Sisters of the Wolf

by Patricia Miller-Schroeder

  “She’ll run like the wind once she can see.” Shinoni speaks softly as she nears the horse. She climbs on a large boulder beside the twitching filly and beckons Keena.

  “Climb up here and we’ll throw our legs over her back at the same time.”

  Keena squeaks in disbelief. “You’re the reckless one, not me. I’m not doing that.”

  “Of course, you don’t know how. Only Kulas ride wind runners,” Shinoni says. “I’ll show you how, then we can ride and Haken will never catch us.”

  Keena jumps to her feet. Her jaw drops and her eyes bulge in their sockets. “Surely not even you would do such a foolish thing.”

  Shinoni brushes away Keena’s doubt. She has always longed to ride a wind runner, and she won’t let the Krag’s fear stop her. She swings a leg over Ulu’s back and hooks her heels around her belly. The horse flinches. Her chest heaves and Shinoni can feel her powerful leg muscles coil to spring. Shinoni rubs the filly’s neck, still lathered with sweat.

  “Take it easy, wind runner. We’re just going to have a little ride.” She grabs the scruffy mane and the rope before pulling the cloak away from Ulu’s eyes. The horse stands perfectly still for a heartbeat. Then, with the energy of pure panic, she rears up high, slams her hooves down hard, and twirls around, bucking.

  Shinoni sails through the air, landing against the tree stump with a thud. Ulu gallops off, snorting and squealing, into the swaying grasses.

  “It’s good you showed me how to ride a wind runner.” Keena helps Shinoni to her feet. “Can you walk? We must get going before Haken finds us.”

  “I’ll know how to do it better next time,” Shinoni gasps, winded and bruised. She takes one step, then another. Her legs seem to be working, but her ankle twists under her and pain shoots up to her thigh. She shakes her head to clear her vision and wipes the blood dripping from her nose with the back of her hand.

  “Come, Kula, we’ve wasted too much time here.” Keena begins to walk briskly away, and Shinoni hobbles behind her. Keena turns and offers Shinoni her sturdy shoulder for support as they head back in the direction of the foothills.

  Before long there’s a rustling in the grass behind them.

  “Something’s following us. Head for that tree.” Shinoni points toward a scraggly pine standing solitary in the distance. They quicken their pace, chests pounding.

  “We won’t make it. Can you run?” says Keena.

  Pain shoots up Shinoni’s leg. “You run. I can’t.” She ducks behind a boulder and takes out her sling. Keena crouches beside her.

  The rustling gets closer. Shinoni raises her sling. A wedge-shaped head with flicking ears and soft brown eyes appears above the vegetation. Shinoni and Keena gape in surprise as Ulu steps out of the tall grass with a chortling whinny.

  “I think Leeswi really does want us to eat her,” Keena mutters, putting the boulder between herself and the horse. Ulu takes a few steps closer and nickers plaintively. “Come on, we have to go.” Keena pulls Shinoni back into the grass.

  “Wait, maybe she’s thirsty.” She hands her drinking bag to Keena and cups her hands together. “Here, pour some water into my hands.”

  “We need the water, Kula,” Keena protests, but she does what Shinoni asks.

  Shinoni offers her outstretched hands with the precious water to the horse. Ulu cocks her ears forward and comes to Shinoni. She dips her velvet nose into Shinoni’s cupped palms and drinks. She licks Shinoni’s palms, and Keena pours the rest of the water into Shinoni’s hands. Ulu drinks again, then moves back into the grass.

  “Kula, come on.” Keena offers Shinoni her shoulder and they resume their course for the foothills. “Let’s hope there’s a stream on the way. The wolf ate our meat and you gave our water to the horse.”

  Shinoni limps heavily as her ankle swells and throbs. They stop to rest briefly, plopping down into the grass.

  Keena suddenly sits up and points into the tall, swaying grass. “Look, Kula, something’s moving there in the grass.”

  Shinoni stands as tall as she can, wincing against the pain, and shades her eyes. “It’s Ulu! She’s following us.”

  “Why would that foolish beast follow us when our people hunt them?” Keena snorts.

  “She’s lost her family like we have, Keena.”

  As the girls walk on, the horse continues to follow them. She stops now and then and looks over her shoulder, as if she’s not sure what she should do, but she shortens the distance between them. At last she’s only a neck’s length behind, and her continuous nickering murmur soothes the girls.

  Shadows are lengthening when they stop to rest. Ulu halts beside them, lowering her head and nibbling gently on Shinoni’s hair.

  “Ho, Krag, she likes me.” Shinoni stands and rubs her fingers in Ulu’s stiff mane.

  “You know, we won’t reach shelter before the dark time unless we move faster.” Keena cautiously moves beside Shinoni and whispers, “Perhaps you’ll have another chance to ride.”

  “Would you ride, too?” Shinoni tries to keep her voice soft and calm.

  Keena nods. “It would be better to fall off a horse than be eaten by a lion.”

  Shinoni’s rope still dangles from Ulu’s neck as the horse grazes beside them. Shinoni wraps her fingers in Ulu’s mane and puts her good foot in Keena’s cupped hands. With a burst of pain, she throws her injured leg over Ulu’s broad back as Keena boosts her up. Ulu tosses her head and neighs shrilly, stamping her feet but staying put. Shinoni reaches down and pulls Keena up behind her. Ulu’s ears go back and her teeth chatter while her body trembles.

  “Hang on, Krag. She’s going to run.” Shinoni clutches the rope and works her fingers tightly into Ulu’s mane. Her knees clasp the horse’s heaving sides, her injured ankle flopping below.

  “You hang on. You’ve got the rope.” Keena’s muscular arms wrap around Shinoni’s waist, her stubby fingers interlocking in a death grip. She clings like a bramble as the horse gallops toward the hills. But Shinoni doesn’t mind. She’s riding a wind runner!

  The sun hangs low in the sky when Ulu slows to a walk. Shinoni relaxes as Ulu stops to examine a mound of steaming dung. She pushes her nose close to the pile and she snorts in excitement. The filly bobs her head and Shinoni grabs her mane just in time as she takes off running. Keena tightens her hold around Shinoni’s middle.

  “She’s found her family’s scent.” Shinoni is excited, despite the pain in her ankle and her hands, now blistered from the rope and Ulu’s stiff mane.

  “Good. If we fall off there’s a hill with caves nearby.”

  At last Ulu slows to a walk and lowers her head. Finally, exhausted, she stops. Keena tumbles off her back and helps Shinoni slide down the horse’s rounded belly. Their legs are unsteady after the unaccustomed horseback ride.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever sit comfortably again.” Keena winces and rubs her backside.

  “We rode!” Shinoni laughs. “It was like flying. I told you they’re wind runners.”

  Keena looks at the deepening shadows. “The sun’s going down. We need to start a fire.”

  “There are caves above.” Shinoni points at openings in the pale limestone rock.

  Keena nods at the horse. “What about her? Can she climb?”

  Just then Ulu snorts loudly, throwing back her head with fear. Shinoni grips the rope tightly and swivels to see what’s spooked the horse. A short distance away, Tewa sits on her haunches, head cocked, eyes glinting, watching them.

  “Tewa, the wind runner is a friend.” Shinoni moves between the wolf and horse.

  Keena moves beside her, spreading her arms to help block the view. “I don’t think she has a problem eating friends.”

  Tewa gets up, stretches, and picks up a dead hare lying beside her in the grass. She ignores the frightened horse and bounds up the hillside toward the caves with the bloody hare swinging in her jaws.

  “Ho, Ulu. Tewa won’t try to eat you. She has food already.” Shinoni rubs the horse’s neck
.

  Keena stands on her tiptoes and points to the valley. “Look, there’s a herd of horses down there.” The sound of neighing carries on the evening breeze. Ulu turns her head and nickers longingly.

  “Thank you, wind runner. Go, your clan is waiting.” Shinoni removes the rope.

  Ulu races toward her family. She whinnies excitedly and the herd answers. A small stallion gallops to meet her. He sniffs her, then chases her in among the other mares.

  “At least she’s home.” Shinoni sighs. “I’d like to ride her again.”

  “We could’ve eaten her, you know.” Keena’s voice is gruff, but she smiles.

  Shinoni throws an arm across Keena’s shoulder. “Looks like Tewa has brought tonight’s meal. Maybe she’s sorry about eating your offering to Leeswi.”

  “The wolf ’s sorry for filling her belly?” Keena laughs. “Your foot looks as big as your head.” Keena offers her arm to Shinoni as they climb the hill toward Tewa and their shelter.

  “Do you think Leeswi’s sorry she filled her belly with me?” Shinoni chuckles. “She did spit me out.”

  Keena gasps and shakes Shinoni. “Kula, never question what Leeswi does. She gives breath. She takes breath.” Keena scans the hillside, her eyes anxious, as an icy breeze rustles the shrubbery. “Don’t make her angry again, or we might never see our people.”

  21

  SHINONI HOBBLES UP the hillside beside Keena, both of them gathering kindling in the growing dusk. Every step sends barbs of pain shooting into her ankle, but she knows they must start a fire to protect themselves. Soon the four-legged hunters will prowl, looking for meat. She gulps, then sees Tewa lounging near an opening in the rock, calmly licking the dead hare. One of the hunters is already here, and luckily they are members of her pack. Tewa has brought them food and she’ll keep them safe.

  “Tewa’s chosen a shelter for us.” Shinoni moves to the cave mouth, then stops so suddenly that Keena crashes into her and drops her load of firewood.

  “Oh, you’re clumsy, Kula.”

  “Shhh.” Shinoni points. “Someone lit a fire here recently.” A blackened hearth lies near the entrance, its hollow filled with charred wood and ashes.

  “Could it be Haken?” Keena clutches her shoulder.

  Shinoni looks at Tewa nibbling on the hare. “Tewa wouldn’t be so calm if it was Haken or some other danger. It’s too dark to search for another place now. Whoever was here has moved on.” She enters the shelter and begins striking her firestones to start a flame.

  Keena fumbles in the twilight, collecting her dropped kindling.

  “Come inside, Keena. Whoever was here left enough wood for our fire.”

  “I don’t want our flames to burn low before the sun wakes the sky.” Keena hauls her wood into the cave. Tewa follows her and drops the half-eaten hare beside the hearth. The wolf yips and disappears into the night. “Do you think she’s afraid to be here?” Keena asks.

  “Tewa left us food and went to hunt for her own supper. She wouldn’t leave us if it wasn’t safe.”

  “How do you know that? She’s a wolf after all.”

  “Tewa’s a wolf, but she’s my spirit guide. I trust her.”

  Keena thrusts a stick into the growing fire and spreads the flame into the brush and kindling stacked near the entrance. “Does your leg hurt you?” she asks. “It looks bad.” Keena settles beside Shinoni and pokes her in the ankle, which has swollen to twice its normal size and is the colour of overripe berries against her brown skin.

  “It burns like sparks.” Shinoni slaps Keena’s hand away.

  “Will you be able to walk next sun time? We don’t have the horse, you know.”

  “I’ll look for the swelling plant when we leave here.” Shinoni chooses two short sticks from the kindling and places one on either side of her ankle. “Hold these, Keena, while I tie them. They’ll keep my ankle straight.” She uses her knife to cut strands of deerskin from her cloak and binds the wood to her leg.

  Keena explores the shelter as Shinoni tends to her injured ankle and starts to skin and gut the hare. The cave is larger than it looks from outside, and the far wall is cloaked in shadows. Keena lights a torch from the fire and looks around. “Better be sure nothing’s hiding in the gloom,” she says. She walks toward the back of the cave. “Hey, Kula, there are marks on the wall. Do you know what they are?”

  Shinoni skewers the hare on a stick and places it over the fire, then turns her attention to the wall. Red and black symbols are spread along the rock surface, dancing before her eyes in the flickering light. “I’ve seen those marks before, in our sacred cave. Kulas were here.”

  “Your people make those marks? Why? What do they mean?”

  “Shazur showed them to me, but Haken killed him before he could tell me their meaning.” The pain of losing her father masks the pain in her ankle. She limps to the wall and examines the marks. “No Kula woman has seen them but me.”

  The smell of charred meat rises from the fire, and Keena hurries to turn the hare. “Come, Kula, our meal is too important to burn because of some marks on the wall.”

  Shinoni lingers, examining the symbols. She traces their outlines with her fingertips. There is a cluster of red dots off to one side and, at a distance from the others, four dots, two large and two small, near a long wavy line. She points excitedly at a mark higher on the rock wall. “Look! I’ve made a mark such as this with my own hand.” She reaches up and places her hand beside the much larger red handprint. “The hunter who made these other marks left this here. Perhaps it’s his message to the spirits.”

  “What spirits, Kula? Is that why you put your hand mark on the wall?”

  “My father and I both put our hand marks on the wall in the sacred cave.” Shinoni hobbles back to join Keena at the fire. “He asked the spirits to forgive me and accept me as a spirit helper.”

  “Why forgive you? What did you do?” Keena takes a bite from a hare leg. “Do you annoy the Kula spirits, too?” she jokes.

  But Shinoni doesn’t laugh. “I entered our sacred cave and watched my father make animals live on the rock walls,” she whispers. “Only the shaman and hunters are allowed in there — not women.”

  “How did he make animals live on the walls?”

  Shinoni picks up a pointed stick from the kindling and smoothes the dirt on the floor between them. Slowly and carefully, without saying a word, she draws the form of a horse with a rounded belly and then a deer with forked antlers. Finally, the pointed face, eyes, and ears of a wolf appear under her stick.

  “What magic is this?” Keena marvels. “You can make spirits of the beasts come to life?”

  “Well, the ones Shazur made on the walls were bigger and had colour, which gave them life. But they were like this.” Shinoni flushes with pleasure at Keena’s reaction.

  Keena hands Shinoni a chunk of meat from the fire. “You’d better eat some of the hare unless you can bring that deer to life.”

  Shinoni and Keena finish their meal and settle down by the fire. Keena soon falls asleep, but Shinoni stares at the flickering symbols on the wall far into the night. Will she ever be able to decipher their meaning?

  22

  SHINONI AND KEENA leave the rock shelter and its mysterious symbols and travel along a game trail, past hills cloaked in conifers. Leeswi swoops low, ruffling Keena’s hair. The crisp scent of pine needles fills her nostrils. It smells like home.

  “There must be a path along here leading up to the high country where my family lives.” Keena hurries ahead, searching for a way through the forest. But soon, as the trees thin out and dip into a ravine, her shoulders slump. Tangled bushes and scattered willows follow a meandering stream. It seems there is no path home here.

  “Come on, we can fill our water bags.” Shinoni leans heavily on the stick she’s using as a crutch. “There could be swelling plants here.” She parts the vegetation.

  Keena joins her. “What do they look like?” she asks.

  “They have small
leathery leaves and thick stalks,” Shinoni replies. “The flower petals are tiny and gold, but they’ll be shrivelled and brown now, so they won’t be easy to find.” She gasps as she steps down too hard.

  “Does it hurt a lot?” Keena asks.

  “It throbs like stepping in a nest of fire ants.”

  They double their efforts to find the right plants.

  “Ah, there they are,” Shinoni says. A patch of the plants spreads along the shoreline under the reeds. “Thank you, Grandmother,” Shinoni whispers. She uproots several herbs with her crutch and places them in her pouch.

  Keena bends to examine something in the mud near the stream. “Footprints. Two people passed here not long ago.”

  Shinoni places her good foot beside them. “One’s close to my size and the other is much larger. Maybe a hunter and a woman.” She places her hand across the width of the smaller footprint. “They aren’t wide like yours, so maybe Kula.” She pauses. “Maybe the hunter who made the marks in the cave.”

  “If they’re Kula, will they be friendly?” Keena’s own footprint in the mud is dwarfed by the hunter’s large one.

  “They won’t be from my group, but I’d like to get closer for a look. Maybe I can talk to them.”

  “You hope the hunter will tell you what the marks mean?”

  “Don’t you also want to know?”

  “The marks mean nothing to my people.” Keena hesitates. This matters to the Kula girl. “Still, we can get closer to have a look at them.”

  They climb the trail out of the ravine until it opens into a grassy meadow. Two figures are barely visible in the distance, moving toward the shelter of the hillside.

  By the time Keena and Shinoni peer over some scrub-by bushes near the hillside caves, the sun hangs low in the sky. Ahead of them, a tall brown-skinned woman digs tubers from the ground with a sharpened stick and places them into a woven willow bag. On her back is another bundle wrapped in fur. This bundle moves and makes a high-pitched mewling noise. The woman sways back and forth chanting softly. “Aiiia, aiiaa, aaii …”