Spirit of the Wolves (19 page)

“They would not have believed it before,” Jlela rasped. She caught an updraft and hovered ahead of us. “Now that it has happened here, they do. They say you are a streckwolf and a menace.”

I didn't have the breath to answer. I lowered my head and ran. Neesa stayed by my side. The Greatwolves gained ground, running with a grim, relentless gait. I saw a line of trees in front of me. Greatwolves were faster than ordinary wolves, but not as agile. If I could make it to the trees, I might have a chance. Tlitoo and Jlela soared back to the approaching Greatwolves and flew in their faces, but the Greatwolves snapped at them and kept running.

We were less than ten wolflengths from the trees when they caught up with us. Milsindra leapt and knocked me over. I tumbled over my paws, yelping in pain as rocks dug into my flesh. I rolled three times and came to a stop. She had hit me so hard I couldn't get any breath in my lungs. Neesa, who had run on ahead, pelted back to me.

Navdru and Yildra were there. The fourth wolf was Kivdru, Milsindra's mate. I hadn't known he'd left the Wide Valley with her.

“Stand away from her,” Navdru said to Neesa. “She allowed wolves to become the humans' curl-tails. That is not permitted. We will decide later, Neesa, if we'll spare you.”

“You don't have to decide,” Neesa said. “If you kill her, you kill me, too.”

“That would be for the best,” Kivdru growled, “since you're the cause of all this. Kill both of them.”

“Or try,” a voice warbled. More ravens than I could count had gathered above us, hovering in the updraft. I didn't know which one had spoken. I had never seen so many ravens awake at night. Yildra and Navdru looked at them uneasily.

“The ravens can't guard them forever,” Milsindra snapped.

“But we can always find Grumpwolves,” Tlitoo croaked.

My mother sat calmly in front of me. Her breathing had slowed and she looked as confident as if she were merely hunting mice.

“Would you kill the wolf who travels with the Nejakilakin?” she asked.

I gaped at her. I had no idea she knew Tlitoo's other name. I'd told no one. Not even Ázzuen. Navdru reacted as if someone had set fire to his tail. He darted forward and snapped his teeth at Neesa. “There is no Nejakilakin. It is a story.”

“Just because you do not know things does not mean they do not exist,” Tlitoo warbled.

“How the Ancients laughed

Making wolves with larger heads

And yet smaller brains.”

A rain of twigs dropped down around the Greatwolves. I couldn't help but laugh at Navdru's befuddled expression as he looked up at the ravens. Once I started, I couldn't stop. My life was in danger and there was nothing I could do about it, and I couldn't stop a hoarse laugh from choking out of me. Navdru snarled and hurled himself at me, pinning me under huge paws.

“You claim to be the Nejakilakin to mock us?” He lowered his open jaws to my throat. All I saw was teeth.

“Show them, Kaala.” My mother's voice was desperate now and seemed to come from far away.

I couldn't do anything but look up at Navdru. The next thing I saw was feathers as Tlitoo landed on my belly, squeezing between me and the Greatwolf. He shoved his head up against Navdru's chest.

I welcomed the familiar falling sensation. All scent and sound faded. I had been in a Greatwolf mind once before. Like the humans, they saw the world differently than we did and I had to fight against the dizziness and nausea that threatened to overcome me as I sank into the strange mind of the Greatwolf.

Navdru was the largest pup in the litter and so he was the one who was to lead the Sentinel pack. But he would never be allowed to do so if he couldn't hunt. And he could not, for he feared prey. He was terrified of their hooves and horns and the way they looked at him with contempt. He was almost a year old and had not made a kill on his own. If any other wolves knew, they would not only force him from the pack, they would kill him. The Greatwolves did not abide the weak. If he could not catch something now, he would not return to his pack. He would leave and live or die as he could.

He had watched his packmates hunt and had watched the longfangs hunt and even watched the smallwolves. But it made no sense to him. How could they not be afraid?

He circled the herd of horses. They, at least, did not have sharp, curved horns to gore him. But they stampeded and they stomped.

He retreated. Ravens descended on the plain, poking his rump and pulling his ears, driving him back to the horses. Every time he
backed away from the herd, one of them would smack him with its wings or peck at his eyes until he was back among the prey.

An old raven with raggedy feathers landed on his back.

“I will tell you something, wolf,” he said. “All are afraid. It is not fear that is bad, but giving in to it. We will help you with the first one, then you are on your own.”

“Why?” Navdru was suspicious. “Why would you help me?”

“Because we will have need of you when you are grown. If we help you, do you promise to do your part for us when we request it?”

He would do anything to remain with his pack.

“I will,” he said.

More ravens came. They drove a horse toward him, and he smelled, then, that it was sick, and when he snarled at it, it stumbled. The ravens flew above it, harrying it, scraping at its eyes with their sharp talons. Without thinking, he jumped and sank his teeth into the horse's neck. His sharpest side tooth punctured its throat. He held the thrashing beast until it was still. The taste of blood washed away his fear. He knew the scent, now, of the kind of prey that could be killed. And he knew, for the first time, that he could do it. He looked up to thank the ravens, but they were gone.

A howl sounded and I was yanked from Navdru's thoughts. Scent and sound returned in a rush. For just a moment, I thought I saw the old raven from Navdru's memory standing before me, glaring like Tlitoo did when he was angry with me. I knew who he was. Hzralzu, the ancient raven who had lived in the time of Indru. I had met him in the Inejalun once before. Then he was gone and I was staring into Navdru's stunned gaze.

“You were afraid to hunt,” I whispered. “And the ravens helped you kill a horse.”

“I've told no one that,” he said, his voice shaking.

“And you made a promise.” That was Jlela, standing next to us, her beak level with Navdru's chest. “Now is the time to keep it.”

Navdru stepped away from me. I staggered to my feet.

“We have been waiting a long time for the Nejakilakin,” he whispered. “We have waited for longer than I have been alive. The Nejakilakin who can see into other minds and find the way to fulfill the Promise.” The awe in his gaze made my skin itch.

He was shaking when he addressed his packmates. “I keep my promises,” he said. “We will give the youngwolf another chance.”

Milsindra's low, throbbing growl shook the earth beneath my paws. In spite of my fear of the Greatwolves, her frustration filled me with fierce pleasure. Navdru snarled at her.

“Do you have something you wish to say to me, Wide Valley wolf?”

Milsindra's rumbling deepened, and I thought she would challenge Navdru. I hoped she would, and that he would kill her. But she just looked at her mate and dipped her head. “We are guests here,” she said. “We will abide by your wishes. But I do not think it is wise to let this wolf live. She caused death in the Wide Valley and will cause it here.”

“Why didn't you tell us the youngwolf and raven were the Nejakilakin?” Navdru demanded. That was the third time he'd called me, not just Tlitoo, the Nejakilakin.

“I didn't know.” Milsindra was watching me, now, as if I were prey she wished to hunt. It wasn't her usual arrogant, spiteful expression. She wanted something from me.

She murmured something I couldn't hear to Kivdru. Her mate whuffed in return, then glared at me in a way that chilled me.

“Tell me, Kaala,” Milsindra asked, “are you and the raven able to go to another place? A cold place between the worlds?”

Tlitoo flew at her, shrieking.

“That is not for you to know!” he shrilled. “It does not belong to you anymore!”

Jlela joined him, harrying the Greatwolf until she turned tail and fled. Three other ravens swooped down on Kivdru. The two Greatwolves sprinted into the woods, ravens flying behind them to make sure they didn't return.

Yildra watched, amused. “The Wide Valley Greatwolves need to learn some manners,” she said when she saw me watching her. “I am perfectly happy to have ravens teach them.” She frowned at my mother. “What about you, Neesa? Why didn't you tell us your pup was the Nejakilakin?”

“I didn't know until tonight,” my mother answered, slinking respectfully past the Greatwolves to stand beside me. “I suspected, but I wasn't certain.”

I wanted to ask her how she knew. I couldn't think of anything I'd done in the past hours that would make her realize what Tlitoo and I could do. But I wouldn't ask in front of the Greatwolves.

“You showed her the streckwolves?” Yildra asked my mother.

“I did,” Neesa answered.

“I would rather she had not seen them,” Yildra said. “I would have preferred she did not know such wolves existed, lest she follow their example. She is not to speak to them, Neesa!”

Navdru interrupted her. He looked shaken.

“Our legends say that drelwolf will destroy or save wolfkind. The legends also say that the wolf who is one-half of the Nejakilakin can forever change the path of wolfkind. I do not know what to make of a wolf—a pup—that may be both. Part of me thinks that we should kill her now, before she can disrupt everything we have worked for.” He looked down at me, his expression a mix of fascination and fear. “But I cannot kill the wolf that might save us. Not yet.”

“I agree,” Yildra said. She seemed less spooked by me than Navdru was. But then again, I hadn't moved through her mind as if it were merely part of the forests we lived in. “We will allow you to continue with the humans, Kaala, but if you are submissive again, or if the humans are changed in a way that is not good for us, we will kill you, Nejakilakin or not.”

“And those of your blood,” Navdru said, as if I needed reminding. “I am not convinced that you are truly committed to our cause. A wolf like you is just as likely to have her own plans. A wolf like you is as likely to befriend streckwolves as to defend against them. If we decide you are a danger to us, we will not let your bloodline continue.” He shook himself as if he had just emerged from a river. “Even Night is fifteen nights away, youngwolf. You'd best act quickly.”

Yildra looked down at my mother standing determinedly at my side. “And you are not to help her, Neesa. We need to know that she is truly on our side. Return to Hidden Grove by moonset.”

My mother lowered her ears to them, and the Greatwolves stalked away.

N
avdru and Yildra broke into a trot and then a run. Tlitoo, returning from chasing away Milsindra and Kivdru, winged toward us. I looked up at my mother. She was still keeping secrets from me.

“How did you know what Tlitoo and I can do?” I asked her.

“Because of something a wolf I met once told me.”

Tlitoo alighted next to me, his feathers damp in the night air. He would be irritable after being awake in the night once again. I knew I should be grateful that he'd saved me from the Sentinel wolves, but I kept wondering when and how he would take out his displeasure on me.

“Why did Navdru keep saying I was the Nejakilakin?” I asked him. “The Nejakilakin is a raven.”

“No, wolflet, it is a raven and wolf together, willing to trust each other and risk everything. It is why it has been so long since there has been a Neja.

“One wolf, one raven