Promise Of The Wolves (8 page)

“Werrna,” Ruuqo said to his sharp-eared secondwolf, “are they gone?”

“They walk toward the river, leaderwolf,” Werrna answered, dark-tipped ears straining forward. “We are safe for now.” The ache in the crescent on my chest eased. I realized it had grown as the creatures moved nearer to us.

Ruuqo relaxed just a little. The other wolves settled down again, this time all of them staying at the kill. Rissa remained standing, a few wolflengths away, looking after the strange creatures. She stood tense, fur raised, tail still stiff behind her. Ruuqo noticed she had not yet joined the rest of the pack.

“Lifemate?” he said.

She was silent for a moment.

“I do not like this,” she said. “I do not like it at all.” She looked at us, then spoke to Ruuqo. “When the moon rises,” she said, “we cross the river. It is time for the pups to learn about the humans.”

T
he pack fell silent. I was aware of every sound around us—the ravens squabbling over bits of meat, small prey rustling in the bushes, even the fleas jumping on old Trevegg’s fur. Ruuqo stared at Rissa.

“The humans,” he said. “You want to take them to see the humans. When they are barely four moons old? I thought you were cautious with your pups, Rissa.”

“I am cautious,” she snapped, stalking up to him. “That is why I want to take them now. You had no problem marching them across the Great Plain, Ruuqo, for no other reason than to soothe your pride. This is my decision to make!”

Ruuqo stumbled back. If I hadn’t been so shocked myself, I might have laughed at his astonishment. Upon seeing Rissa angry, I realized that anyone who thought Ruuqo was the only leader of the Swift River pack would have to think again. Sleekwing and Rainsong looked up from the kill, cocked their heads to listen for a moment, then fluffed their wings and returned to their feast.

“Humans,” Ázzuen said softly, tasting the word. “They are not like other creatures. Are they prey or rival?” His brow wrinkled in confusion.

“Since when do the humans come to the Tall Grass plains in the summer?” Rissa demanded. “They should be at the mountain’s edge this time of year, or at the salamander lake. Not here, not now. They no longer stay within their territory. They go wherever they want, whenever they want. Do you want the pups to come upon them on their own, with no preparation? In another moon they will be taking journeys by themselves. They must know before then.”

Ruuqo growled, as if to make up for his earlier cowering. Rissa narrowed her eyes and pulled back her lips. She was no longer weak from bearing pups, and was nearly Ruuqo’s weight. Her white fur was sleek and healthy, her shoulders broad and strong. It was clear she would not back down. The two leaders of the Swift River pack stood, glaring at each other. Around them the rest of the pack grew restless. No one likes dissent between the leaderwolves; it calls into question the strength of the pack. Trevegg walked up to Ruuqo and whispered something in his ear, but Ruuqo pushed him away. Minn whined anxiously, his thin frame trembling. My own stomach clenched in apprehension. What would happen if Ruuqo and Rissa truly fought? Beside me, I could feel Ázzuen shaking and could hear Marra’s sharp breaths. Only Yllin and Werrna seemed interested as well as concerned. Yllin’s eyes went from Rissa to Ruuqo and back again. I could almost hear her thoughts as she watched them, learning everything she could about being a leaderwolf. Werrna growled very softly in her throat as she observed the battle with a calm and calculated eye. Any show of weakness by either leaderwolf could mean the possibility of advancement for an ambitious wolf. I didn’t think I’d like Werrna as a pack leader.

“I think only of the pack, Rissa.” Ruuqo did not give ground, nor did he press Rissa into a spot where she would have to fight him. “The Stone Peak pack is strong and you must enter their territory to watch the humans,” he said reasonably. “We cannot afford to lose pups this season. Come winter, we will need all the hunters we can get. Prey is not what it once was.”

Anger surged in my chest. Ruuqo hadn’t cared if Ázzuen and I died crossing the plain. I’d heard him telling Werrna that every pack loses pups, so what did a couple of weaklings matter? Now he pretended to care about our safety. I owed Ruuqo my loyalty, but I did not like him much. I stifled a growl.

But Rissa’s voice softened as she, at least, saw concern in Ruuqo’s reasoning.

“Yes, prey is not what it was,” she said. “Prey is not what it was because the humans take it all. It will soon be time for our winter travels, Lifemate, and we will surely see them then. The pups must know, and they must know now.”

“I don’t like it,” Ruuqo said, but the fur settled along his back. “If we are careful we can just ignore them until winter.”

“Like Hiiln ignored them?” she asked.

Ruuqo winced. I had heard the adults whisper of Hiiln. He was a wolf who had left the pack before we were born.

“You can’t ignore a long-fang at the kill, Lifemate,” Rissa said. “You know as well as I do that this must be done. We will wait until moonrise. The humans are as blind as baby birds in the nighttime. It will be safe enough.”

Ruuqo’s shoulders drooped a little, but he dipped his head in acknowledgment.

“Minn and Trevegg will stay here with me to guard our meat. You will take Yllin and Werrna with you.” Yllin and Werrna were strong fighters. Maybe Ruuqo did care what happened to us. Or at least he cared what happened to Rissa. Rissa placed her chin gently on Ruuqo’s neck, and all around me I felt the pack relax. The ravens, who had seemed busy with their feast, gave pleased burbles. Then Sleekwing opened his beak and gave a warning squawk.

The strange tingling in my chest returned, and I knew the humans were coming back. Before I could give warning, Werrna’s ears shot up.

“They return. And there are more of them.” A rumble started deep in her chest. “They are coming to take our prey!”

We all turned to Ruuqo.

“How many are there?” he asked Werrna.

“Seven,” Sleekwing answered from the kill, raising his wings. “All adults, all male.” He gave a rasping sigh. “Better take what meat we can now. Before there’s nothing left but bloody grass.”

“You could come with us to the humans,” Rissa said to the raven, amused.

“If you were not afraid to see them in the daytime we would,” Rainsong answered. “
We
are not afraid of them.
We
go whenever we wish.”

“The humans throw things at us,” Tlitoo confided, landing beside me and Ázzuen. “But they leave good things to eat at the edge of their homesite. There is plenty to take if they don’t see you.” He blinked at us. “I will take you there if your pack will not. I know the way.”

“May we fight them this time, leaderwolf?” Werrna’s eyes were hard and eager.

I waited for Ruuqo to give the command to fight, hoping he would include us pups this time. I felt a thrill of excitement. I could understand why the adults would not let us fight the bear; one swipe from one of her paws and we would be dead. But surely they would let us join in battle with the weak-looking humans. They did not have the powerful limbs of the bear. They were not very big.

“They are so noisy!” Marra whispered as the humans crashed toward the Tall Grass plain. We could hear them well, though they were still far off. “Are they stupid or just careless? We aren’t allowed to make that much noise.”

“Maybe they have reason not to worry,” Ázzuen said, his bright eyes intent. “They didn’t seem afraid of us before, just cautious. They are different, that’s for certain.”

“They’re rivals, idiot,” Unnan said. “You’re just too stupid to know it.”

Ázzuen was untroubled by Unnan. “No,” he said. “It’s something more. Can’t you sense it?”

Unnan rolled his eyes and turned away, but Marra nodded slowly. I wanted to tell them how I had felt, how the crescent on my chest warmed as the human creatures drew near, but I was afraid to do so. If anyone could help me understand it, clever Ázzuen could, but I would not take the chance of the others hearing. But the warm feeling in my chest grew, and I imagined myself leaping through the air to knock over one of the creatures. Ázzuen would be at my side, and together we would triumph over one of them. I would not kill it, though. I would spare its life and perhaps befriend it. It was a strange thought, but I could see myself running with one of them, racing through trees and meadows. I shook my head. One did not run with prey or rivals. You hunted them, fought them. I turned again to Ruuqo.

“Retreat, wolves,” he said. “Take what you can from the kill and withdraw to the woods.”

Yllin, Werrna, and Trevegg immediately began tearing meat from the horse. I couldn’t believe Ruuqo wanted to run. A sharp bite from Minn made me yelp.

“What in the name of the moon are you waiting for?” he said. I noticed for the first time how much his thin face resembled Unnan’s weaselly one. They had matching personalities, too. “Do what you’re told.”

Still baffled, I started toward the kill. Yllin had managed to tear off one of the horse’s front legs, including most of the shoulder and some ribs, and was struggling to drag it to the trees. Ázzuen and I ran to help her as Trevegg hustled the rest of the pups up the slope and into the woods. Each grasped a small piece of horse. “Hurry up!” Trevegg said. “The humans are moving quickly today.”

“Why don’t we fight them?” I asked Yllin as I grabbed hold of the horse’s shoulder. Ázzuen grabbed the leg farther down and yanked. Tlitoo hopped up to balance on the piece we carried, picking at the shoulder as we struggled with it.

“Because Ruuqo is afraid of the humans,” Yllin said, pausing for breath. She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was near enough to hear her, and lowered her voice. “His brother, Hiiln, was banished for spending too much time with humans, which is how Ruuqo became leaderwolf. And Rissa was to be Hiiln’s mate, not Ruuqo’s. That’s why he’s so uncertain of his power. He thinks he’s second best. Even his name means ‘second son.’ His father named him that when he and Hiiln were only four weeks old.”

Rissa trotted by with a large chunk of meat in her jaws. She whuffed at us in approval as she saw the size of our prize.

“Hurry up,” Yllin said, taking the shoulder in her mouth again, and giving it a great yank, which nearly sent Tlitoo into the dirt. He flapped his wings to regain his balance and glared at Yllin reproachfully.

“You are as clumsy as a lame auroch,” he grumbled.

Grinning at him, I clamped my jaws around the horse shoulder and pulled hard. Together, Ázzuen, Yllin, and I dragged it into the trees, closer to where the rest of the pack was already hiding. The size of the meat we carried slowed us down. We stopped again, panting with effort. Tlitoo looked at us in disgust and flew off, back in the direction of the kill. Yllin watched him go.

“We’re supposed to stay away from the humans anyway,” she said. “It’s wolf law. But Ruuqo takes it too far. You aren’t allowed to kill them or hurt them unless they threaten you. And you can’t spend time with them. But you are allowed to steal from them, and protect your kills, as long as you don’t harm them unnecessarily. And as long as your leaderwolf gives you permission. You’re not supposed to starve to death to avoid fighting with them. If I were leaderwolf, I would fight them.”

“But you are not leaderwolf, Yllin, not yet.” Yllin cringed at the sound of Trevegg’s voice, but the oldwolf was amused. “You know as well as I do that we are forbidden to have unnecessary contact with the humans. It is a leaderwolf’s task to enforce that rule. Now, let’s bury this meat, before even the humans’ useless noses find it.”

“Yes, elderwolf,” Yllin said meekly, but she didn’t lower her ears.

Trevegg took note of her less than submissive agreement and snorted. “You will be a bad influence on the pups. Come on, youngwolf. You still have something to learn from us oldsters.” He took the whole leg—shoulder, ribs, and all—and pulled it into the woods himself, leaving the three of us to watch in admiration. As if she had not been rebuked at all, Yllin bounded after him.

We did not get to watch as the human creatures stole our prey. We hid in the bushes like rabbits. The humans were as loud as ravens, as if they didn’t care if every bear and long-fang in the Wide Valley heard them. We buried the meat at the fringes of the forest in a place that Rissa told us was Wood’s Edge, a small gathering place we used when hunting the Tall Grass plains.

When the meat was hidden, Rissa gathered us pups around her. Trevegg sat beside her, still panting a little from the heat. One by one the wolves of the pack joined us, settling into the softest, coolest spots they could find. Only Ruuqo stood apart, looking back toward the kill where we could still hear the humans taking our prey. Rissa waited until we all were watching her, and then she spoke.

“The Wide Valley is not like other places,” Rissa began, “and we are not like other wolves. We are chosen to fulfill a great task, and sworn to follow certain rules. So you must listen to what I say now, more carefully than you have ever listened before.”

Rissa didn’t look at me when she spoke of the rules, but I could feel the eyes of the rest of the pack upon me. No one had forgotten what Ruuqo and the Greatwolves had said about my birth going against the rules of the Wide Valley. Ázzuen pressed against me, but I found I wasn’t afraid. At last I might learn why I was different, why Ruuqo hated me. I leaned forward as far as I could, intent on catching every word.

“Tonight we will take you to see the humans who share our valley,” Rissa continued. “They are more dangerous than the bear, more dangerous than hunter-birds when you were small. You are forbidden to have anything to do with them. If you see them when you’re without leaderwolves, walk away, even if you are feeding on the best prey you’ve ever killed. If leaderwolves tell you to, you may steal from them or compete with them for prey, living or dead.”

I heard Yllin grumble softly at this, still peeved that Ruuqo had not let us fight the humans for the horse. Rissa ignored her.

“Any wolf who otherwise consorts with the humans,” the leaderwolf said, “will be exiled—not only from the pack, but from the Wide Valley itself.”

I looked around me. From our hiding place in the woods I could see neither the mountains nor the hills that bordered our home. But the valley was vast. I couldn’t imagine leaving it.