Minat Pack

It's been a quarter-moon since Murphy had stumbled upon the Tundra tribe and he was getting restless. The queen wasn't too happy either, as the scouts should have returned already, and she let out her impatience on everyone else but her toy. The hob was hardly ever allowed to leave her side, only to hunt the piles of food necessary to keep every member of the pack at ease. The protection of the leader made him more confident as time went on and he began messing with the other Tundras more and more, despite him being much weaker and smaller than them.

The hob with the white scar across his face was standing in front of him, angrily swishing his tail from side to side and snarling at the Kumba who had just insulted him in front of his subordinated.

«What did you call me?!»

«Take the dirt out of your ears. I said you're a useless, flea-ridden piece of fox-dung! How you turned out to be the deputy of this pack is beyond me!»

The two of them were surrounded by the other Tundras who were expecting to see a fight. But one of them, the one with the rare, brown fur, winced at the Kumbas words and folded his ears backwards. He listened intently to what the two squabblers threw at each others head, but kept himself from participating in the conversation, despite obviously having something to say.

Scald was now losing his patience and slashed out, his paw too slow for the fast desert runner though. Murphy could easily dodge the large hob and bit him firmly in the leg. The Tundras fur was very thick, so it was one of the only places they were vulnerable for him. The other male pushed him away and the Kumba lay dizzy on the ground for a while. Scald seized the moment and, knowing he could easily slit his opponents throat, but that his queen would probably behead him for that, he proceeded to kick the foreign hob in the belly over and over again, until he was struggling to breathe, curling himself up and shielding his face.

«Lucky you're Ontaris pet or I would've killed you right there! Let that be a lesson, punk!»

He spat onto the Saliko that was still squirming on the ground, then left him behind, moving past the other Tundras, of which most followed him.

Only one stayed with Murphy, the brown Tundra. At first he just stood there and watched him, but as the Kumba didn't get back up on his own he went over to him and helped him up.

«You must have a death wish.»

«I'd rather die than stay here and let those fuckers walk all over me!»

Murphy had a lot of cuts and bruises on his face and one of his eyes was swollen shut, but he was still as furious as ever.

«Good to see you're not giving in that quickly, but this is not gonna help you get out of here.»

«What will then?! Tell me, 'cause I'd really love to know!»

Murphy was snarling at the stranger who had helped him, his face only a whisker away from the others, but the blood colored hob didn't even wince at all, adamantly keeping his position.

«The scouts have returned.»

«...What?»

«I heard them while you were...'fighting'. Ontari will let you go now, since we no longer need to catch those darned rabbit anymore.»

He walked a few steps away, then turned his head halfway towards the Kumba.

«And we won't have to see your obnoxious face anymore either.»

Then he left outside.

Murphy had returned to Ontaris cave, but found it empty. Apparently the jill had went past the commotion without even batting an eye at him being annihilated by her deputy, only to get to her precious scouts.

The hob was angry and his pride was hurt way more than his body, still he tried to clean his lacerations and then tried to take a nap. He was interrupted shortly afterwards though, as Ontari entered the room with three Tundras, one of them as grey as the Kumba himself, but a Tundra nonetheless.

«–so we think that the best place to go is south-west of here. That way we can avoid the tribe with the birds and head straight for...»

Trying not to listen in to the conversation too much, as he just didn't care, Murphy blocked out all sounds and only heard Ontaris voice once and again, but didn't focus enough to what she said to understand anything.

When the strangers were gone, the green jill jumped onto her throne and looked at the hob who had curled himself up in the corner again.

«Seems your time here is about to end. Aren't you happy?»

He didn't move, his face still turned away from her as he spoke.

«Couldn't be happier.»

She frowned and stared at him for a while.

«I gotta say, I'm surprised you didn't need a healer after that beating you took.»

Now he snapped, jumped to his feet and whirled around towards her.

«I'd be even better if you had called your bloodhound back!»

«You were the one who started the fight, why would I even think about intervening? I have better things to do than watch an immature whelp.»

«That's not what you said a couple nights ago...»

His face was still serious and mad, despite the innuendo, but now the female was losing her patience. She went over to him and slapped his already hurting face.

Murphy just stood there, his legs shaking, head turned to the side. Another cut had opened up on his cheek and a drop of blood was running down to his chin.

«We're leaving in an hour. Be ready by then.»

«What, are we still not done?»

«You're coming with us, if you like it or not.»

The pack had been walking for a while now, Ontari and the scouts were at the front, leading the group.

Murphy however was surrounded by strong warriors that guarded him so he couldn't run away, a snare around throat, of which the other on was around Scalds throat. They really spared no effort to make sure the Kumba, who had turned out to be necessary for their survival, was still in their captivity.

Suddenly the troop stopped and everyone waited patiently. The scouts had heard something from ahead and listened cautiously for more. Then, out of the corner of his eyes, Murphy saw how grey mass darted at them from the left and pulled some of the warriors down. He turned to the left and watched the slaughter of one of the hunters, blood splattering right onto Murphys face. A loud growl came from before him and then he finally noticed what was going on. A pack of wild wolves was attacking the Salikos, desperate for food as well. Scald immediately ran forward to protect Ontari, ripping Murphy off his feet, who was still attached to him.

«Argh! Get up, idiot!»

Scald grabbed the Kumba by the scruff of his neck and pulled him to his feet, then proceeded to run to his queens side, who tried to fend off two wolves at once. The two hobs jumped into action, landing between the jill and the two beasts that bared their teeth and drooled all over the place.The rope was not very long, so he and Scald had to stay together, but they learned fast and even used it to sweep the creatures off their feet. During the fight, Murphy occasionally noticed Ontari fighting next to him. Her strength and ferocity was impressing to him and whenever her pelt brushed against his, he felt his skin tingle, despite everything she had said and done to him. After a short while the two moved in unison, hitting, slashing and dodging like they had been together for many moons. It remembered him inevitably of his partner Eris, who was still at home in the desert with their whelp Cisco, and the hob was angry at himself for feeling like he did towards the deep green Tundra jill, but he couldn't help it.

After everything was over, Murphy and Ontari stood side by side, breathing heavily and looking around to see what the casualties were like. The jill ran from loyal subject to subject, checking whether they were still alive and needed medical care or if they had joined Demetos.

Scald was standing next to Murphy, he had a bad scratch on his back, but seemed fine other than that. He was definitely still too well to be subdued, that was for sure.

A loud call ripped through the air as Ontari called everyone to her.

«Survivors, gather around!»

Slowly the group collected to their leader. It seemed many got hurt, but only a few had actually died to the wolves.

«We will have to find a place around here to make a camp and let our healer actually take a look at everyone. Those wolves might have been sick and I won't risk you all carrying off like that.»

She looked strong and confident, despite the horrible fight, truly a jill that let nothing take her down. This must be why her tribe followed everything she said. She might be ruthless and scary, but she led her tribe well like that.

It didn't take long and they had found a place in the woods closeby that provided shelter from the wind. The wounded lay in the snow while the healer, a bright blue jill with white spots, was running around and inspecting everyone, putting chewed up herbs and spiderwebs on the wounds.

Suddenly Murphy felt a breath in his neck, but Scald was not around anymore as he had to be treated as well. The hob had been tied to a tree instead, so he whirled around, ready to fight if anything would try to attack him, but he quickly noticed it was Ontari that had surprised him. She undid the knot on the rope and put it around her own neck, now tieing him to her.

«Come with me.»

They went a bit away from camp to make sure no one would hear their conversation, then Ontari talked with sweet, soft voice to the hob that had helped protect her life.

«I appreciate what you did for us. You protected our tribe.»

«Well, I was tied to that madman that you call your deputy and was getting attacked myself. What else did you expect me to do?»

«Don't lie to me, it was obvious you weren't just fighting to save your own hide.»

He turned silent. Her demeanor reminded him so much of Eris that he couldn't help but project the admiration he had for his Kumba partner onto her. He got closer and licked her mane carefully and she, despite being surprised, returned the gesture. The hob was losing himself in the emotions that came in waves. Sorrow, anger, loneliness, damaged pride...he just wanted one of them to be love, and he was looking for it within her, but she was happy to grant him that wish. He went around the Tundra leader and, after taking a deep breath of anticipation, mounted the green jill, this time with consent from both sides. Mating with her had been difficult for him the last time as he couldn't get a grip on the long, smooth fur on her back and because she was so tall, but that time his desire was driving him on. He bit and pulled her mane and grabbed her firmly, making her moan in pleasure as he entered her.

After they were done he climbed down from her, both breathing heavily but satisfied. The Tundra proceeded to smoothen the fur that had been ruffled up, while the silver hob just looked at her, lost in thoughts.

Suddenly something threw him over and pinned him to the snow. Scald was standing over him, his strong paw on Murphys throat, pressing the air out of him.

«Did you think nobody would see you fuck with her?! How dare you mate with my queen!»

Now Ontari went over and tried to commanded her subordinate.

«Scald, get away from him! That's an order!»

«Yeah Scald, get the fuck off me!»

He was struggling to breath and tried to push his opponent off, but he was too heavy. Finally the female pulled the deputy off her lover and stood between them.

«It's enough! What are you trying to achieve with that, huh?!»

«I will kill this intruder, that's what I'm gonna do! And you won't stand in my way!»

He pushed her aside and focused on the Kumba again, but she wouldn't endure that. She bit into his tail which resulted in him howling in pain and distracted him like that, so Murphy could get to his feet. He knew he had no chance against the other hob, especially not with the rope around his neck that kept him from using his speed as an advantage. Suddenly Scald had managed to push Ontari down and, lost in his rage, snapped at her throat. Murphy had to intervene and finally saw what to do. He noticed the mad hob was entangled in the rope, which was wrapped around his neck completely. The jill had noticed his glances and rolled over to escape the male Tundra, then jumped to her feet. Before Scald even realized what was going on, both of them had grabbed the rope with their teeth and pulled in opposite directions, choking the hob with it. He struggled and snapped around, trying to reach them, but the rope was strangling him too much, so he just tried to get it off somehow, but alas to no avail. Finally he went limp and dropped to the cold earth, leaving the exhausted lovers behind.

«Stupid fuck had it coming.»

«He should've died a warriors death with the wolves.»

«What difference does that make?»

«It would've let him die being admired and loved for his sacrifice, instead of being hated for his treason.»

«Well, no turning back time now.»

«No.»

She hesitated for a second, then removed the snare from his throat and pointed him to leave.

«You can go now.»

«But what about the hunting? I thought you needed my help?»

«We did. But we will manage somehow. We always do. You have a home to go to, so go. We'll be fine.»

He turned to leave, but not after giving her one last sorrowful look and a goodbye kiss on the cheek.

«May we meet again.»

«I hope your poor soul never gets lost in these woods again.»

«...»

«May we meet again.»

The Kumba stumbled through the woods, adrenaline and dopamine racing through his veins and keeping him on his feet for the whole day, until he had no more energy to move. After resting for a while, his mind spinning in confusion about the Tundra leader, he got up and kept moving the direction he presumed now was south. He did not look back a single time, afraid he'd turn back after all. After walking for days until his feet bled, he finally reached the jungle and knew he was actually going the right direction. The scars of the past quarter-moon had healed, yet the pain in his thought did not cease.

But he still kept going...