Forest's Journey
Chapter 17

Over the next week, during prey sharing, Forest and Rose would always notice that the prey smelled like the Pack of the Bush. First, they brushed it off, thinking it was just because the scents of the wolves haven’t really separated yet. But over the week, instead of the smell growing weaker or even just staying the same, it became stronger. Forest summoned Ferret the Kappa to discuss this issue.

“Ferret, I’ve noticed that the prey we’ve been eating has been smelling like the Pack of the Bush. Have you been sending the Lambdas over there to hunt?” asked Forest.

“No, of course not! However, when a wolf is concentrating on catching or sniffing out a piece of prey, they’re not really that conscious of their surroundings, so if the border between our pack and the Pack of the Bush is indistinct, many Lambdas might miss it and accidentally go over it.” replied Ferret.

“Look, we and the Alphas of the Pack of Bush argued a lot when we established the border, so there is definitely no room for negotiation. If they found out we’ve been dishonouring the border in any way, there’s going to be a big conflict, perhaps even a battle. We must prevent that.” Rose explained.

“But how am I supposed to prevent the Lambdas from crossing the border? It’s so hard to tell where the border is!” protested Ferret.

“We’ll have a talk with Alpha Bush and Alpha Holly, to see if we can change the border to what we proposed.” decided Forest.

“Our Etas have reported smelling the Pack of the Bush scents inside our territory, so that might help our case.” Rose added.

Later that day, Forest and Rose headed for the Pack of the Bush’s camp to talk things over with Bush and Holly. They encountered Blaze, who they learnt was the Epsilon, at the edge of Bush’s camp. He took them into the Alphas’ den, where they were greeted with Bush and Holly, as well as their Beta and Delta. They dipped their heads respectfully to every wolf in the den.

“Greetings, Bush, Holly, Beta and Delta. We’re here to-” Forest began.

“Discuss the border, we know. What we can tell you is that our border will not budge, and unless you promise right here, right now that no Pack of the Forest wolf will ever cross the border for illegitimate reasons and you keep your promise, we will attack your pack.” Oat interrupted bluntly.

Forest’s and Rose’s eyes blazed with anger at the disrespect shown by the Beta.

“Your wolves have been over our border many times as well.” Rose argued.

“But they have no reason or motive to. Your wolves, on the other hand, do, because if wolves from both packs constantly cross the border, you can change it and take more land.” retorted Thistle.

“Are you suggesting-” Forest yelled, his voice angry like thunder.

“Do you remember the agreement we struck in the Pack of the Sun and Moon, Bush and Holly?” Rose interrupted, not wanting to cause a heated argument or even a fight in a rival pack’s territory.

“Yes, but we’re no longer honouring the agreement as we have found out that you could use it to steal our land.” Holly answered.

Forest’s and Rose’s ears and tail tips twitched with barely controlled rage.

“Give us a moment please.” Forest said.

“Gladly.” replied Bush.

They padded out of the den, stood a fair distance away from it, and bent their heads together to discuss what they should do.

“We can’t agree to their demands! You were right, Rose, wolves in their pack are mad!” exclaimed Forest.

“We have to, Forest. If we don’t, we risk a battle, perhaps even war!” reasoned Rose.

“But there are some things we can’t compromise! We can’t risk their pack thinking that we’re weak and cowardly!” argued Forest.

“We can’t risk the lives of our packmates either.” said Rose.

Forest gave a sigh of defeat, his head drooping.

“You’re right, Rose. We can’t risk war, especially not now when the pack has just been established. Let’s just go and accept their demands for now. However, if they make more outrageous demands in the future that will harm our pack, we will risk whatever we can to make them stop.” decided Forest.

“I agree.” replied Rose.

“We will accept your demands.” Forest announced when they were back in the den.

“Glad to know that the Pack of the Forest Alphas aren’t idiots.” Oat replied.

Forest and Rose bristled, but didn’t reply. They nodded to the wolves, less respectfully this time, and headed out of the den back to their own territories. On the way back, Forests’ mind was addled with unpleasant thoughts. How did Bush’s pack transform him that much? Why didn’t he honour his promise? Why had he entirely turned his back on him?

“Something on your mind?” asked Rose.

“Yes, there’s an impending battle, Rose, of course it’s on my mind.” Forest replied.

“No, what is actually on your mind?”

“Bush’s betrayal of our promise.”

“Don’t let it get under your skin, dear. He was coerced into doing what he had done by his packmates. You can see that from the fact he barely said anything during the conversation.”

“But Bush isn’t one to bend to pressure!”

“Everyone buckles under a certain amount of pressure. Maybe Bush’s packmates put a lot of pressure on him to be an aggressive Alpha.”

“You’re right, there’s no point thinking about it now. It’s wiser to think about how we can protect our pack from a devastating battle. We can tell the Lambdas to stay away from our border with the Pack of the Bush, but in winter that means we won’t have enough prey. One of them will cross over the border someday. This war is inevitable. We need to start preparing a strategy for how we’re going to deal with them.”

“Yes, we must be prepared for a battle.”