Black Wolf (56 page)

There'd been
no further attacks, not in the couple of days it took to reach
Unity, not in the days they'd been here. Could the demons not find
them here? Or was there something else? Either way, they weren't
going to heal at all unless they actually ate.

So she'd left
Jaisan, who was trying so hard to pretend that he wasn't in pain
with every breath, to see if he could find anything edible in the
long-abandoned gardens. If they were lucky, maybe something had
re-seeded itself; it was early in the year yet, but a few garden
plants, and some wild ones, were edible or even better at this time
of year. If not, he might at least find a few snails—they were
vile, but better than nothing. If they dared the shore itself, they
might do better, find amphibian or crustacean life, might even be
able to improvise a fish trap, but first they'd have to conquer
fear of the lake itself and what lay beneath those calm waters she
glimpsed now and then from high ground.

The
porcupine's trail took her to a creek, burbling its way cheerfully
between the trees, and along it. She slowed her pace, taking care
with each step to make no sound: even if she didn't find the
porcupine, she might be able to surprise something drinking.

She found
where the porcupine entered the water, and some disturbed creek-bed
where she thought it ate some of the plants growing there, and then
the place where it left the water and went up a tree. She looked
up, spotted it high above.

There was no
way she could possibly climb after it, even if she were stupid
enough to try.

With a sigh,
she went back to following the creek.

From the
village itself, she heard Jaisan bark: a call to her, but without
urgency. Probably he'd found something edible.

Well, she
wasn't accomplishing anything here, and her leg hurt abominably.
She turned back in his direction.

He was waiting
for her, in a garden being gradually reclaimed by the wilderness,
closer than entirely comfortable to one of the outermost buildings.
If she let herself, she'd probably be able to remember who had
lived here and then died here.

They'd ripped
up clothes to improvise a sling that held Jaisan's right arm firmly
against his body, since that helped with some of the pain. Even
though that meant staying human-form, it was worth it, since
putting weight on that foreleg was unbearable anyway. The dark
livid bruising, purple-blue and red shading towards black with
highlights of greenish yellow, bled through under the edges of the
sling; it made Aindry flinch every time she saw it. Pulling a shirt
over his head hurt, so with his own worn track-pants Jaisan was
wearing only Aindry's stained grey zipper-front hoodie, unzipped to
allow room for his arm.

Unfortunately,
they'd failed to come up with a way to moderate her own pain at
all, but at least it reduced Jaisan's a little.

"Nothing
good," he said apologetically. "But it's something."

She changed
back, and sat down awkwardly on her own sweatshirt that he'd spread
there. The weight of two full backpacks had been just too much;
they'd kept one set of basic clothing each, but almost everything
else had been discarded. She hadn't realized until much too late
that Jaisan had left behind all but one of his amethysts, keeping
only his favourite tucked into the sling; that had made her want to
weep. Her little brother knew as well as she did that they weren't
going to live long enough to recover. And after what felt like
forever struggling to protect him, there was nothing left she could
do.

He'd used her
t-shirt to gather green things, leaves and shoots, things she
recognized by scent as at least safe, and possibly even appealing
under some circumstances, fiddleheads and green onions and young
dandelion and others.

"More than I
managed," she pointed out.

"Don't talk,
silly, it makes you hurt."

"Hurts you
too." She could see him wince, see the catch in his breath.

"No dinner
conversation over salad, I guess."

She shredded
as much as she could and swallowed it without chewing. Her stomach
grumbled, wanting something more substantial, but she ignored it.
Be grateful for what you get.

Both heard the
sounds of movement, footsteps coming rapidly in their direction,
not quite at a run.

They traded
glances wearily. No one should be here, in a dead place. That could
only be one last demon that had tracked them down.

And any fight
was going to be an extremely short one, with no doubt at all as to
the outcome.

"Guess that
was a waste of time," Jaisan said sadly. "Oh well. So much for ever
finding Jess. Hope this doesn't hurt him much." He let the hoodie
slide off his shoulders, began to fumble with the knots holding the
sling.

"Wait," Aindry
said, puzzled. "Don't smell demons. Smell... human, with wolf and
elf scent. And... cat?"

"What?" Jaisan
raised his head, inhaled as deeply as his damaged ribs would allow.
"You're right. Smells... familiar? But..."

Aindry took
another breath. Yes, familiar, from somewhere deep in her memory,
if she could just place it... Associations there of safety and love
and comfort...

Around the
building the source of that tantalizing scent came into sight: a
woman, not tall, sturdily-built, her brown hair pulled back, in
jeans and a denim jacket. She saw them, and quick walk turned into
all-out run across the broken ground. A much smaller four-footed
shape, deep vivid tortoiseshell with a brilliantly white tail-tip,
raced along beside her.

"Samantha?"
Jaisan said uncertainly, head tilted to one side, and looked to
Aindry for confirmation. "Can't be Sam. Remembering wrong, right?
Or a ghost?"

"No," Aindry
said in disbelief. "Really Sam. Alive." She scrambled to her feet,
but her bad leg brought her sharply back to reality; with an
involuntary whimper, she fell hard enough to bring tears to her
eyes. Jaisan, more successful, hesitated.

And then Sam
reached them, and there were tears on her cheeks too.

"Mother of
wolves," she muttered. "Are you two sure you're alive? I've seen
dead things in better shape." She cupped a hand around Jaisan's
cheek, eyes scanning his face. "I've been desperately hoping you
dying wasn't what made Jess block off his own memories."

Jaisan whined
softly, every muscle suddenly tense. "Jess?"

"He's in
Haven, more or less safe and sound, finally. Damn it, I don't dare
even give either of you a hug, I might break you." Sam looked like
she was fighting the urge to start crying; she conquered it with
pragmatism. "Right. Damage control first, sloppy reunions later.
Dena would flay me for crying all over you instead of feeding you.
Alfari, we just found Jaisan and Aindry. This is my special friend
Alfari."

Aindry
remembered the "special friends" of that school of magic, and Sam's
father's big shaggy black-and-white cat Rasputin who was fierce to
strangers but always gentle and affectionate with Aindry's family.
Even more, she remembered Sam's lithe orange Uri, who had adopted
Sam's charges as his own and patiently endured hugs and tears and
playfulness. He'd often slept on Aindry's bed when she envied her
brothers their bond and their certainty of never being alone.

She'd stopped
envying it forever, not long after they'd been separated.

This couldn't
be Uri, back for another life: Sam couldn't possibly have found his
body in time. Nor would Uri have needed the introduction.

She offered a
hand, and Alfari came nearer to rub against it, purring
thunderously. "Hello," Aindry told her. "I'm glad Sam has a
friend."

Shyly, Jaisan
leaned down to echo it, following her lead, with only a quiet,
"Hi." Alfari went up on her hind feet to meet him part way, and
rubbed her cheek against his fingers. Did he remember Uri and
Rasputin? Aindry wondered.

"What do you
have with you?" Sam said briskly. "Back to the car with both of
you. I'll come back and look for your names once you're there with
something more to eat than wild greens."

"You do better
on four feet," Jaisan told Aindry. "So you have three that
work."

"Just
clothes," Aindry said. "Nothing else. Our names are here?"

"I hid them,"
Sam said, shooing Jaisan away to gather up clothing herself. The
tortoiseshell cat circled around the trio. "Anything else? Good. I
remember it was by a creek and there was a hill with a crack in it
that I hid them in, but I don't remember exactly where. I just
followed one creek from lake to source with no luck and I was
looking for another one when I heard you."

"Just saw
one," Aindry said. "Hunting. Will show you."

"You will do
no such thing! Just point."

Reluctantly,
Aindry pointed the way she'd come.

"Good. I'll
try that one. Once you two are at the car!"

Aindry changed
to wolf and limped along with them; Sam took the one remaining pack
firmly from Jaisan's good hand, and he surrendered meekly, letting
her help him pull the hoodie back on.

They only got
as far as the road, which wasn't paved and was the worse for six
years of neglect, before Sam commanded them to stop.

"Change of
plans. I'm going to get the car, you're going to stay right here,
and 'Fari's going to stay here with you. Don't move. Understand?
Not an inch."

"Yes," Jaisan
said, eyes low, and Aindry dipped her head in assent.

Sam regarded
them both measuringly, and strode off along the road. Alfari reared
up to swipe her cheek along Aindry's reassuringly, and climbed onto
Jaisan's lap when he sat down heavily. Cautiously at first, then
with more confidence when she responded with arched back and
purring, Jaisan stroked her.

Sam returned
before long in a newish red Cherokee, clearly well-used but
nonetheless in good condition; she parked, hopped out, and circled
around to the back to swing the spare tire aside and open the
hatch. The inside smelled strongly of elf and wolf-bitch and human,
with a thin overlay of Sam and Alfari, and fainter scents of other
wolves, other elves and humans, dryads, cats and dogs: living
scents, natural homey ones that
should
be there. Inside,
anchored by bungee cords to bolts in the side, was a sturdy-looking
cooler that Sam opened.

"If I know
elvenmages... yep. Jerky, dried fruit, crackers, pop-tarts, sports
drinks... dog biscuits, must be for Lindsay. Under the
circumstances, no one in Coven Firedrake is going to mind.
Interior's spelled to stay at a steady moderate temperature, so the
drinks aren't exactly cold but everything's safe. Can I trust you
to go slow and not overeat and kill yourselves?"

"Food?" Jaisan
said hopefully.

Aindry changed
to human. "We'll be good," she promised. "Why our names, why
now?"

"Because Jess
needs to remember who he is and given what I had to work with, that
seemed like the best bet."

"Jess is in
Haven," Jaisan whispered, and started to laugh hysterically, but it
dissolved into sobs. "The one place we've been avoiding."

Aindry whined,
slid an arm around him carefully. "Jais, don't, your ribs... we
couldn't know."

"For what it's
worth," Sam said, doing something in the cooler. "I've been there
all along but Jess hasn't, not until recently." She handed Jaisan a
plastic bottle of bright-coloured liquid. "Here. Take a sip. Calm
down. Not remembering protected Jess. All three of you remembering,
staying still, but too young to defend yourselves might have gotten
messy. I don't know. It doesn't matter right now. Don't cry now,
wolf-cub, you're really going to regret it if you do. Drink. Don't
choke."

Jaisan
struggled to obey the voice of compassion and authority. At the
first swallow, instinct took over, short-circuiting the emotional
storm, and Sam had to stop him from finishing the whole thing
without a pause. He took a couple of breaths as deep as he could
currently manage.

"It's
perfectly understandable that you'd be scared," Sam said, watching
him sip it more slowly. Reassured, she wrapped an arm around
Aindry's waist and urged her over to sit on the back of the
Cherokee. Sam smelled of many animals of many kinds, and of Alfari,
and of a male wolf, and catnip, and faintly of salt. "Get your
weight off that leg. Here." She gave Aindry a gentle kiss on her
forehead, reached past her to the cooler, and gave her a matching
bottle. Sunlight caught the thin wet track down her cheek, but it
didn't reflect in her voice. "I found myself in Haven without
meaning to, and by the time I reached any state of being able to
decide, there was someone who felt like an oasis in the desert, so
I stayed. Obviously, some inconvenient knowledge about demons
hasn't been enough to make me worth the effort. I've been harassing
every new class of students coming to Haven for the college for any
news of black wolves—subtly, of course."

"We stayed on
the edges," Aindry said. The simple drink made her body scream for
more of it, and she could understand why Jaisan had found it hard
to stop. "Mostly between. Visit each village, keep moving. There
was... in Falias last year, a coven wanted us to stay. Were there
two weeks, longer than usual. Wanted to stay, but scared to. They
were very sad when we left. Coven in Aralu, not long ago, they were
worried about us, wanted lots to help. If we stayed they'd be
dead."