Wolf Hunting (82 page)

“Why does the Meddler care?” Blind Seer said. “If anyone is immune to the Fire Plague, it is he. Nor did he take particular care to warn us of the Fire Plague when we crossed to where we would be vulnerable to it. Why should he care now?”

“I asked the Meddler why he didn’t warn us,” Firekeeper said, glad to prove that she did not listen to the Meddler with unquestioning obedience. “He claims that he did not know the Fire Plague still lived in the Old World. He says that such things fade and die. Over a hundred years have passed since the Fire Plague first appeared—and he was already entrapped then, and so only knew of it in the abstract. He thought the Fire Plague likely dead or aged beyond ability to harm us. Remember, he knew nothing of how the Old World had fared since his imprisonment. He had difficulty enough contacting the New.”

“Perhaps this is true,” Blind Seer admitted grudgingly. “After all, even for one such as him, knowing what is happening across a great ocean might be difficult.”

“The Meddler says that such knowing is perhaps not quite impossible,” Firekeeper said, “but close enough to impossible.”

“I am pleased that the Meddler does not claim his knowing what happens far away is impossible,” Blind Seer said, “for I have seen him at home in places I would have termed impossible if I had not been there myself. I would trust him less than I do were he to claim something impossible.”

“And you do not trust him very much,” Firekeeper said.

“Less even than that,” Blind Seer replied. “Has the Meddler told you why it is so important that the source of the Fire Plague be found—beyond, of course, that this is the way to find a cure. Why is a cure necessary all of a sudden?”

“Did you enjoy your experience when you were seized with the Plague?”

The blue-eyed wolf stiffened, even seemed to stop breathing. What had happened to him when the Fire Plague had seized hold of him and nearly killed him was a matter Blind Seer steadfastly refused to discuss. Like Firekeeper’s perverse interest in the Meddler, it was one of several things that had driven a wedge between the pair, although to any watching them the pair would seem as close as ever.

“The Fire Plague is not something to enjoy,” Blind Seer finally replied, “only to survive.”

“I would go a bit further,” Firekeeper said, “and say the Fire Plague is something I would wish upon no one—not even an enemy. How then can we wish it upon our friends?”

“I do not.”

“The Meddler says that if a cure is not found, then we are as good as wishing the Fire Plague upon our friends. Thus far we have been fortunate. The plague has not reappeared in the New World, but we know now that those who were born in the New World are not immune. How long will our luck hold? How long before the Fire Plague crosses as we have crossed?”

“We have taken care,” Blind Seer protested, “that none actively ill return from the Old World to the New until the sickness has run its course.”

“Someday we will judge wrong,” Firekeeper said. “Even if we do not, what of those who wish to come from the New World to the Nexus Islands? You know as well as I do that our allies have held those islands thus far only through constant vigilance. How long before weariness or boredom or even betrayal leads to a disaster? In the end, we would still need a cure—or expose our allies to the Fire Plague.”

“And the Meddler assures you that to find a cure, you must find the source of the Fire Plague. How does he know that? It seems to me that when the Meddler wishes to do so, he knows a great deal—and when it is convenient, he claims ignorance. Which do we believe, his ignorance or his wisdom?”

“I believe neither,” Firekeeper said, “but I can see the sense in what he says. Surely nothing comes from nothing. If you want to stop a stream you must block its source. If the does are killed there will be no more fawns. So it will be with the Fire Plague … I hope.”

“So he has convinced you to go hunting for the source of the Fire Plague?”

“He is trying to do so.”

“A hunt that would take you into the Old World.”

“I think so.”

“Where you speak none of the languages.”

Firekeeper raised her chin in defiance.

“Where there are no Royal Beasts to help you.”

Firekeeper held her silence.

“Where, if we are to believe those we met on the Nexus Islands, there are places where magic is—if possible—hated even more fiercely than it is in our homeland. And you will go there, searching for a cure to the very disease or curse or whatever it is that broke the power of magic, that broke the power that was used to dominate and destroy humans and Beasts alike in the Old World and the New.”

Firekeeper inclined her head in the smallest of nods.

“Yes. That is what I am considering doing. Will you come with me?”

Blind Seer huffed his breath out in a long sigh. “Of course. Where else would I be but at your side?”

1

Characters are detailed under the first name or best-known name. The initials B.B. (Bright Bay), H.H. (Hawk Haven), N.K. (New Kelvin), or L. (Liglim) in parentheses following a character’s name indicate nationality. Titles are indicated in parentheses.

2

Hawk Haven and Bright Bay noble houses both follow a naming system where the children take the surname of the higher-ranking parent, with the exception that only the immediate royal family bear the name of that house. If the parents are of the same rank, then rank is designated from the birth house, greater over lesser, lesser by seniority. The Great Houses are ranked in the following order: Eagle, Shield, Wellward, Trueheart, Redbriar, Stanbrook, Norwood.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

WOLF HUNTING

Copyright © 2006 by Jane Lindskold

Excerpt from
Wolf’s Blood
copyright © 2007 by Jane Lindskold

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Edited by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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www.tor-forge.com

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is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Map by Mark Stein Studios based on an original drawing by James Moore

eISBN 9781429913133

First eBook Edition : February 2011

First Edition: April 2006
First Mass Market Edition: January 2007