Spirit of the Wolves (36 page)

TaLi rubbed her ankle impatiently. “If HesMi's there, I need to talk to her,” she insisted, peering out of the cave. She didn't know the human leader was dead, and I couldn't tell her.

I went to the girl and sat beside her. She stroked my fur.

“If she is, I'll come back to get you,” BreLan answered, “but we need to know if DavRian's been there and what he's told them. I promise to come back as soon as I know what's happening.”

TaLi struggled to her feet. She took a few steps, wincing, then sighed.

“I'll slow you down if I come,” she admitted, sitting next to me again. I whuffed a sigh of relief. If she had insisted on going with BreLan, injured as she was, I would have had to go along to guard her, and I needed to get to Gaanin.

“You have to find out if HesMi and RalZun are there, and if DavRian and IniMin survived,” TaLi ordered. “If they did, you have to learn what they've said to Laan's elders. If there's a chance Laan will let me be their krianan, we need to go there.”

Pride in her determination and courage filled me. She had grown into a true krianan since we had left the valley. It would do her no good to go to Laan now that DavRian had spread his lies. Still, the sooner she knew that, the better. I would need her to follow us wherever we decided to take her, and if she was trying to go to Laan, she would resist us.

I padded to BreLan and licked his hand. He smiled, stroked my head, then rubbed Ázzuen's ears and ducked out of the cave. Ázzuen followed him.

Tlitoo and Jlela stalked from the back of the cave, blinking sleepily.

“We heard your plan, wolf,” Tlitoo said. “We will watch the girl until you return.”

Two ravens weren't much protection, but TaLi was well hidden, and I needed Ázzuen's clever mind with me when I talked to the streckwolves.

“Thank you,” I said, trying not to sound too doubtful.

I licked TaLi from chin to headfur and loped into the early-morning light.

BreLan walked with us as far as the edge of the burned land, then set off for Laan. Ázzuen watched him worriedly.

“You can go with him if you like,” I said, not really meaning it. I wanted Ázzuen with me.

“I'll find him after we talk to the streckwolves,” Ázzuen said. “I wouldn't let you go alone, Kaala.”

I licked his muzzle. I knew how hard it was for him to let his human walk off unprotected. We watched BreLan until he disappeared into the unburned woods, then we set off for the streckwolves' gathering place. We ran full pelt past the Barrens and up the slope above their home, which had been spared the fire's rage. We had just started down the hill when I saw wolf shapes running toward us. Strange wolf shapes with rounded heads.

Gaanin was in the lead. Two streckwolves ran with him.
When they saw us loping toward them, they stopped to watch us approach, sitting straight, with their paws placed neatly before them. When I reached them, I realized that I had no idea what to say.

I looked at Gaanin and he looked back. There was no reproach in his expression, but no welcome either. I remembered the dead streckwolves on the grassless plain and dropped my gaze.

“They burned the woods,” I said. Which was stupid. Of course they would know that. The two wolves with Gaanin looked suspiciously at Ázzuen.

“That's Ázzuen,” I said. “He's pack.”

“Your mate?” one of the streckwolves, a female, asked curiously.

“Not yet,” I said, then lowered my ears in embarrassment.

She panted a small smile, then grew serious. “We know they burned the woods, young wild wolf. What are you going to do about it?”

I'd planned to make an impassioned plea to get the streckwolves to do what I asked. I'd tried the whole way from the cave to find the eloquence to sway them. Instead, I blurted it all out. “I want you to come with me back to the humans. They need wolves that they aren't afraid of. They need something to love that they don't fear. I don't know why they fear us so much, but they do. So, if they have wolves with them like you, wolves they aren't afraid of, then maybe they'll stop killing and we can go back to them. You have to get them to accept you and then let us take over.”

“It is their own wildness that they fear,” Gaanin said. “In you, they see what they once were, one animal among many,
a beast rather than a creature separate and greater than all others. In us, they see something they can love that does not challenge their vision of themselves.”

“You knew that already,” I said.

“It's why we have sacrificed what is most wild in us,” Gaanin said. “It's why we are willing to let the humans command us in the hunt, to take our territory, and rule our packs as if they were our leaderwolves.”

I couldn't imagine giving up the thrill of the hunt and the exhilaration of biting into thrashing prey when and where I chose, or the joy of running through my territory with my packmates. Ever since I'd met the streckwolves, I'd thought of them as less than wolf. But they were willing to give up even more for the Promise than I was.

“It's what I was trying to tell you before, Kaala,” Gaanin said. “But you weren't ready to listen.”

My tail lowered at his reprimand. Then, angry at his presumption that he had the right to scold me, I lifted it back up.

“You hid other things from me,” I said, jutting my chin at him. “You didn't tell me you were my father.”

“It wasn't my secret to tell,” Gaanin said. He lowered his own tail in apology. “We tried many places to breed wolves that the humans could accept without demanding obedience. I have more wild wolf in me than others in my pack and have fathered many pups. You, of all of them, have come the closest. But it was a foolish hope. They are still too fearful.”

That's all I was to him. One more experiment. I thought that when I finally met my father, I'd have a thousand questions for him, but I was no more to him than a tool was to a human. He looked at me expectantly. I liked Gaanin. He was as brave as any
wolf I knew and willing to do anything for the Promise. I didn't want to be nothing more than a tool to him. I shook myself. Trevegg and even Ruuqo had been good fathers to me.

“You aren't a submissive wolf,” Ázzuen said to the streckwolf when I remained silent.

“I am when I'm with the humans,” Gaanin answered. “It is a choice I've made. My children's children will be more so. Those who are not will pretend to be. The humans are frightened, lonely creatures and they need us to teach them that the world is not such a terrible place.” He smiled a little, as if the humans were smallpups just out of the den.

He cared about the humans as much as I did. It didn't seem to matter to him that he was my father, but the humans and the Promise were as important to him as pack. More, for his packmates had died trying to teach the humans love. As much as I wanted him to care that I was his pup, I needed him to help us win back the humans more.

“Neesa told me that if humans lived with wolves like you,” I said, careful not to call them streckwolves, “your children's children would forget they were wolf. They'd forget the Promise. Like Whitefur and Short Tail.”

“Yes,” Gaanin replied. “They will remember only that they are to be by the humans' side. They will not be conflicted about what is best for wolfkind. They will not even know that part of the Promise.”

Which was why we would have to take over from the streckwolves. The wild had to be preserved so that the humans created no more Barrens. I respected Gaanin's willingness to go to the humans, only to step aside for us.

“It is our hope,” Gaanin said, watching me carefully, “that
if the humans can love one creature other than themselves, a creature that does not threaten them, they will find a way to love the world around them. We have tried everything else. It's our last chance. And theirs. But we cannot succeed unless you wild wolves leave us be.”

“Because the Sentinels keep killing you,” I said.

“Not just the Sentinels,” the female streckwolf said. “It's happened before with other packs. The wild wolves hate our kind and have killed us again and again. Your kind is sometimes no better than the Greatwolves.”

“You saw what happened to my wolves at the grassless plain,” Gaanin said. He glowered, and for a sickening moment I wondered if he knew I'd led the Sentinels there. I waited for him to accuse me. Instead, he whuffed anxiously. “Now the humans have burned the woods. It may be time for us to leave this place and hide until things have calmed down, as we have done before. But I fear this may be our last chance. If we wait, the humans may be too far gone.”

I swallowed a yelp of panic. It would certainly be too late for us if Gaanin took his pack away.

“We'll find a way to convince the Greatwolves to leave you alone,” Ázzuen said. I had no idea how we could do such a thing, but I tried to look as confident as Ázzuen sounded.

“IniMin and DavRian are already at Laan, spreading lies about us,” Ázzuen continued. He sounded as calm as if he were discussing an upcoming hunt. “And they said that our krianans convinced us to burn down the woods. What if they are afraid of you, too?”

“The humans there don't think of us as wolves, or as wild,” Gaanin said. “Kaala saw that before the Sentinels slaughtered
us. IniMin and DavRian pose no threat to us. We can slip past their fear. We will go to Laan and watch the humans there. We will find out if they believe IniMin and DavRian's tales about your krianans, and if it is safe for your humans to stay nearby. But you must make sure Navdru and his pack do not kill us.”

“I'll talk to the Sentinels,” I said.

“We can wait until moonrise tomorrow.” The female streckwolf shook herself. “We'll be in the woods near Laan.”

“If you do not get the Greatwolves to agree,” Gaanin said, “I will need to take my pack into hiding. Again.”

He dipped his head to us and darted into the woods.

I waited until they were out of hearing range to turn to Ázzuen.

“You don't have a plan to convince the Sentinels, do you?” I knew him well enough to know when he was bluffing.

“Not yet,” he answered. “But we have to find one, don't we?”

I sighed. “We do.”

He nosed my muzzle. “We'll figure something out, Kaala, I promise. Can I go find BreLan now?” I saw that his own muzzle was tight with anxiety. He'd probably been worried about his human the entire time we were talking to Gaanin. I thought of TaLi, alone but for a pair of ravens.

“Yes,” I said. “I'll meet you back at the cave.”

He nipped me lightly on the nose, turned, and loped toward Laan. I missed him the moment he was gone, but shook myself and began to make my way back to TaLi.

I was halfway back to the Hill Rock when a frantic flapping of wings filled the air above me. Jlela flew straight into me, the
full impact of her weight knocking me over. I scrambled to my paws, coughing.

“What are you doing?” I growled.

Jlela only hissed in answer.

I bared my teeth at her, then took in her appearance. Her feathers were mussed and her ruff stood almost straight up. There was a desperate look in her eyes.

“What happened?” I asked, panic tightening my throat.

“They have taken him.”

“Who?” I asked. I'd just seen Ázzuen, and I couldn't think of who might take BreLan anywhere.

She glared at me and spat a twig right in my eye.

“Tlitoo! The Grimwolves have taken him! And your girl.”

“Why?” I asked, frantic. “Where?” I felt as if Jlela had jabbed her beak into my chest and speared my heart. I could face the Sentinel wolves and DavRian and a hundred burning forests, but I couldn't lose TaLi and Tlitoo.

“At your girl's hiding place!” she rasped. She took flight and winged back toward the burned forest. She flew so quickly that by the time I took my first stumbling step, she was no more than a dark speck in the sky. I followed that speck, terrified that by the time I reached TaLi and Tlitoo, it would be too late to save them.