For whatever reason, no guard was posted nearby. In my father's day, such laxity would never be allowed. As Sassa had won out in being clan mother and was in charge of the prisoners, I couldn't believe she felt guards were irrelevant. That her husband went along with this, made no sense. Regardless of the reason, I wasn't about to argue the absence of guards, as I could use all the luck I could get.
My nose up in the air, I took great lungs full of breaths and closed my eyes. I separated out hundreds of scents with the best inheritance my parents could have bestowed unto me, my sense of smell. Thus I stood facing the night breeze and sought out Sassa, as it was her husband I had to confront. Seconds passed and I caught no fresh scent. I turned perpendicular to the breeze and padded slowly up to a fence by the first canvas tent. Here I caught the even breathing of the tent's occupant. A look around still showed the night peaceful. Nose in the air, I repeated the use of my talent. Though my sensory input said she wasn't along this path, I did pick up Mr. Sullivan's scent. As a guest, by tradition, he should be settled near the center of the encampment. This was for his protection as well as a deterrent to go wondering off. Discovering his scent was significant, in that the chieftain's tent would also be near the center for some of the same reasons. Thus narrowing in on him would by default bring me closer to my sister, as she would be sharing her tent with her husband, the clan's chieftain.
I glanced up on the half-moon glowing brightly in the heavens overhead, and for the first time gave thanks for my dye job. As a black wolf, if I kept to the shadows, I could in theory make my way undetected through the camp. My only downfall would be my scent. Unfamiliar as it would be to those born after I left, it alone would not raise a hue and cry. Joann's scent around my clothes and fur, however, might bring about an investigation by a curious wolf or a night sentry. Regardless of my inability to restrain myself from holding her moments ago, I'd still have taken the risk had I considered this very problem. With regrets firmly subdued, I eyed places of cover or darkness and inched step by step into the den of wolves. Halfway into the sleeping clan of animals, imagine my surprise when Mr. Sullivan's scent grew stronger on the breeze. Puzzled why that would be in such a short span of breaths, I stopped behind two stacked crates by a tent and sought to reason it out when Oscar rounded the crate and stepped on my left pad.
His total surprise would have awakened the entire camp had I not taken that second of startlement to lock his muzzle with my paw while the other arm pulled his body into mine. Briefly he sought to struggle. This ceased when I whispered in his ear.
“Make a noise and I break your neck.” This I emphasize when my arm came up under his chin and I squeezed. Oscar froze, if you can call shaking in fear frozen. “In only whisper tones, tell me why you're sneaking around in the middle of the night?” Without revealing who I am, I slowly released my fingers around his muzzle though I didn't take my paw away.
His throat worked. “You're not going to call the guards?”
“Who says I'm not one. Now tell me.”
He swallowed. “Truthfully?”
I pressed my forearm up on his throat.
“Okay, okay. Um, I thought to avail myself of the two jackrabbits and head on out onto the glacier.”
“You jest?” I asked in astonishment. Such a reckless venture would find them all captured or at the very least Joann and Clair frozen to death within the span of a week, if they somehow avoided the trackers that long.
“Sorry, but it's the truth.”
“Why would you risk the wrath of the clan?”
“Have you never had a dream so close at paw you could taste it, yet it was denied you?”
“Only recently,” I admitted, for I was risking everything in the belief I could persuade my sister's husband to spare Joann and Clair's lives.
“Then you can understand my meaning. Out there on the ice is the answer to all my questions. To all our questions, for that matter.” He swallowed. “Have you ever questioned why only certain animals evolved in intelligence? Or why the apes all died out around the time you and I got off our paws and stood up on our pads?”
For a moment I stood considering. Although such questions were never taught in schools or passed down from parents to cubs, I sometimes wondered the same things, well, at least on Joann's account. Why did her ancestors break off onto different paths where one line evolved into my beautiful Joann and others remained as small simple animals without advanced intelligence?
“Such questions have plagued animal kind for centuries.” Oscar interrupted my thought process. “That's why I was bargaining with your clan mother for those two jackrabbits. Although I'd rather have a team of archeologists at my side, I'm afraid desperation is driving me to get help where I can and take my chances.” He swallowed. “I'd not have considered this course of action were it not for your clan mother denying me access to the glacier.”
“There are other reasons you were denied, fox,” I decided to remind him. “Your fur is not meant to kept out the cold as ours is. As for the rabbits, with their short fur, without proper clothes they'll most likely freeze to death inside a week.”
“You obviously haven't experienced the drive of an earth-shattering discovery when a lifelong quest is within reach.”
“I thought your quest was to unearth proof apes could fly?” I let slip.
“In truth it is,” he answered without question. “But what if I were to tell you I've translated enough apes' hieroglyphs to believe my life-long quest and the discovery of our evolution can both be found out there? I had documented poof of such until it was taken away from me by my nephew. Yet even with that setback and his blocking my rightful assets to hire a team of daring archeologists, I'm here, only days away from the biggest discovery animal kind has ever found, only to be blocked once more by your clan mother and chieftain.”
As he took a breath, it dawned on me I was wasting time.
He continued. “You know…if you'd consider helping me, I could promise you'd be rich beyond your wildest dreams inside a month's time.” Oscar quivered, almost as if he had an orgasm just thinking about it. He licked his lip. “If you'd help me, I've no problem in sharing. That is, if you'll escort the three of us out onto the ice?”
I considered his words but shook them off as too chancy. Nothing has changed since I denied Joann our escape in heading out on the glacier. In fact, the presence of the fox would be more detrimental in our chances to stay free as they know better his scent over ours.
He coughed, waiting out my decision. A moment more and an old custom came to light in my mind. One that would mean, if I decided to go this route, I had the clan by the balls.
“See me to the chieftain's tent and I'll see a pair of trackers are made available to you.”
“Why would you need me to see you to…” He got a better look at my arm and I can only reason he connected that the darkness was not all caused by the night. “You're that black wolf that was tied up with the jackrabbits!”
“In point of fact, I'm an arctic wolf. More specifically, the son of Elov Snow,” I corrected him.
Oscar considered this and brightened. “B..By…Byrghir? You're Byrghir Snow? But, but you died years ago.”
“That may be the story given out. Truth is I ran away. Now, however, I'm back. Although I've no wish to confront my family, present circumstances make it a priority of mine.”
“Circumstances?” Oscar apparently was a bright red fox. “The, uh, Jackrabbits?”
“My fiancée and her sister,” I admitted, though I didn't know why I was telling him.
Oscar nodded. “Hence your reluctance to chance their trek out on the ice.” He swallowed easier as I let up some. “Forgive me, Byrghir—”
“Braxton,” I corrected.
“Um?”
“I changed my first name to Braxton.”
“Ah, um, sorry. But if I may ask, how are you going to give me a pair of trackers? I thought such could only be on orders from the chieftain—Oh, honestly,” His t
one turned unbelieving. “You're not going to challenge your own sister?”
“My sister, no. Her husband. If matters go that far I've no choice, if I'm to save Joann and Clair.”
“But Sassa's husband is not…Uh oh, you don't know, do you?” Oscar sounded astonished.
“Know what?” I allowed Oscar to step out of my grasp and turn to face me.
Oscar looked around us before he told me, “Sassa's husband isn't chieftain.”
“Excuse me? What are you on about? Sassa's husband has to be chieftain. Sassa's clearly performing the clan mother's roll, dealing with finances and daily meals.” It dawned on me after I said this that there were exceptions. If the chieftain chose a wife who was incapable of performing such duties another could be chosen.
“Oh, Sassa is clan mother, you're right about that.” Oscar bobbed his head with a hint of anticipation coloring his tone of voice. “But it's your other sister, Lovisa, who claimed the title of clan chieftain.”
Briefly I stared at him. “Say what?”
“Lovisa Snow is clan chieftain.”
My ears fell back. “That's not possible.”
“Be that as it may, she is.” Although I couldn't see his visual antics to give over clues to his thoughts, his voice did relay some details of his mind's travels. “So do you still wish to face her, or take your chances out on the ice with me?”
What circumstances prevailed to allow my sister, Lovisa to claim clan leader were beyond my mind to grasp. Unless…No, the clan would never allow it. Though Lovisa had always fought to prove she was as good as any male, she couldn't have bested all the males and married Sassa to pick up the title. No, wait… I backed up my thoughts. Oscar said Sassa's husband wasn't chieftain. I rubbed my muzzle and looked off in the direction he came from. This is all too much to grasp. Tradition would never allow Lovisa to take up the role no matter how many wolves she managed to defeat. I'll have to face the situation to reason it out. To Oscar, I said, “I've no choice, no matter who's chieftain.” I looked Oscar in the eyes and told him, “Now take me to the clan leader's tent.”
Oscar considered his choices. Choices even I could work out in my bewildered mind. If I beat whoever was chief, he'd get his trackers. If I lost, he could still barter for Joann and Clair, if he somehow gained access to the glacier. Either way, his wish to follow his dream could possibly be solved. “As you wish.” He shrugged.
I nodded and he gestured.
“It's this way, if you please.”
Of course Oscar could make a run for it, calling out for help. But archeology wasn't solely digging up the past. It meant the study of nature. This was important for putting artifacts in perspective. Thus observing what happened to me in my dilemma would be a windfall in his collective memory of what happened to an alpha male returning to his clan.
Oscar led me past ten more tents before we came to an open circle, about forty meters distance across, at a guess. {45 yrds} Under the glow of the half-moon above, I saw in the center two large tents where only one should stand.
Oscar gestured. “Sassa's tent is on the right. Lovisa's tent is on the left.”
Oscar was so frank in who resided in which tent, I looked at him. “You're not playing me for a fool, are you?”
“No.” Oscar elaborated, “After besting all the females in order to claim clan mother, Lovisa rejected the title and demanded to fight the males for dominance of the clan. When she proved she could overpower two of the weaker males without showing any sign of sweat, your father allowed it. Fascinating case here. Females are inherently the weaker sex, yet your sister found ways to best all the top males in your clan. With much deliberation and a conference with the elders, your father put aside tradition and gave her the leadership—but only until an Alpha Male could best her. So like any Alpha Male, she over see’s all the male affairs.” Oscar looked up at me. “With the Alpha Female slot still open, your sister Sassa took on the females and trounced them good. Thus she's undisputed Alpha Female and takes care of all the administrative work, like your mother did.” Oscar rubbed his chin. “Of course with you here, things should go back to normal. That is, when you best your sister Lovisa and take on a proper wife.”
My ears laid back and my tail dropped. I knew having seen my sister Sassa that even in my weaker state I could best her. But Lovisa I hadn't yet seen.
So occupied was I that I didn't catch sight of the wolf who'd stepped out of his tent some paces away, until…
“What the hell? Alarm, Alarm!” the wolf cried out and ducked back inside his tent only to reemerged with a spear in paw. He ran up before us, menacing.
With my presence advertised throughout the camp, I took one step away from Oscar and called out, “Lovisa. Sassa. Your older brother has come home!”
Spears aplenty surround us both. Only when we were encircled did my sisters emerge. What a contrast the pair of them made. Sassa was as before, dressed in leather skins around waist and breasts. Around her neck and wrists she wore teeth necklace and bracelets. Each tooth signified a verifiable kill since she started hunting. Above her brow, resting on her green-tinted, shoulder-length hair, a silver circlet signified her status as Alpha female. On her left ankle, as I remembered seeing it, was a length of chain that told all she'd taken a husband. He stepped out and stood behind her.
My eyes glided over to Lovisa, who came to a stop a step out from her sister. Although obviously my sister, she was more male in stature. Her physique was muscular, rivaling countless male animals I'd seen in the city and most that I could see around me and Oscar. Around her neck and wrists she wore an impressive array of teeth, all told tripling the count of her sister's. She wore no ankle bracelet of marriage and no hide on her upper body to cover her athletic-sized breasts. As for hair, hers was cut as a hunter's, short and dyed red under her Chieftain's circlet of silver. In her right paw she held a spear while a long ivory knife adorned her left hip.
Lovisa planted her spear. Her voice when she spoke held strength. “Our brother is dead, stranger.” She pointed the spear tip and gestured at Oscar and me. “As the pair of you will be.”
My ears laid back and I tucked my tail between my legs. “Not without a fight,” I snapped. “As Alpha male and son of Elov Snow, I challenge you for ownership of the clan!”
“Our brother might have given challenge if he didn't tuck tail and run away from his responsibilities many years ago. But now, however, wherever he is, he's long dead to this clan. Regardless of these facts, you're no arctic wolf and therefore have no rights save to die as I choose!”
I gestured down the length of my chest. “Don't let this black dye fool you, sister. I am an arctic wolf, and most certainly your brother!” I stood with shoulders back and tail raised in arrogance. “My name,” I proclaimed loud and clear so the latecomers could plainly hear, “Is Byrghir Snow, son of Elov Snow, and by law, as an Alpha Male, I have the right to challenge.”
“Byrghir?” a recognizable voice asked in question. “Byrghir?” My mother pushed her way through the crowd of confused bystanders and spear holders. “Is that really you?”
Though aged, she held the posture of a female half her age and padded right up to me to take a big whiff. Lovisa and Sassa stood where they were. Silent, giving all due respect to our mother.
I looked down into the black eyes of my mother and saw the instant she knew the truth.
Instead of giving over a greeting to a long lost son, she snarled, showing her canines, and slapped my muzzle with all the force she could muster. “How dare you show up now!” She spat, causing me to blanch under her hate. “My husband is dead these three long years because of you! Had you taken your rightful place as ordained by birthright, he'd be by my side in comfortable retirement. But no, you deserted your responsibilities, which left him no choice but to remain Alpha Wolf ten years longer than he should have.” She spat on the ground. “By the maker, I curse the day I pushed you out of my body.” She waved at my sisters, but indicated Lovisa with her next words. �
��There is my true son.” She lowered her head, and said in a lower tone, “Should have been my true son.” She turned away, but halfway around she looked up at me one last time and said, “You should have been stillborn.”
Her sentiment hurt. In truth she was right that Lovisa should have been male; from the very first sup of my mother's breast milk, she had fought me like any male. Regardless of my feeling toward my family, Joann and Clair's lives depended on my ability to stand up to them and take my rightful place. With this in mind, I squared my shoulders and shouted out, “I am Byrghir Snow, an—”
“Enough!” Lovisa raised her voice over mine. “Though your scent is of my dead brother, your fur says plainly you're but a common black wolf.” She stepped further into the circle and raised her spear. “As Alpha Male, I make this declaration. We'll let the barren glacier reveal who you truly are. If you really are our brother, then you'll return as a true arctic wolf after being out in its grasp for the twenty-day run. If not?” She let the obvious answer lay thick in the air.
The twenty-day run surprised me. All wolves who wished to prove their adulthood subjected themselves to such a risky run in winter, out on the glacier. I knew, for I'd done it. What bothered me was that she knows this. Something else was going on. “What of my family?” I called out before she could turn her back on me.
“You've no family here,” Lovisa said plainly.
“Maybe not among this clan, but my fiancée and her sister are present and languish as your captives.”
Before Lovisa waved that aside, having not seen the prisoners, Sassa, though astonished by what I'd said, called her name and stepped up to whisper in her ear.
“Jackrabbits?” I heard Lovisa question in disbelief. Lovisa looked off in the direction of the captives. Her ears perked up and she started laughing. Her change in temperament startled me while easing away the tension of the gathered clan. “By the maker, it's a fitting retribution.” She laughed. Her eyes fell on me and her tone turned harsh. “Untie the jackrabbits and house them in the guest tent with the fox.” She looked daggers at me. “If you're not back by the twentieth morning, by noon we'll be feasting on their bones.”
Braxton Snow P.I. (The Snow Adventures Book 1) Page 20