Spirit of the Wolves (11 page)

As I started to protest, he pressed up against me. I knew Pell liked me. I knew it was one of the reasons he left the valley. I wasn't sure how I felt about him and I didn't have time to figure it out now. He would make a good mate for someone—someday. I looked up at Tlitoo, hoping that he would do something, say something, to stop Pell. He and Jlela were watching us curiously. Jlela warbled softly and ran her beak through the ruff of feathers around Tlitoo's neck. They would be no help.

Pell placed his head over my neck and pulled me close to him like I had seen Ruuqo do to Rissa many times. My blood rushed to my head, as it did before a hunt, but I was never so light-headed before hunting. My belly grew warm and my
legs weakened. I staggered, but before I could fall, Pell pressed more closely against me so that I was aware of nothing other than his soft fur and warm skin and the beating of his heart.

I stumbled away from him, breathing hard.

“I can't,” I gasped. “I'm not old enough to have pups.” Wolves did not mate until their second year.

“You are,” he said quickly as if he had anticipated my argument. “Some wolves mate in their first year.”

I tried to remember what Rissa had told us about having pups. I'd been too busy trying to survive and fulfill the Promise to pay attention.

Pell's warm body drew me. I thought only the humans could pull me to them with such force. I took two steps toward Pell and it took all my strength to stop there. I shook myself hard.

“We don't have time!” I said, starting to get angry. If we failed with the Kaar village, it could mean disaster for wolfkind. TaLi could die. We all could die. Did Pell even care about our task?

“That's why we should be together now,” he said. “None of us might live until next year.”

“Then why would we have pups?” I argued, my logic reasserting itself. Pell whuffed in frustration. I sat down hard, tucking my tail underneath me and placing my front paws as close to my rear ones as I could. Pell looked at me, confused.

“I thought you liked me, Kaala. That's why I came with you.”

“I
do
like you,” I said. “But I thought you came to help with the Promise.” I stared at him, not sure what to do next. I did like him.

“Kaala,” he said, “this may be our best chance.” He moved toward me again. My breath started coming faster and faster.

Pell stopped suddenly, then snarled as a scuffling came from the bushes to my right. I jumped to my feet as two wolves tumbled into the clearing.

Pell pinned one of them under his forepaws and growled at the other, who immediately rolled over onto her back.

“What are you doing here?” Pell snarled. “Who sent you?”

“We came to find Kaala,” said the wolf he had pinned. My head cleared enough to recognize both wolves. They were Prannan and Amma of the Vole Eater pack back home. They had light gray fur and were small like all Vole Eaters, who got their name because they rarely hunted large prey. Prannan and Amma had offered me their support with the humans in the Wide Valley.

“Leave them alone,” I said sharply to Pell. “Let him up.”

Pell lowered his ears, looking like a scolded pup rather than a wolf in his prime, and stepped away.

Prannan got to his paws. He dipped his head politely to Pell, but it was to me he came, ears and tail low. He greeted me with a deferential lick to my muzzle. The female Vole Eater, Amma, did the same.

“Why are you here?” I asked, alarmed. “Did the humans kill your pack? Or the Greatwolves?” I couldn't think of any other reason the Vole Eater youngwolves would have ventured so far from home.

“We came to find you, Kaala,” Prannan said again.

“I'm Amma,” the female said. She was standing next to Pell, her face tight with anxiety as if she thought I might hurt her. I was struck once again at how small the Vole Eaters were.
She was my age, but standing next to Pell she looked like a pup no more than five moons old.

“I remember you,” I said. Her face softened.

“May I greet you?” she asked.

“Of course,” I said. She bolted forward and licked my muzzle, then stood staring at me. I couldn't figure out what she wanted. Then I remembered how Rissa and Ruuqo greeted us when we'd been away for a long time, when we were still small, and I took Amma's muzzle gently in my mouth. I could feel her whole body relax when I did so. Only then did she and Prannan greet Pell. He watched them, his expression a mix of annoyance and amusement.

Both youngwolves looked expectantly at me. I didn't know what they wanted.

“Vole Eater is safe?” I asked again.

“They're fine,” Prannan answered.

“Why did you leave, then?” I asked him. “Now you don't have a pack.” I couldn't imagine anyone leaving the safety of a pack if they didn't have to.

“Kaala,” Pell said softly.

Prannan blinked up at me, his tail falling down between his legs. Then he looked away.

“I understand if you don't want us in your pack. We aren't very strong. But we'll help you hunt and help you with the humans, and then you can decide if you want us.”

“My pack?” I said. They thought we were a real pack, just as Lallna had. They had left their home to join me. I needed to tell them they were wrong and get them back to the Wide Valley. I couldn't guarantee their safety. And I didn't need any more responsibilities.

“Wolflet,” Tlitoo said, winging down to land next to me. “It does not matter if you are a pack leader or not. They need one. And you do not know what the future holds or what wolves you may need. They are in no more danger here than in their home.”

I snapped my teeth at him, getting only a mouthful of air as he flew away. Then I looked back at Prannan and Amma. They were both trying to avert their gaze, but kept sneaking hopeful looks at me. I remembered the way Rissa had welcomed me into the pack when I was a smallpup. The way she and Trevegg had accepted me and taught me the way of wolf when Ruuqo spurned me.

“You can stay with us,” I said.

Their ears shot up and they pelted at me so quickly and enthusiastically that they knocked me over. I got back to my paws. “You'll need to stay away from the humans for now,” I said.

“We know,” Amma said. “The raven man doesn't want too many wolves with them at once and you are supposed to go slowly and carefully and not frighten them.” She stopped when she ran out of breath.

I stared at her, wondering how long they had been following us. Then I laughed. “Raven man” was a good name for RalZun.

Ázzuen dashed into the clearing then, panting. He looked at Pell and frowned. Pell was staring at me. I caught his amber-eyed gaze and for a moment couldn't look away.

I looked guiltily at Ázzuen but he just opened his mouth in a smile.

“Hello, Prannan. Hello, Amma.” The Vole Eater wolves
wagged their tails at him. Ázzuen greeted each of them with a gentle nip to their muzzles, then poked me in the ribs.

“Your girl is looking for you,” he said. “Their leader wants us to come to the village!”

It was exactly what we'd hoped for. The humans wanted us to come to their home, which meant we had the chance to win them over. I felt a smile pull at my muzzle. It had taken us less than a day to get them to ask us into their territory.

I looked back at Pell. He was watching me as if he was preparing for another hunt.

He touched his nose to my face. “I'll take some meat to the Sentinels.” He smiled down at Amma and Prannan. “You can come with me partway if you like.”

They yipped in agreement, and when he took some elk meat in his jaws and trotted into the woods, they followed. I took a couple of steps after him.

“Come on, Kaala,” Ázzuen said, exasperated. “What are we waiting for?”

I looked over my shoulder into his bright, eager eyes and my desire to follow Pell melted away.

We could win the humans. I knew we could. I woofed to Ázzuen and took off toward the human village.

I
t was like no human dwelling I'd ever seen.

At the center of the village was a clearing. This was true of most human gathering places, but this one was so huge that every wolf I'd ever met could lie nose to tail across it and not reach from one end to the other. It seemed more the size of a hunting plain than a gathering place, and it felt so open and exposed that I cringed as if some great bird might swoop down upon me. I hadn't felt that way since I was a pup, small enough to fear owls in the night.

Deerskins and elk hides were stacked in piles taller than two standing wolves, and large structures rose twice the height of an ordinary human shelter. They had stone bases, like the ones in TaLi's home, but the tops were made of weavings of branches and hides. There were huge piles of the carved stones and sharpened bones that the humans used to make their hunting, cutting, and scraping tools, and all
around us rose the scents of more humans than I would have believed there were in the entire world.

RalZun led Ázzuen and me through the smaller outer clearings that surrounded the largest central one. He had insisted that only the two of us accompany him, fearing that more wolves would overwhelm the humans. They didn't seem overwhelmed to me. As we walked through the village, they gathered around us. They made no threatening moves and they all kept at least a full wolflength away, but I couldn't help but feel I was being stalked. I walked as closely as I could to Ázzuen. Tlitoo kept pace with us, flying low at first, then landing to walk beside us.

RalZun held out an arm to stop us six wolflengths from where a group of humans stood atop a flat rock. The human leader, HesMi, and the sour IniMin were among them. All of them stared at us. Among wolves, such an aggressive gaze would be a challenge, but humans didn't understand our ways.

“Wait here until I call to you,” RalZun ordered, stalking toward the rock.

A cluster of small humans ran in front of us. There were at least eight of them, all younger than MikLan. A group of even smaller ones galloped behind them, shrieking in high-pitched voices that hurt my ears. I noticed that one child ran apart from the others and that whenever he tried to join the larger group, one or another of the children would push him away.

“How will they hunt enough prey to feed so many young?” Ázzuen whispered, his eyes darting around the clearing, where still more humans were gathering. “How will they find enough plants to eat? They feed from the forest as much as any deer.”

“They think they can control every bit of forest,” Tlitoo quorked. “They wish to replace trees with the plants they eat. And they plan to kill any creatures that compete with them for prey.”

That kind of thinking went against the very heart of the Balance. We killed foxes and hyenas that tried to steal from us, but we wouldn't seek them out to kill them because they might take our prey someday. A wolf who did so would be considered insane and sent away from the pack.

Humans, like wolves, had lived most of their existence following the prey they hunted. They ate as many plants as prey, and moved from place to place to find food. Until recently. By the time I was born, the humans stayed longer in one place and built larger villages, destroying the land around them and taking more than their fair share of prey. But I had seen nothing like this.

RalZun flapped his arms at us, which I took to mean he wanted us to come to him. Humans had gathered in front of us by then, but they parted as we walked toward RalZun and the humans atop the rock. I was grateful for that; it allowed me to breathe. When I saw TaLi and BreLan beside the old man, I forgot myself and dashed to the girl, stopping only when TaLi crouched down to me. Ázzuen was right behind me, running to greet BreLan. I froze, then, thinking the humans might be upset that we had charged across their territory, but I heard a laugh and looked up to see HesMi smiling down at me.

“They're quite friendly,” she said to TaLi. I wagged my tail. HesMi spoke to RalZun.

“They followed the girl from the Spruce Valley?” she asked.

“They did,” RalZun said.

The humans on the rock began murmuring to one another. They spoke so quickly that I could pick out words but not hear exactly what they were saying. The woman called HesMi held up both arms and they fell silent. When she spoke, her words had the feel of ritual.

“We have agreed that we will choose who will be trained to be our next krianan at the Spring Festival.” Her voice filled the clearing. “RalZun has brought us TaLi, granddaughter of NiaLi, who served us so well.” She held out a hand to TaLi. “You believe that we should continue with the old ways?” she asked the girl.

NiaLi had once told us that TaLi would need the approval of village elders to become krianan. This was her chance. She took the woman's hand and climbed upon the rock. Standing tall, she addressed the gathered humans.

“Like my grandmother before me and her mother before her, and all of their ancestors before them, I believe that we must share the world around us with other creatures. While we must protect and feed ourselves and fight for what is ours, we cannot kill every animal who hunts that which we hunt, nor destroy the forests around us in our attempts to gain more land. I believe, as my grandmother did, that it is the role of the krianan to ensure that we do not give into our pride, that we do not destroy what surrounds us or take too much or kill too often.” The words were familiar. They were the ones TaLi's grandmother had spoken so many moons ago, when I had first learned of the krianans and their role in human lives. TaLi and I had spied on the old woman when she spoke with the Greatwolves of the Wide Valley.

TaLi lifted her voice. “We must learn from the creatures who share our lands, and keep the Balance, so that we and those who come after us can live in harmony with the world.” She nodded to HesMi and jumped down off the rock. RalZun watched her, pleased.

IniMin stepped forward. Tlitoo thrummed a warning.