Raised From The Wild-Chapter 122: The Wolf Pups

King Duncan glared at Ibarra. "What do you mean it is not appropriate for her?"

"Father, Amaya is already eighteen. She is two years older than her classmates. Her classmates might not be comfortable with her." Prince Ibarra explained.

"Why worry about them? This is Amaya’s first time going to school. If she likes where she is now, then just let her be. She is the First Princess of Lireya, after all. Who would have the guts to bully or laugh at her."

"But her intelligence might not be at the same level as her classmates. Wouldn’t that make her classmates feel bad?" Ibarra reasoned.

King Duncan thought that his son had a point. "Alright, let Amaya finish the semester. Once she is done, she can take the admission exam for Senior High School or College."

Ibarra heaved a sigh of relief. He had a selfish motive for wanting Amaya to move out of Lireya National High School. He did not want Danella to be hurt by being compared to her elder sister.

...

Amaya did not have a school that Friday, so she and Marx decided to continue exploring Mount Daya. She brought Julienne with her. Dave, Enrico, and Ricardo also came along.

Marx picked up Amaya from Asteria Palace at the crack of dawn, and they picked up Julienne from her dorm.

Amaya pleaded with Marx to drive. The Jeep Wrangler is different from the sedan car that her Daddy Ibarra gifted her, so she was curious to know how it would feel to drive a big car.

"You should behave. If you do some tricks, I will not hesitate to take the wheel from you," Marx warned her.

"I will not do anything out of line. I had attended the safe driving seminar, remember?"

"Wow! I never dreamed that one day, a princess would be my driver." Julienne laughed heartily in the back seat.

When the sun provided sufficient light, the group of ten men and two women started climbing the mountain. They chose a separate path from last time.

Marx wanted to install a transmitter at the peak of Mount Daya, but Amaya was concerned about the effect the radio waves would have on wild animals.

"Skylar Technologies has recently developed a transmitter that is safe for wildlife. We can use that. However, it will take some time to deliver the equipment."

"It is okay. It can wait."

Marx and Amaya were walking side by side while Julienne was trailing behind together with Dave when they heard the gurgling sound of a nearby stream. This was the second stream they encountered on that route.

Amaya scanned the area beside the stream and selected a spot under a big Narra tree to camp for a quick rest. Marx updated his map while Amaya also took out her colored pencils and the previous topographical map that she had.

Marx took pieces of metal from his backpack and assembled them in minutes. It was a drone.

"It looks cool, Marx. Can I see?"

Marx was amused by Amaya’s childlike delight at seeing a drone. She really looked cute.

"This drone is equipped with a camera. I’ll set it off to check the surrounding area."

Marx operated the remote control while Amaya watched closely. He concentrated on the screen of his phone while maneuvering the remote control, and Amaya leaned closer to him as she studied the screen.

"Go back a bit and move a little to the right. Stop right there."

Marx frowned. Did Amaya see something? He can’t see anything.

Julienne approached them when she heard Amaya’s excited voice.

"Can you take a picture?"

Marx nodded and snapped a photo. "What is it? I don’t see anything."

Julienne looked closely. "There seemed to be some movement beneath those dry and green leaves under that bush."

"Can you tell how far that place is from our location?" Amaya asked Marx, who checked the distance displayed on the screen.

"It is 50 meters from our location."

"Julienne, let’s hurry. It is a wolf giving birth to her pups." Amaya held Julienne’s hand. Marx frowned before glaring at Julienne.

"Let me get a weapon from my backpack first." She found an excuse to escape the icy glare from Marx. Amaya also touched the quiver to ensure it was still on her back.

"I’ll go with you, ladies, " he said casually. He set the drone to hover and stay stationary, then followed Amaya as she half-jogged in the direction where the drone had gone earlier.

They found the wolf in no time. They needed to follow a whimpering sound and were led to a shallow hole covered with dry leaves under a bush.

The silver wolf seemed to be injured. It has bite marks on its body.

"It was attacked by a wild boar. Normally, wolves are stronger and can defeat wild boars, but this one is in labor," Amaya explained. She checked the wolf and found that her life was ebbing away. She didn’t even have the strength to push her babies out.

"Where is its mate? Don’t wolves normally go in packs? Why is this alone?" Julienne asked. She felt sorry for the wolf.

The wolf looked Amaya in the eyes. Somehow, it knew that this human could understand her. The wolf whimpered before its eyes closed, and it stopped breathing.

Dave and the two mountaineers, Vasquez and Drake, arrived and surrounded them. The soldiers who accompanied them were also in the area and watched Amaya.

Though saddened by the wolf’s death, Amaya hurriedly took a knife from her backpack.

"Please help me flip her so her belly is on top." Vasquez and Drake were the ones who did the job.

Amaya placed her hand over the wolf’s belly. Without flinching, she cut open the wolf’s abdomen. Then, with her bare hands, she took out the three pups from their mother’s womb one by one.

...

Julienne looked away. She was a brave woman who had been on a few missions before. She encountered many difficulties and witnessed even worse situations, but she had never found a princess who could be so bold as to do a cesarian section on a wolf.

Dave looked at Amaya strangely. Was she used to doing this kind of stuff when she was back on the island?

The four soldiers looked at the First Princess in a different light. What a down-to-earth person. She doesn’t look like a princess at all.

Vasquez and Drake were looking at the wolf, like it was their prey. Its fur was very beautiful.

Marx was unsure what to do. He did not know what to feel as his gaze landed on Amaya’s bloody hands who were gently holding and caressing the pup. Fortunately, they were near a stream. He took an empty bottle from his backpack and walked a few steps to the stream. He filled the bottle with water and walked back to the place where Amaya was still holding two pups in her hands. Julienne was gingerly holding the other one.

Marx passed the bottled water to Amaya. "Wash your hands as they are filled with blood."

Amaya took the bottled water from Marx and obediently washed her hands after passing the two pups to Marx who wanted to refuse but was not given an opportunity by Amaya.

"The pups will not survive in this forest. We should bring them along with us." She looked around to see if there were suitable materials she can use to weave into a basket. Her eyes landed on reed-like plants that grew on the bank of the stream.

"Can someone cut those reeds and bring them over?"

"As you wish, Princess," the soldiers responded respectfully.

"Amaya, I think this baby wolf is hungry. It is nibbling my fingertips." Julienne was giggling because she felt tickled.

Marx did not say anything but the two pups in his palm were also looking for milk.

"We can only feed it water for now." She took a piece of gauze from her first aid kit, cut it into three, and rolled them. She dipped the rolled gauze into the bottle and placed one in front of the mouth of the pup. The pup nibbled the gauze and swallowed the water.

"What do we do with the wolf?" Vasquez asked. "Can we remove the skin?"

Dave glared at Vasquez. Vasquez lowered his gaze.

"I’d like to preserve the wolf and display it in the museum but if we leave it here, it will be devoured by wild animals. We can’t also carry it with us as it will attract attention to other animals."

"Dave, let us split the team into two. Your team will bring the wolf and the pups outside of this forest while we continue exploring." Marx said in a calm voice.

Dave didn’t want to agree but that was the best choice they have at that moment. He really wanted the wolf to become a decoration at the zoo’s museum. The pups too will not last long if not taken care of.

Amaya finished weaving the medium-sized basket in thirty minutes. She gently placed the pups in the basket, then she used a thin towel to reinforce the basket before handing them to Dave.

"Be careful with them," Amaya told Dave.