People of the Wolf (55 page)

"How's Wolf Dreamer?" Dancing Fox asked with trepidation.

"Bad." Singing Wolf's uneasy eyes met hers. "He's half in the Dream, half out. He can't keep anything down. Give him water and he spits it up. He lies there, singing, mumbling. Every time I'm in there, the look in his eyes scares me to death."

Silence stretched again as they stared soberly at nothing.

"We can't have more raiding then," Dancing Fox decided, forcing her mind away from Wolf Dreamer, stifling that long- -ing to run to him and comfort him. "That only fuels anger among the Others."

"That's not how Raven Hunter trained his warriors," Four Teeth reminded.

"Already they're chafing at what happened to Raven Hunter." Singing Wolf steepled his fingers. "They were off balance, shocked at the Renewal. Everything was so incredible, they didn't know what to do. Now, they've had time to think. Some are wondering if it wouldn't have been better to go with Raven Hunter."

''But that's how the Dreamer's going to say it's to be done," Dancing Fox decided. "No more raiding."

"He will?" Four Teeth started, looking up from the coals.

She nodded. "He will. And if he doesn't—outside of the circle of us—who'll know?"

They shifted, throwing uneasy glances her way. Four Teeth straightened, about to speak. He stopped, closing his mouth, looking away.

"That's taking"—Singing Wolf winced—"a lot of . . ·."

"Necessary precautions," Dancing Fox insisted. "That is,

if Wolf Dreamer doesn't come to his senses from the Dreaming and do it himself."

"This could be dangerous," Four Teeth whispered. "We all saw what happened to Crow Caller. We saw.''

The silence grew heavy again.

They won't take the lead. It's the obvious answer. We've got to use the Power of Wolf Dreamer's name. If we don't, the cohesion of the People will leak away and we II be broken again. Can't they see? It's now or never! Someone has to begin to undo what Raven Hunter created. The young men have to be stopped
—
now!

Dancing Fox steeled herself, choosing her words carefully. "I won't usurp Wolf Dreamer's responsibilities. I'm not interested in leading the People. But we don't know how long Wolf Dreamer's going to be locked in the Dream. We don't know if he'll ever come out of it. In the meantime, someone has to see to the People. This time it can't be Raven Hunter making his own way. It can't be the elders alone who do it. We all have to agree. Otherwise the People end up split apart like old caribou bone left in the sun. We can't have everyone following separate paths. We're not strong enough to do that with the Others closing—and nowhere to run. Are we agreed?" Dancing Fox looked ardently from face to face.

One by one, they nodded.

"And how do you see us doing this, woman?" Four Teeth asked, a labored quality to his voice. His old shoulders slumped in resignation.

Dancing Fox frowned. "Singing Wolf and Eagle Cries would be the best choices to direct the warriors. Together, they can lead the young men in a new direction."

"But Eagle Cries worships Raven Hunter! He's—"

"He's respected by all the young men. We must join both sides of the People now or lose some forever.''

"Agreed." Singing Wolf sighed. "I'll talk to him. Oh, for ' the days when I could be a surly callous complainer. I owe Broken Branch for this."

"For the days when we were all young . . . with no cares," Dancing Fox added softly. She turned to Four Teeth. "Grandfather, we need the elders to calm the People, remind them that food will be scarce until we're through the ice. We all look up to you and Buffalo Back and the others. You've

got to reassure the People, inspire them. Remind them we are all one. Bolster their courage."

Four Teeth bobbed his shriveled head. "We can do that. For once, I'm pleased to hear a young woman talk with so much sense. Sense—among the young—seems to have blown away with Wind Woman's breath."

"I'll give some thought to preparing for the ice." She began cataloging resources. "We'll need to gather all the berries we can for winter food. We need to strip out the willows and dwarf birch. With game this scarce, there won't be much fat rendered. For light in the hole, maybe we can get by with willow roots dried in the sun. They burn fast, and they're heavy and awkward to carry and hard to keep lit. . But they'll be light.

"In the meantime, we'll make a collection of all the fat we can find and store it someplace where the permafrost will keep it and the mice can't get it. What there is should be saved for emergency food—or in case the willows burn out under the ice. The children can organize drives, see if we can't trap mice and ground squirrels and dry them. All these -young boys and girls can drive the shallows of the Big River for char and grayling."

"Starvation food," Singing Wolf said sourly. At Dancing Fox's hard look, he clarified. "But I gave up being proud a long time ago."

Four Teeth chuckled under his breath. "You really think the Others would walk into that hole?" he asked as he shook his head. "It just . . . well, you'd have to be crazy to walk into something like that. Crazy! People shouldn't be underground. You know, what if someone should die in there? How would their souls find the way to the Blessed Star People? They'd be stuck in the dark forever."

Dancing Fox shivered. "You don't know how frightening it really is. Wait until you walk through there."

Four Teeth coughed and spat into the fire, lips pursed sourly. "I've been a lot of places, seen a lot of things. I can't say I look forward to walking under the ice. This new land had better be all you say."

"It is," Singing Wolf asserted. "And who knows what we'll find in that valley running to the south?"

"Maybe a land without starvation?" the old man asked, a glow coming to his eyes.

"A place where the game is everywhere and we can raise our children without hunger," Singing Wolf whispered. "I remember Heron talking about a new plant that the People would eat. I can see myself growing fat in a new land. Yes, I can see that with little effort."

"Another Dreamer?" Four Teeth asked cynically, a haze of reserve in his eyes.

"No, I'm not brave enough," Singing Wolf added earnestly. "But we've got to do something. Look around. I see our people falling apart like an old parka when the gut thread rots. I don't like that hole in the ice. I can't see how Wolf Dreamer could have ever walked into it.''

"Crazy! People with Spirit Power are all crazy," Four Teeth pronounced, pounding a fist against his knee.

"But he did. And found the path Wolf promised. Everything he said to us at Mammoth Camp has come true."

The rain increased, a gust of wind slapping the soaked hide overhead. Four Teeth reached behind him to drop another couple of twigs into the fire. The cheery crackle and additional light vanquished a bit of the storm.

Dancing Fox pulled her wealth of hair back where the breeze teased it. "We've got three choices. Stay and starve, push north and fight the Others, or go through the ice. I follow Wolf Dreamer.''

"We all do," Singing Wolf agreed. "We have to if we want to survive."

She searched their eyes. "On the other side, it won't be easy either. All the People coming to Heron's valley have hunted out the game. Those hunters we don't need to scout the Others will have to search out every animal left up here to give us enough food for the trip."

"Not the old bull mammoth!" Singing Wolf insisted sternly. "He's Heron's. Dead or not, we don't need her wrath."

Dancing Fox scowled. "We don't have a meat supply to go into the Long Dark."

"Heron protected that old bull. I say save the old bull. More than that, Wolf Dreamer would save the old bull."

She threw her hands up. "All right! The old bull's saved!

He's life for the People, but I'll concede—which means that 'starvation food' is going to be very important. No time must be lost. Maybe the game will be as plentiful on the other side as it was this year. Maybe not. We all know animals move. We won't have as much to make do with. Like the horrible Long Dark, this could be a terrible year. Our clothes are worn, the insulating hair is falling out, the .leather's abraded to holes. It'll be hard. One of the hardest things we've faced yet."

"Our last chance," Singing Wolf whispered. "Do you agree, Grandfather?"

Four Teeth nodded, a sigh rasping in his throat. "I've heard Dancing Fox. If it will save the People, I'll do it. Let us hope the Others wait—and the game will favor us south of the ice, in this new land."

The rolling hills were hazy, a green yellow that couldn't obscure the gray tones of rock. Wildflowers sprinkled the land in irregular patterns of yellow and blue, the blossoms already faded from the growing berry bushes. But no animals grazed within sight. Ice Fire sat cross-legged before a small fire, his gaze restless and flickering with disturbing thoughts. In the harsh white light, the muscles of his square jaw quivered.

Behind him, soft footfalls rustled in the grass; hide pants swished against the dew-covered blades.

"The farther south we go, the drier it gets, the higher it gets, the scrubbier the plants are." Red Flint shook his head nervously. "I don't like it."

He took two more steps forward to gaze down at Ice Fire. "I've heard complaints. The hunting's not so good here. The elders are talking about moving north again to be where more game winters through the deep cold."

1

"But the Enemy have found a way through the ice."

"Me? Travel days through some hole?" Red Flint exploded. "Do I look like a ground squirrel?"

Ice Fire cradled his chin as he looked out across the hills. Curlews chirruped on a nearby tumbled pile of boulders, beaks pointed to the drifting clouds.

' 'You heard what Smoke had to say? More hostile peoples are pushing east, filling the territory left by the Glacier People. It's the disease. Some horror is loose far to the west. I wonder how much time we'll have before they come to kill us. If the water keeps rising, the ghost hole might be our only hope."

Red Flint studied him through slitted eyes. ' 'I think it's more than that, old friend. I think you're driven . . . obsessed by this vision of yours and that witch, the Watcher. Oh, yes, I saw you the other day. Your eyes went shiny, you didn't hear what was said to you. And then when you finally mumbled, you said, 'My son's coming.' What son? You have no son."

Ice Fire looked away, licking his lip. "I didn't know I spoke."

"You spoke. Many heard you."

"My son . . . doesn't matter. Our hope is to head south."

"You believe this ghost-hole story?"

"You call your own daughter a liar?"

Red Flint lowered his eyes, staring at the damp hem of his hide pants leg. "No . . . But I think she was taken in by that Dreamer of theirs and his delusions of a land of plenty."

"But she saw the game."

"She might have, but after people have been there for a year or two, it'll be gone—just like it is here. I say we head north. We left a perfectly good salt water full of seals and fish and clams and mussels."

"And already the Buffalo Clan is living there. They follow in our tracks while the Tiger Belly and Round Hoof Clans are restricted by the rising salt water along the western plains. True, it allows them to defend the west from the far Enemy and their disease, but people are worried."

"Let them worry. We know there's plenty of food along the coast. Meanwhile, let's destroy the Enemy here—make one concerted effort to wipe them out and live north—"

"Yes . . . but how long before the far Enemy and other tribes cross the water and—"

"Listen, old friend. I've had my ears open. I've listened to the representatives sent by the clans. Ice Stalker and the others say the White Tusk Clan is happy with what we've done. We've brought the White Hide home again. The old men think that's enough. But the hunters complain that the game isn't as plentiful here. The young women whisper among themselves, fearful of being captured by an Enemy. I see an erosion of will. A lack of commitment to the extermination of these Enemy. You must do something! Stir up their hatred! Remind them of the rapes ... of the mutilated babies. Of captured warriors cut apart and left for the crows. You have that power! Make them hate! Or we'll lose the Hide next year.''

Ice Fire looked up at him, smiling feebly. ' 'And what are the other clan representatives saying? What do the Round Hoof and Buffalo think? Do they, too, argue for extermination?"

Red Flint's fanatic gaze fell. "Since being here, they have doubts about the honor gained warring with such a small " remnant as the Enemy. They wonder whether we truly have courage." He looked away and rubbed his nose. "And many are clamoring for peace."