King of Wolves

by B. Kristin McMichael

  Maybe that was the problem. Red thought she had saved everyone, and there would only be a happily ever after. But this was real life. Real life had bumps and turns, and it was never the same. Things changed all the time. I got that Red wanted the change to be the people of Elder getting along, but that was making her blind to the change that was really happening around her. She couldn’t see the truth of the wolves right now.

  I kept digging and being lost in my own thoughts. There was no need to talk as we worked because we all knew what needed to be done, and it needed to be done yesterday. The women around me worked just as hard as I did with the scooping of dirt to clear a path for the trees that would make up the fence.

  I didn’t want to think like Micco, but what was going to happen if we couldn’t contain the sickness and sick wolves? Would my mother be the Red that everyone talked about? The famed wolf hunter? Would she hunt the wolves that did nothing wrong but be born? They couldn't help what they were any more than she could help that she was the Red. Would she hunt and kill the people she was trying so hard to get accepted? Would she hunt Nikkan?

  Part of me knew the truth. She’d have to. If the wolves went crazy and started to attack people, then she’d have to hunt them. I just couldn’t picture her hunting Nikkan. He was a pain in the butt most of the time, but even if he was a crazy wolf when the moon cast its power over the night, Nikkan would still be Nikkan when the sun rose.

  Before I realized it, people were breaking off from work to eat. Small groups sat on the ground, exhausted from working and hungry due to days of not eating enough and now tiring work.

  “Get some food,” Micco told me. “I was able to catch more food on my walk home last night, so we have stew for everyone today.” Micco waved to the fire that was just inside the village line we were making with the digging. Nikkan was back, and I caught up to him in line.

  “Working hard?” Nikkan looked down at my shirt.

  I looked down too. I was drenched with sweat. Spring was close enough that I was overheating a bit.

  “Guess so.”

  Nikkan got to the front of the line and took the bowl handed to him. I was up next and took the next dish. Following Nikkan, we wove out the way a little bit away from the crowd and found a place to sit in the grass. The cold ground was a nice reprieve to the hard work of digging.

  “Was your father cutting trees too?” I asked between bites of stew.

  I hadn’t seen anyone while I worked; I didn’t exactly look around. The only place I had to look was the ground.

  “Yeah, they told me after lunch I’m to help install the trees we already cut and brought back.”

  I nodded as I chewed. The stew was filled with chunks of meat and fresh vegetables. It seemed like Micco must have had plenty of energy for his walk back to the village after being at my house nearly dead the day before.

  “Did you talk to Grace at all?” Nikkan asked as he looked past me.

  I turned around to see the auburn-haired wolf girl turn away from our stares and blush.

  “I didn’t see her working,” I replied as I turned back to Nikkan.

  Nikkan gave me a look like I was stupid.

  “Really, man.” I held up one hand in surrender while still holding my stew. “I didn’t see her. Honestly. I don’t even know where she was working.”

  “She was like only a sapling away from you as you worked.”

  I shrugged. That could have been possible, but I was concentrating on the dirt and digging a hole in the ground. I really hadn’t seen her.

  “So, you didn’t get a chance to tell her how great I am?” Nikkan was trying to look around me again to look at her.

  “No, and I told you I wouldn’t. You need to do that yourself.”

  Nikkan pulled back in front of me.

  “If you’d just get her to see …”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m not a matchmaker.”

  “But you could be.” Nikkan grinned at me. No way was I falling for his tricks. Nikkan was good at that. He could get most people to do what he wanted by looks and words and maybe an eyebrow wiggle. I wasn’t part of most people. Nikkan’s persuasion wasn’t going to work on me.

  “You know if you take too much more time asking her out, someone else will, and then you won’t have a chance.”

  Nikkan’s face soured at my words.

  “Then set me up with her. Come on, man. That’s what friends are for.”

  I shook my head at him as I stood up and returned my bowl to the lady by the fire. I wasn’t setting Nikkan up with anyone.

  Nikkan followed behind me as I walked back to where I was working at the ditch. I picked up my shovel and moved to go back to my end.

  “Um… hi,” Nikkan said, his voice cracking a bit.

  I paused at what I was doing and looked up. Grace was standing there on one side of me and Nikkan on the other. Her cheeks flamed red, but she stayed where she was. If it had been the reverse, I was pretty sure Nikkan would’ve run away.

  “Micco said if we work in teams of three, we can put the cut trees into place,” Grace explained quietly, her face still red, and her eyes glued to the dirt at her feet.

  I looked over to my friend, and there was dead silence.

  “Okay,” I replied since it seemed like Nikkan had forgotten about his voice.

  I studied the people on the other side of the fence line. They had already placed at least five poles into the ground. It looked like it took at least two people to hold the cut tree in place, while the third person climbed up to tie the post to the one next to it. Lastly, dirt was filled in at the base to keep it in place. It looked simple enough.

  “I take it, you climb while we hold?” I suggested. Grace looked at the ground and nodded.

  As long as she did her job, I didn’t care how shy she was. I had a harder time believing that Nikkan could do his job with her around, but since he wasn’t complaining, I was going to agree for the both of us. I had already shoveled enough for one day. My back would be sore in the morning. This would be something different.

  “Let’s get the first one and see if we can do this,” I said, walking towards the pile of fence posts. I knocked into Nikkan’s shoulder to hopefully jolt him out of his gaze he had locked on Grace.

  Nikkan startled back to reality and hurried after me. We picked out one of the posts, which was at least three saplings tall, tall enough a wolf wouldn’t be jumping it. Nikkan took one end, and I took the other.

  “You need to snap out of it if you plan to ask her out.” He was too awestruck and tongue-tied. If he wanted to go on a date with Grace, he needed to make the move as she wasn’t going to.

  Nikkan just shook his head, like he had forgotten his words again. She scared him that much.

  “Come on, man, if you don’t. I know you’ll regret it.” How much more did he need? This was a perfect time.

  Nikkan shook his head again as we stood up and carried the post back to where Grace waited.

  With a flip of her red hair, Grace glanced at Nikkan as we approached, but then looked away with the same red stained cheeks as before. These two were hopeless. Nikkan and I had known Grace since we were kids. It wasn’t like they had never talked, but sometime over the past winter, they had begun this game of being shy. It was driving me nuts when it was just Nikkan and me, but more being around both of them was worse. At least they both could work while being shy.

  We all concentrated and watched the other group near us work, and we tried to do the same. It took some practice to steady the post enough for Grace to scale it. But after a couple posts, we were working well enough we could talk. It was slow going to get either Nikkan or Grace to speak, and though I told Nikkan I wasn’t going to play matchmaker, I had a plan to give him a chance to ask her out, and I could make Red happy at the same time.

  “Did you hear that Red is having a festival in a couple nights,” I tried to start the conversation where Nikkan could take over. I looked at him and wiggled my eyebrows as we
held the post in place, and Grace was scooting back down.

  “Really? I could use a festival right now,” Grace replied to me. She was fine talking to me, but one look at Nikkan had her cheeks red. “Something to take our minds off all of this, you know? It’s been ages since there was any fun here in the village.”

  “Glad to hear you say that,” I replied as I reached for the shovel, and she balanced my side of the post in place as I shoveled dirt around it.

  Nikkan was now facing Grace. The time was exactly perfect. She wanted to go to a festival, and I needed to bring a wolf or two. Bringing Nikkan and Grace would make my mother extremely happy. He stood there looking at any place but Grace and didn’t say a word.

  Nikkan let go of the post as soon as he could and started to stalk back over to the next post we had to grab. I dropped my shovel by Grace and followed him.

  “What are you doing?” Nikkan whispered. He was angry.

  “I’m setting you up,” I replied. “Now, all you have to do is ask her to go with you. Red wants me to bring a wolf with me, and I figured I’d have to drag you along, but this way, I can take you both, and she’ll be even happier.”

  All the color drained from Nikkan’s face. “I can’t ask her.”

  He reached down and picked up his end of the post. I stared at him.

  “It was only lunchtime you were asking me to set you up.”

  “I changed my mind. I’m not ready.” Nikkan stared at me, waiting for me to take my end. “We don’t have time to be dating or having fun. We need to work on this wall and get it finished to keep everyone safe.”

  I had the urge to shake sense into him. There was no way possible I could spend the amount of time it was going to take to build this fence with him and Grace and all their awkwardness. He needed to grow up and just ask her out. It was obvious she liked him too. What was he waiting for? Not having time was just an excuse.

  “Ask her out or someone else will.” I was serious. Nikkan wasn’t the only wolf that had noticed Grace. She was growing up. We weren’t kids anymore. She was attracting more attention every day.

  “No one would dare,” Nikkan replied, puffing out his chest like he was something to be feared. Nikkan wasn’t the strongest wolf our age, but he was pretty smart. He could probably outwit most of the wolves if he had to fight for her, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

  “What if I ask her?”

  Nikkan glared at me.

  “If you don’t ask her by the time this next post is finished, I will,” I threatened. That’s what Nikkan needed. He needed to be pushed.

  Nikkan reached down and picked back up the post. Instead of waiting for me to grab my side, he used his wolf strength to haul it up to his shoulders and walked it back to Grace. Impress her with strength. That worked for me. The sooner those two finally got together, the better for everyone who had to deal with them.

  “So, what’s the festival about?” Grace asked as we steadied the post into the ground.

  “Red wants to bring the wolves and tree humans together. She’s invited both sides to come to it, and I’d bet it’s on the ground,” I explained. “Bring the wolves and tree humans together. It’s her new big project. Well, old big project, but the festival is new.”

  “Wolves are really invited?” she asked with a big smile.

  “Yes,” I replied as she took ahold of the post and climbed.

  “Ask her,” I whispered to Nikkan. He only glared at me.

  Without much of an effort, Grace scaled the post and was tying it to the next post. Once done, she scurried back down. I leaned down to grab the shovel but took my time. I kept glancing at Nikkan, but he ignored both me and Grace. If she noticed, she didn’t say anything. Shovel by shovel, we got the post into place but still nothing from Nikkan.

  “My mom wanted to be sure some of the village wolves would come.” I looked to Nikkan again. He seriously wasn’t going to ask her. What was he waiting for?

  Grace caught my look at Nikkan, and her cheeks reddened.

  “Would you want to come?”

  I spoke slowly, and still, Nikkan ignored us. How much more of a chance did the guy need? He had been pining over her forever.

  Grace looked at Nikkan for some sort of assurance on how to respond, and yet he still didn’t say a word. He was letting himself be beaten by his own fears. She wanted to go with him; I could tell, and anyone within twenty saplings could tell.

  “That sounds like fun,” Grace replied, turning back to me after no response from Nikkan.

  Nikkan finally looked at us, and if looks could kill, then we would both be dead. I seemed to be more his focus than Grace, but he wasn’t happy with either of us. After glaring at both of us, he turned and ran from us into the woods. It was only seconds when we heard the howl.

  “Will he be okay?” Grace looked into the woods.

  “He’ll be fine,” I replied. I’d have to find Micco and tell him I was heading home and would be back to help the next day, and then I had to chase down my friend. Why in the world didn’t he ask Grace to go to the festival?

  2nd March

  I got home late the night before. The sun had already set, and I heard the howls of the wolves that Micco had locked up. It still didn’t feel safe to be in the woods. I was already up and planning to head back to help get the fence made. They were running out of room to cage the sick wolves, and soon they would be running free. Micco might have been able to stop one wolf from coming toward the tree village, but he was only one person. Even together, we would need help.

  After working all day, it didn’t seem like we got much done. I personally worked impossibly hard, but it was such a large area we needed to fence, and the fence had to be tough enough and tall enough to withstand a wolf. I felt a bit of Micco’s dismay as I left and saw that we still had at least ten or more moons of work left for just part of the wolf villages, and there were two more to worry about. We were getting closer and closer to the wolves starting a war again with the tree people of Elder.

  I was up early as usual and went about making tea for the morning. I grabbed a pot to boil water and set out two cups.

  Nikkan was home when I made it back, and that was a bit of a relief. I secretly worried he was wandering around the woods, hurt from me asking Grace out. It wasn’t like I liked her like he did, but I did need to bring at least one wolf with me to Red’s festival. I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be Nikkan. And I really did think he was going to ask her out. I set him up perfectly. And then I could have brought two wolves, and Red would’ve been extra happy. Maybe happy enough to listen to me for a change. At least, I could wish that.

  In the corner of the room, wolf Nikkan was still sleeping. There wasn’t any snoring, so I had a feeling he was actually awake, but I pretended like he was asleep since he was pretending too.

  After checking the cold box, I figured out that Nikkan must have eaten the rest of the eggs we had, along with most of the dried meat. There wasn’t much left to eat for breakfast, so I’d have to hope for something on the way to the wolf village. I knew where there were some berries, and I’d be able to get some bread at the village. At least, the wolves weren’t eating the crops they grew, just all the meat.

  Without disturbing Nikkan, I opened the door to leave. I knew Nikkan, and he was going to take some time to sulk before he came around. I wasn’t about to push it. Things would be back to normal once he got done being mad. I drank my tea and left his on the table.

  “So that’s it? You leave without an “I’m sorry?”

  Nikkan was sitting in the corner where his wolf had been sleeping.

  “I’m sorry? For what?”

  If he had just asked Grace out to the festival, I wouldn’t have had to.

  “For asking out the girl I like,” Nikkan spat at me. He stood up and marched over to where I was standing by the door. At least, he had pants on. It was hard to take seriously someone yelling at you without their pants on.

  “I wasn’t going to
ask her out. You are the one that wanted me to set you up.”

  “The key being, I wanted you to set me up, not ask her out.” Nikkan glared at me.

  “I set you up perfectly. She wanted to go to the festival. All you had to do was ask.”

  Nikkan huffed. He knew I was right. I'd given him plenty of opportunity to ask.

  “Ask her to go someplace we aren’t welcome? Ask her to possibly go into a trap? Ask her to put herself in danger? Do you think I’d ever purposely put her in danger? Come on, man. Wake up. The wolves aren’t welcome in the village, so why would I invite her?”

  I had to bring someone. Red would be mad if no one showed up and even madder if I didn’t support her ill-timed festival. I secretly hoped it meant I’d get a chance to talk to her one more time and see if she would change her mind. If this had been her goal for so long, maybe she’d be in a better mood.

  “If you weren’t welcome, why would Red ask you to come? Also, it didn’t seem like Grace felt unwelcome.”

  I had him there. Grace was the one that wanted to go.

  Nikkan continued to glare at me as he paced around the room.

  “You can’t make Grace into the bad guy here. She’s sheltered and has no idea what the tree people are like. She’s naïve, and you can’t use that against her. They hate wolves. Don’t pretend otherwise.”

  Okay. The tree people of Elder didn’t like wolves, but that was more of a distrust thing after winters of the wolves terrorizing them. The wolves had no control, and the tree people had a reason to distrust the wolves. No one won in that scenario, and each side was justified in being wary of the other. But Red was in charge of the festival. She wasn’t going to let anything happen to either the wolves or the tree people.