Chapter 3

    As Apollo awoke the siguiente morning, he looked around. During the night, he had slept in a huge black cave with the rest of the pack.
    At sunset, the día before, he discovered that they like to go outside and watch the sun disappear, they called it a gathering. During the gathering, they shared news of reciente activities and bragged about their successes. Although, while the pack was outside Apollo heard them whispering about him. They didn’t like the idea of an outsider joining their pack; no one seemed to like him. They kept their distance from him, well all except for Lunadapple.
    As he stretched that morning, Apollo saw two other of his pack mates glare at him the walk out of the cave. He dropped his ears in disappointment. He then felt Lunadapple stir beside him, “they’ll get used to you, just give the pack time to settle in with the idea” she promised. Apollo nodded gratefully then stood and walked out of the cave.
As he reached the outside he looked around. The birds were canto bright sunlight filtered through the trees, the air was warm and refreshing; everything seemed so peaceful. Then Apollo heard his name being called, he glanced over and saw Razorthorn walking towards him followed por another of the pack mates.
“Apollo, this is Crowfur” Razorthorn nodded to the dog standing beside him, “he is going to give tu a tour of the territory.” Apollo dipped his head to Crowfur in respect, but Crowfur just snorted in disgust. Razorthorn seemed oblivious to Crowfur and walked away, leaving Crowfur and Apollo. “Should we go” Apollo asked? Crowfur dicho nothing, just turned around and led the way out of camp, Apollo sighed and followed him.
    Soon, they stopped at a dried up river, Apollo stared in astonishment. He remembered his dream, where he had met with Cedarheart and Ashclaw. He had seen Cedarheart sitting at a river that was full of life, pescado had been swimming in it, the water had been full and running, and lots of plants grew there, this dried up river was the same river as she was sitting at! Except in his dream the river was bursting with life and here it seemed to be deserted and empty, pretty much void of plant growth and animal life.
    “Here is where many wars were fought” Crowfur explained, interrupting Apollo’s thoughts. “It is also the place where we had lost our past alpha Thistletail.” Apollo stared at Crowfur, “How did he die?” Apollo dared to ask. “He was murdered” Crowfur explained, a haunted look in his eyes, “by Fangblaze; he’s the alpha male of Moon.” Apollo saw fear and could practically smell it coming off of Crowfur, he must have been in the battle where Thistletail died, Apollo realized.
    Then Crowfur shook his head to clear it, “see there” Crowfur pointed with his paw to the other side of the river. All Apollo could see was tall golden prairie grass, which was great for hiding in and hunting because it camouflaged your fur. “That’s Moons territory, there our rivals, they always were and always will be” Crowfur growled, while digging his claws into the ground. “Are there other packs in the area?” Apollo asked, Crowfur nodded, “yes, there are many packs around but Moon are our closest neighbors.”
    Crowfur looked down at Apollo and glared his amber eyes, “I bet they’d take in an outsider like tu in a heartbeat” Crowfur snorted. Apollo remained silent, he wasn’t in the mood to tussle with Crowfur, he just kept his gaze across the other side of the dried up river.
    Then Apollo tilted his ear behind him, he heard something, like the rustling of césped, hierba but he couldn’t decide if it was a dog o the wind. But I feel no breeze from the wind, he realized with a jolt. He sniffed the air and smelled a scent, it smelled like perros but not from his pack!
    He turned around in a flash, just as a dog flung itself out of the undergrowth and bowed him over. Apollo immediately knew that it was a member of Moon. Crowfur tried to jump in and help Apollo but another Moon dog collided into him. Apollo turned his attention back to his attacker. The dog had pinned Apollo down; it was stronger than Apollo and had many más years of experience.
     “Not so cleaver now, eh dog meat” the Moon dog snarled. Apollo flailed under the older dog’s weight but then remember how he caught his prey. He usually tried to trick the prey into thinking he was going to do the opposite of his real plan. Apollo glared at the Moon trespasser, he turned his body left over the other male, so the trespasser turned his head left as he tried to dig his teeth in Apollo’s throat, then Apollo turned his body right so the male dog did the same with his head then he repeatedly turned it left and right really fast. In a couple heartbeats the trespasser lifted his dizzy head, perfect, Apollo thought!
    He pushed the trespasser off him with his back legs; the Moon dog fell to the ground then failed for a heartbeat then rose to his paws and retreated back towards its own territory.
    Apollo stood and glanced at Crowfur who por now had also sent the other Moon dog retreating back towards its territory. Apollo watched in satisfaction as the two Moon perros raced across the dried up river and didn’t stop until they had set foot on their own territory. Then the one that Apollo had fought stopped and stared back at the Storm dogs.
    “You pitiful creatures always win the battles but we win the wars!” He snarled. “In your dreams, Cometstorm” Crowfur yowled in victory. Cometstorm growled, “You will regret the día that your leader Thistletail killed Fangblaze!” Cometstorm promised then disappeared into the long prairie césped, hierba after his pack mate.
    Crowfur snorted in disbelief but Apollo remained silent. He was too stunned to say anything. Crowfur turned and began to head back towards the camp, Apollo followed a couple heartbeats later, after shaking his head to clear it.
    “Crowfur” Apollo dicho awkwardly, “didn’t tu tell me earlier that the old alpha of Storm, Thistletail, was murdered por Fangblaze, who was the old alpha of Moon?” Apollo asked. Crowfur stared at him, “Hun, what? Oh yea, he was!” Apollo looked uncertain, “but didn’t the Moon perros just say that Thistletail killed Fangblaze?” Apollo asked. Crowfur didn’t look worried, “who cares what Moon perros say, their all liars, they always were and they always will be.”
    “But don’t tu even care?” Apollo objected, “what if what they say is true?” Crowfur glared at Apollo, “then who killed Thistletail? Razorthorn told us that he saw Fangblaze kill Thistletail with his own eyes! Those dumb Moon perros just want a reason to hate us!” Apollo looked down at his paws, “I guess you’re right, Crowfur.” Even as Apollo admitted it, he didn’t believe a word. He knew that something was up, something that he couldn’t figure out! Whether Crowfur knew what it was o not, he wasn’t saying a thing.
    “Come on, Apollo” Crowfur dicho gently, “let’s get back to camp, tu look exhausted!” Apollo nodded, he was tired he had never fought another creature before besides his prey. He had never realized how energizing it could be!
    As they reached the camp, Apollo saw the pack relaxing in the camp. They stopped dozing and stood as they noticed Crowfur and Apollo. Lunadapple ran over to them as she spotted Apollo. “What happened” she demanded, “we met some trouble on the border” Crowfur explained. “Well that certainly won’t do” Apollo heard Razorthorn’s angry growl and noticed him approach, followed por two other members of the pack.
    He turned to one of the dogs, it was a female, “Starspots, rally up the pack!” Razorthorn ordered, “It’s time to go hunting for Moon dogs!” Then Razorthorn turned to the rest of the pack, “we will not tolerate this!” Razorthorn snarled, “Get your claws sharpened get your fangs ready to kill! We’re going to raid Moon in revenge! We leave at sunset!” The packed yowled in agreement, all except for Apollo who watched in horror, surely there was no need for this, why couldn’t the packs just get along instead of be rivals, Apollo wondered?
    
    That sun set, Apollo stood with the other members of Storm, as Razorthorn picked the members that would go on the raid. He picked every single member except Apollo and Berrystripe. Apollo watched as the members of his pack mates disappeared over the distance. Once they were out of sight, he turned to Berrystripe.
    “So what do we do now” Apollo asked. Berrystripe snorted, “What does it matter? Do anything tu want, just don’t leave camp” then he turned and disappeared back into the cave. Apollo sighed, it didn’t seem like he could get through to this dog, to any dog in fact, why couldn’t they just accept him?
    Then Apollo turned and gazed at the forest, he remembered what had occurred earlier, what Cometstorm had said. tu will regret the día that your leader Thistletail killed Fangblaze, Apollo couldn’t get his words out of his head. Cometstorm had seemed as defiant as he spoke, as if he knew exactly what he was talking about.
    Apollo heard a twig snap behind him, and turned his blue eyes back. He saw Berrystripe, the painted dog was gazing at him suspiciously, “what’s up with you” he asked, in a growl “you look as if tu were a female who just found out she was pregnant?” Apollo sighed, “w-were tu in the battle?” Apollo asked, “I mean the battle WH-where Thistletail died?” Berrystripe’s calm gaze disappeared and his amber eyes flashed in horror, as if he was remember the día it occurred. It looked like the same look that Crowfur had, except it was different this time, there seemed to be más fear then the rage of battle in his eyes.“Y-yes” Berrystripe mumbled, “I was in the battle.”
    Apollo’s ears shot up in excitement, “really? Well did tu see Thistletail get murdered?” Apollo asked. Berrystripe gazed at Apollo with wide eyes, his expression was unreadable. “Y-yes” Berrystripe stumbled, “he, he was murdered, b-by Fangblaze.” Apollo twitched his ear suspiciously, Berrystripe didn’t seem at all certain with his answer, what he is hiding, Apollo wondered.
    For a heartbeat, Berrystripe looked as if he was about to admit something but then shrugged and said, “Well, why tu don’t go back to the crime scene?” Apollo nodded, “that’s a great idea!” Without another word Apollo ran off towards the old dried up river, leaving Berrystripe alone to head back into the cave in silence.
    `As Apollo reached the dried up river, he scented the air. Nothing suspicious, he observed, so he began to look around. “They’re has to be some clue” Apollo growled as he began sticking his nose in any place that it would fit. First he stuck his nose through some césped, hierba stems, then through a flor patch, after that an old log, and last he scented some old paw prints that seemed close to being fossilized.
    Then finally, he dropped his head in defeat, “this is hopeless” he growled, “How am I supposed to find clues, to something that happened so long ago.” Apollo kicked a stone in anger, it skipped far then it finally dropped beside a large bush, as it did, Apollo heard the growl of another dog.
    Apollo’s eyes widened in fear, as he sniffed the air, Moon dogs, he realized, but I thought they were all supposed to be fighting with my group back at their camp? Apollo knew he didn’t have a chance against a group of Moon dogs; he turned and began to make a run towards his territory. Why did I ever come to the border? The dried up river may be where the fight was but it’s still the border to Moon!
    Then a Moon dog leaped out of the arbusto, bush where he had heard the growl, and collided with him. They tussled for a few heartbeats before the Moon dog was finally able to pin Apollo to the ground. Why did I ever come to this clueless place, Apollo wondered, the only thing I found out was that now, I’m going to be killed!