Secrets of the Wolves (22 page)

“Enough!” Rissa laughed. “Stop behaving like unruly ravens. Treat her as you would a pup.”

Minn placed a paw on the girl’s chest. Werrna licked her once more, as if tasting her. Then they both stepped aside.

“She’s a big pup,” Werrna muttered.

As the wolves moved away from the two humans, NiaLi nodded to TaLi. The girl scrambled to her feet and darted into the woods. She returned, holding one of the humans’ large preyskin sacks. She handed it to NiaLi. The old woman reached into it, pulling out several large pieces of firemeat. She set them down in front of her. Then, leaning on her walking stick and on TaLi, she stood.

“I thank you all for inviting us into your home. I hope you will allow us to return again.” She looked around Fallen Tree and smiled. Then she took TaLi by the hand, and the two humans walked back into the woods.

The firemeat was gone before the human footsteps had faded. Ruuqo, Rissa, Werrna, and Trevegg bolted it down before any of the rest of us could get near it.

“They’re more courteous than I would have expected,” Ruuqo said, licking his chops.

I forgot the firemeat. I could tell my packmates liked the humans. Ruuqo caught me watching him. “It’s too early to tell if we can trust them,” he said, “but it is not out of the question. They are welcome to return.”

“Never thought I’d hear Ruuqo say that,” Marra whispered to me.

My tail lifted and began to wave. The humans had come to my pack and my pack had liked them. Even Ruuqo and Werrna had liked them. Two moons ago I wouldn’t have believed it possible. I could get my humans and my pack to join together. I knew it as well as I knew my own paws.

Trevegg, Ázzuen, and I followed the humans’ trail out of the gathering place to find them waiting for us in the poplar grove. NiaLi sat on the ground, but TaLi stood, balancing one-legged on a log. BreLan sat on the log, looking up at her. Ázzuen hurled himself at his human, standing on his back legs to lick the boy’s face over and over again. TaLi whooped and leapt upon me, wrapping her arms around my ribs and pulling me to the ground.

“We did it, Silvermoon!” she bellowed. I rolled away from her, butted her with my head, then pounced on her. We wrestled in the dirt. Trevegg circled us, barking excitedly. I allowed TaLi to pin me so she wouldn’t get discouraged, then threw her off me and stood over her. When she started to get up, I tripped her, and she rolled head over feet to land on her rump. As NiaLi and BreLan laughed at her, TaLi brushed dirt and leaves from her clothing. BreLan pushed Ázzuen away and rolled to his feet. He loped to TaLi and helped her up. Ázzuen and I took one look at each other and ran at their legs, tripping them up again.

“Enough, now, all of you,” NiaLi said, still laughing. “There is something we must do. TaLi, come here.”

The girl scrambled up from the ground and went to her. I followed, pressing up against TaLi’s leg.

“You cannot truly be krianan until you have completed your training and initiation and been accepted by at least five elders,” NiaLi said. “But you have completed your first step on your journey—you have found your wolf companion,” she smiled at me, “and have begun to work with her to preserve the Balance. It’s time for you to commit yourself to the role of krianan. Are you ready to do so?”

BreLan got to his feet and came to stand on the other side of TaLi, not quite touching her. Ázzuen ran to join him, clearly not wanting to let his human get too far away from him. TaLi blinked at the old woman and swallowed several times.

“Yes,” she said at last, “I’m ready.”

“It would be better to wait until the next Speaking to do this,” NiaLi murmured to herself, “but there is no way to tell if there will be another Speaking, and we cannot wait.”

From beneath the many layers of skins she wore for warmth, NiaLi pulled the long, sharp tooth of a long-fang lion embedded in a small piece of alder wood. It hung around her neck from a woven strap of reeds. I remembered that she had used it to call together the Greatwolves and humans at the Speaking many moons before. It was the sign of her status as krianan. She took it from around her neck and placed it over TaLi’s head. It hung down past the girl’s chest. Trevegg walked over to sniff at it, then sat beside NiaLi.

“TaLi of the Lin tribe,” the old woman said, “I pass to you the responsibilities and privileges of a krianan of Lin. It is your task to ensure that those you serve honor the Balance, that they do not kill too much prey, nor strip bare the forests or the plains. As krianan it will be your responsibility to ensure that those under your protection do not forget that they are creatures of the world of nature, and that their pride does not overcome this knowledge. It is your duty to keep forever the promise the krianans have made to cherish and protect the world that gives us nourishment, shelter, and life itself. If you accept this task, you will not be able to change your mind. It becomes more important than your life, more important than any man you take as mate or children you may bear. You will defend the Balance until your death. If the Lin tribe ceases to exist, you do not cease to be krianan. Wherever you go it is your sacred task. Do you accept?”

TaLi straightened, every muscle in her body taut with determination. “I do accept it.”

The old woman smiled. “Good,” she said. She took TaLi’s face in both of her hands and pressed her lips to TaLi’s forehead then looked in the girl’s face for a long time. “Once all of this is over, we will go outside the valley to the other elder krianans, and you can begin your initiation.”

I almost yelped aloud. As soon as NiaLi had said TaLi was taking over as krianan, I had begun to worry. If she was the Lin tribe’s krianan, it would mean staying in the valley, and I meant to take her with me when I left. I don’t know what expression was on my face, but NiaLi looked at me in concern.

“I will not take her from you for long, Silvermoon. It is less than a moon’s journey. Or you may come with us, if the krianan wolves allow it.”

“I want to come with you!” I blurted out. I told her what I had not been able to tell her with the Greatwolves around—about my mother and how I meant to find her.

“I didn’t know Neesa,” NiaLi said, “but I will be glad to meet her.”

I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from me. I had wondered how to get TaLi from the valley. BreLan and MikLan would follow where the girl went. I looked around BreLan and TaLi to catch Ázzuen’s eye. He opened his mouth in a grin.

But NiaLi wasn’t finished. “As for now, the krianans outside the valley will need to know what we are trying here, and neither TaLi nor I can go to them. BreLan, you will take them news of how things have changed, and prepare them for our arrival. If we succeed here, we will follow at the rise of the Warming Moon.”

“Warming Moon” was the human’s name for the Denning Moon.

Next to me, TaLi stiffened.

“I can’t go,” BreLan protested. “Not when TaLi needs me. HuLin and RinaLi are going to try to give her to the Rian tribe. TaLi says they’ve already invited DavRian to stay with them. They haven’t invited me.” There was no mistaking the anxiety in his voice. “I serve you, NiaLi,” he said respectfully, “but TaLi is mine to protect.”

“You serve the krianans, BreLan, not any one person,” NiaLi said. “I have just told TaLi of her responsibilities. Have you forgotten yours?”

BreLan looked down at his feet.

“It’s all right, BreLan,” TaLi said. “It won’t be for long, and I can handle HuLin.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” he said, but he smiled. “You have to promise me not to be reckless, TaLi. You have to promise me not to make him angry. Wait until I get back to do anything that challenges him.”

“I will,” she said.

BreLan crouched down and looked me in the eyes.

“And you have to take care of her while I’m gone, Silver-moon. You have to.”

“I promise,” I said, touching my nose to the palm of his hand. He couldn’t understand my words, but he knew enough about us to know what I meant.

He stood and pulled TaLi to him, burying his face in her headfur.

“Listen for a moment, TaLi,” NiaLi said, “then I will leave you to say your good-byes.”

The girl turned in BreLan’s arms to look at NiaLi.

“You will have to prove yourself,” the old woman said. “We do not have witnesses to your new status, and the false krianans will do everything they can to hinder you. But you are a krianan nonetheless.” The old woman looked down at the three of us. “And you must help her, my friends,” she said. “If she can convince the tribe that you hunt at her will, they will value her more.”

“We will,” I said.

“I know you will,” she said. Leaning on her stick, she got to her feet and walked slowly to the edge of the poplar grove. She looked at the two young humans and at us, then walked into the woods toward her shelter. Taking the hint, Ázzuen, Trevegg, and I left as well.

We were planning to return to the human homesite, but we had barely left the poplar grove when I heard scuffling pawsteps and smelled Unnan. I didn’t think he’d be stupid enough to try to attack me with Ázzuen and Trevegg there, so I wasn’t too concerned. He stopped when he reached us.

“I’m leaving,” Unnan said. “I won’t be part of a packful of human lovers. I’ve been invited to join Wind Lake, and Ruuqo and Rissa have given me permission to do so.”

“That is not an easy decision to revoke, youngwolf,” Trevegg said.

Unnan’s tail drooped just a little.

“But perhaps it’s for the best,” the oldwolf said, looking at me and at Ázzuen. “I know you have not often felt welcome here, and every youngwolf must find his own path. If yours is not with Swift River, so be it.”

I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t going to pretend I was sorry to see Unnan go.

Trevegg touched his nose to Unnan’s face.

“Go in health, and honor the Swift River pack.”

Unnan touched Trevegg lightly on the nose, then turned his tail to Ázzuen and to me, and walked away.

“The gathering places will smell better from now on,” Ázzuen said after a moment.

“And the prey won’t hear us coming from forty wolflengths away.” I laughed.

“That is more than enough,” Trevegg said. “If you wish to be a leaderwolf someday, Kaala, you had better learn how to get along with wolves you don’t like. Unnan is an adequate hunter and would have helped us feed new pups. You never know which wolves will serve you well. I know for a fact that Werrna dislikes you, but she will stand up for your ideas when she believes in them.”

I lowered my tail to show him respect, but I couldn’t disguise my glee at Unnan’s departure. I was tired of his spying and his nastiness.

Trevegg watched me for a moment and rumbled a quiet growl.

“Frandra and Jandru will be waiting to hear what has happened,” he said. “I will meet you back at the human homesite. Think about what I’ve said, Kaala.”

As soon as the oldwolf was out of hearing range, Ázzuen slammed into me. “The pack is better off without Unnan, Kaala,” he said. “Now we don’t have to worry about him all the time.”

I was about to answer when Ázzuen nudged my shoulder.

“Look,” he said. I followed his gaze. There, in a soft patch of mud, was a large paw print like the one we had seen after we gave the humans the walking bird. We found two more nearby. They smelled of Milsindra and of Kivdru. This time, they hadn’t bothered to hide their scents.

“They’re still watching us,” Ázzuen said.

“Good,” I said. “They can see how well things are going. We’ll bring the whole pack with us to the next hunt, and they can watch all they like.” I started to walk away, then stopped. I returned to the paw prints. I squatted over one of them and left a pile of dung atop it. Ázzuen’s eyes were wide in his face.

“Let them watch that,” I said, and stalked off to the human homesite.

For nearly a quarter moon, Trevegg, Ázzuen, and I stayed with the humans, hunting with them and sleeping by their fires. We had two more successful hunts, though neither was as spectacular as the hunt at Oldwoods. TaLi and NiaLi came once more to Fallen Tree, this time bringing MikLan with them. The boy’s infectious good humor made even Werrna laugh. DavRian came to the Lin tribe almost every day, but returned each night to his own tribe, and TaLi seemed less and less worried about him. The humans grew used to seeing us in their homesite and gave us meat as if we were their packmates.

Then, five days after NiaLi and TaLi first came to Fallen Tree, a wrongness in the air awoke me—a feeling of dread that yanked me from my dreams and drew a whimper from my throat. It was not quite the middle of the day, the best sleeping time, and I had no idea what had woken me, had pulled such panic from deep within me, but I knew that something was terribly amiss.

My whimper had awoken both Ázzuen and Trevegg.

“Something’s wrong,” I whispered when Trevegg cracked open an eye.

The graying of his muzzle had reached the fur around his eyes, and he looked more like an oldwolf than ever. I felt guilty about waking him. He blinked sleepily at me for a moment and yawned. Then his eyes widened and he sniffed the air. He stood and sniffed again, turning in a tight circle three times to catch the complexities of the scents around us. Then he whined. I’d never heard Trevegg whine. Without even stopping to stretch the sleep stiffness from his joints, he ran from one end of the human homesite to the other, nose high in the air, then snuffling close to the ground. Then he dashed into the surrounding woods.