Trails of Blood

Ice awoke with a groan. Dusk had fallen upon the forest, casting everything in shadow. His head ached faintly, but it all pain was forgotten at the sight of the two limp bodies before him.

Tobin. Mirabella. The two dogs who had cared for him after what Midnight Pack had done had been destroyed by Midnight Pack.

Thoughts of revenge and killing the dogs responsible for this travesty flashed through Ice's mind as he heaved himself up. But they were gone just as quickly. Revenge wouldn't do anything. There would be no way he, a single dog, could take on a whole ferocious pack. And even if he could, it still wouldn't bring his friends back.

He slowly walked over to them, ignoring the sting of his wounds. He pressed his nose against Mirabella's cold cheek, tears welling in his eyes. I'm sorry.

Ice gently separated their bodies and dragged them back to the den. Carefully, he groomed them so their wounds were covered and used some of the herbs Mirabella had said were used for burials. He then dug a grave and laid the mates side-by-side in it. He stared at them, so peaceful but so unnervingly still, and then slowly pushed the dirt back in.

Ice sat motionless, staring at the mound of earth. One might have mistaken him for a dog made of stone if not for the tears that rolled down his face.

He had thought he had found a place where he could be happy. He had thought he could forget all the grief of losing his family. He had thought he would spend the rest of his life living with two dogs he loved and cared about.

And instead, he had lost everything.

~

Ice blinked open his eyes to early morning light. He had slumped into a half-sitting, half-lying position and had fallen asleep somewhere in the night. He stood up slowly, feeling stiff.

As he stretched the stiffness out of his limbs, Ice's thoughts flew back to the ravine where he had been trying to make a decision when he'd heard Tobin's howl. He smiled bitterly. There was no indecision now. There was nowhere else to go.

But what exactly was he going to do? How would he even find Blood? Midnight Pack was the only place he could think of him going, but it had been months. Would Blood still be a member? And if he wasn't, then what was he going to do?

Don't think about that now, Ice scolded himself. You won't get anywhere that way. Focus on the present, like Father would.

He glanced at the grave and the lump returned to his throat. Blinking back tears, he turned away and inhaled a shaky breath. First, he would hunt; get his mind off things and silence his rumbling stomach. Then he would decide what to do.

~

Ice chewed on a bone of the rabbit he had caught, thinking about his options. He had already resolved that he would not go back to the clearing or the den. He wasn't sure if he could handle it. And besides, he thought, taking on Thorn's practical mindset, I need to get out of the territory anyway. Midnight Pack will be patrolling it soon enough.

He rose and stared ahead at the forest. Looking for Blood in Midnight Pack was his only option aside from wandering aimlessly. And he had made a promise.

Ice gritted his teeth and strode forward, his eyes hard with resolve. Maybe, just maybe, he would pick up a trace of his brother's scent and he would be able to find him without getting his fur ripped off by a group of hostile dogs.

It wasn't long before he had reached the ravine. Pushing away any emotional memory triggers, Ice put his nose to the ground and began to sniff. This was the last place he had seen Blood, so it was the only place he could look.

Nothing except the reek of Midnight Pack, the scent of prey, and the aroma of plants reached his nose. He paced around the ravine, still sniffing. He continued to come up with nothing interesting until he reached a clump of brambles. There, he stopped short.

The scent here was painfully familiar to Ice. It seemed to be mingled with Midnight Pack scent, but the was clear who it came from: Blood.

Ice looked closer at the brambles and spied a tuft of red fur caught in the thorns. It was quite possible that there were other red huskies in Midnight Pack, but none of them would match the scent. Ice could hardly believe his luck; what were the chances that Blood would still be here? While it was logical that Blood would join Midnight Pack, who could have very well moved on. Thanking Khazan, Ice began to sniff around again, hoping to find a trail.

The scent led him out of the ravine through clumps of ferns. Ice felt his paws mold instinctively into the ground beneath him. This was his territory, the territory that his father had fought for and finally died for.

That sounds more heroic that it is, Ice thought gloomily. Being ambushed by your own son isn't the noblest of ways to die.

The scent grew stronger as he padded down an old deer path. Memories made his head spin and he growled at himself to refocus. The trail moved into some undergrowth and Ice froze when he heard a twig snap. Could that be him?

Ice slowly crouched down, being careful not to make a noise. A flash of red swept through his peripheral vision and he tensed. A dog suddenly exploded out of the undergrowth and knocked into Ice, throwing him on his side. "You may think you're good at stalking, stranger," the dog growled. "Too bad--you're not."

The voice clinched it. It was Blood.

Ice snapped his head around to meet ice-blue eyes, the exact same shade as his own. "I was always better at it than you," he retorted.

Blood's eyes stretched wide in unfettered shock. "You..." he gasped. "You--you're dead!"

The husky's grip had slackened from shock, and Ice kicked him off, backing away in a defensive pose. "Not quite," he snarled. "I may have come close a few times, but not quite."

"They killed you," Blood said, clearly still astonished. "How are you still alive?"

Ice ignored his question and instead came closer, shoving his muzzle into his brother's face. "Why did you do it?!" he demanded, barely keeping his voice below a yell. "Why did you try to kill us?!"

Blood seemed to regain his composure and he bared his teeth. "That's my business," he snapped. "I--"

Ice cut him off, his anger building. "Oh, yes!" he shouted. "I'm sure it's your business whether you want to murder your own family!" He leaned into his brother, eyes blazing.

Blood didn't say anything for a moment. "Why did you come here?" he asked finally. "Did you swear revenge to kill me?" His voice adopted a slightly mocking tone, as though he doubted Ice's ability.

Ice stared at Blood. His brother seemed to be giving him the opportunity. His snowy white throat was exposed and he glared at Ice with a defiant expression. "No," he said finally. "I wanted to know why."

"Thorn was weak," Blood spat. "Well, perhaps not weak. But stupid. Why would you try to hold a tiny piece of territory against such a strong pack? I wanted to join Midnight Pack to be with stronger dogs. They said I might be a traitor, so I had to prove my loyalty."

Ice was unable to stop himself from shaking in rage. "So you tried to kill us?" he snarled.

"Clearly, they didn't finish the job," Blood retorted. "Typical. You want to get a job done, you have to do it yourself."

"Is that a threat?" Ice hissed.

"That's for you to decide."

Before Ice could reply, Blood had barrelled into him and was snapping mere inches away from his throat. Ice kicked out and shoved Blood away, then pounced on him, clawing at his back. Blood leaped and twisted, grabbing one of Ice's forelegs and jerking. Ice fell to the ground, letting out a howl of pain as Blood's teeth sliced a long cut through his leg.

Ice sank his teeth in at the base of Blood's shoulder, as deep as he could go. Blood yelped and kicked madly, finally ripping free and leaping at Ice again. Ice reared to meet him and the two fell to the forest floor, snapping, clawing, and snarling.

"What in the name of Khazan--?!"

Four dogs suddenly burst through the trees, formerly unnoticed to Ice because of the racket he and Blood had been making. It was the older black husky that had been at Tobin and Mirabella's death; Midnight. With him were a Canadian Eskimo Dog, a Siberian Laika, and a younger white husky.

The Canadian Eskimo Dog intervened in the fight, knocking Blood back with a heavy white paw. Midnight glowered at them, his eyes burning with a pale blue fire. "You!" he snarled at Blood. "I ordered you to leave the territory at once. Work out whatever petty dispute you have when you leave."

"It was no petty dispute!" Ice snapped, too angry to think of anything smarter to say.

Midnight's gaze passed over Ice with indifference, but then his eyes narrowed. "Wait. You were the dog fighting with those two old weaklings the other day." He snorted. "You must have a hard head."

Ice curled his lip. He didn't have a retort, but he didn't care anyway. This mutt wasn't worth verbally sparring with.

Heavy silence reigned over the dogs. Midnight finally grunted. "Get out, both of you. I will personally scour the territory to make sure you've left. If you're not out by sunset, then I'm afraid our next meeting won't be so pleasant."

"I don't have to take orders from you, you old fool," Blood sneered. "It's not like you're my pack leader anymore."

Midnight's eyes flashed and he leaped across the clearing, slamming into Blood and pinning him to the ground. "You were saying?" he hissed, his gleaming white fangs nearly touching Blood's nose. "Talk to me again when you've tamed your ego."

He stepped off of Blood and kicked a pawful of dirt towards him in disdain. "Move. Now," he growled. "I don't have time for you. And if you're not in a hurry, Bandit and Alpine will be more than happy to show you out."

The Eskimo Dog and the Laika stood by their leader, eyes gleaming and tongues lolling with eagerness. The white husky hung back, her eyes wide.

Ice stood up and began to back away slowly, limping on his injured leg. He watched the two dogs warily, unsure of attack. Blood was clearly seething with rage at being disgraced in such a way. Before he turned to leave, he swung his head around to glare at Ice, his ice-blue eyes blazing. "Don't think this is over," he snarled. "I'll find you again. You won't be rescued by old fools and whining servants next time."

Midnight let out an unintelligible sound of fury and Bandit and Alpine both charged for Blood, but the red husky had streaked off into the undergrowth.

They won't catch him, Ice thought. Blood knows the territory like the back of his paw.

Midnight whipped around to bare his teeth at Ice. "Don't stick around," he growled. "Sarasota can handle you herself." He jerked his head at the white husky behind him.

Ice didn't answer. He turned and ran away, running farther and farther, and finally leaving behind the last traces of his family.

~

Ice stopped, panting, near a creek. The sun was sinking beneath the horizon, cloaking the forest in the dim light of dusk. He leaned down and lapped up some water, finally taking the time to think about Blood's parting words. Why does he want to kill me? he wondered, knowing he couldn't answer his own question.

He sat down and thought. "Well, I can't stay here," he said, knowing no one would hear him. "I'll just be killed by Blood or Midnight Pack."

Ice sighed and looked at the ground. "But what other choice do I have?" he murmured.

Out of nowhere, a memory flashed into his mind. He was sitting in Mirabella's den, his wounds still healing. He left for the Wandering Forest, Mirabella was saying.

Then he was at the cave, listening to Frost tell a story. He defeated all his enemies, even humans, and took his dogs to a safe place in a huge valley, called the Wandering Forest.

The Wandering Forest...

Ice blinked. Maybe... Maybe I can go there, he thought, hope rising in his heart for the first time in a while. I can leave this life behind. I can start a new one. Maybe I'll finally find peace there. Maybe...

Ice stood up, feeling strengthened in resolve. He knew what he was going to do now.

He was going to the Wandering Forest.

Woo hoo! Got a flash of inspiration and boom! New chapter! This one's kinda long, but that's never a bad thing. ;) Anyway, I wanna say that it might be a while before the next chapter because I'm gonna have to get permission from some people to use characters. Right, so that's all. Hope you enjoyed the next chapter in Ice's life, and I'll see ya next time!