Shaman remained motionless inside the train as it traveled for hours. Through the daylight and well into the night, she remained unconscious as the engine carried her off into the unknown. With the rising sun, she was met by a flurry of new sensations, predominantly the horrible ache in her head. Groaning she reached up, giving the tender area a quick pat and looking to her paw. A hint of dried blood stuck to her fur, she could feel it clumped to her head while catching just a whiff of the scent.
Looking to the door, the sight was completely foreign to her. A great white blur, save for a few streaks of what looked like black and dark green. The cold inside the train was overwhelming. The wind that swept through the door was chilling right through her fur, piercing to the bone. Crawling over toward the edge of the door, she hung her head to the racing ground. The sight was nauseating, forcing her stomach to quickly well up, ejecting its contents overboard.
"Oh, bad idea." She moaned. Looking ahead along the cars, she saw a clearing in the trees with another human made wood structure on what looked like a lake. She steadied herself to her feet as best she could, a leg shooting out here or there as she found it hard to keep balance between the trains motion and her injured head.
As the trees passed, it seemed the ground ahead was smooth and slick with snow. Taking her best shot, she ran and leapt from the train.
Slamming the snow she started to tumble down further and further. She didn't even notice it was on a fairly large hill from within the train. Crashing to a stop with a shrill cry, her cloak covered her face, leaving her still body half buried in the snow. She felt her eyes weigh heavy, knowing right away she was in trouble, struggling to keep herself conscious.
Shaman fought to move her legs, but with her stomach empty and head badly hurt there was no energy left to bring her to her feet. The darkness took her, along with the chill of the wind as the sound of the train faded off in the distance.
A great screech sounded over head of Shaman's still body. A barred owl had begun to circle. His chest and back decorated in brown flecks, fading into white flowing downward. Folding his wings in, he dove down to the sight and parked himself close by.
"Well, what do we have here?" He asked, grasping a hold of the cloak in his talons. Tossing it back over Shaman's body the sight he revealed surprised him. "Oh! Well oh my, another wolf."
"Roque!" A voice called out. It was a grey furred wolf, save for his white belly and thin black trail streaking down his back. His soft, blue eyes surveyed the scene where Roque had descended. "Sweet! A dead deer?" He shouted ahead.
"No, my friend it's something else." Roque corrected. As the wolf drew closer he realized just how off his guess was.
"Jeez! What happened to him?" The wolf questioned, seeing the dried blood smeared across her head.
"Well, for one thing." Roque replied, ducking his head under Shaman's leg. "It appears it's a She" He corrected once more. The wolf blew a smirk across his face as he turned to his friend.
"Oh yeah?" He eagerly questioned, stuffing his head between Shaman's legs.
"Silver!" Roque scolded, snapping his wing across the young wolf's thigh.
"Hey! You get to check and I don't?" He laughed, pulling his muzzle away.
"I would have hoped my confirmation would be enough." Roque retorted, bouncing over to Shaman's head. He tipped his ear to her muzzle and listened for any signs of life. Sure enough, he could hear her breathing, faintly but steadily. He quickly swung around to Silver in amazement. "Good heavens! This poor girl is still alive!"
"Serious!?" he replied in the same tone. "Jeez, got a real thick hide on her, huh?"
"No time for dilly-dallying, get her up on your back and let's get her home!" Roque demanded.
"What?" Silver exclaimed in disbelief. Roque quickly spread his wings, aiming his talons toward him.
"You want a good smack across your thigh with this instead?!" He scolded lightly, raising his brow.
"Jeez I'm sorry! Of course, let's get her back home." Silver ducked himself under her paws and with a little help from Roque, pulling on her cloak they managed to get her up on his back and stable. "I'll get her home. Think you can take down a jack-rabbit or two?"
"Yes, yes of course. I'll need a bit to carve them down but, I should be able to manage. Just get back out here once you settled her in."
"Ahh, no free meal today?" Silver snickered, smiling back to him.
"You lay-about." He chuckled, darting into the sky. Silver began lugging the unconscious wolf back toward the human cabin. The deep snow was nothing for him to tread across usually, but with Shaman's extra weight he was sinking in much deeper. Ecstatically he made it to the door, grasping in his mouth the rope, Roque had tied to the door. Giving it a good yank, he pulled it open and let himself in.
Once inside, he grabbed hold of yet another rope, this one located within and pulled the door closed. It was a long abandoned log cabin, fairly simple in layout. The main room comprised the bulk of it, save for a tiny hallway off to the right corner which also fed into a bathroom and bedroom.
The bedroom however stocked the two of them with ample sheets and a mattress, left over from the previous occupants. Though the mattress was torn in some areas, it made a very comfortable resting place. The bathroom was fairly straight forward in its arrangement. A simple sink, standing shower and toilet, all without running water making them quite useless.
Within the living room of the cabin, was a hallowed out fridge and stove occupying the left half, rusting and useless without power. Silver hardly ventured there save for the chance to rummage an old cooler the humans left where he occasionally stored a rabbit or two.
A fireplace stood along the back wall, combined with multiple objects left scattered along the ground throughout the room. Sheets stockpiled into a corner, along with a few torn down curtains. A black plastic and fairly long sled, filled with a mix of snow and water.
Silver decided it was best to set her down in the corner of the room, as getting up on the bed in the bedroom required a little more height then he could offer her. Placing her down, upon a few of the torn up curtains, he snagged a few of the sheets and draped them over her for warmth.
"Heh, see your ahead of me with the cover huh." He joked, noting her cloak. Satisfied with her accommodations he darted for the door and headed back out to rejoin Roque. Sure enough, not far in the distance he was diving in, making prey of a jack-rabbit he had been stalking. Smiling, Silver riled up his shoulders and growled excitedly. "Ahh, supper is on!" He cheered, bursting off through the snow in hunt for his prey.
Shaman began to stir as the evening descended upon her. Her eyes still fuzzy, she could barely make out the shapes that were settled in before her. Silver and Roque were chatting quietly, while Silver occasionally took bites upon the jack-rabbit they had caught. Roque was perched atop a coat rack, set in near the fireplace. As her stomach grumbled, she moaned in pain and snared their attention abruptly.
"Well, look at that!" Roque complimented, swooping down from his perch he took a spot nearby. Silver strolled over, setting himself before Shaman.
"Welcome back to reality, cloaky." He greeted.
"Xaldin?" She asked, trying to make out Silver's face.
"Huh?" He questioned, darting to Roque. "Shit, was there another one out there?"
"Perhaps her mate?" Roque suggested
.
"But there was only one trail from the tracks." Silver reminded him.
"Oh yes, you are correct there my friend."
"Who... who are you?" Shaman questioned softly, their faces growing more distinct.
"I'm Silverwolf. But my friends call me, Silver." He greeted.
"I am Roque, Silver's mentor and friend. We found you along the tracks, badly injured."
"Silverwolf? And Roque? What.. Where am I?" She questioned, trying to find her footing.
"Easy my girl, easy." Roque insisted, settling her back down. "You're in no condition to be up and about right now.
"Please, just tell me!" Shaman protested.
"Hey relax. We'll tell you everything you wanna know-"
"Soon enough." Roque finished, glaring to him. Silver wondered why he cut him off from explaining but didn't contest it. "Right now, we've brought you some food. Silver?"
"Right." He nodded; breaking for the door he picked up the dead jack-rabbit and took it over. "We got you a spare, figured you could eat."
"Thank you." Shaman praised, her voice barely able to bring the words.
"We'll pull the sled over if you need some water, ok?" Roque comforted. "Right now, just try to rest up. That head injury looks rather nasty."
"Ok." Shaman complied, starting to take little nibbles at the rabbit. Silver and Roque headed back toward the fireplace and settled in close.
"So, why aren't we telling her where she is?" Silver questioned softly.
"Put yourself in her place my friend. She came from a train, bad head injury, she wears human cloth. She may have been beaten by humans, abandoned, or fled away from home, or heavens know what else. Riling her up in her condition will just make things worse. Best let her rest." Roque explained thoroughly.
"Yeah, alright valid point." Silver agreed, looking to the fire pit.
"First, we have to establish how she came about the human's cloth. If she is owned and loved, humans may come looking for her."
"Fuck that!" Silver snapped.
"Shh!" Roque insisted, scolding him for his outburst. It was enough to steal Shaman's attention. "We don't know yet for certain, but I wouldn't wager on her being human owned, at least not anymore."
"Fine, but as soon as her head clears up, that's the first thing we find out."
"Agreed." Roque nodded.
"What are you two talking about?" Shaman called, breaking from her meal. Usually she could hear such quiet conversation but the fatigue and injury may have rendered it useless for now. Roque turned around with a smile, waving it off with his wing.
"It's nothing my dear, just plans for hunting and scavenging tomorrow. Keep eating, you need to get your strength back." She wasn't satisfied with the answer, but her strength was meager at best and couldn't find the voice to challenge it. Opting instead to continue nibbling away at her donated meal. After eating a good while, Silver pushed the sled of water closer to her.
"Whoa, this is how you get your water?" She asked hesitantly.
"When the winter sets in, this is the only means of getting it. Unless you think you can lick through a foot of ice." Silver promptly answered. While she didn't care for his tone, she was grateful for the drink and dipped her muzzle in. She kept it buried in the water for a good while before Silver pulled it away.
"Hey!" She protested.
"Take it easy, this has to last. Takes a lot of energy to fill the sled with clean snow, and forever for it to melt." He replied.
"I see, well thank you anyway." She submitted, turning away from him.
"You're welcome." He answered; unimpressed with her tone now. He aimed back for Roque and the fireplace. "Pompous little-" He tried to whisper, however met with a good smack from Roque's wing. "Ow!"
"Smarten up." He lightly scolded. Shaman giggled at the sight, feeling a little more trust in Roque then Silver. Settling her head on the bed made for her she let herself doze off to sleep.
The sky was dark, save for an azure streak across the east. The sun had just barely begun its ascent. Cautiously taking to her feet, letting the carefully placed sheets slide from her form she slowly discovered how to walk once again. The ache that weighed upon the side of her head had not relented, giving another quick pat she had found that someone had cleaned the blood that had dried in her fur off during the night. Whether it was Roque or Silverwolf, she wasn't sure.
She took to the window near the front door and gazed out across the lake ahead. Though mired by a few pine trees still heavily draped in snow, she could see the azure light fighting against the sky. It was the first time in ages; she had so clearly seen the sight. Her home often hid such events behind a vast thicket of trees. It had its own beauty to her, but this was new, even frightening. It stood as a firm reminder, that home was far away.
She turned her attention toward the door and began examining the rope hanging from the handle. She realized it was how they were able to pull it open with relative ease.
"Clever." She whispered, tempting herself to snare it in her maw. As she grasped the rope in her mouth, the startling sound of someone clearing their throat stole away her courage. Looking behind she met Roque, wide awake on his perch shaking his head.
"I wouldn't do that." He whispered. Gliding to the ground, he hobbled his way over to Shaman's side.
"You can't keep me here." Shaman stated, keeping her voice soft.
"No, I've no intention of holding you against your will my lady, but might I ask just one thing?" He posed, raising an eyebrow. Shifting her eyes from either side of the room she nodded. "Where are you going?"
"Home." Shaman firmly stated.
"Well, all the more power to you, however. Where is home, from here?" He re-proposed.
"I, uh.. well I'm sure if I follow those train tracks I'll find my way."
"Hmm, clever plan." He complimented with a soft laugh. "But there is one small hindrance to it."
"What's that?"
"The tracks divide, and change direction at certain intersections of the mountain range. In order to avoid storms, or damaged rails that the humans need to repair, things like that." He explained.
"Mountains? What do you mean?" She demanded.
"You're in the northern part of the rocky mountains, my dear."
"The rocky mountains." She trailed off, still baffled by the thought. She had heard of the mountains far to the north, but she could never imagine the train could bring her that far.
"How long were you on the train?" He questioned. Shaman struggled a little to recall what had exactly happened.
"Well, I got on, just around noon. That's when the train departed. I heard these bells, then everything started spinning and well, I was here." Shaman informed him.
"Noon." Roque pondered, looking away as he began rubbing the base of his beak. "Noon, until yesterday morning."
"How far have I gone?" Shaman begged him. Roque took a deep sigh.
"On foot, and traveling to the south. I'd say you are about thirty to forty days away from your home."
"What?!" She exclaimed.
"Shh, please. Silver is still asleep." He reminded her. Shaman closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief, trying to throw aside his estimate.
"Still, I have to try." Shaman countered. "I know now leaving was a mistake. My friends back home, they must be so worried about me."
"Why did you want to leave?" Roque asked, reaching for her arm.
"It was foolish." She shied away, hiding her face.
"Come now, it wasn't foolish when you left now was it?"
"I wanted to find a home for myself. My alpha male, rejected me. I'm sure with enough practice I could have taken Luna, and secured a place at his side."
"But things went awry?" Roque suggested.
"He, loves Luna. Or at least I think he's convinced himself he does. Either way, he'll never take me. I wanted to find my own place, to have a family, to have pups and know what it's like to feel." She trailed off.
"Normal?" He finished. Shaman darted to meet his eyes, and then lowered her head with a sigh.
"Yes. Brennin used to encourage me to be strong, saying I would make a wonderful leader someday."
"Loved him did you?" Roque suggested with a warm smile. Silver flashed an eye to the conversation, but kept his consciousness hidden from the two.
"Yes." Shaman smiled, recalling her memories of him. "But more like a father. He is the father of our current pack leader. But you know, I probably would not have turned him down." She smiled and giggled.
"Lovely." Roque complimented, giggling along with her. "Well I appreciate and understand the circumstances for you my dear girl, but for now I would prefer it if you rested."
"I've spent enough time resting." She fumed; resenting the idea of more time spent trying to recover.
"Oh, you young wolves and your brash need for haste." Roque scoffed lightly, shaking his head.
"Why are you so eager to help me anyway?" Shaman posed to him.
"You'd prefer if we didn't?" he questioned right back. "Oh I tease, my apologies. Well to be honest, we see little other then rather nasty predators out there. It is nice to see a kind face."
"Thank you, Roque was it?" She asked.
"Yes, and if it's not much trouble-"
"Shaman." She giggled, reaching for his leg; he extended and shook her paw.
"The pleasure is mine, Shaman." He smiled.
"So she's not human owned." Silver perked up, surprising the two as he spoke.
"No, it seems she's not." Roque answered, glancing back to him.
"Human, owned?"
"Yes, when we saw the human's cloth on you we surmised that you might belong to a human family or something of the sort." Roque explained.
"Why is that important?" She questioned.
"Cause I don't want anything to do with humans." Silver snapped, rising to his feet. Giving a good stretch he began to explain. "Humans invade an area, build their houses, burn the trees and kill us for pleasure."
"Silver has some strong resentment towards humans." Roque explained, though stating the obvious.
"Hah. Resentment, I just hate them."
"Not all humans do that!" Shaman protested. "Humans saved me. They saved dozens of animals where I grew up."
"I don't care if they saved a thousand! Don't come looking to me for sympathy for a human." He barked.
"Enough Silver!" Roque scolded. "Shaman, please do not press this topic with him." He turned to her. "Silver has good reason to distrust them, let's leave it at that."
"Fine." She spouted, glaring at Silver. Roque covered his face with his wing and drew a long sigh.
"Silver, why don't we see if we can find some dry sticks today." Roque suggested.
"Want to make a fire huh, the fire lighter we have still work?" Silver questioned.
"Yes I think so. Should have enough to let us get one more in."
"For tonight?" Silver questioned.
"Perhaps, if a storm sets in tonight then yes, it would be nice." He replied.
"Fire?" Shaman questioned, baffled by the conversation before her.
"Yes, the humans left behind some tools we can use to start one. These long sticks that when a trigger like mechanism is pulled, a fire blooms from the tip. The humans call it a barbeque lighter I believe."
"I see." Shaman said, looking to Silver. "So you hate humans, but will use their tools?"
"Hey!" Roque shot up. "You're not above getting a good snap across your leg young lady, I told you not to provoke the matter." Flying over to Shaman's bed, he started shuffling around the sheets. "Silver?"
"Yeah?" He replied.
"Bring her sheets into the bedroom; she can use it to recover with some comfort." Silver rolled his eyes at the idea but complied with the request, snaring them in his jaws he started dragging them towards the door to the right of the fireplace.
"Bedroom?" Shaman asked.
"Yes, though this room is the largest in the cabin, there's a small hallway there that leads into a fairly quaint bedroom. The bed is basically the only thing that damn well fits in there but, you should find it quite comfortable." He explained.
"I really appreciate all your doing for me, Roque. This is very kind of you." Shaman praised.
"It's not just me; it's the both of us." Roque corrected.
"I don't think Silverwolf is too keen on me being here." She argued lightly.
"Mmm, you touched a nerve to be certain bringing up humans in a pleasant light but, you owe that cleaning you got last night to him." He advised her.
"What?" Shaman exclaimed.
"Your bed's made, princess!" He called from the room. Roque's smile melted away as he raised an eyebrow.
"Though he could do with a good thrashing now and again." He quickly shot out. Shaman giggled, covering her mouth.
"Coming?" Silver asked, peeking around the door. Shaman took a deep breath and started toward the door. Looking inside the short hallway she could see straight ahead a room with a few odd looking white fixtures, packed within what seemed like a short den. To the left was the bedroom Roque had spoke of. He wasn't fibbing about the size.
A bed laid under a window was the most obvious fixture of the room, save for a small trail alongside it you could use for walking to the head of it. At the foot of the bed were two closet doors, the left one half opened revealing it's very shallow depths. Silver was standing on the bed, placed beside the small mound of sheets.
"Interesting." She stated, steadying her paws upon the mattress she leapt up onto the bed. However her footing was lost and she nearly plowed over Silver, falling on her side.
"Easy!" He counselled, helping her to her feet. Shaman placed herself in the center of the sheets and settled in. Silver was kind enough to throw the remaining portions over her body, along with the drapes she had been resting on during the night. "There, all tucked in, nice and pretty." He lightly mocked.
"Thanks, Silverwolf." Shaman thanked regardless, looking to him with a bit more bravery.
"You're welcome." He nodded, leaping from the bed, he aimed for the hall.
"Silverwolf?" She called. Stopping he hung his head for a moment and looked back.
"What?"
"I'm sorry if you were offended by what I said about humans." Shaman stated.
"Hmm." He nodded. "Appreciate it."
"Do you mind telling me why you don't trust them?" She posed.
"No." He answered firm.
"Why not?"
"You don't want to know." He replied, walking out of sight. Shaman felt like interrogating further, but decided it was best not to push the subject further. Clearly it was something he didn't care to share; she started to feel guilty asking so much of a stranger who was showing such kindness.
Shaman forced herself to once again take it easy for a while. Silver and Roque brought her a good couple of meals, while she sipped from the sled. As the third day living with the two crept up on her, she became bold enough to help them fill the sled. Her head still ached, but nowhere near as horribly as before, certainly not enough to deter her from at least helping out.
The nights were a different story, Silver kept to his habit of tucking her in and keeping conversation sparse. But the lack of warm company, particularly Khari's was really starting to grow heavily on her.
Settling into bed, Silver started to tuck her in to her little pile of sheets, getting used to the new routine.
"Need any water?" He asked, her attention off elsewhere, daydreaming of being home.
"Huh? Oh, no I'm fine thanks." Shaman answered, caught off guard by the question.
"Where did you go?" He wondered, throwing the last of the sheets over her.
"Sorry, it's just. I miss my friends." She explained, lowering her head to the bed as he finished.
"Well, you'll see them eventually I suppose. You do want to get home, right?" He questioned, setting in a spot beside.
"Of course. But Roque was right, how do I get there from here."
"No idea." Silver sighed. "Roque and I, we got here just by a stroke of luck. We were gonna look for a nice den with a good hunting perch nearby."
"What changed?" Shaman wondered, turning to Silver.
"We found this place." He laughed lightly. "Roque swept the area, he was sure the humans abandoned it. We found the ropes outside and worked on pulling the door open. After that we tore the place up, got anything together we could use. The old sled there, the curtains and sheets, the human tools left around the house, all of it."
"Pretty resourceful." She complimented.
"It was mostly Roque's idea. I'll admit I just did the grunt work. But he taught me a lot, how to use quite a few of the things here."
"Look up to him?" Shaman giggled.
"Only when he's holding something heavy over my head." Silver chuckled alongside her.
"Sounds wonderful. But what about the future? Do you ever think about it?" Shaman wondered, easing her tone.
"The future." Silver shook his head, still smiling. "I'm lucky to have a present, so like I care about planning for the future."
"Strange, I'm always thinking about it." Shaman stated.
"Was coming all the way up here in your plan for the future?" Silver wondered.
"No... Well, I don't know."
"Well come on, out with it." Silver encouraged, sensing the topic had a more involved answer.
"I wanted to have a family of my own. Back in my pack it was all about Marodan and Luna. For two years, he held leadership and no one could even touch him. But after Luna beat me, it started to feel like it was a lost cause to find a family there." Shaman explained.
"A family? You mean, getting yourself knocked up?" Silver questioned nervously.
"I wouldn't put it that way, there's more to family then just having pups. But I won't lie; it's something I think about as well."
"Well, that's uh... Something to work toward, I guess." He stammered around nervously, picking himself up on the bed.
"Sorry, did I make you uncomfortable." Shaman asked, watching him dismount in a hurry.
"No no, it's fine." He replied heading out to the hall. Before vanishing he gave a brief pause, looking back inside to Shaman who was sitting there, seemingly worried she had offended him. "If it's hopeless though, why do you want to go back?" Shaman gave a soft huff, looking down then back to him.
"I shouldn't have left like I did. Khari and Keledrin love me, they're my best friends."
"Well, for what it's worth. I hope you make it back to them safely."
"Thanks, Silver." Shaman smiled warmly.
"Heh, you're welcome. Good night, Shaman." He called, leaving for the living room.
"Good night, Silver."
