Cobui woke up in her den outside of the pack. To continue her adventure, she must move forward.
She could smell the faint scent of wolves. There was a pack nearby.
She was very tired and had a lot of questions.
She closed her eyes gently and decided to lay back down. Whatever wolves were close by shouldn't be a hassle.
•~•
Cobui could feel a muzzle against her side. She opened her eyes and saw a large black wolf smelling her.
"E-excuse me," She whispered.
The wolf looked into her eyes fiercely.
"You weren't dead?" He asked.
"No. I wasn't. Who are you and what do you want?" Cobui scratched him away.
"My name is secret. For as it is my duty not to say. What's your name?"
"Cobui. Tell me your name,"
"Nope," The wolf smiled at Cobui.
"Then get outta here," She stood up and realized that she was actually much shorter than him.
"Xta," The wolf looked down at his paws.
To Cobui, that name rang a bell. It was from the myth or legend of Harriot and the forest.
And Xta, the strongest wolf of all.
"Well, I surely like your name. Your mother must have named you after the myth," Cobui licked her paw. It was randomly bleeding.
"No. No she didn't. My mother died in the FrostQre War. And my father died trying to kill Harriot. I am eternal," Xta whispered the last part.
Cobui's eyes widened.
"So then you're the true Xta? The one who was stronger than Harriot?" She asked.
"Yeah, and it's my fault. My stupidity had taken over back then and I realized that if I'd have thought about how powerful I was I could've saved my father," Xta's nose was dry.
Cobui noticed that his eyes were extremely red and were swirling.
"Xta. My plan was to find the lost forest. To find you. If you were alive. I did," She licked up the rest of the blood and noticed that Xta had turned around.
"Xta?"
"Follow me," He began moving in an instant, Cobui trailing behind.
•~•
They came to a stop at a guarded den. The den was surrounded in dead bush and had a pile of fresh kill. Cobui was usually last to eat. She ended up chewing on the bad pieces that no wolf wanted.
"It's been a long time since I've eaten fresh kill," She spoke up.
"Oh yeah? They won't feed you fresh?" Xta led her to the pile.
"They won't let me have a turn. Very unpleasant things I've eaten in the last couple of days," They chuckled.
"Eat up and get well rested. I have a couple of errands to run tomorrow," Xta walked to the corner and lied down on the over-sized leaf.
His back was facing Cobui.
She began smelling the meat in front of her. Rats, mice, rabbit, squirrel.
Crow.
Cobui began chewing off the wings of the bird and spitting out the feathers.
"Good?" She heard Xta ask.
"Mm hmm! Aren't you going to have some?" She was dumbfounded on why Xta, strongest and most hard-working wolf on land, wasn't eating after a long day.
"I'm okay. Eat as much as you want. I'll have some tomorrow. Good night," Xta shuffled around and fell asleep a couple seconds later.
Cobui finished her crow and looked over at him. He was terribly wheezing.
She had a plan that she might die doing. But it was a risk that was worth taking.