Rhamin

by Bryce THOMAS

  ‘Really?’ Now Zelda pricked up her ears. ‘Are you sure about that?’ She shuffled uncomfortably and winced as her hip bones creaked. ‘Are you really sure about that?’ she asked again. ‘This might be very important.’

  Rasci took his time to answer. He nodded and said, ‘Yes, I’m absolutely sure.’

  Zelda thought for a moment, and then asked, ‘So what happened then?’

  ‘Well, I don’t think the farmer knew who it was. He carried on cursing and the machine flew off. Yes, it was heading straight towards the Darin, now, I recall.’

  ‘So the end to this tale is?’

  Rasci shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Gran. That’s what’s bothering me. I woke up, you see.’

  ‘So you don’t remember anything else, anything at all?’

  ‘Nope. That’s it,’ said Rasci, shaking his head. ‘Except when I woke up a voice was saying something… what was it?’ He strained through the dregs of his memory. ‘Something about birds don’t land in trees, I think… I’m not sure. Or was it, some birds don’t land in trees? Yes, that might be it.’

  They both remained silent for a while. Then Zelda asked,

  ‘Is it daylight outside yet?’

  Rasci turned his head to the mouth of the cave. The air above the rocks outside was already beginning to shimmer as the sun heated them. ‘Bright and sunny. Why? Do you fancy a walk?’

  ‘Good idea,’ Zelda said encouragingly. ‘And while we’re at it, you can call for the rest of the pack again. I think there is something we all need to discuss.’

  ‘That’s what I thought. But what?’

  ‘I’m as much in the dark as you are Rasci.’

  ‘More really.’

  ‘Huh. Watch your lip.’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  It was late on in the day when Rasci heard from Silvah again. She sounded no closer than she had been the previous evening, and her voice seemed different somehow. Natan and his group, who had been further away in the morning, arrived back at the Darin, in the middle of the night, tired and thirsty, but they still greeted Rasci in the normal way. But there was still no sign of Silvah by morning.

  The dappled early morning sunlight speckled their coats with sovereigns of gold as it broke through the leafy branches of a nearby scrub thorn bush. Natan padded over to Rasci, who was sitting in the shadow by the base of the podium rock. He, too, seemed concerned. ‘Where is everybody?’ he asked Rasci. ‘Where’s Rhamin?’

  Rasci shrugged. ‘I don’t know, young wolf,’ replied Rasci, anxiously. ‘But I’m worried. Did any of you hear him calling?’ Natan shook his head. ‘We called for him, but only Silvah replied.’

  ‘I still don’t understand,’ said Rasci. ‘He was closest to the Darin when I last heard from him. He was with Silvah, Lexa, Ramusan, Yeltsa and the cubs.’

  ‘Then they are probably still all together,’ Natan suggested.

  But it didn’t allay Rasci’s fears. He got more and more irritable as he waited for them. Eventually, however, to Rasci’s sheer relief, he heard Silvah call again, only this time, she was telling him she was coming home.

  It took another twelve hours before Silvah finally appeared from a cloud of dust, loping out of the red disk that was settling on the horizon behind her. As she came towards the Darin, they saw that she was with two other wolves and the three cubs from this year’s litter. Lexa was there and so was Ramusan, but Rhamin and his mate Yeltsa were missing.

  Silvah didn’t say anything at first. Her group were also tired and thirsty. None spoke, and they omitted any of the usual greetings. Natan managed to get a cursory lick on the chin from Silvah as she and the others with her shook the dust off their coats before they passed through into the cave. All took their time taking on water. They packed the cubs into their small den inside the cave and made sure they were settled. Then, sombrely, they returned to the gathering place at the base of the rock by the mouth of the cave. All three were visibly distressed. The rest of the wolves watched them and waited, no one speaking until Silvah was ready.

  ‘Rhamin is dead,’ she said in a matter of fact tone, a tone that only a battle worn soldier would use when her comrade had been killed. There was no emotion, no tears; just anger and fatigue.

  Everyone gasped.

  ‘Dead! But how?’ asked Natan.

  ‘Men!’

  ‘Men?’ he parroted.

  ‘That’s what I said.’ She shook her head as she tried to come to terms with the thought of her beloved Rhamin being no more. From the time his mother had been killed, when he was a small pup, she had looked after him. She hadn’t given birth to him but she felt he was her son.

  ‘How?’ Rasci was speaking now. He hadn’t foreseen this. Silvah curled her lips back. Rage was her only emotion.

  ‘The one we saved!’ she snarled, then broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.

  A stunned silence cloaked the pack. Others joined in, crying, howling; wearing their grief openly. No one spoke until, eventually, Silvah lifted her head, sniffled loudly and said, ‘We have no leader now. Until we do, we cannot do anything to avenge the death of Rhamin and Yeltsa. We must act soon.’

  ‘Revenge is not the answer,’ stated Zelda. Her sightless eyes, too, had been weeping. ‘Why, oh why did I not see this?’ she chuntered, half to herself, half to her comrades.

  ‘But I didn’t see this either,’ consoled Rasci. ‘I was seeing all sorts of things, but I didn’t see this!’

  ‘Perhaps you weren’t meant to,’ Silvah stated in response.

  ‘It could be that fate’s intention had already been designed.’

  ‘Possibly,’ Zelda grunted. ‘I know what you mean. Sometimes, when nothing can be done to change the future, then even I cannot get an inkling of what is going to happen. But I think we had better hear what happened before we draw any conclusions.’

  Silvah looked at Lexa and Ramusan. ‘We were all out on the plain,’ Lexa began. ‘We weren’t hunting, just travelling along, letting the cubs play fight, you know, just being happy.’

  ‘And then we heard it,’ Ramusan came in. ‘At first we only heard a faint drumming sound, far away. Then, as it got louder, Rhamin said: “It’s one of those men’s flying machines. They are like mechanical birds. It’s nothing to worry about. I’ve seen them lots of times before. Men use them for travelling."’

  Rasci nodded. ‘We heard it,’ he confirmed.

  ‘It flew past us several times,’ Lexa said. ‘It flew down low and I could hear the men shouting over the noise of its beating wings. They were pointing at us.’

  ‘Pointing? What with,’ asked Rasci.

  ‘Just their paws at first,’ said Ramusan. They were pointing at Rhamin and then they saw Lexa and started pointing at her.’

  ‘And then What?’ Rasci was shocked. ‘Carry on,’ he ordered, eager to determine the reason behind the attack.

  ‘And then, they started pointing their long weapons at us,’ Lexa stated.

  ‘Just one weapon,’ Silvah corrected. ‘But when Rhamin saw it, he told us all to run. He told us to head for the trees. He said that this kind of bird could not land in the trees and it would eventually have to leave because, if it landed there, it would break its wings.’

  ‘So we ran.’ Lexa took up the story. ‘But however hard we ran, there was no way to shake off the bird. And the trees seemed so far away. Eventually, Rhamin told us to split up. The cubs were too big to carry so Ramusan and I went with them and Silvah stayed with Rhamin and Yeltsa.’

  ‘And the bird followed Rhamin,’ Silvah continued. ‘I was with him. It was as if the man was aiming his weapon at Rhamin all the time. He didn’t seem to be concerned with any of us; only Rhamin.

  ‘Then, as we ran for our lives, we heard the noise from the weapon. It cracked like the sound made by snapping a dry twig, and nothing happened at first. But as we ran, Rhamin began to breathe heavily. He slowed down so much that Yeltsa and I had to turn back to urge him on. But as we got close to him, Rhamin went down. There w
as nothing we could do. We both turned around again and ran for our lives. Yeltsa veered off to the right and I went left. Neither of us looked back. I heard another shot as I reached the cover of the trees. I didn’t know they had killed Yeltsa at that time. When I looked around, she was nowhere to be seen. I thought she might have escaped. From the edge of the woods, I watched as the giant bird landed, throwing up clouds of dust as it came down to earth. Then, all I could see was the men heading into the trees on foot. But soon my worst fears were confirmed; they came out carrying Yeltsa. They lifted her into the bird and I watched hoping they had not killed Rhamin, but then they took off again and landed further away. I presume they were collecting Rhamin’s body because, as soon as they had done what they were doing, the bird took off again towards the east and I never saw it or our wolves again. We searched for hours, but found nothing. No trace of Rhamin or Yeltsa.’

  Already, darkness had cloaked the rocky escarpment. A thin moon shone on the rocks, casting long shadows that meandered along the ground and disappeared into the darkness. It was a good night for hunting game, but no wolf felt like hunting this night.

  –––––––

  By morning, the sense of despair within all the wolves had turned to anger. None had slept well; Lexa and Silvah not at all. The others slept off their fatigue fitfully, stirring and strolling about until, finally, wearily, they dropped down on the ground and tried to continue their troubled sleep.

  It was a cool cloudy start to the day. The rain clouds were piling up in the west, and although motionless, they had secretly crept a little closer every time Silvah lifted her head and looked towards them. As the senior member of the pack, she took charge of convening a meeting. It wasn’t difficult. All the wolves present were expecting it anyway. Despite some of the pack being absent, leadership had to be resolved.

  When all the wolves were assembled, Silvah lost no time explaining that the pack had to have a new leader. ‘I know some of us are still missing,’ she began. ‘But of those, Powla, Rowan and Charka are females and Fatz is only a yearling. I know I am the most senior wolf here except for Zelda. But the pack leader will inevitably be a male, and we have to have that leader before we can go any further.’

  Of those present, Bamar was still limping badly from his injuries last year. He had fought with the bears and showed his courage, but he was not prepared to challenge any of his comrades. ‘I propose that either Natan or Rasci take the leadership,’ he said. ‘I know the newcomers, Vela and Goma are tough, but I would ask them to respect our predicament. We need a leader that is no stranger to the pack.’

  ‘I’m all right with that,’ Vela replied straight away. He was still only two years old and, although he was a lean, fit and tough male wolf, he was in no hurry to take on a leadership with little experience.

  ‘I’m no stranger to the pack.’ The voice came from behind the circle of wolves. Instantly, all eyes turned towards it.

  ‘Solin!’ gasped Vela. ‘I thought you were…’

  ‘Dead?’ Solin grinned. ‘Indeed, so did I! But alas, Rhamin was too soft for his own good.’

  ‘What would you know about this matter?’ Zelda demanded. ‘Why are you here?’

  ‘Well, I heard you had lost your leader.’ Solin smirked. They all looked at him. He seemed to be a shadow of his former self. He wasn’t noticeably thinner, but his grey coat exhibited a dullness that was not just caused by dust. But what made the rest of the wolves stare, was his ears. They were torn to ribbons and hung in tatters by the side of his face. ‘I know,’ he said, amused by their looks, ‘You’re thinking I look like that dog.’ He looked straight at Lexa.

  ‘My ears might be floppy, but they are not torn to pieces,’ retorted Lexa with a snarl. ‘Obviously Rhamin had a sense of humour.’ She stood up and faced Solin toe to toe.

  ‘I might be able to help you with that,’ Solin responded.

  ‘I would like you to try.’ Lexa curled her lips back and barred her razor sharp teeth.

  Solin casually turned his head away. ‘Do any of you really think you are a match for me?’

  ‘You over estimate yourself,’ Lexa said without hesitating. ‘If I don’t defeat you, then I am sure someone in this pack will. None of us will be led by you. We would all prefer to die first.’

  ‘That’s your problem. You are all too soft for your own good. That’s the mark of your lost leader. His ways have dulled all your instincts. It’s made you all soft. He was soft. Strong, yes; tough, no doubt about it. But he was too soft on the inside. If I had beaten him, do you think I would have spared him?’

  ‘There was never any chance of that,’ Natan came in. ‘You were and still are a runt compared with Rhamin.’

  ‘Well, well! The new heir apparent, I take it?’ Solin stepped over to Natan. The young wolf stood his ground.

  ‘The leader of the pack is expected to have a mate,’ Rasci put in. ‘Do you seriously think there is any female here that wants to even look at you? Have you seen your face in the water lately?’

  ‘Indeed I have, Rasci. And since you and I are brothers of the same age, then perhaps you are my challenger?’

  ‘Same father, different mother,’ Rasci corrected. I inherited the good from Anval as did Rhamin. Unfortunately, you seem to have taken your mother’s side; the bad blood.’

  Solin shuddered but checked his anger. He grinned, his teeth pointed and as sharp as Rasci had ever seen them. ‘Oh yes, I was forgetting my father had a bit on the side. What was her name?’

  ‘Father obviously didn’t need a vicious bitch like your mother to keep him company.’

  ‘My, my!’ The worm has popped its head up from its hole!’ Solin gesticulated. ‘The clown has lost his sense of humour. Now that could be dangerous!’ he said mockingly.

  ‘But not for me,’ Rasci stated, undeterred by the menacing behaviour of his half brother. ‘I might have a sense of humour, but I am not a fool. You are not taking charge of my pack and I suggest you leave before I do what Rhamin should have done. And believe me, I will not just leave you with a damaged pride.’

  ‘What are you saying, idiot one? Are you trying to tell me that we might all split our sides and die laughing?’

  ‘One thing for sure, you will die sooner than you think.’

  Silvah had never before seen this side to Rasci. He was the clown of the pack. But although he was not as big as Rhamin, he was as big if not bigger than any of the other wolves. It seemed that because he had always behaved like a jester, none of the wolves had really noticed his physique.

  Solin looked around at the others and then swung his gaze back to Rasci. ‘So who would take you as a mate?’ he asked, mischievously. He looked at some of the females present. ‘Who would like idiots for babies?’

  Rasci barred his teeth. ‘You have two choices, Solin. Fight or leave.’

  Solin shrugged. With a look of resignation and a dismissive shake of the head, he turned to leave. Rasci didn’t see the slick smile on his face. Suddenly and without warning, Solin spun around and, with mouth wide and teeth barred, he lunged at Rasci. Rasci had been half expecting a challenge, but even Solin’s action caught him off guard. As he parried the attack the best he could, turning his head and neck away from the onslaught, the aggressor’s teeth sunk into the thick coat of guard hairs on his shoulder. But that left Rasci’s head and neck free to swivel around and bring his jaws level with Solin’s neck. Solin was fast to realise he had missed his target. Yanking his clenched teeth free with a mouthful of guard hairs, he spun around and landed on all fours, spitting fur. He was free and stable ready to make another attack, but he hadn’t expected Rasci to come back at him. He had expected the fear of combat to make Rasci fight a defensive battle. That way he would be able to attack again and again until he eventually got the right hold to defeat his opponent. But Rasci showed not the slightest particle of fear. The joker was transformed. He was a wild and aggressive animal; and he was determined to win. He went at Solin with everything he had, a
ll his skill, all his strength, and most of all, all his determination. And so the fight continued, on and on, attack and counter as both wolves tried to gain an advantage, watched by all, but interrupted by none.

  Many creatures fight when they are afraid. And many win despite their trepidation. But fear weakens their resolve when faced with a strong opponent. And since many battles are won or lost purely on the mental attitude of the combatant, confidence is an extra weapon that strengthens the will and sharpens reactions. Solin saw that Rasci had that weapon and, realising now that Rasci was no more the fool, he made a desperate lunge at his opponent’s head. Once again, Rasci reacted quickly and instinctively and bounced backwards to avoid the attack. Then, as Rasci adjusted his balance, as suddenly as he had started the fight, Solin turned away, casually it appeared to Rasci. ‘Just testing,’ he said, grinning, as he strode away, head turned to ensure Rasci wasn’t retaliating with another attack.

  ‘Wait!’ Rasci’s voice was loud and determined. ‘Don’t think you can walk out as easily as you walked in here.’

  Solin turned back to face him. ‘Neither of us has won, Rasci. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?’

  ‘Remember that you are an outsider now. You are not challenging for leadership from within the pack. You are a trespasser in Rhamin territory. If you don’t want me to order the rest of the pack to join me to finish you off, you’ll tell me how you know about Rhamin.’

  Solin’s grin widened. ‘You’re not the only wolf that has spies.’ With that, and with large droplets of rain beginning to fall from the sky and exploding in the dust, he turned and sidled out of the camp, broke into a trot and loped casually into the distance, ribbons that were once his ears, flapping in the rain as he bounded away.

  ‘Well done my young cub!’ Zelda shouted at the top of her voice as she got to her feet and wagged her tail triumphantly. ‘Well done my lovely!’