Riker dashed over. "Gone?! Just... gone?" he said, shocked.

Kala sprinted to Kagetora. "They were here a second ago! What could have happened to them?!" she gasped.

"I don't know." Kagetora said. "They might have wandered off."

Noss sighed. "Let's go."

Riker nodded. He scented the air.  "This way." he put his nose to the ground and tracked the two.

Kala called to them, "I'll stay here and wait!"  She squeezed into her den, then, and closed her eyes, preparing to FINALLY get some sleep..

Riker was surprised.  "They're somewhere in the woods!" he said.  He kept tracking them all the while.  They were getting deeper into the woods.

Kagetora followed, terrified for her pups.

Noss ran behind Riker.

Trekka suddenly ran into something tall and furry. She froze.

Two wolves stood in front of her. One of them laughed. River wolves. "Where do you think you're going?" The wolf grabbed Trekka, and bolted off.

"SOLA!"

Sola growled a puny puppy growl.  But a River Wolf took her, too. "Eep!" she squealed.

Riker snarled. "I scent them.  They've gone over the border! They're in River Wolf territory!" He turned to Kagetora. "Should we go farther? It's risky."

"Yes." Kagetora said. "I won't lose them."

Noss snarled and followed

Kagetora snarled. "Then we'll fight them."

Trekka barked, one of the river wolves had jumped over a log, and had grabbed her more tightly than before. She was bleeding.

Sola kept yelping, so the River wolf clawed her to shut her up.  She did shut up, but she also bled, like her sister.

Riker pricked his ears. "I hear them! They're not TOO far away! We might be able to catch them!" he said.  Riker narrowed his eyes.  "It's time to fight."  He sprinted after the River wolves' scents.

Kagetora stopped for a breif moment and howled, "Put the pups down and we won't have to hurt you!"

The River Wolf froze at a cliff's edge. He chuckled. Looking down at the rocky cliffside, he said to his Packmate; "you heard them."  He stepped forward to drop Trekka over the edge.

The other River wolf smiled devilishly.  He, too, stepped forward to drop Sola.  "Their words were perfect."

"NO!" Riker said. He started to walk forward.

"Stop right there!" The River wolf snarled.  "One more step, and we'll drop 'em on the spot. And we mean it."

Kagetora snarled. "Drop them, and I'll snap your neck like a twig."

The River wolf dropped Trekka. "Oops."

Noss gasped.

"Trekka!" Kagetora screamed.

Trekka panicked, not feeling the ground beneath her paws.

"Oh, my gosh! I slipped!" the other chuckled, and dropped Sola.

Sola didn't feel a grip on her anymore. She didn't feel ground.  She looked down. They were hurtling to the ground from a cliff!! Sola yelped as she fell, but her cries were carried away by the wind.  She panicked.  Why was she being dropped?!? It was so scary for her!!

"NO! THE PUPS!" Riker gasped.  "You... you devils!" he snarled at them.

Noss leapt forward, and flung himself at the wolf who dropped Trekka. The wolf moved to the side, but he managed to grip the wolf's leg before both of them hurtled down the cliff.

Trekka finally hit the ground. Dead silence.

Sola fell beside her sister.  She wasn't moving.

Riker growled.  He flung himself at the wolf who dropped Sola, and pushed him off the edge.  "No! Noss! Sola! Trekka!" he shouted after them.  He snarled.

Noss managed to stand up. The River Wolf he had fallen with had landed underneath him and broke his fall. The River wolf was dead. He padded over to Sola and nudged her with his paw.

Nothing. Sola was not moving.

Riker scrambled down the cliff's pathway.  "How are the pups?! They OK?!" he asked.