by Lizzy Ford
Rocky looked between the two of them. “That’s settled,” he said.
“Try not to hurt the creature I’m sending after your father,” Diving Eagle said.
The Hanover girl was quiet, her back to the room and shoulders hunched. Black Wolf sensed he had managed to upset her for the first time since they encountered one another. He was not sorry to see the Hanover in their midst unsettled.
He sat down once again by the rest of the pups.
Diving Eagle was gazing at the white one with the black star once more.
“Are there deformities in your family as well?” Black Wolf asked.
“We do not call them this,” was the quiet but tart response.
“Then you have them.”
The western Native did not respond.
“There’s none in mine, if anyone cares,” Rocky said.
Black Wolf had no love for humans, but he could almost appreciate the assassin and his attempts to keep their party from imploding.
“Is it normal for a spirit wolf to speak to a non-skinwalker?” Rocky asked.
The Hanover girl glanced over at the question.
“Spirit guides adopt who they please,” Black Wolf said.
“For what purpose?” Diving Eagle pressed.
“That is for them to tell those they adopt.”
Before anyone could ask him more questions about the guides, a knock resounded off the front door.
Features hardening, Diving Eagle crossed to it and yanked it open. Chases Deer stood outside. She motioned him out of the doorway. He moved grudgingly and she stepped inside.
She looked at each one of them, and the basket, before speaking. “I have made my decision,” she said to the Native. “You and that thing” – she lifted her chin at Black Wolf – “will leave my village immediately. The Hanover stays.”
“I cannot allow that,” Diving Eagle said firmly. “She and her guardian must come with us.”
“This is not your village, and I am not among those people obligated to do as you say,” she retorted. “That is my deal. Those two stay, or no one leaves at all!”
Black Wolf glanced at the Hanover girl, whose faint shield around him always became stronger when she sensed his magic flex. If she let her guard down for one instant when Chases Deer was around …
“What will it cost us to ransom the Hanover girl from you?” Diving Eagle asked through clenched teeth.
“More than you can afford,” Chases Deer replied. “Your tribe is in no position to pay anyone’s ransom.”
If the pointed response affected him, Diving Eagle gave no indication. Black Wolf recalled how eager the chief’s son had been to hand over Arthur Hanover in return for money and guessed the small tribe was hurting to fund the war they wished to lead against the Hanover’s.
“You will be treated better here anyway,” Chases Deer added, speaking to the Hanover girl. “No cages or torture. I’ll be ransoming you back to your father.”
Diving Eagle ignored this, too. Black Wolf watched those in the room, entertained by their petty feuding, when everyone knew a much larger storm was more likely to wipe them out.
“Very well,” Diving Eagle said at last. “We will accept your terms. Please give us a minute to prepare to leave.”
“First intelligent thing you’ve done in the time I’ve known you,” Chases Deer said. “You have five minutes.” She opened the door, started to leave, and then hissed a sigh. “Which one of you is doing that?” She turned and gave Black Wolf and the Hanover girl both searing looks.
“Doing what?” the Hanover girl asked.
“Repeating my name. Over and over.”
Black Wolf glanced towards the pups. He sensed the energy one of them was sending out, though it was too weak for him to tell which it was. “It’s one of them,” he said and lifted the basket. “Your spirit guide.”
Chases Deer glared at him.
“Does it say your name over and over?” the Hanover girl asked. She took the basket, her pup in her hand, and went to the suspicious female warrior. “You saw my magic and that of the skinwalker. You must believe me when I say these pups are not ordinary. They possess special gifts. It is where part of the skinwalker’s powers come from.”
Chases Deer seemed ready to walk out but paused at the Hanover girl’s last sentence.
“This wolf will give me magic powers?” she asked.
“It will enhance any natural gifts you already have,” Black Wolf responded.
Chases Deer did not deny she possessed any such gift but peered into the basket. She hesitated before choosing a pup. “This is a payment on the ransom your brother owes me,” she said to the Hanover girl.
She said nothing else and left, slamming the door behind her.
“I did not expect that,” the Hanover girl said and faced Black Wolf. “The pups choose their own companions?”
“They do,” he confirmed. “They are here to guide certain people, and they will search for those people until they find them.”
Diving Eagle listened closely, eyes on the basket.
Black Wolf took it back and moved towards the door. “We will meet again soon, Hanover.”
“I do not like this idea,” Diving Eagle growled.
“We’ll be fine,” Rocky assured the western Native.
“But we cannot stay long,” the Hanover said.
“We have a destiny to meet,” Black Wolf agreed, earning him the looks of everyone in the room. “Both outcomes are possible. If you plan to ensure the right one occurs, then I suggest you keep the Hanover and me together for now. She cannot manage her power, but I can.”
“You won’t be here more than a day. My father’s influence is needed,” Diving Eagle replied. “As you can see, I have none here. When I am home, I will see to it that you are both freed immediately.”
“In the meantime, you travel with a monster,” Rocky reminded him.
“We have an agreement,” was the quick response.
“Because a man who slaughters a village for fun has never broken his word?”
“What choice do I have?” Diving Eagle responded. “I am responsible for cleaning up the mess I made and for ending the feud between the Hanover’s and Diné. If that means I keep company with skinwalkers, then so be it.”
Black Wolf settled his cloak around his shoulders. His eyes went to the pups once more. The brindle one had claimed the Hanover girl yet all of the pups gave off the same subtle energy indicating there might be more than one guide among them. This idea pleased him as much as the acknowledgement none of them were meant for him disturbed him.
He knelt beside the pups, ignoring Rocky and Diving Eagle as they planned a rendezvous point and time, in case Rocky and his ward were freed.
The Hanover girl crouched beside him. “You have to take them with you,” she said for his ears only. “My … guide says after you find them all homes, you …” She drifted off.
“I die,” he finished.
“Yes.”
Black Wolf debated how he could possibly find the remaining pups their homes when his path took him to Lost Vegas and to his death.
Unless all of them would be claimed by the time he finished the last mission he accepted before his wolf returned to her spirit realm. A similar conspiring of spirits and events had led his guide to him all those years ago. Perhaps this was how it worked, with one generation assisting the next, and he was charged with carrying on the sacred tradition on his guide’s behalf.
“Good,” he said aloud.
The Hanover girl’s brow furrowed.
Black Wolf stood, picking up the basket with him. He went to the door and waited for Diving Eagle and Rocky to finish plotting.
Chases Deer knocked on the door. Diving Eagle crossed to it.
“Be careful,” the Hanover girl said.
Black Wolf did not have to look her direction to know she spoke to the western Native and not him.
Diving Eagle opened the door and stepped out of the cabin. Blac
k Wolf covered the basket to keep the rain from reaching the four pups and followed.
Chases Deer’s uneasy warriors trailed them through the village and towards the southwest. They followed through the rainy, dreary forest, until Diving Eagle reached the tree into whose trunk the Diné tribe’s mark had been carved. At that point, the escort fell away, and Diving Eagle’s pace quickened.
Black Wolf did not feel the same sense of urgency the chief’s son did and trailed behind at his own pace, content to enjoy the last spring rain he was ever likely to experience. The pups were quiet in the basket, soothed by the swaying movement of his walk, and he began to understand his guide’s insistence they go west a year ago, long before he was hired to find Arthur Hanover. He had been born into tribe whose unique abilities isolated them from everyone else, and he would die in the midst of the greatest adventure any of his people had ever known, a time and series of events rare enough, they had never, and would never, be repeated again.
The Hanover girl feared death, but Black Wolf relished what was coming. His desire to leave the company of Diving Eagle had vanished when he realized his last agreement was struck with the Diné warrior. This final agreement, too, put him on course to go to Lost Vegas, and the beautiful coincidence could not have left him more eager to follow his fate.
In a state of anticipation, Black Wolf entered the semi-permanent Diné hunting village filled with nothing but warriors and those who hoped to become warriors. No one challenged him, and he made his way slowly to the center, where he had first encountered the Hanover’s. The cages where Arthur and his companion had sat remained at the base of the tree where Black Wolf first saw them.
The air of the village was charged, as if everyone who crossed his path understood the significance of both his presence and his destiny.
Black Wolf smiled. If his guide were alive, she would chide him for being too proud about his purpose in the world.
“She abandoned you. You will fail,” whispered the vengeful spirit who sought to distract him from his path.
He glanced at the ghost of a child. “Go, before I abandon you the same way,” he snapped quietly.
The spirit lingered briefly then blinked out of existence.
Its words, however, fell heavier than Black Wolf wanted. Vengeful spirits had the ability to see the fears in one’s soul, and tried to tap into that fear to mislead whomever it was they haunted.
To deny the words was to deny what was inside him. Black Wolf stood in the center of the village, exploring his feelings to find the fear the vengeful spirit had witnessed.
He was afraid. Or perhaps … uncomfortable. His entire life, his guide had accompanied him on every mission. This was his first, and last, he would commit alone. How did he not fear the outcome, when he had relied on his guide for a hundred years to advise him and help him succeed? Was a hundred years long enough to learn what he needed to in order to be on his own? Why did he feel vulnerable, when he had the best chances of surviving of anyone in the village?
“What’s in the basket?”
Black Wolf glanced towards the boy and then back, making sure the youth was real and not there to torment him. “Leave, boy,” he snapped.
“I am Red Moon.” The lanky youth puffed out his chest. “My father is chief!”
“Ah. I remember you. You are a scout. A tiny one.”
“You are the skinwalker who murdered my aunt.”
Black Wolf bent to the boy’s level and held his gaze. “Do you want to know how many people I have murdered?”
Red Moon hesitated and then nodded.
“Twenty thousand, four hundred and two, all by hand. Do you want to become the twenty thousand, four hundred and third?”
The boy displayed similar anger to his older brother. “You can try, but I know how to fight!” he said and withdrew a small knife.
“Never let someone kill you easily, or you will regret it as a spirit,” Black Wolf said and straightened.
“I can kill you easily, skinwalker.”
Black Wolf ignored him.
“I asked you a question, and you must answer. My father is the chief,” the boy insisted. “What’s in the basket?”
“Nothing that concerns you, little boy.”
The youth’s face flushed. “Something is in there. I can hear it.”
“What does it say?”
“Red Moon. Over and over.”
Black Wolf rolled his eyes. Leave it to a spirit pup to decide it wanted to be with the proud, skinny child. He knelt and held the basket on one knee then pulled off the coverings protecting the pups from the rain.
Red Moon inched closer and then peered into the basket. He smiled.
“Which one speaks your name?” Black Wolf asked.
The boy pointed at one of the black wolves.
“Then it is yours.”
Red Moon looked up to meet his gaze. “Is it a skinwalker?” he asked cautiously.
“It is a spirit wolf, and it has chosen you. If you fail to protect him, or you hurt him, a skinwalker will appear and tear your skin off, then pull off each of your toes and fingers, your limbs, and remove your eyes and organs one by one – all while you are alive,” he warned.
The youth grimaced.
“Take him. And remember, his life means more than yours ever will.” Black Wolf lifted the pup and handed it to the boy.
Red Moon gazed at the pup. A light was in his eyes, and he smiled. He replaced his knives and accepted the wolf guide. “I will care for him like a little brother,” he said solemnly.
“Then I won’t have to hunt you down and murder you.”
The boy nodded and shifted away, cradling the pup.
Three down, Black Wolf thought.
“Skinwalker!” Diving Eagle shouted from a tent near the tree line.
Black Wolf watched the youth walk away with the pup before he stood and started forward. He had a feeling he would soon find a home for the fourth pup, if Diving Eagle were not too proud and angry to claim his guide.
From there … Black Wolf could only imagine the others would find their homes in the city.
“My father would like to speak to you,” Diving Eagle said tersely. “He is not well, but he insisted. Do. Not. Upset. Him.”
Black Wolf said nothing. Whether or not he taxed an old man was of no concern to him at all.
He entered the sweltering tent alone. The hunched figure of the chief sat beside a blazing fire. Sweating before he reached the seat opposite the chief, Black Wolf set the pups down before he peeled off his cloak and sat in front of the old man.
Dark, sharp eyes studied him.
“What do you want?” Black Wolf asked at the silence. It was too hot in the tent for him. Coupled with the heartbeats of those warriors in the village beating against his brain, he did not feel fully in control.
“To see what manner of creature my son has made an agreement with,” came the response.
“One who will never fail to execute his end of the agreement.”
“And who never fails to collect a price greater than he deserves,” the chief observed. “I see what you are.”
Black Wolf shrugged. “I do not hide who I am,” he said. “Now, old man, what do you want?”
“To offer you something in place of the price you will exact from my son.”
“I never renegotiate after I make an agreement.”
“You will.” The chief bent over and fished through a satchel at his feet. He pulled out small jars of poultice and ointments before withdrawing a pouch. He handed it to Black Wolf. “Open it.”
Black Wolf weighed it in his hand, measured the outline of its contents with his gaze, and judged the contents to be a bracelet. “You cannot bribe me with jewelry,” he said.
“This jewelry has been in my family for a while. It saved the life of all my people, when the Hanover’s tried to wipe us out,” the chief said.
Black Wolf hefted the pouch again without being able to discern anything unusual or special abo
ut it. He detected no magic, either, which left him even more convinced the contents were useless to him.
“Several Diné leaders have come and gone since then,” the chief continued. “Seven, to be exact. This bracelet, along with a second, and the story behind it was passed from each chief to the next. I understand news of this battle spread to your lands?”
“I recall it vaguely,” Black Wolf said. “I recall nonsense about spirit armies.”
“You understand the nature of the Hanover’s magic, I believe.”
“Somewhat,” he confirmed, thoughts on the Hanover girl. “How did this stop the Hanover’s?” He held up the pouch.
“If there is to be order and balance in the universe, something must exist to counter the Hanover chief’s power. This bracelet is one of a pair.”
“You claim these bracelets stopped the Hanover?” Black Wolf opened the pouch and dumped the harmless bracelet made of blue stones into his palm.
“Not exactly.”
Black Wolf looked up, waiting for more.
“Do you know anything of the mystery surrounding the Hanover’s? That the leader never leaves the city, once he assumes power? That there is only one Hanover who survives each generation? Or that this family assumed control, unopposed, and has remained in control, unopposed, for four hundred and fifty years?”
“I have never given them any thought until a few weeks ago,” Black Wolf replied with a snort. “You cannot tell me jewelry has anything to do with their power.”
“It has everything to do with defeating them.”
He met the old man’s eyes. “If it is as powerful as you say it is, then why have you not used it to drive out the Hanover’s?”
“You are not hearing my point, son,” the chief said.
“Are these bracelets magical when combined?” Studying the turquoise bracelet hard to discover its secrets, Black Wolf waited for a better response. “You want me to believe a bracelet or two will take down the Hanover’s.”
Black Wolf considered the idea. A magic talisman was not out of the realm of possibilities. He had seen many things in his life, to include – twice only – an item that appeared to have magic within it that was usable by whoever possessed it.