Garius had spent the entire day racing back to the area where he left the wolves behind. He was familiar with the area and with the cave where they stayed. He hoped they had not moved on so that he could finally deal with Siphel and this terrible situation. He found a high spot where he could watch the entrance to the cave and made his bed there. He was tired from the long run, his worry for Nibelski, and the health of the pack.
He fell asleep quickly, but he kept one ear to the ground to keep himself alert to any noise or motion from that cave. As he dreamed his thoughts turned to his new family, all those young pups feeding from their mother. She was so beautiful and he realized in his dream that he fell in love with her the moment he saw her. He dreamed of running in the fields with her and their pups, them getting older and learning to hunt with him. It was such a joyful feeling until he saw Siphel appear and chase his pups in an attempt to kill them.
He awoke in anger and all he could see was Siphel's face hanging in front of his eyes with the cave in the distant background. He arose and made his way down towards the entrance of the cave. The dawn had not broken yet and he could hear the whimper of some wolves from the inside so he sat for a while putting everything in place in his mind. He knew Siphel must die, but first he would have to deal with that bear if it was still here. Then he heard it let out a snort. It was sleeping and close to the entrance. He was surprised his scent was not discovered yet as he sniffed the air to see who was still alive. Where was Werson? Was he still ok? The cave smelled like death and he worried about the young ones in the pack. He must solve this problem and he must do it quickly. He went over the details again in his mind, then stood tall and marched into the cave.
After marking his territory at the entrance he made his way inside and his heart fell dead within him. His pack looked sick and weak lying all over, but he had no time to focus on them yet. He needed to find the threat that Augustus spoke of and eliminate it quickly. There at the end of the cave he could smell the young bear and then he saw him lying there fat and lazy. Siphel was sleeping behind him, obviously to keep himself safe. Garius knew he must deal with the bear first so he charged towards him.
It was at this time that the weakened wolves in the cave took notice of the scent in the air. Garius had returned and so did the hope in their hearts. Many heard his movement and turned their eyes in his direction just to see him lunge through the air and land upon the bear's back. The bear that killed some and kept the pack at bay to do Siphel's bidding while they suffered and starved. Garius looked larger and stronger than ever, he was also more vicious than they had ever seen. In his weakened state Werson smiled and whispered "thank you" before dropping his head back to the ground.
Garius was quickly on top of the bear as it was startled out of its deep slumber. He wasted no time finding the large pulsing spot on the bear's neck and sunk his teeth in deeply as the bear roared in pain jumping to its feet. Garius held on tight to the bear's flesh and threw his body away from the bear towards the cave wall taking a large chunk of flesh with him. He spit the mass out of his mouth then lunged back towards the bear as it tried to run towards the exit on the cave. Garius found another meaty spot pulsating close to the bear's head and dug his teeth in once again. The bear, in shock, tried to use his claws to reach around to slice this wolf open, but he had forced himself off again, quickly tearing more flesh away.
The bear felt warm fluid running down through his fur as his body grew colder. His vision began to dim as he looked around the dark cave with the dawn now streaming in. He must kill this wolf, who was this wolf? Then he felt himself grow tired, he felt his body drop to the ground, he would take a rest, just a short rest....then he would fight. He closed his eyes never to open them again. Garius jumped upon his fallen corpse and announced his arrival to all inside the cave.
"Brothers, sisters. I have been gone too long. I see you are weak and hungry," he tore off a piece of the bear and spit it on the ground before them all. "Eat, and find your strength from your oppressor." He jumped off as every wolf that had strength ran to the dead bear and began to consume him. Some tearing pieces and bringing them to the wolves who were too weak to make their way over to the feast. Garius could smell the fear as he looked around the cave to find the source. There at the back was Siphel cowering and trying to hide from the eyes that now pursued him. He ran towards him and confronted him.
"What have you done, Siphel? Look at our kind, look at your brothers and sisters."
"They were never family to me. I was never shown the proper respect that I deserved in this place." he snorted back at Garius
"Respect? You were always planning, always working against the best for the pack. All you could think of was yourself and now here at the end it is all that you still think about. Your selfishness has always been your weakness. Now you have used it to destroy the pack. It ends today."
Siphel laughed "I am not afraid of you, I have never..."
They were his last words. Garius would listen no more to his evil tongue, his evil heart. He moved quickly grabbing a large part of Siphel's jaw line in his mouth and used all his remaining strength to kick his back legs off the ground so that his body swung over Siphel's and landed on the other side of him. He kept a tight grip on the jaw, breaking Siphel's neck and dropping him dead to the ground. The other wolves looked on in amazement as Garius announced "Any other challengers?" There were none. They all bowed their front legs and howled as Garius joined them in howling. The pack was again united and he would never allow this to happen again.
He marked his defeated foe and grabbed his neck and began to drag him out of the cave. Some younger wolves began to attack and tear at Siphel's corpse so Garius stopped them and pushed them back with his nose. "We do not eat our own kind, even though this one was barely one of us. The one who betrayed you is gone from here, this is just his lifeless shell which I am going to dispose of so that his stench will not be found among us." The wolves backed off as Garius continued to drag the lifeless body. A few stronger ones joined in and began to help.
One asked "Where are we taking this?"
"To the cliff on the side by the cave, we will throw it off there. It can rest at the bottom and bring food to those who may need it. It will be the only good thing this beast has ever done." Garius replied.
They continued to the side of the cliff getting as close to the edge as they could then Garius flipped the body over and it plummeted down into the canyon passing the hidden body of Angus as it crashed down. Angus was avenged now as well and would soon be visited once again by the crows who would come to perform their funeral rite and carry his spirit to the other side. Garius looked proudly at the young wolves. "Thank you for your help. Let us return to the cave."
Once they were back inside Garius now had a chance to commit his energy to the pack and assess what needs they had. The bear was a feast that they really needed at this time. All winter long he enslaved the wolf pack to serve him as they suffered and starved while he grew fat on their work. "My family, I see you have suffered much. I am sorry I left you alone with this monster, but I can promise you I am back and this will not happen again. Any wolves displaying selfish behaviour such as Siphel will no longer be welcome in this pack. We are family and we are one. There is one other who is now family with us, Nibelski has joined with me and is currently feeding my pups."
There was a wave of shock that ran over the pack as they remembered Garius had left with her, but she was a fox. Such a thing has never been heard of before.
Garius continued
"A wolf of blue and grey
From the fires we are saved
A bringer of life from the flood
To unite the land with new blood"
He paused to watch their reaction "yes, some of you know of that prophecy, but did you know that it is about Nibelski, the one who you saw me leave with? There is much that I must tell you over the coming days, but she saved many from a great fire and now brings new blood to our world in our pups. You saw her colors, but what you have not seen is her now. We spent the cold days together and she is larger and stronger than she has ever been, we even befriended some humans. These are long stories that I will share, but first let us tend to the sick and the wounded here. We will regain our strength then we shall move out of this tomb. Where is Werson?"
Garius could not find his scent and he began to worry that Siphel had him killed.
"He is over here, he is sick and could not fight back. We fear Siphel poisoned him" one called out.
Garius rushed over to look at him. He was thin, his scent was covered by his sickness, yet his eyes were open and he smiled when Garius bent down to check on him. "It is so good to see you, Garius. I am sorry I failed you....I failed the pack"
"Do not worry yourself, Werson. Let us see what we can do for you right now". Garius asked about his sickness, when it happened and what they thought it might be. He remembered the violet plant his mother once used to help him when he fell sick from eating the wrong things as a pup. He wondered if there would even be any around outside, but he had to try. "I am going to get something to help, I will not be gone long" he said as he raced out of the cave towards the green area when many plants had started to spring up. A young wolf quickly ran up and stayed beside him.
"Do not go alone, I will help you," he said.
Garius recognized him. It was Thydor. He had changed and was growing up well. Garius smiled at him "ok, we are looking for a tall violet plant. It may be too early for it to be here, but we need it for Werson if he was poisoned. Let us run together, Thydor"
They ran through the plains and finally found a few small growths of the plant. As they plucked some Garius hoped it would be enough. Upon his return he chewed it then fed it to Werson then he asked Thydor to bring some water for him as well. "Keep bringing him fresh water, for life is in water. I need you to watch over him and report any change to me. Thank you, Thydor".
Thydor felt proud being able to help. He too had once been rebellious in spirit against some decisions within the pack, but now after seeing how that corrupted Siphel and the destruction it brought into the pack he finally understood. Garius was a great leader and he would question him no more.