'Hawks'
The Red River Gorge Flier
Night fell upon the coniferous forest, shrouding the underbrush in a sheet of black.
It was the last night before spring would begin to take its hold upon the land, easing the frozen rivers and flooding the red river gorge back to its natural state - at least until the summer heat dried it up again.
It was a constant cycle. Flooding, drying, and freezing. The surrounding packs had become accustomed to it. The Dark Brotherhood, for one, had taken to holding a certain stage of their Initiations within the gorge on nights much like this one. Two wolves were left in the gorge. Either one victor would escape, or both would be too wounded to escape before the ice broke.
The packs on the opposing side of the gorge, in the mountains, found it barbaric, although they dared not speak their mind lest a Hunter catch wind of their ill words.
Wings of Hawk watched silently from her perch on a rocky outcropping that jut out from the inside walls of the gorge.
She was a yearling, just finished with her apprenticeship under an older wolf of her pack. They were native to the coniferous forest. They'd lived there for generations, gently and continuously cultivating the land to their needs. They were strong, healthy, and beautifully solitary.
Of course, other packs had come and gone. Their only significant neighbor was the Dark Brotherhood, but they mostly kept to themselves.
Except for tonight.
Hawk hunkered down, tucking her paws beneath her as she watched the shadowy figures emerge from the tree line and begin their descent.
She pinpointed the smallest wolf almost immediately. He was broad-shouldered, with a lean and athletic build and big paws. If she wasn't comparing him to his taller companions, she would've assumed he was already an adult.
Nevertheless, he looked as though he was made for combat. He held his head high as he trotted and slid down the sloping sides of the gorge.
Hawk had to hide her laugh. They may be strong, but they did not know the land like she did. She could scale the side of the gorge with ease.
The next wolf she looked upon was taller, but still young. She had longer legs than the others, but the same muscularity and large paws. Her movements were more natural and well-placed. She seemed aware of her surroundings.
Hawk realized with a frown that these would be the wolves fighting to become Initiated. The adults with them were already heading back up the path they hailed from.
She adjusted her position, stepping down a few feet to get a better view. Her frown only deepened as she caught a better look at the wolves.
They looked to only be a few moon cycles older than her, and strikingly similar to each other. She realized after another moment that they were siblings.
Siblings who, as soon as their overseers reached the top, would be forced to fight to the death.
Hawk sighed as she watched them glance around nervously. The taller wolf seemed resigned to her choice of fate, as she stared at her brother. He was scuffing the ground with his paws, glancing behind him every few minutes to see how close the adults were to the top.
Suddenly, the female lunged forward. Hawk flinched back at the impact. She'd taken her chance as soon as she noticed the adults step foot on the grass, while her brother was distracted.
The two wrestled each other to the ground, maws snapping just breaths away from fatality. Their similar pelts began to blend together, until Hawk could no longer tell who was who.
Up on her perch, she could see most of the gorge on this side of the bend. Just barely she could make out the loose rocks that fell down every year from the river unleashing.
She looked away for a moment as an unfamiliar sound echoed from that side of the gorge. A creaking, like a tree bending against its breaking point.
Hawk cocked her head, listening. She heard it again, and then a low groaning. Her eyes suddenly widened. It was the river. The ice was about to break.
She stood up, loosing a few rocks from the cliffside as she fought for a coherent thought. She had been raised since birth to avoid the river's rage during spring. Her ancestors, who'd once lived within the gorge while the dams still stood, had nearly been killed when they fell and the river erupted.
Her tail waved nervously, and she glanced down at the wolves fighting. They seemed unaware of their impending deaths, only their victory over the other.
Even if one of them one, the victor would be too wounded to escape in time. Hawk gritted her teeth.
She had a split second to make the decision that could end her life.
Hawk snapped her head back in a howl loud enough to pierce through the darkness itself. It rang through the gorge, bouncing off of every rock.
The fighting wolves immediately broke away, looking in her direction.
"Hey!" She shouted to them, making her way down the side of the gorge. "The river's about to break! Get out!"
The female looked in the direction of the ice. In the new silence, the eerily hollow echo of the forming cracks was obvious.
"Who are you?" She growled, looking down at Hawk as she reached the bottom. Blood was dripping down her face from a nasty cut over her eye.
Hawk frowned, realizing their strength might already be too depleted to make the climb out.
"My name is Wings of Hawk." She glanced between the two wolves. The male was silent, his muzzle curled in a snarl. "If you don't get out, you're going to die."
"Why should we trust you?" He spat blood at her paws. Hawk stepped back, grimacing. Her gaze hardened into a glare.
"Listen. I've lived in this gorge my entire life. I don't care if I'm interrupting your barbaric aging rituals. I don't want your corpses washing up on my shores and tainting my land."
The siblings looked to each other. She noticed that despite their fighting, they held a deeper love for each other. Somehow, the ice breaking was a mercy.
"Fine," the sister finally spoke, "I'm Veritate, and this is Strivor. How do we get out?"
"We don't have much time. Follow me."
Hawk trotted to the wall of the gorge that they'd descended from originally, scanning its crevices. Quickly, she mentally crafted a path leading up to the surface.
"Veritate, you go first. Start here and wind up to these outcroppings, and then step across the foot trails until you reach the top. Strivor, you follow her footprints exactly. As soon as the river breaks, the vibrations will loose some of these rocks. This is the safest path."
Veritate began up the described trail, stepping lightly. Strivor followed. As soon as he reached the quarter point of the trail, a loud crack split the air. The siblings looked back at her in surprise. She was still on the ground.
"Hawk!" Strivor called to her, yelping as part of his footholdings began to fall away beneath him. He scrambled back onto stable land. "Climb up!"
Hawk took in a shaky breath. She'd realized from the second she'd sent Veritate up the path that the outcroppings would crumble as soon as the two reached the top. More boulders were falling from the walls now. She had no way of escaping.
She looked back to the young wolves. They were nearing the surface, but still looking back at her every few seconds as the ground began to tremble.
Hawk knew what she had to do.
She had to run.
She broke out in a gallop across the gorge, kicking up dust in her wake with each stride. Behind her, the ice split, and a blast of cold air billowed through the gorge as the river erupted from its winter hold.
She ran as fast as she'd ever run in her entire life. She could feel the ground shaking beneath her paws as water flooded in behind her.
One thing she knew from being a native pack member, was that nature was relentless. Nature did not have a concept of mercy.
Nature brought the wrath of the same river crashing down on her ancestors so many years ago. Now nature brought it down again on her.
Maybe as revenge. She did not think that nature had a concept of such a thing.
But when nature willed death, it came. So Hawk ran for her life.
As she rounded the bend of the gorge, she saw her goal. A path carved out by her packmembers, that lead back to the surface. To safety.
Perhaps her fate had been foretold. She was running, but the river surged faster. The path looked on at her from so far away.
She couldn't reach it on time if she tried, but yet she persisted. Her heart hammered against her ribbcage, and her paws burned, and dust burned at her eyes. If she died, she would die in a break of glory, racing the river
She could almost feel it now, the mists hitting her back. It was roaring, the most terrifying sound she'd ever heard. She dared a look behind her, at the water dyed red with clay from upstream, and saw her own death reflected in its rage.
And then, Hawk learned to fly.
She pulled ahead, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She was streaking across the gorge, and she was winning.
The wind seemed to be lifting her paws, pushing her forward, filling her lungs with air.
In that moment, as she scaled the path a second before the water crashed against it, she became the red river gorge flyer.
Hawk carefully stepped over the territory marker, her eyes slowly adjusting to the low light as she entered the deepest part of the coniferous forest.
She blinked, and suddenly there was a wolf standing before her. As expected.
"State your business," the wolf snarled.
"My name is Wings of Hawk. I've come to join the Dark Brotherhood."
