The Clan Cave

Koyote gave a yawn and stretched. He sniffed the air. But it seamed that a few wolves were missing. He could guess who. And why. Koyote sped towards the loner lands.

Celeheit staggered into the caves and yawned. Her mouth stretched open so wide, that she feared it might tear. Celeheit lay down and fell asleep at once.

"CELEHEIT! WAKE UP! THE FOREST IS ON FIRE! Well, on Sunwood side, but it can still spread towards Starcliff!" Xania yelled. Celeheit woke up groggily.
"And what am I meant to do about it?" she asked.
"Stop it spreading towards Starcliff."
"You have no love for Sunwood, do you?" Celeheit chuckled.
"Starcliff comes first."
"True." They flew out.

It began to rain hard.

Xania lay Celeheit against the rock. "You're hurt." she said softly. Celeheit shook her head.
"I'm dying."
"No! You're not!" Xania shouted.
"Yes, I am." Celeheit rasped. "I don't have long. Listen, you must keep Starcliff safe. Those wolves musn't bring our clan down. Please?" Xania nodded.
"Of course."
"Thank you. Then it's time I left." Celeheit sighed and closed her eyes. Xania buried her head in Celeheit's blood soaked fur and felt her ribcage rise and fall. Then, it stopped. She raised her head and felt a deep sorrow inside her heart. She never knew she had become so attached to Celeheit. Xania dried her eyes and carried Celeheit to the stone circles.

-200 years earlier, Sunlit's time-

Flying into the cave, Sunlit bowled Karkiyo over, and finished him of with a quick bite. Wolves these times were weak. She looke around muzzle drpping with the scarlet blood.
She exploaded another, Pilouni, with Sand, and Geor with a blow to the head. She swiftly exited the cave.

-Still 200 years earlier-

A little black wolf poked her head into the cave.
"This just keeps getting better!" she crowed. "Better, better, better!" the sun shone down on the little wolf's back. She had rainbow coloured markings on her fur shaped like twoleg firework explosions. Her wings were hidden by the cave shadows and could not be made out. She turned tail to follow Sunlit.

Tsuki felt his heart raced as he approached the clan cave, and then, slowly, he looked in.

Tsuki's heart sank.
"The Clan..." He turned to Crow with a look of sadness in his eyes, "We have to rebuild this clan" He murmured in low tones.

Eirlyamae was so sick of trying to find it. The fox hybrid had lost track of the moons. Everytimes the white lupine thought she was there, she found herself a million tree-lengths away.

'My great-great-great-great-grandfather lived there. That's all I got off my father. How was that supposed to help me?'

The adolescent kitsune shook her snowy head, padding towards a huge cave.

'I just want to find home. Is that so much to ask?'

Then two strange wolf scents hit her nose. Her ears pricked, and as she entered, she glanced up.

'Wow. I feel so small looking at them!'

Eirylamae suddenly realised that this could be their territory, that she could be trespassing.

'Uh-oh.'

"Hi... Um... I wonder if... No, probably not... Maybe I'll just... But then..."

The wolf hybrid looked very flustered, apparently intimidated by how much taller the other two were.

Tsuki saw something. He spun round, his gaze resting on the smaller wolf. Yet it wasn't. Tsuki knew it must be a hybred.
"Are you Starcliff?" He asked.

Eilyamae sighed with relief.

"Well, my father said my great-something-grandfather was." She responded, licking her metal.

"And, well, after what happened to my Kitsune tribe... It's the only place left that could be called home."

Eirlyamae studied the two wolves cautiously. The one who had spoke was brown, with dark stripes. Curiously, he had a horn, which she could just see. The other was a black female, with little silver and white bits mixed into her fur. Her wings were most definatley shaped; they remined Eirlyamae of a black bird she had often seen on her travels, though she never did know it's name.

Tsuki dipped his head respectfully.
"Starcliff is also the Clan of my ancestors" He responded, "Do you have a name?"

"Eirlyamae." Her head dipped low back in responce. Perhaps wolf mannerisms weren't so different from that of a fox. "And you are?"

"Tsuki Something" Tsuki paused, "My Names so long I just use the first word" He shrugged.

"I see." Eirlyamae nodded slowy, then turned to the black she-wolf. "And you are...?"

"That's Crow" Tsuki replied, nodding at he black she-wolf.

"Hello, Crow." Eirlyamae dipped her head again, and glanced to the floor.

(Don't you mean Eirlyamae?)
Tsuki looked between Crow and Eirlyamae with a thoughtful glances.
"Starcliff is going to be a leader" He paused, wincing and looking down at one of his front legs which had begun to shake. he Pain barrier wasn't holding...

Eirlyamae frowned at him.

"Yes, yes they will, but let's tackle these problems one at a time. Firstly, what's wrong with your leg?"

She sniffed it gently, forwning. She was no healer, but she'd picked up a few things from the tribe doctor, Mari. This, on the other hand, was not something she knew. The white vixen stepped back, and tipped her head to the side.

"I was in a fight. With a childhood 'friend' neither of us could win, or lose. In the end we almost destroyed each other. Opposites. I managed to create a mental barrier to stop the pain - but my body is crippled" Tsuki turned away his head in shame. This new power he'd been given - a pain barrier - to mask wounds and pain, crumpled, and he was seen. Blood. Lots of it. Torn flesh. Bones. You could see one of his leg bones, the muscle was torn. Wins shredded. His old burn was small fish in comparison.

Eirlyamae stared at his wounds it shock. Where was ice when you needed it?

'No time for that... What did Mari use to treat open wounds? No, wait, she just put marigold in it and froze it over...

'Wait... Marigold! That's why Mari got her name!'

"Tsuki," She barked quickly, "Do you know where any Marigold grows around here? Lick your wounds, and I'll go get some."