Snippet #2345524

Ransyr, Shadow Pack

Ransyr was patrolling with Alexander when they came upon Karu's scent. From the freshness of it he could tell that she was nearby but far enough away from the camp for privacy. He stood next to Alexander looking at their surroundings and double-checking that all was well in this area even though it was well within the pack's territory. But at the other male's signal, Ransyr nodded and trotted off back towards the camp, his form disappearing into the foliage.

His mind returned to earlier that day when it was discovered that one of their own had been killed. No...murdered. The Snow Pack had done it without a doubt, but the question was: Who in the Snow Pack killed the wolf? Did the Alpha do it? The Beta? Or even one of the warriors? Individual scents were usually easy to pick up on but considering the murderer was a member of the Snow Pack, there was no way they would allow for someone from the Shadow Pack to come over and sniff out the killer. So their only other option was to decimate the Snow Pack entirely. That is if Frost would order such an attack, but the Alpha wasn't rash like that. Besides, he'd let the rest of the pack know his decision soon enough.

It wasn't long before Ransyr finally returned to camp, pausing on the boundaries of it to check out the activity and see who was doing what. There was some of the usual day-to-day activity but there was a mixture of strong emotions in the air. He could smell it without any problem and most of those emotions were undoubtedly geared towards the death of the wolf that was now laying in the clearing in front of the Alpha's cabin. He stared at the wolf for a few minutes and then finally retreated to his own cabin to get some rest.

Frost, Shadow Pack

He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it. A part of him wanted to believe that this was just a nightmare but he knew it wasn't. When Frost had first heard the news of someone having been killed by the Snow Pack he thought someone was just trying to play a sick joke on him. Unfortunately, he was wrong. And now he was staring at the wolf who had been killed, looking over the obvious evidence of blood and wounds made by another wolf. A mix of rage and sadness was swirling inside me and could be seen in his eyes, though he kept a tight control on those emotions knowing that the worst thing he could do was act on them.

Sighing heavily he looked to the pack's healer, Zenith, as she knelt beside the wolf to find a few answers. He wanted to know which of the wounds had been the cause of death or if it had just been general bloodloss all together. He also wanted to know if she'd be able to find any scraps of fur that weren't the same color as the dead wolf's since it'd help with finding the individual who'd killed him. The most important answer he wanted though was to know if the wolf was surely and truly dead and Zenith was the only one who could determine that without a doubt.

"Well..?" he asked when Zenith finally pulled her hands away and stood.

"He's dead.." she said, her voice choked with sadness. "I managed to find a single tuft of fur that is a different color. From what I can tell, it's a blend of white and black with a bit of gray. As for the cause of death..." Zenith paused to shut her eyes a moment so she could force back her own tears and take a deep, shaky breath. "His death was due to a few different things.. Blood loss did play a role but it appears that someone had also choked him by biting his neck.."

"I see.." Frost replied, keeping his voice quiet. For a few minutes he just stood there and stared at the dead wolf, thinking to himself on what to do next. When he was done he cleared his throat and looked back to the healer. "Thank you, Zenith. I will have him brought to you shortly so you can prepare our comrade's body for burial."

Zenith, Shadow Pack

As Zenith bowed her head to Frost the only thing that was going through her mind was...why? Why do the two packs have to constantly fight? Why couldn't they live in peace together? Why had the two packs gone into war in the first place? And yet none of those questions had answers since no one truly knew. It pained her to see any wolf in such a shape, no matter what pack they belonged to.

She left Frost standing next to the dead wolf, silently making her way back to her cabin and retreating inside. Once inside there was no more damming the river of tears that had built up and within seconds the flood gates flew open. Tears streaked down both sides of her face as she collapsed onto a nearby chair, all of her grief and sadness forcing its way out. It might not be appropriate for the healer to have an emotional breakdown but since she hated violence it was hard for her to see someone so badly injured without her tearing up some. Though it was obviously worse when someone died. But Zenith found it was easiest to get the harsh, jolting crying fit out of the way as soon as possible because even though the pain of losing someone was still there it didn't affect her as strongly.

So she cried, letting it all out until she couldn't anymore. Only then did she pick herself up and scrub her face with warm water and a washcloth. From there she began gathering whatever items she'd need to prepare the dead wolf's body for burial.