Secrets of the Wolves Read online

  “The Gripewolf spoke of me?” Tlitoo asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “She wanted to know where you were and if we had journeyed together, whatever that means.”

  “What did you say to her?” Jlela clacked.

  “I didn’t say anything to her. Why would I?”

  Jlela quorked at Tlitoo. “Do you wish me to tell them, Neja?”

  “No,” Tlitoo said, blinking his eyes hard. “I will. Another time. Not now.” He hunched his head below his shoulders, as he had when attacked by the other ravens.

  Jlela ran her beak through Tlitoo’s back feathers, regarded me for several moments, then dipped her head in a very wolflike gesture.

  “Nlitsa will fly from the valley,” she said to me, “and find out if the new wolf has been truthful about your mother. She will find out if she does indeed wait for you. Will you then be able to give attention to your task?”

  “How do you know about that?” I demanded, feeling exposed.

  She and Nlitsa exchanged glances and gave loud, krawking laughs that echoed off the rocks of the hillside. “You wolves are supposed to have such good noses and ears,” Jlela said. “But you never think to look around you.” She laughed again. “Or above you.”

  “Why would you do that for her?” Ázzuen asked Nlitsa. He was mistrustful of raven motives.

  “We would like her to focus on what she must do,” Jlela said, stabbing at the dirt with her beak.

  “I would like that,” I said before Ázzuen could say anything else. “Thank you.”

  “Good,” she replied with a decisive clack of her beak. She hopped up next to Tlitoo again and murmured something to him. Then Jlela ran her beak twice through his head feathers and, without another word to me, took flight. A moment later Nlitsa followed.

  “Jlela and Nlitsa flew alone from the time they were barely fledged,” Tlitoo said, watching them go. “Their father and mother and all of their nestmates were killed by a long-fang while Nlitsa and Jlela were berry hunting. They know what it is like to miss a mother and a father. That is why they wish to help you.”

  “Thank them for me,” I said. “Why can’t you tell me what’s happening?”

  “You must trust me for a little while longer, wolflet,” he said. “Will you do that?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  Tlitoo looked from me to Ázzuen. “I promise I will tell you when I can.”

  He looked so dejected and alone that I had to go to him. Without thinking, I trotted over to his rock and licked his feathery back. His feathers tasted different from the walking bird’s, smokier, with a touch of tree bark and prey-meat. Walking birds ate only plants and berries, and their feathers bore a lighter taste. Curious, I licked Tlitoo again.

  Suddenly the rocky hillside disappeared as did the scents of the cooling day, replaced by a jolt of freezing air, then darkness and a complete absence of scent. I couldn’t see or smell anything. Then the darkness blurred, and I saw feathers, and beaks, raven heads as large as my own bearing down on me, attacking me. Wings beating me, talons tearing at me, my heart pounding in fear and pain. Then two large, furred shapes bearing down pushing away the ravens. I yelped, and the image disappeared as suddenly as it had come. I leapt back to find myself once again at Rock Crest, and to find Tlitoo standing several wolflengths away from me, his wings fully extended.

  “What happened?” I gasped.

  “Do not do that again, wolflet.” Tlitoo’s eyes were haunted. “You must not touch me. Do not ask me why. Do not ask me anything. I will come to you when I can.”

  With a stumbling leap, he took flight, flying south, toward the river.

  We watched him in silence. I had no idea what had happened when I had come in contact with Tlitoo, but it had shaken me. I watched him go, uncertain of what to do next. After several moments Ázzuen spoke. “We have to go back to the humans, now, Kaala. You know they don’t like hunting in the dark.”

  “I know,” I said, looking after Tlitoo. The humans’ weak eyes were no good for night hunting. I shook away the strangeness of what I had seen when I had touched the raven. “But I’m going after my mother, too.”

  “I know you will,” he said. “I would, too. Trevegg and I talked about it after you left the Oldwoods. I figured out what we can do.” He spoke rapidly, as if he thought I would interrupt him. “The Greatwolves said that wolves have to live with humans, but they didn’t say which wolves. So we get the humans to accept wolves as packmates, and then Trevegg will take over the promise. There are other wolves in the valley who like the humans and want an excuse to be near them. Yllin does, and several youngwolves from Vole Eater and Tree Line. Once we know that Trevegg is succeeding, we take our humans and leave the valley. We start our own pack. We just have to get the humans to accept us in two moons instead of three, so we can leave the valley and look for your mother.”

  He looked expectantly at me.

  “You told Trevegg about Demmen and my mother?” I asked, my mind reeling a little.

  “Yes,” Ázzuen said, half apologetic, half defiant, “he needed to know.”

  My mind worked fast to try to keep up with Ázzuen and to try to work what he had told me into what I had already decided. My tail began to wag even before my mind caught up with the fact that Ázzuen had just given me the solution I needed.

  When Milsindra had threatened me, I knew that I would have to do more than just get the humans to accept us as pack, and I knew I would have to do it quickly enough to find my mother. I also realized that Milsindra had shown her own weakness. If there were, as she had said, those on the Greatwolf council who saw me as a curse and would see my failure as evidence of that, there were also those who saw me as a savior and would see success as proof of that. The greater the success, the more likely Zorindru and his followers would win out over Milsindra. She said she would make things more difficult, set more challenges if I succeeded with the humans. So I would meet those challenges before she set them. The only thing I hadn’t figured out was how I could keep wolves and humans together for a year and still be able to leave the valley to look for my mother. If there was any chance that Demmen was speaking the truth, I was going to find her. Now, thanks to Ázzuen’s clever, clever mind, there was a chance I could.

  “It will change everything,” I said, mostly to myself.

  “Yes,” Ázzuen agreed, “but things are changing no matter what. We can’t be afraid of it.”

  I wasn’t afraid. For the first time since Demmen had given me his message, I felt invigorated. Change was what I wanted. I licked Ázzuen’s muzzle. His eyes widened.

  “Yes,” I said, licking him on the cheek as well, “it’s a perfect idea.”

  “But what?” he asked suspiciously.

  I gave him a smile that I realized was every bit as narrow and sharp-toothed as Milsindra’s had been.

  “We don’t get the humans to accept us in two moons, Ázzuen. We get them to accept us today. Now. And we do more than become part of the human pack. We show the council that we can succeed even better than they thought, that wolves and humans are meant to be as one.” With each word I spoke, I felt myself growing stronger, becoming less a wolf blown about by the whims of others and more a wolf in charge of herself and her own choices.

  “That you’re the savior, not the destroyer,” Ázzuen said.

  “If that’s what they want to think.” I didn’t care if they thought I was Sky’s own daughter, as long as I could keep my humans and my pack alive and have the chance to find my mother. I began to trot in the direction of Oldwoods and the humans. Ázzuen followed.

  “Kaala,” he said, still suspicious, “exactly how do you plan to do more than getting the humans to accept us as pack?”

  “I have some ideas,” I said, bumping his shoulder hard with my own, “and you can help me figure out the rest.” I took off for Oldwoods at a run, with Ázzuen at my side.

  We reached Oldwoods to find the humans standing together, glowering at the horses, all of whom were stil
l alive. Everything in the humans’ bodies said they had been hunting hard. Their shoulders slumped, and some of them leaned on their sharpsticks. Others sat, their backs against trees or rocks. I could smell their exertion and sweat. TaLi had told me that they had trouble hunting this kind of horse because they were not only fast but had also learned how to dodge sharpsticks.

  “They haven’t caught anything yet,” Ázzuen whispered in relief.

  I dipped my head. That would make my task much easier. I ran past Trevegg and Marra, who were crouched, watching both the humans and the horses. I nosed Trevegg’s cheek in greeting and apology but did not stop when he called my name. I continued at a trot to the humans as Ázzuen spoke hurriedly to Trevegg and Marra, explaining what we had planned.

  I saw HuLin notice my approach and slowed to a walk, my ears and tail low. When he did not raise his sharpstick, I continued. TaLi, BreLan, and DavRian hurried to HuLin’s side. DavRian’s whisper was loud enough for a half-deaf wolf to hear.

  “You have to stop it,” he hissed to HuLin. “It’s a danger to all of us.”

  I stopped, awaiting HuLin’s reaction.

  “Not all of us,” the human leader said with a laugh. “Just you. And not without reason. If the wolf had not rebuked you for hitting TaLi, I would have done so myself.” He turned his gaze to me. “Get over here, wolf,” he commanded.

  I’d thought I would have to find a way to convince HuLin to let me be near his pack again, but he held out a hand to me in a gesture of one accustomed to being obeyed. I felt the fur on my back trying to rise in protest of his tone—no one but a leaderwolf had the right to speak to me that way—but I forced it back down. Slowly, I crept forward and licked HuLin’s outstretched hand.

  He reached down to rest his hand upon the moon-shape on my chest. Then he gripped the skin underneath it hard, digging his fingers deep into my flesh and twisting. I yelped. TaLi caught her breath in a sharp gasp.

  “So, wolf, you will fight to defend those you see as under your protection? I can understand that. You will not, however, growl at me. Do you understand that?”

  I wanted so much to bite down on that arm, to show HuLin that I was not a wolf to be bullied. But I had a more important task to think about. I forced my fur to stay flat, my lips to remain relaxed over my teeth. It took everything I had, but I forced myself to remain small and unthreatening, to resist the temptation to growl at HuLin and bite down on the hand that held me. Instead, I tucked my tail between my legs and licked the human leader’s wrist.

  He smiled and nodded, as if something had been confirmed, then released me. I whimpered at the pain in my chest but licked HuLin’s hand once more. His grin widened. “You see, DavRian,” he said, “you just have to know how to speak to them. Now,” he continued, “we have two hours of light left to hunt. We’ll see if they are as useful as TaLi claims they are.”

  HuLin raised his arm, and he, TaLi, BreLan, and several other humans walked out among the horses. I shook myself, caught Ázzuen’s eye, and followed. When HuLin paused, studying the horses, I bumped my hip gently against his legs. He looked down at me and I walked to the plump, sickly mare I had found earlier that day. She whinnied and shied away from me. I looked over my shoulder at HuLin. This time, he caught my meaning and gestured to his followers.

  Ázzuen and Marra dashed over from Trevegg’s side to join me. The three of us began to chase the mare. She bolted, and two other horses ran with her. All three moved well enough to make catching them difficult.

  “Block them!” I barked to HuLin. I know he couldn’t understand my words but hoped he would understand my meaning. He did. He looked from me to the fleeing horses, and called to the other humans. The humans darted out in all directions and formed a half moon around the horses so that in running away from us, the prey had no choice but to run into humans. My heart raced as I smelled the horses’ shock and confusion. In a moment of clarity I will never forget, I drove the fat mare directly to HuLin, and just as if he had been a member of my pack, he herded her back to me. She reared up, and her stout haunches almost fell into my jaws. I ripped into her tough hide, trying to drag her down. Ázzuen woofed a frantic warning and I dodged out of the way just as her hoof kicked out at me. In that moment, BreLan jabbed at her with his sharpstick. She landed on her side, staggered to her feet, and kicked out at the young human. Two of the lighter throwing spears hit the horse. One bounced off, but the other entered deep into the horse’s hide. I spared a quick moment to hope that the humans had good enough aim to hit neither us nor their tribemates. Then Ázzuen grabbed at the mare’s belly, tearing into her flesh. The horse stumbled, and I forgot everything but the hunt. Four humans, led by HuLin, converged on her, stabbing her with their sharpsticks. That was all it took. The mare screamed and fell. I heard a human shriek of triumph and saw that Trevegg, Marra, and three humans had taken down one of the other horses. We didn’t have to show the humans what to do again.

  As the sun fell below the trees, we hunted the no-longer-complacent horses. We caught four of them. Four. More than any hunt I’d ever heard of. When the sky darkened and the remainder of the horses fled Oldwoods, wolves and humans alike celebrated a successful hunt. Ázzuen and Marra chased each other around the cooling horse carcasses, growling at any foxes that dared to venture near, as several young humans wrestled in the stubby grass. One of the humans, a muscular male I didn’t know, came up behind me, rolled me onto the ground, and thumped me so hard on my ribs that he made me cough. He was smiling and laughing, so I took it as a sign of camaraderie.

  When I stood, wheezing, I saw that Trevegg, Ázzuen, and Marra had already torn into one of the dead horses. The steam rising from the beast and the rich aroma of the meat made my teeth ache. I pushed myself away from the brawny human and bolted across the plain, running so fast that I actually stumbled over the horse when I got to it. I landed half on top of Marra, who growled at me.

  Trevegg had ripped into the horse’s belly and had most of his head inside of it. Ázzuen and Marra were right beside him, trying to eat as much as they could as quickly as they could. I pushed in next to Ázzuen and took a huge piece of succulent horse belly in my jaws. I had barely swallowed that first bite when Trevegg barked an order to us. I took another bite, swallowed it quickly, then took one more, and backed away from the horse.

  HuLin and three other humans strode across the plain toward us. Trevegg flopped down flat on the grass half a wolflength from the prey, and Ázzuen, Marra, and I lay down next to him. My mouth watered and my nose tried to pull me back to the horse, and I could feel Marra trembling with meat-hunger beside me, but we all stayed where we were. We had to, if the next part of our plan was going to work.

  In any pack, the leaderwolves decide when and how much other wolves feed at a kill. This both ensures that the best meat is given to the wolves that the leaderwolves favor and also reinforces the leaderwolf’s position. Every wolf learns as a pup how to surrender prey to a leaderwolf, even if we don’t want to. When I told Ázzuen of my plans to get the humans to welcome us as quickly as possible, he’d come up with the idea of seeing if we could make HuLin feel like a leaderwolf by relinquishing freshly killed prey to him.

  It was almost impossible to just lie there as the humans approached the still-steaming horse, but we did. We waited, and it was worth it. When HuLin saw that we gave up the prey to him, he grinned the biggest grin I’d yet to see from a human. His chest swelled, and I could smell that our acquiescence made him feel proud.

  He held out an arm, blocking the three humans who accompanied him. “The wolves helped us with the hunt,” he said. “They should get some meat.”

  “Helped them?” Marra muttered. “They’d be eating dirt tonight if not for us.”

  “Be quiet,” I said, watching the humans’ every move.

  HuLin sat back on his haunches as the other humans moved to the prey. We scooted out of their way. It took them forever to cut through the rest of the horse’s hide. Some of the humans had sharpened
stones, which I had seen many times before. One of them had what smelled like the bone of an elkryn, sharpened as well, which was attached to the end of a thick piece of wood. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ázzuen creeping forward to sniff at the humans’ tools and Trevegg placing a restraining paw on his back. With a sigh, Ázzuen settled back to watch. We could have torn off meat much faster on our own, especially since the humans saw so poorly in the half-dark, but after what seemed like forever, the humans managed to do so. They didn’t give us any of the greslin, but the meat they gave us was adequate: most of a haunch and some shoulder meat. We devoured a third of it before Trevegg made us stop and drag the remainder into the woods for the rest of the pack. We found a stream to rinse our muzzles, since I remembered that a blood-covered muzzle disturbed TaLi. When we returned to the plain, I saw her standing at HuLin’s side. I took a breath and walked over to them. When I reached them, HuLin placed one large hand upon my back and squatted down to be at my level.

  “It was a good hunt with the wolves helping us, HuLin,” TaLi said, squatting down beside him. Her voice was shy, her tone tentative.

  “One of the best,” he agreed, ruffling his other hand through her headfur. He reminded me of Ruuqo praising one of us after a successful hunt. “I am glad you brought them to us.”

  He paused for a moment, his hand above TaLi’s head, then reached over and gently ran his hand through my own headfur. Then he pushed us both gently away, stood, loped over to the other humans, and began to help them cut up the horses. TaLi threw an arm around my neck, pressed her face to mine, and then followed HuLin.

  The humans did not return to their homesite that night but instead built their fires at Oldwoods, setting up guards around the dead horses to keep scroungers away. Two young humans, one male and one female, took thick sticks as long as their arms and stuck them in one of the fires so that the flames leapt from the fire to the end of the sticks. Then they took off at a run in the direction of the human homesite, holding the sticks high to light their way. Trevegg sent a reluctant Marra back to the pack to let them know of the successful hunt.