People of the Wolf (59 page)

"Made it! Made it this far." Puffing his exertion, he threw ' himself into the last ascent, legs trembling as he topped the ridge and froze. A woman waited, eyes on the trail to the west that he'd avoided.

"Dancing Fox," he gasped, chuckling.
"Dancing Fox!"

She turned, catlike, darts ready to cast. '

Hunching his back to redistribute the weight, he reeled forward.

"Raven Hunter?"

"It's . . . me," he wheezed, settling the heavy Hide as he dropped, panting, grinning up at her. In the back of his mind, Ice Fire's warning about the Hide sucking up his soul rang like a warning shriek, but he ignored it, unable to bear the weight any longer.

She stared at him, chin up, expression cold as the glacial snow blowing down from the cloud-black sky. Wind Woman whipped the thick flakes around, a sheet of snow obscuring the plain below.

He coughed, trying to catch his breath, and waved at the rolled Hide. "There! Look, see! The very soul of the Mammoth People is mine!"

She studied the thick roll of hide indifferently. "So."

He realized she remained wary, balanced, darts poised for thrusting.

He wiped the sweat from his clammy brow and blew a thick puff of breath into the falling night. "It's their totem, you see? I went down to die—to kill this Ice Fire of theirs. To show everyone that I was still the warrior of the People . . . despite Runs In Light's tricks. Only I stole their most sacred totem, the White Hide, the heart of their people. Now I'm taking it south, through the hole in the ice. With this Hide, I reclaim my place as leader of the People!" He shook his head, snorting condescension. "So much for my brother."

"You stole a mammoth hide from the Others?" She shook her head, watching him uncertainly.

"Their
Sacred
Hide," he corrected emphatically. "Don't you see? I've gutted them, just like that! They can't stand against us now. I've stolen their spirit, their will to resist. Now"—he grinned—"I've found you. The visions, you see, they're coming true. With this Hide, I destroy Runs In Light. I vanquish the Mammoth People. I reclaim leadership,, taking us all to the other side of the ice. Then you're mine. No one else will stand against me."

She shook her head. "Never."

"Forever," he corrected, smiling victory. "I'll break Runs In Light. Disgrace him."

"Why? You don't need to—"

"Yes, I do. It's part of the Dream. We have to fight and I have to win. It came to me the night after I stole the Hide from Ice Fire. I saw it all clearly then. Yes"—he laughed softly—"clearly."

She crouched, darts ready, tangles of black hair fluttering before her as her thoughts jumped to Wolf Dreamer's words. "The cataclysmic ..."

He laughed gleefully. "Remember those nights when we shared robes? Remember?"

He patted the shining White Hide. Thoughts of her warm body against his stirred his long-frustrated manhood. Chuckling again he carefully unrolled the White Hide, the snowy hair gleaming in the faint light.

In a sultry voice, he called, "Come, Dancing Fox. I've missed you. It's been a long time since I parted your legs.

Now the visions are coming true. Come lie with me. My body cries for yours, and I've never loved any woman as I love you. You and me, we're the destiny of the People. Conceived on the White Hide, our child—"

"Will never exist," she hissed, backing up a step.

He ran his fingers through the long white hair of the Hide, stroking it lovingly. "Yes, it will. I've seen. Come. Let's hurry.''

She turned and ran, jumping lithely down the rocks.

"No!" he shouted, a flush of anger spurring his weary body as he leapt after her. She was outdistancing him, running with a slight limp. On trembling legs, he followed, his lungs barely recovered from the difficult climb. For long moments, the gap remained the same until he slowly drew ahead.

Heart pounding, lungs burning, he closed, forcing every last bit of his energy into the chase. She whirled, hearing him close, darts ready.

He slid to a stop, staring at the desperation in her eyes.

"I'll kill you, Raven Hunter!"

Slowly, he spread his arms, gasping for breath. "You'll be mine in the end; the visions say so. You think you can elude me? I'm the best tracker of the People."

She shook damp hair from her eyes. "I've killed Others, Raven Hunter. I'll kill you. You've seen me. I don't miss what I cast at. Stay back.-"

Breast heaving, he smiled. "Kill me. Come on. Do it!" he taunted. "Do it quickly, or I'll find you. Somewhere, you'll sleep. You can't outrun me. You can't escape me. You'll slip and I'll have you and the future. You'll bear
my
child."

She backed away, a step at a time, jaw locked with determination. "Follow, and I'll kill you."

"You don't understand. With the White Hide, no one can stand against me. It's proof of my destiny."

"Oh?" She continued to back away. "And where's your Hide?"

He stiffened, remembering how the evening light had shone off the white hair where he'd unrolled it on the rocks. He shifted nervously. What if someone came along and ... No, ' that was unthinkable!

Seeing his indecision, she added softly, "Sure, you can

chase me down. Finally corner me, catch me off guard, but you can't while you carry that Hide."

He considered it—too true. Ice Fire's words haunted him. '
'Are you strong enough to carry the Hide ? The Power it, holds will destroy a man who shirks his responsibilities to it. "
Annoyance ate at his resolve. The answer came.

He smiled. "For now, the Hide is enough. With it, all things will come . . . including you."

"To plant your seed in my belly, you'll have to keep me tied like a dog. But, remember, you, too, must sleep sometime—be less than alert. And when you do, I'll drive a dart through your cursed body. By the Soul Eaters of the Long Dark, I swear. You hear?''

He nodded, turning on his heel. What were the Soul Eaters of the Long Dark against the Power of the White Hide?

"You'll be mine," he called over his shoulder as he trotted down the slope toward the gleaming Hide, now partially covered with snow.
"I've seen it!"

On the other side of the Big Ice, the mountains rose, some of the peaks to the far north familiar. The range extending to the south, however, gleamed in unknown patterns. Here, in the broken foothills, patches of spruce mixed with open grassy meadows, amber now in fall color.

Overhead, the last flocks of geese winged southward in irregular V's, their voices haunting as they called among themselves.

Behind, the wind blew chill off the Big Ice. Storm clouds continued to pile up along the northern horizon while the valley of the Big River hooked below the uplands the People now hunted. Such a rich land, this. A feeling of freedom spread among them as they crafted new shelters, tailored new clothing, and awaited the coming of the Long Dark. The vast

grassy valleys to the south beckoned, moving splotches of game visible from the heights.

The trap had been built along a game trail, hidden deep in the shadows of the trees. Broken Branch had picked the place, turning on her swollen ankles, mouth working as her eyes studied the spot. She'd poked at the soil with her digging stick and grinned.

Green Water climbed out of the pit, a bloody quarter of elk over her shoulder. Under the weight, her steps careened, the leg bone eating into her shoulder. She stumbled to drop the heavy weight onto a mat of spruce needles, then blew an exasperated breath. A strange animal, this. The antlers were a lot like those of the caribou, only the hooves were much smaller, the rump brown, and no white beard hung under the animal's neck. Other strange animals had fallen to her pits. Another deer, smaller, with forked antlers, abounded. Other than that, no sign of horse could be found. Musk ox and mammoth and long-horned buffalo were everywhere, though—and this interesting brown deer, which had a sweet and delicately flavored meat.

"I could almost wish this one had gotten away," Broken Branch muttered as she looked up from the bottom of the hole.

"He almost did," Green Water reminded her, images of the brown deer's incredible agility lingering. When it fell through the trap she'd carefully dug, the big animal had whirled despite a broken front leg and yelped as she approached. In a desperate leap, it had cleared the pit, landed on the broken leg and tumbled back in. By the time Green Water closed, the animal had leapt again, locking its good front leg along with one rear. While it teetered at the edge of the pit, clawing with the other back leg, she'd driven a dart deeply into its side, sending it crashing once more into the hole. This time the large span of shiny antlers had caught, breaking the animal's neck.

"So much bigger than caribou!" Broken Branch grinned up from the bottom. "Fat meat and good game! Ha-heeee! Wolf Dream did us good!"

Green Water's baby cooed and gurgled in agreement where it swayed in the breeze, dangling in a hide bag from a spruce limb.

Green Water smiled at the child, bending over to pluck up some of the snow and scrub the caked blood from her fingers.

"People'll be coming through the ice soon." Broken Branch's lips spread in a wide grin to expose her toothless gums, the wrinkles of her face rearranging into different patterns.

Green Water nodded. "Water's down in the Big River. Curlew Song was down there yesterday."

Broken Branch's ancient fingers gripped a heavy bifacial chopper. Despite the cramped space, she skillfully smashed the ribs loose from the spine and sternum, exposed now that they'd removed the front and rear quarters. With a flake from her pouch, she sliced through the diaphragm and grunted, lifting the heavy ribs up to Green Water.

"Lot of meat here. Not a mammoth, by any means . . . but enough to last a family a full turning of the moon." Green Water carried the flopping ribs to the pile, thankful the flies had frozen out.

"I wonder who Wolf Dreamer will bring. Buffalo Back's clan? All of them?" She shook her head. "Hard to think, about what's happening on the other side of the ice when we've done so well here." She severed the heart sac, lifting the thick organ out, flicking bone slivers off the meat as she sucked the blood from the wide aorta, pumping the muscle to squirt the warm fluid into her mouth.

Smacking her lips, she handed it to Green Water, bending to cut out the lungs and liver.

"My One Who Cries will be coming home." Green Water sighed longingly, reaching down for the thick liver, taking time to bite a chunk from the rich organ, chewing and taking yet another bite, enjoying the taste of the new creature.

Broken Branch turned the stomach inside out, inspecting the rough surface. "It'll do for a boiling bag."

"When do you think they'll start through the hole?"

Broken Branch wiped a blood-encrusted hand across her wrinkled forehead, squinting up at the slant of sunlight. "Maybe a week. We'd better have lots of food stored—just in case all the clans come at once."

"You think they will?" Green Water asked, worried. They'd laid in a lot of food, but not
that
much.

Broken Branch turned her withered face up. Sunlight gilded

her wrinkles. "Depends on how bad the pressure from the Others is. And how many believe the Wolf Dream."

The band of the People gathered on the rocky hillside above Heron's hot pool, their bodies silhouetted against the wavering flames of the Monster Children's War. A few stars peeked out above the southern horizon, sparkling in the frigid night air.

' 'I know many of you fear the ice." Wolf Dreamer turned, hands raised. "Don't worry. I've Dreamed the ghosts away. Tomorrow you won't even hear a groan from them."

Who's he trying to kid!
One Who Cries wondered to himself. He stared curiously at Wolf Dreamer, uncomfortable with the detached gleam in the young man's eyes. He'd lost weight, and more sooty smudges than usual lined his face. He'd gone to Dreaming constantly, only appearing for brief moments when he sensed it necessary to reassure his people.
And why'd Singing Wolf and Dancing Fox have to run off and leave
me
here to keep things going? Why is it always me? I hate messing around with spirit stuff!

"There'll be no ghosts?" Four Teeth wondered aloud.

"The Big Ice is nothing more than illusion." Wolf Dreamer smiled serenely.

Four Teeth cocked his head, squinting uneasily at people around him. "What's he mean by that? Illusion?"

Wolf Dreamer ignored the question. "One Who Cries tells me the water has ceased to run. Gather your things."