Promise Of The Wolves (18 page)

“Come on!” I shouted to Ázzuen, and began to run, Ázzuen at my side. Suddenly, Ruuqo stepped in front of me.

Startled, I stopped and looked up at him.

“Where are you going, pup?”

“To hunt,” I said, trying to temper my impatience and show him proper respect.

“Not you,” he said, “not today.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Do you question a leaderwolf? I do not wish you to hunt today. If you cannot obey me, you are not pack. You will stay here.”

Ruuqo ran to join the others. By then the elkryn had made her escape, which was not unusual. Hunts fail ten times out of eleven. But I was stunned.

The pack tested three more elkryn before giving up for the night. Each time I was the only one to sit out of the hunt. Finally, the pack wearied and returned to the edge of the trees.

“Why did you not join the hunt, Kaala?” Rissa asked. “You must join if you are to be wolf.”

I was afraid of what Ruuqo would do to me if I said anything to her. She did not wait for an answer, but gave a sigh and lay down to rest. “We will stay on the Great Plain,” she said sleepily. “The next hunt will be better.”

As the sun rose, the other members of my pack settled into the soft-sage beneath the trees at the edge of the plain and slept. Ázzuen and Marra both tried to sleep beside me, but I chased them off. As soon as I knew everyone was sleeping, I crept away. Tlitoo was waiting for me, and flew above my head as I began the long walk to the human homesite. The humans were why I was different and why Ruuqo disliked me. They held the secret to who I really was, and whether I was bad luck—and to whether I could ever really be a Swift River wolf. I was done with waiting.

G
irl sat alone, once again pounding plants into her round rock with the longer, branch-shaped rock. I had no idea how I was going to get to her, but I would not return to my pack until I had. Shame mingled with anger as I remembered that everyone in the pack knew I had not hunted.

After close to an hour, Girl stood and walked to one of her tribe’s stone-mud structures. This particular structure had caught my attention because it did not smell as strongly of humans as the others did. It smelled like a den made of plants and forest. It was located at the edge of the homesite, close to where I waited.

I backed out from under the bush that hid me, and, as silently as I could, crept on my belly to the very edge of the gathering place. I remembered what Rissa and Trevegg had said about the humans’ eyesight—that they could see quite well by daylight—so I was cautious. I could still smell the route my pack had taken to steal meat two moons before, and I followed it.

“What are you doing, wolf?” Tlitoo asked.

“Going to see her,” I said. “Keep quiet.”

“At last!” he shrieked. I winced at the noise. “I will help you. They are used to seeing ravens in their home.”

“No,” I said, alarmed. “Stay here.”

But I was too late. Tlitoo launched himself into the middle of the clearing, calling loudly.

I winced. The humans, who before were intent on their work, looked up, at Tlitoo and at the woods surrounding their home. One of them, an old male, threw a fruit pit at Tlitoo. Another threw a burnt black stone from the fire. Tlitoo dodged both and swooped down, grabbing a piece of cooked meat from a rock on which it was drying. The two who had thrown things at him and one of the others at the fire chased after him, hurling rocks and bits of wood, and anything else they could get their hands on. The two remaining humans sitting by the fire looked after them. Tlitoo screamed happily.

I shook my head. I wanted my entrance into the human site to be
quiet.
But I took the chance while the humans were preoccupied with Tlitoo to dash across the open space and hide behind a small lean-to near the herb-smelling den.

Girl had disappeared into the den and I had lost precious moments while Tlitoo made a fuss. I crept closer to it. To do so, I had to cross through another open part of the human gathering place—there would be no trees or bushes to hide me. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out into the open. Tlitoo chose that moment to dive again, shrieking, for another piece of meat. The humans rose, shouting. I froze in place, thinking myself invisible.

“Idiot, loudmouthed bird,” I muttered. I bolted over to the plant-smelling den and hid behind it. It was made of stones stacked up to the height of two grown wolves and topped by mud, river reeds, and large wooden poles, which seemed to hold up a top made of dried grass and more mud. I could smell that Girl was the only one inside. Taking a great chance of being spotted, and hoping Tlitoo would keep his beak shut, I lowered myself to the ground and slowly and carefully crawled around to the opening in the stone and mud where Girl had entered the structure.

The pelts of several antelope, held together in some way I did not understand, hung in front of the opening. Girl had pulled the skins aside when she went in. I stuck my head under the skins and then, making myself as small as I could, crawled the rest of the way inside. The structure was a large rounded shape, about eight wolflengths wide by ten long and arched up like a cave or like a large den made by the roots of a tree. The mud walls were lined with wooden ledges that held more rounded objects. Some of these were actually gourds, dried and hard. Others were made of stone and even of hardened skins. There were also large folded pieces of soft deerskin. Each skin and gourd and rock carried the scent of a different plant of the forest—either its leaf or its root—and there were many scents I did not recognize. I would like to have had time to sort them all out, but Girl’s scent was the most powerful of all.

Girl was using her small, clever hands to scoop out bits of what smelled like the bark of a willow tree, her face intent. I hadn’t noticed it before, but her nose was almost flat against her face, her mouth completely pressed in. Her eyes were large in comparison, and her hair fell flat down her back. She did not hear me come in. I stayed close to the opening so I could leave if I wanted to, but not so close that I could be seen by anyone on the outside. Gathering my courage, I gave a very soft bark.

Girl turned, startled, and dropped the folded deerskin she held in her hands. Bits of willow bark fell to the ground. I noticed that the bark was very dry as if it were the middle of summer, even though the rains had come. Girl gasped and stumbled toward the rear of the den. She was frightened. I was a little hurt, though I knew that many hunters killed humans. Bears did, and long-fangs, and a wolf pack could easily do so if we were allowed to. But still, Girl seemed more frightened than she needed to be. I didn’t want her to fear me.

I heard a slapping of wings and Tlitoo pushed his way through a gap in the antelope skins and strutted over to stand beside me, cocking his head in curiosity. He walked to Girl’s feet and began pecking through the fallen bark. He spit it out.

“It makes my tongue numb,” he said in disgust. “It is not good to eat.” He glared at Girl reproachfully.

“Shoo,” she said, prodding at him with her foot, her eyes still on me.

Tlitoo walked a few paces away and flew up onto one of the shelves, poking his thick beak into one folded skin after another.

“Stop that,” I said. “You’re not helping.”

“I am hungry,” he retorted, and kept poking through the skins. “There is every plant in the forest in here. Try to keep her distracted. I will find us some seeds.”

Girl picked up a cluster of wheat held together by a reed and brushed it at Tlitoo.

“Get out of here, bird!” she said, stamping her foot. “You are not allowed to eat that.”

Glaring at the girl and at me, Tlitoo flew to the opening of the structure and stared beadily at us, making a gurgling noise deep in his throat. Girl made a strange whuffling sound. She reached up to a high shelf and took the top off a stone gourd and took out some millet seeds. She scattered them on the floor for Tlitoo, who quorked happily and snapped them up.

Girl looked again at me, more relaxed than she had been before. The mark on my chest was warm, but not uncomfortably so. Tlitoo ran his beak through the white marking on his left wing. It was cool in the mud rock structure, as good as any den. I could see why the humans built them, why it was worth staying in one place if they had such solid dens as this. It did raise problems, though. When the horses left the plain and the elkryn finished their mating, we would move where the prey moved. I wondered what the humans would do.

I stayed as still as I could. Girl lowered herself to her haunches, respectfully as any wolf would do. She held out her hand to me. We stayed like that for a moment, about two wolflengths from each other. When I felt she was no longer afraid, I crept forward no more than the width of two paws. The girl did the same, staying low on her haunches. Bit by bit, we came together, until finally her soft hand reached up to stroke my shoulder. I realized that I had been holding my breath and exhaled, ruffling her hair with my breath. I placed my nose against her hand, and she smiled and gave what sounded like a soft bark, like her earlier whuffling sound, only louder.
Laughter,
I realized, pleased.

I had thought about what to say. I was going to invite her to hunt with me, to take her somewhere apart from the other humans. But I found myself suddenly without words. I just stared at her. Girl’s eyes were dark and absorbed light, unlike a wolf’s. They were more like a raven’s but without the second eyelids. She blinked at me several times. Tlitoo gave a krawk of warning.

I heard footsteps and smelled male human. A loud, rough voice came from just outside the structure. Girl gasped and leapt to her feet. She picked up the folded deerskin, scooped the bark back inside, and dashed from the structure before the male human could come in. My heart beat hard in my chest. I slunk to the back of the structure and pressed up against the stone of the lower wall. I heard her light steps and the heavier angry-sounding ones hurry away from the shelter. I hid in the structure for long moments listening to make sure no one was near. I wanted to stay there and wait for Girl, but I was getting hungry, and I knew it was only a matter of time before another human would come to the structure. It was time to leave.

I poked my nose outside. Tlitoo walked boldly out in front of me.

“There is no one to see you. Come now.”

I crawled on my belly out of the structure and then dashed toward the woods. I heard a shout and bolted past two surprised-looking humans. I glared at Tlitoo—realizing that I should have known better than to trust his judgment about what was safe and what was not—and ran into the woods.

I felt exhilarated, just as I had before the hunt. I felt as warm as I did when Marra, Ázzuen, and I lay together. I had no more answers about Ruuqo or Borlla and still had no better way into the pack. But if I’d had wings, I’d have flown with Tlitoo above the tops of the trees.

The next time we hunted, Ruuqo made it even clearer that he would never let me join. I was the one who found the best prey, the one who fed the pack that night. But still he would not allow me to hunt.

This time, Rissa took us all out, one by one, to lie among the prey. Each of the four of us was at a different place, alone among the elkryn.

“Each of you must select a prey and chase it. That is your task,” she had told us. “Don’t chase the first elkryn that walks in your shadow. Choose carefully and find one that is real prey. If you choose well, the rest of the pack will join you in the hunt.”

Ruuqo was at least twenty wolflengths from me. We were separated by many elkryn and he was talking to Unnan. I hoped he might forget about me. The other adults settled themselves among the herd. I couldn’t see them all but I could smell them nearby. Their scents were reassuring and gave me confidence. I knew I could pick good prey.

I started sorting out the different scents of each elkryn. All the ones closest to me smelled healthy and strong. I stood and started walking through the herd. I caught sight of Ázzuen doing the same not far from me. I concentrated. I could smell that some of the strong ones were a little less strong, and some were tired. I sensed that there might be a weaker elkryn in the next cluster over, and made my way to them, trying to seem relaxed so I would not startle them. That was why Yllin and Minn had been so casual in their first foray last time. We wanted the elkryn off their guard.

All of a sudden there was a disturbance to my right, and a clump of elkryn began to run. Unnan had taken off after a perfectly healthy animal. The elkryn and its companions easily evaded him. I sighed in exasperation. He had no reason to chase that group and had made the elkryn wary. But Ruuqo licked him in praise and Unnan raised his tail and ears.

“Tail-licker,” Tlitoo commented, landing in front of me. He had a piece of the humans’ firemeat in his beak. As soon as he saw me watching him, he threw it in the air, caught it, and swallowed it in a gulp.

“Go away,” I said. “You’re scaring the elkryn.”

“I will wait for you at the river,” he said, and flew away.

It seemed like the elkryn had only stopped running for a moment when Unnan took off after the same group. Rissa caught Ruuqo’s eye, and Ruuqo spoke softly to Unnan, who lowered his ears a little and lay down again in the grass. This time he stayed put.

The night deepened. A half-moon suffused the plain, making the elkryn glow with light as well as with their own body heat. I was not tired. I felt myself falling into the trance of the hunt. I could stay there all night if I needed to. After close to an hour, I heard a scuffle of dust and then the pounding of elkryn running. Ázzuen had scattered the elkryn, and had selected one that limped a little as she ran. Ruuqo seemed too intent on the hunt to see that I was nearby. The elkryn ran, and you could tell it hurt her to do so. Trevegg and Marra were nearby and they and Ruuqo were the first to get close. The rest of us ran to catch up. It looked like we might succeed in the kill. But the elkryn turned sharply and kicked out, barely missing Trevegg’s head. It ran to another cluster of females. We followed, meaning to separate her out again.

Just then we heard a great bellow, and a large bull elkryn stepped out from the cluster. He bellowed again and lowered his head in a challenge. Trevegg, Ruuqo, and Marra, who were closest to him, stopped short. Trevegg stepped in front of Marra, protecting her as the bull elkryn approached. The elkryn lowered his huge antlers and looked at us with half-closed eyes.

“It is Ranor,” Yllin said, panting as she stopped beside me. She had been far to the east side of the plain when Ázzuen’s elkryn ran and had sprinted all the way over. “He is the strongest elkryn in the valley. He and Ruuqo hate each other.”

“But he’s prey!” I said. “I know the elkryn will fight if cornered, but why would he risk himself by challenging a wolf?”