Through Wolf's Eyes (12 page)

D
ERIAN'S PLEASURE AT LEARNING
the wild woman had not fled in the night vanished in a wash of
embarrassment when he realized that she had emerged from the tent
completely naked. The wool shirt, incomprehensibly covered with bits of
bracken, trailed from her left hand. She grasped her sheathed knife in
the right.

Moreover, she was staring at him in astonishment, as
if he, not she, were displaying himself naked before a company of the
opposite sex. Dropping the shirt, she reached out and touched his
cheek. Only when he felt the coolness of her fingers did he realize
that he must be blushing furiously.

Frozen in shock, he regained control of his limbs only when he heard Doc comment dryly:

"Well, from what I see, I'd concur with the estimate of
her age as somewhere between twelve and fifteen. She's thin as a rail, poor child. No wonder she doesn't have much up top."

Derian bent and picked up the discarded shirt, not
caring this once if his sudden movement frightened Blysse. His fingers
were touching the cloth when he felt it snatched from beneath them.

The woman was glowering at him, holding the shirt
close to her. When he straightened, she fixed him with her dark gaze.
Then, clearly and distinctly, she growled.

Behind him Derian heard murmurs of astonishment as the other men registered her speed and agility. Then Ox said calmly:

"Well, Derian, she may not want to wear it now, but I'd say that she plans on keeping that shirt."

Coming to himself, Earl Kestrel snapped, "Stop
staring at Lady Blysse, all of you! Get on with your chores! Derian
Carter, try to convince her to re-don her garb. Then I want to speak
with you."

Derian convinced Blysse to dress, helped by the fact
that she obviously had intended to do so in any case. With some effort
he convinced her to remain with Ox.

Seeing her safe, Derian reluctantly crossed toward
the earl's tent. He glanced behind him to check on Blysse and saw her
standing behind Ox's bulk, peering out to watch the others as they
prepared breakfast and fed the horses.

When Derian reached the area marked out as Earl
Kestrel's own, Valet glanced up from the quail eggs he was scrambling
for the earl's breakfast to give Derian an encouraging nod. Even so,
Derian didn't feel any braver as he announced himself and obeyed the
earl's invitation to enter.

Earl Kestrel's tent was larger than the one Derian
shared with Ox. It had straight sides and a peaked roof, rather like a
small house, whereas the other members of the expedition slept in
simple triangular shelters. When Derian entered, he found Earl Kestrel
seated on a campstool, making notes in a leather-bound book resting on
a collapsible table.

"Be seated while I finish this," Kestrel ordered curtly.

Derian balanced on a second campstool, his hands folded
stiffly on his knees. After an eon or so, the earl blotted his ink, sanded the page, and turned to Derian.

"We have a serious problem," he said bluntly, "with
the Lady Blysse. We may have located her, but ten years of living like
a wild animal have made her unfit for civilized company. At first I
intended to head back to Eagle's Nest as soon as we could regroup. Now
I see this would be unwise. I want Blysse to be presented to the king
as a human being— one who has suffered trials, surely, but as a human
being. If we go back now, even with the weeks we must spend on the
road, she will still be little more than a freak."

Derian had expected to be reprimanded for staring at
the naked woman, for not keeping the woman covered, for something he'd
done wrong. These confidences startled him so that all he could do was
nod.

"Last night I consulted with both my valet and with
my cousin," the earl continued. "They advise that you would be the best
choice for the girl's tutor."

"Me?"

"Yes. Thus far, she trusts you more than she does any
of us. You are closer to her age. Moreover, you are educated, unlike
Race and Ox. Jared and I should return to our homes, at least briefly.
Therefore, we cannot teach her."

"Valet?" Derian offered tentatively.

"She does not seem to respect Valet," Earl Kestrel
said. "He is very good at what he does, but he himself has noted that
he lacks the force of personality to impress her."

"Oh."

"I am offering you an important job, a great opportunity to serve both my house and the throne."

Derian bit his lip, reviewing his options. Could he
really civilize this wild woman? What would be the penalty for failure?
He was certain that he was still considering when he heard his own
voice saying:

"Yes. I would like to try teaching her, sir."

"Good!" The earl briskly rubbed his hands together.
"I always knew you had potential as an aide. As you may be aware, after
Prince Barden departed, his father sold his property."

"Departed." Was disinherited, you mean
, Derian thought, some of his usual sardonic humor returning to him now that the worst shock had passed.

"I purchased West Keep—the place from which Prince
Barden departed into the wilds," Earl Kestrel continued. "It should
make a fit place for Barden's daughter, my niece, to begin her
education. I will speak to Race Forester about his remaining in my
employ and staying there to support you. The rest of us will depart,
but I will expect regular reports from you."

"How delivered, sir?" Derian asked, his head swimming.

"I will send a courier. He will take your first
report and leave a covey of homing pigeons with you. Hopefully, that
will suffice."

"Yes, sir."

Earl Kestrel kept talking, but Derian heard little of
what he said. He knew he would regret his inattention later, but for
now only one refrain kept going through his head.

What have I gotten myself into?

F
IREKEEPER SPENT AN EXCITING
but nerve-tightening day among the two-legs. Three or four times she
ate their food, finding it overcooked and full of the taste of strange
plants. It was warming, though, with a warmth that stayed like sunlight
in her belly.

When Fox Hair observed her pulling the leaves out of
her soft shirt, he brought her another set of garments. This time there
were two parts: one to be worn on her lower body and another for the
top.

As easily as a mockingbird mimics sounds, Fox Hair
communicated with Firekeeper by acting out what he wanted her to know.
In this way he showed her that the one part went over the soft shirt,
the other over her lower parts.

Thinking the stuff these garments was made from smelled
familiar,
Firekeeper chewed the material and found that it was indeed leather,
but leather that had been made soft and supple, as if the animal were
still wearing its hide.

Initially, she wore the clothing in the fashion that
Fox Hair had suggested, but she found the combination of two tops along
with the bottoms stifling. As much as she liked the soft top, she found
the leather one stronger and less likely to accumulate leaf matter. The
bottoms protected her legs and rear far better than her hide had ever
done, though she missed the feeling of the wind against her skin.

Firekeeper compromised by wearing the leather top and
bottoms, setting the soft top aside for another time. When the little
brown man made as if to touch the soft top, she growled.

She might not be using it that moment, but she wasn't going to give it up!

During the brightest part of the day, Firekeeper
slept for a while, leaving her rested and clearheaded when night fell
and the two-legs went into their shelters to sleep. Shedding her new
attire, since she was not quite comfortable in it, she slipped out to
meet Blind Seer.

They romped for a time, celebrating their reunion
with such enthusiasm that she was slightly bruised and soundly
scratched. When they had stretched out on some young grass, Firekeeper
with her head pillowed on her brother's flank, the wolf sighed.

"What troubles you, Blue Eyes?"

"Elation said that the two-legs plan to depart
tomorrow. Tawny has pulled his fish traps from the water and taken down
his snares. There are other signs the falcon sees. Although they mean
nothing to me, I believe her."

Firekeeper's heart started beating far too fast.

"Tomorrow?"

"Probably as soon as there is light." The wolf thumped his tail on the ground. "Do you go with them?"

It was far to soon to make such a decision, but in her belly Firekeeper knew that the decision was already made.

"I will."

"Across the mountains?"

"Let us see how they treat me in the days it takes to reach the mountains," she temporized.

"But if they treat you well?"

She sighed. "Then I go."

Sitting up, she rubbed the wolf behind his ears.

"I could miss you, Sister," Blind Seer said at last,
"but Mother and Father reminded us that all wolves feel the urge to
disperse from the pack. Why should our two-legged sister be different?"

"Could miss me?" she said, teasing to lighten this serious moment.

"Could, if I were parting from you," he replied, "but
I think I will go with you to see what lies over the mountain. It is
long since any but the winged members of the Royal kind went there. Now
that the two-legs have come here, why shouldn't I go there?"

Firekeeper howled her delight, thumping Blind Seer so hard that he leapt up and trotted out of range.

"Easy, Sister! Easy!" he protested. "You're not a tiny pup anymore. There's strength in those funny hands of yours."

"Will you come meet the two-legs, then?" she asked eagerly.

"Not yet," he replied cautiously. "Their beasts fear
me as we fear fire. Let them grow a bit accustomed to my scent. We
should learn, too, if the two-legs also fear wolves. The Cousins who
have crossed the mountains don't speak well of them."

"True." She smiled, though, too happy at the
knowledge that he would be nearby to worry yet about how the two-legs
would take to him. "Have you told the Ones what you will do?"

"How could I?" he replied. "I didn't know until you made your own choice."

"Then let us sing our news to the pack," she said. "The Ones will want to know that we are both departing."

Trotting side by side, they went to a rise from which
their voices would carry far. Two voices began a song that became a
chorus as it was relayed through trees whose branches reached as if to
brush the stars.

"E
ASY, NOW
! Easy, Roanne!" Derian jerked the mare's headstall, but still she danced nervously away from Blysse.

The woman, clad in leather vest and riding breeches, stood barefoot, watching the horse's antics in evident amusement.

"Problem, Derian?" Earl Kestrel asked from where he stood a polite distance away.

"Yes, sir. I'd thought to have Lady Blysse ride my
horse while I rode one of the pack animals. We can spare one since
we've used so much of the fodder they were carrying. Roanne won't go
near Blysse, though."

Exasperated, he punctuated his reply by loosing the
mare into the corral, where she promptly trotted to the far side of the
enclosure, shuddering her skin as if it were crawling with flies.

"None of the other horses will either," Derian continued. "They're scared stiff of Blysse."

The earl thoughtfully stroked his beard with one forefinger.

"Interesting," he said. "Well, then, until we get a horse accustomed to her, she will have to walk."

He looked as if he was considering declaring that everyone else must walk as well, but self-interest came to the fore.

"Perhaps your horse will grow easier around Blysse if you are in the saddle and she walks alongside."

"Perhaps," Derian agreed doubtfully.

"In any case, how does Blysse seem to take to the idea of riding?"

"Well enough." Derian gestured to where he had flung
a saddle across a fallen tree trunk. "I showed her the basics there and
she took to them so fast that I think Doc's right. She must have been
watching us before she got her courage up to come out and meet us."