The howl that answered

Content note: loss of a pack and death, without graphic detail.

Khort’s howl should have gone unanswered. He had returned to the old oak to find his pack dead, and the last elder had just died too.

But Sedous had left someone behind. For two days, the old wolf had sheltered a pup beneath the roots, keeping him warm and quiet while the attackers searched the clearing. Now Ugolyok was Khort’s responsibility. There were only two of them left.

Khort had promised that the pup would live while his own heart kept beating. Before leaving, he laid Sedous beside the others and howled over the pack he could not bury.

A small, breaking voice joined his.

Ugolyok was trying to howl. Khort looked at him, picked him up by the scruff, and headed west. The pup had survived by staying silent. Now his voice answered the wolf who thought there was nobody left to answer.

This is an English retelling of a scene from “Ashes of the Pack”, the opening chapter of Evgeny’s novel Lone Fang, set in the World of Beasts universe. It is book fiction, not a report of an encounter generated by the game.

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