Secrets of the Wolves (31 page)

“Then they’ll accept her as krianan, won’t they? When they learn she’s right about the prey?” Marra asked.

NiaLi’s expression grew serious. “They may, or they may not. I want you to watch out for TaLi when they do find out, Kaala. She treads dangerous ground in asserting her role as krianan, and I worry for her.” She shifted on her tree root. “I’m no longer permitted entrance to the Lin village.”

“Why not?” I asked her, then licked out the last drops of water from the gourd.

She lifted her shoulders and let them drop again. “I told HuLin he was a fool for forcing TaLi into a marriage she didn’t want and by ignoring her power as krianan, and that he would regret it. He told me the krianans are no longer needed. I told him he had the brain of a rock and the manners of a weasel. I probably should not have said that. And TaLi will soon take on the krianan’s role. She will be the one to tell them they have to hunt less, and I want you there to protect her when that happens.”

“I will,” I promised.

Marra brought over a hunk of old horse meat. It smelled of Rissa, who must have brought it for me from one of our caches. I swallowed it down, relishing the taste of Swift River food. Feeling a little better, I tried to gather my thoughts.

“I slept for two days?” I said. A fresh wave of sorrow washed over me as I remembered what had happened. “Yllin died,” I said.

“The pack sings for her tonight,” Marra said.

I looked at her more closely than I had before. Her shoulders drooped and her fur was a little ragged and damp in patches; she always chewed her fur when she was upset.

“The pack knows?” I said. Marra had said so, had said that they were to sing of Yllin’s death, but my mind was still moving sluggishly.

“They know she was killed by Milsindra for trying to leave the valley,” Ázzuen answered, “and that the Greatwolves chased away the prey. They don’t know the rest.”

The rest meaning our conversation with Torell and his plans for rebellion. I wondered if Tlitoo had told Ázzuen and Marra anything of our strange journey together. I hoped not. I wasn’t ready to explain it to myself, much less to anyone else. I looked closely at Ázzuen and Marra. If Tlitoo had told them, they would be asking me about it.

“Sonnen and Pirra have called a Gathering of the packs,” Marra said. “In an hour’s time at the Wind Lake verge.” Sonnen was the leader of the Tree Line pack, and Pirra led Wind Lake. A verge was the neutral land between wolves’ territories. Any wolf could cross into a verge without fear of attack, so that’s where the Gatherings were always held. We had planned to call a Gathering to discuss the Greatwolves’ test, but Ruuqo had decided to speak to the other packs less formally. Now someone else had called a Gathering and would set its rules and tone.

“They specifically asked that the three of us come,” Marra continued. “If you hadn’t woken up, we were going to have to go without you.”

I licked the last of the horse meat from my muzzle. Pack Gatherings were called when something that affected all the wolves in the valley necessitated cooperation or a decision. Any leaderwolf could call one, but if the other packs deemed the Gathering unnecessary, they could punish the wolf who had brought them together, so they were rare. There had never been a pack Gathering in my lifetime, and I had never heard of one that included youngwolves like us. Usually, only leaderwolves attended.

“Because of the prey?” I asked.

“And because of Yllin,” Marra said. “There’s something happening, Kaala. I can’t tell what it is, but the Tree Line youngwolf who came to tell us about the Gathering was hiding something. And why are we supposed to be there?”

I didn’t know. All I wanted to do was sleep for another two days, but the pack Gathering could give us the opportunity to see if the other packs knew any more than we did about what the Greatwolves were planning. I turned my head from side to side, trying to work out the soreness in my neck. If the Gathering began in an hour in Wind Lake lands, we would need to leave soon. I planted my paws on an oak root and stretched the aches from the rest of my body. Then I rested my head against Ázzuen’s back, gaining strength from him, then buried my nose deep in Marra’s fur, reminding myself that in spite of Yllin’s death, we were pack. I sniffed her fur, then sniffed again.

“You smell like MikLan!” I accused. “You’d better disguise his scent,” I said, “or every wolf at the Gathering will know you’ve been with him.”

“I don’t care if they know,” she said defiantly. But she rolled in some fox dung anyway. It wouldn’t really disguise the human-scent, but it would do enough so that Ruuqo and Rissa could ignore it if they wanted to. The other wolves were not familiar enough with either Marra’s or MikLan’s scent to be able to tell for sure where the scent came from. They would assume she was coming with us to the humans.

The food and water were beginning to revive me. I wouldn’t want to have to run down prey, but I could make it to Wind Lake territory. I trotted to NiaLi.

“There may be a way for us to help the tribe hunt, even with most of the prey gone.” I didn’t know whether or not I was going to accept Torell’s offer, so I didn’t want to promise NiaLi that we would, but I told her about the possibility anyway. “If we can learn how to hunt the aurochs, we’ll come to you so you can tell TaLi. And I’ll take care of her. I promise.” I placed a paw on the old woman’s knee.

“I know you will,” she said, covering my paw with a gnarled hand. “It is what lets me know it is all right that the time of my death nears.” I didn’t want to think about her dying. I knew she was old, older for a human than Trevegg was for a wolf, but I wasn’t ready for more death. I touched her soft hand with my nose, then led Marra and Ázzuen to the Gathering of the packs.

I recognized Sonnen, the leaderwolf of Tree Line, and his mate, Krynna. I liked Sonnen, even though he had almost joined the Stone Peak wolves in attacking the humans at Tall Grass. He was a straightforward wolf, comfortable enough in his power that he never bullied even the most submissive wolf in his pack. The brawny, dark-coated wolf next to him was his secondwolf, Frallin, recognizable by his torn left ear, a wound he received protecting the pack’s pups from a rock bear two summers ago. The tall thin wolves that smelled of birch and algae had to be Pirra and Velln, the leaderwolves of Wind Lake. I had never met them, but Rissa’s muzzle always tightened when she mentioned Pirra. The third Wind Lake wolf was all too familiar, even with his back to me.

“Here comes the savior or destroyer of all wolfkind,” Unnan said, looking over his shoulder at me. Pirra laughed. I winced. It was awkward enough being a youngwolf among so many leaderwolves without Unnan calling attention to me. I couldn’t imagine why Pirra and Velln had brought him. Each pack was allowed to bring three wolves into the verge itself. All other wolves, including Ázzuen and Marra, would have to wait in the woods surrounding it. I was allowed to enter the verge as a fourth Swift River wolf because I was what they were talking about, but Wind Lake could have brought any wolf in the pack. They didn’t need to bring a youngwolf who had been part of Wind Lake less than half a moon.

Ruuqo, Rissa, and Trevegg strode into the verge while the rest of the pack halted at the edge of the woods. I could see that the other packs had brought reinforcements, too. The night air was saturated with the scents of Tree Line and Wind Lake wolves. I could make out dark shapes at the edges of each territory, at least twelve wolves in addition to those of us taking part in the Gathering. As far as I knew there had never been a fight at a Gathering, but no one was taking any chances. Aware of every nose attuned to me, I followed my packmates into the verge.

“This is the one?” Pirra asked, looking me over. Not waiting for an answer, she sidled past Ruuqo and Rissa so that she was standing atop a slight slope. Several wolves growled their displeasure. The reason we met at a verge was that it was neutral territory and no wolf or pack would have dominance over the others. Pirra’s action could easily have been taken as a threat, but Rissa’s voice was mild when she spoke.

“Yes, this is our youngwolf Kaala. Are Maccon and Milla coming?”

“The Vole Eater leaderwolves declined our invitation,” Sonnen said. “They’re concerned about gathering enough food, now that we all must hunt the smallprey.” Vole Eater wolves subsisted primarily on smaller prey. With all the other packs in the valley competing for it, they would struggle. In times of hunger, not all wolves respected the rules of territory, and the Vole Eaters were not strong. “If you have no objection,” Sonnen continued, “we’ll begin.” He looked up startled, then, at the sound of hurried pawsteps.

“Maccon is coming after all?” his mate, Krynna, said as the scent of male wolf wafted onto the verge. Vole Eater’s territory abutted ours. They would need to come through Swift River lands to reach the verge. All wolves were allowed safe passage through the territories when a Gathering was called. But it wasn’t a Vole Eater wolf. I recognized the arriving wolf’s gait, and then his scent. So did Pirra.

“It’s not Maccon,” she said, snarling a little. The light breeze picked up the scent of Stone Peak wolf. Several wolves growled. When Pell loped onto the Verge, their growls deepened. Many in the valley still blamed the Stone Peak wolves for the battle at Tall Grass.

“Stone Peak was not invited, Pell,” Pirra said.

“And we forgive the oversight. We understand this Gathering was called quickly and know that you would not break the rules of the Gathering by excluding us.” Pell spoke formally, with the authority of a leaderwolf. Pirra must have thought so, too.

“Why didn’t Torell come?” she asked. “He has little respect for the Gathering if he sends us only his lamed second.”

Pell ignored the insult. The fact that he had come alone, among more than twenty wolves not of his pack, spoke of his courage.

“Torell is occupied elsewhere,” he said simply. “I am now his second and will lead Stone Peak when he no longer can. And Stone Peak has as much to say here as any other pack. The dead wolf was found in our territory, and we will suffer from the lack of prey as much as you will.”

Which wasn’t entirely true, I thought, if they were going to hunt the aurochs and the elkryn.

“All packs are welcome to a Gathering, Pirra, you know that,” Trevegg said. He was the oldest wolf at the Gathering and would be respected because of it.

Pirra growled something under her breath. The other wolves watched her. Her mate and her second would support her if she wanted to fight Pell. I wasn’t sure what the others would do. A Gathering was always tense—too many dominant wolves too close to one another’s territories—and the prey leaving the valley had left everyone on edge. A fight would be disastrous. Pirra looked Pell up and down, measuring his strength and resolve, daring him to challenge her. I wanted to speak up, to tell him that if he did so, he would ruin Stone Peak’s chance of participating in any Gathering.

He didn’t need my help. He bent his forelegs and raised his hindquarters high in the air. He grinned at the Wind Lake leaderwolf. “Come, Pirra,” he said. “Surely our minds are stronger together. You, of any wolf, know how important strength is.”

It was obviously flattery. Pirra never tired of telling everyone how she had triumphed over three wolves, all bigger than she, to win the role of Wind Lake leader. But it worked. Pirra wrinkled her nose in a smile. “Fine,” she said, “we will see if a Stone Peak wolf can have manners.”

All around me, wolves relaxed. I caught a satisfied smile tugging at Pell’s muzzle before he saw me looking at him and smoothed out his face.

Sonnen stepped forward to speak.

“I won’t waste your time,” the Tree Line leader said. “We’ve received an offer from the Greatwolves.” He twitched an ear. “From Milsindra and Kivdru.”

I bent my head to chew at the fur of my shoulder, trying to look relaxed as my heart began to pound. Any deal with Milsindra and Kivdru could only be bad for us.

Sonnen continued. “You all know that the prey is leaving the valley and that we cannot follow it. I asked Milsindra why we are not permitted to leave to follow the prey. She told me it would upset the Balance, and that we must remain in the Wide Valley. There is a way, however, that we can feed our packs until the prey returns.”

“What way is that, Sonnen?” The sharpness in Rissa’s voice made me bite the skin of my shoulder harder than I’d intended. I tasted blood.

“You know that there is a struggle for power in the Greatwolf council,” Sonnen said, meeting Rissa’s gaze, “between the leaderwolf Zorindru and Milsindra, who wishes to replace him. If we support Milsindra and her followers in this struggle, they will ensure that we have enough to eat until the prey returns. Enough to bring forth and feed our pups.”

“But Milsindra is the one making the prey leave!” I said. I was one of the youngest, least dominant wolves there, but I had to speak up.

“So you say,” Pirra responded. “But how are we to know that you speak the truth? I’ve heard that you don’t always do so.”

I blinked. I had been accused of being stupid and reckless, of being prideful and too quick to act, but no one had ever accused me of being dishonest. I saw Unnan standing next to Pirra, a self-satisfied expression on his weasel-face. Then he pressed up against his new leaderwolf and shot me a look of such hatred I could only stare at him. I don’t think I realized until that moment how deep his loathing for me was.