A King with a Broken Heart

The wolf padded silently into the clearing, his head held high and his tail standing straight up. A bird flew overhead screeching a warning call to all the other animals in the dark, ominous forest. He stopped in the middle of the clearing and let out a low, savage snarl. Another wolf, large and silvery grey, stepped out of the shadows and stood before the mighty black wolf with his ears flat against his head and his tail between his legs. Their eyes locked. Everything went quiet as if the world was holding its breath. But the grey wolf swiftly dropped his gaze in full submission.
“What did you find, Darkmoon?” demanded the alpha. Darkmoon growled and brought his eyes up to stare directly into his leader’s sharp green eyes.
“Humans,” he replied, “lots of them. They’ve taken over Jagged Rock and have built their smoke-shelters beside the Ice River”. 
The black wolf let out a loud, thunderous howl which made even the ancient god-like trees tremble right down to the tips of their roots. His lips were pulled back to reveal his deadly, razor-sharp teeth. Darkmoon cowered away now truly terrified of his leader.
Suddenly a light glittered in the alpha male’s eyes.
“Darkmoon, have the humans crossed the river into Razorclaw’s territory?” he enquired, sounding bizarelly calm. Darkmoon nodded. The black wolf pulled his lips back but this time it was to grin evilly.
“Go get Whitefoot and Kay. We are going to have a pack meeting!” he ordered Darkmoon. The wolf bolted into the trees looking almost like a star falling across the sky and into the abyss of hell.

“Sabre!” the female wolf exclaimed when she saw the black wolf emerge out of the shadows. Both wolves wagged their tails uncontrollably while they touched their noses in greeting.
“Kalla, have you heard?” Sabre asked, a note of excitement in his voice. Kalla flashed her mate a look of confusion.
“About what?” she asked. She watched Sabre pace back and forth, his tail twitching as he struggled to contain his emotions. It was rare for him to be so animated so she was intrigued to know what his answer would be.
“There are humans at Jagged Rock, beside the Ice River,” he told her. Kalla growled but her eyes continued to express her confusion.
“Why is this a good thing, Sabre? Surely it means we must move the den. I will not have my pups anywhere near those murderous two-leggeds!” she snarled, her ears pinned back against her head to express her deep loathing for the humans and her motherly instinct to protect the lives growing inside of her. Sabre licked her muzzle caringly. The gesture did little to reassure Kalla and alleviate her troubled thoughts.
“They are in Razorclaw’s territory too. If we join together, we can finally rid the forest of the two-leggeds. Wolves can become the kings of the forest!” Sabre answered, his voice rising to a howl that sent birds bursting out the trees. Kalla, on the other hand, looked truly disgusted.
“No Sabre, not wolves, you! All you want is to be king of the forest! You would risk the lives of your unborn pups for a stupid ambition!” Kalla spat. Sabre’s eyes hardened and for a second Kalla thought he was going to attack her.
“We will fight, Kalla, for the good of our kind,” he said keeping his voice calm even though his eyes gave away the rage boiling inside him.
Kalla pushed past him and padded towards the den. Her tail was swishing back and forth in agitation.
“You will get us all killed,” she muttered, just loud enough for Sabre to hear.
“We will fight,” he said quietly, “we will fight”.

The wolves descended into the clearing, tails high and muscles tensed, ready to fight if necessary. Two emaciated wolves leapt in front of them and barred their way. Sabre towered over them; power and dominance radiating from him like tidal waves. The scrawnier of the two wolves backed away but the other held its ground; even Sabre had to admire its courage.
“Why are you in our territory, Sabre?” demanded the wolf. They locked eyes, challenging each other.
“We are here to talk with Razorclaw about the human…problem,” Sabre replied, his fur bristling to show his displeasure at the other wolf’s sharp tone. He, even though an enemy alpha, expected at least a hint of respect from this scraggy, lesser-ranked wolf.
“Talk!” commanded Razorclaw, emerging out of the shadows. His grey and white fur hung from him, his bones sticking out at abnormal angles. Another three wolves came out of the trees after him. They too were in a horrific state.
“Razorclaw, join my pack and together we can rid the forest of humans!” said Sabre. Instantly Razorclaw’s pack burst into a chorus of snarls and barks.
“You want me to back down and let you rule both your own pack and mine, is that it, Sabre?” asked Razorclaw, a growl building up in the back of his throat. Both leaders stood glaring at each other. Razorclaw’s fur was beginning to puff out in a futile attempt to make himself look large and threatening. But his small, starved body was tiny compared to Sabre’s bulky, muscular one.
Sabre held the other leader’s gaze but did not follow up the challenge by attacking him.
“I need his pack to beat the humans, but I don’t want to have to kill Razorclaw,” Sabre thought. He desperately tried to think of something that would convince Razorclaw to join with them to kill the humans, not so he, Sabre, could take over his pack.
As Sabre lost himself in his thoughts, Razerclaw began to slowly edge his way around him, looking for an opening to attack. Kalla sensed her mate was in danger and let out a bark to warn him.
At that moment Razorclaw attacked.
He leaped at Sabre, his lips pulling back to reveal his fangs. Sabre, being full of energy, was quick to react. He met Razorclaw with his teeth bared, ready to fight.
The battle was already won as far as Sabre was concerned. Razorclaw had just sentenced himself to death.

Ten shadows stalked through the human camp. They were barely visible in the darkness as they circled one of the ‘smoke-shelters’. A light was inside and voices drifted out into the silence of the night.
Two of the wolves entered the shelter through a hole the humans hadn’t noticed. In less than a few seconds screams sounded from inside. One of the wolves behind Sabre let out a soft whine which he swiftly silenced with a glare. Then, as suddenly as it has started, the screaming stopped. The smell of blood was beginning to fill the air around the shelter. Humans appeared out of the other shelters and swarmed around the shelter with axes, swords and guns at the ready. The eight wolves that hadn’t gone in stood in the shadows and watched them with saliva dripping from their mouths. A tall, rugged human pushed his way through the crowd of men and whispered something to another man. Afterwards he turned and addressed the rest of the group, talking in a language the wolves didn’t understand. Sabre realised this was obviously the humans’ alpha male and snarled quietly. His mind was trying to calculate the best moment to attack. He jerked his muzzle to the right and four of the wolves began to spread themselves out in that direction.
Out of the blue, a loud bang came from inside the shelter. Sabre hadn’t seen the man the lead wolf had whispered to go into the shelter to investigate. He growled at his stupid mistake. But he quickly realised that now was the best time to attack as the humans were focused on what was happening inside the shelter. Sabre signalled to the seven wolves and together they crept silently towards the oblivious humans.
Sabre was focused on one human in particular. The alpha male. All his senses were trying to pinpoint the best way to attack him without getting himself killed.
Then the shooting started.
The wolves had been spotted. 
Sabre leapt at the nearest man and killed him with one swipe of his paw. Blood oozed out of a deep cut in the dead man’s throat. He caught a glimpse of Kalla dodging an axe before pouncing on the man and tearing out his throat. She left the human dead and bolted to Sabre’s side.
“What are you…” she started but Sabre was off racing after the alpha human as he was led away by two other men. There was a deep cut on the leader’s forehead but he continued to shoot at the wolves as he was led to safety.
Sabre took down one of the men by leaping onto his back and crunching his teeth into his neck bone. The other man tried to shoot Sabre but was swiftly killed by a brown and white wolf called Kay. The lead human desperately tried to shoot them but his hands were shaking uncontrollably. Kay disappeared back into the mass of bodies leaving Sabre and the alpha human alone. Sabre stalked forward but was stopped by Kalla.
“He will kill you, Sabre! Don’t get yourself killed for nothing…please just walk away, for the good of your pack…you pups…for me,” she pleaded. Sabre hesitated, but then quickly shook himself. He sprang over Kalla at the human. The man, in his last attempt to save himself, tried to shoot Sabre but missed.
It was his last bullet.
Sabre landed on him, claws slicing into his flesh with sickening ease. The man’s legs buckled beneath him. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Sabre stood over the body, head held high. The moonlight shone directly on him, making his pelt seem all the more jet black and his eyes glisten like gemstones. He was a wolf in his prime - majestic and proud.
“I am now king of the forest,” he thought triumphantly.
But when he turned to share his victory with his mate, he found Kalla lying in a pool of her blood, eyes empty and her body lifeless. Sabre raced over to her but it was too late. Instead of killing Sabre with his last bullet, the human had killed Kalla.
Sabre let out a harrowing howl for his dead mate and his unborn pups. The howl made everyone stop fighting and look up. What they saw was a wolf that had everything he wanted and had lost it all because he wanted more.
They saw a king with a broken heart.