by Bryce THOMAS
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For the first time since his elevation to pack leader, he slept more soundly than he had for days; no dreaming of Rhamin and Yeltsa fighting, no dreaming about the farmer or his son, no complicated matters of leadership, or at least none he would remember. Instead, Roxana was in his head, talking to him with her velvet voice, looking at him with her magnetic eyes. ‘What you need to do, is stop worrying about the old and start thinking about the new,’ she was saying. Then they were playing in the sun, nowhere in particular, just a place with bright, warm light all around them as they threw sticks in the air and chased after them. They ran together, walked together, lay together.
The sun was high in the sky when he woke again, but he felt so much better. Somehow, his problems had been solved for him. In his sleep, everything had seemed to fall into place. He knew now what he was going to do, what he was going to say. He had to get back to his pack.
He was so refreshed that, at first, he didn’t remember his injuries. But, as soon as he pushed himself up into a standing position, he remembered his damaged leg. Then he remembered Roxana. He swung his head around to see where she was, but she was nowhere to be seen. Careful not to catch his sore leg, he wandered through the copse, from one side to the other and then around it looking in. No, there was no female wolf. Perhaps he had dreamed it all, he thought. Perhaps the dark grey female wolf was a figment of his imagination. He stopped and looked down at the ground while he thought. Perhaps that was what he really wanted, a female that would lead the pack with him. What was the saying? “Behind every successful male wolf…” He tried to think. Was she real? Or was it a deeply rooted desire?
As he looked down at the ground, he saw a paw mark, not unlike his own, only slightly smaller. He bent his head forward and sniffed at the print. With his remarkable sense of smell, it wasn’t difficult to recognise the scent of a female wolf. It was Roxana’s scent. It was Roxana’s footprint. Ergo, he was not dreaming. He was almost overcome by the sense of relief, chuckling to himself, feeling lighter on his feet than he had since Raymond Rozalski’s rock had hit his fore leg. Then, without any idea as to the practical use of his behaviour, and holding his injured leg up out of harm’s way, he stooped forwards and rolled on the ground where the footprint had lain.
Eventually, he stood up and shook the dust from his coat, looking around, to see if Roxana had returned from wherever she had gone. She was nowhere to be seen, and after a final search of the area, he lifted his head and gave out a high pitched howl. He tilted his head for a minute or so and listened intently, but no response came. He was about to howl again when, seeing the vultures circling high on a thermal, he thought better of it, and with a final shake of his coat, and favouring his damage leg, he set off once more towards home and the Darin.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Although it took a further two days of slow, painful walking to reach the Darin, Rasci didn’t see Roxana again. Each time he stopped to rest, he howled, but as he got closer to the Darin, the only response was from his own pack members who seemed overjoyed to hear from him.
‘We were getting worried,’ Lexa said as she ran to greet her leader, her stump of a tail wriggling ecstatically while the other wolves happily wagged their long brush tails. There was no sign that any of them thought less of him for returning with a bruised leg and a cut along his shoulder blade. In fact their devotion to their new leader seamed to have been even more cemented. There was such a lot of squeaking and tail wagging that, for a time, Rasci forgot what had been on his mind for the last three days and nights. Somehow, he thought that Roxana may have gone ahead to meet him at the Darin, but then, as a stranger, she didn’t know where it was. And besides that, the other wolves would not have taken kindly to an outsider without some kind of introduction. So he’d travelled alone and had arrived alone. Nothing different; everything back to normal, he thought, as he went to the water hole in the rear of the cave.
After some time, he emerged into the daylight and came and sat beside Zelda. Silvah carried over some food that had been brought back from their latest kill and left it for Rasci to eat while he talked to Zelda. He had been in no condition to hunt, and it was now more than five days since he had eaten anything. They just lay beside him and waited for him to finish his meal, unhurried; and then, when he was ready, they listened to how he had been to the farm, once in his dream and then once in person. He had decided to tell them the whole story, no excuses, no exaggerations. Meticulously, he explained what had happened, and how the farmer’s wife had shot at him, and how Raymond Rozalski had thrown rocks at him just as he was about to talk to their child. He left nothing out. But he never mentioned Roxana.
‘You tried,’ Silvah comforted Rasci. She licked his leg gently. While he had been away, the whole pack had gathered at the Darin, but Corvak had failed to return, and without the intelligence gathering skills of his feathered friend, Rasci could not see any way of confirming the answers to his questions. Was Rhamin still alive? If he was, then where was he? Was he a prisoner, and how far away was the prison? If he was a prisoner, what escape routes were there?
‘I didn’t try hard enough,’ Rasci said, shaking his head. ‘But, it was an important trip. I know now what I have to do next time.’
‘Next time?’ exclaimed Silvah. ‘You’re not going back!’
‘Of course he is,’ Zelda said emphatically. ‘He has no choice. We have no choice, unless we want to leave Rhamin rotting in a prison for the rest of his life.’
‘That’s all very courageous,’ Silvah countered. ‘But we have already lost one leader. And now, Rasci almost got himself killed.’
‘Perhaps we should ask the rest of the pack,’ Zelda said in a critical tone.
‘We can, if we get positive news that Rhamin is alive,’ Silvah argued. ‘But until we know for sure, then how are we going to explain anything about Rasci’s visit to the farmer, and how are we going to suggest any plan involving the pack if they don’t know what the aim of the plan is?’
‘I don’t need the help of the pack,’ Rasci intervened.
‘I see,’ Silvah said in a sarcastic tone. ‘So you are going to find where Rhamin is being held, kill all his prison guards, rescue him and Yeltsa and just walk off into the sunset!’
‘Something like that,’ Rasci said with a confident smile.
‘Except for all that killing stuff. Ugh! That bit sounds…’ A glint filled his eyes… ‘too enjoyable!’
‘Silly wolf!’ Zelda scolded. ‘Behave yourself and talk properly.’
‘Sorry Gran.’ He licked her on the face. ‘No, I am angry with the men who I believe have taken Rhamin, but I’m not that angry.’
‘Glad to hear it.’
‘But you can’t do anything on your own,’ Silvah insisted. ‘What can one wolf do?’
‘I won’t be alone,’ he replied.
‘But you said you didn’t need any help.’
‘I said I didn’t need the pack. But I will need the help of one wolf.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yes.’
‘And who might that be, pray tell?
Rasci smiled. ‘Lexa,’ he said.
‘Lexa!’ Silvah exclaimed. Then she paused to form her words. ‘Lexa, our wolf dog !’
‘I think we might have the makings of a plan, if I am not very much mistaken,’ said Zelda.
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By the time Corvak returned four days later, Rasci was well on the way to recovery. He, too, had just about given up on the idea of gaining any intelligence from his aerial spy, but Corvak’s appearance was a joyous event when it happened. He glided in from a great height, croaked half a dozen times to let his friends know that he had returned, did a couple of fly overs and then tried a somersault which nearly made him stall and tumble to the ground, only he corrected his flight path just in the nick of time and swooped upwards from within inches of the floor as if it were all part of his aerodynamic display. Eventually he glided faultlessly
into his favourite bush, landed on his favourite branch and shook himself to adjust all his feathers as he folded his wings.
None were more pleased to see Corvak than Rasci, not for the information he might be able to impart, but just for the sheer joy of seeing him return alive and well. And the old raven knew it. When all the wolves in the greeting pack had calmed down, Corvak took up his usual position. He bobbed up and down on his branch, croaking and giving out an occasional husky whistle. ‘I can see you’re glad to be back,’ Lexa said to her friend as she passed on the way to join the others. She and Ramusan had arrived too late to see Corvak’s splendid entrance. ‘Did you find out any news?’ she asked.
‘I certainly did,’ Corvak boasted, fluffing out the feathers on his chest and burying his beak in them for a brief spell of preening.
Lexa looked at Silvah who translated.
‘Well aren’t you going to tell us?’ asked Lexa.
‘He will, when all the wolves are gathered,’ said Silvah. ‘I think that what Corvak has to say concerns us all.’
‘Absolutely!’ called Corvak lifting his beak so that it pointed upwards in an important looking stance. ‘Absolutely. What I have to say concerns all my friends.’
Once again Silvah interpreted.
‘But not all the wolves understand ravenish!’ said Lexa.
‘Quite so,’ said Silvah, ‘but I shall interpret for the benefit of those that don’t understand.’
So, eventually, as the meeting was convened and all the wolves took their place forming a semi circle next to the bush, Silvah instructed Corvak to proceed. She positioned herself under the bush, facing out towards the convened assembly.
‘Well,’ Corvak began, his beak still pointing upwards importantly. ‘I flew for many days…’
‘We know you did, Corvak, get on with it,’ Rasci heckled. ‘We’ve all been sitting around waiting for you, remember?’
‘Well some of us were,’ Zelda stated, nudging Rasci to silence him.
‘I’ll ignore that, Rasci,’ Corvak chirped cheerily. He knew his friend well.
All the wolves laughed as Silvah did a running translation.
‘As I was saying,’ continued Corvak, ‘before I was so rudely interrupted, I flew for many miles.’
Rasci fidgeted but remained silent.
‘And I flew for many miles more!’
Rasci grunted. He wasn’t sure he could stand the suspense without grabbing his friend and shaking the news out of him.
‘I’d have asked questions amongst the birds that are friendly towards ravens.’ He paused for effect. ‘But there aren’t any!’ He chuckled to himself. ‘And eventually, I flew to a place beyond the man’s forest of rock buildings.’ He glanced around at all the faces while Silvah continued with her translation. ‘That, for those of you who have never seen it from the air…’ Silvah looked up at Corvak, tutted and shook her head, but carried on translating, much to the amusement of the pack. ‘As I was saying, the forest of rock buildings is a man made area so big that it would take you a whole day to travel across it on foot.’ He paused again and then added, ‘Wolves that is. It would take me about a year on foot!’ The listening wolves burst out laughing.
‘Anyway,’ he went on, ‘there are tall structures that the men folk use for living in or something. They stretch as far as the eye can see.’
Rasci shuffled impatiently. He was beginning to regret that he hadn’t asked Corvak to go to one side and tell him first.
‘Well, I flew all over the area to the south of the man made forest of rock. There was no sign of Rhamin there. In fact there was no sign of Rhamin anywhere I went in the first two days. None of the other ravens in the area knew anything about him either.’ Corvak side stepped along the branch and tested it for springiness. ‘But then I decided to fly out beyond the man’s forest,’ he continued, after seemingly satisfying himself the branch was still strong enough to take his weight. All the wolves sat and waited patiently, all silent, all expectant, except one.
‘Go on,’ Silvah urged quietly. She sensed Corvak’s need to dramatise, but she knew he needed to tell the story through from beginning to end.
‘I don’t think I have flown so far and so high for years, not since I was a youngster. But I had to. I flew out and back. Not just a few miles; but for half a day each way. I was determined to find Rhamin and I didn’t want to have cut my search short before I was sure I had been far enough. But the task seemed fruitless.’ He paused again while he recalled what happened. ‘But then, I stopped near a wooded area for the night, and I met another pair of ravens. They were a bit hostile at first, of course. We ravens are very territorial, you know,’ he said, looking down at the assembly. ‘Just like you wolves. But I explained that I was only passing through and that my real motive for being there was to find a friend that had gone missing. They were very interested, for when I explained, it turned out that they too were friends with a wolf from a distant wolf pack.’ He raised his voice triumphantly. ‘And then! And then they told me! They told me that one of the wolves from that pack had been taken prisoner as well, by a man in a giant bird. And guess what! They knew where the man had taken her!’
As Silvah translated, all eyes widened in anticipation.
‘They showed me! They took me right there and showed me, can you believe my luck?’
All the heads shook as Silvah finished speaking.
‘And guess what! I saw Rhamin. I spoke to him. He recognised me and I spoke to him!’
‘So he’s alive?’ asked Lexa.
‘He certainly is,’ came back the reply. Silvah’s voice couldn’t conceal her joy. ‘He certainly is! He is. He is. He is,’ she chanted over and over again. A ripple of conversation passed between all the other wolves as they looked at each other in surprise.
‘Silvah!’ Rasci called. ‘Please?’
‘Oh, sorry folks, I didn’t mean to interrupt.’
Corvak cleared his throat and, when the rest of the pack had settled again, he continued. ‘The place is enclosed by high man made barriers. Some of them carry lightning. They would kill you if you so much as tried to climb over them.’ He shook his head. ‘Yes,’ he continued, but in a sadder voice. ‘Rhamin is alive, but there is no way he can escape. There is no way for any of the animals to escape.’
‘Any of the animals?’ Rasci queried.
Corvak sprang on his branch like a human using a diving board, his feet leaving the branch on the upswing and landing on it again on the way down. ‘That’s right, all sorts of animals. Animals I have never seen before in my life. Animals I have never even heard tales of!’
‘Go on,’ Silvah encouraged him.
‘There were immensely tall brown creatures with huge lumps on their back, and even taller creatures with blotches all over them and necks that reach into the clouds!’
A sound of awe washed through the gathering.
‘And grey creatures with horns on their noses and bigger ones with great noses and huge ears. One ear would make a shelter for all of you!’
‘Ooh!’ came from the crowd.
‘And then there were big cats, like the mountain lions, but different. Some were bigger with more hair on their shoulders. Some were much bigger still with black and orange stripes that made them look like the flames of the grass fires that wash through the plains every now and then.’ He cleared his throat again. ‘Er, is there any food, by the way?’ he looked at all the transfixed faces.
‘Soon,’ Rasci snapped immediately, not giving Silvah time to interpret. ‘And what else? What else was there?’
‘Well there were animals I did recognise, of course; buffalo, and deer. But most of them were completely strange to me.’
‘And what did Rhamin say?’ Zelda called from the front. ‘When you talked to him, what did he say?’
Corvak sighed. ‘Well, unfortunately, I didn’t have long. There were men about, you see. And they looked dangerous. They had their long weapons and I was fri… I was…’
‘Cautious,’ Rasci said immediately.
‘Exactly! I was careful not to get killed. But, despite only staying a short time,’ he continued, now unperturbed by his own embarrassment of being afraid, ‘Rhamin was glad to see me. Well, you know Rhamin doesn’t understand ravenish very well, but I told him, best I could, that I had come looking for him. Whatever he understood, he was absolutely amazed that I had come to call on him at all. But he seemed resigned to his fate. He explained everything he could to me in the short time I was there. He gets food every day, and has sorted out the other wolves that attacked him and Yeltsa when they were first put in the enclosure with them. Yeltsa had been quite badly hurt, but Rhamin was so proud of her. He told me they had repelled an attack by fourteen fully grown wolves! That’s remarkable! Yeltsa killed one that had grabbed her leg, by turning on it and grabbing its throat; and Rhamin would have killed some as well, only the men broke up the fight. They hit Yeltsa with a heavy shaft of wood to make her leave go of the wolf she was fighting, but it was already too late to save it. But they didn’t hit Rhamin. He said he didn’t think it was because they were afraid of him. The men had helped Rhamin to see the other wolves off. They seemed to have been less worried about the other wolves, being hurt, but seemed to be protecting Rhamin. He’s rather pampered compared with the other wolves. He said he is some kind of attraction. But that makes the other wolves even more aggressive. They are jealous of him as well as threatened by his size.’
Silvah was having trouble keeping up with Corvak; his words were getting quicker and quicker as his excitement rose. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he too was so proud of Rhamin.
‘Eventually, I had to leave. It is very dangerous there. But Rhamin asked me to tell you all he is thinking about you. He said he will never forget any of you and he told me to tell you not to worry about him and get on with your lives because there was no way for him to escape.’ Corvak paused a moment. From where Rasci stood, his eyes seemed wet. Corvak sniffed loudly and swallowed and then, quietly, he said, ‘He seemed sad to see me leave. Perhaps I will go back and visit him again.’ Silvah didn’t translate that last part. She knew he was speaking to himself.