Hello peeps! I just decided to write this Scratch series called the Wolves of Obsidian and this is the next chapter. Enjoy! Cover by @squirrelflight1010! CHAPTER 36 Xgore/violence warningX Obsidian lay quietly in the sun, eyes closed and head on her paws. The only thing that showed she was still conscious was the persistent flick of her silky black-flecked tail. Her eyes were dull and spark-less, the earlier spark of excitement and young recklessness was gone and all that was left was a dull flame. Her visions were at their worst and DarkPack's situation at its darkest. Only a few minutes ago she'd violently collapsed into a fit and, yet, again, had to be dragged off to her Sleeping Cave by her Packs' Healer, Lynx. But she wasn't totally gone. Not yet. "My Pack will fight to the death for me," she muttered to herself, and, as an afterthought added, "And I'll fight to the death for them. Beta has had dreams - about me winning that awful final duel with Ember, his dreams can't be wrong... Can they?" The only reply was a distant scuffle of paws and an indignant squeal from the forest. Almost like it was taunting her. "I can't bear it any longer!" Obsidian barked suddenly, dragging herself to her paws. The fact that EmberPack and Ember himself made her so exposed and weak filled her with rage - even more so because she knew she could do nothing about it. She turned around and took a few steps into the DarkPack Territory Caves, and paused. Was that a growl I heard? she wondered, then shook out her pointed ears. "You're exhausted, hallucinating, imagining there are things there are not," she growled to herself, annoyed at her obvious exhausted weakness. As she took another step forward, she heard a rustling and a louder growl, again. That was definitely real, she thought. Spooked and anxious, she whipped around, hackles up. Nothing. Positively disconcerted, she took a few larger, stronger steps. Nothing. You're imagining it, she told herself firmly. Her hackles relaxed and she sat down, as, after a few more minutes, nothing immediate and hazardous happened. Obsidian let her tongue loll from her jaws as she paced along the borderline of the cave. Just as she had finished marking a tree stump next to her cave, her whiskers flexed and her eyes widened. There was a definite wolf scent now, a strong one, fresh, almost as if there was a wolf right next to her in the forest... A crackle of paws. The glint of eyes. The snap of jaws. Obsidian broke into a run. Beside her in the forest, a grey-and-cream blur broke out from the dense cover of trees. EmberPack! Obsidian's mind howled. Obsidian let out a yelp and stumbled, skidding as her right paw hit a sharp stone. There was the hot ruffling of fur at her rump - the enemy was right behind her. Suddenly, pain lashed through her side and Obsidian gave a choking yowl, hitting the ground hard, winded. She could feel the warm trickle of fresh blood beading in her pelt. She tried to stagger to her paws, to fight off the enemy, but she was immobile - helpless at the paws of her enemy. The grey-and-cream male wolf stalked forward, his slit, yellow eyes flaring with triumph as Obsidian lay there at his paws. You're lost! You're gone! You're dead! How can you help your Pack now? The burly male's image blurred in her vision and she gave one last, feeble snap of her jaws as the fog clouding her vision finally engulfed her whole body, plunging her into darkness.
Stay tuned for Chapter 37!
