Promise Of The Wolves (17 page)

I ignored him, straining my nose and ears to find my girl. It always took me a while to sort her scent from the others. It was daylight, and the human homesite was a flurry of activity. Several humans, male and female, scraped prey hides with sharp rocks. Others fastened what seemed like bones to the ends of short, thick wooden sticks. Many of the humans of all ages clustered around fires. I hadn’t been sure, at first, why they kept the fires going in the warmth and light of midday, but when I smelled the distinctive burnt-meat smell I understood. They were cooking their prey. Two males held deer meat over the fire at the end of long sticks. My mouth watered. A loud noise startled me and a group of four small males ran through the gathering place wielding sharpened sticks and jabbing them at invisible prey. I wanted to run to join them. I knew play when I saw it.

Tlitoo buried his beak in a pile of leaves, sticks, and fox dung, pretending to look for bugs, and then threw the mess into my face.

“You have learned everything you can by watching, dullwolf,” he said. “It is time to do more than watch. Soon the winter travels will come and you will not be able to sneak away so easily.”

I sneezed the dirt out of my nose, and shook a leaf and a clump of fox dung from my ear. Tlitoo was the only one who knew I watched the humans. And that was only because I couldn’t escape him. I was able, just barely, to sneak away from Ázzuen and Marra, who had followed me everywhere since the stampede. But losing a raven was like trying to get the stink of skunk from your pelt. It was hardly worth trying.

“You’re not the one the Greatwolves will come after,” I said. “You aren’t the one who will be exiled.”

In the moon that had passed since I rescued the human child from the river and since Borlla disappeared, I had been tempted to venture into the human homesite many times. But, although it was impossible for me to stay away from the humans entirely, I hadn’t gone completely crazy. I wasn’t about to wander into the middle of the human gathering place in the bright sunlight. I had no intention of getting banished from the valley before I was made wolf.

“There is something the Bigwolves are not telling us, wolflet,” Tlitoo rasped. His voice was unusually serious.

I looked at him and saw worry in his eyes.

“They are keeping secrets, and the secrets are about the humans,” he said.

“I’ll think about going to humans when I have hunted and when I’m accepted as wolf.”

Tlitoo gurgled skeptically. He didn’t believe Ruuqo would accept me even once I had hunted and taken part in the winter travels. But I didn’t want to think about that. If I hunted successfully and traveled the winter, Ruuqo would have to grant me romma, even if he did not want me in the Swift River pack. It was wolf law.

At last I sorted out Girl’s scent from those of the other humans. She sat with several females in the shade of a small shelter. In front of her she held a hollow, gourd-shaped half rock. Another, narrower stone fit in her hand and she was using the slimmer stone to crush something in the gourd rock. The smell of yarrow and a plant I did not recognize floated on the air each time she struck the stones against each other. Her face was peaceful and intent and I could hear her making a soft humming noise as she worked. More than anything else, I wanted to go to her. The earth under my belly grew uncomfortably warm and my skin began to itch.

I felt a familiar warmth beside me. I turned, expecting to see the young spiritwolf, but there was no one there.
Wonderful,
I thought.
Now I really am going crazy.
But a powerful juniper-acrid scent seemed to gather in the air and a strong breeze sent it drifting into the human gathering place.

Girl looked up. I knew she couldn’t possibly see me, but it seemed to me that she stared right at me as prey does when it knows you crouch nearby. I could not see the expression on her face from where I lay, but her body stretched toward me and she leaned forward. She lifted her head as if sniffing the air. She began to rise.

I stood up. The mark on my chest pulled me, and, try as I might, I could not stop myself from creeping closer to the girl. I stopped smelling the plants around me, stopped hearing Tlitoo’s impatient rustling. Even the humans seemed to blend into one scent, their voices into a blur of sound. Only Girl remained distinct. I heard a distant howl—Ruuqo’s voice—calling the pack together and shook the sound from my ears. I tensed my legs, and prepared to leap down the hillside.

Tlitoo pecked me sharply on the rump. I swallowed a yelp and glared at him.

“Wake up, wolflet.
Now
is not the time to go. The leaderwolves call you to the hunt.”

I heard Rissa’s voice mingling with Ruuqo’s. I could not ignore their summons. Regaining my breath, I shook myself, and backed away from the humans’ clearing.

“Stupidwolf,” Tlitoo said, kindly. I thought about biting at his tail feathers but knew he would only fly away.

Released from the power the humans held over me, I ran all the way back to the river, dove in, and swam across. I rolled in the river mud to cover the human scent, waded into the river again, emerged, and shook myself. But before I could start toward home, I heard leaves rustle, and smelled Ázzuen’s familiar scent. He poked his head out from the tartberry bushes that lined the riverbank.

“So much for wolves having good ears,” Tlitoo chuckled from above me. He had flown to a branch of a willow tree to avoid getting wet when I shook the water from my fur. “Night comes,” he said. He gave his raucous raven laugh.

He paused a moment and opened his beak again.

With that, Tlitoo flew off and left me to deal with Ázzuen. I thought I had managed to discourage him from following me, but apparently I had been mistaken. I glared at him.

“You’ve been to see the humans,” he accused without even greeting me. “You’ve been going to see them all along. For a whole moon.”

I could smell that Marra, too, was somewhere near. I tried to figure out exactly where. In the bushes to my right, I thought.

“Why can’t you mind your own business?” I said to Ázzuen.

“Because you promised not to go. And because you could have told me. You should have told me. We’re supposed to be friends.”

I felt a little guilty. And surprised. Ázzuen hadn’t argued with me before. He usually just did what I told him to do.

“I didn’t want to get you in trouble,” I said weakly. “And you told me you didn’t want me to go.” I turned to my right and spoke to the bushes where I figured Marra was hiding. “You may as well come out.”

I heard a soft padding to my left and Marra trotted out. She licked my muzzle in greeting and bent to lap from the river.

Ázzuen snorted. “I can take care of myself. And if you are going to go, you should take someone with you.”

“She wants to keep the humans to herself,” Marra said, when she was done drinking. “You should let us come along,” she said to me, “to keep you from doing anything dumb.”

“How did you know where I was going?”

“We’ve been following you,” Ázzuen said. “And the raven. He makes a lot of noise.”

Marra sat down and regarded me.

“We wanted to know where you kept disappearing to,” she said.

“Well
stop
following me.” I was grumpy and short-tempered from having to leave the humans. “Can’t you find something to do on your own?”

Ázzuen and Marra lowered their tails and ears a little, making me feel guiltier. They had both stood up for me after the stampede. And if it weren’t for them, Borlla and Unnan probably would have killed me when I was still a weakpup. I owed them better. I sighed.

“I’ll let you know if I go again,” I said ungraciously.

Their ears and tails lifted.

“We’d better go watch the adults hunt again,” I said, hearing Ruuqo howl once more.

“Maybe they’ll let us join this time,” Ázzuen said hopefully.

“Maybe the ravens will grow fur and kill aurochs,” Marra snorted.

I had to laugh. I touched my nose to Marra’s cheek and then to Ázzuen’s. The last of my frustration with them lifted and I gave a howl to answer Ruuqo’s. Ázzuen and Marra joined in and I led my packmates toward home.

T
he pack caught nothing that night, but a quarter moon later we awoke to the bellowing of the elkryn. It was a strange sound, halfway between the howl of a wolf and the moan of a dying horse, and it pierced the night.

Rissa raised her head and sniffed the air.

“It is time for the pups to join the hunt,” she said.

My ears rose, and I could feel my heartbeat quicken. Next to me, Marra yipped in excitement. Rissa had refused to let us join the hunt for so long, I was sure we’d be a year old before we got to chase prey. Ázzuen and the others were six moons old, and I was nearly so, but Rissa had not let us anywhere near large prey since the stampede.

Marra was the first to reach Rissa, and Ázzuen and I were not far behind. We leapt in excitement, imitating the hunt dance we had so often seen the adults perform. Unnan came more slowly and was more reserved in his greeting. Rissa looked at us all. We were nearly as tall as she, and growing strong. She smiled for what seemed like the first time since Reel’s death.

“It is time,” she said, almost more to herself than to us. “I cannot keep you in the den forever. We will go to the Great Plain to hunt the elkryn.”

Ruuqo came over and touched his nose to her cheek.

“They are ready,” he said. “And we will watch them carefully.” He glowered at us. “The elkryn are dangerous prey,” he warned. “We used to hunt their smaller elk cousins, but the humans have driven them from the valley. Elkryn are aggressive and dangerous. You must pay attention.” His eyes swept over us to make sure we were listening. He howled once more, and then led us to our first prey. Even his glares could not dampen our excitement, and we tripped over one another leaving the clearing.

We ran through the woods on a soft pelt of newly fallen leaves. I tried as best I could to remember the hunting instructions we had been given over the past moons. But I could not focus. I had been waiting for the first hunt for as long as I could remember. The hunt is what makes us wolf. Long ago the world was divided into hunters and prey, and wolves were made the best hunters of all. Our lungs give us breath and the strength to run long and hard. Our teeth are built from a piece of the wolfstar to be sharp and strong. We have ears made large enough to hear the very thoughts of prey, eyes meant to track its motion as it flees, noses meant to capture each drop of prey-scent, and legs to run across the world. But none of it matters if you have not the skill and courage to hunt. We would have our first chance to demonstrate that courage and skill this night. Proving ourselves in the hunt was one of our most important tests. If we hunted and survived our winter travels, we would be full wolf, and Ruuqo and Rissa would perform the ceremony that would bring out the scent of Swift River adult within us. From that point on, wherever we traveled, we would be known as Swift River wolves and successful hunters. I knew we were not expected to kill anything in our first hunt, but if I could, if I could show Rissa and Ruuqo that I was a strong hunter, I would be that much closer to being pack, to receiving romma. No one could question my rightness as wolf.

I couldn’t believe how quickly we reached the Great Plain. It had seemed an impossible distance before. I placed one paw and then the other on the grass. I had not been there since we had crossed it from our den site so many moons ago. I almost expected it to swallow me up or make me feel as weak and hopeless as I did as a smallpup trying to make my first journey. But it did not. It was rich with Ruuqo and Rissa’s scent marks, left to show other wolves that the plain belonged to us. It did not smell so different from the Tall Grass plains and the other hunting grounds around our lands. It was just one more part of our territory. Except that now it was covered with elkryn.

As far as we could see in the clear moonlight we watched their tall, proud shapes. The aroma of their flesh was so strong I could barely smell the grass we stood in or the beetles and ants that crawled past my feet. The heat from their rich skin warmed the night. They were huge—much taller than horses, and well more than the height of two grown wolves. They were powerfully built, with round, blunted muzzles, and their long legs looked like they were made for running. But most amazing—and most frightening—were the giant antlers atop the males’ heads. They were broader across than the elkryn were tall. I could only imagine how strong the beasts’ necks must be to support those huge antlers. And I didn’t want to imagine what those antlers would do to a wolf that got in the way of them.

Just to our left, next to a large, half-moon-shaped boulder, one large male elkryn had gathered what seemed like a hundred females around him. Far across the plain another male had half as many. As far as I could smell, there were clusters of elkryn made up of one male and many females. Other males, young ones, wandered the edges of the groups. As far as our ears could stretch, we could hear the males bellowing in strident, braying tones. I saw that Werrna, Yllin, and Minn had reached the plain before us and were already running among the elkryn. Ruuqo sprinted to join them.

“This is lush elkryn hunting time,” Rissa said, leading us out around the perimeter of the herds. We ran along the edges of the plain at an easy pace. It was the hunting run, a relaxed lope that a wolf can keep up for much of the night while seeking prey.

“The elkryn are healthy and strong from summer’s good food,” Rissa continued, looking back over her shoulder as she ran, “but their minds are on mating, which is good for us.”

As if agreeing with her, the male elkryn nearest to us lifted his head and bellowed, telling others for miles around that the females belonged to him. I almost jumped out of my fur. It was one thing to watch these beasts from a distance and another thing entirely to run so near them.

“They gather females they wish to mate with,” Trevegg explained, breathing easily in spite of our run. For all he talked about being an oldwolf, he easily kept up with Rissa. “The strongest males are alert at this time of year and are best left alone,” he said. “They are unnatural prey and will actually attack hunters. Most large prey will fight back if they must, but male elkryn
like
to fight us. This time of year we hunt the females. They are gathered together and not all can be strong. We can also hunt the young and old males who have worn themselves out trying to steal mates. They are the weakest of all.”

“None of them look that worn-out to me,” Marra said, a little nervously.

“They look like they might fight back, too,” Ázzuen said.

“That is one of the things you must beware of,” Rissa said. “Watch the others and see how they test them.”

Rissa stopped running and so did we, our flanks heaving, more with excitement and anxiety than fatigue. Ázzuen and Marra pressed themselves against me. I could see that Ruuqo, Werrna, and the youngwolves were running easily among the prey. The elkryn seemed to take no notice.

“It’s like the elkryn know we aren’t serious about hunting yet,” Ázzuen said.

“They do,” Rissa answered. “Prey that runs when we are not even hunting hard shows itself as weak. They learn when they are young how to tell when a wolf is ready to hunt.”

“Otherwise they’d tire themselves out running all the time,” Trevegg added.

Suddenly Yllin turned sharply and ran toward an elkryn, not really charging it, just angling herself slightly in the female’s direction. The elkryn raised her head and lifted a foot. Yllin turned just a little bit and ran past the prey, as if that was what she intended all along.

“The elkryn is showing that it would be hard to grab her by the neck,” Trevegg said. He snorted. “Yllin should know better. That one is not nearly ready to die.” His voice took on an instructive tone. “Prey selection is the most important part of the hunt, pups. If you cannot select prey, you will run yourself to starvation before you catch anything. It doesn’t matter how swift your legs or how sharp your teeth, if you do not use your brain you will fail. Our brains are what set us apart, what make us great hunters.”

I sighed. We had heard all of this before. Every time the adults took us with them to watch the hunt.

“Listen, pups,” Rissa said sharply, but with amusement in her voice. I was not the only one getting impatient. Marra was growling loudly enough to be heard across the plain, and Unnan scuffed his paws in the dirt. “Watching the hunt is one thing. Participating is another. When you are running with the elkryn, you will be so caught up in the hunt that you will chase anything that moves unless you remember to select prey well.”

I thought back on the mistakes I’d made when I first tried to hunt the horses. I would not make them again. My ears rose and I stood straighter. I listened for the breath of a young female who ran past us. It was even and unlabored. I tried to catch the eyes of a nearby cluster of elkryn to see if they were weak or strong, and I couldn’t help but creep forward a bit on my belly. I stifled a groan as my forelegs ached from so much crouching to watch the humans. One of the female elkryn saw me and looked straight at me. My heart leapt into my throat and stayed there.

Who are you to think I am prey?
she seemed to say, pinning me with her haughty gaze.
I have many years of running left, many calves to bear. Do not anger me. I have stomped wolves for less.
I shook a little. She reminded me of the horses right before the stampede.

“That one’s not prey, youngwolf,” Rissa said with a laugh. “Pay attention. Sometimes you can sniff out worms in them, which make them tired and slow. And the old ones often have a disease that makes their joints stiff. You can smell that and hear it, too.”

“And sometimes,” Ruuqo said, striding back to join us, “you just watch them. You can tell when prey is ready to die. It hangs its head or startles when you come near it. If it is afraid of you it is because it has reason to be. If it is not afraid of you, it also has reason.”

“You can tell by the way that one stands that she’s strong,” Ázzuen said softly, indicating with a nod of his head the elkryn that had challenged me. “Also, you can see that her pelt is thick and shiny.”

“That’s correct, youngwolf,” Ruuqo said, surprised. “That is what you should look for, pups.”

Ruuqo lowered his muzzle to touch Ázzuen’s face in approval. I was proud of Ázzuen and glad that Ruuqo saw his smarts for once. I think it was the first time Ruuqo had noticed that Ázzuen was clever. Ázzuen stood and licked Ruuqo in thanks. Then he turned to me. I nosed his face as well, and he thanked me as he had Ruuqo. Marra came to sit beside us. Both their ears and tails were a little lower than mine. Unnan glared at us and lowered his tail a little.

Ruuqo glowered at me. His expression made me fear he would bite me. But he allowed his eyes to sweep over all of us and then back out to the plain where the other wolves were still running among the elkryn. Minn and Yllin caught his eye and ran to join us.

“There is no easy prey,” Minn said as he and Yllin flopped down next to us, panting. Werrna still ran determinedly among the elkryn. “We will have to run them.” He seemed pleased at the prospect.

“When no prey makes itself easily available, we must test the elkryn by running after them,” Trevegg said, snapping at a fly that landed on his faded gray muzzle. “With a herd this size it is often the best way. It is one of the reasons youngwolves like Yllin and Minn are so important to the pack. They do not know as much strategy as the older wolves”—he glared sternly at the two young wolves who slapped their tails on the ground in response—“but they run quickly and can test many prey without getting tired. That will be your role if you stay with the pack next year.”

Ruuqo stood and stretched. “Yllin and Minn will run the elkryn. When they have selected a potential prey, you will join them. You may hunt as a team or one-on-one with an adult wolf. There is value in both ways of hunting, and you will eventually learn them both.”

“I will hunt one-on-one,” Unnan said quickly. “I am not afraid to hunt on my own.”

I hesitated. I would have liked to hunt on my own, but I still felt a little guilty about going to the humans without Ázzuen and Marra. I looked at them. They just looked back at me, saying nothing.

“Well, pups?” Ruuqo asked. “What are you waiting for?”

Ázzuen and Marra were still looking at me expectantly. I waited for them to say something. Marra cocked her head. Ázzuen twitched an ear.

“The three of us will hunt together,” I said in a small voice.

Marra dropped her front legs down and wagged her tail. Ázzuen gave a pleased yip. For the second time Ruuqo glared at me, his expression pulled between anger and confusion. Before he could say anything, Trevegg spoke.

“She’s the dominant pup, Ruuqo, haven’t you noticed?” He seemed to be taking satisfaction in Ruuqo’s discomfort. “She has been since the horse frenzy. The other two follow her.”

Ruuqo’s growl was so deep in his throat that I felt it in my paws rather than hearing it.

“Very well,” he said. “I will take these three. Unnan, go with Trevegg.”

Trevegg narrowed his eyes at Ruuqo but obeyed, taking Unnan with him out among the elkryn.

Ruuqo led the three of us forward, so close that we were almost touching the elkryn. My heart pounded in my chest. At last we were hunting. Through the forest of elkryn flesh, I saw Yllin and Minn testing the prey. Minn charged an old, thinnish elkryn, but the elkryn stood her ground. Minn caught Yllin’s eye, and the two youngwolves ran together to the middle of the herd as they had before. But this time their attitudes were different. Before, they had seemed almost playful, but now they were serious and their eyes took on the set of a hunter. The herd immediately sensed the difference and shifted restlessly. Without any warning I could see, Yllin and Minn sprinted toward a clump of elkryn. The elkryn ran. Yllin and Minn chased them, scattering them in many directions. They ignored the fastest group and followed a slower one. When that group split in two, they followed the slower of the two groups. They split them and split them again, until there were only two elkryn left running in front of them. One broke to the right, followed by Yllin, and the other ran left, chased by Minn. Minn closed in on his elkryn and out of the corner of my eye I saw my packmates sprinting toward them from every direction. Rissa and Werrna were the first to get there, and then Yllin left off chasing her elkryn to join in. With a gleeful yip, Marra dashed after the elkryn, her legs seeming to blur as she caught up with the older wolves. At the same moment, I saw Trevegg and Unnan running, a bit more slowly, to join the hunt.