3 Chapter 3: Meeting The Leader

Only seconds later, SnowTuft comes out of the den, the shadow of a gray, she-wolf following him. As the she-wolf steps into the light Max realizes that her fur is glimmering in the sunlight which makes her fur look silver. At the sight of her Max thinks, *Wow, she must be the leader! No wonder they call her SilverCrystal!* Max gets jerked out of his thoughts when a white and gray furred male yowls, "I smell smoke, fire, run!!!" Max started to panic, only to realize that the fire scent from the zoo was still clinging to his fur.

SnowFlake quickly steps in and says, "Quiet down everyone, there is no fire! Even though you smell smoke it is just our four visitors."

Everyone calms down again and, SilverCrystal says, "Well SnowFlake, I see you have brought me some visitors?"

SnowFlake turns back to her leader and says, "Yes SilverCrystal, I have. I believe Max here has something to say to you." She says as she flicks her tail at Max.

SilverCrystal turns her head to look at him, "Is this true Max?"

Max says, "Yes SilverCrystal, ma'am, it is true."

SilverCrystal asked, "Well, what is it?"

Max thinks, *I will start with being nice and then I will ask her.* "First of all, I will start by saying what a lovely and well organized pack you have! It looks to me like everyone knows their places."

SilverCrystal says in return, "Thank you Max, but it wouldn't be this well organized if it weren't for the Warrior Code that our Warrior Ancestors left behind for us."

Max thinks, *Wow these Warrior Ancestor guys must be important. I wonder if that's what they call Great SilverPelt Pack.* He gets ready to speak and says, "You see, the reason I came to your camp was because I would like to know if you would possibly allow us to join your Pack?" He begged with a pleading look on his face.

SilverCrystal took a moment of thinking, but eventually said, "Yes, you asked really politely, I will have my medicine wolf come to sniff out what your places in the pack are." She turns and looks at SnowTuft and adds, "Go fetch RavenPool please!"

SnowTuft turns and races out the small hole in the wall.

"Well come on little ones!" SilverCrystal calls Max and his sisters to follow her with a slight flick of her tail. Their new leader squeezes through the hole in the wall with them following closely behind her.

As Max goes through the hole in the wall only to find out that the hole leads into an even bigger den. A den that smelled of some of the herbs that his mother had found in that little cage that they were trapped in at that "zoo," as the no-furs called it. It brought the memory of his mother trapped in that small cage during the fire that he and his sisters were lucky enough to escape from. Just the thought of his mother made him want to curl up in his new mossy nest with his sisters and never get up.

SilverCrystal led them over to a small circle of soft moss. She signalled for them to stop and wait with another slight flick of her tail. Max thinks, *Well I guess that is how they tell each other to come and stop.* He sits down and waits for what is coming.

Only a few seconds later SnowTuft leaps out of a opening about a leg length high they went all the way up to the top of the den. Following him was a dark black she-wolf with red eyes. Max thinks, *Dang she looks creepy. Cool!*

The she-wolf said, "You called me?"

SilverCrystal said, "Yes RavenPool, I did call you. I was wondering if you could tell me the ages of each of these young wolves?"

RavenPool said, "This one with the white fur and gold eyes is fifty moons, the light brown and gray one is four moons, the light cheastnut brown one is thirteen moons, and this gray one is also four moons!"

SnowFlake said, "So we have a warrior, an apprentice and two pups? Although I think Max would be an apprentice due to the fact that he doesn't know the territory and rules much right?"

SilverCrystal replied, "Yes." She looked at RavenPool and said, "That is all, you may go now!" She turned back to Max. "So Max, these two are still pups, but you and this one are old enough to be apprentices originally you would have been a warrior but like SnowFlake said you don't know enough yet. What exactly are all of your names?"

Max said, "I am Max, this is Tawny, this is Sorrel. And this is Cinder." He pointed to each one with his tail as he said their names.

SilverCrystal said, "Okay, your new names are, SorrelPaw, TawnyPup, and CinderPup. As for you Max, you need a new name. How about FreezePaw?"

Max says, "I love it!"

SnowFlake said, "Great minds think alike."

SilverCrystal said, "I will speak with you again tomorrow, in the mean time, sleep here! She slowly crawled back through the tiny hole in the wall with SnowFlake following her."