All at once, the mountain leveled out. The peak rose tall above me, but for the next hundred plus rods or so, the ground rose at a shallow angle. I made better time, crossing the shallow hill strewn with the typical boulders, dead and living trees, thickets of scrub pine and the tough thorny bushes. Groves of thin poplar, elm and beech trees, grey-brown and bare of leaves, bent under the whipping wind. I scrambled sideways as a dead oak tree split up the middle with a flat cracking sound. It fell toward me, but only its stiff branches brushed me, harmless, as it collapsed and shattered.
“That was close,” I muttered, shaking twigs and loose bark from my fur.
At this alpine altitude, the bottom dropped out from under the temperature at an alarming rate. Frost slicked my whiskers, my breath froze into a cloud of tiny icicles. My coat dripped ice, crackling and breaking with every stride, only to form anew as the wet snow froze hard on my coat. If I didn’t find shelter soon, the wind chill alone might be enough to kill me.
Ahead of me and to my right lay yet another sheer cliff. Hmmmm. At the bottom I saw darkness amidst the swirling blizzard. Was that a cave perhaps?
I loped toward it. Thickets sprouted all about the cliff face, even from the rocks themselves, and the area lay littered with broken boulders strewn everywhere. Slowing to a careful walk, I made my way to it, forcing my bulk past the thorny bushes and scrub pine.
A large cave mouth lay behind the thickets, wide and tall. I sniffed, searching for evidence of occupants before I went in. I scented nothing I wouldn’t have expected: bats and rodents and a very old scent of bears. It echoed hollowly, informing my ears that nothing beyond small creatures lived there now. I backed out of the entrance and glanced about. Plenty of dead wood from fallen trees lay nearby amidst the rocks and brush.
I went in slowly, exploring with every sense at my disposal. After the initial narrow front passage, the cave opened up to a height of about three or four rods and about the same deep. Not a huge cave, but spacious and clear of the storm. I could spend a few days here in comfort.
“What are you doing?” Darius asked as I changed back into my human clothes.
The cold hit me like a solid brick wall, taking my breath away. With my teeth chattering and shivering violently in my inadequate clothing, I couldn’t answer verbally. “I need wood.”
Rubbing my arms in a vain attempt to keep warm, I dashed out into the blizzard, gathering as much of the fallen deadwood as I could. I piled snow-covered branches and small logs into my arms, the fresh snow melting against the skin of my belly, chest and arms. That made me colder than ever, despite the heat I generated by running back and forth to pile armload after armload of wood into the cave. The snow melted off the logs even after I dumped them on the stony ground. Despite the chill, the cave was a few degrees warmer than the blizzard outside.
Only when I had a huge stack that could sustain me for at least two days did I lunge back into my wolf body. My heavy pelt warmed me, but I continued to shiver as I pawed sticks and deadwood into a potential fireplace. Paws didn’t work as well human hands might, but I couldn’t stand to be outside my wolf body any longer. Slowly, with paws and jaws I managed to create a place to start my fire.
“Just how do you intend to start a fire,” Darius asked. “Don’t you need flint and steel?”
“Here goes nothing,” I said, my fangs digging into my lips as they chattered.
Calling upon the magic in my blood, I sent fire into the wet wood. As before, it whooshed into a sudden conflagration, making me jump back from the licking flames. I breathed a sigh of relief as the fire’s heat sank into my body, melting the icicles on my fur. Once the fire burned down enough to approach, I lay down as close to it as I could get. My panting slowed and I relaxed for the first time since the storm began.
“That’s how,” I breathed, inhaling wood-smoke and warmth and blissful, wonderful heat.
“Maybe I should give all my wolves magic.”
“You can do that?”
“Duh.”
The cave warmed quickly. As I built it between me and the entrance, the icy blast from outside dissipated before striking the high licking flames sheltering me behind their heat. As long as I fed it generously, it kept the killing cold at bay. I hoped my store of wood would outlast the blizzard.
I put my head on my paws, my ears slack, and I curled my tail about my legs. Despite my empty belly and the occasional shiver, the exhaustion of the last four days took its toll. My eyes drooped. I drowsed, leaping toward sleep as I might spring toward a bounding stag.
A small noise at the entrance to my cave woke me, driving me instantly to my feet. My hackles rose without my consent and I growled low in my chest.
A huge shadow blocked the faint light emerging from the blizzard, darkening my already dim cave. The dancing fire, once a friend, now shielded my enemy from my eyes. Something stood there, filling the cave mouth, blocking the light, and my own fire prevented me from seeing clearly. I cursed, silent, at my own stupidity. My fire now aided whoever entered my cave, showing me up distinctly while my own eyes saw nothing but a black shadow against the murky sunlight of the storm. I sniffed, but scented only burning wood. After the initial sound of its entrance, I heard nothing but heavy breathing.
There. Two dim lights, dark red, gleamed from beyond the fire. The creature stood tall. The eyes watched, studying me from near the stone ceiling. I knew I showed up clearly to it, bathed in firelight, and trapped inside this stone coffin. I’d nowhere to go. The silent creature stood between me and freedom.
I growled again, low in my chest, my fangs exposed. My ears flat against my skull, I lowered my head and crouched, ready to spring past my fire and into battle. If it saw me ready to fight, perhaps it might retreat in honor and depart, and leave me in peace. It must know that it couldn’t hope to win the fight unscathed or unwounded. I snarled a sharp warning.
The twin orbs slanted back at the corners. The creature stepped forward, leaving the cave’s mouth and into the cave proper.
“Is that any way to greet a friend?” it asked, its tone humorous. “Wolves are supposed to have manners.”
My lips slid down over my fangs. I all but fell into a sitting position, astounded, disbelieving. I stumbled back over my own tail. My paws gripped the stone ground, slipped as though over ice and all but pitched me headfirst into my own fire. Gods above and below–
“Tashira.”
I halted, unable to find my voice again. My tongue tripped over itself as I tried once more to create coherent speech. “Tashira, what–what are you doing here?”
“I swore I was going to find you,” Tashira answered, his dark red eyes gleaming against the darkness and the ice. “I swore an oath.”
“What oath?” I asked, my hackles rising again.
“To find you and kick your furry black ass.”
He stepped forward, his hooves striking sparks on the stone floor of the cave. He advanced, almost dancing, his tail sweeping wide. His blood-red eyes gleamed like coals from the fires of hell. I backed away, keeping the blazing fire between me and the one I once called my friend. I reckoned, too late, Tashira’s fury when I abandoned him with all the rest. He followed me to exact his vengeance.
“Come on then,” I growled, my broken heart bleeding fresh that my fate brought me to this. To fight one whose life I saved, the one for whom I offered to die. He was angry, and rightfully so, in the way I decanted, leaving him behind. Tashira wasn’t very forgiving.
Tashira stalked into the light, and for the first time clearly visible. His huge body filled the small cavern, now more white than black from the icy tendrils that streaked his mane, forelock and tail. His jet coat ran with snow and wet, sluicing in rivers as the fire melted the ice coating him. His small ears perked upright, and his dark, liquid eyes burned with nothing more than mischief.
“Sure,” he said, “after I’m warmed up.”
“What–” I began, floundering to make some sense of this.
“Oh
, I’ll kick your butt,” he said amiably, getting as close to fire as he could. “In due time. Meanwhile, I like your fire. It’s jolly cold out there.”
My tail, that disloyal fiend, wagged. My fear melted as quickly as the ice while joy stepped into its boots. Stepping from behind the protection of the fire, I went to him. He dropped his head.
I touched noses with my friend, finding nothing but love, laughter and humor in those huge Tarbane eyes. My tail wagged harder as I licked the rapidly melting ice from his muzzle.
He snorted, dancing, his thick, sweeping tail slashing from side to side. “That tickles.”
“Didn’t I tell you to go home?” I asked, jumping around him in my turn, my paws light as free as the air. I should be angry, I thought, but delight and laughter filled my heart as I reared back on my hind legs and slapped at his muzzle with my front paws.
Tashira shook his head, sending water and ice everywhere. “Am I your bitch?” he asked, his tiny ears pinned. “We’re even. I can do what I want.”
“And yet you followed me?”
“Of course,” he snorted, rubbing his nose on his extended foreleg. “Your ass seriously needs a good kicking.”
“Have at it, brother,” I laughed, my tongue lolling.
I crouched low, rump high in the air and my tail unwilling, or unable, to cease its happy wagging. I jumped forward, my feigned attack broken off as he half-reared, offering a playful strike with his massive front right hoof.
“Remind me to kick it later,” he said, stepping forward quite close to the blaze. “Meanwhile, I’ll join you for a spell and be warm.”
“Don’t set your tail on fire,” I answered. “How in the name of hell did you find me?”
“Oh, please,” he snorted, turning around to heat his right side, closer to the conflagration. He turned his head to eye me over his massive shoulder. Melted snow and ice ran from his black hide in rivers to pool on the stony floor. “There’s only one wolf on earth that can make the prints you made. A blind beggar could track you.”
I yawned, lying down once more. “I see.”
Tashira merely followed the tracks I stupidly created, never thinking anyone would dare follow. The foolish Farouk hunters learned the hard way, as did Ja’Teel and his Tongu friends, that tracking me led only to disaster.
Bending his legs, Tashira shook his body hard, sending snow, ice and cold water everywhere.
“Dammit,” I snapped, wincing as the shock of cold moisture hit me full in the face. My fire hissed and spat in annoyance.
“Sorry, but there’s not a lot of room in here.”
In fact, he all but filled it. Unless he dropped his head a bit, his ears brushed the ceiling. Only a short span of open air stood between him and the wall.
“You’re rather skinny these days,” Tashira observed, eyeing me sidelong from under his forelock.
I looked away. “Haven’t been hungry.”
My throat closed. I’d forbidden Darius from speaking of her, and had shoved much of my raw feelings to the back of my mind. I didn’t like the idea of bringing them back to the surface. As I certainly didn’t want to talk about her, I hoped Tashira would drop the matter. Bloody hell and damnation, I also should have remembered what he was.
Humor colored his tone. “Who is she?”
“Feria,” I said, my voice hoarse. “Well, that’s what I called her. A griffin. Never did learn to understand what she bloody said. Much less her real name.”
“What happened?”
“A poacher tried to kill her and only succeeded in wounding her. She broke her wing when she hit the ground.”
“Is she dead then?”
“Of course not,” I all but snapped. “I healed her.”
“You–what?”
Tashira’s incredulous eyes all but speared me to my spot, lancing deep into my soul. I wanted to shy away, to avoid that penetrating set of dark orbs that brought me only shame. Trapped in the cave by Tashira’s bulk and the howling gale outside, I sat and shivered and wished I was dead.
“How’d you learn to heal?” he asked.
I managed a weak grin. “I had to. I learned rapidly from Ja’Teel’s trap.”
“This I have got to hear. Say on.”
In clipped tones, I told him of my attempts to cross the Great Caravan Route, frightening stock and dogs into giving me away. As I spoke, Tashira’s great eyes lit with amusement.
“I just waited until midnight and tip-toed across,” he said. “Not a ruckus raised.”
“Well, if I could make myself invisible–”
“Can it, meathead” Tashira said comfortably. “What happened?”
“Ja’Teel had captured a young wolf,” I answered. I turned my face to the fire. “His people tortured her–”
My throat shut entirely. I couldn’t look at him as I tried, floundering, to find words to explain. Needing an excuse to veer from his warm, compassionate expression, I rose and padded to my woodpile. Seizing a hefty chunk in my jaws, I braved the high flames to drop it in. Sparking, the fire spat and sent jets of orange and yellow to lick my whiskers. I jumped back only to grab another.
“Where are the opposable thumbs?” he asked.
“Hiding from the cold.”
His mild jest soothed my misery as I refueled the basic element that kept us both from freezing. Not comfortable lying back down, I sat, my tail curled over my paws. Gazing into the flickering flames, I spoke not to him but to them.
“I killed her,” I admitted. “I sent my inner self into her. She recognized me, begged me to take her life.”
My eyes shut tight. “I stopped her heart.”
“Ah. So that’s where the load of unresolved guilt comes from.”
“Hear, hear,” Darius added.
I didn’t reply to either of them, seeing only Wind Spirit’s agony, her desire for death. Are you avenged, little girl?
“What happened next?” Tashira asked.
“I turned myself into a man and fought them when they came for me.”
I turned my head to absently nuzzle my side where the arrow hit. “The Tongu seriously suck at archery,” I muttered, “but one managed a strike. After I beat them off, I galloped across the Route, not caring a damn who saw me. Darius told me about blood poisoning. I pulled the arrow out and sent fire in to cleanse the wound.”
“Wait a minute,” Tashira exclaimed, his tail sweeping high. He danced on his toes, as though ready to run a hundred leagues. “You yanked an arrow from your own body–”
“I had to.”
“And set yourself on fire?”
My right lip lifted. “Just into the wound.”
“Oh, this is just too good, I can’t wait for the rest.”
My tongue lolled in a silent laugh. “Like Rygel, I put myself in a trance and healed myself. End of story.”
“Talk about self-improvement,” Tashira commented, shaking his ears. “You go above and beyond. What then?”
Had I my man-shape I might have shrugged. Instead, I flapped my ears and licked my whiskers. “I traveled on, of course. What else?”
“Why in the name of creation did you go into that town?” he asked. “I tracked you there, in and out.”
“I was starving,” I replied. “My hunting skills hadn’t caught up to me.”
“Well, you haven’t been a wolf for very long.”
“Unfortunately,” I said glumly. “I was recognized before I could eat.”
“Recognized?”
“I was a rather famous gladiator. In my former life.”
“Right. Carry on.”
“The fools thought of the reward money and not their skins. Someone hit me with a shovel, but I came to before they could get me on a horse.”
“Then what? You romped through them like a natural disaster and washed them in lakes of blood?”
I eyed him sourly. “Of course not. I played with them for a while, scared the living hell out of them and made the leader serve me my dinner on his knees.”
“So you managed to eat, then.”
“Ja’Teel pounced before I could.”
Tashira’s eyes lit up with laughter. “Trouble follows you wherever you go.”
“You’ve no idea.”
“Did you fight him?”
“I wanted to, but he started killing innocents. I bolted, and made him chase me.”
“Obviously, you escaped.”
“Of course.”
“You finally learned to hunt?”
“I suppose so. Instead of listening to Darius, I listened to my instincts.”
“Wait a minute–”
“Carry on, boyo, and don’t leave anything out.”
I told him of my adventures with the Farouk hunters. Tashira’s muzzle dipped when I spoke of them. His dark eyes glinted with humor.
“I saw them,” he commented. “Awful excited, they were. I didn’t understand a word of their hideous language, though. So what did you do?”
“I jumped down among them from a tree. Scared them pissing themselves. Then I changed into my human form and told them to leave me alone.”
Tashira brightened. “I bet that went over well.”
“They think of me as their god,” I said glumly, hypnotized by the flickering flames.
He turned around, his jet coat glistening in the firelight. “They don’t know you too well, do they?”
I feigned hurt. “Don’t you think I could be worshipped?”
“Of course,” he replied. “Primitives who couldn’t find their own backsides without a torch should do you proud.”
“Thanks.”
He turned, stomping his huge hooves about, to warm his other side. His head turned over his considerable shoulder to look at me, his mane dripping wet. “What else? Carry on, carry on, I’m all ears.”
“Of course you are,” I muttered. “I finally learned to hunt, though the skills came late. When a herd of cattle stampeded and provided me with dinner, I just had to investigate the source of the panic.”
Under the Wolf's Shadow Page 6
