Rhamin

by Bryce THOMAS

  –––––––

  With the knowledge that Rhamin was definitely alive, Rasci’s confidence grew. Although he had doubted himself, and had suspected his dreams had been wishful thinking, he had been right all the time. Now he believed in himself again and with that, he was sure he could save Rhamin. He knew for sure how he was going to do it. He had one more dangerous task to complete before he could embark on the most perilous adventure of his life.

  He knew he might be killed, but it mattered no more. Without Rhamin reinstated as leader, his life was not going to return to normal anyway and he wanted his old life back. It wouldn’t be exactly the same of course; nothing ever is. Zelda had told him that experiences become part of us all and we are part of every experience. We are part of everyone we meet and everything we touch, and by his reckoning, Rasci’s mistakes made him the most learned wolf in history. He knew that the experiences of the last few weeks had boosted his standing in that respect, and, more than likely, his experiences in the weeks to come would not only add to his knowledge but would also have a profound effect on his life from there on. They were risks worth taking.

  Following the talk by Corvak, Rasci took up a position facing his pack. He called for all the wolves to listen to him carefully. For his plan to succeed, he needed the support of all his wolves. Up to now, he had kept all his dreams and feelings secret from all but Silvah and Zelda. Now he needed to explain to the rest of the pack what he was doing and why he was doing it.

  ‘We’re are all very pleased to hear that Rhamin and Yeltsa are alive and well,’ he began. ‘But are we going to accept that? Are we going to say our last goodbyes to our leader?’

  ‘But you are our leader now,’ called Jual. ‘We can’t have two leaders.’

  ‘Exactly! I am so glad you understand that! If Rhamin were here, who would be leader?’

  ‘Rhamin,’ she replied.

  ‘That’s why I am going to do my best to get him back home.’

  ‘But how?’

  ‘To tell you how is not so important. All I want is for you all to trust me when I tell you that, like Gran,’ he said, nodding towards Zelda, ‘I too, have some sort of ability to see into the distance with my mind.’

  ‘I must say something here,’ Zelda interrupted. All heads turned towards her, some wolves expecting her to refute what Rasci had said. ‘Rasci is gifted in more ways that I ever was! He has gifts that we should all accept. He told me, when Rhamin first disappeared, and Silvah thought he was dead, that our leader was alive. But Rasci didn’t want to raise your hopes, because he knew you would all want something more definite than just his visions. Well, now you have it. And I for one want to give him the chance to do what we all would like to do; save Rhamin.’

  ‘We can all help,’ Ramusan shouted out.

  ‘Perhaps we can,’ Zelda agreed, ‘but I think Rasci has an idea that he wants to put to you all first.’

  Rasci nodded. He looked at all the expectant faces in front of him. ‘It’s a pleasure being your leader,’ he said, looking at each wolf in turn. ‘However, it will be just as great a pleasure for me to be one of the pack, led by Rhamin.’ All the wolves listened in silence. ‘The one problem is, you may have to pick yet another leader, for if my plan goes wrong, then you will not only have lost Rhamin, the greatest leader that any pack could have, you will have lost me, Rasci, the next best leader.’ He lifted his head proudly and chuckled aloud.

  All the wolves laughed with him.

  ‘I want you all to agree to what I am going to do, and I want you all to be prepared for the worst.’

  ‘The worst?’ asked Ramusan.

  ‘I may not succeed. But the prize is worth the risk, don’t you think? And it would be nice if I knew that you were all behind me.’

  ‘We always have been, Rasci,’ Lexa stated. ‘And without Rhamin here, you are the best.’

  Rasci smiled at his wolf dog. His fondness of her made him dread what he was about to say. He cleared his throat and looked at Lexa with warm eyes. ‘It’s you that holds the key to solving our dilemma,’ he started by saying. ‘You, Lexa, are the one wolf here that has a natural affinity to the farmer, for he too has a wolf dog in his own pack. His dog is part of his family as you and all the other wolves here are part of ours.’

  Lexa just looked at Rasci with her folded ears forward and her brow wrinkled with interest and curiosity. She said nothing.

  ‘You know by now, Lexa, that you were not born a wolf, although you are wolf at heart. You think like a wolf and you act like one, but you have a body like that dog back at the farm.’

  Lexa nodded. She had seen the dog in the mountain side when they fought the bears and had seen her own reflection in the still waters of the lake when she was drinking. ‘I know I look like a dog,’ she said, resigned to the fact.

  ‘But we only noticed that when you were next to the farmer’s dog. Any other time, we see a wolf.’

  ‘Well, I am a wolf,’ Lexa stated proudly.

  ‘Indeed, you are; and an excellent one at that. But you have to know something and I think it is time to tell you.’ He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he was doing the right thing. ‘You are the… the…’

  ‘Daughter of that dog,’ Lexa prompted.

  ‘Yes,’ Rasci said. ‘And that gives…’ He stopped speaking and tilted his head at Lexa. ‘You knew?’ he asked, totally perplexed.

  Lexa nodded. ‘I worked it out last winter, when everybody was being so good to me because I wasn’t able to stand the cold like the rest of you. It made me wonder. Then, in the spring, I saw the man’s dog on the mountain. I had seen my own reflection in the water and at first I thought there was something wrong. But then I realised that the rest of you were looking at me and then at the dog. I realised that you too could see the resemblance. So I asked Rhamin.’

  ‘You asked Rhamin?’ Rasci asked, still surprised.

  ‘Yes, and he told me the whole story.’

  ‘The whole story?’

  ‘Yes, about how he found me and brought me back, you know?’

  ‘Found you? Right, he found you, yes, that’s it!’

  ‘Only, he didn’t find you,’ Zelda broke in. She glanced at Rasci with a silencing look. ‘It’s about time we told her the whole truth, Rasci.’

  ‘The whole truth?’ He didn’t sound so certain.

  ‘The whole truth.’ She waited for a response, and then said, ‘Are you going to tell her or am I?’

  ‘Er, well, perhaps you can explain it best,’ he said, feeling rather afraid that he might say the wrong thing. Our leader, Rhamin kidnapped you. Or, Rhamin took you for food, but Yeltsa slapped him about a bit and made him hand you over to rear as a baby wolf. Or, Rhamin stole you just to distract the dog. No, Zelda could do it much better.

  Zelda looked at Lexa. ‘Lexa, our lovely wolf dog,’ she said fondly. ‘If you are to help Rasci save Rhamin, then you will have to meet your mother. If we don’t tell you the truth, she surely will. So, young one, I am going to tell you a little story.’

  Lexa nodded excitedly. The rest of the pack shuffled in their places to make themselves more comfortable. They hadn’t listened to one of Zelda’s stories for quite some time.

  She thought for a moment, before speaking. All the wolves waited silently, and then, ‘Smokey,’ she said suddenly. ‘That is what Rasci tells me the farmer calls his dog.’

  ‘Smokey?’ gasped Lexa.

  ‘Oh, it’s a man’s name, Lexa. You can’t blame her for that!’

  ‘Smokey,’ Lexa said quietly, trying to get a feel to the sound. She nodded approvingly. ‘Sounds like a wolf’s name really,’ she said eventually, quite proudly.

  ‘Well, Smokey is your birth mother; you’ll have already gathered that.’

  Lexa nodded. So did all the other wolves, for they too were enthralled.

  ‘And one day,’ Zelda began, now sure she knew what to say, ‘only a few days after you were born, Solin burst into the farmer’s house to kill the farmer’s y
oung ones.’

  ‘Ooh,’ gasped Fatz.

  ‘But Rhamin stopped him. He made Solin leave the home of the farmer.’ She paused to give her next words more effect. ‘But!’ she said, her glazed eyes crinkling at the sides as she smiled and looked up to the sky, ‘But, Rhamin saw a bundle of baby dog pups in a nest in the corner of the room.’ She paused again and looked sightlessly at the gathered wolves before turning back to Lexa. ‘Now, Rhamin had been worried about Yeltsa, for she too had been expecting babies, but she was much later than she should have been in giving birth, and Rhamin was worried that she might lose them.’ The pack remained silent. Zelda sensed that some of the wolves who were at the farm when Rhamin stole the dog pup were curious what she was going to say next.

  ‘Now Rhamin needed to distract Smokey, for at that particular time, she and the farmer were enemies of the pack. Smokey worked so well as a team with the farmer, in fact, that between them, they killed two of our strongest wolves.’

  Another gasp came from some more of the younger pack members. Depni and Floss looked at each other and then at Lexa, approvingly.

  ‘And that’s when Rhamin decided he would steal one of Smokey’s babies. He stole two really, but, as the big dog broke off its task with the farmer, he dropped one to try and make her stop chasing after him.’

  ‘Absolutely true,’ called Natan, who had been there.

  ‘Rhamin had no intention to hurt either you or the pup he left behind. But, as you lay in a ball in his mouth, something inside him told him not to leave you. He could have done, and the big dog would have given up the chase much more easily, but he didn’t, because, when he tasted your fur in his mouth, when he smelt your little body, he knew he wanted you, and he wanted this tiny baby for his mate and the rest of the pack.’

  Lexa smiled.

  ‘However, when he returned to the Darin,’ she said kindly to Lexa, ‘he found to his relief that Yeltsa had managed to give birth. But she had lost one of the babies, so Yeltsa willingly took his new gift and placed you, Lexa, along side your brothers and sisters.’

  Depni, Floss, Fatz and Ramusan all looked at their sister, proudly. ‘And that’s how the pack has its very own wolf dog. You were reared as a wolf and loved as a wolf.’

  ‘I know,’ Lexa said with a nod.

  ‘So my little one,’ Zelda said with a toothless grin, for Lexa was now bigger than most of the other wolves, ‘that is the story of how Smokey’s daughter became a wolf.’

  ‘And Lexa is our secret weapon,’ Rasci said proudly. ‘Lexa is the one wolf that can gain the friendship of the farmer now that Rhamin has gone, for although Rhamin and the farmer eventually became friends, he knows none of us as well as he knew Rhamin. In fact, he still remembers Solin, and that makes him very protective of his family. That’s why I have had a bad leg. He thought I was Solin. In fact,’ Rasci said with a grin, ‘I really don’t think he can tell one wolf from another!’

  ‘Incredible!’ muttered Natan, unable to understand how a creature so lacking in sensory ability could become so powerful on the earth.

  ‘And because of that disability,’ Rasci continued, ‘we need to befriend Smokey, his dog. I have already started that process,’ he said, proudly. ‘and I've already spoken to Smokey. But with Lexa’s help, I hope to gain the farmer’s trust the way that Rhamin did.’

  ‘And then what?’ asked Natan.

  ‘And then I intend to put my plan into action.’

  –––––––

  Rasci left Silvah and Zelda to explain in more detail to the rest of the pack just how he had known about Rhamin and what had triggered the request to Corvak to go in search of their leader. He was sure, now that the proof of Rhamin’s survival had been delivered, that the pack would not think him to be a weird and rather stupid leader. Strong as he was, prior to Corvak’s revelation, they could well have thought that they had made the wrong choice, for even Rasci had thought that.

  Rasci wasn’t far away and the explanation by his two female elders drew a few chuckles, despite the overwhelming evidence that Rasci’s dreams were something substantial; something that they could rely on. But overall, the pack seemed willing to accept what Zelda and Silvah were saying, so Rasci silently stepped away into the cave, where he could settle down and meditate. In the last few days, determined to isolate the good dreams from the bad dreams, he had discovered that he could open his mind to his remote visions by deep concentration in a trance-like state, rather than relying on the right type of dream passing through his mind when he was asleep. He knew he would have to contact Ben, but until he had a definite appointment with his young man friend, there was no time frame in which to bring the plan to maturity.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Ben was in his class at school. The elementary school, a little wooden building at the edge of the town, only had three classrooms each capable of holding around twenty children. Mrs. Steadman was Ben’s teacher. As it happens, only a few children of Ben’s age attended the school. It was only his second week there. May, his best friend, had been there a little longer. Like Ben, May had golden blonde hair. Hers was not cut short like Ben’s, it was plaited into long pigtails at either side of her face.

  Rasci sat beside Ben and watched the class as Mrs. Steadman explained something complex that he didn’t understand. Looking at the faces of the children, he thought that they were no wiser than he was. A little child called Sophie was still chatting to May and Ben was making pictures of wolves on a sheet of something white and flexible, with something that looked like a wooden stick.

  It was a strange feeling being amongst so many humans but none of them saw Rasci, of course; only Ben. He turned his head as soon as Rasci appeared, and his eyes widened with delight.

  ‘You’re alive!’ he exclaimed, mouth open with surprise.

  ‘What was that Benjamin?’ asked Mrs Steadman.

  ‘Oh, nothing Miss.’ He knew she couldn’t see Rasci.

  ‘But you said something about being alive. Are you going to tell the class to whom you were referring?’

  ‘To whom…? Oh, yes Miss. Who I was talking to, you mean?’

  Mrs Steadman sighed and nodded.

  ‘It’s my friend, Rasci. He comes to visit me sometimes.’ Mrs. Steadman looked around, examining every corner of the class room. She looked directly at Ben and shook her head. ‘You’ll have to do better than that, Ben,’ she stated among a chorus of giggles.

  Ben knew he was the only one there that could see Rasci, so he decided on diplomacy. ‘Sorry, Miss. What I meant is that I have an imaginary friend called Rasci. He visits me and we talk together.’

  ‘An imaginary friend?’ She shook her head again and wagged her finger under Ben’s nose. ‘Benjamin, if you don’t concentrate, then you will be sent home with a letter for your parents. Do you understand me?’

  Ben understood all right. On his first day at school, he had seen another boy, Mark departing from the classroom with a letter in hand. It was a serious matter indeed. Unfortunately, Mark accidentally lost the letter under the car seat on his way home. If Mrs. Steadman hadn’t followed it up with a phone call, the plan might have worked, but it had not been particularly well thought out. It seemed a good idea at the time, especially as it was the idea of a bright newcomer called Ben, who had suggested losing the letter in the first place. Ben wasn’t sure what punishment Mark’s father had meted out, but he behaved himself in class for the next four days, and Ben wasn’t his friend after that.

  Rasci just watched patiently.

  When Mrs. Steadman turned to go back to the front of the classroom, Ben turned to one side and smiled at Rasci. ‘See you outside,’ he mouthed silently, nodding towards the back door. ‘Play time soon.’

  –––––––

  Rasci was enthralled by the fact that, like wolves, other members of the human pack helped to rear and to teach the young ones. It fascinated him to watch how humans lived and learned and played and communicated. It fascinated him just how alike,
wolves and men kind were.

  Eventually, he watched as Ben and the others left the school house to play outside in an open area at the back of the building. Leaving the other children behind, Ben walked over to a little swing and sat on it, pushing himself backwards and forwards gently with the tips of his toes. Rasci was sitting in front of it, waiting for him. ‘Thanks for waiting,’ he said, squinting at Rasci as the sun shone into his eyes. Rasci went around to the other side of the swing and Ben got off and changed sides so that the sun and the school house were behind him. Now facing the school house, Rasci had a good view of the other children and, as he looked beyond them, he noticed that Mrs. Steadman was watching through a small window that looked out onto the play area. She watched Ben nodding and chatting to his imaginary friend with a definite and noticeable look of concern on her face. Even though the child was not her own, she still watched over Ben in the same way that unrelated wolves watch over the youngsters of the pack. Rasci liked that.

  ‘Who was the grown up in the room?’ Rasci asked Ben, watching her with interest.

  ‘My teacher,’ Ben replied, glancing back over his shoulder to see what exactly it was that Rasci was looking at so concertedly.

  ‘Teacher, heh? I suppose she teaches you how to hunt and things like that?’

  Ben laughed out loud and shook his head. ‘No!’ he said, trying to contain the bubble of laughter that kept welling up from his tummy. ‘Daddy’s doing that.’

  ‘So what does she teach you then?’

  ‘I’m learning to read and write,’ Ben said, expecting Rasci to understand. ‘Although, Mummy has started to teach me that already.’ He paused and then said, ‘And I’m learning to add up and all that stuff.’