Cassiel's Final Thread

[Kaziph]

The time passed in a blur. Some moments seemed to drag out, and yet other moments were gone before he realized they'd flickered past him. Age did not suit the old brute well. There were others on the island, he knew, that held the same number of years… but for whatever reason, Cassiel had gone down quickly after falling down the ravine several seasons before. His hind legs now wobbled and drug, and he couldn't feel them. He could still get around, but was painful and pitiful. The knuckles of his back feet were scabbed and raw from being pulled across the rocky terrain of the mountains.

Now, the only distance he went was to the creek near Luma's den for water. Then, he would only retreat back toward the den entrance itself to rest again. If the others brought him food, he ate, but otherwise Cass was well beyond being able to provide for himself. Like it or not, he was hardly a leader anymore. He didn't notice, though. His mind wandered aimlessly. Sometimes he remained in the present, thinking proudly of Basile and his son's soon-to-be-mate, Keeya. Beryl and her friend, that newer brute, and Thaddeus too, crossed his mind. Thad was a good wolf. And Luma. His precious, precious Luma. Aisha, and the little ones. Only now, surely, they weren't so little.

Cass sighed and huffed a deep breath, letting the tendrils of cool frost drift from his muzzle while his eyes watched wonderingly. Would the other side of the Golden Rivers be as cold as this? After all, winter was the season of the wolf. He certainly hoped so. Another yawn claimed him, and he pressed his muzzle against his crossed forelegs. In the distance, had he been watching, he would have seen the storm clouds gathering far over the dry-as-tender Ravilin. He would have known that the future was abruptly about to change. Yet he obliviously napped on, already halfway to his Rivers.

[Tay]

Artist: entaie.deviantart.com/


The silver female sneezed as she trot back toward her den. She could smell a storm somewhere, the higher layers of the atmosphere slowly dampening. Soon it would reach the bottom layer and the clouds would grow ripe and fat and burst. She found it odd. Snow storms did not typically have the same thunder and lightening of spring and summer. Now though, the smell of ozone was in the air. She knew not what that was, only that it meant the sky would growl and snarl. Luma was not afraid of storms but the idea of thunder and lightening during winter made the hair on her neck stand with uneasiness.

She was sensing something that would effect the whole Isle. Many animals have been known to sense things such as monsoons and mudslides. The nervous female's instincts were tugging her, wishing for her to run. She had never felt something like this before. The urge to flee from something she couldn't see crawled through her bones. She made herself ignore it and kept walking to her den and her mate. A dead hare hung in her jaws, food for her Cassiel. She worried for him, enough that the itch in her bones could be shoved away. His hips had grown increasingly bad. The days of hunts lead by the white guardian where long past. The pack was happy enough to help, many of them bringing small kills to the den for their leader.

Luma, too, would head out to first hunt for herself and then Cassiel. She tried in these times, to persuade little Aisha to go...but more often then not, the fem barely even noticed her. She wasn't sure what had happened to the pretty youth...but it seemed the Jaden brute had taken her wits with him when he left. She rarely left the den, and when she did...she had to be coaxed. Her body was skeletal, her eyes haunted. Luma was glad that in his state, Cassiel was unable to see his daughter. She told him Aisha still mourned Jaden and left it there. The brute need not know the extent to which his daughter had deteriorated. At least Briar Rose had gone above her mother's mourning.

Luma's half-grandpup was smart and resourceful. She often fed herself, a very skilled tracker. Luma was glad to see she was usually followed by little Gabe. Though some of the Kameskai suffered, other parts were young and strong. She had heard Basile and Keeya's loving howls during her hunt and she had smiled. Perhaps Cassiel would be made a grandfather again this spring. Her paws brought her to her den, where her mate napped. She smiled to him, dropping the hare before him.

Tired, love? She said, nuzzling his ears. She groomed him for a moment, motherly over her older mate. I think we will have a surprise in the spring, Cass. The winter seems to have bewitched a pair of lovers once more. She chuckled, sitting in front of him and nudging the hare toward his mouth. Another set of grandpups for the alpha, come spring? We can hope, hm? She laughed, her eyes full of love and adoration.