The New Tribe

[Seijre]

Shooing Sandstone away wasn't hard, as the pup was already nervous from the proximity of the wolves. Emrys watched to make sure he was scampering off the other direction before she came over to where Dusk was. *The human certainly doesn't look happy* she noted, a slight smirk on her face as she took in the young man's slumped posture. He was cradling one arm against himself, and she wondered if he had broken it. She couldn't help but think that it would be better if their tribe just drove this small group of humans completely away from this area. So what if they liked the thick grass of the higher plains for their beasts? There must have been plenty of other places elsewhere the humans could drive the cattle to feed.

*I don't understand why we let them come so close to our holt* she sent to Dusk. *That's just asking for trouble. Humans have to poke their stupid noses into anything and everything. They're not going to leave our patch of woods alone, wolves or no wolves.* She missed the secluded desert of Sorrow's End, where mountains had kept human's prying eyes away from the elves right up until the very end. Surely there was something they could do to deter humans from coming up into this area, some way to encourage them to move elsewhere. She just wished she could think of something.

[Maeve]

Zent yawned. The sun was starting to set and it was time to bring the cattle to their enclosure. He got up and slowly drove the beasts toward the small patch of grass just beside the house, where they would be safe for the night. As he finished pushing the last group inside, a few kids from the village passed by, looking at him with a worried look on their faces. After a few seconds, he remembered his arm.

"What happened?" one of the villagers asked, a young man named Jak, just about his age.

"Hm, the wolves... came near the cows," Zent started to say, noticing the looks getting more worried as he spoke. "I tried to calm the beasts, but meh, didn't work that well. One nearly hit me and I hurt my shoulder when I fell."

"Wait, wait! You mean the wolves really came out of the forest and so close to the village?" another kid asked. "We need to tell the adults!"

Before Zent could say or so anything, most of the group had scampered away. Jak gave him a last look before telling him he should go see someone about his arm. He then walked away with the others.

Zent sighed, knowing it meant that the adults would go hunt the wolves soon. After all, what else could they do? The cattle were their main way to survive, and they couldn't let predators so close to their homes anyway. He closed the cows' yard and walked down the small dirt road of the village, heading for the doctor.

About half an hour later, he exist one of the small houses of the village, his arm tied into a clean bandage and a small package of ointment in the other hand. The doctor had said it wasn't broken, but still gave him something to chase the pain. In a week or two, he would be alright. As he approached his house, he noticed an unusual amount of people standing next to it, mostly men carrying forks and any kind of weapons they had.

"The kids said you saw wolves in the fields. Is it true?" one of them asked.

"Yup... well, sorta. I mostly saw the cows panicking and running away," the young man answered.

"Well, seems like we'll go wolf-hunting tonight!" the man said, something in his voice seeming too joyful for the situation. The sentence was followed by exclamations coming from the small crowd, apparently pleased by the decision. The man then looked at Zent.

"Since you're hurt, I'm guessing you won't come with us?" It wasn't really a question, and before anything else could be added, the man ordered the others to meet in the center of the village in an hour, with torches and all the weapons they needed.

Zent sighed as he watched the crowd split. He then entered his house and immediately headed to bed, not really feeling like watching what would happen. Plus, the pain was making him tired.

[Keylaleigh]

Ayoris sighed as she looked over the wooded area. The stunt that the wolves had pulled was risky, and she knew from experience that when one human got hurt, they would come to the elves in large numbers seeking vengeance. And that never ended well.

One time, during the wars, some of the Go-Backs managed to corner a human on their territory, so they roughed him up a little. To make a long story short, that didn't end well for the elves. Ayoris remembered that day vividly. They came in large numbers, overwhelming the already pathetic number of Go-Backs. She barely made it out alive, and still wasn't quite sure as to how she did.

Now it was about to happen again. And she wasn't going to run this time. She knew that she couldn't start anything just yet, though. Sit and wait. Just sit and wait...

[Tsemara]

The wolves watched the human lands, with disinterest. They had their fun, and now they would rest. Some of them looked up at the approach of the jackwolf and his would be rider. They let the small animal know that they would not attack while the elves were close by, but it would not be welcomed to share their shade.

Dusk looked over at the human settlment, at Emrys' Send. Whatever the humans were doing, they were making more noise than sparrows after the snows melt. *I know,* she huffed. *But the elders don't like it when we talk about driving them off. They say there aren't many places we can go if the humans try to overrun us again.* She wondered what the humans were up to. If she was closer, she might be able to pick up on part of what was being said. But that would mean leaving the forest. And that was a big fat 'no' for wolf and cub alike. So unles they came closer, she would need to continue to wonder.