Redhawk Caldera All these creatures are a lie

Those first ten days were a special brand of torture, yet one Peregrine deserved to endure. He remained steadfast as call after call went up in the air, many asking for him by name. Sometimes, he made it there himself and other times, it was up to his pack mates to deliver the caldera's warning. Soon, word would spread as they turned all their visitors away with a firm message of unwelcome. The caldera would no longer tolerate outsiders. There were no exceptions. It was their right to close down their borders this way. Everyone could (and would) question them but it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference.

A day or two went by without anyone howling for him and Peregrine wondered if the initial storming of the caldera was over. One day, he might go out into the world and try to mend some burned bridges out in no man's land. For the time-being, the dethroned Alpha had no desire to see anyone, not even his best friend or sister. He didn't hate them, of course, and they hadn't done anything wrong themselves. But right now, all that mattered to Peregrine was his immediate family and his pack, those that had pledged fealty to him and these lands.

There was much to do, despite his demotion. Peregrine's primary focus was assisting his pack mates, particularly his children, to train as Wardens and Warriors. He didn't anticipate that the siege on their doorstep would continue much longer, nor that it would escalate to a larger conflict. But Junior was not the first nor last of her kind, a breed of outsiders who would happily hurt the caldera by going right for its heart. They all needed to be ready to defend their home, to the death if necessary.

Presently, the Kappa padded down the caldera's steep flank, headed toward the borders. He tossed up a howl, inviting someone, anyone to join him. It would hopefully be an uneventual patrol but that wasn't why he wanted company. He would use this time to train one (or more) of the caldera's next generation of Wardens.