Promise Of The Wolves (20 page)

I was glad he suggested it. He had found the spot, and we don’t share good hunting ground with just anyone. I was grateful he had offered it without my asking. I thought about it. If she was afraid to cross the river, I could help her. I nodded and led the way. I took her toward a wide but slow-moving part of the river. I would have taken her to the Tree Crossing, but I thought it might be too far for her to walk.

“Wait, Wolf,” Girl said, when she realized we were heading toward the river. “This way.”

Girl tugged on my fur and I allowed her to take the lead. She began to walk downriver, which concerned me, since the current there was stronger. She stopped at a place where the water was shallow but fast moving. I could see why she liked the crossing. The riverbank was flat and wide, and there was no sharp drop down to it, but the water moved so quickly. She stepped out onto a rock in the river. I whined a little in concern. She looked over her shoulder at me.

“I am not always so clumsy as to fall in,” she said.

Surprised that she correctly interpreted my concern, I lowered my ears a little in apology. She gave a whuffled laugh and stepped into the river.

“I do this all the time,” she said, balancing on one foot on the rock. “My grandmother lives on the other side, so I am used to crossing. She says I should learn to swim but I’m not sure I can.”

Girl stepped onto another stone, and then to another, then leapt upon a half-submerged tree trunk. Stepping from rock to rock, some of which I could not see, she made her way across the river. The last rock was a full wolflength from shore, but she leapt the distance easily, landing on the muddy bank. Her manner of crossing made me nervous, but she seemed confident enough. Ázzuen and I followed her across and then we led her to the mouse place.

Mice can be clever. If you stalk and run, as you do with larger prey, they’ll quickly find a place to hide. So you attack from above, as a bird will, so you can surprise them. I made sure Girl was watching, in case she didn’t know how to mouse-hunt, then selected a mouse that was crouching in the tall grass, sniffing the air. It knew hunters were nearby, but not which direction we would come from. That’s how you can catch mice; they can tell you are near but can’t always figure out what to do about it. I crept closer to it. I brought my hind legs all the way up to my forelegs and crouched, tensing my muscles. The mouse held perfectly still, for it knew that if it ran, it might run right into me. I reared up on my back legs, leapt straight up in the air, and landed with the mouse trapped in my front paws. Before it could even struggle, I snapped it up.

I heard an odd sound coming from Girl. At first I thought she was upset, or even hurt, for she was gasping and making hooting noises. I ran to her to see what was wrong and the noises grew louder. I looked at Ázzuen. He was as perplexed as I.

“She is laughing at you, dullwolf,” Tlitoo offered. “She finds you amusing.”

He was right. But instead of the short and quiet whuffling laugh Girl had given before, this laugh was loud and went on and on. She sat on the ground hooting at me. Annoyed, I went back to hunting mice. Apparently I had a lot more to learn about humans.

Ázzuen and I hunted mice with mixed success. Once, right as I was about to jump on one, Tlitoo swooped in and stole it. He ignored my growl and flew away with the mouse, quorking happily. I kept expecting Girl to join us, but she sat, quietly now, watching. Every once in a while she gave a whuffle of laugh.

“Is she going to hunt or not?” Ázzuen asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “She doesn’t seem to want to.”

“Then why did she bring the stick?”

We heard a scrabbling sound. A fat rabbit emerged from a patch of sunrose and froze four wolflengths away. We held still, too. A rabbit was a much better meal than a mouse. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Girl had risen, standing tall with her sharpstick in her hand. We all held perfectly still. Rabbits can be harder prey than mice. They are faster than a wolf over short distances, and you have to be clever to catch one. The first pounce is the most important because that is how you gain your advantage. Ázzuen and I were about the same distance from the rabbit. He blinked at me. He would let me take first leap. I settled on my haunches and prepared to jump. But when I twitched just a little the rabbit began to run. Cursing myself, I shifted my weight to change the direction of my jump. But before I could move, Girl leapt across the grass and, using her long stick to extend her reach, stuck the end of it in the rabbit just as it started to leap toward her. It twitched on the end of the stick and she took its head and twisted, breaking its neck.

I looked at Girl in awe. She was beautiful when she hunted.

“Thanks for the help, Wolf!” she said with the biggest bared-tooth smile I had yet to see her give.

My mouth dropped open as I realized she was right. We had caught the rabbit together. And if we could catch a rabbit, maybe we could catch other things, as well. Maybe, if I could not learn to hunt properly with my pack, I could do so with Girl. I could see it clearly in my mind. I would run after a prey beast and drive it to Girl. Together we would kill it. Then I could show the pack I was a hunter and they would have to make me wolf. I was giddy with excitement and relief. I knew I could make it work. The sound that came from me could only be described as a squeak as I stood on my hind legs and placed my paws on Girl’s shoulders, licking her face.

“Stop it, Wolf!” she said, gulping with laughter. “You’ll make me drop the rabbit.”

“Make her drop the rabbit!” Ázzuen said, laughing, too. “I’m still hungry.” He had not taken his eyes off the rabbit since Girl killed it. I dropped back down on my front paws, panting happily. Ázzuen and I looked expectantly at Girl for our share of rabbit.

Instead she reached into the pouch around her waist and pulled out several large strips of the dried antelope meat inside. My ears rose so fast my skull hurt.

“I want to take the rabbit to my grandmother,” she said shyly. “She needs fresh meat and can no longer hunt herself.”

She gave each of us a large strip of the meat and we sank our teeth into the chewy, fire-tasting stuff, reveling in its flavor and texture. I could catch a rabbit another time. I was more than happy with the firemeat.

“It’s the best food in the world,” Ázzuen said in awe, sniffing at Girl’s pouch.

I expected Girl to eat at least some of the rabbit, but she did not. She really did mean to bring the whole thing to her grandmother. Girl put the rabbit in the folded deerskin she carried over her shoulder. It did not fall out, as I thought it would, but stayed inside. I sniffed at the skin to figure out how she made it do that. She laughed at me.

“That is my rabbit, Wolf. Leave my sack alone. You have had dried meat and quite a few mice.”

“I wouldn’t steal from you,” I said, hurt, momentarily forgetting that she couldn’t understand me.

“I would,” Tlitoo quorked, scooping up a small piece of firemeat that Ázzuen had let drop. Ázzuen growled at him.

Still hurt, I looked up at Girl. Then I saw her eyes crease as they did when she laughed. She didn’t really think I was trying to steal from her. She was playing! I gave a bark of joy and ran behind her. I grabbed the sack, as she called it, in my teeth and pulled, almost toppling her backward. She gasped in surprise, twisted around, and tugged back, laughing. She braced herself and gave a great yank, pulling me forward. Ázzuen yipped in surprise. Tlitoo dove for my tail. I pulled on the sack, hard. I didn’t want to hurt her but I wanted that sack. Neither one of us had our full growth, but I had more muscle on me. I pulled strongly, but not too strongly, dragging her forward. Suddenly she hooted like an owl and let go of the sack. I fell forward, just stopping myself from landing on my face. I opened my mouth in surprise and she snatched the sack back, holding it high above her head. Then, still hooting, she ran off, back in the direction of the river.

I leapt after her, Ázzuen close on my tail. Girl took a path that was wide and exposed, which made me a little nervous, but I followed. When we reached the river, she halted suddenly. I stopped quickly to avoid running into her, and Ázzuen stumbled in the mud behind me. Tlitoo soared over our heads, circling back to watch curiously.

When I smelled strange human, I hesitated and then hid in a dense juniper bush. Ázzuen slipped behind a birch tree. Girl gave a cry of joy. She ran headlong and threw herself at a tall, skinny male. He caught her up in his arms.

“I was looking for you!” she said.

“I am glad you found me,” he replied, stroking her head fur.

He was as tall as a grown male, but thinner, more like a yearling wolf. His fur was paler than Girl’s, but not as light as Rissa’s. They greeted each other as a wolf will greet a packmate he has not seen for a long time. And, I realized in surprise, they greeted each other as mates. I would have thought Girl was not old enough. A bubble of jealousy rose in me.

“It was hard for me to get away,” she said to the boy. “Father is watching me all the time now.” She wrinkled her face. “He doesn’t want me going off on my own anymore.”

Suddenly the young male held perfectly still and stared at me.

“TaLi,” he whispered. “What is that in the bushes?”

She turned to smile at me. “That’s Wolf,” she said. “Come, Wolf.”

Cautiously, I walked out to greet the young male. His eyes widened as he saw me, and he raised the sharpstick he carried just a little. I could tell he acted out of fear, not aggression, and I stopped myself from growling. I tried my best not to startle him. Girl had no such hesitation. She knocked the stick away.

“BreLan! What are you doing? She’s my friend.”

“You know you’re supposed to stay away from them, TaLi. You know what HuLin said.” Tlitoo landed near us. The humans took no notice of him. I would never wish to be anything other than wolf, but sometimes I envied the raven, their ability to be unobtrusive.

Girl’s shoulders took a stubborn set. “HuLin is an idiot. Not all wolves are dangerous. You can’t deny what I am, BreLan.”

I was trying to figure out what she meant by that, but Ázzuen chose that moment to creep out from behind his birch. I would have growled at him if I didn’t think it would upset the humans more. His timing was terrible.

The boy held perfectly still, and swallowed rapidly several times. Ázzuen opened his mouth, let his tongue loll out, and lowered into a play crouch. The young man’s eyes widened in surprise but he let his sharpstick fall. Ázzuen could make himself very appealing when he wanted to. Girl came to stand beside me. The young male—BreLan, Girl had called him—reached out and placed his large hand atop Ázzuen’s head. Ázzuen licked his hand and the boy’s mouth opened in the human version of a smile.

“It doesn’t seem dangerous,” he said, wonder in his voice. He ran his hand down Ázzuen’s back. Ázzuen rolled onto his back and offered his belly, as he would to a dominant wolf.

“What are you doing?” I whispered. “He is not a leaderwolf.”

“But I have to tell him he is,” Ázzuen said, entranced, “so he will not hate me.”

“He is right,” Tlitoo said. “A wolf must not take a dominant position with a human if he wishes to allay his fear.”

I watched, breathless, as Ázzuen won over the human male. It took only moments for the two of them to be sitting on their haunches, stroking each other.

“You can come out now,” Tlitoo said.

Marra crept out from the bushes. I shook myself. I had to stop being so wrapped up in humans that I couldn’t smell my own packmate. A family of bears could’ve snuck up on me and I wouldn’t even have noticed.

“They are so much like wolf!” Marra said, her voice filled with wonder. “They are not Other.”

“No,” I said, “they are not. But still they are forbidden to us.” I wasn’t sure I wanted Marra and Ázzuen to know of my plan to hunt with Girl.

“Yes,” she said. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? But I would like one for myself, anyway. Maybe if we followed them, they would take us to others who like us like they do?”

“I think letting two of them know of us is enough,” I said nervously. “Next time, maybe.”

“All right,” Marra said, disappointed. “Next time.”

I looked at her, startled by her acquiescence.

“We must go, TaLi,” the boy said at last, pulling himself away from Ázzuen with obvious effort. “We will be missed if we stay away longer, and I want time with you.”

Girl nodded.

“Good-bye, Wolf,” she said to me.

BreLan wrapped one of his long arms around my girl and pulled her close to him. They walked together along the river. BreLan looked over his shoulder at Ázzuen as they left us. Ázzuen’s eyes shone, and Marra watched the humans with hunger in her eyes. I knew they would not let me hunt alone with Girl. I knew they were as captivated as I was. I felt a twinge of jealousy, which startled me. And, as I watched my packmates watching the humans so intently, I began to wonder what sort of trouble I had gotten us into.

W
e quickly mastered the rabbit-hunting technique. Our new way of hunting together worked for turkeys and hedgehogs, and would probably even work on a beaver if we found a place where Girl could stand steady in the river. And if it worked on small prey, it would someday work on large prey. I was sure of it. Girl was too small, I thought, to stop a large prey by herself, but with BreLan’s help and ours we would be successful. We had to be, because Trevegg was right—a half-moon had passed, and Ruuqo still would not let me join the hunt. I didn’t think he would give me the chance to prove myself before the winter travels. Each time he stopped me, I cared less and less. I was learning how to hunt on my own.

I no longer tried to stop Ázzuen and Marra from coming with me to visit the humans. It was easier to get away with them along, since the pack was used to seeing us together. Wolves our age were expected to explore, and no one thought it strange that we began to range farther from our gathering place. The horses were gone and the reindeer and elkryn had spread out over the territories, which meant our winter travels would begin soon. Ruuqo and Rissa wanted us to get accustomed to long journeys. Unnan was always trying to spy on us, but it was fairly easy for the three of us to discourage him. Every time I saw him, he seemed to grow angrier and angrier, but it was three against one, and he was afraid of us.

Winter drew near, and with it came the snows. The first time it snowed, we pups were so excited that the adults couldn’t get us to do anything practical. We leapt to try to catch the falling flakes and rolled in even the smallest piles of snow. The adults in the pack loved the weather almost as much as we did. Even Ruuqo and Werrna eventually joined us as we played in the cold flurries. Several storms later I was still finding it hard to concentrate on what I was doing when the snow fell.

It was snowing the day we found Girl on our side of the river. Ázzuen, Marra, and I were on our way to the human homesite but we were distracted by the snow, trying to grab the falling flakes in our mouths, and rolling in whatever drifts we could find. We had agreed to cross the river far downstream of where the pack was resting, hoping to track some deer that Werrna had smelled earlier. But I slowed as we neared the river, confused. There was something odd about the trail. Girl’s scent was on our side of the water, and it was left recently. I sniffed around the river crossing and back along the section of woods we’d just run through. Then I lost her trail. Ázzuen and Marra, as confused as I was, searched the mud around the river, circling and backtracking to find Girl’s scent.

“She visits the old woman she told you about.”

Tlitoo’s voice came from a pine tree that was still thick with pointed leaves. Unlike the birches and most of the oaks, the pine trees had kept their leaves as winter neared and made good hiding places for a raven. He flew down and cocked his head left and right, clearly pleased with himself.

“I followed her when you were with your pack, playing games with the elkryn. I can show you faster than you can find it with your wet noses. Come, wolflets!”

With a smug gurgle, Tlitoo flew up above us, disappearing into the treetops.

“We can’t follow you if we can’t see you!” I shouted, frustrated, but Tlitoo was long gone.

I will show you, sisterwolf.

Startled, I turned to find myself nose to muzzle with the young spiritwolf. Ázzuen and Marra still searched the treetops for Tlitoo. They couldn’t see, smell, or hear the spiritwolf.

“Who are you?” I asked, sneezing as the juniper-acrid scent grew strong around me. I whispered, for I did not want Ázzuen and Marra to think I was crazy. “Why do you come to me?”

Follow me,
she said.
There are things I want to show you today.
A mischievous glint lit her eyes.
I am not supposed to be here now, but it will be a few moments before I am missed. There are advantages to being low-ranking in the spirit world.

The spiritwolf started off at a brisk trot, and I followed.

Sometimes my leaderwolves allow me to come to your world, and other times they do not. Today I have snuck away.
Her tone grew defiant.
They can try to stop me, but I will help you if I choose.

The spiritwolf moved quickly and effortlessly, disturbing neither snow nor leaves, and I had to stretch my legs to keep up with her. I heard a frantic scrabbling behind me as Ázzuen and Marra followed.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Ázzuen demanded. “I don’t smell anything.”

I was panting too hard to answer, but soon Girl’s scent grew clear. As I began to trot purposefully in the direction of the scent, the spiritwolf paused.

I will leave you here. I will be nearby as often as I can.
She ducked her head.
My biggest mistake
, she said,
was too often doing what I was told. Sometimes those in power are not justified in their beliefs, sisterwolf.
I stopped in surprise.

“What do you mean?” I whispered.

“I’ve got the scent again now,” Marra said, right in my ear, startling me. “How did you keep track of it?”

The spiritwolf dipped her head and disappeared into the bushes.

Marra and Ázzuen were watching me impatiently. I led them onward. Girl was waiting for us where the river met the woods, a thirty minutes’ run from the Tall Grass plain.

“I hoped you would come,” was all she said by way of greeting. “My grandmother told me to bring you to her.”

Tlitoo landed at Girl’s feet.

“I told you I would find her for you,” he said smugly. He was covered in snow, as if he’d been rolling in it.

Marra made a grab for his tail, forcing him to fly away. I didn’t answer, but tried to figure out what was wrong with Girl. She was agitated. She clutched a dead walking-bird by its feet, and was all but twisting its banded legs off. Ázzuen sniffed at the bird hopefully. Marra looked at the bird and then up at Girl.

“If I take it back to my tribe,” she said defensively, misinterpreting Marra’s look, “they will only take it away from me. And grandmother is not eating enough. She needs the meat.”

I realized a little guiltily that I could have brought some of our saved meat to Girl. Next time I would do so. Girl led us farther downriver, to the very edge of our territory. She stopped at a thick slasti bush and placed her hand on its fragrant leaves.

“This is how I know where to turn to get to the path to grandmother’s house,” she said.

The broad path Girl took us down was as wide and well trodden as a deerpath, but I caught no aroma of deer, just small prey, the occasional fox, and human—a lot of human-scent. Girl’s own fragrance was everywhere, and I caught a strong whiff of BreLan. The other human-scent was the strongest, and it smelled a little bit like Girl. But another strong smell surprised me.

“Greatwolves!” Ázzuen exclaimed.

“Their scent is everywhere,” Marra said nervously. “And not just Frandra and Jandru—other Greatwolves as well. I didn’t know others came to our territory.”

“Neither did I,” I said.

“More Greatwolves than usual are in the valley,” Tlitoo informed us. “I have seen them.”

I had no idea what the presence of other Greatwolves meant, but I didn’t think it was good. I had not been so confused by smells since the first day we left Fallen Tree Gathering Place. I was so intent on the scents that I did not at first realize it when Girl slowed her pace.

“This is where my grandmother lives,” she said, a little shyly.

It took me a moment to figure out what was the human shelter and what was part of the woods. The shelter was not even in a clearing, as were the other human dwellings I’d seen, but seemed to grow out of the forest itself, like a real den. It had the same stone and mud base as the ones in Girl’s homesite, and the top was covered with more mud and smaller stones. There was a large hole in the center from which firesmoke arose. It looked to be a snug den, not as large as the ones where Girl lived, but big enough for several grown wolves.

Girl ducked into the entrance. At first the three of us hung back in the thicker part of the bushes, where no human could see us, but then something drew me forward.

“Wait here,” I said to Ázzuen and Marra as I began to creep forward to the shelter.

“But BreLan is in there,” Ázzuen protested.

He was right. In addition to Girl’s scent and that of the unknown human, BreLan’s scent was so strong that I knew he must still be inside.

“Wait anyway,” I said firmly. “We have to be careful. I’ll let you know when it is safe to go in.”

Ázzuen and Marra grumbled a little, but they did what I said, and I stepped toward the shelter. Tlitoo walked back and forth beside me and then flew to the top of the shelter and back again. I did not want to enter a home where a strange human waited, so I sat and waited for Girl to come back. A voice from inside drew me to my feet.

“Bring your friend, TaLi. It is time we were introduced.” The voice was rich and deep and very, very old.

Girl poked her head out of the entrance. She looked funny with just her head sticking out, but her expression was serious. She beckoned. I hesitated. It was one thing to bring Ázzuen and Marra to spend time with Girl and BreLan, but something about the old human’s shelter seemed like a greater defiance. It was like a place of another world. I knew that going into it would be against every rule of wolf.

My biggest mistake was too often doing what I was told.

I took a deep breath and walked slowly over to Girl. At first I poked just the tip of my nose inside the shelter, exploring the scents within: Girl, BreLan, the old human, and a dried-plant smell similar to the plant structure in Girl’s homesite. Fire-scent and smoke. Bearskins. Meat. Next I put the rest of my head inside the shelter, seeing that the smoke from the fire left the structure through a hole in the top of it. The humans might not be able to smell any better than a tree could, but they were clever at making things.

“Come in, Wolf of the Moon,” the ancient voice said. “You are welcome in my home.”

I crept slowly into the shelter. The old woman sat at the far end. She smelled of stiff joints and tired bones. If she were an elkryn or a deer, she would be prey, I thought, and then was ashamed of myself for having such thoughts about a member of Girl’s family. The old woman had no fear of me, and I sensed welcome coming from deep within her. She seemed even smaller than Girl, and she sat amid a pile of bear hides, so that below her hips she seemed to be bear rather than human. In her presence I felt very young, and silly and awkward.

I looked at BreLan. It would be rude to go to him before greeting the old woman, who obviously held the greatest status in the room, but I wanted to acknowledge him. To my surprise, he stood stiffly, holding his sharpstick, as if we had not followed the hunt together. It made me nervous.

Girl placed her hand gently on the old woman’s shoulder.

“This is Wolf, grandmother.”

The old woman laughed. “You might want to call her something other than that. She bears the mark of the moonwolf, as did the wolf in my dreams.”

“I think of her as Silvermoon,” Girl said shyly.

“Very well. Do not be afraid, Silvermoon,” the old woman said gently. “Come and say hello to me. I would like to know TaLi’s friend.”

As nervous as I was, I couldn’t refuse so formal a welcome. I walked forward, bowing to the old woman and greeting her by licking her muzzle, acknowledging her status as an elder. I saw BreLan tense as I neared the old woman. Girl glared at him.

“It’s not as if you haven’t met Wolf before,” she hissed. “What’s the matter with you?”

“I do not like a hunter, any hunter, so close when the
krianan
cannot get away. I am her guardian.” I did not know the word
krianan.
But BreLan said it with reverence, the way we spoke of Greatwolves, and I began to wonder just who this ancient woman was to the humans.

The old woman returned my greeting, placing her hand gently atop my head. I licked her in thanks and stepped away. Then I turned to BreLan. This suspicion would not do. I could hear Ázzuen sniffing at the outside of the shelter, trying to get to BreLan. The last thing I needed was for him to barge in. And I could smell that Marra was right there with him.

“So much for me being dominant to them,” I grumbled to no one in particular.

I made myself small and unthreatening, and looked at BreLan with as much kindness as I could muster, but he still stood stiff and angry. Then I dropped to my forelegs, inviting him to play, but when I moved forward he raised his sharpstick.

“BreLan, what is wrong with you?” Girl demanded.

“She’s a friend, youngster, and I asked her to come,” the old woman said, none too gently. “When I need your protection, I will ask for it.”

BreLan lowered his sharpstick, but still stood stiff and anxious. Finally, exasperated, I walked forward, rearing up to shove him in the stomach with my front paws. He stumbled back. Both Girl and the old woman laughed.

“That will show you, boy,” the old woman said.