Spirit of the Wolves (13 page)

Ázzuen yelped and the longfangs looked up from the plain. Tlitoo chuckled deep in his throat and stared at our noses. I covered mine protectively with my paws and saw that Ázzuen had done the same.

I snarled at Tlitoo. He chuckled again.

“You are so fearsome you will scare the beetles, wolf,
with that snarl. I am here to help you. I will distract them and you will grab the hide. It will be fun. You have been too dour of late.

“Dark times need more play

And gloomy wolves are boring.

Thus the ravens come.

“Make them think you are playing,” he quorked. “That you are doing nothing. Then steal.”

“I could have told you that,” Ázzuen said.

“But you did not, wolf.”

“Because you bit me before I could!” Ázzuen protested, his voice rising. The longfang cubs looked in our direction.

“You should not be so loud, wolflet,” Tlitoo quorked, and flew to a rock in the middle of the plain. He set his beady gaze on the longfangs and began making low, growling noises, sounding exactly like a wolf. I hadn't known he could do that. Every longfang on the plain, even the two at the carcass, were now looking at him.

Tlitoo was annoying, but he was right. A little trickery was in order. And Ázzuen was better at it than I was.

“You lead,” I said to him. He looked at me, a gleam of pleasure in his eyes. Then he licked the top of my head. Warmth rushed through me, and I had to blink to clear my vision as Ázzuen crawled forward on his belly. I noticed the smooth play of muscles under his fur. When he was younger, his lankiness made him awkward. Now it gave him a fluid grace as he slid through the grass, as sinewy as a lizard. He looked over his shoulder at me and I realized I was staring at
him like an idiot. Flattening myself as low as I could, I followed him.

Ázzuen stayed on his belly until we were well onto the grass, then stood and began to trot around the perimeter of the plain. I followed.

“Silvermoon!” TaLi gasped behind me. “Kaala! Get back here.”

She started to follow, but BreLan held her back. The other humans whispered excitedly.

The mother longfang saw us immediately and lifted her head to stare, her gaze so piercing that I was tempted to stop in my tracks. But Ázzuen kept moving, so I did, too. We ran as if we were just exploring the plain, and the longfang went back to gazing at the carcass. As long as she didn't see us as a threat, she would leave us be.

Both of the cubs now seemed more intent on winning their game than on actually getting any of the meat. They were snarling at each other and tussling over the hide, growling fiercely as if they were fighting in earnest, but I saw how their thin, vine-like tails whipped in circles. My own tail began to wave.

We trotted a few paces closer to the cubs. Intent on their game, they didn't notice us. We dropped down on our bellies once again and began to creep forward, very slowly. When we got close enough that a quick run would bring us to them, Ázzuen whispered to me, “Go around to the other side and get their attention.”

I touched my nose to his muzzle. It seemed unfair to take advantage of their immaturity, but Tlitoo was right. It was fun. We weren't going to hurt them.

I got behind the cubs and gave a soft whuff. Both cubs looked up, and one dropped his end of the hide. Ázzuen darted forward and grabbed it. The cub still holding on pulled with enough force to tear the hide from Ázzuen's mouth. Ázzuen growled fiercely at her and she jumped back, pulling the hide with her and tumbling into her brother. I growled, too, and the cubs flattened their ears and snarled at me. Ázzuen trotted away, then circled back behind the cubs while they were watching me. I ran in, butting the rump of the empty-mouthed cub with my head. He yowled and swiped at me, and I stumbled backward. I had forgotten about their sharp, deadly claws. I smelled the cub's fear, and bent my forelegs and raised my rump to show him I was playing. He watched me closely and retracted his claws.

“Ours,” he growled. But it was a playful growl. He said something I couldn't understand to his sister, who still held the hide in her jaws. The two of them took off across the plain—right into Ázzuen. I pounced on them from behind.

We scuffled and rolled in the dirt and, for a moment, it was like playing with Ázzuen and Marra and our humans. The cubs were stronger than we were, but clumsier. I twisted under and around them, avoiding swats from their large paws. I scrambled to my feet and whuffed encouragement at the cub closest to me.

Then a mountain of muscle and fur hit me from behind. The mother longfang pinned me with one great paw. Ázzuen threw himself at her and she knocked him aside with her head. The two cubs immediately began wrestling with him, keeping him from getting to me. The longfang opened her great jaws and bent her head down to my exposed throat.

She had golden eyes that held a sad, weary expression. I couldn't look at them long, not with those fangs so close to my face.

“Pups,” she grumbled, her voice low and raspy. “Stupid little pups. Go back to your pack. We have no time for games.” She pressed her paw down on my chest and extended her long claws. I lowered my ears to her and she grunted and retracted her claws. I lay there for a moment, caught in her amber gaze. There was a sorrow I had not seen since my pack learned that Yllin, one of Swift River's youngwolves, had been killed by Greatwolves. “Go, pup,” she said, stepping off me. “Play somewhere else.”

She snarled something at her own young. When they looked up at her, I heaved myself up, grabbed the hide in my jaws, and ran. Ázzuen darted under the longfang mother's belly, making her stumble. We raced back to the woods.

TaLi and MikLan were running toward us, spears raised. When they saw we were safe, they skidded to a halt. Pell bolted past them. The expression of fear on his face made me stumble and trip over the hide, and Ázzuen crashed into me from behind. We scrambled to our paws and ran. Only when Pell, TaLi, and MikLan had all reached the safety of the woods did I look back at the longfangs.

The mother, her head lowered between her shoulders, led her pups in the other direction, away from us and from where the other longfangs had dragged the carcass. There was such heaviness in her tread that I began to feel a little sorry that we had stolen from her.

“Are you all right?” Pell demanded, sniffing me all over.

Ázzuen pushed between us. “We're both fine. Thanks for asking.”

TaLi sank to her knees and threw her arms around me.

“Don't ever do that again, Kaala,” she said.

“You either,” BreLan said to Ázzuen. His voice was so stern I looked up. I hadn't realized how worried for us our humans would be.

I gave the hide to TaLi, nudging her toward the other young humans. She tossed it to a young male, who snatched it out of the air, grinned at me, and took off at a run toward the village, whooping and waving the hide above his head.

The other humans bolted after him. Pell, after checking me over anxiously one more time, slipped back into the woods to follow at a distance. Ázzuen and I ran with our humans most of the way back to Kaar, but as we neared the village, I grew impatient with their slow pace.

I nipped Ázzuen on the ear.

“Race you back to the village.”

He yipped and took off running. We tore through the woods, jumping over the bushes and fallen branches, the late-afternoon sun warming our fur. Tlitoo dipped and arced above us, screeching encouragement. I felt like I could fly up to join him. We had spent two days with the humans, and they already admired us and treated us as pack. It was as if we were meant to be with them. If I hadn't been out of breath, I would have howled in triumph.

Ázzuen and I pelted into Kaar, side by side, and stopped, panting. There was a scent in the village that was familiar, a scent that made my throat close in fear.

A group of humans clustered together, their attention on a stocky male standing in their midst. I saw IniMin first, with his back to us, a young female at his side. HesMi looked at the newcomer, her arms crossed over her chest. I sneezed twice, expelling the new human's scent. My nose had known who it was before my eyes did.

DavRian turned and met my gaze with a cold stare. He pointed at me.

“That's the one,” he said. “That's the wolf that killed the old woman.”

I
wasn't the one who'd killed her. It was DavRian who had murdered NiaLi, slicing her throat with his spear. He'd carried TaLi to her village and told the humans there that I'd killed the old woman. When I tried to rescue TaLi, he aimed his spear at my heart and lunged. I dodged just in time, deflecting his spear into my haunch.

I didn't kill her, but her death was at least partly my fault. I'd angered DavRian and had not thought of the risk to the old woman. Remembering her crumpled body, I began to back away in shame. What if I really did bring only death to those I loved?

“We called her ‘Bloody Moon,' in the Spruce Valley,” DavRian said, pointing his spear at me. “Because of the mark on her chest and because she stalked us.”

I stopped and looked down at my chest. My fur was stained with blood from the hide we'd stolen from the longfang cubs. Tlitoo landed next to me.

“Be careful, wolf. There is something here we have not been told.”

“Will they attack now?” a human male asked, staring at my open mouth. I was out of breath from our dash to the village and couldn't stop panting. My tongue hung out and all of my teeth showed. Ázzuen, too, was panting hard, his sharp teeth exposed.

I waited for the humans to pull out their sharpsticks and hurl them at us. I almost bolted. But I knew that if I ran away, I would lose the ground I'd gained in the last two days. I looked from HesMi to DavRian, trying to figure out what to do. Then Ázzuen closed his mouth, rolled onto his back, and waved his legs in the air. A human laughed. I forced my own mouth closed, my ribs heaving with the effort to control my panting. I felt the tension around us ease.

TaLi and BreLan burst into the village, arms linked, laughing and gasping for air. TaLi stopped when she saw DavRian. BreLan did not. He hurled himself at the other human, knocking him flat to the ground. I reached TaLi with one leap, and stood between her and DavRian. Ázzuen scrambled to his feet and placed himself in front of me.

“Guard TaLi's left side!” I said. DavRian could easily slip by me to grab her.

Ázzuen planted his paws more firmly. It was me he was protecting, not TaLi. He lowered his head and glowered at DavRian.

BreLan slammed DavRian's head to the ground. “I'll kill you,” he bellowed. “By the Ancients, I will.”

Within two breaths, he'd used his strong legs to pin DavRian's arms to his sides, his hands around DavRian's neck. It took three large humans to pull him off.

“Let me go!” BreLan shouted. “He's a murderer. He killed NiaLi and almost killed TaLi.” His voice broke. “He almost killed her because he wanted her and couldn't have her.”

Murmurs rose from the humans around us. DavRian staggered to his feet, choking.

“He's a liar,” DavRian gasped. “The girl entranced him.” His voice was ragged. “All the wolf-krianans of the Spruce Valley can do it.”

Several humans laughed. It was a ridiculous thing to say.

“It's true,” DavRian said, a sulky tone entering his voice. “Yours probably do it, too.”

“It is something I have heard as well.” I squinted to see where the voice came from. It was IniMin. He set down a small sack he was carrying. “It is one of the reasons we need to break away from the old ways, and bring a new kind of krianan to guide us. We need to control the wildness around us, not welcome it into our homes.”

He smiled his insincere smile at TaLi. “It appears that you know my brother's son, DavRian,” he said.

“He's your brother's son?” TaLi asked. “The one you were waiting for?”

A growl rumbled in my chest. DavRian was the young man IniMin had mentioned. And thus his candidate for krianan. He was as far from what a krianan should be than any human I'd ever met.

“Quiet, wolf,” Tlitoo warned. “This is not a good time to growl at humans.”

“The Rian village of the Spruce Valley was started by those who left Kaar to find new lands,” HesMi told TaLi. “There are villages related to us in every land we know of.” She spoke
with pride. Navdru had said that Kaar's influence went beyond the village itself. I hadn't imagined it spread as far as the Wide Valley.

A human female spoke. “If DavRian says that the wolves killed NiaLi, we shouldn't have them here.”

“He's lying about NiaLi,” BreLan said, catching his breath. “He killed her himself and blamed the wolves.” Ázzuen swayed on his paws, clearly wanting to go to his human.

“Why would he do that?” HesMi asked, a frown wrinkling her forehead, her strong arms crossed over her chest.

“He's mad.” The calm, steady voice came from behind me. I whipped my head around to see TaLi, her face still, her stance confident. She had pulled the longfang tooth—the symbol of her role as krianan—from her tunic so that it hung visible on her chest.

“He makes up stories about enthrallers and fierce wolves. He killed my grandmother and hurt me.” She pulled back her hair to show the healing wound where DavRian had struck her when he'd killed NiaLi. “The leaders of all the villages wanted him dead, so he wouldn't hurt anyone else, but his father wouldn't allow it.”

DavRian blinked at her stupidly. The last part was a lie and a good one. No one in Kaar could know which human was speaking the truth.

“She's right,” BreLan said.

“Were you there when the old woman died?” IniMin asked him. “Did you see it happen?”

“No,” BreLan admitted. “TaLi told me.”

HesMi's frown deepened. DavRian seized on her uncertainty. “He wasn't there. He believes anything she tells him.”