“Hurry up!” I said, and dashed the rest of the way up the hill. Ázzuen and Marra darted after me, and the three of us ran full pelt up the hill. Pell had said that the land beyond the poplar hill was mostly flat. I was hoping that I’d be able to see the ancient yew tree that Lydda had spoken of from atop the hill, and that it wouldn’t be hidden among other trees.
What we saw when we reached the top was at least seven Greatwolves not three hundred wolflengths from us. They were milling around a small hill—really just a rise on the plain—near something that looked like the entrance to a den.
We flopped down hard on our bellies, taking cover in low scrubby bushes. We’d been stupid to run up the hill like that. If the Greatwolves had been looking in our direction, they would have seen us. If the wind was different, they would have been able to smell us. Ruuqo and Rissa would never have done anything so reckless. I opened my eyes—I hadn’t realized I had closed them—and lifted my head to look across the plain.
“The Greatwolf cache,” I said. There was no yew tree, but with so many Greatwolves milling about, what else could it be? I couldn’t believe we’d been so close to it during the auroch hunts.
“Is this the place you have you been looking for?” Jlela quorked, landing next to me. “It has always been here. Many Gripewolves always guard it.”
Tlitoo alighted on Ázzuen’s rump. The ravens must have followed us from Swamp Wallow.
“What are they guarding?” I asked Jlela.
“I don’t know. Food? They have caches throughout the valley, but only this one is guarded by so many. Ravens have tried to find if there is good food here and were chased away. Twice, ravens were killed. We do not go there anymore.”
We watched the Greatwolves. Some sat beside the den hole, while several others took turns walking around the small hill. There was never a moment when at least one Greatwolf was not guarding each part of the hill.
“We have to think of a way to get them to leave,” Ázzuen said, but I didn’t think even he could think of a way to dispose of seven Greatwolves.
Then another Greatwolf emerged from the woods far across the plain from the hill. He moved slowly, as if it hurt him to do so.
“Zorindru!” I whispered. I wanted to go to him, but I couldn’t let the Greatwolves know we were there. The other seven wolves watched as the ancient Greatwolf approached. He stopped a full fifty wolflengths from the cache. Five of the other Greatwolves went to him, greeting him as a leaderwolf. He then stopped and looked in our direction. I was sure he’d seen us, but he just turned and walked back the way he had come, and the five Greatwolves followed him into the woods, leaving only two Greatwolves behind.
“I have never seen so few Gruntwolves guarding the cache,” Jlela said. “And they are young ones. Galindra and Sundru. They will be even stupider than other wolves.”
I squinted down at the cache. Zorindru had looked right at us, I knew he had. But he hadn’t alerted the other Greatwolves. I couldn’t figure out what that meant.
The sound of soft, careful pawsteps behind me and the scent of wind-sage and willow made me turn. Pell was making his way cautiously up the hill behind us. Unlike the three of us, he had the sense to crawl up the hill on his belly, keeping low to the ground.
“You’ve found it?” he whispered.
“I thought Stone Peak wolves couldn’t come here,” Ázzuen said.
“It’s only a problem if the Greatwolves catch me,” Pell responded. “How do you know this is the place?”
“We don’t,” I said. “But there were five more Greatwolves here before, guarding it. They must be hiding something.”
“Only two Greatworms left and five of us,” Jlela said.
“I’ll go down first,” I said to Ázzuen and Marra. “I’m the one they care about. They’ll chase me, then you two find out what they’re hiding.”
“No, wolf, not you,” Tlitoo said. He gave a great cry, a call answered by a multitude of raven voices. Then, before I could argue, he and Jlela took flight. They were met halfway across the plain by at least twenty other ravens, all of whom flew screeching across the plain. The birds began diving at the two Greatwolves, pulling tails and ears, pecking them hard—not in play as they did with us but to draw blood. The Greatwolves snapped and snarled but did not leave the hill.
“It’s not working,” Ázzuen said.
“It will,” Pell responded. He loped down the hill. When he was halfway across the plain, he stopped, planted his paws, and gave a great howl. Then he pelted full-speed toward the Greatwolves. The two Greatwolves—still under attack from the ravens—turned to stare at him, then took off down the hill to chase him. It wasn’t that much different, I reflected, from hunting the aurochs.
“Is he crazy?” Marra asked, admiration clear in her voice.
“He’s Stone Peak,” Ázzuen said. “They’re all crazy.”
He was brave, anyway. The Greatwolves ran for him, and instead of running away, he kept going toward them. Only when they were almost upon him did he turn sharply to the right and run toward the woods. The Greatwolves followed, but they were so hindered by ravens that Pell was able to stay ahead of them. The three wolves disappeared into the woods followed by a dark cloud of birds.
“Now!” I woofed. We ran down the slope toward the Greatwolf cache. Ravens flew above our heads, back and forth from the woods to the cache. I kept my head low, to avoid getting clouted by wings or scratched by talons. Then I recognized one of the ravens. It was Nlitsa. She had returned to the valley. I tried to veer off toward her but had taken only a few steps when Marra tackled me. She was all muscle and bone, and it hurt.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“It’s Nlitsa,” I said. “She’ll know where my mother is!”
“Later!” Ázzuen said. He had stopped when Marra had toppled me to the ground. “We won’t have this chance again.”
I was the dominant wolf. They should have done what I told them to do. But one look at Ázzuen’s determined face and Marra’s strong body atop me and I knew they wouldn’t. Besides, they were right.
“Fine,” I said. “Get off me.”
Marra leapt to her feet, and the three of us sprinted across the plain. We ran until we reached the bottom of the small hill, and flopped down again on our stomachs so that we would not be easily visible to any other Greatwolves that might be nearby.
“You keep watch,” I said to Marra. “Warn us if the Greatwolves come back.”
Ázzuen and I crept to the opening in the hill that the Greatwolves had been guarding. Just as we reached it, a mound of dirt in front of it began to heave. We both froze. It could be anything: another Greatwolf left behind to guard the cache, a bear, anything. I looked back over my shoulder. Marra was still on guard, her gaze flicking from the heaving earth back to the forest that the Greatwolves had disappeared into.
“What should we do?” Ázzuen asked.
I was torn—half fascinated, half terrified. Then, as we stood there indecisive, the mound of earth erupted, sending dirt and sharp twigs flying. A stocky, light-colored wolf leapt from the dirt mound. It was no Greatwolf. It was just a young-wolf, a female. Her fur was nearly white, but filthy. She landed on all fours and immediately began growling at us. Then her ears lifted in surprise as she looked us over. We recognized each other at the same moment.
“Borlla,” I said.
“Hey, Bear Food,” she replied. “Why’re you here?”
One of my earliest memories was of Borlla trying to kill me. I had been four weeks old, younger and weaker than the other Swift River pups, and Borlla had led two other pups, Unnan and Reel, to try to injure me so badly I would not be able to keep up with the pack. She had almost succeeded. Throughout our puphood Borlla had tried to bully me, tried to make Rissa and Ruuqo see me at first as weak, and then as a danger to the pack. I had hated her. Even after she was gone she caused me trouble; it was her disappearance that made some in the valley consider me drelshik. I would have been happ
ier finding a starving bear or a horde of vipers in the Greatwolf cache. Ázzuen, Marra, and I stared at her in shock.
“What are you doing here?” I asked when I at last found my voice. Ázzuen and Marra were still staring at Borlla, their ears standing straight up on their heads. Marra’s tail started to wave. Then she shot me a guilty look and stilled it.
“Leaving,” Borlla replied. She looked past me to where the Greatwolves had disappeared, and quickly stretched her front and back legs, then her spine. She shook herself hard, then began to run.
“Wait,” I said, following her.
“It took me five moons to get out of here,” she said. “I’m not standing around until they come back for me. Which way is safest?”
Ázzuen and Marra scrambled to catch up with us.
“This way,” Ázzuen said. He veered left toward the hill from which we had first seen the Greatwolf cache. “How come you’re here? How did you get away? We all thought you were dead.”
Borlla looked him over as we ran.
“Didn’t expect you to survive the winter,” she said to him. “Must’ve been an easy year. And obviously I’m not dead. Sorry to disappoint you.”
She began to run faster. Borlla’s legs were longer than Ázzuen’s or mine, and we had to sprint to keep up with her. My mind raced, too. Could Borlla really be the Greatwolf secret? There had to be more.
“Borlla, is there something else the Greatwolves are hiding? We need to know.”
She ignored me. I wasn’t surprised; she hated me every bit as much as I hated her. I wanted to knock her over, pin her down, and make her tell me, but that would only make us all vulnerable if the Greatwolves returned. I looked at her and noticed that in spite of the fact that she was running well and quickly, her right foreleg was slightly crooked. Maybe I could get her to talk about the Greatwolves after all.
“What happened to your leg?” I asked, trying to sound as if I cared. We had reached the bottom of the poplar hill.
“They broke it,” she said matter-of-factly, beginning to climb the hill, “the first time I tried to get away.”
Marra exhaled sharply through her nose, and I stumbled a little in shock. Borlla’s eyes swept over me. I had forgotten how arrogant, how insulting her gaze could be.
“You don’t know anything about the Greatwolves and what they’re willing to do, do you? Did you really think they’d let you be the humans’ streck? I can’t believe you’re the one that half the council thinks might be wolfkind’s savior. They must be pretty desperate.”
Borlla was as arrogant and selfish as ever. The last thing I wanted was to have her back in my life. But she clearly knew something if she knew the Greatwolves had talked about me. I would have to keep trying.
“What did they say about that?” I panted. The ridge seemed much steeper on the way up. All four of us stopped when we reached the top. Borlla didn’t answer me. She just looked from left to right, deciding which way to go.
“Borlla, it’s important,” I said. “The safety of the pack might depend on our knowing.”
She whipped her head around, fury in her eyes. “Why should I care what happens to them?” she demanded. “They just left me. They left me with the Greatwolves for five moons without coming for me.”
“They tried,” Marra said, the only one of us not short of breath.
“Not hard enough,” Borlla replied, looking coolly at Marra. Of the three of us, she was the only one that Borlla had some respect for—the only one she hadn’t called a weakling when we were all smallpups.
“They looked for a long time,” Marra said. “Minn looked for two moons, and Unnan never stopped trying to find out what happened.”
Borlla winced at the mention of Unnan’s name. I tried to imagine what it would have been like for her. Waiting for someone to come. If it had been me, I would have waited every day for Ázzuen or Marra to find me.
“It’s important,” I said again, starting to feel a little sorry for her. “It’s life or death.”
She swung her head back to me. She had spoken somewhat respectfully to Marra, but she had no use for me.
“Do you know what the Greatwolves said to me, when they broke my leg the first time I tried to escape? They told me they’d break all four of my legs if I tried to leave again. They told me they would tear off both my ears. You have no idea of what ‘life or death’ means.”
My throat closed in disgust. I had known Milsindra was ruthless, but even so I’d never imagined the Greatwolves would do such things.
Borlla was looking at me with absolute contempt. “You don’t know anything,” she said.
She dove down the hill and dashed across a short stretch of grass and into a dense patch of forest. I lost sight of her. Then, almost instantly, I heard the impact of body upon body, a desperate scuffle, and a youngwolf’s scream.
Ázzuen, Marra, and I bolted down the hill and into the woods. Borlla was in a small clearing, and she was being held down by one Greatwolf as another stood over her. She scrabbled frantically beneath the wolf who pinned her, but there was no way she could free herself.
“Together!” I barked, instinctively using the term Torell had used when he wanted us to leap as one at an auroch. It worked. Ázzuen, Marra, and I leapt at the same instant to slam into the Greatwolf who had Borlla pinned. I recognized both Greatwolves then. Galindra and Sundru, the two young Greatwolves who had been guarding the cache. Galindra staggered when the three of us hit her, and Borlla scrambled to her feet. I dove under Sundru’s stomach, just as Torell had taught us to do with the aurochs. I saw Ázzuen and Marra darting around Galindra. Borlla took a deep and vicious bite out of Sundru’s flank. The two Greatwolves were as angry as the aurochs, and almost as stupid, and we had them confused and off-balance. When Pell crashed into the clearing, followed by screaming ravens, the Greatwolves ran.
“Get out of here!” Pell said. “I’ll keep them distracted.”
Before I could protest, he had pelted after the Greatwolves, the ravens flying just above his head. I couldn’t believe he was chasing Greatwolves. Borlla was already bolting from the clearing. I stood, stunned for a moment at the realization that we had fought a pair of Greatwolves and won.
“Come on, Kaala!” Ázzuen yipped.
I went.
The three of us followed Borlla’s trail, catching up with her as the woods thinned. I noticed she was limping now and running more slowly than before.
We ran through the woods until even Marra was gasping for breath and we had to stop to rest in a copse of pine and oak. Ázzuen’s ribs were heaving and his tongue hung halfway down to the ground. Borlla breathed in quick short pants. My own throat ached, and when I heard the sound of running water, I realized how thirsty I was. The day was cool, but we had hunted two aurochs and fought Greatwolves without even a chance to lap at a pond. The sound of water was just downhill from us. I could smell it now, the fresh, cool scent of a stream. Borlla had been leading us since we had run from the Greatwolves, but when I set off for the stream, she, Ázzuen, and Marra all followed.
The stream water was cool and savory with the taste of damp wood and fish. We gulped at the water, and I barely managed to stop myself from drinking so much that my belly would be too full to allow me to run. Then I looked around. I had been blindly following Borlla, trying to get as far away from the Greatwolves as we could. I realized that she had been leading us south, away from our humans and the pack. We would have to go back.
Ázzuen and Marra were lying down, still panting, still exhausted, but we had to keep moving. We had to let Torell know what we had found, and I wanted to make sure Pell was all right.
“Come on,” I said. “We’re leaving.”
I didn’t want Borlla to come with us, but I wasn’t willing to live with the guilt of her being recaptured by the Greatwolves. She could follow if she wanted.
“Kaala, wait,” Borlla said. Her voice shook. I remembered the terrified look on her face when Galindra held her down.
Reluctantly, I stopped and turned back to her. She was looking at me with dislike, as if she wanted to say something else insulting.
“You helped me,” she said instead. “Otherwise I wouldn’t tell you anything.”
I waited. I heard an impatient rustling from above and looked up to see Tlitoo peering down at us from an oak tree. He had a tuft of light-colored fur in his beak.
Borlla growled softly. “Do you know why the Greatwolves took me?” she asked.
“Because they’re dying and they need wolves to breed with,” Ázzuen answered. “It’s why they took the Wind Lake wolf, too, isn’t it? Nothing else makes sense.”
Borlla looked at him in surprise. She hadn’t spent much time with Ázzuen. She didn’t know how quickly his mind worked.
“They can’t bear any more young,” she said. “No Greatwolf pup has been born for over a hundred moons, and the Greatwolves of breeding age are growing older. Some of them want to mate with smallwolves to keep their bloodlines alive. Others think it might be time for the Greatwolves to die out. Some think only a few smallwolves should be kept alive to breed, and the rest should be killed.”
It didn’t surprise me that they were trying to breed a new race of wolves. Tlitoo had said the Greatwolves were dying, and Frandra and Jandru had wanted to take me from the valley at autumn’s end so that they could mix my blood with that of other wolves. It did surprise me that some of them thought the Greatwolves should die out.
“What happened to the Wind Lake wolf?” I asked. It would be just like Borlla to escape and leave him there.
“His name was Ivvan,” Borlla said. “They kept him with me for a few days, then took him away. I don’t know what happened to him.” She looked at me with distaste. “They talk about you all the time, Kaala. About whether you’re a savior-wolf or a destroyer. They talk about how which one you are will determine whether or not smallwolves should live. Every half moon they have a ritual where they seek guidance from the Ancients. That’s why there were only two Greatwolves guarding me. The rest have gone for the ritual. I heard Kivdru telling one of the younger Greatwolves about it—only the older Greatwolves are allowed to go, because whatever they do is too important for younger Greatwolves to know about. He said they chew the dream-sage and remember the time before time, the time of the Greatwolf Indru. He said they seek answers in the past.”
Secrets of the Wolves Page 27