Spirit of the Wolves Page 10

  I nipped Ázzuen on the ear.

  “Race you back to the village.”

  He yipped and took off running. We tore through the woods, jumping over the bushes and fallen branches, the late-afternoon sun warming our fur. Tlitoo dipped and arced above us, screeching encouragement. I felt like I could fly up to join him. We had spent two days with the humans, and they already admired us and treated us as pack. It was as if we were meant to be with them. If I hadn’t been out of breath, I would have howled in triumph.

  Ázzuen and I pelted into Kaar, side by side, and stopped, panting. There was a scent in the village that was familiar, a scent that made my throat close in fear.

  A group of humans clustered together, their attention on a stocky male standing in their midst. I saw IniMin first, with his back to us, a young female at his side. HesMi looked at the newcomer, her arms crossed over her chest. I sneezed twice, expelling the new human’s scent. My nose had known who it was before my eyes did.

  DavRian turned and met my gaze with a cold stare. He pointed at me.

  “That’s the one,” he said. “That’s the wolf that killed the old woman.”

  11

  I wasn’t the one who’d killed her. It was DavRian who had murdered NiaLi, slicing her throat with his spear. He’d carried TaLi to her village and told the humans there that I’d killed the old woman. When I tried to rescue TaLi, he aimed his spear at my heart and lunged. I dodged just in time, deflecting his spear into my haunch.

  I didn’t kill her, but her death was at least partly my fault. I’d angered DavRian and had not thought of the risk to the old woman. Remembering her crumpled body, I began to back away in shame. What if I really did bring only death to those I loved?

  “We called her ‘Bloody Moon,’ in the Spruce Valley,” DavRian said, pointing his spear at me. “Because of the mark on her chest and because she stalked us.”

  I stopped and looked down at my chest. My fur was stained with blood from the hide we’d stolen from the longfang cubs. Tlitoo landed next to me.

  “Be careful, wolf. There is something here we have not been told.”

  “Will they attack now?” a human male asked, staring at my open mouth. I was out of breath from our dash to the village and couldn’t stop panting. My tongue hung out and all of my teeth showed. Ázzuen, too, was panting hard, his sharp teeth exposed.

  I waited for the humans to pull out their sharpsticks and hurl them at us. I almost bolted. But I knew that if I ran away, I would lose the ground I’d gained in the last two days. I looked from HesMi to DavRian, trying to figure out what to do. Then Ázzuen closed his mouth, rolled onto his back, and waved his legs in the air. A human laughed. I forced my own mouth closed, my ribs heaving with the effort to control my panting. I felt the tension around us ease.

  TaLi and BreLan burst into the village, arms linked, laughing and gasping for air. TaLi stopped when she saw DavRian. BreLan did not. He hurled himself at the other human, knocking him flat to the ground. I reached TaLi with one leap, and stood between her and DavRian. Ázzuen scrambled to his feet and placed himself in front of me.

  “Guard TaLi’s left side!” I said. DavRian could easily slip by me to grab her.

  Ázzuen planted his paws more firmly. It was me he was protecting, not TaLi. He lowered his head and glowered at DavRian.

  BreLan slammed DavRian’s head to the ground. “I’ll kill you,” he bellowed. “By the Ancients, I will.”

  Within two breaths, he’d used his strong legs to pin DavRian’s arms to his sides, his hands around DavRian’s neck. It took three large humans to pull him off.

  “Let me go!” BreLan shouted. “He’s a murderer. He killed NiaLi and almost killed TaLi.” His voice broke. “He almost killed her because he wanted her and couldn’t have her.”

  Murmurs rose from the humans around us. DavRian staggered to his feet, choking.

  “He’s a liar,” DavRian gasped. “The girl entranced him.” His voice was ragged. “All the wolf-krianans of the Spruce Valley can do it.”

  Several humans laughed. It was a ridiculous thing to say.

  “It’s true,” DavRian said, a sulky tone entering his voice. “Yours probably do it, too.”

  “It is something I have heard as well.” I squinted to see where the voice came from. It was IniMin. He set down a small sack he was carrying. “It is one of the reasons we need to break away from the old ways, and bring a new kind of krianan to guide us. We need to control the wildness around us, not welcome it into our homes.”

  He smiled his insincere smile at TaLi. “It appears that you know my brother’s son, DavRian,” he said.

  “He’s your brother’s son?” TaLi asked. “The one you were waiting for?”

  A growl rumbled in my chest. DavRian was the young man IniMin had mentioned. And thus his candidate for krianan. He was as far from what a krianan should be than any human I’d ever met.

  “Quiet, wolf,” Tlitoo warned. “This is not a good time to growl at humans.”

  “The Rian village of the Spruce Valley was started by those who left Kaar to find new lands,” HesMi told TaLi. “There are villages related to us in every land we know of.” She spoke with pride. Navdru had said that Kaar’s influence went beyond the village itself. I hadn’t imagined it spread as far as the Wide Valley.

  A human female spoke. “If DavRian says that the wolves killed NiaLi, we shouldn’t have them here.”

  “He’s lying about NiaLi,” BreLan said, catching his breath. “He killed her himself and blamed the wolves.” Ázzuen swayed on his paws, clearly wanting to go to his human.

  “Why would he do that?” HesMi asked, a frown wrinkling her forehead, her strong arms crossed over her chest.

  “He’s mad.” The calm, steady voice came from behind me. I whipped my head around to see TaLi, her face still, her stance confident. She had pulled the longfang tooth—the symbol of her role as krianan—from her tunic so that it hung visible on her chest.

  “He makes up stories about enthrallers and fierce wolves. He killed my grandmother and hurt me.” She pulled back her hair to show the healing wound where DavRian had struck her when he’d killed NiaLi. “The leaders of all the villages wanted him dead, so he wouldn’t hurt anyone else, but his father wouldn’t allow it.”

  DavRian blinked at her stupidly. The last part was a lie and a good one. No one in Kaar could know which human was speaking the truth.

  “She’s right,” BreLan said.

  “Were you there when the old woman died?” IniMin asked him. “Did you see it happen?”

  “No,” BreLan admitted. “TaLi told me.”

  HesMi’s frown deepened. DavRian seized on her uncertainty. “He wasn’t there. He believes anything she tells him.”

  IniMin cleared his throat. “This is why I have tried to convince you to keep the wolves away from us. They are unpredictable and dangerous. They can go from friend to enemy in an instant and kill us as we sleep. It is the nature of the wild and we must guard against it.”

  RalZun strode into the village, stopping at my side. I snarled up at him.

  “You should have told us that DavRian was IniMin’s nephew,” I snapped.

  “You should have told me that you let him follow you!” he rasped back.

  He stalked to HesMi.

  “IniMin speaks nonsense,” the old man said. “No one can be enchanted by a wolf. He’s a fool to think so. The wolves helped us before and they can help us now.”

  “They swam with us at the stream without hurting us.” That was the young male who had dunked me.

  “And they gave us this,” another male said, holding up the hide we had taken from the cubs. They said nothing about the longfangs. I was certain that they were not supposed to go anywhere near them.

  “I like them,” a young female said.

  “They’re dangerous,” DavRian countered, “no matter how friendly they seem.”

  All around us, humans rumbled and whispered and shouted. They were like a
group of ravens before they mobbed something.

  “Wolflets,” Tlitoo whispered, “if you let them argue, they will talk themselves so far into fear they will not be able to find their way out. Show them.”

  “Show them what?”

  “Show who the dangerous one really is,” he said, nodding to a small sack at IniMin’s feet.

  I caught his meaning and grinned at him, then started to trot through the crowd.

  “Where are you going?” Ázzuen whispered.

  “To provoke IniMin,” I answered.

  The other humans fell silent as I padded toward IniMin. He leaned back when I drew near him, but did not step away. Without bothering to meet his gaze, I took the sack at his feet and held it in my mouth. Then I looked up at him.

  Had he been a rational human, he would have just let me take the pouch, but he reminded me of DavRian, who could never bear to look foolish. IniMin didn’t disappoint me. He kicked out at me and shoved the blunt end of his sharpstick at me. I dodged it easily, trotted to HesMi, and dropped the sack at her feet. She chuckled.

  “You would have deserved it if she’d bitten you, IniMin,” she said. I licked her wrist. She rested her hand on my back and I heard the slowing of her heart, a sound I’d come to associate with humans when they stroked us.

  “She likes having her ears scratched,” RalZun said.

  “I remember,” HesMi said. She rubbed the fur between my ears gently. I leaned against her.

  “These wolves don’t behave like killers,” she said, “and DavRian hasn’t spent enough time with us for me to know whether to trust him more than NiaLi’s granddaughter.” She stroked my back. “I accept DavRian as your candidate, IniMin,” she said, “but I don’t want to hear any more about enchantments. As for whether or not they are dangerous, we can keep an eye on a few wolves until the festival. They’re easy enough to kill if needed.”

  She strode across the clearing and ducked into one of the shelters. DavRian and IniMin watched her go, then crouched down to whisper together while the other humans dispersed around the village. When the humans holding BreLan released him, he staggered to TaLi and RalZun. Ázzuen and I ran to join them.

  TaLi released a long breath.

  “Now what?” she asked RalZun.

  “Now prove to them that you’re the best candidate. Your wolves have impressed HesMi, as have you.”

  He sounded sure of himself, but I was worried about what DavRian might do. I hadn’t counted on his interference. I’d never imagined that he would be TaLi’s competition for krianan. As TaLi, BreLan, and RalZun spoke quietly to one another, and Ázzuen paced beside them, I worried. I’d failed so many times before. I couldn’t bear to do so again. I needed help.

  My mother had told me to find her if I needed her. I’d hoped that it would be more than two days before I did so, but I had no idea what to do about DavRian. As soon as the late afternoon light faded, I went in search of her. I picked up her scent at the stream where I’d first found her, and followed it to a shady grove of cypress. She was napping lightly in the cooling air.

  “I can’t do it,” I said, the moment she awoke. “DavRian is here, and he’s telling the humans we’ll kill them. A lot of them believe him. There’s no way I can prove he’s lying before Even Night. I need more time.”

  “You can’t have more time, Kaala, you know that. The Sentinels won’t allow it.”

  “Then some older wolf should do it. You should do it. I can’t.”

  She got to her feet. “You lost the right to give up when you refused to leave your human girl. If you were going to run away with your tail between your legs, you should have stayed with Ruuqo and Rissa and left the humans alone.”

  I had expected at least some sympathy or advice. She sighed when she saw my hurt expression and nosed my cheek. She trotted off in the direction of Kaar. “Come with me.”

  I was so angry that she had scolded me that I almost stayed where I was. Instead, ears and tail low, I followed her.

  I had never seen any place so beautiful.

  The moonlight illuminated lush grass that smelled of recent prey. Tall pine trees and thick juniper reminded me of home, and a stream burbled nearby, promising fresh, clear water. The stretch of land before us was a mix of hunting plains and dense woods and I couldn’t help but smile as I looked down on it.

  My mother and I lay on a small hill overlooking the good land, breathing in its rich scents.

  “I wanted to show you this, Kaala,” she said, “so that you know what you fight for. Navdru told me that this land is yours if you succeed with the humans. It’s close enough to the human village that you can spend as much time as you need to with your girl and the other humans, and still take care of your pack.”

  “My pack,” I said. “My own pack?” Navdru had said he’d find a way to reward me.

  She dipped her head. “Hiiln and I thought we would raise a pack here. But he is gone and I won’t have pups with another.”

  Hiiln was Ruuqo’s brother, and he was supposed to have been Rissa’s mate and the leader of Swift River. When he’d refused to stay away from the humans, he’d been chased from the valley, and Ruuqo and Rissa took over Swift River.

  I didn’t know that he and Neesa had been mates.

  “He died?” I asked. She’d said he was gone.

  “He was killed,” she answered.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, and she inclined her head to me.

  My own head buzzed. Hiiln had been drawn to the humans and he was Neesa’s mate. He had to have been my father. I ached to ask Neesa, but I didn’t have the nerve.

  “I thought I’d go back to the Wide Valley after Even Night,” I said.

  “You might be able to for a little while,” she said, “but if you succeed, the humans will still need to be watched over.”

  And if I don’t, I thought, there won’t be a pack to go back to.

  My mother looked down at me. “What did you think would happen after TaLi became their krianan? You would have to stay nearby.”

  I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I felt a pang of sorrow at the thought of not returning to the Wide Valley. Then I looked again at the good land before me. I wanted it. I wanted it as much as I wanted to be at TaLi’s side.

  I thought about Pell’s offer. He wanted to have pups with me and he had, I knew now, left the Wide Valley not to fulfill the Promise, but to be with me. Yet when I envisioned myself with pups and a pack in the beautiful land before me, it wasn’t Pell’s face I saw at my side.

  As if my thoughts had summoned him, Ázzuen crept up beside us.

  “You weren’t there when I came back,” he reproved, then greeted Neesa.

  Neesa returned his greeting. “I remember you now,” she said to him. “You’re Rissa’s smallest pup. You hadn’t been given a name when I left. Ruuqo and Rissa were certain you’d die before winter.”

  If a pack believed a pup was too weak to survive, they would not name him. Everyone expected Ázzuen to die before he was old enough to hunt.

  “What happened?” Neesa asked him. “How did you live?”

  “Kaala helped me,” Ázzuen said.

  We had helped each other, fighting together against the bigger pups.

  My mother looked from Ázzuen to me and back again, a small smile on her face.

  “Then I hope you will continue to do so,” she said. “The Sentinels will no longer let me be with the humans, Kaala. It has to be you. But I will give you what guidance I can.” She smiled again at Ázzuen. “And you are not alone in your task.”

  We left my mother and returned to Kaar.

  “I have some ideas about how we can make DavRian look like the fool he is,” Ázzuen said as we trotted into the village. “He’s not as smart as IniMin. He hates us and he’s still in love with TaLi. He lets his emotions affect him too much. He’ll make mistakes.” He panted a grin. “We can help him make big ones.”

  “We should just concentrate on making ourselves valuable to the humans,” I
said. “We have to show them that choosing TaLi as krianan is their best choice.”

  Ázzuen looked at me like I was the most naive pup he’d ever met. “DavRian will be looking for ways to make us fail. You know he will. You’re too trusting, Kaala. You’re honest and so you expect others to be, too. It’s why you trusted the Greatwolves so often back home.”

  “I’m not.” But I’d been fooled more than I liked to admit. I didn’t acknowledge the other reason I wanted to avoid a battle with DavRian: I was still afraid of him. I walked to a small fire pit and lay down next to it. Ázzuen stretched out next to me. My eyes grew heavy. I tried to keep them open.

  “We should sleep.” Ázzuen yawned. “We need to rest for the next hunt.”

  I wanted to protest but could only yawn back at him. I heard TaLi’s footsteps and looked up as she settled beside me. “We can do it, Kaala,” she said. “We can show them that their lives are better with wolves here.” Her voice faltered. “RalZun will help me.”

  I twisted my neck around to lick her face. I wished I could tell her that I would do whatever I could to help her. She fell asleep with one long arm slung over me. I listened to her even breathing. Failing in Kaar would mean failing TaLi, and that’s something I would never do.

  12

  A cold nose in my ear woke me. I opened my eyes to find Ázzuen standing impatiently over me.

  “Is it time for another hunt?” I mumbled, trying to blink away sleep. The sun was just rising, and the air was cool and moist. I yawned.

  “Wake up, Kaala,” he said. “I have an idea.”

  Of course he did. Ázzuen probably got ideas in his sleep.

  He galloped across the huge clearing. I got to my paws and stretched. TaLi rolled to a sitting position and watched sleepily as I followed Ázzuen. Marra slept next to MikLan by the warmth of a fire.

  I stopped when I saw a group of human young staring at me, all smaller than TaLi was when I first pulled her from the river.