“Hold, sister!” I called out, knowing I was in no shape to face the glacier at present. “Before I take my run, I'll need some days to bulk up.”
“Silence!” Lovisa shouted. “You claim to be an Alpha. Any Alpha worth their mettle can do such a run even in your shape three seasons out of the year and have hours to spare. You go at dawn. They'll be plenty of game to satisfy your hunger in the path of your run.” I saw a thought cross her eyes and she smiled evilly. “But then again I'm being too hasty. If you feel yourself too famished to start the trail tomorrow morning, then by all means stay and dine on jackrabbit, come the noon meal.” Lovisa laughed, and turned for her tent.
As hungry as I was, I bit my tongue to keep from arguing. Lovisa was not to be trifled with. Not until I could confront her as an Alpha male, and for the moment she was having no part of that. At least not until I proved myself. I had no wish to confront her; however, circumstances prohibited any recourse if I were to save Joann and Clair. My problem was my weakened state. The run was laid out to push the endurance of a young cub who sought to become an adult. A young adult could conceivably push him or herself and make it back in eighteen days. I, on the other paw, was near on forty, and had spent the last twenty-five years becoming city-soft.
Oscar tentatively raised a paw before Lovisa made her tent. “Beg pardon, Ms. Snow?”
Sassa had turned and put her arm around her husband. To Oscar's voice, she and Lovisa both turned as one, though clearly he wished to speak with Lovisa.
Oscar glanced at me as I watched him. He experimented in easing past me and on up to the line of spear holders. The one he stopped before looked at Lovisa. Sassa took Lovisa's moment of pause and whispered in her ear. Lovisa rolled her eyes but nodded and waved him closer. Oscar watched the spear lower before he eased past.
“Beg pardon, Ms. Snow.” He looked at Sassa. “Mrs. Snow.” Oscar was no dummy; after giving both their due, he directed his words to Lovisa. “It occurs to me that while your brother—”
“Alleged brother,” Lovisa snapped.
Oscar's posture showed contriteness. “Beg pardon, alleged brother.” Oscar squirmed under her heated stare but continued with his request. “As I would like to examine the second marker the wolf is to reach in eleven days, might I accompany the wolf you send to the stone face so I could look it over while waiting out the wolf's arrival? I promise, I'll do nothing but take pictures of the edifice.”
Lovisa raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sassa. At least my sister is no tyrant. I hoped. She crooked a finger to Sassa to come near without her spouse and they both whispered quietly for a few heartbeats. Her gaze drifted to me. Her eyes narrowed and more words were spoken. Briefly Sassa's features looked torn about something; her ears dropped and her tail lowered. Lovisa's next words hit the mark and Sassa's ears flattened. Her lips curled back and she glanced my way before she faced her sister and nodded.
This, I conceived, didn't bode well for me.
Lovisa looked at Oscar. “Clan laws forbid strangers to be allowed out on the ice. With that said, you are not wholly a stranger. Father made you an honorary guest of our clan. For this reason alone, I will grant you this boon.”
Oscar's whole body went taut a second before he trembled with excitement.
“However, my wolves are not pack animals and I wish not to grant that wolf an easy mark once he makes that checkpoint. So you my go, but you will use the jackrabbits to carry your supplies.” Lovisa eyed me a second, daring me to say otherwise before she turned for her tent.
Momentarily, as her angry eyes looked at me, I thought to argue her decision. Joann and Clair were not dressed for the weather out here, nor would their light layer of fur stand them any chance to survive very long, and I doubted they'd be supplied with proper skins to ward off the cold. I then considered the proximity of the stone edifice. It's possible, I considered, my mind counting the kilometers, {miles}. I could best the wolf awaiting my arrival and have at least a six-day head start to get us off the glacier before the clan knows we've fled. That is, if I'm strong enough.
Sassa motioned Oscar to follow her to the stockade while my mind sped on.
The decision will be mine to make at the time. It'll be chancy at best. But should I fight him and win, I should be able to keep them alive long enough to walk off the ice somewhere other than near this clan. All I'd need do is keep track of the sun.
I felt a pinprick on my arm.
“All right, all right, I'm going,” I grumbled, and started off for the tent where a wolf would await the dawn to begin the long run.
****
As it had been the middle of the night before I'd faced my sisters, dawn came far too quickly. For most cubs, the night was the first test. The hours spent alone gave the cub a chance to reflect on his or her resolve. Without comfort of blanket, fur-skin pillow, pottery jug of water or bucket for night waste, the cub would understand a small part of what they were about to do. For me, the few hours unable to sleep left me reasoning with my empty stomach that something would find its way down there by day's end.
The guard who stood at the tent flap awoke from a light doze when I cinched up my black pants one more notch and stepped out to look tall and arrogant in the morning mist. He looked me over. He cast his eyes around to find that no one as yet had acknowledged the lightening of the sky in the distance.
He licked his lips. “If you're truly Byrghir Snow, I wish you all the luck in the world.” From the pocket of his brown pants, he covertly slid out two sticks of jerky and passed them to me. “Regardless of who you are, come back and best that bitch. This clan has been humiliated long enough.”
I eyed him a moment to see if this were some kind of test Lovisa might have thought up. He looked sincere enough, as I reasoned it out, but nothing came to mind. I gave him a curt nod.
Jerky in paw, I wanted to cram them both down my gullet. However, I mustn't have the smell on my breath before I left the clan. Lovisa would smell it and possibly add another condition to my test. The fact I had no intention of finishing the test didn't matter whatsoever. However, a new condition added to the test might put a wrinkle in my plans that I'd spent some time thinking out during my hours in the tent.
My guard customarily gave me a ladle of cold water before he escorted me out to the edge of camp. There I waited upon the sun to clear the far horizon, all the while I sought to think of anything other than the jerky in my pocket.
Not long into my wait, Lovisa and Sassa arrived. Tall and proud in stature they both barely took notice of me. Sassa, as clan mother, planted her staff beside her a few meters in front of me. This was significant, for when the sun's rays touched the top of the staff, it signaled the beginning of the run. It also, in twenty days, signaled the end of the run in the same manner when the last light of day no longer touched it.
Wolves of both sexes now appeared out of the morning mist to form a semi-circle around me. Looking around, in a few eyes I caught a glint of hope hiding within. A hope a male would reclaim the chieftain's spot. A bad sign. It meant the clan was not in harmony, and such a condition meant a civil war could erupt. It also meant my sisters could be killed or at the very worst cast out of the clan if things didn't change. Ergo, the guard's wish for me to succeed is really a cry for help. This brought to mind Mrs. Yenin's warning. Your father's clan is coming to an impasse. Drop what you're doing and go back home.
Lovisa pulled her hunting knife out of her hip strap. She raised her arm up high and angled the blade. In seconds the glint of the morning rays shone around those gathered. She lowered the blade. “Twenty days, wolf,” she said clearly. Against custom, she walked up and whispered in my ear, “I will see you dead should you attempt to return, brother.” She emphasized brother with distaste. “So if you want to live, I suggest you forget about the jackrabbits once clear of my clan, and head east for two days then south to clear the glacier.” Lovisa tapped me on the chest with her hunting knife, her intent made very clear when the sharp tip separated a co
uple of layers of skin. After this she backed up, replaced her blade, took up her position next to Sassa, and folded her arms.
Sassa made no attempt at eye contact. She looked up at her sister, then back upon her staff, and awaited the light to touch its top.
For myself, Lovisa's ultimatum had my lips curl back in a snarl. The Alpha in me wanted ever so much to stand over her body and hear her plead for her life. My intelligence, however, knew the point was moot. I did plan to leave, but not without my fiancée and her sister.
Lovisa's lips curled back as well. We locked eyes. The animal in me wanted to be let out of his cage again. As starved as I was, once out on the ice, I just might do that, but not yet. No, not yet.
I swung my eyes around for a glimpse of Joann, knowing she wouldn't be permitted out of Mr. Sullivan's tent until I was well out of sight. Still, I could hope. One last look at Lovisa, whose upturned lip and cold blue eyes held a touch of a smile, gave me my only warning that somewhere along my run something untoward would befall me. If I hadn't been so famished, if my animal had been silent, if Joann and Clair's welfare wasn't still on my mind, I might have been a little more wary along the run. Suffice to say, they were on my mind, so I took no notice of that blaringly obvious second of warning.
Being that my mother wasn't present, my eyes looked lastly on my sister, Sassa, who gave no apparent recognition to suggest we were remotely related.
Fair enough… a voice growled in the back of my mind. Joann and I will start our own dynasty. I licked my lips. The sun's light touched Sassa's staff and I was off, leaving behind forever a life I never wanted any part of now or ever again.
My starting pace was not a fast one. Though time would be a factor, conserving energy was paramount. Five long agonizing minutes into my run I dared tear into the jerky, which in retrospect I should have left alone, for the only good it did was set afire my hunger. Gnashing at its cage in the primal corner of my soul, my animal went wild.
The realm of the ice pack required skill and intelligence to survive. My animal held neither. Yet to call it useless would be a grave mistake. Instincts along with sensory receptors, in some cases, could triple. Yet weak as I was, if I let go, there was no telling when I might regain control. So I struggled on all that day and into the night battling myself, my animal and my hunger. In the long run, overtaxed, I let slip my hold and my animal escaped. Instincts and the will to live took control. Seconds or days could've passed without my intelligence knowing. Only sating my hunger after digging out a hare's warren allowed its return.
I lay in a heap on churned-up ice frozen earth, my breath hot and heavy in the cold air. I was exhausted. Dangerously so, as the temperature dropped. Though breathing through my mouth to rush air back into my body, my nose told me of the carnage my animal dealt out to quash my hunger. Nauseated with myself, I was very glad of the dark, for it hid the spray of blood I knew would be all around myself and the ground. Still, sensibilities aside, it would be foolish to drag myself away from the hole I'd made in digging the rabbits out. Pragmatically, I crawled into its farthest point and curled up into a ball to conserve warmth and fell asleep.
It took the sun a couple of hours before its warming rays could best the edges of the earth mound around the hole I slept in. Minutes more fell into the past before the rays filtered through my fluffed out tail and found my eyelids.
A great yawn took my mouth and jaws, which spread as wide as they could go. Razor sharp teeth glistened briefly before I was able to close my muzzle and blink my eyes. A need to stretch the whole of my limbs was followed by a record-setting cramp in both legs. I howled and scrambled to crawl out of the hole so I could stretch out my legs to fight off the cramping. In so doing the nerve ending in my fingernails complained fiercely. Water ran from my eyes to sounds of distress leaving my throat. At last able to open them to the vanishing cramp, I discovered I'd ripped out several nails in my animal's lust to gorge on the red meat that had quivered in fright deep within the burrow I emerged from.
Hunger's not a stranger to me, so why the slip? I stood and surveyed my surroundings. I should have been able to keep my animal caged. Out on the ice, the scenery changed with the turn of the seasons. Unless I found a familiar landmark I could wander the glacier for kilometers {miles} out of my way. Although not detrimental to me, the delay in making my second appointed landmark could result in Joann and Clair's death. That thought alone had me abandoned the first landmark, where I was supposed to break off a limb from a lone birch tree that had made its home in that desolate spot long ago. My only problem in doing so was the five-day run to the hairless ape wall. The thing only rose out of the ice pack four meters {4 yrds} at the highest temperatures in the year. This left very little for the eyes to see at a great distance.
Part of the purpose of the run was to learn the glacier and how to mark the sun from where you were. Landmarks were the key to this, of course. The first part of the run had a wolf angling out from the clan at about thirty degrees from the morning sun. Once at the tree, the wolf would wait until morning and angle away from the tree at a hundred and thirty degrees from the rising sun. This was by the winter sun. Other seasons required a wolf to readjust for the tilting of the world. Having not made the birch tree, I could only guess on the path I took.
A glance up at the sun told what direction I needed to run in winter, had I made the tree. How do I proceed? I asked myself. Did I pass the tree or am I short? I laid back my ears in anger at myself. Come on, wolf, think! I cast my arms around myself and turned in a circle studying the land. My animal would not have held to my course. Food was its only goal. So where am I? I put my nose into the air and took deep breaths. Airborne particles descended my nasal cavity and hit my olfactory. As the wind was coming from the east, I sought to glean any scent of the birch tree or even the clan encampment, but found none.
“Damn…this is impossible. Had I time to spare…” But of course I had none. Roaming to smell or find a landmark was out of the question. “Best guess then.” Intelligence went to work. “The clan would not have wiped out the snowshoe hares I fell on last night, so food would be present to aid a young cub on the run. This could mean I'm in between the clan and the birch tree.” I eyed the sun. “A wolf is to angle one hundred and thirty degrees from the sun at the birch tree. Given I haven't made the tree, my course would be steeper, say one hundred ten degrees.”
After a brief wash down with ice from a snow bank, I set out at a kilometer-{mile} eating jog. My path was chancy. Six days to the hairless ape wall from the clan encampment. Five days from the birch tree. Giving myself two days for my animal being in control, I still may make it in five days, which would put me there before the clan arrives.
Survival on the glacier meant knowing where you were, thus every quarter shift of the sun, I stopped and put my nose to good use. Not until my third morning out after my intelligence held rein did I catch a whiff of the birch tree.
“Finally…” I huffed in some relief. “Now if I only choose my path correctly.” I stuck my nose in the air. “Let's see, the tree would still hold the scent of growth.” I took another deep whiff. The wind still came out of the east and held strength today. Within the currents I smelled the air was heavy with water. “A storm's coming. Oh, by the maker no. Not now.” I cast my eyes east as the sun began to make its appearance and saw the red coloring among dark clouds. “Red sky in morning, old wolf take warning,” I mumbled, remembering the wise knowledge of our ancestors. “It'll be on me soon.” Though the temperatures held in the high seventies and low fifties this time of year, the glacier always lowered the temperature. “I'll possibly be facing freezing rain. Not good.” I looked around. “Best dig into a snow drift for cover.” I set my course and kept an eye out. “Damn, more time wasted.”
The clouds overtook me. Soon small droplets fell from the dark sky. Not yet freezing. Still getting my fur soaked will take away its ability to keep me warm. During the warmer months, snow drifts able to give shelter were few. Thus
I was near soaked by the time I found one. The wind picked up and howled like a lone wolf over the drift. Down inside the snow bank, as the day passed, I heard the rainfall increase in intensity. With nothing I could do but wait it out, I closed my eyes and suffered under bad dreams. Joann skewered over a fire pit. Joann spread eagle between two poles and skinned alive. The scenarios were many and her screams loud in my ears.
The screams took on a sudden change in pitch. Deeper, as if from a larger throat. Something heavy caved in my hole. A familiar bellow worked past the layers of snow and my dream-filled mind. I startled awake. My mind screamed, Polar bear!
The bear's jaws found my right leg and ripped me out of the snow drift. I yelled, frightened and airborne. I landed in a heap and scrambled until I could get my pads under me. Toenails dug deep in solid water left behind by the storm, and without direction I ran for my life.
Moments passed. My ears picked up the unmistakable crunch of frozen ice as it gave out under six hundred kg {1300 lbs} of maddened bear. As the sudden fright passed, my leg began screaming obscenities. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I forced my legs to keep my mad dash going. At last able to slow, I rubbed at tears flowing from my eyes, yet I couldn't stop. The hungry polar bear may have stopped the chase, but should I cease in my travels he would gain expectations of having crippled his meal and retake up the hunt. Thus I had to keep walking but it was time to reorient my travels.
Long did I limp before I felt significantly safe enough to halt my progress and see to my legs. Kneeling carefully, I found my right calf received several puncture wounds from the bear's teeth. The flesh was all tender and weeping blood. The left leg, fortunately, only sustained minor scratches and some loss of fur from his claws when he collapsed the drift on top of me. Relatively whole, I stripped out of my pants. Using teeth and claws, I ripped runners down the legs to make up wrapping for the wounds. Once these were tied around the worst of the wounds, I donned what remained of my pants and set off jogging at a slow limp.
Braxton Snow P.I. (The Snow Adventures Book 1) Page 21