With another mouth to feed, Arzhen needed to increase the amount of prey she hunted. This didn't directly affect her, other than needing to go further from the valley to find enough.
Each time she was spotted by the scouting wolves, they would recoil in shock. Hurriedly reporting it back to the chieftain.
Arzhen didn't bother to care about the cowardly wolves. She started noticing a problem as she moved closer to the border of the wolf tribe. Tracks that weren't even attempted to be covered cluttered the ground that was clearly meant to be of the wolf tribes territory.
She knew these footprints belonged to the hyena tribe. One of the few female dominated species, they have a large number and a tacit understanding, but they are nowhere near as strong as a wolf in combat. However she seemed to overhear from one of her unlucky prey, that the hyenas were allied to the lion tribe.
The wolf tribe used to be among the strongest tribes. However with their declining numbers and lack of strong warriors, they have slowly been shuffled out of the top tribes. Although the wolf tribe has begun to weaken, it was still among the strongest, so many tribes still fear that the wolves may take their anger out on those arrogant and overconfident beasts.
That was how it was supposed to be, but it seems that the fear that was suppressing these weaker tribes has started to wane and even the hyena tribe has mustered the courage to invade the wolf's territory.
Arzhen didn't believe that the lion tribe hadn't given them the confidence to do so, otherwise with the cowardly temperaments of the hyenas, they wouldn't dare step a foot in even if they were given the chance.
The revelation gave Arzhen something to ponder. The wolf tribe has the unfortunate luck of being positioned in the middle, surrounded by the strongest tribes. If they could maintain a large number of strong wolves as they used to, it wouldn't be a problem to prove their strength as one of the top tribes, but now they're heading towards a dire situation.
Arzhen knew how much ability the wolves had now. They couldn't even stop herself, let alone one of those tribes. She didn't really care what happened to the wolves, but she'd rather be surrounded by her own species, if she had the choice.
She didn't believe the chieftain was unaware. It's probably why he accepted his daughters decision to stop attacking her. The losses the wolves suffered at her hands were already too heavy. They needed to conserve their strength against these foreign enemies.
Arzhen was never a merciful person. She decided she'd warn the weaker tribes to at least ease the annoyance from the wolf tribe. Letting them focus more wolves towards the real issues. That wasn't the only reason she was about to attack the hyena tribe. She just wanted to rampage. She had been too cooped up with the two little wolves, and hadn't been able to release her frustrations.
Arzhen didn't bother to announce herself. She locked on to where the main group of hyenas was and without a second thought, charged towards them. She picked off the scouts on her way, so when she reached the living areas of the hyenas, they hadn't any idea.
The hyenas never saw the massacre coming. Arzhen sprang out from the tree line and began to harvest the lives of anything that moved. She didn't show mercy. Men, women and children were torn apart. The screams of the hyenas were shocking, they travelled to the ears of many tribes, making those that listened to it feel a chill run up their spines. They had never heard such terrified calls.
It took many hours for Arzhen to finish. The eviscerated corpses were laid out for kilometres. The hyenas territory painted red with their own blood. She felt the rage in her body was temporarily sated. Remembering that she was supposed to be hunting for the two little wolves, Arzhen just wanted to slap herself. She had gotten too excited and forgot the reason she had come out. Arzhen picked up a few of the hyena corpses and sprinted back towards the valley.
Not long after she left, a group of lions came upon the massacre that had recently unfolded. Even though they were considered among the strongest, the lions still felt sick looking at this scene. Pieces of hyenas were strewn around as far as the eye could see. The lead lion asked the tracker what did this.
"Looking at the marks, it was a single wolf", the tracker spoke hesitantly. He knew he couldn't be wrong, but could one wolf really do all this.
"ONE WOLF!?" the lead lion roared.
"The tracks show that there really was only one wolf, but this wolf looks to be even larger than a bear", the tracker replied truthfully.
The lead lion could only quickly return to the tribe. The news had to be told to the king as soon as possible. The lions didn't even know when the wolves had such a terrifying warrior amongst them.
Arzhen washed the blood off before she returned. Although she didn't care to hide what she had done from them, the strong stench of blood usually made them slightly unhappy.
It was the first time Arzhen had people that were willing to stay with her, and she didn't want to ruin it by angering them because of such a trivial matter. So by the time she returned, it was already late in the afternoon.
Lida and Sedraa had gone from the awkwardness on the first day to a seemingly cordial relationship quite quickly. Perhaps it's because Lida was gentle and calm, it eased the worry Sedraa had towards the black wolf. Sedraa couldn't understand why Lida would allow the black wolf to do those things to her, but after a couple of weeks together she came to understand a bit.
Lida was very doting. She never raised her voice, nor did she show any malice or resentment. She was always showing kindness and goodwill. Sedraa couldn't help but lower her guard around the beautiful and mature woman. This also benefited Arzhen, who although Sedraa still feared, at least could say a word to, out of politeness.