felt the claws penetrating and tearing the flesh. Handya backed away frightened. He felt trapped; but he immediately remembered what Kurat had said to him one day: "If you are ever in danger, howl as loud as you can and I will always come. Wherever I am, I will always come". At this point the puppy put all the air he could into his little lungs, and then, with all his energy, he howled. The howling heard throughout the forest and reached the ears of Kurat. He immediately realized that his friend was in danger and rushed as fast as he could towards him. When Kurat arrived, he ran against one of the wolves, hitting him with his claws to the eye. All the wolves ran away scared, except the one that was hit in the eye.
"You will regret to have done this to me." said the wolf. "When I become the Leader, I will recognize you and make you regret having been born!" Having said that, he left.
"Thank you, Kurat. I really don't know what I would do without you." said Handya.
"We are friends and we will be friends forever; no matter what will happen." said Kurat.
«I'm fine, Handya.» Indeed he wasn't well at all: he was sad; and Handya realized it.
«You're not fine.» he said. «it's obvious you're sad.» Kurat in fact tried in vain to not show his sadness. He looked at Handya with a gaze full of sadness, but at the same time of anger.
«Why didn't he tell me?» he said. «Why didn't he tell me about his dream? If he had told me, my parents would be alive now!» in his words Handya perceived a great hatred.
«Kurat,...» he tried to say. «Now that two years have passed, you have to leave the past behind you. At that time Tarkus was inexperienced: it was his first vision; he couldn't have known that that dream would become true.» upon hearing those words, Kurat looked at his friend with anger.
«I should have known you were keeping his share.» he said. «You came here only to tell me to leave the past behind!»
«I came here because you are my friend!» there was a moment of silence between the two; a deafening silence. Then, Kurat spoke:
«Kow I really don't know if I can trust you anymore.» Handya's heart filled with sadness hearing these words. That was no longer Kurat; he was no longer his friend, who saw the positive in everything: that was a wolf who saw the worst of everything. Realizing that by now he was unable to drive away the anger from his heart, he went inside the cave and went to sleep. Kurat continued to observe the immense landscape; but he did not realize that above the cave where the whole herd was sleeping there was a figure staring at him. This figure had fur as as white as snow, and eyes as yellow as the sun shining in the morning. The figure was Aniu and she looked at him with a serious but at the same time melancholy look: she knew that soon something was going to happen to him.
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CHAPTER V
The next day Tarkus woke up Balto, Kodi and Handya.
«Come on, get up.» he said. Balto and Kodi woke up, but Handya took longer because, after all, he had stayed awake for most of the night.
«Where do you want to lead us?» asked Kodi, who was very tired. «Last night you said you wanted to lead us somewhere and communicate with Aniu.»
«Let's go.» said Tarkus. The journey seemed endless, but the landscape was beautiful: Balto felt his paws touch the soft grass, adorned with beautiful flowers and heard the birds singing sweet melodies. At a certain point Balto and the rest of the group passed near a waterfall; a gushing waterfall, not too high but rich of water, which exploded in a triumph of jets and drops in the middle of the green landscape. The force that it released made it resemble as something alive and cheerful, like a child who played at hiding and emerging from the top of the landscape. Suddenly Tarkus walked towards the waterfall.
«Where the hell are you going?» asked Kodi. Tarkus smiled.
«Do you trust me?» he asked.
«Of course I trust you.» answered Handya.
«Well, then don't ask questions. If you trust me, just follow me.» Handya, Balto and Kodi looked at each other: where did Tarkus want to take them? Tarkus led the group to the foot of the waterfall, and passed under the gushing water, disappearing.
«What are you doing?» asked Balto worried. Tarkus never came back, but said a phrase that leaves Balto and the rest of the group speechless:
«Come on. If you want to find out what Aniu has in store for you, you have to trust me. Come on.» Balto, Kodi and Handya approached the waterfall at the same time; and the water jets wet their fur. After a while, the trio became brave and passed under the waterfall. When they finally did so, however, the water that wet their fur, this time didn't, indeed: once they went under the waterfall and found themselves on the other side, Balto and the rest of the group realised that their fur was completely dry, as if they had never gone under the waterfall; as if that waterfall wasn't really there. Looking around to see where they were, everyone, except Tarkus, remained amazed to see the place where their friend had led them. The cave was so large that the sunlight could not fully illuminate it. In the cave, however, there were also crystals as blue as water, which, when they were caressed by daylight, dispersed it throughout the cave, giving it that atmosphere that made it even more fantastic than it used to be.
«where did you lead us?» asked Kodi astonished. Not even Handya knew of the existence of this place.
«This is Tachar» said Tarkus. «A place that nobody else knows, except me; when I want to talk with Aniu, I come here and she appears to me.»
«Why did you bring us here?» asked Handya. Tarkus looked at his friend.
«I brought you here because Aniu told me to do it.» Balto and the rest of the group were speechless and looked at their friend; then Tarkus continued: «Aniu appeared to me in a dream telling we four had to come.» Balto, Kodi and Handya looked at each other. Suddenly a powerful howl was heard throughout the cave, and then fog began to form in the middle of it; shortly afterwards, Aniu stood in front of the group, looking at it with her eyes as yellow as the sun. Her fur swayed as if it were being caressed by the wind, even if there were no drafts in the cave. A deafening silence came into the cave.
«I did as you told me» said Tarkus.
«You've done well, Tarkus.» said Aniu, and then she looked at Balto and the rest of the group. «You must be careful and don't trust anyone.»
«Why?» asked Balto. Aniu looked at him with a serious but at the same time sad gaze. «One of the wolves in your daughter's pack will betray her family.» she said. In the cave came a deafening silence, and everyone looked at each other.
«Who will do it?» asked Handya.
«I cannot tell you.» answered Aniu. «The future is a vast meadow, where every single stem of grass is a possible future: if you remove one, there are endless others; if you remove one, the future change.» suddenly a wall of fog began to form in front of Aniu, until it covered her completely.
«Wait!» shouted Tarkus, but in vain: when the fog disappeared Aniu was already gone. Tarkus, realizing that Aniu was no longer there, looked at his companions with a serious look. At this point everyone understood what he was planning to do.
«We must tell the pack.» he said. «they must know.» Everyone agreed and then headed for the pack. When they arrived they found Aleu waiting for them in front of the cave.
«So?» she asked. «What did you discover?»
«Summon the whole pack.» answered Tarkus. «We have discovered something terrible.» In his face Aleu saw fear.
When the whole pack was summoned, Aleu spoke first.
«TodayTarkus and his friends communicated with Aniu, discovering something terrible.»the wolves looked at each other: their faces expressed only one question: Whatdid Tarkus discover?
Then Tarkus stepped forward and spoke.
«Today Aniu appeared to us» he said. «and she predicted this:...» Tarkus took a short break, then took courage and spoke: « A wolf who is part of the pack will betray us.» All the wolves were speechless: some simply said nothing, even if their faces expressed fear and anger at the same time; and others began to speak to each other.
« So now we can't trust anyone?» said one of the wolves. «but this is unacceptable! how can we be a pack if we can' t trust each other?» all wolves agreed with him. As the wolves were arguing, there was a powerful howl coming from the forest; All the wolves turned in the direction of howling to see who was doing it. A shadow appeared from the wood.
The Husky, whose name was Fengen, had fur as black as the sky on a starless night and eyes as blue as crystal water. Fengen ran quickly in the pack's direction. When Fengen was close enough, Balto noticed that there were some wounds on his body, some deep and some not, which covered his
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