Chapters 1-2

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="14800640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <B>Chapters 1-2</B>   |   <A HREF="keri_lm3_4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapters 34"><U>Chapters 3-4</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/oldnews.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Old News</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/zrfic/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>My Fanfics</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/zrart/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>My Fanart</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/a-j/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Authors A-J</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/k-z/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Authors K-Z</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/art/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Fanart List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/ffsubmit.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Submit a Fanfic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/fanart_submit.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Submit Fanart</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://pub46.ezboard.com/beeveesmb" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://pub46.ezboard.com/beeveesmb"><U><B>Message Board</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/links.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Chapters 1-2</I></div> <div> Keri</div> <bR> <div> Lonely Moon</div> <bR> <div> Chapter one:</div> <bR> <div> was Twilight when Umbra trotted out into the field, her claws at ready. She</div> <div> snarled, sniffing the moist earth. She broke into a trot, here large paws</div> <div> leaving imprints in the soil.</div> <div> "I will find them," she snarled. "I will dig my claws into their flesh</div> <div> and I will feast." She ran on. Umbra was on a mission and would not by any</div> <div> means be dissuaded from persevering forth. Suddenly Umbra stopped and stood</div> <div> stock still, staring out into the void of darkness. She sniffed the air</div> <div> attentively and growled. Stalking forward, Umbra advanced upon her</div> <div> destination. Out of no where something flew at her knocking her to the</div> <div> ground. She howled in pain, spraying fire at her unseen antagonist. It dug</div> <div> its razor sharp claws into her left hind leg. She yelped out again and the</div> <div> last thing she saw before falling unconscious was red eyes and the glow of</div> <div> golden rings.</div> <div> "What happened?" she asked as she awoke, but Umbra was completely alone.</div> <div> Looking down she noticed that her left hind leg was in tatters and she had</div> <div> claw wounds in her side. It was nearly morning now so she had been out cold</div> <div> most of the night. Umbra pushed herself up and tried to put weight on her</div> <div> torn leg but it hurt far too much. She slumped back down and let out a long,</div> <div> lugubrious howl. She began to whimper and wish that she had someone, someone</div> <div> with her, the comfort of her own pack. She began to wish that she had never</div> <div> volunteered for this task or that she had asked to bring along her brother.</div> <div> Now she was injured, completely alone, and couldn't fend off any predators</div> <div> coming her way. She didn't know where she was. She was lost and had been</div> <div> wandering for days, not knowing if she was in other packs territories, near</div> <div> humans, or near any other enemies that might be lying in wait. Just yesterday</div> <div> she had nearly been shot by a rancher because she was so hungry. She came</div> <div> upon his ranch and stole a weak, sickly mareep. The rancher was infuriated</div> <div> and shot at Umbra grazing her horns.</div> <div> "What is going to happen to me?" She wondered aloud. "Will I ever find</div> <div> the caribou?" "What happens if I never make it back?" "What happens if I get</div> <div> killed?" "Who will find my body?" Questions raced through Umbra's mind. With</div> <div> great difficulty, she dragged herself into a patch of brambles by a stream.</div> <div> She drank and lay down to rest. Soon she had cried herself to sleep.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Chapter two</div> <bR> <div> Food. Delicious meat was right before her. It was hers. Then a screech. More </div> <div> screeches sounded. They were coming in an army.</div> <div> "Rats!" Umbra realized. She awoke. There were big black rats all around </div> <div> her. One had latched on to her tail. She slung her tail around until it flew </div> <div> off and landed right into the mob of the other rats. Umbra took off running </div> <div> and narrowly escaped. </div> <div> "Cursed rats," she mumbled. Her wounded leg was stiff. She soon realized </div> <div> that she was back to the spot where she had been attacked the previous night. </div> <div> There were claw marks in the dirt and dried blood. Also in the mess were </div> <div> ashes from her fiery bombardment. The essence of the fight and fear made her </div> <div> nervous. Stiff legged, she walked on. She had her guard up incase of another </div> <div> sneak attack. Once again she was trotting on. Her leg ached. Luckily the rat </div> <div> had bitten her tail and not any other part of her body. Umbra's houndoom tail </div> <div> was tough skinned, thin furred and bony. It probably hurt the rat more than </div> <div> her. If it would have bitten regular, tender flesh, the bite would be hard to </div> <div> heal.</div> <div> "I wish the humans would go after those God forsaken rats instead of us. </div> <div> Those rats do more damage than we do," She thought. "But then they will never </div> <div> stop until they have completely spoiled the earth." She trotted on all that </div> <div> day and all the rest of the next day stopping only for food and water. She </div> <div> kept continuing north at an easy enough pace for her leg. All the time she </div> <div> kept going. She always thought she would never get back home even if she </div> <div> found the caribou. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind and kept </div> <div> going.</div> <div> By moonrise of the third day going, Umbra knew she had to rest. Her </div> <div> sinewy muscles carried her far each day but for now they had had enough. </div> <div> Umbra had made the decision, if she found the caribou, because she didn't </div> <div> want to endure the trip all over again, that she would stay and try to find a </div> <div> high, lonely place with dry soil, where the wind and the sound carry, and the </div> <div> ground is as dry as straw in a barn. That's where she needed to be. Maybe if </div> <div> she found that place there would be other houndoom or houndour she could live </div> <div> with.</div> <div> "That would be nice," She thought as her eyelids drooped. "One day…" but </div> <div> she was too tired to continue thinking and she fell asleep.</div> <div> During the night, Umbra began to dream again. She dreamt that she was </div> <div> running swiftly and agilely through a dense wood. She came to a clearing </div> <div> which in turn came to the edge of a cliff. Then she looked down and saw </div> <div> caribou and wild mareep and flaffy and across the flat valley from them was a </div> <div> high down with trees and places to lie in the grass. Then Umbra awoke </div> <div> disappointed that the dream was not a reality. Sighing, she stood and was off </div> <div> once again.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>