Firekeeper stiffened. Although she had done her best to keep the bargain she had made with the Meddler from her mind, it had always been there, lurking beneath the surface. In a sense she was glad he brought the matter up now. To live for moonspans or even years waiting for this "favor" to be called due would be unbearable.
She said aloud what she was thinking.
"Good. This is a relief. What do you want?"
"I want you to kiss me."
Firekeeper blinked at him. "What?"
"Kiss me." The wolfish visage was changing now, shifting into that of a man Firekeeper felt she vaguely recognized, yet at the same time she was certain she had never seen. "I want you to kiss me, mouth to mouth, as a woman kisses a man."
Firekeeper felt herself blushing, her skin prickling hot all over.
"But," she protested, "how can I do that? You aren't there, not really. You told us you lack a body."
The Meddler smiled, and the smile sent very strange sensations through Firekeeper - powerful sensations such as she had never felt before.
"I have been freed from my prison for several moon-spans now. That is time enough even for someone insubstantial like myself to gather some power. Although I have spent some of that power - even on your behalf - still, I have enough to assure that we will close the gap between body and spirit long enough for you to touch your mouth to mine."
Firekeeper took an involuntary step back. "But why? Why do you wish this thing?"
The Meddler grinned at her. "I could say that I want you to learn what you're missing in refusing your love to any but wolves." The grin faded and that almost remembered visage grew sad. "But the truth is easier. I told you that I cannot cross into the Nexus Islands because it is guarded from any but those who cross by conventional routes."
"And now we are guarding from those, too," Firekeeper said, thinking with distinct satisfaction of the load of iron bars Harjeedian had brought with him from Gak.
"All too true," the Meddler said. "However, I would like to go there. Firekeeper, I was born in the Old World. When I was made captive, I was no isolated individual. Like you I had friends. I had family. I realize that hundreds of years have passed since I was imprisoned. Doubtless all those I loved are dead. Those who did not die from old age probably died from the very Plague that my imprisonment rather ironically protected me from.
But I would like to know. I could make the journey in this spirit state I now occupy, but the distance would not be shortened. It would be a very long walk. Please, Fire-keeper, give me the means to start my journey home."
Firekeeper stared at him. From the tales Harjeedian and Plik had told, she knew the Meddler was known for well-intentioned actions that somehow went awry. She wondered what she would be letting into the Old World if she helped the Meddler. Then she cheered up slightly. At least if he went through the gates into the Old World, she'd be removing him from the New. That would be a good thing without question. Even Harjeedian would praise her for it... if she told him, and she knew with a certain uneasiness in her gut that she wouldn't.
"So I can help you cross through the gate," she said, "by kissing you."
"That is correct." The Meddler smiled rakishly at her. "Kiss me and I believe I will have what I need to cross via the gate. You won't even know I am there."
Firekeeper frowned at him. "A favor you ask then, between you and me. I suppose this is such."
"That is right. I'm not going to steal your body or your soul, just in case you've heard stories of that sort. I'm simply going to create a link between us, a link that will let me follow you."
Firekeeper stared at the Meddler. Against her better judgment, she felt sorry for him. Ever since she had crossed the Iron Mountains and encountered humankind, she had felt isolated from what had been her home. However, nothing kept her from going to visit. Nothing barred her from learning what had happened to those she loved.
"I will kiss you then," she said, "and the favor is done."
"Don't look so miserable." The Meddler laughed. He walked toward her, measured step by step, becoming more substantial with every pace until she felt the heat of his body and smelled his sweat, a little human, a little wolf. "You might just enjoy it."
Firekeeper had meant to peck him on the lips, a fast kiss as was familiar to her between friends, but somehow the Meddler gathered her in his arms. Before Firekeeper quite knew what was happening, he was kissing her very intently, holding her close, his tongue slipping between her lips.
Before Firekeeper could jerk away, she felt the Meddler begin to lose substance. He released her, stepping back a pace.
"Thank you, my lady," he said, and he sounded a touch surprised. "I am very glad to have found you. I can promise you, we will meet again."
He stepped back a few more paces, and by the time he had reached the trunk of the apple tree, he had vanished. As if she herself was coming back from a long distance away, Firekeeper heard sounds and knew that Enigma, the puma, was returning.
I wonder, Firekeeper thought, staring where the Meddler had been, what has happened here? When we left Misheemnekuru, I thought I was the one who was hunting. Perhaps the Meddler was doing the hunting, hunting those who could help him so he could find his way home again.
With that unsettling thought, Firekeeper turned to where Enigma had begun the ritual that would open the gate. When the wall shimmered, Firekeeper stepped through stone, into fire, hurrying to where Blind Seer waited.
THE END
Wolf Hunting Page 60