Ki glanced quickly at Jessie, and she knew who she’d seen, stalking out under the moon.
“Only Zascha could get near him,” Torgler went on. “He could talk to him somehow—make him understand. We had him tell the man that if he‘d”—Torgler caught Gustolf’s eyes and looked away—“that if he’d help drive your people off the land, we’d give him a place of his own. Somewhere no one would bother him and his damn wolves ...” Torgler paused. “I—don’t know. There’s nothing more...”
Ki stepped up, reached out, and forced Torgler to look at him. “What happened out there tonight? Why did this maniac turn his wolves on you and Zascha?”
“We promised none of the animals would be harmed,” sighed Torgler.
“And one of them was,” said Ki. “When Lucy killed it, the man went berserk, right?”
“Yes—that’s what happened. He has six of the animals. Five now.” Torgler squeezed to his eyes shut. “He—set the things on us. I was supposed to leave here and meet Zascha later...” He seemed reluctant to go on, and Ki knew why.
“Before you left town, you sent word to Zascha to be sure Lucy didn’t get away alive.”
“Or Ki either, if he was around,” added Jessie.
Torgler nodded. “Lucy knew the old stage stop. So did Zascha. We met there sometimes. The crazy old man keeps his wolves about six miles up in the hills from there.”
We don’t need to ask why you and Zascha were meeting,“ Feodor said darkly. ”When I wouldn’t sell today, you planned to send them in again. Tonight.“
Torgler wouldn’t look at him. “He won’t send in just one—not now. He’ll bring all of them. And this time, he’ll come with them.”
Chapter 17
“This time we will be ready for them,” Feodor said through gritted teeth. “This time—” He stopped and glanced savagely at Gustolf. “Do you see what we are? What they think of us? This man who would steal our land knew we would not even try to kill the beasts! We were too frightened, too sure of our ways. They had nothing but contempt for us, Gustolf. And by the living saints, they were right!”
Gustolf colored, but his anger was directed at Torgler now, not at Feodor. “This is so, eh? You answer!”
“Yes—yes!” Torgler flinched and shrank back in his chair. “I‘ve—told you the whole thing, damn it!”
“You got Zascha to work for you? Zascha? Why does he do this? Tell me that!”
For a moment it was the haughty, self-assured man Jessie remembered who spoke to Gustolf. “Same reason as all the others,” he said wryly. “Money. Power. And not a lot, at that.” Torgler almost smiled. “Men know their worth, sir. And they place damn little value on themselves.”
“Shut up!” Feodor shook a big fist in Torgler’s face. “I have heard all I care to hear from your mouth.” He lifted the man up, threw him against the door, and turned to Gustolf. “Will you help me? Go with me to tell the others what we know?”
Gustolf closed his eyes, then opened them again and faced the younger man. “Yes.” He said finally. “I will. I will go, and we will take this thing that calls itself a man along with us.”
Feodor grinned. “I would not let him out of my sight. Not for a moment.” He gripped Torgler’s arm so hard the man paled. “Come, my friend. Our people were greatly impressed with you this morning. I would have them see you again.”
Gustolf stopped to gather up a lantern, and instructed Sonia to fill the others as quickly as she could, as many as she could find. Sonia protested, but Gustolf insisted she stay in the cabin until he returned. Feodor opened the door and shoved Torgler out into the night. Jessie and Ki joined him, and Gustolf followed. After a few steps, Jessie held back and stopped Ki.
“I think we ought to let them handle this,” she told him. “You and I haven’t done all that well convincing people lately.”
“Yes, I can’t argue with that.”
Jessie looked at him. “You had kind of a tough time out there, didn’t you? I’m sorry, Ki. And I don’t mind telling you I was worried.”
Ki grinned wearily. “Thank you, Jessie. And yes. There were—difficulties.”
“Oh, well, if that’s all ...” She raised one eyebrow and made a noise. “Difficulties, huh? You look like someone put you through a wringer.”
“Someday you will spoil me with your flattery.”
“Yeah, but you’ll get over it.” She studied him a minute and decided what was wrong. “Your hat. You don’t have it on.”
“I lost it. Out there somewhere.”
“Oh,” she said solemnly, “I’m sorry to hear that. It was a real fine hat. Couldn’t have been more than ten or fifteen years old.”
“Not quite. It was well broken in, though. I doubt I’ll find another half as good.”
“That sure would take some doing,” Jessie agreed. She started to speak again, but something told her to keep her silence. There’d been something in his eyes when he spoke. Lucy Jordan? she wondered, and instantly knew she was right. Ki and Lucy. Something had happened out there. It was more than Lucy’s dying, though that was certainly a part of it. Ki would keep his pain to himself, she knew, and lick his own wounds. That had always been his way.
Ki stopped suddenly and listened. “Ah, there!” He motioned toward the fields. “They are here now, Jessie.”
“Did you hear them?”
“No,” he said evenly. “There is a light wind, and I can smell them: I have learned more than I care to about wolves. Feodor—” Ki glanced once more into the darkness and trotted toward the open door of a cottage. Several men were clustered around Gustolf in a pool of yellow light. Feodor turned at Ki’s voice, and Ki pulled him aside. “They’re here,” he announced. “Not far, either. Out in the wheat. Probably coming in from the creek side, too. I don’t know how much control this wild man has over his creatures.”
“Enough, I’m sure.” Feodor made a face and nodded over his shoulder. “I was too optimistic. Even Gustolf can’t convince them, though Torgler is cooperating nicely. He’s more frightened of the old man than he is of me or the wolves.”
“That old man can be rather frightening,” said Ki. He stepped into the light next to Gustolf.
“Here—ask this man!” Gustolf said expansively. He pounded Ki on the shoulder. “He has seen the wolf die. He knows!”
One of the men studied Ki suspiciously and rattled off a long garble of speech. Gustolf curled his lip in contempt. “Bah!” He spat at the man’s feet and made him jump. “He says that is all very well, but he does not know you and therefore cannot know exactly what you have seen.”
“A nice way of saying I’m lying.”
Gustolf forced a grin. “It is. We are a very tactful people. Stubborn sometimes, but nearly always polite.”
“Fine,” said Ki. “That won’t help much if we—”
His words were lost as a terrible cry cut through the darkness—the deep, resonant howl of a wolf. Almost immediately, another took up the call, then another and another, until the summer night was filled with the chilling sound.
The settlers who were gathered about Gustolf went rigid. “He is here!” one gasped. “The man-wolf has come!”
“No!” blurted Ki. “They’re wolves, damn it! That’s all they are. You shoot them and they die like anything else!”
The settlers looked at Ki as if he were crazy. One broke and ran for his cottage. It was all the others needed. Gustolf threatened and shook his fist. Feodor stood his ground and cursed them, but the men tore past him and disappeared.
“Stay together,” Ki shouted. He pulled Jessie to him and swept his eyes over the darkness. “Gustolf—take the lantern and hold it up high. We’ve got to have light!”
Feodor levered a shell into his rifle and backed up against Ki. “We can’t stay out here. We can stop one, perhaps, but if they come at us in a pack—”
“I don’t think we’ve got much choice,” said Jessie. “We’re not going to make it to your place, Gustolf. And no one’s going to open
a door to us now. Ki, can you—” Jessie stopped as someone screamed, slammed her to the ground, and rushed past her.
“Torgler!” Ki shouted. “Get back here!”
Torgler couldn’t hear him. He ran a few yards, jerked to a stop, and started aimlessly in another direction.
“Oh, no!” Jessie pulled herself to her feet as the man circled wildly about the common, shouting something she couldn’t understand.
“Goddamn fool!” snorted Gustolf. “Doesn’t know what he‘s—”
“Torgler—lookout!” Feodor dropped to his knees and fired into the darkness. The flash from his muzzle threw the wolf’s shadow against a cabin wall. Torgler turned, too late—Feodor emptied his rifle into the night and came to his feet.
“Damn! There’s nothing there—nothing!”
“There was,” Jessie assured him. “You hit him—just not good enough.”
A snarl of anger came from the hollow, and turned them all around. Something moved quickly past one of the dying fires, and Jessie caught a glimpse of red eyes and flashing teeth.
“There!” Ki pointed just behind the animal. “Another one. There are two of them now.”
Feodor cursed and slid new shells into his Winchester, spilling half of them on the ground. Jessie leveled her Colt and fired twice. One of the beasts yelped and both disappeared.
“You are right,” said Gustolf. “We cannot stay out here, Feodor. They are clever—and too fast!”
Ki caught the tremor in the old man’s voice. “We’ll be all right if we stick together,” he said calmly. “Keep against the wall and keep moving. At least we don’t have to cover our backs.”
“Lafka—damn your soul—open!” Gustolf beat his fists on the door of the house whose wall they were hugging, his face purple with rage. “This is on my head,” he said tightly. “Mine, no one else’s. I have brought us all to this!”
“You believed what you were taught to believe.” Feodor grasped his shoulder. “All of us have, Gustolf. For too long now.”
Jessie spotted something at the edge of the common, and fired. A shadow moved swiftly away. Ki led them to the end of the cabin. The next was only a few yards away, but the darkness between them seemed to stretch out for miles. Ki looked warily around the corner and turned to the others.
“I would like very much to be inside, but I see no reason to risk going further. If we can’t put a door behind us, we are as well off here as anyplace else.”
“Funny, I don’t feel well off,” muttered Jessie. The night seemed filled with ghostly shapes. Everywhere she looked, something moved—shadow against shadow. The butt of the Colt felt reassuring in her hand. It was hard to keep from firing into the dark, spraying lead to bolster her courage. If we don’t get out of this fast, that’ll happen, she told herself grimly. We’ll be facing those creatures with a couple of empty guns ...
“The two that showed up by the creek have moved in closer,” Feodor whispered. “They’re behind those cabins across the common.”
“That only leaves three, if Torgler’s right.”
“Only?”
Jessie forced a grin. “Doesn’t sound right, does it? Look, if they come we‘ll—God, what’s that!”
A high-pitched wail cut through the night. Ki froze in his tracks. “That wasn’t a wolf!”
“No...” Jessie’s heart leaped up in her throat. “Oh, Lord, Ki, look—it’s a child!”
“That can’t be!” said Feodor.
“There!” Jessie gripped his arm and pointed. “Past that second cottage.”
“You’re jumping at shadows,” he told her. “I don’t see a—Jessie, no!”
Jessie didn’t let herself think. She held the Colt loosely in her hand and ran low, keeping one eye on the small white figure, the other on the darkness closing in from every side. The child saw her, and looked up with frightened eyes.
“Jessie, look out!”
Feodor and Ki shouted at once. Jessie heard the throaty growl at her heels, and scooped up the child without stopping. A Winchester exploded behind her. Jessie risked a look over her shoulder. The wolf snarled and bit at the air, dancing in the hail of lead. She had a second or two, maybe—no more than that. She hefted the child in her arms and tossed it at the low, sod-covered roof, then hoisted herself up behind. The child fell past her, screaming as it rolled back toward the edge. Jessie caught it by the leg, turned on her back, and saw the wolf leap off the ground straight for her. She brought the Colt up fast, and fired three quick shots at the animal’s chest. The wolf howled and clawed past her, snapping its jaws to try and kill her as it died. Jessie cried out and jerked away, clutching the child to her. She felt herself slipping, tried to dig her heels through the roof, and tumbled to the ground. Jessie took the blow herself, holding the child up high. The pistol flew out of her hand. Sucking in air to fill her lungs, she sat up shakily and scrambled for the Colt, brushing the ground frantically in the dark.
The sound brought her around and froze the blood in her veins. The creature came at her, head low to the ground, white teeth bared in a deathly grin. There was no time left, and she knew it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ki running toward her, and knew he’d never reach her. The wolf tossed its head, tensed its hard body, and leaped—
Yellow fire blossomed. Twin peals of thunder roared across the common. The wolf’s head exploded, spattering Jessie with blood. She turned in disbelief and saw the young woman in the doorway, the shotgun cradled in her arms. Very calmly she broke open the weapon, digging in her apron for new shells.
“Jessie—you all right?”
“I—guess so.” Ki helped her up. Jessie searched for her Colt and found it. A woman cried out, ran toward them, and drew the bawling child into her arms. Tears filled her eyes. Her thanks rushed out in words Jessie couldn’t understand, but the meaning was clear enough.
“Is the one I got—dead?” asked Jessie. “I got it, didn’t I?”
“Yes. You got it,” Ki said dryly. He felt as if he’d aged a hundred years in the last two minutes. “It came very close to getting you.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“Good. Next time, Jessie—”
Feodor bellowed across the common, pointing frantically to his left. Ki saw them at once, and raised a hand to hold Jessie back. Two gray shadows bounded into the clearing, fur raised high on their backs. Jessie checked her Colt, stepped to the right, and saw Feodor back off slowly, bringing the Winchester to his shoulder.
“Don’t move,” Ki said beside her. “Stay perfectly still.”
A door jerked open behind Jessie. She nearly jumped out of her skin. A stout settler walked out, hesitated a moment, and took a bold step forward, a large piece of firewood clutched in a callused hand. A woman in a long gown came up behind him, gripping a poker from the fire. A door past Feodor added its own pool of light to the common. A gaunt, gray-haired man as old as Gustolf walked over his doorstep, brandishing a wicked, three-pronged pitchfork.
Jessie gripped Ki’s arm. A chill touched the back of her neck. Feodor’s people appeared like ghosts, grimly filling the common until they ringed the beasts in a circle. The two wolves backed cautiously away, cold eyes sweeping the crowd. One pawed the ground, snarled, and snapped at the air. They were wary, bewildered. Whatever was happening here was outside their experience. Every instinct told them to spring, but something held them back ...
The crowd moved in. Several men had torches, and now they held them high, waving the licking flames at the wolves. Light banished shadow and made the animals real ...
Jessie saw that there were few guns among the villagers. For the most part, they clutched the tools they worked with—forks, picks, axes, and sharp-bladed scythes. She knew it mattered little what they carried. Anger and pride were their real weapons, and they were learning how to use them. Her eyes swept the circle and stopped. It was the woman with the shotgun who’d saved her life, and Jessie realized with a start who she was—the young widow of Michael Antonescu, the man who�
�d been killed the night she arrived.
Across the circle, she saw Feodor step up to Gustolf and press the Winchester into his hands. The old man looked at him a long moment, then a grim smile crossed his features. More had passed between them than a rifle, Jessie knew. Gustolf levered a shell into the chamber and glanced proudly at Sonia by his side. Then he raised the rifle quickly and fired, worked the lever, and fired once more. A shotgun roared, and an old pistol boomed. A pitchfork flashed in the light and plunged into the center of the circle. An ax caught the glint of a torch. Gustolf bellowed, and the crowd took up his cry. Jessie turned away from the sight. The wolves didn’t need more killing—but Gustolf’s people did.
Feodor caught Jessie’s eye, took a dozen long strides, and swept her into his arms.
“It is over,” he grinned. “All but one. And we’ll get him too, by God. And his crazy keeper as well!”
“You can be proud of them,” said Jessie.
“Ah, I am, I am! Better than that, they are proud of themselves.” A shadow crossed his face, and he clutched her shoulders tightly. “That was a brave thing you did. No one here will forget it. For a minute I thought you were—” Feodor clamped his jaws and didn’t finish.
Jessie laughed and pulled away. “So did Ki, but I’m not. I think I scared him more than I’ve ever—” She stopped, suddenly turned away, and frantically searched the common. “Ki. Oh, my God, Feodor!” A tremor coursed through her body as she clutched a hand to her breast. “He’s out there. He went out after that wild man by himself!”
Chapter 18
He knew they were there ...
The night was far different from that other, when he had first followed Gustolf into the fields. Then he’d found it hard to wear the skin of his enemy, to become the wolf itself. The beast had nearly fooled him, cunningly shifting its fury to the hapless old man.
He no longer searched for sign, a faint hint of odor on the wind. Now the kime of the beast was all around him. It was a thickness in the air, a heavy, brutal presence that assaulted his senses. So many wolves had prowled the high wheat, he was blind to the one he sought.
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