~Chapter 9~

The Civil War

Fire looked at the four packs from Long Shadow Hill, his amber eyes narrowed. His bronze pelt ruffled and dirty from not having a good night's sleep, he turned back to Rosengun, snarling, "Are you sure we will win? And lose none?"

Rosengun shuffled his paws, "I will not be injured. Isn't that your priority? You said so yourself."

Fire almost hissed-since wolves can't hiss-and looked back at the four packs on the horizon. Fire was known for his faux sincerity and cunning, and he knew that Rosengun would figure that out sooner or later, if he hadn't already now. When Fire had made the deal with him to take over the packlands, he had convinced the former NightPack wolf with the words:

"We will protect you with our lives."

Fire then looked back at The Pack of Undying Power, his pack. In times of uncertainty like this, Fire needed an alpha female by his side to support his decisions. Unfortunately, Star-the former alpha female-had disgraced the pack and died a long time ago.

The cause of her death was not even to be spoken of or thought of. Fire didn't dare betray that rule now.

Now that the bronze male looked back at PowerPack, he could see the sadness plain on their faces. Fire had taken the top beta female position away from the pack once Star had died, so there was only a top beta male left. That male, Bramble-a dark brown male with black patterns and glowing yellow eyes-was now shivering because of the cold. Bramble signaled to Fire, and the bronze male left Rosengun to think and approached his successor.

"Are you sure we should follow this…this loser?" Bramble whispered. Both males knew Rosengun could hear them no matter how low the tone of their voices, but Bramble uttered insults about him anyway.

"We need to take back the land that is ours. Rosengun is the only way. How bad could it be? It takes three packs just to cut his skin? That's pathetic. This'll be easy as eating rabbits," Fire snarled.

Bramble licked his lips-rabbit was his favorite piece of prey, and Fire knew it, "So, we follow this punk until we gain the packlands back? The packlands of our ancestors?"

"Yes, my friend. But I am not so sure Rosengun will be willing to give us back what is ours," Fire sighed.

Bramble growled in frustration and leaned closer to Fire, "Then what is the point of fighting and injuring ourselves?!"

Fire sighed and looked up at a lone star in the sky, twinkling in the darkness, "Justice. Loyalty. Revenge."

Bramble huffed, "You've been too interested in that kind of stuff! What about your pack? Star would never allow this-"

"SHE'S DEAD! BRAMBLE, SHE'S DEAD!" Fire snarled. The other PowerPack wolves raised their heads at the sudden shouting. Bramble shrunk down at the name of his sister, then bowed his head and snuck away.

"That's right, Fire. She's dead," Bramble shook his head and disappeared into the crowd.

Moonlight, Tundra, and Dawn stood on a small slope, waiting for dawn to break. Suddenly, a small light on the horizon shone, and Moonlight suddenly trembled with fear.

"Go on, say it," Dawn and Tundra urged her.

Moonlight gulped, then howled, "CHAAARGE!"

Hundreds of wolves piled over the slope, howling and yelling insults at Rosengun, who awaited them at the opposite side. Rosengun and the members of PowerPack howled back and ran towards them as well.

The first wolves to clash were Moonlight and Claw, an omega of PowerPack. Even though he wasn't that experienced, the white male named Claw was a good fighter, and Moonlight-one of the strongest wolves in the packs-had trouble defeating him.

Yet Moonlight ended up throwing him over Fire and Tundra, who were fighting each other as well.

Carlisle was knocked into Moonlight, who helped him defend himself against Bramble.

In all of the fighting, Rosengun was nowhere to be seen.

The pack wolves all passed along that piece of news, and when Moonlight heard it, she snarled, "That rat! He always hides out until we get tired."

Carlisle nodded in agreement, then jumped onto Bramble and sunk his teeth into Bramble's neck. The dark male howled in pain and shook the elderly male off of him and threw him to the ground.

Carlisle snarled in rage, then hopped to his paws, "Okay, time for the secret weapon!"

Moonlight's eyes widened, "No! You'll let them know-"

It was too late. Carlisle howled and opened his mouth. A beam of ice suddenly shot out from his tongue, and a frozen Bramble fell to the ground, paws flailing in mid-air and eyes wide with shock.

Moonlight stepped forward and prodded Bramble, "Carlisle, did you…kill him?"

"I PERSERVED him," Carlisle corrected, "He'll be alive for about 3 more minutes…"

"CARLISLE!"

"Fine! Fine," Carlisle rolled his eyes and rubbed his fore paws over the block of ice containing Bramble. The ice suddenly broke apart, and Bramble lay on the ground, panting.

Bramble dipped his head to Carlisle many times, "Oh, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't be fighting my kin-"

Carlisle chuckled, "Hey, we're not kin. I came from America. I might be more dog than you are. But, you can join NightPack, if you'd like."

Bramble's eyes shined, "I will, oh great one!"

Carlisle smirked, "I'm not that great-"

"Carlisle, Carlisle!" Taiki ran up to Bramble, Carlisle, and Moonlight panting, "I sighted Rosengun!"

Moonlight's eyes shined with rage and happiness at the same time, "Really? Where is he?"

Taiki laughed suddenly, "He's angry because the PowerPack wolves are slowly joining the packs."

Carlisle nudged Bramble, "Like this one, here."

Taiki looked Bramble up and down, then back at the two storytellers, "Well, I think it's time to fight Rosengun."

Moonlight nodded and howled, "CHAAAARGE!"

The NightPack, DawnPack, WindPack, and SnowPack wolves all nodded simultaneously, then got into the formation of circles they were supposed to be in. Then, they charged.

Rosengun snarled as Taiki and Winry leapt onto Rosengun at the same time, reaching for his neck. Elements and attacks from the other wolves helped Taiki and Winry slow him down and kept him from attacking anyone. "You've gotten old, Rosengun!" Tundra howled as she leapt over the rows of wolves and pinned Rosengun to the ground.

Rosengun's eyes widened as Tundra lunged and snapped his neck with her jaws. Then she moved back to let the dying Rosengun see Moonlight.

Moonlight snarled, "Die, fiend." Then she brought down a shadowy paw on Rosengun's neck. The streaked wolf gagged and flailed his paws, but he was finally silent and still.

"The packs prevail!!!" Moonlight howled.

The other wolves howled as well. Finally, the terror of the packs…was dead.