by Abby Weeks
“That’s the watchtower,” Hunter said. “They take wolves seriously in these parts. You saw what happened back on the road.”
Aisha nodded. The guard standing watch in the tower waved at Hunter as they passed. Hunter waved back.
“There’s another tower at the other end of town, up the valley there.”
“This is a real outpost, isn’t it?” Aisha said.
“Missy, you have no idea.”
*
Chapter 56
THE CLINIC WAS ABOUT HALFWAY up the town’s single street. The little cabins all faced the street, and Aisha could see a wall of wooden posts behind them, protecting them from the forest beyond. The town felt almost like a fort.
Aisha brought Heath into the clinic. Hunter went to see if their accommodations were ready.
“Hello,” Aisha called out.
The clinic looked like the inside of a wood cabin. Aisha realized that every building would look like that. It was the only construction method in use in these parts. There was a wooden counter with a logbook on it and a pen on a string.
An older man who looked to be about sixty came out from a room behind the counter.
“Hello there,” he said. “What have we got here?”
“Wolf attack,” Aisha said, although Heath’s wounds spoke for themselves.
“Bring him over here,” he said. “What’s your name, son?”
Heath told the doctor his name as he was led back through the door to the room the doctor had come from. Aisha waited on a seat by the counter. There was a little table with some magazines and Aisha flicked through them. There wasn’t one there less than a year old. Current affairs weren’t a big priority up here.
When the doctor brought Heath back out, he looked a lot better.
“See that he gets a lot of rest,” the doc said.
“Thank you,” Aisha said. “How do we pay you for your services?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. You going to be working for the company, I presume?”
“He is, yes.”
“Company will take care of it.”
*
Chapter 57
HUNTER WAS WAITING OUTSIDE BY the land cruiser. It was beginning to get dark outside already, and Aisha noticed the temperature dropping.
“Do we have a place to stay?” Aisha said.
“Your cabin’s not ready yet. They’re waiting for a wood stove that was supposed to be here by now. If I’d known I could have picked it up from the depot in Fairbanks.”
“So where are we going to sleep?” Aisha said.
“The inn, of course.”
Hunter brought them farther up the street. Aisha looked out the window at the little cottages. A warm orange glow flooded out of the window of each. They looked cozy and safe and inviting. They passed a bar, a general store, and a Post Office that Aisha imagined was possibly the remotest federal building in the entire country.
The inn looked like a picture on a Christmas card. It was a large wooden building with a wraparound deck and snow-covered wooden shingles on the roof.
They walked in. Heath was beginning to get stronger, but the bandages on his face and arms made it clear he’d been mauled by something. Inside was a reception area, and beyond it was a restaurant and bar of richly varnished pine. Aisha walked in first, followed by Heath.
There was a plump lady about fifty years old holding a tray of beer mugs.
“What can I do for you?” she said.
Hunter came in through the door and the innkeeper recognized him.
“They’re with me, Hilda,” he said.
“Oh, I didn’t see you there, Hunter. Let me just get rid of these beers.”
Aisha watched the innkeeper as she delivered the beers to a table of rugged-looking lumber jacks. For the first time since leaving home, Aisha began to feel like things might work out after all. The place was cozy, with a wood-burning stove by the open door. She could see a roaring fire inside it, giving off a welcome heat. Men in thick coats and boots were sitting in the restaurant drinking large mugs of beer and eating hearty food.
Hilda and another girl, maybe her daughter, were serving everyone. They were the only two women in the place other than Aisha.
“All right then,” Hilda said when she returned. “What happened to the boy, there?”
“We had to stop on the road,” Hunter said.
Hilda nodded, as if that was enough explanation.
“The girl here saved our skin,” Hunter added. “Gunned down two beasts.”
Hilda nodded at Aisha. “A girl who’s worth her salt. That’s what they like around here, missy. Let me tell you, if you don’t earn your keep one way or another in these parts, you won’t last very long.”
“So I’ve been told,” Aisha said, shooting Hunter a glance.
Hilda looked at Hunter, then back at Aisha.
“Oh, now. He didn’t break you in already, did he?”
Aisha was unsure what Hilda was referring to.
“Listen to me. I’m about as close to a mother as you’re going to find in this town. If you need to talk to anyone, you come straight to me. My door’s always open.”
“Thank you,” Aisha said, although she was still confused as to Hilda’s meaning.
“When I first got here, I had to learn the hard way. I grew up in California. They had to literally beat their customs into me. I wasn’t one bit accommodating, I can tell you.”
“You mean, the whole thing about women giving ….”
“Comfort,” Hilda said, finishing Aisha’s sentence for her.
“Right, that wasn’t the word I was looking for, but it will do. Women giving comfort in exchange for protection.”
Hilda nodded. “It can be a hard lesson. A hard thing to get used to. I understand that.”
Aisha looked back into the restaurant. She quickly counted. There must have been thirty men in there, and not a single woman other than Hilda and the waitress, and now Aisha. This was going to be a difficult place to make a life. Aisha had known that, but she was beginning to see just how difficult.
*
Chapter 58
THAT NIGHT WAS THE FIRST real sleep Aisha got since leaving home. She and Heath had their own room, and Heath was far too defeated by his wounds to do anything other than collapse onto the bed.
Aisha took off his boots, pants, and jacket, and let him sleep in his undergarments. She then went into the bathroom and drew a long, hot bath. She was relieved to see that there was no shortage of hot water. The entire bathroom was made of golden pine, and a large window overlooked the back of the inn. She saw the high wooden wall that protected the town, and could just make out the guard tower at the far end of the street that marked the edge of the protected area.
The room was large and comfortable, with a wood stove, a huge bed with a soft mattress, and more blankets than she’d ever seen on a bed in her life. There must have been six separate layers of bedding. Aisha slept under all of them and dreamt of nothing at all.
When she woke up she checked on Heath and saw that he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. His wounds were a little swollen, but that was just a sign they were healing properly. With any luck he’d be up and about in a couple of days.
Aisha had another bath, just because she could, before getting dressed and going downstairs. It was just after eight in the morning, and the restaurant was a lot quieter than it had been the night before. The men had all gone home to their various cabins in the village and were no doubt already out working by now.
Aisha looked out the large glass doors leading to the porch and saw the sun rising over the most beautiful valley she ever could have dared to dream of. It was spectacular. She hadn’t been able to appreciate the sheer beauty of the valley the evening before. It was like something out of an epic fantasy movie—stark, jagged cliffs rising up over the most pristine pine forests in existence, the river slinking through the middle of it, reflecting the golden sunlight like a mirror.
“It�
�s pretty, isn’t it?” a woman’s voice said.
Aisha turned and saw the waitress from the night before. She was a pretty girl, a little curvy, like Aisha. She had a warm, happy smile on her face and straight away Aisha could tell that she was a nice, kind girl. She looked to be Aisha’s age too.
“I’m Aisha,” Aisha said.
“I’m Tilly.”
They shook hands.
“I saw you arrive last night with your husband.”
“We’re engaged, not married.”
Tilly’s eyebrows rose.
“What?” Aisha said.
“It’s just, once word spreads that there’s a new single girl in town, there’ll be a bit of a stir.”
“I’m not single, I’m engaged to Heath. We’re getting married.”
Tilly smiled. “That don’t mean what you’d expect it to. Not around here.”
Aisha nodded. She wasn’t surprised to hear that, not after the way Heath had been willing to share her with Hunter on the journey north.
“You want some coffee?” Tilly said.
Aisha nodded and Tilly brought her over a cast iron kettle with water and coffee grounds boiling in it. She poured a mug for Aisha and then placed the kettle back over a low flame.
“This is delicious,” Aisha said after she took a sip.
“Traditional methods! There’s something to be said for them.”
“Did you grow up around here?” Aisha said.
“Born and raised,” Tilly said, “although I do my best to keep up with what’s going on in the outside world.”
“You go down to Fairbanks much?”
“Never have yet. It’s not the safest of trips, as you saw yesterday.”
Aisha nodded. It had been the most terrifying trip of her life. Still, she found it hard to imagine what it would be like living in a place like this for her entire life and never even going to Fairbanks. Aisha had grown up in a small town, not that much bigger than this one, but she’d been able to escape into Seattle whenever she felt like it.
“We were lucky to make it,” Aisha said.
Tilly went about her work, tidying up a few things from the night before, preparing for later in the day. She gave Aisha a menu.
“You want some breakfast?”
“I’d love some, but I’m not sure I have any cash.”
“Don’t worry about that. The company will take care of it.”
“They take care of everything around here?”
“Pretty much,” Tilly said.
Aisha ordered bacon and eggs. When she was finished, she said she’d better go up and check on Heath.
“You can go explore if you like,” Tilly said. “We’ll keep an eye on Heath for you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. You just arrived. There’s no need for you to sit in a room and watch a man sleep.”
Aisha had to go back up to the room for her coat and boots. She checked on Heath and he was still deep in sleep. She was going to kiss him on the cheek but she stopped herself. It was a strange moment. She was engaged to this man. He was going to be her husband. She was supposed to love him. But for some reason, she decided not to kiss him while he lay in the bed asleep. He didn’t deserve it.
*
Chapter 59
AISHA STEPPED OUT INTO DEAD WOLF’S single street and looked up and down. She decided to walk up to the far end of town, as far as the second guard tower. As she made her way down the solid-stone street, she looked eagerly in the windows of the buildings. There were a couple of stores, although they mostly sold equipment for the men’s work. There were traps, skis, outdoor wear, logging equipment, tools. Aisha felt as if she was walking through an old frontier town from the nineteenth century. There were two stores that sold nothing but rifles. There was also a liquor store, and what appeared to be a brothel, although it looked abandoned. Next to the abandoned brothel was a women’s clothing store. Aisha was very interested in that. She went over to the window and looked in. There were dresses on mannequins but they looked old and dusty. There certainly wasn’t anything even remotely in fashion. Some of the clothes looked like period costumes for a western movie. On the door was a sign that said Closed.
It didn’t look like it would be open anytime soon.
When she got to the edge of the town, she walked up to the guard post and looked up the tower. It was at least thirty feet high, and she didn’t relish the idea of climbing the flimsy looking ladder all the way up. She wondered how many men got injured just climbing up and down that contraption. The post guarded the opening in the wood fence. The fence was eight feet high, and Aisha saw that the tops of the logs had been sharpened into spikes. It was very strange.
She looked out through the opening in the fence toward the forest. The dirt road that led into town continued on northward that way, farther up the valley. Aisha shuddered to think what could be up farther north. There was a rise in the road up there, and she decided to walk as far as it and have a look. She would still be within view of the guard tower. There surely couldn’t be too much risk in that.
She walked past the tower. The guard was sitting at the top, smoking a cigarette, his back to the wall of the platform. Aisha walked on. Immediately, she felt the overwhelming presence of the forest. It was so dense, so dark, so cold. And worst of all was the fact that it was so close. She was scarcely twenty yards beyond the fence and already she was losing her nerve. If she couldn’t walk beyond the fence, she’d almost be a captive in the little town. She was determined to make it to the rise, even if just to trick herself into thinking she wasn’t as confined as she knew she was. She walked on, but each step was more difficult.
And then, she heard a rustling in the trees by the side of the road. She glanced in the direction of the sound. The undergrowth was moving. She looked up at the guard tower. She was about to call out to it for help, the stupid guard wasn’t paying attention, but then she saw those unmistakable yellow eyes. Every time she saw them they took her breath away. First on the boat, then at the motel in Fairbanks, now here.
It didn’t matter if the shifter was in man or wolf form—the eyes were always the same.
“We meet again,” the man’s deep voice said.
Aisha felt flustered. The man was wearing a long trench coat with a high collar that guarded his face. The coat went down as far as his knees, and black leather boots rose to meet it. He also had on black leather gloves and an old cowboy hat with the brim low over his eyes. His dark hair dropped to his shoulders. His stubble was coarse and rough. The word that Aisha thought of as she looked at him was swarthy. And through it all, under the brim of the hat, peering out at her like golden beacons, were those yellow shifter eyes.
“It’s you,” she said.
He nodded.
“Packer.”
“You remember,” he said.
She nodded shyly.
“And you’re Aisha,” he said.
She felt her heart flutter.
“You remember me too,” she said.
“Of course,” he said. “I don’t think you know who or what you are, but if you knew, you’d realize that someone like me would never be able to forget you.”
Aisha was taken aback. She blushed. “What do you mean by that?” she said.
“Aisha, I wish I could tell you.”
“Why can’t you?”
“Because you’d never believe me.”
“What do you mean, I wouldn’t believe you?”
Packer sighed. He looked down the road toward the village. “You think you’re safe in that town,” he said, and there was something about the way he said it that sounded terribly sad.
“Safer than out here in the forest,” she said.
“If I had my way you’d never set foot in that town again.”
Aisha looked at him intensely.
“What are you talking about?” she said.
He looked at her, and for a moment Aisha thought he was going to tell her something, something
very important. But for some reason he stopped himself.
“You were going to say something,” she said.
“I was,” Packer said.
He was holding himself back. She couldn't tell why. He looked like he was going to turn around and leave. She wanted to keep him, speak to him a little longer.
“Are you going into town?” she said.
He laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, it’s just, I don’t go into that town too often.”
“Why not?”
He paused for a moment, as if he hadn’t ever thought about that question. When he answered, he sounded so sad that Aisha wanted to reach out and touch him, comfort him. “I go in when I need to go in,” he said.
“And is that often?”
“It never has been yet, but it might be soon.”
“How come?”
He looked up at the guard tower.
“Because of you,” he said.
“Because of me?”
He nodded.
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know,” he said. “If I could make sense of it for you, Aisha, I would. I’d tell you now everything you needed to know, and it would save the two of us a whole lot of pain and heartache.”
Aisha didn’t know what to say to him. Everything he said was some sort of mystery that she couldn’t make sense of.
She felt drawn to him. It was exactly the same way she’d felt when she saw him the first time, just a few days earlier on the boat from Juneau. She didn’t understand it, but there was some sort of magnetism that attracted her to him. She took a step in his direction. She felt as if she was walking out onto the ice of a frozen lake, as if the entire floor might break out from under her at any moment, but she couldn’t stop herself. She wanted to speak to him. She wanted to be nearer to him. He seemed so distant, so unreachable.
He seemed lonely.
“How’s your book?” she said.
“My book?”
“The book of lore?”
“Oh,” he said. “It’s useful.”
She nodded.
“Can I ask you a question, Aisha?”
“Of course.”
“Where are you from?”