Promise Of The Wolves (12 page)

“Ruuqo won’t like that,” Werrna said.

“Ruuqo does not make all the decisions for this pack,” Rissa retorted. “If we cannot keep the humans from stealing our prey, we will take what they carelessly leave at the edges of their gathering place.” Her eyes swept over Werrna. “You can stay here with the smallpups.”

Werrna opened her mouth to argue, but the expression on Rissa’s face stopped her.

“Yes, leaderwolf,” she said. “Move, pups!” She bullied Ázzuen and Reel to one side.

“Go,” Rissa ordered when I hesitated. “You do not have the self-control to be part of this.”

If Werrna was not going to argue with Rissa, I certainly wasn’t going to. Trying to ignore the ache in my chest, I turned away from my packmates and away from the humans that drew me so.

I
trudged down to the bottom of the hill, trying to ignore the ache in my chest. I looked up at the half-moon and wanted to howl my frustration. But Rissa had already chided me once for lack of control. Dejectedly, I kept walking, feeling every grain of dirt in the pads of my feet, whimpering a little to myself. I stopped when I heard soft footsteps padding quickly behind me.

“I’ll come with you,” Ázzuen said, running to catch up. His little face was filled with concern. I was more grateful than I wanted to admit. It was bad enough being sent away, separated from the humans. To be alone was even worse. Ázzuen and I reached the bottom of the hill, and sat, watching the moon through the trees.

“Won’t Werrna notice you’ve left?” I asked.

Ázzuen grinned. “She’s too mad at being left behind to care if I wander a few wolflengths away. One of the advantages of being a smallpup is that the adults couldn’t care less if you wander off. They figure you’re going to starve before winter’s end anyway.”

“That’s not true!” I said, alarmed that Ázzuen thought so little of himself and his place in the pack. “They cared about whether or not you made it across the river.”

“They don’t want us to die,” he said, “but they aren’t counting on me or Reel making it through winter.”

“I’ll make sure you make it through winter,” I said, then felt terrible. I didn’t mean to imply he was weak.

Ázzuen was silent for a moment, thinking about what I’d said. But when he spoke again it was of the humans.

“Why
did
you go to them? After everything Trevegg and Rissa told us about the covenant? We all felt a pull to them. But you could have been kicked out of the pack. Or worse.” He was not accusatory, just curious.

“For me it was different, Ázzuen. At first it was just a pull, like you said. But then it changed. I couldn’t
not
go to them. Just like Rissa said about Indru. When I think about it, I know it’s wrong, but that doesn’t change anything. If I didn’t know Rissa and Werrna would stop me, I’d go right now.”

Ázzuen regarded me. His face was filling out a little, I noticed. In spite of his claims to being a smallpup, he was growing stronger.

“Next time you want to go,” he said, “tell me. And I’ll sit on you.”

I laughed, and the ache in my chest eased a little. I almost jumped out of my fur when I heard a whooshing of wings above me. Tlitoo landed in front of me, and immediately began preening his wings.

“You aren’t very smart,” he said. He looked up from his grooming and pulled a small twig from his wing. He threw it at me.

“The Bigwolves cannot help you if you get yourself kicked out of your pack, babywolf. You are going to need to learn self-control. The humans make the mark on my wing burn, but I have learned to ignore it. You don’t have to act on everything you feel, you know.”

“What are you doing here in the dark?” I asked grumpily. Ravens do not usually like the night. “Why aren’t you with your family?”

“I am old enough now to be on my own, unlike a babywolf,” he said. “I can fly where and when I choose. And someone has to keep you from whining all night.” Tlitoo peered at me through the darkness, blinking rapidly. “The Bigwolves will be displeased.”

The last thing I needed was someone else criticizing me.

“If they care so much, where are they?” I snapped. I wanted to see them now more than ever. I wanted to ask them who my father was and if I really did have Outsider blood. I needed to know if I was dangerous to my pack. I needed to know if there was something wrong with me.

Tlitoo gave a low honk and flared his leg feathers.

“The Bigwolves come when they please, babywolf,” he said. “They have more important things to worry about than your hurt feelings. Dimwolf.”

“Watch what you say, raven,” Ázzuen said, coming to stand beside me. I was surprised at his protectiveness.

Tlitoo cocked his head. “It is good to have friends,” he said. “Make sure you keep them. It will be good to not be alone.”

“Are you finished?” I said, annoyed. I was tired of him coming to me with mysterious messages and word of the Greatwolves, and never giving any real information.

“Listen to me!” Tlitoo’s sudden seriousness unnerved me. Ázzuen pressed himself against me, giving comfort, not seeking it. “Don’t get yourself exiled when you are still too young to feed yourself. You must not show your difference so much. Do not stand out so much. Do you think you can do that? Think a little?”

I could find no answer. I leaned against Ázzuen and looked at Tlitoo.

His voice softened a little. “You knew you were different. Why do you think the Bigwolves saved your life?” He gently drew his beak through the fur on my head, humming softly. “I do not like the Grumblewolves’ secrets, either, wolflet, but I do not pluck out my feathers over it. You have other things to worry about right now.”

I was surprised at his affection. I opened my mouth to thank him, but he turned and flipped his tail feathers at me.

He raised his wings as if to fly at me. To my surprise Ázzuen pounced, making Tlitoo hop aside, gurgling cheerfully.

“Ha,” Tlitoo said. “Good. A wolf that is not so worming serious.” He fell silent, cocking his head, as if listening for something.

Ázzuen looked back and forth at us. “Strangest raven I’ve ever met,” he said, half laughing. “And why is he here at night?” He bent low to whisper to me. “I think we should not believe everything he says, Kaala.”

I felt affection for Ázzuen well up in me. He had his little oldwolf expression on again, and I wondered if he would ever grow into his personality, if he would have the chance to. He and Reel were definitely the weakest wolves in the pack. If they both lived, one of them was destined to be the curl-tail. It wouldn’t be Ázzuen if I had anything to do about it.

But Tlitoo had more questions to answer. I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him.

“Now listen,” I said, as reasonably as I could.

“You’d better get moving, babywolves,” Tlitoo said suddenly, interrupting me. He peered at me for a moment. “And try not to stand out like a sore beak.” With a laughing caw that filled the night, Tlitoo took flight.

I heard a crashing in the bushes behind us. My packmates came pelting down the hill, most carrying meat in their jaws. Shouts from the human camp followed them. Yllin had a gleam in her eye, and a large slab of meat, firemeat, in her jaws.

“She didn’t get
that
from the edges of the gathering place!” Ázzuen said.

“They went
into
the homesite!” I said, envy filling me. I’d gotten in trouble for just going near it. The scent of burnt meat made my mouth water, but there was not time to stop to eat anything.

“Run!” Rissa woofed through the hunk of meat she held in her mouth, a grin softening the urgency of the command. No longer bothering to be quiet, we dashed through the woods. We ran through the bright, cooling night, sprinting back toward our territory with stolen meat in our jaws. As Ázzuen and I ran, behind the others, I could swear I saw the shadow of a young shewolf running silently beside us.

The humans did not chase us far. Their slow, loping gait made it impossible for them to keep up with us, and since they could not smell or hear well, we didn’t have to worry about them tracking us. Once we’d outrun the range of their throwing sticks we were safe from them. Even so, we kept on running. The woods smelled of Stone Peak wolves, and the human shouts behind us sounded very angry. I couldn’t help laughing at their futile attempts to catch us. We ran like the wind, the excitement of the chase beating in our chests.

Marra, Borlla, and Unnan each carried small pieces of stolen food, their tails whipping in pride. I had to run meatless with Ázzuen and Reel, the smallpups, even though I was as strong as anyone. Unnan let a scrap of meat drop and I gulped it down, not even breaking my stride. Marra caught me at it. I grinned at her. She rolled the eye nearest to me, and put on a burst of speed, stretching her long legs to catch up with Rissa.

“Show-off,” I laughed, gasping a little.

At last we slowed to an easier, quieter trot, running one by one in the moonlight. The scent of the Stone Peak pack faded as we neared the border of our territory, and I felt all of my packmates relax. I could tell from Reel’s and Ázzuen’s wheezing that they were glad to slow down.

I expected Rissa to take us back to the place where we had earlier crossed the river. Instead she took us along a well-trodden path, made by deer on their way to drink, and then along the muddy riverbank, far upstream from our earlier crossing. I didn’t understand why we were taking such a long route back home. We journeyed nearly an hour before Rissa stopped us at a river crossing, and we would still have to backtrack along the other side of the river to return to the Tall Grass plain. It made no sense. Then I saw a fallen alder bridging the expanse of water. I looked in surprise at the slender tree as Rissa led the way across it. Werrna helped Reel across, and Unnan and Borlla followed.

“Why did they make us swim the river if this is here?” I asked Marra.

Yllin answered. “Every wolf must swim if she is to hunt,” she said. We three were the last to cross, Yllin watching to make sure Ázzuen made it safely. “And it’s a long way to the Tree Crossing. Energy wasted is energy we don’t have for the hunt.”

She looked across the river to where Rissa waited on the far side. “I don’t think Rissa realized the smallpups would have so much trouble swimming. They weren’t in any real danger—Werrna and I would’ve reached them—but we can’t watch for weakpups
and
carry meat across.” She narrowed her eyes in amusement. “Besides, last time we tried to swim across with meat, Minn let a whole leg bone float away. So we often use the Tree Crossing when we return from the human homesite.”

“How often do we steal from the humans?” Marra asked, surprised.

Yllin grinned. “Often enough that we need to be able to cross the river when we wish. Come on.” She picked up her piece of meat and trotted easily across the river to join the others.

It still didn’t make sense.

“Ázzuen and Reel could’ve drowned,” I said to Marra. After everything Rissa had said about protecting us, I didn’t understand why she would take that chance. I shook my head to clear it, and looked after Yllin.

“They were testing us again,” Marra said, following my gaze. She had managed to steal a ripe-smelling deer rib that still had some meat on it, and she had set it down as we waited for the others to cross. The light of first dawn was touching the sky, and my eyes began to shift to take in the brighter, blurry light of the sun.

“They didn’t want Ázzuen or Reel to drown,” she said, “but they wanted to see which of us are strongest. Just like they wanted to see who stole the best meat.” She grinned. “You should’ve seen Yllin. She ran in when the humans’ backs were turned and stole meat right from their fire. That’s why we had to run away so quickly. Rissa pretended to be angry, but you could tell she was impressed.”

Rissa was impressed with Yllin for stealing good meat, I thought, and impressed with Borlla for helping Reel across the river. And to make things worse, I was in trouble for not being strong enough to resist the humans. I sighed. Then I looked again at Borlla and saw that she, too, had firemeat.

“Why did Borlla get to go into the human gathering place?” I asked, indignant.

“She didn’t,” Marra said, stretching her long, lean back. “Yllin dropped a piece of firemeat and Borlla picked it up. But to hear Borlla tell it, stealing cooked meat was all her idea.”

Rissa called to us. “What are you waiting for, lazypups?”

I followed Marra as she picked up her deer rib and trotted over to join the others. Rissa looked over all the stolen meat.

“You deserve to eat some now, Swift River wolves,” she said, stopping just past the crossing. She nosed through the meat, saving much of it to take back to Ruuqo and the others. My mouth watered. I noticed she kept all the firemeat aside for us.

“Ruuqo won’t eat it anyway,” she said, noting Werrna’s disapproving expression. “He says fire food is not real food.” She shook her head, making her ears flap. “So we will save him the trouble of tasting it.”

We all dove for the firemeat, but Werrna roughly pushed me out of the way.

“None for you. You are too fond of the humans already.”

I whined indignantly, and tried to slither past her to the meat, but then Rissa and even Yllin pushed me away. Reel and Ázzuen were also shoved aside. They both lowered their tails. But I was angry. I was not a weakpup. I took two steps toward the meat, but Werrna’s cold, angry gaze stopped me. I almost growled at her, but I remembered Tlitoo’s warning about not doing stupid things. I shoved my anger down and watched as my packmates gobbled the firemeat. Finally, when only one piece remained, Rissa gave the call to move out.

She had only taken a few steps when she stopped. Her fur bristled and a deep growl rose from her throat. She set down the meat she carried and planted her feet far apart. Werrna, who had taken up a guarding position at the back of our line, ran past all of us to stand beside her.