FFM 13: Of Wolfs and Mans

The Wolfs slept, and Coa crept silently into their encampment.  Half a dozen mountains of muscle and fur lay about the moonlit clearing, snoring loudly.  He was freshly a Man grown, having seen his fourteenth winter, and large for his age.  Even in light of that, each of the beasts was easily double his size.  Slow and silent on bare feet, Coa slipped past one particularly large Wolf whose lips pulled back into a snarl in his sleep.  Cold silvery light reflected off of glistening fangs as long as his forearm.
The Wolfs' fire had long since dwindled down to ash, but Coa's eyes were sharp, and he could still make out the left-over bits of meat and fur that had been scattered about the makeshift fire-pit.  Ears alert and perked, the Man-cub stepped over a sleeping cub and bent to pick up a good sized patch of deer-skin.
The sound of a bone cracking echoed through the clearing, and it was all that he could do not to scream.  If he was found here, not only would he be devoured, but the beasts would doubtless retaliate against the herd.  It was unthinkable for a Man—cub, grown, or in-between—to take from the Pack without permission.
It wasn't difficult to pin-point the source of the sound.  As his head snapped up, a pair of bright yellow eyes watched him from the shadows.  Not the gold of any normal Wolf, but hornet-stripe yellow, faintly glowing in the dark.  The Wolf continued to chew on his bone leisurely, considering the young Man as though trying to decide what to make of him.
"Why hello there," he finally said in a voice that was softer and smoother than any of the other Wolfs Coa had ever heard speak.  "Midnight snack, hmm?"  The Wolf snickered and tossed the bone aside with a twist of his head, slinking out of the shadows and into the cold moonlight.  "Go on then.  Enjoy it while you can," he chuckled.
"Who… What are you?"  Coa whispered, in spite of his terror.
Illuminated, the creature looked like no Wolf that he'd ever seen.  Thinner and sleeker in build, it appeared to lack the sheer muscular power of the others, though it was easily a foot taller.  Deep indigo fur coated the beast, marked with spirals and twists in black and undulating shades of its base color.  Most notably, where any of the normal gray Wolfs had a tail, this creature bore four.  "Here, I am called the Dreamer," the not-Wolf smiled, and something between madness and trickery danced in his eyes.
The name set off fireworks in the Man's head, who suddenly felt like a swaddling cub again.  Legends spun out in his memory at the mention of that name.  The most clever of the beasts, and loyal to none.  One may only believe half of what it says, but may never know which half, his father recited in the back of his mind.
"Are you going to eat me?"  Coa finally whispered.
"Oh certainly not," the creature laughed.  "You're far too important for that."  He lazily padded around the camp circle, his eyes ever focused on the youthful intruder.  One of the sleepers snorted and shuffled at the sound, before rolling over and drifting back to sleep.
"Go on, now.  Collect your bits," the Dreamer encouraged, nosing a chunk of moose toward the boy.  "It doesn't matter anyway.  The end is soon."
"What does that mean?  My end?"
"Ha!  Not everything revolves around you, child."
"I'm no child," Coa puffed up his chest.  "I've had my Rites and everything."
"Everything on this planet is a child," the Wolf replied, snickering breathlessly.  With each step, the twists of black in his fur seemed to writhe and curl against the uneven indigo expanse of his back. "But the Wolfs must stop soon.  Their world ends around them every day, and they don't even know it."  
"If you know it, then why don't you stop it?"
"Because it's not my place.  I have given them my tools, taught them to be clever and to outthink their prey."  A touch of sorrow crept into the creature's tone, though his eyes still showed nothing but madness.  "And yet, for every lesson I teach them… it seems that your herd learns two.  It would appear that I've backed the wrong pony so to speak."  He tittered again.
"I don't understand.  What pony?"
"You wouldn't get it.  It's not important.  What is important is you and your people."
"Why me?  What's so special about me?"  Coa had nearly forgotten the food, the skins, and the sleeping tribe of enormous predators surrounding him.  The swirls in the otherworldly Wolf's fur had an almost hypnotic quality.
"You are where it all begins.  Right here and right now."
The Dreamer sat back on his haunches, shoulders rolled back and head hung low.  A tongue that seemed entirely too long curled out to lick the length of his muzzle while he stared at the boy.
"Where what begins?  This 'end' you're talking about?"
"No," the beast replied casually.  "The re-education period."
"What?"
"See, if I had eaten you when you first arrived…then they couldn't eat you," he nodded over the boy's shoulder.  
From the shadows emerged another handful of the enormous beasts, slowly stalking on silent paws the size of Coa's face.  Judging by the sheer size, and by the number of trophy tattoos on each of their muzzles, he could only assume that the hunting party had returned.
"Congratulations, boy.  You're just clever enough that you'll make a great practice toy for our new tactics.  I would suggest running now."