Author's Note: Despite my initial reluctance to the subject, this is my idea of a sequel to Firewing. It ended up way longer than I had anticipated, but I'm happy with it nonetheless. I hope you all like it. As a side-note, this is somewhat preceeded by my other story, Before Dawn. While it is perfectly acceptable for you to read this without reading before Dawn First, it may or may not add to the story (but you won't lose any plot points, so it's completely optional). Additionally, I fear that the earlier chapters might be a little slow. If that's the case, please stick with it, because things really pick up near the end. Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoy it, and please review!

Skywing

Chapter 1: Ensnared

The wolf lay lazily in her warm bed of moss, thankful that the full winter cold had not yet set in. The ground was still warm and there were plenty of fallen leaves to use for insulation as she rested. It was so calming that her eyes began to droop tiredly from the soothing heat, and she had to shake her head a little to stay awake. If only she could just drift off to sleep right now.

With a reluctant sigh, she lifted her head slightly to watch over her cubs, hunting on their own for the first time. They stalked and scoured through the wilting grass and barren trees for their elusive prey, hardly having any luck. The forests were unusually scarce for the time of year, and it seemed that her children would not be getting much practice.

Suddenly, a small yelp made the wolf turn her head, her eyes probing the area where she had seen a short flash of movement just a moment ago. There, through the sparsely grown trees, she could see the small outline of one of her excited cubs, thrashing around wildly. By looks of it, her youngest son had caught something. Loath to leave her comfy nest, she rose to her feet very slowly, trying to get a good look at her son's prey as she took a few steps forward.

As the cub came into view, she smiled: it seemed, rather, that something had caught her son.

Somehow, the poor pup had gotten himself tangled in a clump of twisting vines and was now struggling furiously against their tight grip. Smiling and shaking her head fondly, the mother made her way over to help, walking leisurely and taking her time. Children were always tripping on things or getting ensnared in something, and it always amused her how they would twist and yelp and struggle as though it was a live creature had them in its grips.

The cub was still howling terribly when she finally reached him, and she tried to soothe him with a calming nuzzle before bending down to tear the vines. It was difficult for her to get her teeth near the pup's binds with him thrashing around so feverishly, but she finally found a clear spot to clamp down. Careful not to bite her son, she closed her jaws around the leafy things, ready to shear them with her serrated teeth. They didn't feel very thick, really—it was surprising that her son hadn't been able to tear himself free by now. She was about to bite down and sever the creepers when something made her pause.

The vines were moving through her teeth.

Her son hadn't simply entangled himself in these vines: they had attacked him! Even now, she could she the things twisting around the pup's ankles, tightening around his middle, and just as the impossibility of the situation finally began to register in the wolf's mind, the bindings tightened further still around her son, strengthening their hold and squeezing hard.

For a moment she couldn't even move, so terribly afraid was she of these alien things that had a hold of her son, but as the pup let out another anguished yell, she channeled her fear into grim determination. These things would not take her child.

She viciously hacked with her teeth and sawed with her claws, watching in satisfaction as the vines withered and loosened everywhere she struck. Never once did the thought that they might attack her instead ever enter her mind as the bizarre, winding ropes shied away from her every touch.

She began to grow considerably more confident with each blow she struck against the living, moving vines, certain that she would soon have her son free. However, when she glanced up to check her progress, she stared dumbfounded at her cub, who was somehow bound even more tightly than before; and still, more creepers descended on the child. Hardly any of his fur showed through the narrowing spaces, his head the only part of his body still fully visible. His yells had grown weaker.

With a sense of bleak hopelessness, the mother watched as her pup was dragged away from her, still howling piercingly, and she knew that she was helpless to stop them. She felt a dreadful weight press down on her chest as her son's writhing body was dragged morbidly through a small opening at the base of a thick spruce tree. With a mournful howl, she chased after the cub in desperation, but the gap was too small for her to follow.

The last she saw of her cub was his terror-stricken eyes, beseeching her as he was pulled through the hole. A strange sucking noise was all that remained as he disappeared below the surface.