Promise Of The Wolves (28 page)

“What if they won’t come?” Ázzuen demanded. “And what if the elkryn stampede?” He shivered, no doubt remembering the horse frenzy that had almost claimed our lives. “Then we’d really be in trouble. We have to get the pack to help.”

“I am going down to be closer to MikLan,” Marra said. “And I will force him to leave the valley with me. You two can do what you want.” I saw a frantic gleam in her eye.

“Wait,” I said. Marra and Ázzuen looked at me. Ázzuen had given me an idea.

“I won’t leave MikLan and BreLan,” I said. “We have hunted with them and therefore they are pack. But I won’t leave the Swift River wolves, either. They fed us and taught us to be wolf. It’s not worth saving ourselves and our humans if we do so at the cost of our pack and of the human tribe.” I took a deep breath.

“The elkryn are already half crazed,” I said. “What if they did stampede? The wolves couldn’t attack the humans. There would be no fight and the Greatwolves would have no reason to kill.”

“You can’t mess with an elkryn frenzy,” Ázzuen said, awe creeping into his voice.

Marra brightened. “It would give us some time.”

“Better decide now,” Tlitoo added.

Sure enough, just then Torell gave his command to attack. TaLi pushed me hard, toppling me off her. She stood and began to run down the hill to warn her tribe.

I didn’t wait any longer. I howled. Ázzuen and Marra joined me. Torell’s head snapped up, and even from afar I could see the snarl on his face. The circle of humans startled and looked around. One of them shouted and pointed to the wolves. The ones in the outer circle turned, aiming their sharpsticks at the wolves nearest them. I hoped that would be warning enough, that the wolves would back off. They didn’t. The humans’ actions seemed to anger them and they moved to attack.

“Now!” I shouted. Ázzuen, Marra, and I raced down the hill to the elkryn.

“You know you’re crazy, don’t you,” Ázzuen gasped.

I grinned at him. It felt good to be taking action, even if it was going to get us killed. The closer we got the larger the elkryn looked. I felt fear rising up in me and swallowed it. Even if I did want to turn back, it was too late. Marra, fleet and fearless, dashed into the center of the elkryn cluster. Ázzuen and I followed, running past a startled pair of Tree Line yearlings and under the legs of an old human male. We ran straight into the herd of elkryn.

The elkryn scattered. Humans scattered, too, and wolves. For a moment I froze in terror, remembering the horse frenzy, and Reel’s death. I shook myself hard. Since that day, I had hunted with the humans and brought down a deer. I had chased elkryn with my pack. I could do this.

“It’s working!” Marra cried out as she ran past me. I wondered if she had any fear at all. “This way!”

Marra and Ázzuen spotted an opening in the running elkryn and darted through it. I dodged a hoof and ran to join them. Our momentum carried us clear of the running elkryn. We stopped, panting, to look at what we had done. Elkryn ran everywhere, and wolves and humans were too busy dodging them to attack one another. I couldn’t believe it had actually worked.

“We’re going for BreLan and MikLan,” Marra said. “If the Stone Peaks still fight, we will meet you at the Tree Crossing and leave the valley.”

Marra didn’t wait for my answer, but bounded off to where MikLan last had stood. Ázzuen followed. I could see TaLi stumbling down the hill where I’d left her and began to run to her, making sure to keep an eye on the elkryn. Something about the way they were acting made me nervous. They were being chased by snarling wolves and humans with sharpsticks. They should have run away by now. But they hadn’t. They were still swarming.

Then I heard a crashing of underbrush from far across the plain. Something was emerging from the woods almost directly behind where the Swift River pack had waited. I raised my head, expecting to see the Greatwolves coming to attack. But it wasn’t them.

It’s not possible,
I thought.
It can’t be. Bull elkryn don’t travel together. Elkryn don’t hunt.

But that’s exactly what they were doing. Seven of them, led by Ranor and his brother Yonor, ran like hunters from the trees, their heads lowered, and fury in their eyes. I heard their bellows and saw the anger in the way they ran. They must have been hiding there, stalking, waiting for the chance to attack those who threatened their mates. I watched in horror, and looked back to the female elkryn, realizing that I had misjudged the effect of the stampede. I had thought it would be like the horse frenzy, over almost as soon as it had begun. But the elkryn were still running, and when they saw the bull elkryn charging toward them, they turned to fight.

“They aren’t acting like the horses did!” I said. “Why are they doing that?”

“They are elkryn,” Tlitoo said, hovering above me. “They never act like normal prey.” He landed and cocked his head left and right. “Looks like they’ve learned to hunt.”

I heard Rissa’s frantic bark of warning. Trevegg was in danger of being run down by two of the bull elkryn. The Swift River wolves had scattered when the elkryn charged toward them. Ruuqo barked a furious command and he, Yllin, and Minn took off after Ranor and the four elkryn he led toward the stampede. Werrna and Rissa remained behind to wait for Trevegg, who was on his way back from speaking to us, and who was directly in the path of two other elkryn. They had swerved as if purposely trying to run him down.

At Rissa’s warning, Trevegg began to run. Then he tripped in the dirt and came up limping. The two elkryn were upon him.

Werrna leapt for one of them. It was a young elkryn, smaller than the rest, and when attacked by such a large wolf, he bolted. But the other elkryn was Yonor, and he wasn’t going anywhere. He lowered his head and charged Trevegg. There was no way the oldwolf was going to get out of the way in time. I began to run.

Rissa snarled and leapt directly at Yonor. It was a dangerous thing to do, for a single wolf to leap at a bull elkryn’s head, but it was her only chance to distract him from Trevegg. Yonor bellowed triumphantly as Rissa jumped, and turned his head sharply, catching her with his huge antlers and tossing her to the ground. Rissa yelped in pain.

I ran as fast as I could make my legs go. Somewhere behind me I heard Ruuqo’s frantic howl-bark. I could see Werrna rushing back to us, and I knew that the rest of the pack would be right behind her. They would be too late. I was closest. Yonor looked at me as I ran toward him and snorted, as if I were insignificant and certainly no threat to him. I could swear I saw him smile as he reared up on his back legs to crush Rissa. Fear closed my throat as I thought about how easily he had thrown her to the ground. I ignored it, trying to remember how I had hunted with TaLi—the timing of the jump, the angle of attack. With an opponent as large as Yonor, I had to use guile and strategy, not just strength. I didn’t think I could slow him down enough if I grabbed his flank. I swallowed hard. I had only one chance. I forced myself to take a breath, bunched the muscles in my haunches, and leapt, seizing Yonor’s nose in my teeth. He began to buck and kick, trying to throw me. I hung on. He swung me back and forth as if I were no heavier than a leaf, and I felt as if my neck would snap in two and my legs would tear free from my body. Nothing had ever hurt that much.

“Silvermoon!” TaLi’s scream carried across the plain. I had forgotten her in my fear for Trevegg and Rissa. Even with my head snapping back and forth I could hear her feet slapping against the ground.
She must be wearing her foot coverings,
I thought. I was glad she wanted to help me, but there was no way she could get there in time.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Werrna, who had been closest, leap for Yonor’s flank. I could see fleet Yllin almost upon us with Ruuqo right behind her. My grip was slipping and I knew I couldn’t hang on much longer. Black wings beat at Yonor’s head. Tlitoo was trying to help, confusing Yonor but also making it harder for me to hang on.

Suddenly Yonor choked and stumbled. It was all my pack needed. Werrna, Ruuqo, and Yllin pulled him down. He would have fallen on top of me, but I managed to roll out of the way just as he hit the ground. The pack killed him quickly.

I crawled clear and saw TaLi panting, standing a good ten wolflengths away. Her sharpstick was buried in Yonor’s neck. She must have thrown it, and thrown it hard. It hadn’t killed the giant beast, but it had startled him enough to allow the pack to bring him down. She clutched a stick thrower tightly in her hand and she had a hunter’s gleam in her eye.

Trevegg was on his feet, but Rissa did not rise. Ruuqo reached us and began to lick Rissa’s fur. She raised her head to him. She was gasping, as if she could not get enough air, and blood welled from a cut made by Yonor’s antlers. Hesitantly, TaLi walked forward and knelt beside Rissa. Ruuqo’s hackles rose.

“I want to help her, wolf,” TaLi said softly, her voice shaking a little. “If she can’t get air, she’ll die. That’s the sound my cousin made when his ribs were hurt, and I helped him breathe before grandmother came and fixed his bones.”

“Let her,” Trevegg said.

Ruuqo hesitated. Rissa wheezed, struggling to breathe. Finally, Ruuqo dipped his head and stepped aside.

TaLi lifted one of her sacks from her back and another from around her neck. She took plants from each, and mixed them in one of her hands. She took her water sack from across her shoulder and mixed the herbs into a paste that she held out to Rissa.

“You must eat this,” TaLi said. “It will help open the paths of your breathing.”

“It’s all right,” I said to Rissa, nudging TaLi’s hand toward her. “She is pack.”

Gently, TaLi placed the substance in Rissa’s mouth, shaking a little as she touched Rissa’s sharp teeth. I pressed against her. Rissa licked TaLi’s hand clean. After a few moments, her breathing eased and she stopped choking.

“Her ribs are either bruised or broken,” TaLi said. “I can do more when I get back to our home, but she will need to be careful.” The girl spoke with authority, her eyes on Rissa.

TaLi looked up and caught Ruuqo’s eye. They stared at each other. I don’t think TaLi realized the danger she was in. Ruuqo began to pull his lips back in a snarl, then dipped his head and went to help Rissa up.

“Tell her thank you,” Ruuqo said.

“Why did you start the stampede, Kaala?” Rissa said, standing shakily. “I saw you run among the elkryn.”

“I had to stop the fight,” I said. Quickly I told them of the Greatwolves’ decree. Anger clouded Ruuqo’s eyes.

“So the Greatwolves have been lying to us? And they would kill us all?”

“We must stop Torell from fighting,” Trevegg said, licking his hurt foot. “He will try again as soon as the elkryn are quiet.” The oldwolf looked at me and managed a laugh. “You started the stampede on purpose? Not a solution I would have thought of, but it has gained us some time.”

“But that is all,” Rissa said weakly. “Torell will not give up his fight.” She looked toward the center of the field and gasped. “Nor will Ranor.”

I looked up. Though the bull elkryn had attacked together, they did not have the discipline of a wolf pack. Their drive to compete with one another seemed to be greater than their anger with the humans and wolves, and whatever plan they might have started with, they had forgotten it. They ran from one place to another, trying to reclaim their mates. Some even fought with one another. Others were already leaving the plain with their females. Wolves and humans checked on their pack members to see who had been hurt, and seemed to forget about fighting with one another. It looked as if we had succeeded in stopping the fight, at least temporarily.

But when I followed Rissa’s gaze, I saw that I was wrong.

Ranor stood, staring at his fallen brother, staring especially at TaLi’s sharpstick, protruding from Yonor’s neck. His eyes moved from the sharpstick to TaLi, watching as the girl felt Rissa’s ribs and placed more plants on her bleeding cut. The great beast lowered his huge antlers, and a deep, rumbling gurgle issued from his throat, as if he were challenging another male. He called out to the other bull elkryn.

Come to me!
he ordered.

Only two of the other elkryn males looked up. One of them was the one Werrna had chased before, and both were young, low-ranking elkryn.

The human child has slain my brother,
Ranor called.
Even half grown they are murderers. We will kill the young before they grow strong enough to kill us.
He hissed through his teeth and ran toward a group of small humans. They had gotten separated from the others and were hiding in an especially tall patch of grass. The two young elkryn followed, shaking their heads back and forth and bellowing.

TaLi gasped as she saw where Ranor and the others were headed. She took a few steps, and then looked back down at Rissa, who was walking slowly and breathing hard.

“I can’t leave her,” she murmured.

I touched the back of her hand with my nose and began to run toward the small humans. Or tried to. My back and neck hurt so much I could only move at a half lope. The elkryn would get to the young humans long before I could. I looked around, trying to think of what to do. Then I saw Ázzuen and Marra standing with BreLan and MikLan. They were close enough to reach the young humans, but their backs were to the charging elkryn, their eyes on Torell and his pack, who were pacing back and forth and arguing.