by Blake Smith
After a moment, Sinikka was persuaded to touch Onni’s massive shoulder and whisper a few words to him. Taika bid him good-bye and good luck, then straightened up and looked around. She smiled upon catching sight of Aatu and he wagged his tail in response.
“My love, is that you?” she asked, kneeling before him. He butted her outstretched hand, letting her scratch behind his ears and run her fingers through his fur. She smiled. “You look very handsome. Is this how you plan to fight the outlaws?” He bobbed his head up and down.
“Good luck. I’ll be here when you come back,” she whispered as Veikko barked loudly, calling the pack to order. Aatu nuzzled her cheek then unwillingly ducked out of her grip so he could join the others.
“Good-bye, Aatu,” Sinikka’s little voice drifted on the wind. He nodded an acknowledgement, wishing again for a human voice so he could tell her how much he loved her. Taika already knew that; there was no need to repeat it, but Sinikka didn’t seem to understand that they were doing this for her. For all of the women and children who would suffer at the hands of the Sword-Brothers, the ones who would die if they couldn’t throw a band of outlaws out of their land.
Chapter Nine
Aatu thought Onni looked disappointed as they fell into line. He bumped his friend’s shoulder, trying to say without words that everything would be all right. Onni bumped him back and they smiled at each other, pink tongues lolling and eyes bright with anticipation. Finally they were about to do something about their enemies. No more waiting and hoping the Sword-Brothers wouldn’t attack first.
Despite Veikko’s insistence that every man was needed, Aatu counted only fifty in their pack- two out of every three men in the village. He flattened his ears, not liking to be lied to, then pricked them forward when something caught his attention.
It was a group of people. Men and boys, by their sizes. He recognized most of them by smell. But their silhouettes weren’t human; they looked like the trolls that lived in the ice caves to the north. Aatu took a few steps closer and saw that each carried a bundle on his back. Firewood and kindling, he realized. Veikko had said they would set fire to the palisade to distract the enemy. So every man was going to fight after all. Even Nyyrikki, who eschewed violence whenever possible, carried a sword and three clay pots that smelled like smoke and fire. Embers with which to light the fires.
The outlaws’ camp was only a short trek from the village. The moonlight shone coldly on the glowing path, nearly as bright as day. Only the trees were dim and shadowed, their naked branches wavering in the faint breeze like their spirits were offering a final blessing to the fighters.
They stopped on the ridge above the camp, where Aatu had watched the priests go into the fort a month ago. Had it only been a month? It seemed like a lifetime since he’d looked down on the camp and wished to drive the enemy away.
First he had to wait. The fires must be set, to confuse the enemy. But Aatu could wait forever, now that his goal was in sight. He sat on his haunches, his only movement a gentle thump-thump of his tail against the snow.
From their vantage point, the pack could see two of the three fires. One was more smoke than fire, but the other blazed quickly, orange tongues of flame licking the palisade in only minutes. Still they waited. Onni fidgeted, digging at the snow and stuffing his muzzle into its depths in search of whatever delicious smell he’d discovered.
The only sound was the crackle of the fires, the thump of Aatu’s wagging tail, and the occasional wuff from Onni as he sniffed and dug. Then a new sound drifted on the breeze. Human shouting. The Sword-Brothers had noticed the fires. They cried out to each other in their own tongue and though Aatu had no idea what they were saying, the tinge of panic in their voices was the sweetest music to his ears. Let them shout. Let them fear. They would have enough to fear before Aatu had finished with them.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Veikko barked once then howled, a long note that carried to the very ends of the earth. That was the signal.
The pack bolted down the hill and dashed through the tunnel-like gap in the palisade, Aatu sticking close to Onni. Veikko had impressed upon them the importance of staying together. Individual heroics were all well and good, he’d said, but the only way to break a disciplined line of warriors was to charge at them in a group.
The Sword-Brothers were in chaos. Some ran here and there, fetching buckets of water to pour on the fires. Others were scrambling out of their houses, half-dressed and with swords in hand. They would die of the cold if the wolves didn’t get to them first, but they were a formidable enemy in the meantime. The pack charged at the men outside the first house, teeth and claws ripping into unprotected flesh and streaking the snow red with blood. The wolf part of Aatu’s mind rejoiced at the scent of blood, like hot metal on the air. The human side felt sick. Aatu whined softly, torn between the two. The wolf won.
One of the outlaws had had the presence of mind to grab his shield. Aatu and Onni saw him at the same time, glanced at each other, then ran at him.
There was no need for human speech, no need to stop and plan what they were about to do. When they were just out of sword range, Onni soared upwards like he would leap over the top of the shield. Faced with an enormous black wolf flying at his head, the man flicked his shield up. That was the moment Aatu had been waiting for. He dove under the rim of the shield, snaked past the outlaw’s bright sword, and sank his teeth into the unarmored leg, twisting and pulling the man off balance then seizing his right arm so the sword fell to the ground with a soft huff that was muffled and oddly loud at the same time.
Onni held the outlaw by the throat until his struggles slowed and stopped. Aatu wrinkled his nose at the pungent smells of blood and urine and voided bowels, then darted away, looking for the next man who wanted to die. Onni followed, a dark shadow under the cold glow of moonlight.
They took down two more outlaws before the light changed. Aatu saw it as a brilliant glow on the sword blade that would have taken off his head if he’d been an instant slower. A new shout came up from the Sword-Brothers as he dispatched the man. He glanced around the compound now that no one was attacking him.
One of the houses was on fire. If Aatu had been human, he would have shouted for joy. As it was, he howled, and the rest of the pack echoed him as the second house began to burn.
Fierce, bright joy surged through him. Flames flickered all around and shadowy ghosts flitted here and there, their insane laughter drifting on the wind. The wolf was wary, but the human drove him toward the men running about the encampment.
Aatu didn’t know when he lost Onni, but he couldn’t have gone far. A corner of his mind said he should look for his friend, until he saw the little band of men sheltering against the palisade.
Four of them. And one smelled familiar. The burning house flared up, sending a brief light to illuminate the man’s face, and Aatu saw it.
He had a black eye.
An image of Taika, flinching away when the man threw bright silver coins in her face, flashed through his mind.
This time he could do something about his fury. The fur along his spine stood on end, and if he’d known it, his teeth were bared and gleaming demonically in the moonlight. The little group of men saw it and backed a step away, forming themselves into a circle with their swords pointing outward.
Aatu padded closer. He would kill them. All of them. They were so much taller than he, and the biggest one was roaring at him, daring Aatu to come within reach of his sword. So he did.
He ran leftward so he was tracking at an angle to the palisade, which was listing drunkenly from the nearby fire damage. A frisson of confusion shot through the Sword-Brothers; he knew they were wondering why he didn’t charge directly at them. When he was a few paces away from their sword points, Aatu leaped half way up the palisade, digging his claws into the walls. His momentum carried him well above the men’s heads, and before they could spit him on their swords, he’d turned and leaped down upon them.
Th
e big one went down, unprepared for an angry wolf landing on his head. Aatu seized him by the throat and shook him like a rat, just to be sure, but he paid for the delay when an impact exploded in his hip- probably the flat of a sword. He snarled, but the pain didn’t stop him from turning on the attacker. This one wore mail, so Aatu didn’t bother clawing at him. He slid under the blade as it sliced through the air and clamped his jaws around the man’s boot, yanking him off balance then biting at his neck when he slipped and fell.
The third man barely put up a fight. Or perhaps Aatu had grown faster in his rage. Everything around him was moving in flashes of time, slow and clear then so rapid he had no time to think. He saw the third man lying on the ground, quite dead, and had no memory of how he’d done it.
The last one was a coward, but Aatu already knew that. His blood tasted sweet as Aatu tore him apart, snapping the tendons in his right hand so he couldn’t use his sword then eating him from the feet up and he thrashed and kicked uselessly. The ground was red for four or five paces in every direction around the body by the time Aatu had had enough. He shook himself and stalked away, looking for something else to kill and not realizing that people on both sides were running away from him, terrified of the blood that coated him from the shoulders up.
An unburned part of the palisade had torn loose from its shaky foundations and lay on the ground. Aatu wondered if he’d done that. He remembered jumping up onto the wall to gain a height advantage, but had it been in that corner of the camp, or another? The images were beginning to blur together in his mind. Only a few very vivid scenes stood out, most of them utterly random. But he’d killed one of Taika’s attackers- he remembered that. So that was something.
He didn’t have time to think about it. One of the outlaws had managed to find a horse and struck downward at Aatu from his perch in the saddle. He dodged the sword but wasn’t fast enough to avoid a kick from the battle trained stallion. The iron-shod hoof slammed into his ribs, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying through the air. A piercing yelp tore through the night, and it took Aatu a moment to realize it had come from him.
Stunned by the pain, he lay motionless for a moment. The horse would have trampled him if Veikko had been an instant slower. The alpha leaped over Aatu and sank his teeth into the horse’s soft pink muzzle. A terrible choking scream ripped through the chaos and the pink turned red. Veikko let go before the pain maddened horse could strike at him with its forefeet, but the damage was done. The horse skittered and bucked, desperate to be free of its rider’s iron grip on the reins that was the only thing holding it near the wolves.
Aatu surged to his feet as the Sword-Brother tumbled from the saddle. Two other wolves were on Veikko’s heels, and the four of them dispatched the prone Sword-Brother where he lay.
Two more Sword-Brothers ran to help their comrade, but to no avail. Aatu had learned his lesson and stuck close to the others long enough to kill the would-be rescuers, then search for their next prey. It was a strategy that kept them safe long into the night.
Chapter Ten
The moon had sunk behind the trees by the time Veikko called the pack away from the destruction, leaving the sky a soft, shadowy gray, peaceful and serene in the face of the horror below. Three blackened, smoking holes in the palisade stood testament to the villagers’ fury. The horses had been killed or driven off, and the houses still burned. Aatu ducked instinctively as the roof of the last one finally caved in a shower of sparks and a wave of searing heat. If any Sword-Brothers had thought to hide within its walls, they were certainly dead now.
He didn’t care.
Veikko called again, sharper this time. Aatu’s ears swiveled, searching for the alpha. He paced slowly in that direction, looking this way and that for an excuse not to leave the burning camp. The blood smelled wonderful. He didn’t want to leave it.
Even when he sniffed at each of the bodies he passed, ostensibly making sure they were dead, he came closer and closer to Veikko and the rest of the pack that were assembling outside the ruined palisade. His last act of defiance was to leap through the burning fence instead of going around to the entrance like the others were doing. The effort made him gasp in pain.
Veikko bristled and his lips curled back from his teeth. Aatu lowered his head in a show of submission, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was still in a state of joy from the fight, the savage happiness that came from throwing himself against the enemy and seeing them crumble beneath the onslaught.
But his attempt at apology was enough for Veikko, who waited for a last few stragglers to come through the gate, then led the pack north toward the village, leaving Nyyrikki to lead the men in clearing away the last evidence of the Sword-Brothers’ presence.
Aatu whined as they reached the treeline. A few women were caring for the injured wolves and men- some had sword cuts, others had been struck by arrows. He counted four wolves and six men lying on hides. He knew them all- not well, but enough to sympathize when one yelped in pain. The women soothed the wolf as best they could, their voices gentle, their hands hesitant in the dark that made it difficult to see the injuries they were bandaging.
Veikko wuffed softly, drawing the pack onward. Aatu was limping and trying to hide it when they reached the village. His ribs hurt, his right hip ached, and he had no idea what had happened to his left forepaw, only that it probably wasn’t broken.
A dozen or more people had gathered to assist the wolves in returning to their human bodies. Taika was one of them. Aatu tried to avoid her searching gaze- he was still covered in blood and didn’t want to distress her- but she sought him out and led him to her parents’ house with a look that dared him to argue.
He stepped over the threshold, reluctantly when he saw Sinikka inside. Her eyes went wide as she took in his appearance, but some of the tension left her shoulders. The door swung shut and his sister fell back into shadow.
“Aatu, come back to me,” Taika whispered, holding out a bit of bread. He took it, chewed, and swallowed. For a moment, nothing happened, and he thought the ritual had gone wrong because Taika wasn’t trained as a shaman. Then the world turned over. He was already in pain from the horse’s kick, but the transformation back into his human form brought him to a place beyond agony. His ribs were like a thousand burning swords piercing his side as the stretching muscles pulled on the cracks. He would have begged for death if only he could speak.
And then it was over. He was human again. His wounds still hurt, but the pain was so slight in comparison to before, it felt like the merest ache.
Sinikka and Taika were kneeling beside him, identical looks of horror marring their faces. Aatu was absurdly grateful that most of the blood had disappeared during the transformation.
“I thought you said it wasn’t supposed to hurt,” Taika whispered, running her fingers through his hair. “What happened?”
“Kicked by a horse, I think. I’m not sure what else,” he said as he carefully propped himself up on his elbows. That hurt, so he sat upright. That hurt, too.
“Here,” Sinikka threw a cloak over his shoulders. “You look cold.”
“Thank you.” He leaned on her, exhausted now that the fight was over.
The women wanted to hear his tale of the fight- Pekko had forbidden them to be anywhere near the outlaws’ camp- so he told them what he remembered as he got dressed, glossing over a few of the nastier aspects. Taika looked pleased when he told her that at least one of her attackers was dead. Sinikka asked if Onni had come back with the others, and Aatu was forced to admit that he hadn’t seen him since midway through the fight.
“But there are almost fifty of us,” he reassured her. “I couldn’t count everyone. I’ll find him for you.” He rose gingerly to his feet.
“Are you sure you don’t need to see Akka?” Taika asked. “She might have something to take away the pain.”
“I’m fine. Or,” he amended, when Taika shot him a look, “I will be soon. Others need Akka’s help more than I.”
/> She couldn’t argue with that, so Aatu pushed open the door and went out into the dawn. The sky was palest pink. It would snow before evening, but Aatu didn’t mind. The Sword-Brothers were dead or mostly so. All of his problems seemed insignificant in the face of that victory.
He walked through the village, greeting his fellows and asking how they’d fared in the fight. Everyone was abroad, looking for their friends and neighbors, sharing stories of their skill in battle.
There were two dead wolves laid out next to the shaman’s little house, one black-furred and enormous, the other fiery red. Aatu didn’t recognize either; the black one’s skull had been cleaved nearly in two by a sword and the red one’s neck wound had bled so much that Aatu couldn’t believe there was any blood left in his body.
He would have walked on, but something flickered in his mind. A fleck of white surrounded by black fur. He stopped, sliding on the snow, and looked down at the black wolf. It had a tiny patch of white on one foreleg, exactly where a scar would lie on the wrist of a human.
It was Onni.
Aatu’s legs wouldn’t hold him upright. He crumpled to the ground, not noticing or caring when his injuries protested. He didn’t know how long he knelt beside his friend, smoothing the black fur into place as if it would bring peace to both of them.
Footsteps crunched on the other side of the body. He looked up. Onni’s father was standing there, looking older than Aatu had ever seen him appear.
He blinked, and Pekko’s image blurred then cleared. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, desperate for Pekko to understand. “I’m so sorry. We were supposed to stay together.”
“You were hurt,” Pekko said.
He shook his head minutely. “We were supposed to stay together.”