Herbalists' Cache To build an empire

All welcome, but aiming for lone wolves! :)

Zaavier was tired, but at least he didn't have to travel across Silver Moraine. His tail swayed as he walked -- like always -- and his handsome face was bright and alert despite his aching shoulder. He glanced around at the dead pine trees that made up the new forest he'd just entered minutes before. 

It was odd seeing the giant trees without their needles. Their branches, naked and brittle reached out from their trunks, twisting and curling in all sorts of manners. They were like menacing fingers summoning the innocent wolf. The trunks with their peeling bark looked eery and sad as well as they stretched for the sky, growing thinner and thinner as they went up. 

His ears twitched, but he heard no sound. There were no sounds to hear despite the brown male's ragged breath and his footsteps. There were no birds to sing their songs, and no squirrels to shake the branches as they scampered along them. But as Zaavier looked around, he could see shoots of grass and buds of new needles upon the trees. That was a sure sign that the birds and squirrels would return, and better yet, the herds.

With a content smile, Zaavier paused and raised his head, letting out a bark for those close enough to hear, summoning them to him. It was time to build himself and empire.