The small group of wolves stalked through the forest undergrowth, scenting the prey they were hunting. It was a wild boar, more specifically a Nagra. There were about five of them, not a lot for a pack of Shrrg in the Beor Mountains. The war had really cut down there numbers, and they were being pushed further and further to the edge of the Beor’s.

The lead wolf suddenly stopped and looked back at the others. It growled in some intellectual language that only they could understand. Two of the back wolves pealed off from the group and went to the right. The other two went the other way, leaving the lead wolf by himself. The wolf knew it was dangerous to hunt Nagra with such small numbers, for the beasts were dangerous, but lack of food had forced it upon them, and with growing cubs they needed all the food they could find.

Once they were all in place the Shrrg stalked towards where the scent was coming from. It was injured, which was a huge bonus to the group of wolves.  They all moved forward as one, the lead wolf pounced from the bushes, scaring the pig. It squealed and started to run to the side, straight into two of the other wolfs.

The wolves were nearly as pig as the pig, probably slightly taller, yet the Nagra was almost twice as heavy. It swung its head at one of the wolf. It nimbly jumped out the way. The other Shrrg went straight for the pig’s injury, a large cut down its side. It was covered in the scent of an even larger creature.

The pig squealed in pain as the wolf latched on to the cut. The other wolf leapt at its throat with enough force to knock it over. It fell and they quickly subdued it. The other three wolves joined in and the pig went silent. The five wolves quickly gorged down their rather large meal, all the while looking out for any other potential threats. The lead wolf knew the cut had been done recently, and didn’t want to stay there long enough to find out what had made it.

Once the wolves had eaten there full they began to drag the carcass back to their den. The cubs would be well fed with the amount of meat still left on the creature. Besides, it was about time they had warm, fresh flesh.

The little barks and growls of there cubs were heard once they had neared the den. By the sounds of it they were fighting over some sought of meal, but that wasn’t right since this was the first reasonable catch they had had for a weeks.

The wolves dragged the carcass into the clearing to find the cubs already feasting on a dead rabbit. There were three of them in all; none were runts as that one had already died. They were around the size of a small medium sized dog. One of the wolves looked around for something, and spotted it.

There was one more cub, but this one was different from the others. It was sitting in a tree for one thing, it’s large tail dangling behind it and its emerald coloured wings drooping limply from its sides as it gorged itself on another kill. This time it was a bird, which was strange because not even the larger wolves could catch birds. It realised the others were back and growled in happiness. It leapt from its branch a glided down to the wolves.

A strange presence touched each of the wolves’ minds as the strange looking cub greeted them. It was slightly larger then the other cubs, another strange thing because it had only come out of its stone a week ago. The other cubs were nearly a month old.

It licked the blood of its green scales and peered through the wolves to see what they had brought. It yelped in joy and darted between the elder Shrrg’s legs to get at the boar. One of the other wolfs gently picked up the baby by its neck, stopping it from getting to the carcass before the others.

They dragged the carcass into the clearing and the Shrrg let the scaled baby go. It instantly gorged itself on what was left of the boar. The other babies managed to get in before it was all finished at ate it themselves. When they were finished there was nothing left of the boar except bones. The scaled baby burped after it had finished.

Afterwards the adult wolves sat down to rest after their hunt. Their leader was still in high alert. If the creature that had injured the boar in the first place decided to come back for it, they would have to run.

He went back to looking at the cubs, especially at the strange one. If they had had more members in there pack they would have left the baby by itself.  But the pack was small, extremely small, and they needed all the members they could get. The scaled cub tackled one of the others, taking it down easily. The Shrrg Alpha seemed to raise an eyebrow at that. This cub would become a threat when it grew older, a threat to his position. He growled at the thought and went back to looking out for the creature.

As the weeks went on and the cubs grew there was one thing that was for certain. The scaled cub was growling a lot faster then the others. By the time it was one month old it had grown to the size of an adolescent Shrrg. It was beginning to think for itself and come on hunts with the others. It’s new found ability to fly especially came in useful as it flew down from the tree tops and startled prey, usually taking down the target for itself.

Because of this the other three cubs were prospering, getting bigger by the week. Soon they would also be ready to hunt for themselves. Another useful prospect for the cub was that it could think and make strategies, communicating to the other wolfs through mental pictures. They never lost prey again because of this.

Its scales also allowed it better camouflage in the trees. While the other Shrrgs’ fur was a mixture of grey, black and brown its scales were a dark green. It blended in perfectly with the rest of the forest. It’s big wings also helped with blending in. The cub had learnt how to sway them in beat with the rest of the leaves and the wind, making them appear like leaves.

While the cub’s scent wasn’t quite as good as the Shrrg’s, his eyesight was better. He was able to spot prey from a mile away and warn the others, or fly down and get the prey himself.

Another half a month passed and the cub was now the size of one of the Shrrg. The other cubs were thinking of him as a playmate any more, but a member of the pack. The alpha was getting increasingly worried for his position. The not-so-cub’s claws were longer then any of the Shrrg and its scales acted as battle armour. When it opened its wings it appeared nearly as large as one of the bears that roamed around. What scared the Alpha the most was its superior thinking ability. It was as smart, if not smarter, then one of the small two legged creatures that roamed around the Beors, building large cities with there tools and making deadly battle gear.

One day the Green Shrrg had flown down with a Feldunost, a giant goat like creature, clutched in its claws. It was in a hurry it seemed, for it was more tired the usual. It quickly sent a mental image around the pack of a group of the two-legged creatures sneaking up to their den. The wolves were instantly in panic, for they couldn’t hope to fight off all of them. One of the females quickly hid the cubs in the den and bounded into the forest.

The scaled cub took the wing again and landed on the side of one of the mountains, looking down at the two-legged creatures below. It could see they were nervous, for there hands were clutching there weapons nervously. It reached out its mind towards the two-legged creatures to find what they wanted. What it found was anger, and fear. They had heard of a large creature that was nearby and stealing their Feldunost. They had been sent to kill it.

 It decided to try something, since it looked like they weren’t going to be scared away by a couple of Shrrg. It sent images into their minds of the giant bears they feared so much. They started to panic, one of them cried out in anguish at the images of the bears these mountains were named after came down and ripped them to shreds. A few of them lost their nerves and ran back to there den. The rest gripped the weapons tighter and began to look around for the source of these images.

Seeing that the rest of the two-legged creatures had not been scared off by the images the winged Shrrg decided to try something else. It let loose a loud roar, trying to mimic the sound of one of the Beor’s. It sounded close enough to the sound that the rest of the two-legged creatures went running through the forest underground after the others.

Satisfied with his work, the winged Shrrg flew back down to where the others were. It sent them comforting images of what had just happened, and a few of the wolves felt humour in the way the two-legs had run.

The winged Shrrg smiled inwardly to itself, feeling happy that it had sent away a great threat to the Shrrg pack. He sat down on his haunches as the rest of the cubs came out to play. They were nearly old enough to hunt now, for the first time. It resisted the urge to join in, for while it was as big as the other Shrrg, it still felt like a cub.

It saw the alpha looking at him with a strange expression. The green Shrrg saw the malice there, it new that soon it would have to challenge the Alpha or get kicked out of the tribe. Before he had come along, the alpha was the usual leader of the pack during hunts, making the smart decisions and killing the prey. Now that the wings Shrrg had come, it had lost the lead of the hunt, and it had been better for the tribe.

The green Shrrg sent a comforting thought to the alpha. He didn’t really want to challenge him, it didn’t feel right. The alpha had been like a sire, although the green Shrrg was beginning to suspect he wasn’t a wolf at all. Wolves didn’t have scales or wings, and the certainly didn’t roar, they howled.

He growled slightly as one of the cubs latched onto his tale. He looked down its great length to see the cub had managed to get under his scales. It instantly let go at the growl and looked towards the younger Shrrg with innocent eyes. The green wolf smiled a toothy grin at the cub and nudged it with his snout. It was strange to think that such a small thing was his elder.

He looked back and put his head on his paws. Shrrg’s didn’t think either, he did. He went through his memories and remembered strange sounds, like the two-legged creatures that roamed the mountains, but different. He remembered different feelings that were strange, a river, a wooden box, another forest with far larger trees.

He decided to do something he hadn’t done before, and looked through one of the other wolf’s memories. It showed many years of experience. Hunting, and exploring through the reaches of the mountains. There was danger around every corner, the danger of hunting, of other packs, of the giant bears and the largest fear of the small two-legged creatures with the sharp weapons. At last he came to the memory he was looking for. They were drinking at the river when a green stone fell from the sky. It cracked, and something came out of it. That something was him.

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Hey guys! First chapter of Wild. I hope you enjoyed, vote and comment if you did. The next chapter will be out when it's out. See Ya!

Pennator^^