Howling Moon: Blue Moon, Chapter Three

Eclipse padded through the forest sniffing at things she had never seen before. She glanced over her shoulder seeing her brother far behind her.

"Come on, pick up your pace!" barked Eclipse. Shadow looked at her for a moment then started sniffing at the ground.

"Hey I have a scent! I think it's from the mountain lion," shadow called over. Eclipse padded over to her brother and sniffed the ground as well. She nodded her approval and the two followed the scent. Shadow stopped and sniffed the air.

"Be careful Eclipse," he whispered. "the mountain lion is in this area, I feel it." Eclipse nodded and scoped around for the lion. She then spotted something in a tree that looked to be a wolf only that looked somehow different.

"Shadow," Eclipse whispered. "Is the lion up there?" Eclipse pointed her tail towards the tree.

"It's got to be it, now don't make a sound or it could shred us to pieces." The two pups glanced once more at the mountain lion and quietly tried sneaking away but the lion had already heard them. It snarled at the two intruders and jumped down from the branch it's tail lashing back and forth angrily.

"Run!" barked Eclipse. Shadow obeyed and ran after his sister trying to flee the forest. But the mountain lion was two fast for them. It ran ahead and blocked the pups from escaping. Shadow darted for the other way with Eclipse at his heels.

"Come on faster!" he urged.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" she yelped helplessly. The mountain lion was now giving the chase of the pups' life. Shadow then felt his sister stumble into a hole barking for help. He spun around and nudged his sister quickly to her paws. The two began running again but up ahead they saw nothing but a trap, a ledge. Eclipse stopped dead in her tracks as well as her brother.

"We're lion food!" moaned Eclipse. "Why did I even bring up the idea of us coming out here?"

Just when everything looked hopeless a patrol of wolves rushed out of the bushes. Eclipse and Shadow recognized their father, Titan, as being one of the wolves fighting off the lion. Knowing that it was outnumbered the lion backed off and fled the forest. Titan looked down at his pups angrily.

"What were you two thinking?" he growled. "You could have been killed!"

Eclipse and Shadow looked down at their paws.

"Well?" Titan challenged.

Eclipse spoke up and said,"Father, I was the one who convinced Shadow to come with me to find the lion, I just wanted to prove to you pups could be as good as any fighter like you are."

Titan looked thoughtful for a moment but then shook his head.

"Eclipse and Shadow, if you ever want to become a fighter you have to live by our wolf ancestors' code."

"Yes father," the two pups muttered and followed the wolves back to camp.