LoneWolf

A STORY OF THE LONE WOLF

The Lone Wolf looks around him and sees only the stark trees pushing out of the snow; he sniffs the air for walking food and then sniffs again to see if there are any other wolves around. He decides to head upwards towards the an interesting smell of Deer. He waits, looks around, sniffs the air again, re-assures himself it's ok and then sets off, slowly at first, and then gradually builds up his speed - leaving light prints in the snow. Once the smell starts to get stronger he slows to a trot and sniffs for clearer directions. He then heads for the trees and slows to a walk.

On the outskirts of the trees he stops. He waits awhile to catch his breath; the air is cold, he sniffs again remembering what it was like to be hunting with a family, such a long time ago. He shakes off his loneliness and with head down starts to follow the trail of the Deer. Just outside a clearing he stops, crouches and looks. Just behind a sapling he sees a fawn with the Doe grazing some metres away. This has to be dinner, easy for one to catch, he waits sniffing the air - some new smells are coming through, he fidgets, he recognises the smell as being a pack of wolves that are not too friendly, the leader of the pack seeing him as a threat. He decides to hide and wait. Sure enough the pack approach, he sees them forming a circle around the Doe and her fawn. He looks round, sniffing, to see if they are circling behind him. No, he sees the leader in front of him, and not being too quiet. A lone wolf has to be quiet to catch his food, but the pack don't they have numbers to compensate.

The Doe picks up ears and twitches her nose, she senses danger, she moves towards her fawn. The pack starts to move their circle inwards. The Lone Wolf watches, moving position as the Doe tries to direct her fawn out of the clearing. All of a sudden the pack rush at her and her fawn. Lone Wolf watches as the pack cut off all the Doe's exits out of the clearing.

Lone Wolf stands watching, sniffing, he starts to feel hunger pangs. The pack and their dinner have gone, he moves forward into the clearing to see if they have left anything behind that he could eat. He sniffs the ground and then looks up and around him, the loneliness starts to overwhelm him. He should be used to being on his own by now, but he never has, all he has managed is to survive on his own, living by his own wits and ingenuity to find food and stay out of trouble.

Living and surviving on his own had keened all his senses, made him more alert and taught him survival skills that he had not understood when he was a youngster with a pack to help him out. He likened his oneness to an human warrior having to achieve his status by surviving on his own, but it was the waves of loneliness that suddenly washed over him that he found the hardest to cope with. Like now watching the pack hunt together, eat together and know that they will be sleeping together, looking after the young ones together.

He found a mouthful of meat and hastily ate it knowing it wasn't going to be enough. As he chewed he heard a rustling near the trees; he turned his head and saw a rabbit hoping and eating obviously sure danger was over. Lone Wolf took the instant decision and ran and pounced - Food At Last! Lone Wolf pulled his prey further into the trees where he could eat undisturbed.

Whilst finishing off his meal Lone Wolf's sensitive ears heard another noise, he stopped mid-chew and waited, he spat out his meat and sniffed the air - wolf. Warily he got up and took stock of his surroundings; he slowly but carefully and noiselessly backed himself to a tree and then behind the tree and stood statue still. He waited, a female wolf edged towards his left over meal, she seemed thin and unkempt. She laid down and started to eat the left over meat. Lone Wolf watched and listened, his nose went up in the air, more wolves. He waited watching the female eat hungrily at his meal; sure enough the pack came from the clearing looking for her. By the way they reacted to her it was clear to Lone Wolf that she was the servant of the pack, the last one to eat, bullied and tormented, made to look after all the cubs in the pack.

The pack began to snarl and snap at her and she cowered and turned onto her back in submission. The wolves still tormented her, this was getting too much for Lone Wolf and his temper got the better of him. He leapt from behind his tree and throw himself into the growling pack, nipping and biting them as he made his way to the poor cowering female. The wolves began to back off one by one until only the Leader was confronting him. Lone Wolf stood between the Leader and the female and faced him challenging. At first they just snarled at each other menacingly, weighting each other up. Lone Wolf was beside himself with rage and bared his teeth and snickled back his nose as menacingly as he could, warning off the Leader. The Leader returned the menacing and Lone Wolf looked into his eyes, he assessed that he was getting older, tired and probably fed up with his own male cubs setting up challenges to his leadership, yep, he wasn't going to fight too hard. Another thing that being on your own taught you was how to gage the reactions of the enemy, very valuable when coming face to face and no pack to back you up. Lone Wolf also knew that the Leader would be weighing him up and remembering when he was the warrior challenging everyone, proving himself, no the Leader wasn't going to put up too much of a fight. They bared their teeth at each other again and then the Leader leapt at Lone Wolf. Lone Wolf saw him coming and side stepped sinking his teeth into the Leader as he lost his balance. The Leader turned and nipped Lone Wolf on the shoulder, Lone Wolf gave the Leader another good bite and then a good nip on his ear as he tried to turn again. The Leader moved back out of reach, he looked at Lone Wolf and snarled half-heartedly. Lone Wolf knew that the Leader didn't think the female was worth the aggro and pain.

The Leader looked round at his pack that stood in a semi circle at his back, looked back at Lone Wolf, gave a warning snarl and then turned and left with his pack. Lone Wolf watched them go following the Leader, some of the younger dogs looking respectfully towards him, some of the females looking longingly and then at the servant female with either jealous glances or a gleam.

Once all the pack had vanished into the trees and Lone Wolf was satisfied that they were not about to try an ambush, he turned to the female. She had risen and was looking at him in awe. He indicated that they should finish the rabbit together, she didn't need asking twice and the two of them started to eat both ravenous. After finishing the food Lone Wolf started to move into the trees in search of more food. He looked back at the female, she was stood watching him, wondering whether she was suppose to follow or just stay where she was. He indicated her to follow him and she swiftly moved to walk behind him. Lone Wolf stopped her and sniffed the air. He could smell more rabbits, he looked at the female and wondered how quiet she would be, but he didn't have to worry she had been trained by the pack not to make her presence known, so she moved quietly upto him to reassure him. He sniffed again and indicated to her where the rabbits where and moved towards the area. The female understood and moved around the other side of where the rabbits where. In no time at all they had two lovely rabbits to eat. When both had had they fill, Lone Wolf indicated that it was time to move off and find a place for rest. He was please with the female she seemed to have the same instincts and feelings that he had and her reactions to commands where instant.

Weeks later Lone Wolf look at the female her fur was no longer unkempt and she now had weight on her from having enough food she was a fine looking female and one that Lone Wolf was proud to have by his side. In time to come Lone Wolf knew that other females would now join his pack and then there would be litters and he and female would no longer be Lone Wolves.