20
I hear something,” Ázzuen said.
He sat perfectly still at the edge of the central clearing, staring into the woods. It had been a full day since Lallna had killed the little streckwolf, and I’d done my best to distract myself from my guilt by studying the humans, trying to figure out which ones DavRian had already won over. Now my head felt like it was full of moss. I was ready for a run or a swim in the river to clear my mind. I padded over to Ázzuen. I hadn’t told him yet what Lallna had done. What I had helped her do.
“At the edge of the village,” he said before I had a chance to say anything.
I listened, but heard only the sounds of the forest.
“Is it a wolf?” I asked. I couldn’t bear to see another streckwolf killed.
“I’m not sure.”
Then he pricked his ears and pointed his muzzle toward the woods. Then I heard it, too. A soft and urgent mewing.
We loped into the woods. I recognized JaliMin’s scent. The other scent was familiar, too: longfang. I could never forget it now.
JaliMin crouched in front of one of the longfang cubs, trying to feed it bits of sourtree fruit. I almost laughed aloud. JaliMin liked to feed us every bit as much as he liked to take food from us. The cub took each piece delicately in its front teeth, then spat it back out. I didn’t know if longfangs ate fruit or not, but this cub didn’t want it. Each time it spat out the fruit, it mewed again at the boy. It was a sound of desperate, yearning hunger. The cub’s ribs poked out sharply through its flat fur.
Neither boy nor cub noticed us at first, so intent were they on each other. The boy held out another piece of fruit. The cub, clearly frustrated, swatted at him. He hadn’t extended his claws fully—if he had he could’ve taken the boy’s arms off—but he’d frightened JaliMin, who screeched and ran back to the village. The cub looked at me with hollow, hungry eyes.
Ázzuen took off after JaliMin. I knew I should follow, but I couldn’t leave the longfang cub. I knew what it was like to be small and hungry.
“Wait here,” I said. I snuck to the humans’ cache and took a small piece of dried rhino meat and brought it back to the cub. He bolted it down.
“What’s your name?” I asked him.
“Fierce Hunter of the Golden Plains,” he said with great dignity. I managed not to laugh. “My sister calls me Gold.”
“Are both of you hungry, Gold?” I asked him.
“All of us are,” he answered. “There is not as much food and the humans chase us away. My mother and sister and I are hungrier than the others. We are not liked.”
He reminded me of Prannan. He reminded me of the streckwolf.
“I’ll bring you all some food if you wait here,” I said. It was a crazy thing to do. He wasn’t wolf. He wasn’t pack. I wanted to feed him, though. I couldn’t save the streckwolf, but I might be able to help Gold. I dashed back to where I had hidden a salmon. I returned to the cub and set the salmon between my paws.
“Show me where your mother and sister are,” I said. He looked so hungrily at the salmon, I thought he might snatch it away.
“I can bring more to you later if I know where to take it,” I said. Gold cocked his head, then took off into the woods. I grabbed up the salmon and followed.
“What are you doing, wolf?” Tlitoo asked, flying above me. He always asked me questions when my mouth was too full to answer.
“I’m not sure,” I mumbled.
I didn’t need Gold to lead me, after all. He took me right back to where I had first seen the longfangs. I wondered why they didn’t move from place to place.
Gold tumbled onto the plain toward his anxious mother. I followed, my head and tail high, the salmon in my mouth, trying to ignore the urge to take a bite of the succulent, half-decayed fish. I suddenly realized how foolhardy it had been to come. I was alone but for a raven. The longfang mother could easily take the salmon and kill me. For all I knew she and her cubs were hungry enough to eat another hunter. I’d heard that rock bears would do so.
I thought of turning to run, but the longfang was at least as fast as I was. Although she was watching me hungrily, she made no move to attack. I walked halfway out to her, then set down the salmon.
“I’m sorry I took food from your cubs,” I said. “I didn’t know they were starving.”
She said nothing. She looked behind and around me as if expecting a trap. She probably thought I’d brought other wolves with me again.
“I’m alone,” I assured her. It might have been foolish, but I wanted her to take the salmon, to know I’d brought it to her. The other cub darted out from behind her and ran to the fish, tearing into it. Gold bolted over to her, and the two of them tore at the salmon.
Their mother and I stared at each other for long moments. Then I backed away, pawstep by pawstep, toward the shelter of the woods.
“I am Sharp Claw, Slayer of Aurochs,” she said. Her voice was a low growl, like the sound of far-off thunder. The ground beneath my paws throbbed. I watched her face closely, looking for signs she might attack. Her eyes were light-colored with dark lashes. Her muzzle was shorter than a wolf’s, and the long, curved fangs that protruded from her mouth moved up and down as she spoke. The short, light fur on her body was dense as a wolf’s and she had a darker, thicker ridge of fur along her back. She spoke with great dignity, as Gold did, but it didn’t seem silly coming from her. I waited for her to say more, but she just stared at me.
“I’m Kaala,” I said. Which seemed insufficient. I’m Kaala of the Swift River Pack of the Wide Valley, I almost said. But that’s not who I was anymore. “I’m Kaala of the Stream Lands pack.”
“And I’m Prannan of the Stream Lands pack,” a voice piped up from behind me. Prannan picked up a huge elk rib bone. It still had large chunks of meat on it, and I couldn’t believe he’d carried it all the way from Kaar. He dragged it over to us, lowered his tail, and scooted behind me. Sharp Claw watched him, amused.
“I thank you, Kaala and Prannan of the Stream Lands pack.” She spoke as she might speak to a cub. Then her tone grew serious. “I did not know wolves brought food to other hunters. Your pack will not mind?” She narrowed her pale eyes. “Your human pack will not mind?”
“Kaala’s pack leader,” Prannan offered. “She doesn’t have to ask anyone.”
Sharp Claw regarded him. “Is she, now?” She looked at her cubs, who were tussling over the elk rib. She walked over, pushed them out of the way, and took two huge, hungry bites, devouring half of the meat, then stalked back over to us.
I knew that I should get back to Kaar before anyone noticed we had stolen food, but her amber eyes caught me and I couldn’t move. I remembered stories about the longfangs, that they could stare at prey and make it go to sleep with its eyes open, making it easy to kill. Terror began to rise up in me as she took long, stalking steps toward me. I wanted to tell Prannan to run, but I couldn’t speak. Sharp Claw stalked two steps closer to me while I stood as still as a fear-struck rabbit.
She bent her head down to me, her elk-scented breath heavy and warm on my face. I tried to pull my lips back in a snarl, but I was too scared to move even the smallest muscle. She huffed at me and licked her nose with her long tongue.
“You have helped me, young wandering wolf,” she said. “I will help you. I will tell you something you must know.”
I found my voice. “What’s that?” I whispered.
She smiled as if she could sense my fear, which I’m sure she could.
“You can capture the humans,” she said. “It can be done. It has been done. But to do so, you must give up something. Something that may be too valuable to surrender.”
“How did you know . . .” I began.
“Every creature with a brain sharper than an auroch’s knows, young wanderer,” she said. “We all know that the wolves wish to make a pact with the humans. That it has been tried before. If you make a pact with the humans, both you and they will grow stronger and many other hunters will die. May
be all other hunters. There are many who say that I should kill you to stop that. Others say it is the only way to stop the humans from destroying everything that moves. We starve because they take our prey and kill us when they see us. But you have brought my cubs food and I will not kill you for that. I might have, back when I first saw you, had I known you were that wolf pup.”
I stared at her in shock. Other hunters knew what we were doing. I wondered if she knew our legends.
Sharp Claw drew back her lips. Her fangs were even longer than I’d thought.
“We do not understand the humans the way you do. Their packs are like yours. You have your leaderwolves, your secondwolves, and those among you who prefer to follow. We do not. We fight for dominance as you do, but those who lose do not accept it as easily as your kind does.” She looked curiously at Prannan. “Like that one does.”
Prannan cocked his head at her. “I’m part of my pack,” he said. “I’m not a weak wolf because I’m not a leaderwolf.”
“I did not think you were,” Sharp Claw rumbled. “But you do not mind that you will always follow?”
“No.” Prannan looked from me to the longfang. “I’m pack. I follow my leaderwolves.”
It had never occurred to me that a wolf would not want to fight for status, to be a secondwolf if not a leaderwolf. But it made sense. Trevegg had said that Werrna was content being a secondwolf and that that was why Rissa allowed her to stay. Minn hated being the pack’s curl-tail but never did anything about it except to harass us when we were pups.
“Your packs work well because there are those among you who wish to be led. None of my kind likes to be told what to do.” Sharp Claw whuffed what sounded like a laugh, then grew serious. “I believe that is why we will not survive. There are only a few of us left. A few grass lions, a few rock bears. The large hunters will not do well with the humans. Even your Greatwolves. And wherever the humans go, the largest prey dies, too. It is one of the reasons we are starving. I do not think my cubs will live to have cubs of their own.”
“I’ll try to bring you more food.” I wasn’t sure why I said it. I wasn’t sure why I cared.
Sharp Claw sniffed the air and growled a warning. She swung her head from side to side and whipped her tail back and forth then bounded to her cubs and snatched up the remaining elk meat. She dragged it away into the woods, her cubs stumbling behind her. Prannan yelped and something hit me hard on the back.
I turned snarling to see DavRian standing above me, fury on his face, the dark, jagged blade he favored in his hand. He raised his arm to strike me again with the flat side of it. His arm was caught mid-swing. RalZun and TaLi held him, TaLi leaning back on her heels to use all of her weight to stop DavRian. HesMi stood next to DavRian. Several other humans ranged behind them. Ázzuen stalked back and forth behind the humans, out of DavRian’s sight, but close enough to help me if I needed it.
I flattened my ears. A moon ago, I would have at least snapped my teeth at DavRian to let him know he had no right to hit me, but I controlled my anger and waited, watching the humans. Then I stared into DavRian’s eyes. Even though I didn’t move toward him, he stumbled back. Tlitoo arced down from above, landing next to me.
“It’s unnatural for a wolf and a knife-toothed lion to be together,” DavRian said, his voice rising, his jaw tight with anger. “The wolves brought the lion to the village. Just like the rhino and the crazed wolf. They let it hurt the boy.”
“JaliMin’s injured?” I asked Tlitoo.
“Gold scratched him,” Ázzuen said from behind the humans. “Not badly, but he has claw marks on his arm.” I should have paid more attention. I’d thought Gold had missed him.
“It isn’t natural,” DavRian said again. “For all we know, the bears and lions will follow them to the village and kill all of us.” He stomped his foot.
“We’ll keep a closer watch,” HesMi said, speaking slowly. I had noticed how carefully and deliberately she came to her decisions. Her forehead wrinkled when she thought, just like Ázzuen’s. “It may be coincidence that she is here and the knife-toothed lion was at Kaar. They have come before and JaliMin has been caught feeding young creatures before.” She nodded to the others and turned back toward Kaar. TaLi shot me an anxious glance and ran after her. The other humans followed.
It seemed like each time we had some sort of success with the humans, two more challenges arose. I wished I hadn’t taken meat to the longfangs. Every time we gave the humans reason to doubt us, it made our task harder.
Ázzuen trotted over to where Prannan and I stood. Tlitoo stared beadily at me.
“I know I shouldn’t have done it,” I said, “but they were starving.” I explained to them what Sharp Claw had told me.
“Maybe you should not have,” Tlitoo answered. “Maybe you should. There is much we don’t know.”
That was certainly true. Prannan whuffed impatiently.
“I’m hungry again,” he said.
“Why weren’t you afraid of Sharp Claw?” I asked him.
He looked at me as if the answer was obvious. “Because you were here, Kaala. I’m safe with you.”
I sighed. “None of us is safe, Prannan.”
He considered that. “No wolf ever is,” he agreed, “but I’d rather take my chances with you.” He offered me his muzzle and I took it in my jaws. Then he bounded off after the humans. I looked at Ázzuen.
“We’d all rather take our chances with you, Kaala.” He grinned. “That’s why we’re here.”
I looked at Ázzuen, a strong youngwolf now, who would be an asset to any pack. He wasn’t stupid. Far from it. He was the smartest wolf I’d ever met. Marra was fearless and could lead a pack in her own right, and she had said she’d come back to be with us. I was not their leaderwolf by any means, but if they believed in me, I could at least act as if I deserved their confidence. Although my tail wanted to bend between my legs and my ears started to droop, I raised them both.
“Let’s go back to Kaar,” I said, in as confident a voice as I could.
Tlitoo grabbed my left ear and pulled hard.
“Don’t overdo it, wolflet,” he said, and flew off. I laughed, then knocked Ázzuen with my shoulder and raced him back to the village.
21
DavRian stomped around the village the next morning, pushing his way into shelters and interrupting people at their meals, trying to convince each human he saw that we were at fault for JaliMin’s wounds. He insisted that we would lead longfangs and rock bears and crazed wolves into the village. Most grew tired of his ranting before the early-morning sun had time to warm the ground. Some humans had certainly believed that the crazed wolf proved that we were dangerous, but most seemed unconcerned, at least in the bright morning light. When TaLi and BreLan announced that they were taking us to hunt smallprey, HesMi picked up her sharpstick and came with us. JaliMin trailed behind her. Other humans, both adults and young, followed. The humans, like wolves, let their young come on safe hunts so that they could learn the way of the hunter. RalZun watched the humans gather and jerked his head to me in approval, grabbing up his own sharpstick and whistling loudly. I yipped happily to him. Even Night was a quarter moon away, and a few more successful hunts could mean our victory.
“They’ll scare away all the smallprey,” Lallna grumbled.
“Then we’ll hunt something bigger,” I answered. “And you don’t have to come with us.”
“I’m supposed to keep an eye on you,” she said, her snout in the air. What she didn’t say was that two of the humans who’d been stroking her the night before she killed the streckwolf were with us. I grinned. Lallna was beginning to like the humans. Tlitoo dove down and yanked her tail. She yelped and darted away from him.
We found no prey, but the humans led us several hours from Kaar, to the top of a steep cliff.
They walked to the very edge of it and looked over. The rich scent of firemeat set my stomach rumbling.
TaLi trotted to my side. She bent down to stroke me,
then stood quickly, coughing. “HesMi’s right. You smell awful.” She stood a little farther from me. “IniMin hung food to keep it safe from the rock bears,” she said. “But the rope frayed and now they can’t get it back up.”
I didn’t know what she meant. The humans used tools in ways I often didn’t understand. Ázzuen peered over the edge of the cliff, ears twitching. I lay down next to him. There was a large sack made of the hide of a horse swinging back and forth at the end of one of the humans’ ropes, sixty wolflengths above a lake. Sharp, rocky outcroppings stuck out from the cliff all the way down to deep water below. Tlitoo flew down to perch on one of them and peer up at the sack.
A few of the humans were leaning out precariously, trying to grab the sack. A young female had a long stick to which she’d tied several other sticks at an angle. She used it to try to snag the sack.
“The sack is tied to that rock,” Ázzuen said, glancing at a rock sticking out from the face of the cliff. “The rope frayed”—he savored the human words—“and now if they try to grab it, the rope will break and the meat will fall. If it catches on the rocks they’ll never get it.”
I looked from the sack to the cliff and back again. It didn’t make sense to me, but I believed Ázzuen. He whuffed in concern. One of the humans held the young female by the legs as she tried to reach the sack with the stick. The sack swayed back and forth. Suddenly the vine rope unraveled more and the sack slipped farther down the rock face. The humans backed away from the edge.
“We can tie a rope around someone and send them down,” IniMin said, eyeing TaLi.
“Or we could drop it to ToMin and LaraMi,” RalZun rasped, glaring at IniMin. The old man stood just behind me. “It’s safer.”
I looked over the cliff to see that two humans had run down to stand at the edge of the lake.
“It’ll get caught on the rocks,” BreLan said, frowning. He leaned over, bending at the waist to try to swing a looped rope around the sack. He slipped forward. Ázzuen yelped, and TaLi and another human grabbed BreLan by the arms, hauling him back.
Spirit of the Wolves Page 20