Pitgorm: A Short Story

snow, the snapping of twigs in the frigid air, in the long, star-hung nights, a coyote’s yelp, the

The two men lay in the snow, listening to the branches creak in the forest. Silence. A crow cawed in the distance, interrupting the calm only for a second. As the two men’s fate approached, they began to perceive things that they had never experienced before. All the crackling, shuffling, and whistling became crystal clear to them, and they wondered how they had never heard these sounds before. Little shimmers and sparkles caught their eyes as if to tell them to enjoy their last moments in this world. Frost glittered in the slivery moonlight, cascading upon them through an opening in the dense canopy

The Ninemile Wolves is a compelling nonfiction story told by Rick Bass, while Bass approaches the wolves with a mixture of awe, compassion, and fascination; others in the area are less welcoming, including some local ranchers, hunters and politicians. The wolves are studied by Bass, Rick Jimenez, and others of how they are endeavoring for their presence in the Ninemile Valley in Montana. Bass consumes his reader into his work by using both scientific and spiritual relevance of the wolves, and how they balance the ecosystem. While the biologist are cheering for the survival of the Ninemile pack ranchers, hunters, and politicians are concerned that they will attack livestock and decimate the population of elk and deer. However, despite all the stereotypes put into place the wolves survive off small mammals, and stray away from large pray. Bass anthropomorphizes the wolves by saying they have a soul like humans, and their spirit has an effect on the Ninemile Valley.

Some explanations may include some kind of demon, an angry spirit from the surrounding land

The author makes use of the symbolism of the wolves in order to explore conformity within society and how it impedes individual from pursuit of liberation. The first wolf symbolizes the freedom of an individual deviant against societal expectations.However both wolves represents the challenges and the fears of liberty of the bound man faces as he questions his limitations whether “he could amount to without it.”(pg.6). The first wolf proved to be the bound man’s attempt to conform with society, without the ropes “perhaps he would have tried to run away”(pg.5). In the moment he tried conquering his fear of freedom, it seemed completely paradoxical as his limitations allowed him to feel as free. However when his ropes was severed and consequently,

Outcroppings of Pine and Birch shifted in the unrelenting wind as if they were the scales on the bodies of primordial dragons attempting to settle their massive forms into the damp ground beneath them. An endless horizon of white edged waves bit at the tails of one another in a crashing cacophony until they foamed, frothed and broke against the shore.

The authors have two clearly different environments and describes them in diverse ways. Abbey writes about his surroundings as a bright, clear, calm April morning. He changed his description in the afternoon as “the wind begins to blow, raising dust and sand in funnel-shaped twisters that spin across that desert briefly, like dancers, and then collapse-elements under stress” (52). While Leopold writes about his experience with on a mountain as a “deep chesty ball echoes from rimrock to rimrock, rolls down the mountain, and fades into the far blackness of the night” (49).

When given the task to study the wolves, Mowat is given a packet about their traits. “The wolf is a savage, powerful killer. It is one of the most feared and hated animals known to man, and with excellent reason” (Mowat 60). Everyone in the Canadian territory believes that wolves are deadly creatures, yet they don’t have a specific reason why. People start to believe things because someone says something that seems realistic. Mowat was suspicious about the reasons, but realized they were unnecessary. Mowat’s mind is set that wolves are vicious and people need to keep a safe distance. Over time, learning more facts about the unknown, it changes people’s viewpoints about the world in which they live in.

Flies and glossy black ravens burst from the squirming mound, forming a twisting gyre of ill in the air. They mirrored the dust devils in the fields around them. His steps, like his song, faltered, and then stopped. He knew what lay ahead. Knew what filled his gut with such fear and revulsion.

The frigid, icy wind caught northstar’s fur like the bear that ripped open his back unveiling the bloody scar carved there, as he neared the door to the building made of ice, he reached for the handle with his mouth and yanked it open as he ran inside to his locker, looking on top of it seeing a polished bright blue sign showing the mascot. As he sprinted into the room where his only friend sat, and an adult wolf at the desk in the back of the room taking attendance.

Borador hammerfist was the dwarven leader of the iron wolves. He was a short black bearded man with an even shorter temper. Unlike the battle axe he wielded. His long beard hung nearly to his belly button. The beard was braided with little iron clamps at the end of each braid. This great and mighty beard never got in his way in battle. The hair on his head was shaved into a Mohawk. The sides of his skull had two tattoos of wolves. One on each side of his head. One wolf looked very peaceful and graceful, but the other was a demonic figure. These two tattoos meant everyone has a lighter and darker side. When people looked into this dwarves ice cold blue eyes. They would see into the gates of hell themselves. Almost able to feel the flames upon

The wolf totem individuals arrive on this plane, to learn the gift of the seer. These are highly intuitive souls; with an ability to achieve great spiritual heights. “They seek out union with the ancestors that walk the Blue Road of Spirit.” There is a part of the wolf soul that may appear to be somewhere else; prevailing in a different state of consciousness and not fully in tune with their surroundings. They operate at a slightly different wavelength; one ear is tuned in and listening for the voice of the great mystery. This is both a great blessing and challenge for this birth totem.

The moon rose over the mountain casting a pale of blue light over the smoking ashes of the Spriggan Forest. The light of the moon mixed with morning fog and smoke creating a veil between the star written sky and the ashen ground. The trees shaken and trembling, limbs hanging by a thread dangling in the sky. It wasn’t always like this. The veil and ashen ground was conjured up by Dovazuul, the gatekeeper and the Executioner.

our journey came upon us. The sun had just climbed over the first huge hill and its brilliant

their food?. But author now amazed the readers as further the story tells us that now the wolves