Secrets of the Wolves (17 page)

“One of the best,” he agreed, ruffling his other hand through her headfur. He reminded me of Ruuqo praising one of us after a successful hunt. “I am glad you brought them to us.”

He paused for a moment, his hand above TaLi’s head, then reached over and gently ran his hand through my own headfur. Then he pushed us both gently away, stood, loped over to the other humans, and began to help them cut up the horses. TaLi threw an arm around my neck, pressed her face to mine, and then followed HuLin.

The humans did not return to their homesite that night but instead built their fires at Oldwoods, setting up guards around the dead horses to keep scroungers away. Two young humans, one male and one female, took thick sticks as long as their arms and stuck them in one of the fires so that the flames leapt from the fire to the end of the sticks. Then they took off at a run in the direction of the human homesite, holding the sticks high to light their way. Trevegg sent a reluctant Marra back to the pack to let them know of the successful hunt.

The humans cooked much of the meat then and there. When the young humans who had run off returned with more of their tribemates, the work began to go more quickly. The humans tied some of the horse flesh into bundles they could lift onto their backs; the rest they piled onto what looked to me like two small trees linked together by many small branches and preyskins. TaLi called it a
sled
and said that the humans carried large loads upon it. Ázzuen couldn’t stop sniffing at it.

“They can’t see at night and have no fur,” he marveled, “and so they find ways to make the night warmer and brighter with their fires and firesticks. They can’t hold much meat in their bellies, and so they make things like sleds, to carry it back to their homesite.”

Ázzuen kept snuffling at the sled and licking the small pile of sticks the humans used to light their way. I left him to it and watched HuLin, wondering if we’d done enough, if we would be able to get them to invite us into their homesite after such a short time. It seemed almost as if the humans had forgotten us already as they gathered their meat and celebrated with one another. I heard two of them bragging about the hunt, as if they had done everything themselves. Every once in a while, though, I caught HuLin watching us.

Then, an hour before dawn, the hyenas struck. Four of them skulked onto the plain, trying to steal meat directly from a pile of horse that the humans were preparing to place in a fire. I saw them first and barked a warning. Several sharpstick-wielding humans leapt to their feet, but before they could get anywhere near the hyenas, Ázzuen, Trevegg, and I pelted after the scroungers. The hyenas must have seen and smelled only the humans, for when they saw three wolves running at them, they fled without a fight. Two of them even dropped the meat they carried. The third got away, but the fourth, their leader, stopped to snarl over her shoulder at me. I lunged forward and got my teeth into her rump, pulling out a chunk of her fur. She snarled and snapped at me, her teeth just missing my muzzle, then disappeared after her sisters.

Pleased with myself, I trotted back to Oldwoods. HuLin was waiting for me. He saw the hyena fur in my mouth, took it from me, and pounded me on the ribs in the way the human males seemed to think was affectionate.

“Good work, wolf,” he said. I stifled a grunt of satisfaction. The humans were as easy to influence as smallpups.

It was well past midday when the humans began the journey back to their homesite, moving slowly with their heavy loads. We followed them, keeping in their sight as they tramped through the woods and struggled across the river. Twice more, scroungers tried to attack, and each time they did, HuLin called to us to help keep them off. When the humans finally reached their village, we stopped and waited, prepared to run if they were not pleased to have us there. But HuLin caught sight of me and held out his hand. My chest grew warm and I felt my mouth soften into a smile as Ázzuen, Trevegg, and I walked to him. It should have been harder. We should have had to convince the humans to allow strangers into their home. But HuLin sat down at one of the fires and pulled me to him on one side and Ázzuen on the other. Trevegg sat in front of him. I heard some of the humans growl and saw several of them flinch, but HuLin was their leader and they would do what he told them to do. HuLin gave each of us a piece of fire-cooked horse meat and allowed us to stay there, resting by the warmth of the humans’ fire.

I
awoke in the night to the sound of voices murmuring. At first I thought it was Rissa and Ruuqo, planning the hunt, for it was dark by then and Rissa’s favorite hunting time. Then I smelled fire and meat and the unmistakable smoke-and-flesh aroma of the humans, and remembered where I was. I lifted my head, my heart beating fast. I couldn’t believe I had let myself sleep so deeply, surrounded by such unpredictable creatures as the humans.

HuLin was gone, his scent trail leading to one of the stone-mud structures. Ázzuen still snored by the fire, but Trevegg was awake, his head on his paws, his eyes and ears following the quiet activity of the human homesite. Most of the humans had disappeared into the stone-mud structures they used for dens, though some slept or worked quietly by the fires while still others guarded the edges of the homesite. I felt guilty for having fallen asleep, leaving Trevegg to guard us. When he saw that I was awake, he grunted, sighed, and settled down to sleep.

I stood and stretched, working the sleep kinks out of my spine. Then I heard the soft voices again and understood what had woken me. One of the voices was TaLi’s.

She and BreLan crouched over a small fire as BreLan handed TaLi a small bundle that smelled of snow deer. At first I thought he was giving her a gift of meat, which would make sense if he wanted her as a mate, but we had hunted horses, not deer, and the bundle didn’t have the smell of prey freshly killed. It smelled like the skins the humans used to cover themselves against the cold, yet it seemed too small to cover much of even a human as small as TaLi. Curious, I padded over to the two humans. TaLi placed a hand upon my neck as I sniffed at the preyskin, which was folded in upon itself so that it was no bigger than her forearm. BreLan snatched it away, holding it high over my head.

“Careful, wolf,” he said. “It’s not for you.”

I knew that. I stared at BreLan until he blinked, ran his hand through his headfur, and handed the bundle back to TaLi. She smiled and held the deerskin out for me to smell. I still couldn’t figure out what it was. Only when TaLi took off the ragged skins she wore around her feet and unfolded the oddly shaped gift did I realize that BreLan had brought her foot-coverings. The ones TaLi had been wearing were lined with bear fur against the cold, but they were almost worn through in several spots and flapped open when she walked. BreLan’s gift would be perfect to protect her feet in the warmer end-of-winter days. He would be a good mate for her. Forgiving him for his earlier rudeness, I licked his face in thanks. He looked at me, startled, then grimaced and wiped his hand across his mouth.

I heard footsteps and turned to see a female human approaching us from behind. The woman was not tall, but was solidly built, and carried herself with authority. She was older than TaLi, but younger than NiaLi, and smelled so much like them both that she had to be a close relative.

“What’s this, then?” she demanded. “What do you have, TaLi?” She held out her hand.

BreLan scrambled to his feet. I had noticed that humans stood when a more dominant tribemate came near. It made no sense to me, since wolves make every effort to make ourselves small when we know ourselves to be less powerful than another. The humans’ insistence on standing baffled me, but TaLi stood, too, then reluctantly gave the older woman the foot-coverings.

“BreLan has given me boots, Aunt,” she said.
Boots
, then, was what the humans called the foot-coverings.

The woman grimaced. After a moment, she handed the foot-coverings back to TaLi and looked up at BreLan, her hands on her hips.

“Do you court her, then?” she demanded. “You have not discussed it with me.”

For a moment, BreLan seemed unable to speak. Then he straightened himself and said, “Yes, RinaLi, I do. I will ask HuLin’s permission tomorrow.”

TaLi smiled.

The woman, RinaLi, narrowed her eyes. “You know that TaLi is to be the Lin tribe’s healer? We will need to know you can provide well for her.”

Even with what little time I’d spent with the humans, I could tell that this was a demand for more gifts. BreLan’s shoulders sagged a little in relief, for it was also an admission that the tribe would accept his courtship of TaLi.

But TaLi’s whole body tightened with rage.

“I’ve told you, Aunt, that I am not going to be a healer. I’m promised as krianan and will take over for Grandmother when she is too old to continue her duties. KanLin agreed three years ago.”

RinaLi grabbed TaLi’s arm and hissed at her. I took several steps forward. RinaLi pushed me aside with her hip, but it was BreLan’s warning hand upon my back that reminded me to keep my temper.

“That is not to be,” the woman said. “KanLin is long dead and HuLin leads the tribe now, and you will accept the role given to you. Do not let me hear any more of this krianan nonsense, or I’ll see to it you never see that old woman again.” She took a breath, and if she’d been a wolf she would have been settling the fur along her back. “And we will not discuss this with outsiders.” She looked up again at BreLan, who was trying to catch TaLi’s eye.

“Thank you, BreLan of Lan tribe,” RinaLi said formally, drawing his attention. “We accept this gift. You may ask HuLin tomorrow if you may stay here with us.”

It was an obvious dismissal. BreLan dipped his head to her, then pulled TaLi close. “We’ll be together, TaLi, I promise,” he said to her in a voice too soft for the other human to hear. “Don’t cause trouble. Let them think you will do as they say.” He looked at me. “Don’t let Silvermoon cause trouble either.” I lowered my ears to let him know that I understood. BreLan gently pushed TaLi away, and only when she gave him a brief nod did he step away and smile at RinaLi.

“I thank you,” he said. “I will return tomorrow to speak to HuLin.” He stroked TaLi’s headfur, then strode into the woods. RinaLi gave TaLi a warning look, then stomped across the homesite into one of the stone-mud structures. TaLi stood still for a moment, breathing hard, then sat down at the fire and pulled me to her.

“Stay here with me, Silvermoon,” she said. She clutched the foot-coverings to her chest and curled up by the fire. For long moments, she lay shaking until at last her breathing evened out and I knew she slept. I extricated myself from her grasp, trotted over to HuLin’s fire, and pawed Ázzuen’s face to awaken him.

When he blinked up at me, I quickly told him what had happened with TaLi and BreLan, and that BreLan had left the Lin tribe for the night.

“BreLan told me that DavRian wants to be TaLi’s mate and that HuLin likes DavRian better.” Ázzuen looked off into the woods. “I’m going after BreLan in the morning if he’s not back.” Ázzuen’s steady gaze dared me to argue with him.

“Fine,” I said, “but keep watch for now. I’m going to stay by TaLi.”

I padded back across the clearing and lay down next to the girl. I meant to stay awake to make sure I was there if TaLi needed me, but I was more tired than I thought, and before I knew it, TaLi’s warmth and her soft, even breathing lulled me back to sleep.

The next time I awoke, it was to shouts and the sound of stone hitting wood. I leapt to my feet and looked around the village. I found TaLi across the homesite, her back pressed against the wall of the herb-smelling structure where I’d first met her. Facing her were HuLin, DavRian, and RinaLi, the woman TaLi had called Aunt.

In the early light of the dawn, TaLi stood, her arms crossed over her chest, her lips pressed together, the scents of anger and distress rising off her like steam from a pond on a cold day. DavRian, shifting uneasily from foot to foot, held out to her a large piece of elk hide. His arms were only half-extended, as if he thought TaLi might bite him. HuLin’s face was dark with fury, as was RinaLi’s. She stood between the two males, one hand upon each one’s shoulder.

Ázzuen crouched several wolflengths away from the humans, watching them, motionless except for the twitching tip of his tail. Trevegg still slept by the fire. Moving as quickly as I could without attracting attention, I slunk across the clearing to lie beside Ázzuen.

“They’re angry because TaLi won’t accept the
cloak
DavRian wishes to give her,” Ázzuen said, tasting the human word. I didn’t know what it meant. From where I lay, the cloak looked like one of the skins the humans used to cover themselves when they slept. I knew the humans valued such skins, since they were so large. The hide of an elk might make several of the tunics or leg-coverings the humans wore, but only one or two of the larger covers.

“RinaLi insisted that TaLi take it, and TaLi threw a rock against a tree. She threw it hard enough to kill prey,” he said with admiration.

“Why doesn’t she want the
cloak
?” I asked. It looked warm, and TaLi was so skinny she would need the warmth.

Ázzuen ignored me and began to creep closer to the humans. I followed. “Thank you, DavRian,” TaLi was saying, her voice flat with suppressed emotion. I could tell from the trembling of her legs that it was a struggle for her to keep her voice calm and polite. “I am grateful, but I cannot accept your gift.”

“Why not?” DavRian asked, sounding like a pup denied a scrap of meat.

TaLi didn’t answer. DavRian lowered his eyes. When he saw the foot-coverings—the boots—that BreLan had given her on her feet, his hurt turned to fury. “You accept a gift from the Lan tribe but not from me?”

“Yes,” TaLi snapped, giving in to her temper. “I accept a gift from BreLan and not from you. I have chosen him, as is the right of a krianan, and he has chosen me.” She stepped forward, shoving her chin out toward DavRian. “Why don’t you just leave? I don’t want you.” Her voice was loud. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two humans look up from fires where they were preparing food. Several more emerged from shelters.