One-eye swallowed and held back his ears. What are they going to do to us?

The wolf-dog, obviously their instructor for now, started to speak again.

"I hope that it is very clear now that we will not tolerate anything that is against our word. If you want to rebel, fine, but watch your ears and eyes. You might lose a few of those if you do so. If you really wish to speak, stand up and raise your tail, please."

Silence, and no movement among the young wolves and wolf-dogs.

The instructor continued. "Very well. I have summoned you all together here today for you first day of Lone One assassin training. This is the second year of our training program, and the first year worked out extremely well. We have four great Lone One assassins working for us at the moment."

Four... But there's so many of us. One-eye looked at his feet. He wasn't ready for this. And he felt like he was never going to be.

He looked up when he heard some fur movement. He saw that one of the pups, a small, brownish she-wolf with yellow eyes and dark ears, had stood up, her tail in the air, shakily, as if she were afraid. She probably is. We all are.

The instructor nodded. "Yes? Who are you? Please give me the name Arrow gave you after she interrogated you."

Arrow...could that be...Miss Jones? That cougar that scarred me? Is that her name? One-eye stared at the pup. She stood uncertainly, but she didn't sit down or lower her tail.

"I...I am...I'm Dawn. My question is...there are over ten of us here... Why did the training program of l-last year give you only four Lone One assassins? There are so many of us now."

"Some Lone Ones of the previous year decided halfway through the program that they didn't want to cooperate after all. They ended up being...training material...for our graduating killers. Let this serve as a warning to you all: If you wish to be spared, you should do everything that we ask of you. If we ask you to attack a fellow assassin trainee, you do it. If we ask you to swim in the Swiftbrook, you do it. If we ask you to attack a bear, you do it," the brown wolf-dog said firmly. She clearly wasn't going to let these pups verbally overpower her again.

Dawn sat down, and the crowd was big-eyed and quiet, with the exception of a few gasps One-eye heard here and there. They...they aren't going to force us to attack a bear...  And I'll become killing practice material with this body for sure! I can hardly fight! He tried to hold back the tears. I can't cry...not again. I have to be strong if I want to make it through this alive!

The instructor continued "Now that that's clear, here are the animals I wanted you to meet. You will be taught various skills by various teachers. These will be the skills you'll end up using as an assassin.

"Here is the first trainer. This is Divine. She's the only Lone One ever who willingly joined us, and a great fighter. She will teach you the skill of fighting swift, light, and nimble."

One-eye saw how she pointed her ears towards the cave entrance, and a reddish-coated wolf-dog with dark blue eyes entered, looking disinterested. So this is Divine. He swallowed. She didn't look like a kind trainer. Surely there have to be nicer-looking trainers among them? I mean...they can't be all bad, if this Clan is so huge. His slightly positive thoughts vanished instantly as his depression grabbed hold of his mind again. Of course they aren't nice, they just think we're Lone One trash, and, even if...does it really matter? They're training us for something terrible... Maybe it is better if I disobey them. I'll at least get killed, not be forced through a life like this...

A second animal entered, this time a cougar. He stood even taller than Miss Jones, and his unsheathed claws looked anything but nice.

"And this catamount is James. He will also teach you the art of stealth and silence while stalking a Lone One--or prey, perhaps."

The catamount perked his ears, and spoke boastfully. "I hope you Lone Ones have skill enough to be a silent stalker. This is something I have rarely seen any wolf master, especially you low creatures."

"Very well. And this will be your last trainer: Naar. He is one of the previous year's graduated Lone One assassins. He will teach you how to fight more bombastically and roughly, while Divine will teach you nimbleness," the brown wolf-dog continued.

The third and final animal entered: A gray-brown wolf with amber eyes. "Hello, there," he greeted them, showing no sign of emotion in his voice.

One-eye looked at the trainers while the instructor finished.

"And I, Jera, will be the one that ties the program together. I will train the remaining group that isn't currently training with these mentors.

"Now, of course, it's impossible to educate you properly in the art of killing in such a big group. There are twelve of you, and three trainers and me to fill up the last gap, so we'll separate you in four small groups, of which each will have one trainer or me.

"After a few weeks, each group will switch trainers. Go and find some wolves you can connect with because you'll be working with them for the majority of your training. You're allowed to speak now."

The final few sentences alarmed One-eye. We have to team up? I don't want to! Then again, these wolves are all in the same situation I'm in. Maybe I can make some...friends here?

The principle of friendship was, for the most part, strange to a Lone One. They always lived in small family groups or all alone. Friendships between wolves of this caliber never really happened, and, even if there was one, the friendship was almost always with the opposite gender, and would mostly result in these wolves becoming mates. That's just how it went.

However, friendship, as in, really platonic relationships that went nowhere, was a concept mostly strange for Lone Ones.

He eyed the other pups. They had started to mumble to one another, and looked around, curiously. As a few of them met One-eye's eye, they quickly stared at something else.

One-eye looked at several pups, and then decided to go for it. "H...Hello...anybody? OUCH!" He yelped as one of the pups accidentally stepped on in his tail.

He stumbled away from that pup, and heard a few other wolves talk.

"Does anyone want to join me?" said a black wolf with orange eyes.

A pale grey wolf-dog with icy blue eyes responded. "Uh...yeah...sure. I'm Diggs."

One-eye listened to the conversation, but was too shy to ask if he could join, as well.

The pup that had gotten her ear ripped off by Arrow approached them, looking at the ground, her torn ear still bleeding. "Ouch...ca-can I join you guys, as well?"

The wolf-dog, Diggs, was about to nod, but the black wolf interrupted. "I guess you could... What's with your leg?"

She pointed with her tail at the right hind leg of the ripped-eared pup. One-eye noticed that there were quite a few scars on it. The she-wolf quickly put her tail in front of it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I once got in a fight with a fox. It doesn't limit me in any way, though!" She stared at her paws, clearly shyer than Diggs or the other she-wolf.

One-eye wanted to ask if he could join, but Diggs spoke.

"It doesn't look like it'll be slowing you down in training. What are your names?"

The pup with the scarred leg, a reddish brown wolf, looked up. "It's Arallita... Arall for short. That's what Arrow called me after she brought me here, at least."

"I'm Maud now, I guess. I come from the Eron territory. It's far, very far west from here. I wonder how those stupid Clan members found it..." The black wolf looked annoyed.

Diggs frowned. "Point is, we're all separated from our caretakers and stuck here to kill others of our kind later."

"Yes..." stated Arall, near crying.

Maud got up on her hind legs, looking out over the other pups. One-eye tried to meet her eyes, but couldn't.

"Hey, we still need a fourth team member! Let's just look for one quickly. Does anyone wants to join us?" she called.

One-eye got up and tried to grab his chance.

"I...I guess I c-could..." he stuttered.

Maud got down on four legs again, and the three wolves looked at One-eye, their expressions disgusted.

The black she-wolf looked the most repulsed of all of them. "Ew, stay away from me, Frick."

One-eye put his tail between his hind legs. No...she can't have called me... "I... Errr, I..."

Diggs looked around swiftly, until he met the eyes of the she-wolf that had spoken, Dawn. "Anyone else still available? Dawn is your name, right? You, maybe?"

Dawn shook her head, gesturing to the pups around her. "Oh, no, I'm with these wolves already. Sorry."

Diggs wanted to call to another wolf pup, but the instructor spoke up. "It looks like you all have your groups together. Very well."