Promise Of The Wolves (27 page)

“Did you really think,” the ancient wolf said to Frandra and Jandru, “that she would just go with you? And did you really think that I would not find out what you are doing?” He spoke softly, and the fur on his back rose only the slightest bit, but it was enough to make Frandra and Jandru lower their ears. They looked so much like scolded pups, I found myself tempted to laugh.

I wanted to run to greet the old woman, but was too in awe of the old Greatwolf to move. Tlitoo had no such hesitation. He flew to the old woman and landed on her shoulder and then hopped down to land atop the ancient Greatwolf’s back. From there, he hissed once more, and glared at Jandru and Frandra.

“NiaLi and I have been speaking,” Zorindru said, nodding to the old woman. “I think perhaps it is time to tell the smallwolves of the valley—and the humans—some of why we do what we do.” He opened his huge jaws in a smile, and shook Tlitoo from his fur. The raven alighted on a nearby rock, still staring beadily at Frandra and Jandru.

“They are the secrets of the Greatwolves!” Frandra protested.

“And it is time you shared them!” the old woman snapped, fearless before the giant wolves. I remembered then that she could understand our normal speech as well as Oldspeak. “You have kept secrets from us for too long,” she said. “Zorindru has told me that you plan to kill us all, and I demand to know why.”

“It is not something humans, or smallwolves, can understand,” Frandra said contemptuously. “We have taken on the burden of the covenant because you are too weak to do so. We need tell you nothing.”

“I disagree,” Zorindru said mildly.

Frandra opened her mouth to protest. Zorindru silenced her with the barest beginnings of a snarl. “I still lead the Greatwolf council,” he said, “and if Kaala is to leave the valley, she has the right to know the real reason why. I will not tell you everything, youngwolf—there are secrets the Greatwolves still must keep—but I will tell you what I can.”

I lowered my ears and tail to the ancient Greatwolf. The old woman held out her hand to me, and I walked over to let her lean against me as she lowered herself onto a flat rock. I sat next to her on the cool dirt. Zorindru settled his old body onto the ground next to us and began to speak in his crackling twigs voice.

“Your legends speak the truth in some ways,” he said, “but not in others. It’s true that Indru and his pack changed the humans. It is also true that the Ancients nearly ended wolf-and humankind and that, to save them, Indru made a promise. But he did not promise to shun the humans. He promised that he and his descendants would watch over them, and would do so for all time.”

I watched him silently for a moment. I believed the ancientwolf. Something in his manner made me trust him, and it made sense to me that Indru would want to watch over the humans, that doing so is what wolves must do. And if it were true, then everything Frandra and Jandru had said was true, too. “But it didn’t work?” I asked at last.

“It did not. Wolves and humans fought and the wolves forsook their promise.” Pain filled the ancientwolf’s eyes. He shook himself hard and continued. “When the wolves broke their word, the Ancients sent a winter three years long, to end the lives of wolves and humans. Then a youngwolf named Lydda brought humans and wolves together again, and the long winter ended.”

I knew by then that Lydda, the youngwolf he spoke of, was the spiritwolf who came to me. “Our legends say that she caused the winter by going to the humans,” I said to the old Greatwolf.

“She did not. She ended the long winter when she brought humans and wolves together again. It’s what convinced the Ancients to give us one more chance—a last chance—to be with humans without causing a war.”

“But there was a war,” I said, remembering what the spiritwolf had told me.

“There would have been,” the ancientwolf said, “if we had not stopped it. Wolves and humans began to fight, and that is when the Greatwolf council came to be. We knew that if we allowed the fight to continue, the Ancients would send back the long winter. That’s when we realized that if we were to watch humans, we must do so from afar. So we created the Speakings, to fulfill Indru’s promise without risking war.”

“What happened to Lydda?” I asked, a sick feeling swimming in my stomach. I wondered if Zorindru would lie to me.

“We had to send her away,” the ancientwolf said, confirming what the spiritwolf had told me. “If she had stayed, she would have caused more trouble. She had not the strength to do what had to be done.”

Tlitoo quorked what I knew had to be an insult. Zorindru must have seen the shock and disapproval on my face, for he lowered his nose to mine.

“Lydda thought only of her human and what was best for him,” he said. “This was a decision for wiser wolves. We had no choice but to send her away. It was best for all wolfkind.”

“And now the Bigwolves die,” Tlitoo insisted.

Zorindru dipped his head. “For generation upon generation,” the ancientwolf said, “we have been trying to find the wolves to take our place, selecting who may have pups and who may not. We have done so in many places—valleys, islands, and mountaintops. And in these places we have failed and failed again. Here in the Wide Valley we have come closest to success. You were a surprise, Kaala. Ordinarily when a pup is born without our permission, it must be killed, as were your littermates. But when Frandra and Jandru told us of your birth and saw the mark of the crescent moon on your chest, some of us thought you might be the one to give birth to those wolves who would be watchers. That is why you may be spared, and why we wish to take you from the valley.”

“You know who my father is.” I knew it then, as certainly as I knew the moon would rise each night.

“I will not tell you that,” Zorindru said, and there was no yielding in his voice. “I will tell you that we believe that, in you, we have found what we have sought since the time of Lydda. The Greatwolf council disagrees. They believe that since you like humans so much, your children will as well.”

Tlitoo’s voice, when he spoke, was softer than I’d ever heard it.

I thought Zorindru would be furious. Frandra and Jandru certainly were. But the look the ancientwolf turned on the raven was thoughtful, and full of pain.

“Secrets they will remain, raven. There’s not a roost anywhere in the world you could fly to that would protect you if I told you of the council’s secrets.”

“Kaala,” Frandra said, doing her best to sound conciliatory, “you must trust us when we tell you it is best for all if you leave the valley with us now. We saved your life when you were a smallpup. We have only your best interests at heart.”

I didn’t meet her eyes. Lydda had left the valley. Lydda had done what she was told. I looked far up into the face of the ancient Greatwolf.

“I won’t go with you,” I said quietly. “If you make me go, I’ll stop eating and I’ll die. Maybe,” I said, hoping I sounded as if I knew what I was talking about, “I can stop the fight.”

I thought I saw a smile in the Greatwolf’s eyes. It was gone too quickly for me to be sure.

“Then I will speak to the council of this,” he said, surprising me.

I blinked at him. Jandru gave a small grunt of surprise.

“You’ll ask them to stop the fight?” I asked. “To help my pack?”

“That I cannot do,” the Greatwolf said. “As soon as teeth meet flesh, there will be nothing I can do. But perhaps they will spare the Wide Valley wolves and humans if there is no fight.”

“It will be too late, then!” Frandra protested. “She must come away now, or everything we’ve worked for will be for nothing!”

“She has a right to make her own choice,” TaLi’s grandmother said sharply. “You cannot take that away from her.”

Frandra and Jandru both growled and advanced upon her. She looked at them unflinchingly.

“No,” Zorindru said, “we cannot take that away.” He glared at the other Greatwolves, who flattened their ears and backed away from the old woman.

Zorindru bent his head to look into my eyes.

“But listen, youngwolf,” he said gently. “I can make no guarantees. I am the leader of the Greatwolves, yet I cannot make the council do everything I say. They still may kill the Wide Valley wolves, even if there is no fight. What I can do is to take you from this valley. I will take your friends—Ázzuen and Marra—too, so you will not be alone. And I will take you to your mother,” he said, watching me carefully. “I can find out where she is, and I will take you to her.”

I looked at him in amazement and my heart beat fast in my chest. My mother. Not a day in my life had passed when I had not wondered where she was, when I had not thought about finding her. I had promised her I would do so. If Zorindru could take me to her, I wouldn’t have to worry about Ruuqo or the Stone Peaks. I wouldn’t have to worry about gaining romma or stopping the fight. I would be with my mother, and maybe even my father, and would never have to worry about being alone again.

And my packmates would die, even if they didn’t fight. And TaLi would die. And BreLan and MikLan.

“No,” I said. “I won’t let my pack or our humans be killed. I’ll get Ruuqo to stop the fight.”

“Very well,” he said. “I will speak to the council now,” he said, and began to walk stiffly in the direction of the stone circle. He stopped before Frandra and Jandru. “You will come with me,” he ordered. They looked as if they wanted to argue, and Frandra muttered under her breath, but they lowered their ears and followed him, glaring back at me over their shoulders.

I watched them go. Before their tails had fully disappeared, Tlitoo gave a great shriek.

“What do you wait for, wolflet? You are too fat for me to carry you!”

I paused for a moment, wondering if I should leave the old woman alone in the woods.

“Go, youngster,” she said. “I have been taking care of myself in these woods from long before your great-grandmother’s great-grandmother was born. I will join you when I can.”

I let her lean on me again to help her rise from the rock. Then I began the long run back to our territory.

I had run for only a few minutes when soft footsteps on dry leaves made me stop. Ázzuen and Marra stepped out into my path.

“You didn’t think we’d let you go alone, did you?” Ázzuen said.

At first I tried to get them to leave, to escape the valley and wait for me and our humans. I told them of Lydda and of the Greatwolves’ plans. They wouldn’t go.

“It’s our future, too,” Marra insisted. “We have the right to stay and try to stop the fight.”

“And we won’t leave BreLan and MikLan to be killed,” Ázzuen added.

“We’ve made up our minds,” Marra said, “so don’t waste time arguing.”

I took a deep breath to try to reason with them. Then I realized that I didn’t want to argue. I rested my head on Ázzuen’s back, and then placed a paw on Marra’s shoulder. The last of my doubt left my heart.

“This way,” Ázzuen said.

T
he night was half over before we reached the Tall Grass plain and crouched on the tree-hidden slope where we had watched our pack fight the bear so many moons before. The grass that gave the field its name was beginning to dry out, but stood tall after autumn’s plentiful rains. The thick trees of the woods hid us from what was going on below. To our left, down on the plain, was our pack. Ruuqo, always cautious, was waiting and observing. To our right and farther out on the plain, in a bare spot cleared of grass, human females and children—TaLi among them—chanted and struck sticks against hollow logs in a complicated, captivating rhythm. Directly in front of us, halfway across the plain, about twenty human males stood in two circles around a cluster of elkryn. Six young ones, including MikLan, made up the inner circle, which was a scant six wolflengths away from the elkryn. Grown men made up the outer circle. BreLan was with them, as was the son of TaLi’s tribe leader, the one she was supposed to mate with.

“We’re too late,” Marra whispered.

Behind the humans, hiding in the grass, were the Stone Peak wolves and a pack that—from their strong smell of pine—had to be the Tree Lines. They were stalking the humans as if they were prey.

The humans didn’t seem to know the wolves were there. It was a ceremony, just as Torell had said. Eight of the men held hollowed-out gourds in their hands. They shook them back and forth and something inside of them rattled loudly, adding to the rhythm of the sticks upon logs. The pounding and rattling seemed to mesmerize the elkryn, keeping them in one place. I found myself being caught up in the sound, too, and had to shake myself awake.

“It’s their test of adulthood,” Ázzuen said. “Trevegg told us before we left.”

“You asked Trevegg?” I said, alarmed that they might have given themselves away. I sighed. It was too late to worry about such things. “What do the elkryn have to do with it?” I realized there were only female elkryn in the circle, and wondered where the males were.

“The young humans have to show they’re strong,” Ázzuen answered. “It’s like our first hunt. The young ones have to kill an elkryn on their own to prove they are ready to be adults. None leave the plain until all have killed an elkryn. That is why Torell chose this ceremony. They will be intent on the prey.”

“They’re intent all right,” Marra said. “How can they not see the Stone Peaks? Or our pack?”

I was wondering the same thing. The tall grass of the field provided plenty of hiding places, but if the humans were paying attention, they would have noticed the movement of the grass as the wolves began to spread out, forming a semicircle just behind them. But they didn’t.

The rattling of the gourds and the pounding of logs grew louder and I found myself drawn in once again.

“It’s the rhythm of the gourds and sticks, I think,” I said, hoping we’d be able to get to Ruuqo so he could stop Torell. “It catches their attention as much as the elkryns’.” I looked over to TaLi. “Why aren’t the females hunting?”

“Trevegg says that the humans don’t want their females to hunt anymore,” Marra snorted. “I don’t see why they would want to cut their hunting force in half, but he says it’s so. He’s coming over here.” She raised her nose toward our pack. “I think he knew we were going to run away, but he didn’t say anything.”

I tore my attention from the circle of humans and elkryn. I could just make out Trevegg’s shape in the grass as he moved cautiously toward us. There was no way to know if he had told Ruuqo and the others we were here. We would have to act quickly.

“The first thing we have to do,” I said, “is to get our humans away. Then we can try to get Ruuqo to stop the Stone Peaks from attacking.”

“I don’t see how we can get BreLan and MikLan to safety.” Marra’s voice was strained. “They’re too close to the Stone Peaks. You could get your girl and leave,” she said, watching me from the corner of her eye. “She’s nearest to us.”

“No,” I said. “We save them all.”

We had a good view of most of the plain from where we were. But not good enough. I couldn’t tell for certain how many wolves were stalking the human males. I needed a better vantage point.

“I’m going up to that rock,” I said, indicating a boulder overlooking the plain from a higher part of the woods.

“Be careful,” Ázzuen said. “The Stone Peaks will be able to see you if you don’t stay hidden. And hurry up. I don’t think we have much time.”

“I’ll be careful.” I rolled my eyes. Ázzuen was such a worrier.

The rock wasn’t far, but I had to scramble forward on my belly under low bushes to get to it. I planned to climb just to the top of it and stay as low as I could. I didn’t think anyone on the plain would be watching that closely. The top of the rock was flat, and I would be able to see over it easily.

I was almost atop the rock when the sky above me darkened and something grabbed me hard by the scruff. I was yanked off my feet and off the rock, then dumped in a pile of bark and dirt. I was so surprised I didn’t even yelp.

A large paw came down on my muzzle.

“Be quiet,” Frandra hissed. “Stand up and come with me.”

I stayed where I was. Frandra grabbed my scruff again and began to drag me through the dirt, leaves, and rocks. I scrabbled my legs, trying to get away, but I had fallen awkwardly on my side, and the Greatwolf was much too strong for me to be able to break free. She stopped a few wolflengths away where Jandru was waiting, and let me go. I coughed dirt and leaves from my throat and stood. I glared at them. I couldn’t stop my ears and tail from lowering. That didn’t mean I had to be polite.

“Idiot pup,” Jandru whispered angrily. “You should have just come with us. You may have ruined everything. Now follow us. And don’t make a sound.”

“I told you I won’t go with you,” I whispered back, shaking out my neck. “Zorindru said he would try to talk to the other Greatwolves.”

“He is doing so,” Jandru snapped. “But he doesn’t know whether or not they will agree to spare the wolves of the valley even if you can stop the fight. And it doesn’t matter! The fight is about to begin and you can’t stop it.”

“The Greatwolf council is here,” Frandra growled. “Even those from outside the valley. There are half a hundred of them surrounding the plain, and the moment the fight begins they will end the lives of every wolf and human here. Then they will find every wolf and human in the valley. There is no more time to waste.”

“They haven’t fought yet,” I said stubbornly. “You can’t know they will.”

“It’s obvious they will!” Jandru said, not even bothering to whisper. “You will come with us on your own paws or we will drag you. I don’t much care which.”

I felt my eyes narrow and my lips draw back. My ears lifted, pulling the skin of my face tight, and the fur along my back stood up tall. I growled at the Greatwolves.

They looked startled. Then Jandru laughed at me. “I will make sure the path is clear,” he said to Frandra. “You bring
her.
Whether or not she wants to come.”

He turned his tail on us and walked quickly and quietly away. I glared at Frandra, and growled again.

“Just come,” she said tiredly. “I’d just as soon not drag you.”

Black wings and sharp talons crashed down upon her head. Tlitoo grabbed on to the tender skin between the Greatwolf’s ears. Frandra grunted in pain and shook her head, hard. A streak of gray shot out from the bushes, and Ázzuen leapt toward Frandra’s left side. I moved at the same instant and we somehow managed to knock the Greatwolf off balance. It wasn’t that different from hunting large prey.

“I told you to be careful,” Ázzuen gasped, grinning at me as he leapt to his feet. I didn’t know whether to growl at him or thank him.

“Get going, wolves!” Tlitoo shouted. “I will occupy the Blunderwolf.”

Just then we heard Marra call to us.

“Kaala!” Her voice was frantic. “The Stone Peaks are attacking!”

Ázzuen and I dove into the deepest part of the undergrowth so that it would be difficult for Frandra to follow us. I heard frustrated growls and triumphant shrieks from behind us. Breathing hard, we dove into a crouch next to Marra. Trevegg was just reaching the top of the hill.

“The Stone Peaks and Tree Lines are about to attack,” Marra said quickly. “We have to get our humans away.”

“No,” Trevegg said, lying flat beside us, “you can’t. It’s too dangerous. You must stay away from the fight. Ruuqo has yet to make his decision,” he added. “What you said moved him, Kaala, even if he wouldn’t admit it when you challenged his authority. I spoke to him after you left. Rissa doesn’t want a fight, and Ruuqo will not go against her unless it’s necessary. I came to tell you that Swift River will not fight today. Ruuqo may even allow you to return to the pack.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ázzuen said.

“Why?” the oldwolf demanded.

“Tell him, wolflet,” Tlitoo said, landing beside me. I couldn’t help but notice the tufts of fur still caught in his beak and his feet.

“Tell me what?”

“It doesn’t matter if Swift River fights,” Tlitoo said before I could speak. “Any wolf fights, all wolves die. The humans, too,” he said as an afterthought.

“Raven, you speak nonsense,” the oldwolf said, shocked. “And we do not have time for it.”

“It isn’t nonsense,” I said, before Tlitoo could take offense and make a scene. “It’s true.”

“Your brain is like frozen mud, dodderwolf,” Tlitoo snapped, and flew off.

“What the bird says is true?” Trevegg said.

“Yes,” I said. I told him of the Greatwolf council, of the decisions they had made. I explained that the Greatwolves of the valley and beyond were there, watching us. I could see them now, surrounding the plain, trying to blend in with the trees. They were watching and waiting, poised as if for a hunt. I spoke quickly, glancing at the plain below us, where Torell and his pack were moving slowly toward their prey. Trevegg listened, his face growing grimmer and grimmer as he, too, saw the Greatwolves surrounding the plain, ready to attack.

“All wolves and humans in the valley,” he said, squinting to count the Greatwolves. “Even those who do not fight?”

I dipped my head.

Trevegg rumbled in concern. “I’ll go tell Ruuqo. We’ll find a way to stop Torell.” Before I could answer, Trevegg began to move slowly down the hill, crouching to keep out of sight.

“What now?” Marra asked. “I’m getting MikLan, no matter what else happens. And we can’t just walk out to get to them. There’s not enough cover.”

“I don’t know,” I said, watching Trevegg slink to Ruuqo.

The Stone Peaks were moving in carefully, not wanting to give up the advantage of surprise. I kept waiting for Frandra and Jandru to sneak up behind me and grab me again. I knew we had only moments.

“Maybe your girl can talk to the other humans,” Marra said. “Maybe you could try talking to her in Oldspeak and she could get BreLan and MikLan away.”

I didn’t think it would work. Even if the humans were warned, they would just turn and fight.

“I have brought her,” Tlitoo said. I hadn’t paid attention to where he went while we were talking to Trevegg. He had flown to the human females, and returned followed by a breathless and bewildered TaLi.

“Wolf!” she said, throwing herself on top of me. I whoofed out air as she all but crushed my ribs. “The raven wouldn’t leave me alone until I came with him. I ran all the way up the hill.”

TaLi’s usually sleek hair was mussed as if it had been repeatedly yanked. I had a pretty good idea how Tlitoo had gotten her to come.

“Look, human,” Tlitoo said, nodding toward the field. TaLi, who did not understand him, sat in the dirt beside me.

“What is happening, Silvermoon?”

Tlitoo gave an impatient squawk and pulled TaLi’s hair, forcing her head around to the field.

“Stop that!” I growled. “Leave her alone!”

“I am not hurting her, wolf. Not much. And she must see. Maybe she can talk to her people.”

TaLi gasped. She had seen the wolves stalking the humans. The moon was bright and she could easily spot the dark shapes of Torell’s pack from our hill.

“I have to go warn HuLin!” she said.

“You can’t,” I said, trying to communicate in Oldspeak, hoping TaLi might understand it. “It’s too dangerous.”

“We need you to get BreLan and MikLan,” Ázzuen added, not bothering with Oldspeak. It didn’t matter: TaLi was getting to her feet.

“She can’t go!” Marra said. “What if she alerts the humans and it makes the wolves attack? It was stupid to bring her,” she accused, glaring at Tlitoo, forgetting that she had suggested the very same solution.

The Stone Peak and Tree Line packs had completely surrounded the humans. The wolves were moving in, stalking the humans as they would stalk prey. The elkryn noticed them even if the humans did not, and they were growing restless. Panic rose in me. We had only moments before the wolves attacked. I knocked TaLi over and sat on her to keep her from running to her tribemates.

“We have to go to Ruuqo,” Ázzuen said. “We have to help Trevegg stop the fight.”

“We have to get our humans,” Marra barked sharply. “We have to run to them and separate them as we would prey and bring them from the fight. We can do it. When the wolves attack we will run for our humans. Your girl will wait for us, Kaala, and you can help us get BreLan and MikLan.” The recklessness in her voice made me nervous.