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Last day of Winter, 411 AV
A little over 5 clicks from outside the gates of Avanthal, a young silver cub hopped and bounced through the forest, testing her enormous paws. A squirrel scurried a few inches from her and she zipped after it with lightning reflexes. The clever creature burrowed into the snow drift with nimble feet and Silvy came up with nothing more than a mouthful of snow.
Futilely, she dug at the drift and buried her face into it, trying to reach the little thing. After ten minutes of persistence, she gave up and looked around, still panting.
The day she turned six months old, little more than a week before, she'd made her very first change into a wolf. The strength and speed she gained in this form was sheer exhilaration! She could jump, and bounce and run for hours without getting tired.
And she no longer needed those itchy, noisy clothes either! She adored grooming her front paws till they gleamed pure white. Too bad she didn't realize that the rest of her was filthy! Silvy was a scrawny little cub with big paws and long legs that didn't match her compact, stringy body. Pine pitch still lingered on her left flank and one tufted ear, frozen to the fur by icy winter breath.
She was 6 months old as a wolf cub, 6 years as a human, and totally ignorant of the danger she was in. A solitary cub makes an easy meal for the vast amount of predators roaming the outskirts of Avanthal, two-legged and four.
This was her first taste of freedom--and her first taste of gnawing hunger! A week without food was making her desperate. Silvy was never taught how to be a wolf, nor was she taught to be human. She knew she'd only survive by instinct and if that instinct led her wrong, it would be a quick death.
The half grown cub lifted her little black nose to the sky, and abruptly caught two scents! A deer and a hare! She could never take down an enormous deer but the hare--well maybe -this- time she would catch another one! They were so fast but hunger might give her the keen edge she needed.
She turned in a circle, undecided where to start. She clambered up a large, fallen tree that had frozen to the massive drifts on each side. The gentle snow fall became thicker and the young cub felt time racing by.
The hare smelled tantalizingly close so she turned her furry ears this way and that, seeking that quiet hop in the deep snow. She peered into the steady white vista before her, searching carefully for movement.
There it is!
Silvy sped swiftly toward her prey on velvet paws, her stride lengthening as her head stretched forward. The falling snow luckily masked the sound of her desperate race for food after a week of starving.
The hare's cry was cut short as the young wolf seized it by the neck and shook it fiercely, carefully keeping those long paws from scratching her eyes. Her heart pumped adrenaline and she trembled at the sudden end of the hunt. The scent of the hot blood coursed through her senses in a heady mix of joy.
Silvy tore into the hare, taking the steaming entrails and other choice bits first. She laid down and gnawed some of the bones, savoring the crunch and power of her new adult teeth coming in. After the meal, she indulged in a thorough grooming of her front paws until they blended with the snow.
Just a few yards off in a copse of snow laden trees, a magnificent stag appeared, looking and listening for something.
'It must be something very big to frighten such a large deer!' she thought, laying quietly and safely camouflaged in the mounds of snow. Abruptly, an angry whistling sound whipped through the silent forest! It sounded like a swarm of bees moving fast!
Silvy froze in position, too terrified to move at the unknown sound.
With an earth shaking thud, the handsome stag dropped to the ground dead and bristling with a half dozen arrows!!
Breathless with terror, she jumped up quickly and moved to crouch behind the nearest tree for cover. The cub quivered but remained completely silent, watching with huge eyes.
Someone shouted in victory at the kill and a hunting party moved toward the fallen deer--and a half hidden Silvy.
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