Private The Redd Road

[Redd]

LOST

Paws padded along the old familiar path as her golden eyes continued to observe the surrounding area. Since the ghosts of past wolves had once roamed the lands, the forests had been quiet. Animal life had deserted the green area and the Sith had all but left. Yet, the wolf couldn’t help but hope that soon it would be restored to its normal ebb and flow. To its former glory, yet time was the only thing that would make sure that the animals would return. The pack on the other hand was dead and gone. Put to rest when the wolf had last come here and although the red wolf did not think that she would ever return. She did, for one reason and one reason alone.

Quietly, the wolf passed through the ruins of her old pack’s village and it wasn’t until she was in the center of the ruins that she stopped. Slowly, the red wolf sat back upon her haunches while golden eyes glanced about the area as she listened.

Redd listened to the trees as their leaves gently rustled with the same soft breeze that gently played with the red fur of her coat. She heard the eerie quiet that would have once been filled with the sound of birds chirping and singing their daily songs. The wolf also remembered the sounds of the small woodland animals with the call of a coyote that would dare come close to the den of wolves. As foolish as it was, the pack had respected the bravery it held in order to seek food and occasionally shelter from the storms that used to blow through. She could even remember winter as it was her favourite time of year. The white flakes as they slowly fell from the big blue sky above and she lifted her nose upwards so then golden eyes could watch the clouds as they slowly crawled across the sky.

She could remember the times when her parents would take the time to help her make a snow man and if it had been snowing, the wolf would have shifted in order to make a snowman of her own in honor of their memory. However, the memory only served as a cold reminder that they were gone. They were all gone and she slowly moved to lay down, only to rest her head upon her two front paws. She always questioned as to why she had survived and she thought that she had the answer, but it always seemed to be the wrong one. Was the path of a Knight’s Obsidian her path? Was the path of a Mandalorian her path? Or was it something else entirely? Every time she thought about it, the path was never clear.

Was she always destined to just be a savage wolf? It was tempting to run off. To get lost in the wilderness and be the wild wolf that she felt she was. Yet, there was only one problem and that problem was the reason why she had to return to where she had been born and where her life had changed. Some might say for the better, but Redd wasn’t sure, for she remembered everyone of those years that she spent fighting for her life in a ring. The wolf didn’t want the life of cages for her future pups. She also didn’t want her future pups to experience the loss of their parents. Redd didn’t want them to see her die in front of them. The Snowfire Pack had all but been a clan in their own right and even they couldn’t protect Redd or any other pup that survived, from the horrors that they had witnessed.

A whine was issued as she placed a paw over her muzzle and closed her eyes. Redd didn’t want this future for the pups that were currently growing inside of her.

 

[Redd]

LOST

Fear snaked its way into her mind as she began to question all that she knew. The Confederacy was a large faction and it was greater than The Snowfire Pack by a great many numbers. Her old pack would have been a single snowflake compared to the Confederacy and yet it had already suffered invasions. Invasions that saw four planets be torn away from their enormous cloud. So theoretically she wouldn’t be safer than she had been while in the arms of her parents. It worried her. Would she die before her pups? Would her pups die before they got to experience life? Could The Confederacy really defend them?

When she had been sick, she felt weak. It wasn’t the first time, as she had inhaled soot and ash for her mate to get them safe and had gotten incredibly sick. The wolf had even been stabbed during an invasion and every time the snarls of the wolf within her mind only grew in strength. Only reinforced what she knew. Her human form was weak, her wolf strong and yet they wanted her as a human. Was she too much of a beast if she was a wolf? With that thought in mind, the wolf rose up onto her paws and began to pace from side to side as she felt the need to run. Run and hide so then she could carry the pups that she carried, to full term. If something happened to her, then would the pups even get to breathe the same air she did? Or would they die before even seeing the light of day?

Such thoughts caused a snarl to form and Redd pressed her ears back against her head while her fur bristled. She had to protect her pup no matter the cost. The wolf had to and it was soon becoming clear that every bone in her body itched to run. As a wolf, she would be near indistinguishable from other wolves and as long as she established herself as a dominant one, then hopefully she could hide amongst them. The only thing that would even make her stand out would be her connection to the force. Yet, she didn’t know of anyone that would roam the wilds looking for wild wolves. Would they? Was the chance worth it?

Such a question caused her to look up, almost as if she was looking for a sign as the call of the wild began to grow. It was a pull to leave all human emotions and once more rely upon her animal instincts. Instincts that had helped her to survive when she had all but been a caged wolf. It had been the wolf that she had retreated into and the wolf that saw that she survived. Her pup wouldn’t be born wolf, but her pregnancy was still in the early stages. Early stages where they could easily be lost and she wasn’t about to let them slip through her fingers. Yet how? How would she keep them safe?

There is only one way… Came the forbidden thought and as much as she wrestled with the wild call and the savage beast of the wolf, the woman half couldn’t deny the success of the wolf half. The wolf had survived against all odds. Survived through cold damp floors. Survived major injury and survived through even the loneliest of nights. As a wolf, she had survived the harsh hands of others and she lowered her head to paw at it. No… She couldn't run. She couldn’t let the call of the wild win.

Yet… Almost as if it knew that Redd was about to run back to civilization, a howl split the sky, followed by the sound of other wolves and that was it. The human lost the battle with the wolf half.

A red wolf lifted her muzzle to the sky and howled in response to the call of the wild.

 

[Redd]

LOST

Breath pushed in and out of her lungs as the wolf ran through the once familiar trees of a land that she had once called home. Paws braced and lept over fallen logs, only to dart around trees and thorny bushes. Pads pressed into the damp earth underneath her, while the scent of fresh rain was evident within the air as she pushed on with her sprinting pace. With each howl that would split the quiet air, an ear would twitch in the direction it came from and the red wolf would adjust its direction ever so slightly as the terrain wouldn’t always allow for her to travel in a straight line. Over logs and around large rocks, the beast ran as she felt the leftover drops of rain drip from the leaves above, only to sink into her thick coat of fur that covered her from snout to tail.

From time to time, she would have to slide to a stop and lift her nose to the sky, only to call out and listen for an answering howl of the wild. With each answer, it lured her further still into the dark recesses of the animal mind. The animal mind that hunted when hungry and survived within a pack of other like minded animals. An animal that slept when night fell and walked the boundaries of its pack’s territory. An animal that didn’t care for emotions but knew the one law that mattered the greatest above all else. Kill or be killed. It was the basic instinct of every wolf and while this wolf was more than just a wolf, it’s mind had seemingly snapped back to when it had once lived in a cage. She would kill or be killed and hide within another pack of wolves for added safety for her pup.

Thud… Thud… Thud…

The wolf ran while the gentle breeze played through her coat and helped the small droplets of rain to settle upon her skin. The wolf ran as she heard the call of the wild and began to hear the song of birds once more. The wolf ran, while the human half began to get buried under a mind that was lost to an animal due to the stresses of the fear that had risen up to claim her. The wolf ran as golden eyes searched through the green that was showing signs of yellowing; signs that indicated that the seasons would soon change from summer to autumn to winter and then spring. Seasons which were always guaranteed to repeat that pattern.

And with each stride and with each exhale, she let the shackles of civilization fall away. As if it had been a burden that she was finally shaking free of and accepted a life that the wolf felt was guaranteed to make sure that her pup would draw in the very air that made her lungs expand. A guarantee like the season, that her pup would grow up free and without the fear of cages and collars. Free and wild. Wild like the call as she heard it as if it was right in front of her.

With that realisation in mind, the wolf dug her claws in and slid to a halt. Her sides heaved with the signs that she had been sprinting for many miles through thick forests. Her heart slammed in her chest as it pumped the blood and adrenaline that flowed through her veins. Yet, it was her golden eyes that saw the same reflected colour, as a normal wolf stepped out from behind a fallen log. An alpha male whose coat was as black as night, followed closely by an alpha female who was blonde in colour.

 

[Redd]

LOST

There had been one thing that the wolf hadn’t counted on and it was the fact that it wasn’t a normal wolf. Not like these five before her and as they lowered their heads with a threatening growl, they tried to warn her away from their territory. Territory that had been lost to her long ago and yet the red wolf still felt as if she had more right to this territory than the wolves before her. So she lowered her head as she pressed her ears back against her head in a warning of her own. Her build was bigger and potentially stronger, but the wolves before her had the numbers and yet, this wolf had a healthy build that had been sheltered from the weather and starvation. They had not.

The fact was though, that she had thought to join the pack, but it seemed as if she was too strange. A stranger who was not wanted, but the wolf wasn’t about to let such things get in her way. If her pup was to live, she had to be strong. Stronger than before. Stronger than the wolf that had lived in a cage and so five wolves went up against one.

Five wolves that snarled and began to circle the one large one. Five wolves that each tried to claw and rip into the red wolf. Her teeth sank into flesh. Her claws tore open stomachs. Her ears heard the snarls, whimpers and yelps. Her nose smelled the blood as it coated the earth underneath their paws. Her tongue tasted the coarse fur and coppery blood as her jaws clamped down upon their throats. The wolf felt pain as jaws bit into her front paw and felt a slash of pain down her side. Yet it was the strange red wolf that won the battle. The alphas were dead. Their betas dead and the one that stood with sides heaving covered in blood, was the strange red wolf.

She had been concerned for only a brief moment that the claws of a wolf had slashed her stomach, but as she turned and licked the wound, she noted that it was shallow and that it traveled over the rib cage. Her pup was safe. That was all that mattered and with a limp, the wolf moved from the scene that portrayed a battle that had ended in slaughter. A scene that didn’t help the wolf, as she now had to find shelter, water and food.

In this part of the forests, it seemed as if the animals were present and although that meant that there was a source of food, it didn’t guarantee shelter. It did, however, mean that there was a source of water nearby and it didn’t take the wolf all that long to find it; even though the dust of rain that covered the forests had made it a little more difficult to find. How? Well, it created moisture everywhere so smelling for the life giving substance was all but useless. However, as she dipped her nose to take a small break and lick her injured paw, the wolf heard the sound of running water. It sounded sweet, like the burbling sounds of a nearby stream. Yet, as she limped closer, the burbling turned into the roar of a waterfall. A waterfall that fed into a stream as it flowed through the forest.

Slowly, her nose followed the sight before it rounded a bend and disappeared from her view. That was water sorted. Now all she had to do was find shelter. Which would be easier said than done, but the wolf was tired. It had run for many miles, fought off wolves and limped upon an injured paw to find water that would keep dehydration from becoming a factor. With all of that in mind she limped over to the cool liquid and instead of lapping, the wolf dove in.