People of the Wolf (47 page)

Awake. Darkness. Hear the clattering and echoing resonance as the ghosts do something in the ice. The feeble flicker of Wolf Dreamer's lamp is life. Sleep again, One Who Cries. Wolf Dreamer keeps the ghosts at bay.

How long was it? One Who Cries couldn't really say. The light grew slowly until they stared about owlishly, uneasy at first.

"Light!'' Singing Wolf exploded. '
'It's light!''

"No," One Who Cries called, turning, looking up. "It's stars. The Blessed Star People!" He pointed high overhead.

"Dawn," Wolf Dreamer called back. "Look, you can make out the edges of the crack above us." Then, in a quavering voice, he whispered, '
'We 're through.''

Relief washed so powerfully through One Who Cries, it left him trembling. Blinking tears, he sagged to his knees, drawing Green Water close, hugging her tight. "We're through."

"Of course, husband. I told you the Wolf Dream was true," she chided gently.

Around them, whoops of exultation split the air, dancing, cavorting people gyrating happily.

Morning grew in the slit of sky, the clouds graying.

Wolf Dreamer carefully snuffed the tiny flame that had meant so much to them.

"Uh!" Laughing Sunshine grunted, wincing.

Singing Wolf moved quickly, steadying her. "What?"

She swallowed hard. "My time, the child is coming!"

Broken Branch cackled and yipped. "Wolf Dream! Her baby comes! Born to a new world like all the People! Ha-heeee! Wolf Dream! New life! Born anew!"

One Who Cries smiled, feeling Green Water's arm go around him. He studied the beaming faces of his people, seeing Dancing Fox in the light of the new day. His smile froze on his face as she met his eyes, a haunted emptiness there.

"I can't believe this!" Singing Wolf shook his head, staring across the snow flats at the herds of animals. A small group of long-horned buffalo stood no more than a dart's throw away, watching curiously, ears flapping, tails switching, a curious gleam in their black eyes.

To the south, the divide they camped on stretched away. into a white maze of ridges and dendritic drainage channels. Around them, black spruce stood, their ratty branches shifting with the wind that scoured the ridge top.

Behind, the Big River made a bend to the west, a narrow defile leading into the rugged ice-capped mountains beyond. Like a series of teeth, the range rose ominously, gouging at the gray scudding clouds. To the east, several days' walk, the Big Ice stretched, the horizon foggy and obscure. Where they sat on the wind-blasted ridge, the freezing currents carried the interminable cold up from the ice, blowing ever northward.

Beyond them, the caribou that had stopped to study them earlier grazed slowly as they moved away, nubbins of antlers beginning to form.

"And there's fresh mammoth sign." One Who Cries smiled happily.

"Wolf Dream. No Others here." Singing Wolf sighed. "I'm going to hate to go back."

One Who Cries stiffened. "Go back? Wait a minute. I thought you said 'go back'?"

He eyed his cousin seriously. "Wolf Dreamer is going for

another group. I think Buffalo Back will bring his people through this time."

"Go back? Like, from where we just came from?"

"Yes. Though I'm leaving Laughing Sunshine and my child here. The Others will be pushing closer to the People on the other side of the Big Ice, corralling them like deer for the slaughter."

"And you want to go back? You're crazy. Touched by the Monster Children's light. Why should we—"

"Someone has to tell of it besides Wolf Dreamer. Too many would refuse to believe him after—"

"That's true."

The voice behind caught them both by surprise. "I need both of you."

One Who Cries whirled. Wolf Dreamer stood there, a faraway look in his eyes. The white bearskin covered him from head to toe, a stark reminder of his Power. Now the hair seemed to gleam with a life of its own, trapping the light of the distant sun, ruffling in the chill wind.

"Both?"

"Raven Hunter," Wolf Dreamer whispered absently. His eyes had lost their focus, lips slack. "I . . .1 can sense that there'll be danger. The Renewal ... I'll have to Dream. I don't know what Raven Hunter might do. But I ... I feel trouble. Blood."

"I'm going," Singing Wolf said.

"I knew you would." Wolf Dreamer gave him a grateful smile. "Jumping Hare will stay and hunt. Green Water will help him as will some of the others. They can keep the bears off. Keep our people safe."

Wolf Dreamer's serene gaze lit on One Who Cries and he seemed to fold in upon himself. He looked out over the plain before them and stifled a cry. The land called to him, its song sweet, trilling, that of a young woman to a lover. In the distance, he could see a family group of mammoth, their huge bodies mere dots as they used their long tusks to sweep the snow free of the sedges, grasses, and bushes.

"When will you leave?"

"The sooner the better," Wolf Dreamer responded. "The Long Light is growing. We can't know when the water will begin running again."

"You mean—"

"I mean it could begin tomorrow and forever close that hole."

In the silence, the three men met each other's eyes in turn.

"Green Water will want you to go," Singing Wolf murmured, eyeing his cousin askance.

"Of course she will," One Who Cries lamented. "Why couldn't I have married one of the whimpery ones who'd demand I stay and tend to her. Instead I had to marry rocksteady Green Water, who will nod her acceptance, hug me tight, and shove me down the mouth of the monster." But in his mind, he imagined the knowing, loving look she'd give him as he bravely set off back through the horrible hole in the ice—and his heart warmed.

With an almost physical pang, he turned away from the vision of the vast game-filled meadows. "Well, let's hurry, then."

Moon Water waited, seeing no movement. Her eyes darted to the powerful Dreamer, fearful he might have had visions of her plans. But he slept so still he seemed dead. Heart in her throat, she carefully placed each foot, fear making her movements lissome. She bent over him, easing the hide covers aside to lift the ground-stone lamp. Not even daring to breathe, she plucked up the straps for the pack that carried the all-important fat. Step-by-step she backed away. Like smoke, she drifted across the camp and into the darkness.

Taking care to hide her tracks, she lifted a flat stone from an abandoned burrow she'd found earlier and hid the items, carefully resettling the stone in place.

Quietly, she returned to her robes on the other side of Jumping Hare's woman. Soon Wolf Dreamer would return to his people on the other side of the Big Ice. Then she would be free to go herself, to return to her own people. Desperate longing filled her breast as she closed her eyes. Oh, they'd search for the lamp—but who'd believe she'd stolen it? They would search all the bundles, all the possessions, but Moon Water planned well, as befitted the great Singer's daughter. When she went, no one would know the secret of the passage to this wondrous land went with her. No one would know she carried salvation to the Mammoth People.

Dancing Fox applied pressure to the stone scraper, tearing the last bits of tissue from the fine golden caribou hide. Wan sunlight warmed her beautiful face, glinting blue from her fluttering hair. Overhead, fluffy clouds drifted lazily through the azure sky, their shadows roving the undulating hills like living creatures.

"Moon Water's gone.''

She looked up to see Curlew Song. The young woman's round face had pinched with disgust. Dancing Fox shrugged. "She's been waiting her chance for weeks. I thought everyone knew that from the way she skulked around at night."

"You've seen her up when we were asleep?"

"Many times."

"Why didn't you say something? Maybe we could have—"

"Tied her to the nearest tree? That would have just made her worse. She's not meant to be one of the People."

Curlew Song gave her a harsh look. "New women make the People stronger. They bring new blood."

"Only if they learn to accept their fate. Some never do-like Moon Water."

"Well," Curlew Song sighed gruffly, "maybe if she'd stayed longer—"

"When did she leave? I didn't see her go."
And I was up half the night, just like every night, weighing my future, trying to decide my path.

"Jumping Hare stayed out last night to watch his rabbit traps. Thought he'd try and get the wolf that's been raiding them. She was there when I went to sleep last night. When I got up, her robes were gone. She'd taken her pack, too. I just made a circle of camp. Thought maybe she'd gone out to pout somewhere."

Dancing Fox stood, wringing the cramps out of her fingers. "Well, I guess we know where the lamp went, don't we."

Curlew stared, wide-eyed. "You don't think she'd—"

"Of course. She's headed home. She'll need it."

"To cross through the hole? Alone?" Curlew shook her head with disbelief. "No. She's not that brave."

Fox laughed dryly. "Oh yes, she is. I've been in her boots. I know what it's like to be a virtual slave. You know she hated us. Thought we were beneath her dignity. You can imagine what it's like to have some Other crawling on you, parting your legs."

"Jumping Hare isn't some Other! He's my husband—and hers!"

Fox grinned into the fiery eyes that burned down at her. "Yes, but you love him. Makes a difference to be split by the man you love."

"She could have, if she'd only given him a chance."

Fox stiffened suddenly, realizing the horrifying implications. "Doesn't matter now. What does matter is that we're in trouble." Hurriedly, she cleaned the clinging tissues from her scraper, flinging the fatty pink stuff into the berry bushes.

"What do you mean?"

"She'll bring the Others through the ice."

"Blessed Star People." A hand went to Curlew Song's , mouth. "If they find the hole, we'll never be safe. They'll follow us across the face of the world."

"Exactly."

Fox opened her pack, dropping the scraper, several biface blanks, and a pouch of jerky inside.

Curlew Song frowned, watching the packing process. "What are you doing?"

"Going after her."

"But you can't go through the hole! Alone? Without a light?"

"Wolf Dreamer did. Now Moon Water is doing it." She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "Besides, I've got black spruce wood, tinder, I'll carry enough for a fire if I need it. Other than mat, I practically went through it in the dark last time. I was at the end of the line.'' Her fingers flew as she tied wood to the hide.

"Fox." Curlew's eyes shifted uneasily. "Don't do this. You might lose your soul under there. Without Wolf Dreamer to protect—"

Caustically, Fox responded, "Crow Caller cursed me to be buried. Maybe the time is right."

She looked longingly to the Big Ice. It shimmered beneath the gentle touch of Father Sun.
And Runs In . . . Wolf Dreamer . . . is on the other side. Maybe if I can just talk to him again.

"Crow Caller was an idiot," Curlew Song said cautiously, looking over her shoulder just to make certain his ugly spirit wasn't hovering there. "Don't chance it!"

Dancing Fox slung her pack over her back, adjusting the tump line across her forehead. Playfully she batted Curlew on the shoulder. "Keep the fires going here."

Then she was off, working slowly to a ground-eating pace, feeling the stitch in her ankle.

"Going to tell the Mammoth People about our hole, huh? We'll see," she growled.

Wolf Dreamer would be facing Raven Hunter and Crow Caller. Against them, for all intents and purposes, he'd be alone. She'd been chafing about that ever since he'd left to make the return trip.

As she approached the worn channel the next morning, she could see a trickle of water running out of the snowbanks. The way in seemed to suck at her.

"So, it's begun to flow again." Her brow furrowed as she took a deep breath. "How long do we have before the hole is gone?"

Gritting her teeth, she entered the channel, seeing a woman's footprints in the soft sand. No doubt of it, Moon Water had gone this way. Heart thumping, Dancing Fox entered the shadowed chasm.

The ghosts shrieked at her to go back.

The changing of the seasons, opposites crossed. The Long Light grew out of the south as Father Sun's rays pushed the spirits of the Long Dark into the far north beyond the north-em salt water and its floating mountains of ice.