The Warrior Queen

The Move

It was Alexandra's favourite day: the day they moved to a new location. It was long overdue, because the piles of trash and s**t stank to high heaven.

This was the way the rogue pack operated: they moved on the very edge of a pack teritory, or where teritories overlapped just a little bit, stayed there until they made the place absolutely unbearable, and then they moved to another location.

Sometimes they would negociate their stay with the local Alpha, to live on the very outskirts of their teritory, but most of the time they did it unnoticed. Pack patrols very rarely, if ever, came that far out and if they did, they were swiftly dealt with, and a move was necessary.

All of this meant absolutely s**t to Alexandra. What mattered to her was that she was out, able to walk on grass, smell the forest, and get a new location for her cage, that wouldn't be filled with her own waste.

They travelled slow and it usually took them several days to reach the destination they scouted weeks in advance. Logistically, it was a nightmare: RV's had to be moved over rough terrain, through forrests, mountains and rivers, and it had to be done away from the beaten path, if there was ever any.

Scouts were sent weeks in advance to find a suitable place, then the pack worked to provide some sort of trail, by cutting down trees and moving large rocks. When all of this was complete, they packed whatever s**t they had and started the move.

The scenario was always the same: two pr three men went way ahead of the caravan to check if the coast was clear, then came the bulk of them, and tied to the last camper, silver chains and collar, came Alexandra. Or Raven, to be more precise.

Her head was hung low, her eyes stayed glued to the road and she looked like a ghost of a wolf, but inside....OH! inside, Alexandra was singing and dancing. She inhaled all the scents of the forest through Raven's nostrils, felt the grass through Raven's paws, the warmth of the sun on Raven's fur, she stretched her legs in a nice, brisk pace, such a welcome change from the treadmill they made her run on for training. It was her only joy and she wanted to remember every second of it, but couldn't show that she enjoyed it. Oh, no. If they had any idea of this, Raven would be locked up somewhere until their destination. That's why she couldn't lift her head, to see the sky, or even wag her tail in excitement.

- Where the f**k is the new place?! We've been driving through this goddamned forest for ages!

Raven's ears perked up just a tiny bit. The disgruntled voice belonged to one of the drivers, as the caravan was taking a break while some of them cleared a tree that had fallen on the path.

- Just a couple more hours, another voice responded. You'll forget about the drive when you see this place: a huge clearing with a river passing right through the middle. Prime real estate, man.

- And it's safe? I mean good land is always under guard.

- Yeah. It's just between two territories, not big or important enough to warrant any bad blood between the packs. Like some sort of No Man's Land, just ripe for the picking.

A third voice added to the conversation. It was hoarse, loud and cruel. It made the hairs on Raven's neck stand up.

- And tonight, after we settle in, we'll have a little party! Our style!

The men laughed and headed to their vehicles, and Raven whimpered, unheard.

She was fighting tonight.