by Bryce THOMAS
Silvah had only seen the watering hole a few times as she and her companion captives were given little food. With his deliberate action to keep them weak and defenceless, Solin never left his hostages alone. Five or six fit, well fed guards were the normal detachment left with them at all times. All this, Rhamin knew from what Silvah had told him. What he didn’t know, until Corvak had happened along, was that, each day, the remainder of the wolves of Solin’s pack would spread out in a fan-like formation as they headed away from the camp, thus explaining the many trails converging on the camp. By spreading out like that, the wolves could make sure that they spotted any approaching creature and could warn the guards at the camp by howling back to them.
Corvak was an excellent spy. He not only saw what was happening in Solin’s camp, but from branches high above the pack, he could listen to what was being said. Rhamin needed to know if Solin and the members of his pack believed that he and Silvah had returned to the Darin. He knew that Solin would be hoping that he would not give up on his friends but if he wasn’t to be seen anywhere, then it could bode well for Rhamin’s plan. Corvak’s reconnaissance answered his question. Solin had, indeed, seen the spiral of vultures off to the south east and, keeping his wolves back, was not allowing any of them to hunt alone. It appeared to Corvak that Solin was preparing to wait for Rhamin to return with reinforcements, rather than split his pack and head off in pursuit. Rhamin knew that Solin was sure he had superior numbers and Solin’s pack consisted of fully mature wolves. Corvak could see how confident Solin was, and he was sure Solin expected to win any battle brought to him on what was now familiar ground.
After another short rest, whilst they waited for Corvak to return, Rhamin and Silvah, circling wide, swung back through the forest and travelled north until they eventually reached the rapidly flowing river. There, they turned south. Now, once again guided by Corvak, they were able to make sure that there were none of Solin’s wolves nearby to see them. Only once did Corvak warn them of a scout heading out to the edge of the forest. When they were sure that the scout had turned south and was travelling away from them, slowly, and guided by Corvak, they followed the steep slope of the river along the top of the ravine. Eventually, they came to the edge of a cliff which overlooked Solin’s camp. To the left was the waterfall that dropped into the bubbling pool of water that flattened out towards the watering hole, and to the right, a thin trail led back down towards the camp. Silvah pointed out a clump of scrub bush. ‘That’s where Natan and Rowan are,’ she explained. She pointed to an overhanging slab of bedrock that, about eighty feet beneath them, ran out from the base of the cliff towards the middle of the camp. ‘The rest of the wolves should be beneath that.’
They watched as Corvak circled above and then swooped in and made a perfect landing in a tree beside them. The black raven confirmed what Silvah had said. Rhamin pulled back from the edge of the cliff, settled down on his belly and spoke quietly to Silvah. Eventually, watched by Corvak who seemed distracted for a while as he groomed his feathers under his left wing, Silvah stood up and, taking the raven with her, headed back down the narrow track into the forest. Rhamin waited a while and then followed her, scent marking the thin trail as he went. After half an hour or so, he turned back up the track to the top of the cliff where he remained, lying down, closing his eyes, and for a while, resting and waiting.
There could not have been more than half an hour’s daylight remaining when Corvak returned and called gently to Rhamin, who stood up and walked over to the edge of the cliff. Taking a deep breath, he turned his head up to the sky and howled as loud as he had ever called. The sound eerily broke the silence, reverberating through the forest and sending echoes bouncing from side to side off the steep gorge and over the white water in the distance. Nothing could have prepared him for the reaction from the pack below. There was a chorus of barking and yapping as the pack suddenly sprang into a frenzy of activity, scurrying around, looking for the source of the sound, racing from one side of the camp to the other. It was a scene of total surprised panic. Rhamin pulled back from the edge, watching from the cover of a low, thickly cloaked branch of a pine tree. Over the din and chaos, he heard Solin barking out orders. He was telling them to stop running about and to calm down. But it didn’t seem to be working.
‘Obviously, they have seen what you did to the front guard,’ Corvak whispered in Rhamin’s ear. His head swivelled around as he pecked confidently at the bark on the tree. ‘They are afraid! It’s obvious!’
Rhamin just nodded his acknowledgement of the statement, not sure what Corvak had said, but he knew what Corvak knew. He could see that the pack below were racing about, trying to discover from which side the attack was coming, for clearly, they looked as if they believed Rhamin had somehow returned with an army of wolves. Once again, moving further down the edge of the cliff, Rhamin let out the loudest howl he could muster, and once again, as it echoed from one side of the ravine to the other, it sent the pack into a frenzy of yapping and racing about. Some of them joined together and headed down one of the paths into the forest. Another group led by Solin headed down another track, firmly believing that the sound had come from that direction. Another five ran down the track towards the ravine and watering hole. Solin snapped out orders but no one took any notice as the remaining three wolves ran up the narrow track towards the top of the cliff. Now Rhamin remained silent. He didn’t want to give any of the splintered pack a clue as to which group was chasing in the right direction. Quietly, he headed back the way he had come, to the north and along the narrow winding path that would eventually take him deep into the dark forest.
Far behind he could hear Solin howling to the rest of his pack while Rhamin, loping gently on led the three renegade wolves along the lonely track. He could hear them barking and panting heavily as they followed his scent marks and raced to gain ground on him. When he thought he had travelled far enough away from the rest of Solin’s wolves he stopped beside a clump of mature oaks. He settled in the thick patch of bracken next to one of his scent marks, where he knew they would hesitate a moment before rushing on along the path. Only seconds passed before the first wolf raced up the track. He faltered slightly as his nose picked up the scent mark and then raced on, following the trail. The next wolf was only twenty yards behind and in an effort to catch up with the leader, it didn’t slow. Rhamin could hear a third wolf somewhere not too far behind. Bracing himself on his back legs and raising his body off the ground he waited, only for a second and then, as the wolf came by he pounced. It didn’t have a chance. He had taken it completely unawares. Rhamin grabbed it by the neck and with a whiplash shake of his head he killed it before it could make any retaliatory or defensive manoeuvre. With a high squeak and a gurgle, it fell to the ground at his feet.
The two wolves ahead heard the sound and slid to a halt. Barking ferociously they turned on their prey, only they were not side by side. On the narrow path between two mature oaks they could only attack in single file. As Rhamin met the nearest wolf in mid air his weight snapped its head backwards as it plummeted back, bouncing firstly off him and then off solid wood and into the path of its comrade. Rhamin’s momentum carried him onto the top of the chasing wolf. He grabbed its throat and shook and shook again until all life had left its limp body. With a final angry growl of satisfaction, he tossed it into the bracken.
Another three down and twelve to go. Rhamin knew he had evened the odds a little, but he also knew that Solin would soon have realised that he was chasing the wrong way when he heard the wolves barking excitedly in pursuit of Rhamin. Solin had bounded up the narrow path and it was clear from the scent marks that, although Rhamin was not alone the only other wolf ’s footprints his powerful scent glands could detect was the weak and sickly Silvah. But despite all his calling he was having difficulty gathering his pack behind him. ‘Come on you cowards,’ he was shouting.
‘He is only one wolf!’ The first four casualties must have been discovered by now, and they were four of
Solin’s best. Clearly, Rhamin’s reputation had preceded him for not all the wolves seemed intent on pursuit.
Rhamin’s problem was that he wasn’t sure at that moment which scent Solin had picked up. Was it just the scent of Silvah? In that case his plan had failed. Or was he following Rhamin’s carefully scent marked trail? Either way, heading back to see what Solin was up to, was a bad idea. Solin still had a twelve wolf pack, too many for Rhamin to fight at once. He decided to put some more distance between himself and his enemy.
Steadily he loped along, conserving his energy. As darkness fell and the canopy of the forest blacked out all but a straying star beam there was a sudden silent stillness. What was Solin doing now, he wondered? There was nothing Rhamin could do now but keep going. Corvak could not help him for ravens are not nocturnal birds. Until daylight, Rhamin would be all alone. The canopy sheltered the forest floor from any wind or breeze, and without sound or scent he had no idea where the enemy was. Oh how he could have used Charka’s extraordinary sense of hearing now! If Only! But at least there was no advantage given to his enemy. There was just one thing Rhamin knew in his own mind for sure: Solin’s pack may have been looking for him, trying to locate him. But, in their eyes he was the hunter now, not the hunted.
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High, high above the forest, riding on the first sunbeams of the day, long before the same light had reached the ground beneath the canopy of the forest, Corvus’s incredible eyes soon detected movement. She hovered and circled until the figure below crossed a clearing. ‘Found him!’ she chuntered to herself, beginning a spiralling, downward dive. Lower down, still in the twilight of the morning, she glided over the treetops, scanning for any other movement. When eventually she located Rhamin again, dawn had reached ground level.
In the blackness of the dense overhead canopy Rhamin had used his keen eyesight and his intense sense of smell to backtrack along his original path. More able to pick up the scent of Silvah’s footprints than his own, he was now grateful he had had her beside him on the journey into the forest. He had instructed Corvak to join Silvah when day broke, so when he heard Corvus caw as he broke out into the open, he felt a sheer sense of relief that he was no longer alone. His only worry now was that his plan might have failed. He didn’t know if Silvah had succeeded in leading Natan and Rowan to safety. All he knew was that she had had a better chance to escape with the pack chasing after him.
As the sun began to cast a long shadow behind him, Rhamin climbed an escarpment that ran along the base of the mountains like a ripple around a lake of water. From the top he looked back to the edge of the steeply rising forest. He saw no wolves on his trail. Neither could any movement be seen in the thinner patches of forest. His heart sank as he thought now his plan had failed. If Solin had not followed him then he must have gone after Silvah, and alone or even with her two friends, he would certainly have killed them by now.
With a heavy heart he lay down in a hollow that afforded him a clear view of the path along which he had just come. He rested his chin on his paws and, with a tired sigh, watched and waited. As the sun climbed in the morning sky and the beams of radiant heat began to warm his coat, his body began to feel the effects of long days and nights of travelling with little rest or sleep. For a short while his eyes closed and his mind began to wander between semi- sleep and consciousness, only prevented from falling into a deep sleep when he flicked his ears to shake off a group of pestering flies. Then, suddenly, from behind him a voice broke the silence.
‘Well done, Rhamin,’ Corvus said as she alighted beside him. ‘It’s worked.’
At first Rhamin could not understand what she had said. He stood up and shook himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming and then looked at the black raven intensely, waiting for her to speak again. She bobbed up and down excitedly. Rhamin studied her and, by her manner, he was now able to understand her a little better, more from her behaviour than her language. He knew the ravens could understand him for Corvak had insisted on making Corvus learn the language of wolves when talking with Zelda during the long cool evenings. ‘Have Silvah, Natan and Rowan escaped?’ he asked.
Corvus nodded excitedly and cawed and danced about.
‘Yes!’ she was calling, ‘Yes! Yes!’
Rhamin sighed with relief. That much he could understand. He looked up over the crest of the escarpment and thought for a moment. ‘So where is Solin and his pack?’
Corvus cawed again, and pointed with her wing towards the tree line on the mountain side. ‘They are coming after you.’ She shouted the last words as if shouting made it easier for Rhamin to understand. ‘But Solin has had a bit of trouble getting his wolves to follow in the dark forest,’
Corvus carried on, mimicking the movements of a wolf trying to get his pack to follow him by walking forward and then stopping and waving an imaginary pack on with her wing. ‘They have taken their time because they were afraid,’ she explained by cowering and looking around furtively. ‘They were afraid you were lying waiting to ambush them.’ She pounced forward to illustrate.
Rhamin was beginning to regret not taking the time to sit with Zelda, as Rasci and Silvah had done, to learn how to talk to the ravens more fluently.
‘If they are to fight you,’ Corvus went on, shouting the key words and once again gesticulating an attack on Rhamin by waving her wings and pouncing forward, ‘they are going to do it in the daylight.’ She pointed at the sun. ‘When they can see you properly.’ She put her wings over her eyes as if peering at Rhamin from a distance. He wasn’t sure he understood every word but from the antics of his friend he managed to gather the bare bones of the conversation, even if they were lacking in meat.
He smiled, as wolves do, panting with satisfaction, his forty two white teeth gleaming against his black face. ‘And what about Silvah, Natan and Rowan? Where are they now?’
Corvus pointed over to the north east side of the forest. ‘They are heading back to your Darin,’ she said, pointing to the south confidently. ‘Don’t worry, Corvak is watching out for them. He’ll let us know if there is any problem. I left him at first light to come and tell you.’
Once again, from studying her actions rather than her words, Rhamin managed to understand her. ‘In that case,’ Rhamin concluded, ‘I think I’ll leave Solin and his bunch of nomads to chase their tails. They can have me if they can catch me!’ And with that, he stood up. ‘Thank you dearly my good friend,’ he said, putting his nose close to the old raven. The sun glistened in a myriad of iridescent colours on her shining black feathers as she leaned forward and pecked him affectionately on the muzzle. Lighter of heart now, and refreshed by the good news, he began to glide in his effortless loping stride in the direction of home.
However, only minutes into his journey, Rhamin spotted two specs in the sky above the horizon, and stopping to get a better view, he soon made out two birds approaching. He heard Corvus cawing from behind him, and was soon aware that she was calling to the birds. It was Crufus and Betrix. They took less than two minutes to reach Rhamin and their mother.
Excitedly, the young ravens fluttered to a perfect landing by his side. They were fully grown now, and experts at aeronautics. ‘They are coming!’ Betrix exclaimed, pointing with her wing back from where they had come.
Corvus cawed and nodded excitedly to Rhamin. ‘Good, good!!’ she shouted at him to make sure he understood.
Rhamin sensed that their happiness and excitement and the direction from which they had flown meant only one thing; his own pack was coming to find him. A few more parrying of words, where Rhamin asked the questions and Corvus nodded or shook her head to say if he was on the right track, confirmed what had been explained by the youngsters. So, once again, led by the three ravens, he set off homeward bound and it wasn’t long before, on the distant horizon, he spotted a grey line of wolves snaking their way through the contours of the land and heading to meet him. Above them he could see Corvak. Everybody was there including Silvah, Natan and Rowan.
Pointed in the right direction by Corvak, they had met the approaching pack during the night and, at first light, Corvak had caught them up again and had taken over guiding them towards their leader.
Eventually, once the excitement had died down, Rhamin was told that, Powla and Charka had returned soon after he had departed, and the pack then set off to find Rhamin and the missing wolves.
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Rhamin knew that, with the help of his feathered friends, Solin had little chance of catching him or outflanking him, but he knew he would have to deal with Solin sometime. He considered if now was the right time. Including Solin there were twelve wolves left in his pack, none younger than a year and a half old, whereas Rhamin had fourteen wolves, but that included toothless old Zelda, Bamar who was still favouring his healing leg, and the five cubs. He was not prepared to risk the lives of his youngsters who, despite the training they had been given were relatively inexperienced at serious fighting. They were still growing, soon to begin their slower period of growth towards adulthood and they had only just had their second set of teeth. Getting into a fight with them and Zelda involved would seriously compromise the way the battle went because much effort would be expended protecting the young and the old, and he knew Solin would work on that weakness. But he knew that although he could keep ahead of Solin and his pack, running away was only going to make the renegade pack more confident and eager to fight. Now that Silvah had told him word for word what Corvus had tried to explain earlier, he knew that Solin’s followers were in no way confident of victory.
Standing in the centre of a circle of wolves Rhamin explained the situation to them. Natan, Silvah and Rowan, although not fully recovered from their ordeal, had been well fed by the rest of the pack when they met up. They, more than any of the pack, were angered by Solin’s treachery. He had not just wanted to lead a pack of his own. He had made it personal and taken hostages. In their opinion, it was time things were put right.