People of the Wolf (48 page)

With the melt came rumors. Carried over the trails by fur-wrapped hunters, the stories passed from lip to lip. Stories of a Dreamer—a powerful Dreamer. The youth, Runs In Light—once scorned—had Dreamed a way to the south.

Not only that, but he'd walked beneath the world! Walked under the Big Ice and the People were reborn! Reborn in a land where no Others walked. A land where the animals were truly brothers: unafraid. This Wolf Dreamer, they said he

was born of Father Sun. Sent to lead the People to a new, home.

Raven Hunter sat and squinted into the morning sun, ignoring the men who sat uneasily in a circle around him, waiting for his counsel. Their eyes on him made him consider. Over the last year, he'd hardened, handsome features tightening at the constant travel and the endless raids. His muscles had toughened, shoulders thickening while his belly tightened despite the better food. Now he walked like a young wolf, powerful, tall—a man without peers.

Fingering his darts, he contemplated the raids they'd made during the Long Dark. The Others remained, held at bay. Now the Renewal would be upon them. The spring hunt had begun. Piecemeal, they waited on the game trails to see what would move south with the melt, migrating into the Long Light feeding grounds. Only this year so many Others sat on the migratory trails they might get no food at all.

Would Buffalo guide his children through the ranks of Other hunters? Would Caribou? Or would they have to chase the occasional sheep in the high rocks, pray they could kill , enough of the sparse mammoths to keep the People hale and hearty. How would the game react to the increased pressure of the Others? And how would the Others react? What if they didn't relent? Didn't take time for the spring hunt? What sort of Renewal could the People provide if their bellies were gaunted by hunger?

Raven Hunter shoved himself gruffly to his feet to pace. He pulled his new parka tight and smiled. A prize taken from the Others, the parka served as a symbol of his war prowess. Now, looking around, he realized how much they'd come to be like the enemy, stealing their clothing, eating food they'd hunted, bedding their women. Curious, he ran his fingers down the finely stitched sleeve of the parka.

And, of all things, this year the elders had decided to break tradition and hold the Renewal far to the south—in Heron's valley. In the very home of his addled brother!

Worse, worse by far, how could he hold territory when his young men had to retreat so far south to Dance? The Others would flood to fill any spaces they vacated.

"Do the old fools think the Others care for our Renewal?" he'd raged, stamping back and forth. "How long to get there?

Weeks? And the Others are supposed to obligingly wait in their camps?"

Eagle Cries had lifted a shoulder. "But we must Dance. Remember what happened two Long Darks ago when we didn't? The Soul Eaters of the Long Dark punished us. Besides, don't forget the Others have their own clan gatherings. They, too, must Dance, trade, take care of their—"

"Then we should strike!" Raven Hunter smacked a knotted fist into a palm. "They'll be vulnerable at their Dances— just as we are at ours. It's the right time to sting them, push them back before they—"

"But the Renewal is—"

"I've heard enough!" Raven Hunter glowered about him. ''Who'll stay? Who'll fight for our lands?''

Around the circle, a few hands shot up. Some wavered hesitantly. The majority remained down.

A coldness worked along his spine.
Careful. I can push them only so far. While they 'II follow me, they won't forget their precious Renewal. Is there an advantage in this? Some way I can discredit the elders through their shortsightedness at holding Renewal so far to the south ?

He filled his lungs, spreading his arms as he exhaled wearily. ' 'I know, I know. Without our Dancing, the souls of the animals may desert us." He chuckled dryly. "Quite a situation we're in, eh? If we don't pray and Dance the Renewal, the animals won't let us kill them. On the other hand, if we leave our territory and go south, we'll hand those very hunting grounds over to the Others."

He paused, searching their tight faces, seeing the blazing eyes, the grim mouths. Yes, these were warriors! His people! "So be it. We'll go south." He shook his head sadly. "And remember this next fall . . . remember who held Renewal so far from our lands. Some of you will die retaking what we will give up tomorrow. I hope those old men sing your souls well, my brothers and sisters, for they'll bear the responsibility."

And besides, this way I can find out the truth of the nonsense that's circulating about my idiot brother.

With the courage and stamina of her people, Moon Water trotted out into the plains, the horrors of the hole below the

ice lending speed to her tired feet. She would never forget that passage. The first time had been bad enough, buried there under the ice, only the faint bit of light ahead to guide her. The way back, alone with only the tremors of the ghosts as they groaned and wailed in the endless black, had been horror. No human word, no gesture had comforted her. When she stopped to sleep, it had been with fear, the whisperings in the dark growing louder around her as she cuddled the tiny fire to her bosom and prayed that the wretched ghosts would leave her be.

Now she ran, betting her speed and skill against the growing Long Light that she could reach the Mammoth People before the season of flies and mushy muskeg began.

Maybe the White Tusk Clan would be holding the White Mammoth Hide this year. Their war with the People certainly would have earned them honors among the clans. If they held the precious hide, clan leaders from the north and west would be flocking to Ice Fire's camp. A tingle of anticipation taunted her. If they were there . . . they'd hear what she told the Most Respected Elder about the hole, and the Dreamer, and the-way to the south with its wonderful valleys filled to bursting with game.

All she needed to do was find a village of the Mammoth People. From then on, she would be safe and greatly revered.

She trotted and ran and trotted again, eating the last of the fat from the fuel bag, the lamp she'd carefully hidden where she could find it again. A wry smile crossed her lips. Oh, they'd looked hard and long for that. But she'd foxed them all.

Where could Ice Fire be? Where would she find a camp of the Mammoth People?

Dancing Fox felt her way through the pitch blackness, her breathing echoing loudly from the icy walls. Water splashed around her feet, making the footing more precarious. Carefully, she placed her foot on a slanted rock and leaned forward. In a flash, her foot slipped off and she tumbled face-first to the ground, groaning softly at the sharp pain in her ankle. The joint raged, but the bone hadn't broken this time. Would she forever be favoring that four-times-cursed ankle?

The holes had filled with waist-deep water now. The passage not only creaked because of the ghosts, but it echoed with dripping water. Her soaked feet had gone so cold they'd become totally numb. The only dry places to sit were on the larger boulders that she blundered into in the eternal dark. Of course her kindling and fire sticks were soaked; she had no way to dry them.

The light came faintly at first. Icy water leaving her legs awkward and fumble-footed, she splashed on, jaw muscles clenched.

"You'll never reach your people, Moon Water," she promised fervently. "I'll find you."

The journey seemed to take forever. More than once she thought her end had come, that there had been a branching of the channel—a dead end leading her into the eternal bowels of the very earth.

Still, the light grew, the only sound her splashing feet and the gurgle of the increasing current. Sky appeared in the jagged cracks overhead.

She flailed and splashed her way around the end of the opening, dripping water as she limped up on the rocks to blink out at a gray overcast day.

"I'd have never thought it was true!" a strange voice said from the rocks above her.

She whirled, fumbling for her darts with cold-stiffened fingers. Three Falls shook his head at her. He was dressed in a frayed parka, and his middle-aged face shone like burnished copper from long days in the sun.

"Dancing Fox? What are you doing coming back? I thought only-"

"Chasing an enemy." She shivered, cold eating into her flesh as the wind sucked the last of her body heat away.

"An enemy?"

"Yes," she said, trying to relax, too cold to do much else. "But first, I've got to warm up."

"That a proposition?" Three Falls raised an eyebrow, smiling as he saw her expression. "I've got some dry stuff. Not much, just a little dry dung and a bundle of willow sticks. Strip out of those wet things."

She shucked off her pack, teeth chattering as he led her to a sheltered place in the boulders, unslinging his pack, building a fire as she peeled her sopping hides from her body. She wrung out the leather while he bent, spinning his fire sticks with practiced hands. Smoke rose from the charred tinder. Three Falls bent down, blowing softly, coaxing the flame to life. He backed away, motioning her forward.

She twisted her hair into a braid, couching gratefully over the smoking dung.

Three Falls sighed, letting his eyes trace the curves of her naked body. "The other way would have been more fun."

Dancing Fox looked up at him. "I've seen you naked before. No thanks, I'm not up to you. I like my innards arranged as they are." She frowned. "Besides, I thought you were one of Raven Hunter's admirers. He'd object, I'm sure, to your association with me."

"No," Three Falls grunted, working on her clothing, propping it to air out as much as possible. "His ways and mine are different."

"Are they?"

He tilted his head, brow lined with thought. "I'll kill Others. I'll fight for our land. But he's done things I think are crazy. He's taught the young men to torture the Others, cut them apart and eat the captives' hearts. There's something wrong with that. He's . . . I don't know, kind of crazy. You can't tell what he'll do between one minute and the next."

"I know." She nodded, shifting her weight, placing one foot above the fire, gasping ecstatically as warmth caressed her flesh.

"How long have you been keeping watch here?"

He filled his cheeks with air and exhaled furiously. "I'm not keeping watch . . . exactly."

"Then what?"

"I heard talk of Heron's valley and came here to look myself. I left Raven Hunter's camp in the middle of the Long Dark." His eyes were downcast. "I've kind of drifted here and there, hunting, trying to figure out what to do in my head."

"You deserted him?"

He gave her a sharp look. ' 'I believed the tales of Runs In Light's hole in the ice. I came to join him."

A soft flutter of pride filled her chest. The People's faith had grown? Perhaps everything would be all right. If ... "Did you see a woman come through before me? Moon Water? Jumping Hare's Other woman? Maybe two, three days ago?"

"No. I've only been here since yesterday."

"Well, maybe we can catch her."

"Let her go," Three Falls said softly, looking out over the piled rocks of the valley. "I've seen enough dead women."

"She knows about the hole in the ice. She's seen the other side."

Three Falls' eyes sought hers earnestly. "What's it like?"

"Go see for yourself." She pointed to the hole.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Is it just more rock, more scrubby wormwood and sedge, more of these sloppy rocky lakes? Flies and mosquitoes? Starvation around every esker and moraine? Fog? Blowing snow?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Trees taller than you can imagine. Game that's tame. A divide that looks like it leads down into another Big River—this one leading south. Maybe to another salt water where we can fish without Others attacking us. And there's no sign of men."

"I'm going!" Three Falls cried.

"No, you're not."

"But you just told me—"

"I've changed my mind. You've got to help me catch Moon Water first, or you'll end up sharing everything I told you with the Others."

"I won't kill her."

"I think her husband, Jumping Hare, will thank you for that."

He cocked his head skeptically. "Agreed?"

Reluctantly, she nodded. "I just want to stop her before she reveals the path to the other side."

"Let's go."

"Can I dry my clothing first? This is the first time I've been warm in days."

"Of course." He sighed, crossing his arms. "I like looking at your body. Makes me think of things."

"Then look the other way. My body doesn't think of yours."