"Who, who, who disturbs my rest…evening is a long while off and I need my rest if I am to hunt this night" Ahaz was not happy to be bothered, but he knew the crows, he did not forget all they had done for him.
"Who, who?! Augustus, Augustus. How are you my old friend?"
"Friend?" Ahaz was surprised "I am a friend to the crows, but I know no Augustus"
"Caw, what?! I lead the crows that pass through here every year. I have taken over leadership from my father Jeremy, him you must remember"
The owl thought for a moment "Oh, you are Jeremy's boy, your name must be Augustus, but I do not always think that was your name. Weren't you once known by…."
"CAW CAW, it matters not, you know who I am. I come seeking wisdom that only a wise one such as yourself would carry either in your eye or the eyes of your ancestors"
"A crow seeking wisdom from an owl, this is a rare time indeed"
"It is more of a history, not found in our patterns and memories, something that transpired on these lands long ago"
Ahaz left his tree and flew towards Augustus trying to land on a tree close by him, missing it and hitting another instead, then hitting the earth. Augustus dropped down to check on him "are you fine?"
"Of course I am fine, just this blasted sunlight does me no favors, I just need to wake up a bit more and correct my vision. I just need a moment, please watch for predators". Augustus hadn't considered predators, he never considered predators. He could always fly away.
"Caw, if I see something I will fly up high and warn you."
"And what of me? Left to die, to not answer your questions?"
"Caw, that is bad news for you, can you recommend another owl?"
"I can not and I will not, now just keep a lookout while I adjust and scream if you see something"
"AAAUUUGHCAW!" Augustus hollered at the top of his lungs.
Ahaz smashed his head again trying to take flight, but he kept trying until he made it on top of an old white hollow tree as his vision slowly corrected. "What is it, help, what is it?"
"It is something, looks like a chipmunk, something, caw, Augustus"
"You almost killed me over a chipmunk? What is the matter with you?"
"Caw, you said 'something', a chipmunk is something"
"I said predators, I distinctly said predators"
"You said 'something', caw"
"I am not going to play this game, if you heard 'something' then we will leave it at that"
"You did say scream…"
Ahaz thought about it, this was correct "Alright, one point for you, I did say scream."
Augustus was proud to be correct and he flew over and landed by the aged owl. "I am looking for a family that a friend of mine has lost. She said she lost them at a time when the earth ran away. Garius and myself are trying to find them for her."
"Garius? How did he get mixed up in this? He has enough to worry about."
"How do you know Garius, caw, but not me?" Augustus was not happy.
"Well, you just woke me up, you know, head all fuzzy and I wasn't focused yet, but now that I see you….yes, Augustus, how are you?"
"Augustus, Augustus, caw, caw, I am well, Garius is not, a bear ate him"
"What!? Garius is dead? When? Where was the pack?" The owl began to weep.
Augustus now felt stupid. "Caw, no, he lives, the bear had him in his mouth, a human killed the bear, Garius is recovering with the fox."
"With the fox? My friend you have left out many details, please start from when this all began."
Augustus started at the arrival of the fox and told the story right up to the present moment including the good news of the humans and the fox who stays with him. The owl sighed with relief and began to ask his own questions now.
"So Garius left his pack to be alone with this fox?"
"Caw, cawrect"
"And he basically gave his life to save her?"
"Caw, cawrect"
"And now while he rests and recovers you have taken it upon yourself to try to solve this mystery yourself and bring back some news?"
"Caw"
"Yes yes, cawrect, I've heard it" the owl was tired of it. "The earth ran away, I know that place, we have all this dead wood here because the earth ran away. I was there the day it happened. Come, I will take you there, it is not far." Ahaz flew off with Augustus following close behind.
Nibelski sat in the rays of the sun just watching Garius sleep, his breathing moving his large body up and down. She thought about how quickly things changed in just a short time, how this was just suppose to be an adventure followed by some good food. Here she was making friends, becoming dependant on others and it scared her. Normally she could just run away and hide to make them forget about her, but here lay a wolf who gave up his pack and his life for her. She did not feel that important, but she realized to him she was. If she did not find value in her life, she knew he did. It was a frightening place to be, but she had no time now to think about it as Garius turned, stretched and woke up. He tried to stand, but could not as he yelped in pain. His body dropped with a weight he could not carry as he looked around and saw her there. The rays of sunlight were beaming in and bouncing off her fur, she looked like a vision and he wondered if it was real.
"Is that really you, Nibelski?" he asked in his dry, cracked voice.
"Yes, yes" she began to cry and ran to him. She began to lick some of his wounds "thank you, thank you for saving me."
"So that was real too….I thought I died"
She stopped licking the wounds and moved onto his face "You took on the meanest bear in the whole mountain, you really hurt him bad"
"Is he dead?"
"Yes, I human finished him off and saved you. We are in his care right now"
Garius looked around at the shed "Where is Augustus?"
"He is fine and has gone to investigate some things, he said he will be back. He is very smart like you said. He can speak human."
Garius pursed his lips and nodded, "yeah, that's Augustus" he looked over at the tube running through him "what is this?"
She stopped licking "That was put there by the human, a healer human, it has been helping you, you were really bad, I thought I had lost you"
Garius looked at her and saw her concern "Sorry I scared you, I am fine"
"You are not fine yet, you will need time"
"I do not have that, I must return to my pack"
"You can not, you are still too weak" she reminded him "We will arrange something with Augustus, he can travel to them quickly"
He did not like it, but he had no choice he nodded and told her "you didn't have to stop licking, it felt nice"
She nudged his side and gave him a glare as he howled in pain. She licked a few of his wounds and told him "sorry, you need your rest"
She snuggled up underneath him and it felt familiar to him, like they had always been doing it. It was nice to have her close and he nuzzled her with his nose. "Thanks for being here" as the door to the shed burst open she jumped out ready to defend Garius, it was the humans and they had heard Garius howl of pain. She hid under him.
"What's happening" Walter was asking loudly. He looked at the wolf "are you ok?"
"The humans?" Garius asked Nibelski.
"The humans, they are nice, don't bite them"
"I won't, I will just lie here and cry"
"They look ok" it was Grace. She cautiously approached the wolf seeing he was awake while Walter stood back with his rifle in hand. She reached to touch him as he growled. Nibelski popped her head out and bit him gently….he whined, then whimpered and put his head down. Grace gently rubbed his fur, you are ok. She went and grabbed the dish with water and let him drink his fill, then gave him some meat. "He is eating Walter….this is good". She said goodbye and backed her way out gently closing the door halfway.
"They seem nice"
"I told you, why did you growl?"
"I am a wolf, I have to keep up appearances, it is good they have a bit of fear for me. Some packs would tear her to shreds for dinner"
"Oh, I see" Nibelski remembered the barnyard animals and how fear can be a good thing.
"I have missed you, Garius"
"I am glad you are here, stay close like this"
"I will"
Grace entered the cabin and began jumping and raising her voice "Did you see that, Walter? Did you see that? I touched a living wolf and it didn't kill me" she had reverted to a small excited child.
"You have touched it before, you mended him" Walter reminded her.
"No, he was asleep then, I touched him when he was awake. It's only because of weakness he didn't rip my throat out, but he can learn to trust me"
"Rip your throat out, I don't think he's that mean"
"Figure of speech, sorry, what a day. He is eating and drinking too, can I stay a few days?"
"You know you can stay as long as you want."
"Ok, I'm going back into town, closing shop for awhile and bringing back some more supplies, oh thank you Walter, this is amazing"
"Pack for winter, I feel the cold coming on"
"I will" she said as she put her jacket on and headed back into town.
Walter knew she could take care of herself, but he made her take a rifle just in case. He would stay here in case his guests would need him as he brought more food and water out to them. He placed the water close by and the meat just beside them so it could all be reached easily. As he backed away he watched the fox grab some meat and feed it to the wolf. It was a beautiful moment and he found he had to wipe a tear from his eye as he left the shed a little more open so they could enjoy the sunlight.
He stood in the sun outside thinking about his guests and how they showed more humanity than most people he knew. He reflected on his life, his mistakes and his selfishness. He wondered why he was out here. He knew he loved nature, but he also knew he was hiding from the past and his mistakes. He blamed so many others for his mistakes, and he felt living alone was his best choice. A life of death where no one would be close and no one would get hurt, yet he was never really alone. He had Tipper, but once he lost her the pain really set in, his revenge for a bear would eat him alive until most of the man he was, was gone.
These animals were teaching him something, something he forgot about love and true friendship. Humanity had only fed him cruelty, or so he saw it that way, but these animals were healing him and he liked that feeling. He decided no matter what it would take, he would take care of these animals until the day they needed to return to the wild. He was enjoying the change in his heart.