off to, leaving us pups at the camp.

"Come on, let's go explore the ruins," suggested Midnight. My mind was still fogged and demanding that I return to the realm of dreams, but I didn't want to lie down without Midnight. It was too cold to lie on the ground alone, and admittedly I wanted to feel the Midnight's hug around me again. Left with the option to freeze on the ground or to follow the other wolf pups, I chose the latter option.

Toki was tired as well, but she followed the rest of us. I was a little worried having her behind me, given how much she loved to chase after my tail, but she didn't attack me once. Glancing back at her, and seeing her yawn, I knew that she didn't want to play right now because she was tired like me.

Ena and Midnight idly boasted to each other how they were going to find the scariest part of the ruins first. The two wolves led the rest of us around the other sleeping refugee camps. We crawled over some of the collapsed walls and pillars, heading into the ruins that had been completely overgrown by the forest. We wandered through ancient hallways, bedrooms, lavatories and rooms that I had no idea what they could have been. We stopped when we came across a large room, with what was probably once an island counter in the middle. There were rusted metal appliances and utensils buried underneath the vines that had grown over the area. It must have been a kitchen.

"Let's see what we can find!" suggested Ena, running off to a corner of the former kitchen. He bent down and started to dig through the vines that had grown over something shiny. When he pulled the object free, he saw that it was only a rusted spoon.

Midnight was observing what remained of the walls, and the different appliances that were once installed against them. He crawled up into what reminded me of some of the bakers' stoves. What the strange wolf guards had said was still on my mind, and I had no interest in searching for useless treasures.

"Do you know who those guards were?" I asked, approaching the black wolf.

"No," Midnight answered. His voice echoed from within the stove he was halfway in. He pulled out his head and jumped down from the stove. "They said they're from some other city, but I haven't been in any other city before."

Midnight folded his arms across his chest, hugging himself to fend off the cold. He continued to walk over the rough ground of the ruined kitchen, looking around at everything that might be of some value. The other three wolves were also exploring; Ena even started to climb on the ruined walls to reach higher shelves that still had a few items placed on.

"That marten is with them, Bran," I stated. I hoped Midnight had some answers because I was concerned about going to a different city to start over than the one we were headed towards now. We were almost there, and I had decided that I don't like travelling.

"Remember last time we saw him?" Midnight asked, still leading me around the kitchen. "He did say that he might have a job for us again. Maybe that's why he's back."

To me it sounded like the black wolf didn't know anymore than me about the strange wolves. He was guessing at the possibilities but he really had no idea. I lowered my head and stared at the ground while I followed the wolf.

"Thank you for sleeping close to me Snowy," Midnight said. He turned to look directly at me; I looked up to meet his eyes. "It was freezing but when you came over slept closer, it really helped keep me warm. With all that fur, you're like a big blanket."

A smile invaded my gloom expression, with my ears perking up a little more. Did Midnight not remember that it was he who grabbed me and pulled me closer? Whether he remembered that or not, I was glad that he really did appreciate that I was close last night.

Crumbling growled from overhead, and when I looked up I saw that Ena was climbing up some vines directly above me. One of the vines he pulled on rattled a large chunk of the wall. The chunk of the wall shifted and leaned over toward me. For a split second, the only thing that held it in place was the vines but they snapped. I saw Ena jump sideways to grab some other vines to get out of the way but the boulder fell directly for me.

A sharp and painful yank on my tail, that felt like it was going to rip off, threw me back. I landed painfully on my backside with a sharp stab of pain running of the cut on my back, and travelling up my spine. The same moment I landed, the boulder smashed the vines that I had stood over a split second ago. The boulder shattered the rocks beneath it, stirring up the ash that had recently fallen from the volcano eruption.

I leaned off my hindquarters and rubbed above the base of my tail; it was sore after feeling it nearly being ripped apart from the rest of my spine. Not to mention I was trying to dull the sharp pain that reminded me of the reptilians blade's mark.

Midnight stood over me, his chest rising and falling heavily with deep breaths. It was he who pulled me out of the path of the boulder that would have crushed me. He was breathing heavy because it seemed as if he was startled by the close encounter.

"Thank you," I muttered to Midnight. I was still rubbing my rear because of the pain he caused but I was not so ignorant to realize that he did just save me from a very messy fate.

"Are you all right, Snowy?" the black wolf asked. He looked down at me with wide eyes that I could swear betrayed that he was worried about my safety.

"I'm so sorry," Ena shouted before I could answer. The large wolf climbed down from the wall hurriedly, continuing to shout his apologies. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to knock it down. Are you okay?"

"I'm not hurt," I said after I stood up again.

"What happened?" Toki asked, running over with her other older brother.

"Be more careful next time," Midnight snapped at Ena. I was surprised by the black wolf's aggressiveness. Even Ena didn't expect it as his expression betrayed his shock. "You could have killed him!"

"I said I was sorry!" Ena snapped back. His shock from being yelled at didn't last long as he quickly went on the defensive. He was about half a meter taller than Midnight but he didn't make an aggressive move toward the black wolf. "It was an accident."

Midnight and I were orphans after all. We lived on the streets back in Sirmiq Harbor, and literally had to fight for our survival. It would be a stupid move for Ena to start a fight with the smaller wolf, and he knew it.

Still, Midnight's lips were quivering and he was suppressing a growl. I didn't know why he was so upset, especially when it was me that was nearly crushed just now, not him. I remembered seeing Midnight fight with the lynx that tried to steal from me back when the first snow fell, but now Midnight's attitude was different somehow. I wanted to calm him, but I was honestly afraid to touch him, or even to say something to him.

He was upset that I nearly got hurt, and he was defending me right now. If I tried to defuse the tension, he might get mad at me for not supporting his defense of me.

Without warning, Midnight stormed away from the rest of us. Confused, I decided to follow him.

"What's with him?" muttered the three pups behind us. I ignored them and trotted to catch up with Midnight.

Following him I didn't know what to say so I kept silent. Midnight turned his head to peek over his shoulder, and he seemed a bit irritated that I was following him but he didn't yell at me to go away. I didn't know what had upset Midnight so much but I had a bad feeling about whatever it was.

Midnight stopped suddenly when his eye had caught something reflect among an insignificant pile of rubble. The small room that we had wandered off to wasn't part of the kitchen. I didn't know what this room might have been. Midnight found that pile of rubble interesting though because he walked over to it and started to dig through the ash and rocks. From the rubble, he pulled out a large ring. It looked to have once been silver but heavily tarnished.

Midnight held it up to the sky, to get a better look at it even if the sun was still a few minutes away from breaking over the horizon.

"Look what I found," he boasted, inviting me for a closer look. His sour mood seemed to have dissolved instantly; at least when he spoke to me. He turned and held out the ring for me, which I took in my paws. The ring was incomplete, with a small gap on one part that gave it a slight bit of flexibility. I was surprised to see no rust, and besides being tarnished and almost looking like bronze, it was in a remarkabley good condition. It was woven and waved slightly, but I couldn't identify the design the silver made. "I have seen rich citizens wear these on their arms or sometimes on their tail."

I tried to rub off the tarnish but it wasn't easy to remove with just the pads on my paws. Whatever it was looked like textured fur. "What is it?"

"A ring," Midnight answered me. He took the ring from my paws and looked at it more closely. "It's too dirty to see what it looks like."

The sun broke over the horizon and its light shined through the trees at us. We both turned to look at the light, and realized how late in this winter morning it was becoming.

"Let's go back to camp," suggested Midnight. With the ring still in his paws, he turned back for the camp. I followed him, my paws tracking up ash that had fallen over these ruins.

Passing through the kitchen again, the other three pups were still messing around digging through the ruins.

"Did you find anything?" asked Toki who wandered over. She asked Midnight but now that she had wakened up a bit more, she came to walk beside me and eyed my tail.

"We're going back to camp," Midnight said, dodging the question. He held the ring tightly in his paws with no attempt to conceal it, but the other wolves didn't take notice or ignored it.

Now that Midnight and I were heading back, with Toki following me, the other two pups of Alec's decided it was a good time to return to camp as well.

Crawling over the ruins back toward the camps, we could now see that many of the other refugees were awake. The refugees were eating whatever little food remained for breakfast, or packing up to finish the journey to Arktiline. Now that the refugees were awake, it was more difficult to walk among them without being noticed. Five pups unattended were met with disapproving looks; the kind of looks that I hated to feel on me.

Before long we had reached back to the camp, where the five adults were standing together and still chatting. When they saw us returning, they fell suspiciously quiet. Something was wrong; the adults were uncomfortable and if they were uncomfortable then I knew that there was a reason.

"Come on pups," said Lexandra, walking up to us. She only gestured at her three pups though. "Let's go pack up. We'll be in Arktiline tonight and we'll have plenty of time to rest there."

Lexandra and her pups walked off but Midnight and I stood where we were. Bran and Alec walked up to us, while the two strange wolf guards walked off a bit and gathered their weapons and belongings.

"Midnight," said Bran, looking at the black wolf. "We're to escort you back to Kietan. Considering the eruption and the number of refugees on the ships back at the harbor, we cannot bring your friend with us. He'd have no place in the city anyway."

"What? Why?" Midnight demanded to know. I had nearly exclaimed those two words myself. They intend to take Midnight, and leave me behind? "I don't want to go anywhere."

I stood frozen behind Midnight while I kept my eyes focused on him. I don't know why the adults were trying to make our lives difficult but Midnight would be able to stop them.

"There is an elder in Kietan that wants to see you," Bran informed the young wolf. The pine marten knelt down in front of the wolf so that they were eye-level and placed his paws on his shoulders. "She might be able to tell us who your family was. Do you not want to know who your family was?"

I saw Midnight's ears perk up at that. It was a desire for probably any orphan to know where they came from, where they belong and where they can be safe. Hearing Bran promise Midnight the possibility of learning that worried me; what if Midnight would agree to go?

Midnight stared at the pine marten for several long seconds while we all awaited his response.

"I'm an orphan, I do not have any family," Midnight answered though the doubt in his voice was easy to detect. "Snowy is my family now."

"We know you want to stay with your friend but this is best for everyone," Bran insisted. The pine marten kept a firm hold in Midnight's shoulders and kept his gaze steady into the wolf's orange eyes. "Alec will be able to care for Snowy easier if its only him, and you will be well taken care of in Kietan even if you do not belong to the family. Neither of you have to live on the streets anymore."

"Why can't Snowy come with me?" Midnight asked. I watched as his ears tilted back slightly which showed signs that he was uncertain. It started to seem as if he was beginning to be persuaded and that made me worried.

"There are too many trying to get on the same ship we need to go on," Bran explained. He kept his gaze right on Midnight with confidence that was overpowering the much younger wolf. "There will be no room for him."

Midnight hesitated and stood there without saying anything or moving. First it sounded like they were asking us, but with Bran insisting it really does not seem like we have a choice. I should have known. Adults always told us what to do, not asking what I, or any other orphan wants.

"After a little while we can take you to come back here and we can bring your friend then," Bran promised. It was obvious in his impatience that he was attempting to hurry Midnight to make the decision to leave.

Midnight looked over his shoulder at me with a sorrowful expression. Bran's expression lightened. "Do not worry, you've made the right the choice."

"Don't go," I whined. My ears fell back flat against the top of my head. Why was Midnight going to leave me? Why were the adults doing this to me? Don't they make my life miserable enough!? "Why? Why does Midnight have to go?"

"You have to stay here, Snowy," Alec said, reaching a paw down to place on my shoulder. I jerked my shoulder away from him, staring with wide eyes at the three of them.

Midnight was being taken me. He was the only one to help me survive on the streets back in Sirmiq Harbor. He protected me when that orphaned lynx attacked me for the food we stole. He gave me bread after I was beaten, when he could have kept it all for himself. He just saved my life from being crushed by the ruins! Why was he leaving me?

"I'm sorry, Snowy," Alec apologized, but I paid him no attention.

"Why do you have to go?" I asked Midnight directly. My heart felt heavy as it painfully sank lower, causing tears to glaze over my eyes. My ears fell back flat against my head. The black wolf didn't even meet my gaze. "Why?"

"I don't know," quietly the wolf muttered. He stared at the ground.

"Please don't leave," I begged him.

"I'm sorry, Snowy," Midnight muttered. Bran started to gesture for Midnight to start following the two foreign wolves, but he gave me one glance. His eyes were shined brightly, filled with tears. "Goodbye, Snowy." His paw reached out for me, holding the silver ring that we had found. Confused, I took the ring in my paws and looked back up at the wolf. Was he really going to leave me? The wolf turned away from me and followed the pine marten back toward the road, away from the ruins.

"Don't go," I yelled. I took a step toward Midnight and reached out for him, but a strong arm wrapped around me and held me back. I looked up to see Alec holding on to me. "Why are you doing this? Let go of me!"

Midnight was walking away from me, getting further away and Alec was holding me back so I couldn't follow him. The black wolf was the only one to ever show me a slightest bit of compassion, and I did not want him to leave without me.

"Let me go!" I screamed, digging my claws into the ash beneath me as I tried to escape from Alec's grip. I threw a paw behind me, the paw that held the ring and hit Alec across the muzzle in a desperate attempt to escape. From a sharp gasp I knew I had hurt him but he retaliated and used both his arms to bear-hug me. With that he effectively pinned my arms to my sides and prevented me from thrashing around. "Let me go! Let me go!"

The black wolf was already disappearing behind the path into the ruins. "Midnight!" His tail vanished around a pillar and behind a thick layer of trees.

I pushed my hindpaws and claws into the ground, sliding against the smooth ash. I struggled against Alec, my sobs turning into growls. His powerful paws were wrapped around me, disabling me from using my arms but looking down at them I did was instinct directed me to do. I opened my muzzle and clamped my teeth down to the wolf's furry arms. Alec howled and pulled away the one arm, but his other still prevented me from sprinting forward.

"Snowy, that's enough," grunted Alec. He wrapped his bitten arm around me again, but this time a paw gripped my muzzle and held it shut. "He had to go with them. It's out of our control."

With his large paw around my muzzle, I looked up at the path Midnight disappeared on with tears leaking from my eyes and into my fur. Alec was determined to keep me from following Midnight. I could not bite, or even yell anymore; I couldn't even move my arms. I had been defeated. My growls went silent, giving way to my unstable sobs. My gaze dropped to the ground causing the tears from my eyes to roll down and soak the fur on my muzzle before they dripped off the end of my nose.

"Why," I muttered. Why did Midnight have to go? Why was the world so cruel to me? Midnight was the one wolf out of the large city that had helped me. "Why?"

My body went limp, feeling the defeat weigh on me and leave me crying in Alec's arms. He continued to hold my limp body for several more minutes until there was no hope of me following after Midnight. When he released me, I slumped to the ash-covered ground. Once I lied in the ash, I pushed myself up and looked up at Alec.

Why did he not let me follow Midnight? The black wolf who was my only friend. If it wasn't for Alec holding me back, I could have followed Midnight. If Alec never brought the strange guards back, Midnight would have stayed! It was all Alec's fault.

"I'm sorr--"

"It's all your fault!" I snapped at him. The other adults denied me food and beat me when I stole from them, but they never stole a friend from me. "You're worse than all the other adults!"

I wanted nothing to do with him. I bared my teeth when I thought of his inexcusable behavior of taking my only friend from me. Alec's expression was of shock and confusion, but I didn't pay attention to that. I kicked my hindpaws against the ground and jumped up. I pushed the ash and stones beneath my hindpaws and sprinted away from the wolf, and his family. All they wanted was to take Midnight and now they have done that. There's no need for me to stay.

"Snowy!" I heard Alec call after me, but I ran down the path toward the road, following Midnight's path. My anger fueled me enough to sprint beyond the ruins, and beyond the trees that bordered the path. Within a minute, I reached the road. Looking around, I saw dozens of refugees moving over the hill but there was no sign of the black wolf, the marten or the two strange guards. I had lost them. There was no way I'd find them now. I clenched my paw around the silver ring that Midnight had given me. "Snowy!"

Looking back I noticed that Alec's voice was following me. That wolf had betrayed me. I glanced toward the refugee's path and back the way we all had come from. A fire still burned behind us, its ash covering part of the sky. Toward Arktiline were the hints of the last clouds of ash from the volcano eruption.

Alec's voice was still getting closer and I made a decision. I started to run with the refugees, heading toward the city of Arktiline. Midnight and I are orphans. Even with Midnight gone, I am still an orphan. I don't need Alec and his family. I can survive on my own.