With that, the wolf turned and speeded away, with me tailing him. Well, I hadn't much choice had I? And there was no way I ever wanted to see one of those monstrous unicorns ever again. The wolf led me through many silver birch and conifer trees, past heather bushes and oaks, through scratchy gorse bushes. I was worried my hair would be messed up but from the wolfs determination, I guessed I'd have no time to rearrange it. Eventually, I figured we were far enough away from the unicorn to talk. So, plodding through a heather thicket, I asked the wolf,
"Erm... wolf..."
The wolf spun round and growled,
"The name's Brindlemark." he was obviously annoyed.
Brindlemark! What a weird name! But all the same, I apologised and continued,
"Brindlemark, where are you taking me and why haven't you killed me?"
Brindlemark gave me the strangest look I'd ever seen an animal make.
"You humans think the heroes of this wood are savages, don't you? Of course I wouldn't kill you - far easier prey are avaliable anyway."
But that only answered part of my question so I asked again,
"But where are you taking me?"
Brindlemark replied,
"Back to camp."
I was about to complain I didn't know where that was when Brindlemark interrupted,
"Yes, I know you don't know what it is. If you're to understand anything, I'm going to have to explain this woods situation."
I nodded and Brindlemark itched a flea on his neck before telling me,
"This wood is one of the few mystical ancient forests in the UK. This means the animals here are not ordinary. Wolves and bears, for instance, are extinct from the rest of the UK but still live in these forests. Most animals here can talk because of the magic in this wood. The forest was peaceful once but then feral animals arrived. We had a debate about pets and nature but it all spiralled out of control. It became a war on whether the wood belongs to nature or the pets. I won't go into details. But we, the Snowdrop army, continue to be strong." brindlemark looked dead serious as he said this.
"You named yourself the Snowdrop army?" I exclaimed, surprised. Wasn't a snowdrop a dainty, insignificant flower?
Brindlemark explained,
"Snowdrops grow and thrive, even in the cold, hard times of winter. That's why our army is named after them. The Snowdrop army will look out for you, keep you safe. Don't be spooked by us, we all talk and can be friendly, we're not savages."
Brindlemark then lifted up his paw momentarily, showing a brown-grey brindle patch of fur on his front left leg. He walked onwards, through braken and I followed after him. I still wasn't sure what was going on. Brindlemark led me down a path of bare earth, which sloped down to a cluster of bushes and trees, which were heavily clad in claw marks. Directly below us was a large clearing, free of bushes, with a large boulder at the north side. I guessed it might be a meeting place. Near the cluster of bushes, there was a dark cave. A huge face was snuffling at the cave entrance hungrily looking for a morsel of food. A bear face. I would've screamed but Brindlemark had said they weren't savages, so I didn't. Brindlemark sauntered down the path confidently, with me cowering behind him.
"Don't get stressed." Brindlemark warned me, "They smell your fear -try and relax, we're not vicious."
But Brindlemark was a brave and noble beast who'd always lived a life of danger, compared to my unexciting life. He didn't understand! He led me past felled trees with eagles perched on them and past another cave full of grumpy-looking bears and bats. I was astonished at the size of the bats - they were bigger than dogs! Bats always gave me the shivers. Black cats scratched the trees like they were hacking at a carcass as I passed them. But in the meeting area, the wolves were gathered. A few lolled on the bare grass, panting and whining to each other constantly. Occasionally, a wolf would nuzzle another wolf only for that wolf to spring up, lips curled upwards, snapping while the wrongdoing wolf whimpered. I gasped every time these squabbles happened. I was nervous of wolves. After a while, I noticed Brindlemark had walked on without me. I wondered where he was until I heard his low voice behind me. All of the animals turned to him and were silent.
"Snowdrop Army, fate has brought us a new member. She is to be treated with respect and mustn't be bitten by any of you." Brindlemark looked accusingly at the wolves who'd been arguing before. An older, larger wolf stepped in front of Brindlemark and said to me,
"I am the leader of this army, Moonlightgrowl, or Growler for short. You are destined to do great things but it won't be easy." Growler then turned and left with Brindlemark following. When they'd left, several of the wolves sniffed me all over but decided I wasn't a threat and left me alone. I asked a pair of she-wolves innocently,
"Do you know if there's any special bed reserved for me or something here?" I asked.
The she-wolves looked at each other and rolled on the ground, tongues lolling everywhere, whining strangely. I realised this was their way of laughing.
"Special bed... reserved here... Ahahaha! S'thinks she's at some human hotel... Ahahaha! Stupid human!" The she-wolves snickered sickeningly. Eventually, they pointed their noses to a bush.
"That's your bed, human. Do you require an extra pillow or room service?" they mocked me.
I looked at the bush miserably. I'd barely been here a few minutes and already I'd made two enemies.