The Dog Master (20 page)

“What?” Valid mimicked Urs's examination of the cloudless sky.

“The women want to go. Do not ask me why.”

“Palloc will not be able to join us on the hunt,” Valid cautioned. “He left with his family and my son. I do not know where they were going.”

Urs considered this. “We cannot wait for his return. We leave for the hunt immediately.”

*   *   *

Ador and Coco were talking when Bellu came up and breathlessly reported what she had just heard, that they were departing for the winter quarters earlier than anyone expected. Coco's eyes narrowed. “Oh? Such interesting timing.”

“What do you mean?” Ador asked.

“We certainly would never select a new council mother during the move, nor when we first arrive at winter camp. There is just too much confusion. Albi has managed to cling to her position for many more days.”

Ador nodded. “Of course.”

“I am afraid I do not understand,” Bellu told them.

“It means Albi is not going to go without a fight,” Coco told her. “Where is Calli?”

*   *   *

It was easier to march ahead of his wife and the two children than to stride next to them and converse, so Palloc kept his eyes to the path and plodded along. Here the terrain along the stream arranged itself in hillocks, sparse trees waving in the light breeze.

“Palloc,” Calli called. “You have to stop.”

He turned and saw to his irritation that they were fifty paces behind him. Dog was clinging to his mother's side as if his legs had ceased functioning, and Ligo was a further twenty paces back, listlessly dragging his feet a slow step at a time. With a sigh, Palloc reversed course.

“You have to remember that these are little children,” Calli scolded him when he came up to her. She wiped a hand across her sweaty forehead. “And I am not suited for this, either. Why are we going so far?”

Palloc picked up Dog, holding the wriggling little boy under one arm. “Just a little farther, there is a place we can stop. Come on, Ligo!”

“Run, Ligo!” Dog called. Ligo ran, a burst of speed that made Dog giggle.

Palloc took her to an area the hunt had found many summers ago: a path led up a long, gentle rise to a place where water came out of the ground, flowed over rocks in a trickle, and landed with a gurgle in a small pond where people could bathe, one person at a time, though the water was frigid. From here they could see the two hundred paces back down to the Kindred stream—the hills here were more heavily treed, making for a secluded, private area.

“This is a wonderful spot!” Calli enthused. She splashed her legs and laughed as Dog and Ligo revived themselves with a water fight. The cloudless sky reflected up at her from the surface of the pond—she immediately looked at peace, as comfortable as she could be with the baby inside of her.

Palloc sat back from them, on a rock, and brooded. He wanted to come up with the words he would use to tell her that he was no longer spear master, but all he could dwell on was the way he had failed to raise his club when he had had the chance. One true blow, and the hunt master would be dead!

Now it was obvious why Urs had been so reluctant to go off hunting alone with Palloc: Urs had been planning this treachery all along, and did not want any friendship to build between them for fear it would make this unfair demotion awkward.

Palloc seethed. Excepting the unexecuted plan to kill him, Palloc had been nothing but loyal to Urs!

He remembered the day the lion attacked Hardy. Palloc was there, but did he get any adulation? Now he wished he had run up and loosed his spear and that it had gone straight into Urs's gut. Urs would be dead and Palloc would be hunt master. Palloc would be married to beautiful Bellu, instead of Calli, who asked too many questions and had too many opinions.

Calli shot him several sideways glances, but Palloc remained distanced from them. “Father, come play!” Dog called to him, but Palloc's expression was stony, and he gave no indication he had heard.

“Shall we eat?” Calli shouted up at him an hour or so later.

“Go ahead, I have no appetite today,” he responded.

Calli shrugged, opened her pouch, and tore pieces of cold cooked venison for the boys to eat.

“I want to do this every day from now on!” Dog announced. Calli laughed as her son, grinning, threw a piece of meat into the air and tried to catch it in his open mouth. Ligo soon followed suit, missing about half the time.

“You must still eat it if you get it dirty,” Calli admonished.

Dog rinsed off the venison in the water, challenging his mother with a triumphant look.

“Yes, very clever,” Calli nodded. “You certainly outsmarted me, Dog.”

Calli and the boys dozed during the afternoon, and the sun was just starting to slant when she struggled awake. She saw from the remains that her husband had come to feed while she napped. He was closer now, watching her from a few paces away. His expression was dark and unreadable.

“What is it?” Calli fought her pregnant belly, eventually making it to a sitting position, back against a rock.

“There has been a change in the order of the hunt.”

“The order?”

“The hunt has an order. Every man knows his position in the hunt. Most are spearmen, but some are superior to others. Then there is the stalk master, Mors, who scouts ahead for game, and the stalking men who help—each stalker has a place. It is the order.”

“I have heard this, I just never heard of it as the ‘order,'” Calli replied agreeably.

“I will now be the most superior spearman.”

Calli nodded. “I see,” she said, not understanding.

Palloc stared moodily into the distance. “Valid, on the other hand, will be the spear master. It is a change in the order, but not much of one.”

Calli stared at her husband. She saw the anger in his eyes, but there was something else there, too: this hurt him, she could see, and she felt her heart going out to him. She held out her arms. “Husband. Come here.”

His lips twisted and he stood abruptly. “I thought you should know.” He stomped off, wandering up the hill until he was out of sight.

Dog and Ligo came out of their sleep as if lightning had struck them, going from unconscious to running around laughing in an instant. Calli sighed, holding her belly.

Far downstream, a black shape moved. Calli caught her breath when she saw that it was a great bear, busily overturning rocks and sniffing underneath them. It was at least a thousand paces away, and seemed unaware they were nearby.

Her husband was out of sight. “Palloc?” she called.

Palloc did not answer. The boys were oblivious, splashing each other and laughing. Calli bit her lip. The creature was either unaware of the human presence or it did not care—the huge beast never once looked in her direction. After a while, Calli relaxed. Apparently there was no danger.

Palloc returned after some time had elapsed. He seemed to have overcome his anger. Calli decided not to mention what they had been talking about.

“I have been watching the bear,” she told him.

Palloc's head snapped up. “What bear?”

“It seems a young one—it is not as big as they can get, anyway. See? Way down there. He is digging along the streambed.”

Palloc stared at the huge predator. “Did you just notice him?”

“No, it has been since you left. It is okay, though, he has never looked up here at us, or even raised his nose. He is just concentrating on the rocks.”

“He knows we are here,” Palloc whispered.

“What?”

“Every time you look at him, has he moved a little closer?”

“Yes, but he is just slowly working his way along the stream banks.”

“He knows we are here. Hardy spoke to us often of this kind of behavior. He is hunting us.”

Calli's heart clenched inside her like a fist. “Oh no.”

“Dog! Ligo! Be quiet! Say nothing! We must leave
now
. Do not take anything, just come!” Palloc hoisted his spear and they padded down to the stream bank as silently as they could. Ironically, this brought them even closer to the bear, but the only trail back to camp was along the stream.

“Do we run?” Calli whispered.

“No. A great bear is faster than any man. We walk. Do not look back.”

Calli nodded, holding the boys' hands in hers, but after a hundred paces she could not help herself and glanced behind her.

The bear had closed half the distance. He was sniffing the ground, for all appearances not interested in them, but he must have galloped for a few seconds. Now she could very clearly see the legendary claws of the great bear, who was massive, as tall on four legs as she was on two. “Palloc,” Calli gasped, her voice trembling. “He is getting closer.”

Palloc risked a look back. The bear shuffled ahead, seemingly just strolling along.

“Stop,” Palloc commanded.

She dreaded the idea, but she did as she was told. She turned and looked at her husband, seeing the immense predator over his shoulder, still steadily headed in their direction.

“He is going to charge us,” Palloc grated.

Calli glanced at his spear. He shook his head. “No one man can stop the charge of a great bear.”

“Then what are we to do, Palloc? I am so scared.”

Palloc's pale complexion seemed to have turned as white as a snowbank. He was visibly trembling.

“If we run, he will take us,” he murmured.

Calli realized she was going to die. Her gaze turned to Dog. Palloc followed her look.

“If we each pick up a child…,” she began urgently, her voice shaking.

“Then one adult and one child will die,” Palloc interrupted. “But if we pick up one child, I pick up Dog, and we run, then two adults and one child will live.”

It took a moment to register what he was saying. “What?
What?
”

“It is the only way, Calli.”

The bear was seventy paces away and had also stopped, seemingly unhurried now that they were no longer fleeing.

“We cannot
leave Ligo
!” she hissed. Tears were flowing now, and she wiped them angrily away. “Palloc! We cannot!”

He bent and picked up Dog. “Ligo,” he said, his voice so strange that the two boys stared at him solemnly, “we are going to go ahead, but we want you to wait here. And then when we call, you show us how fast you can run, understand?”

Ligo nodded, grinning.

“No!” Calli shrieked. She snatched up Ligo, who stared at her, frightened.

The great bear was turned, looking back the way he had just came, as if he had just heard something. He raised his nose to the air.

“Go!” Calli snapped. Waddling as fast as she could with her burden, she headed up the path. Within seconds Palloc was even with her, giving her a desperate plea with his eyes, and then he and Dog bolted ahead.

One adult and one child would die.

“Ligo,” Calli panted. “If I have to put you down, if I fall or if something … if you see a bear, you need to get up and run and catch up to Dog and his father. Do not try to save me.”

Ligo looked at her with wide eyes, frightened, not understanding. Calli tried to smile reassuringly, but a sob broke from her lips instead. “Please, Ligo,” she whispered.

Behind her, Calli heard the great bear roar.

 

TWENTY-THREE

Calli had run no more than twenty paces when Ligo began to struggle in her arms. He wanted down; the way she was carrying him, up high off her belly, was awkward and strange. He needed to get away from this woman with her terrified face and strange instructions.

“No, Ligo,” she sobbed. “Please.”

“Down!” he insisted, pushing at her.

There was another roar, louder and more terrible than before, and Calli tripped and fell hard, pushing Ligo from her so she would not land on him. She rolled, gasping, as Ligo leaped to his feet and bolted up the trail in pursuit of Palloc and Dog.

All right. Calli placed her hands over her stomach as she struggled to a standing position. Dog was safe. Ligo was safe.

She turned to face the bear.

The great bear was rolling on the ground, bellowing in rage, slapping at himself with his immense paws. Blinking through her tears, Calli saw, to her amazement, a broken spear shaft sticking from the bear's belly, and then, higher up, the stub of a second spear, impaled in the bear's shoulder. Beyond the bear, men were darting out of the trees, running full force at the wounded predator.

The bear, jaws snapping, came to its feet. Its head was low as it charged the hunters, moving terrifyingly fast.

The men, shouting, flung their spears. One hit true, and another, and another. The bear stumbled, its foreleg crumpling under its body and its face digging into the dirt. The shouts turned to cheers as more spears found their mark, and the bear convulsed, dying.

When the men were close enough to pound the bear's head with clubs, Calli could see who they were. The Kindred, out in force.

Calli started walking toward them, dazed. “Urs,” she croaked.

The men looked up at her approach. Urs broke from the hunt and rushed to her, his arms out, concerned.

“Oh Urs,” she sobbed. She fell into his arms, kissing his face, unable to stop sobbing. “You saved me. You saved me.”

Urs held her tightly, and for a moment it was if they were still lovers—she could feel him responding despite the round weight of her pregnancy. And then he went rigid, gently but firmly pushing her away. She looked up and saw him gazing over her shoulder, so she turned, too.

Palloc and Ligo were approaching. Palloc was watching the two of them embrace, scowling.

And Calli did not care.

“Ligo!” Valid shouted.

“Father!” the little boy answered, running over and tackling his father's legs.

Valid turned and unexpectedly clasped Calli. “Thank you,” he murmured into her ear. His breath warmed her and then they awkwardly broke apart.