Under the Wolf's Shadow

by A. Katie Rose

  “Calm down and listen. Use you magic.”

  “Magic, right, stop his heart, sure I know that, don’t you bloody understand I bloody CAN’T?”

  Like a boulder dropping on my head, the answer hit me.

  Magic. Of course.

  “There’s nothing you can do,” Ghost ventured, no doubt thinking Tashira’s days were over.

  I ignored her; a new memory popped into my thick, idiotic skull and the soup I once called a brain. In my mind’s eye, the half-forgotten memory of Rygel transporting Kel’Ratan and Corwyn out of Ja’Teel’s hands rose to the surface. In a blink, Ja’Teel lost his prizes as Rygel laughed. He took them right out from under Ja’Teel’s effing pointed nose. He hid them where Ja’Teel couldn’t find them. He transported them with his magic.

  I ran to the edge and looked down. “Tashira! Don’t give up on me now, you hear?”

  “Don’t be an ass,” Tashira replied weakly. “Find the guts and do it. Don’t worry, you’re already forgiven.”

  “You keep remembering that.”

  I backed away, now caught in the panic again. How do I do it? How do I take him off the ledge and somewhere safe. Somewhere safe–

  Darkhan and Ghost looked on, fangs bitten into protruding tongues as they eyed me with worry and fear. No doubt I’d gone mad. Perhaps I had, but by Darius’s tail this insanity would save Tashira’s life.

  Casting about frantically, I spied a patch of scrub oak not too far away, its snow soft and deep. Reaching back into the soup, I recalled how I cleverly transported my body three days travel to the north the morning after Elder’s little party. I’d willed my body far north by simply thinking of it and making it happen. If I willed my body to move north–

  Clenching my will, I pictured Tashira lying beneath the thicket, on his side, alive. I shut my eyes to better visualize it, and clenched my jaws.

  I called on my will. And the magic from Rygel’s blood. Tashira, lying under the scrub oak–

  I felt a pulling sensation, as though invisible strings tugged, hard, on my brain and my strength. I didn’t feel exactly weakened, yet I knew something had gone out of me and failed to return. I still breathed, felt no pain, and appeared as I ever had on my feet with my jaws clenched and my eyes squeezed shut. What–

  Tashira groaned again. This time his voice came from behind me.

  Instantly I wheeled, my heart outracing my wits. Tashira thrashed under the thicket, on his side, his head and neck up as he tried to rise. His heavy tail flopped in the snow as his great head bent over his shoulder. His pain too much, he lay flat again, snorting with deep gasping breaths.

  His right foreleg, bent at unnatural angle beneath his knee, lay extended away from his shoulder. The bone had burst through his dark skin, bleeding slowly onto the pristine snow. The sharp edge of broken bone stuck at a ridiculous angle, pointing toward the sun’s muted light. Bright red blood oozed from many rips and tears in his silky black hide, its stain starkly poignant as swirling snow melted and tiny bits of steam rose into the misty air before vanishing.

  “Well done,” said Darius.

  “Save it,” I muttered, scrambling, gathering my paws under me.

  I raced the short distance to him, my two shadows at my side. I skidded to a halt a few feet away, a spray of fine snow whipped up into the mist from my paws. Darkhan and Ghost flanked me, one to either side in a protective formation, a rod from and behind me. They both turned to face outward, ears slanted to catch every sound yet watched for any danger that might threaten our rear.

  My paws stepping lightly, cautiously, I sniffed his hot blood, listened to his pulse racing though his veins, felt his terror and agony. “Tashira?”

  His dark eye opened and rolled toward me. “Raine, you fool. Aren’t you a one?”

  “I’m the Big Dog, remember?”

  “I–I should know not to–to underestimate you.”

  “You got that right, brother,” I said, my paw on his neck. “Now lay still, quit thrashing.”

  “Gods,” he moaned, his head falling back. “I never knew a busted leg co–could hurt so much.”

  “I’m going to take care of the pain right now,” I said, glancing around for my companions.

  Darkhan and Ghost stood just behind me, unwilling to disturb either me or Tashira. My quick glance brought them forward to my side.

  “I need you two to gather wood,” I said. “Quickly. We need fires, as many as three of them. Dig dead wood out of the snow and begin piling.”

  “Um, Big Dog?” Darkhan ventured, his confusion clear.

  I growled low in my throat, trying to stifle my impatience. Ghost cowered, her eyes anxious and her ears flat to her skull. “I must be human in order to set his leg. Without fires I’ll freeze to death. Now go.”

  Instantly, the newly-matched pair sprang from my side and loped to obey me. Wood abounded in the close vicinity and was buried under very little snow. Gripping with their strong jaws, they carried heavy sticks and small logs to start their piles near Tashira’s prone body.

  “So the op–opposable thumbs come out,” Tashira said, his head lifting slightly to look at me.

  I nuzzled his cheek. “I’ve had numerous bones set in my time. I know how it’s done.”

  “What–”

  He coughed, his nostrils flaring red. Sweat ran in steady rivulets down from his ears to dampen his eye sockets and stream down his jaw. “What can you do for the, you know, the pain?”

  “I’m going to send you to sleep,” I said, my voice soothing. “In a moment, you won’t be feeling a thing.”

  “Oh, good.” His head sank back down. “I’ve always been such a baby about pain.”

  “You’re a proper wimp,” I said. “Now shut your eyes.”

  He obeyed. I used my contact with his neck to force my will on him. My power surged into his body, dropping him swiftly and completely into unconsciousness. Tashira relaxed, limp, boneless, captured by my power and cast into deep, deep slumber.

  Breathing a sigh that, at least for now, he wasn’t in agony, I looked about for Darkhan and Ghost. Next to me, a good-sized pile had grown with Ghost dropping not one but two heavy sticks onto it.

  “You go, girl,” I commented.

  She wagged her tail at my compliment and dashed away to find more. Darkhan began a new pile to my other side with the two heavy sticks he carried.

  Using the time they required to bring in the wood, I sat and pondered Tashira’s leg. Sudden contact with the cliff face sent his bone back upon itself, forcing it up and out. With the right amount of pressure, I could snap it back in place. I’d need both hands and every ounce of strength I owned to do it, however. Tashira’s leg was huge. I scraped snow over the horrid break, knowing the resulting swelling would make my job more difficult. The snow might keep the swelling down.

  “You may also have to call on your magic.”

  “I know.”

  Walking about his silent, prone body, I sought out his other injuries. His various deep cuts and gashes still oozed blood, sluggish, yet looked clean. Those I could heal with little worry of infection. Other possible fractured bones had me plenty worried. His left hind leg looked a mess; it appeared as though it had gone through a meat grinder. I just prayed the bone was intact.

  “You’ll find them when you go into your trance.”

  “Hope so,” I muttered.

  Now two decent piles of dead sticks and logs sat about a rod apart from each other, as close to Tashira as possible without the fear of setting him ablaze. Darkhan dropped another stumpy log between them, and Ghost added two more. Once that grew high enough, I’d have licking flames on three sides of me.

  “It’s now or never, I reckon,” I muttered.

  Calling on my fire, I sent it hurtling into the wood. Even wet with snow, the flames gripped and caught, the conflagrations growing. Heat boiled off, making me pant, thick, dark smoke roiling up into the late afternoon sky.

  I thought the fire might spook Ghost, unaccustomed
as she was to humans and fire. But she ducked under the reaching flames to drop another log onto the pile I hadn’t yet lit. Galloping off, white tail waving, she passed Darkhan by. He dragged a rod long piece of heavy wood, creating a long scuff mark through the already churned snow. Heaving it onto the pile, he grinned at me before dashing off after more.

  Before changing forms, I sat for a moment amid the fire-induced snow melt, gazing up at the great northern range. The snowfall ceased and the grey mist cleared away for a time. The late sun set to the right of the barren peaks, casting their pale shoulders into shades of pink and gold, their bulk still a distant hazy shale-blue color. I stared up to the highest peak, the spot where Darius’ beacon in my soul emanated.

  “I know your powers are limited,” I said. “And I sure hate to ask you for a favor.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Send a little divine intervention my way?”

  “Of course. And I won’t be the only one.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not the only one who is fond of you.”

  Well, that last comment screwed with my head just a bit, but I set it aside and did my best to ignore it. I felt nervous, despite my knowledge on how to heal, my new confidence in my powers. I’d healed myself, I’d healed Feria. Healing Tashira should be . . . what? Easy? I didn’t know. I felt intimidated, staring down at the protruding bone. His leg looked so damn big. What if I didn’t have the strength to set it?

  “You do. Go on now, just do it.”

  I sighed. Just do it.

  Sending my will inward rather than outward brought me back into my human form. Despite the roaring bonfires, the mountain winter chill hit me hard enough to take my breath away. Shivering, I rubbed my bare arms and turned to start the fire behind me.

  Ghost stared in fascinated awe, twin branches hanging from her jaws.

  “Oops,” I said, half laughing. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  She wagged her tail, dropping her load onto the pile before coming to me. “I knew you had a human self, too,” she said softly, entering the circle of my arms. “I just–sort of–forgot.”

  I hugged her close, running my hands through her ruff, caressing her ears, her face. Lifting her muzzle, she licked the icicles half-formed on my beard stubble, her breath warming my face.

  Over my shoulder, she glanced at Tashira’s slumbering form. “Can you really heal him?” she asked softly. “With your divinity?”

  “With my–” I choked.

  “Leave it.”

  Darius was right. Now wasn’t the time to explain to her the difference between magic and a god’s powers. One I had and the other I didn’t. She might disbelieve me anyway, hearing only what she wanted to hear. She believed I was Darius’ son and a god in my own right. One day, I’d set her straight. But that time wasn’t now.

  “I hope so, little girl,” I murmured, stroking her fur. “I hope so.”

  I tossed my chin at a struggling Darkhan, swiftly changing the subject. “You like him, then?”

  She turned her head to gaze past my arm. “I do. He’s everything I’ve always dreamed of: big, strong, handsome, brave, loyal to his pack leader.” Ghost sighed, forcing me to conceal a grin. “He has such a good heart.”

  “That he does.”

  “Do you think he likes me?”

  Her soft eyes swiveled my way, entreating, fearing my answer yet craving it. She had to know–one way or the other. Her soul burned in those soft orbs, her heart in her throat. She faced the same question every adolescent I ever knew faced. Does he love me? What if I told her he may like her as a friend but could never love her as a mate should? I think, no I knew, she’d slink into the woods, silent, a true ghost–and die of a broken heart.

  Her muzzle rested on her shoulder, watching as Darkhan heaved another massive log on the fire and loped away into the gathering darkness. My finger on her jaw, I turned her to face me. I gazed deep into her anguished and hopeful brown eyes. “He adores you.”

  Ghost didn’t wag just her tail. Her entire body wiggled and squirmed with happiness, her busy tongue licking every inch of my neck and face she could reach. I held her back, laughing, turning my head to avoid being wet completely. My bare skin in the bitter cold wouldn’t take too kindly to it. “Go on, now,” I said. “Keep the wood coming, little girl.”

  With a final lick to my ear and more wiggling, Ghost dashed off. After a playful leap toward a burdened Darkhan, she galloped past him and into the woods.

  Chuckling, I set the pile behind me alight. It whooshed up into fierce flame, igniting immediately and setting Darkhan back onto his haunches. He dropped his load near my hand so I could toss it onto the conflagration.

  “Can I help?” he asked, his ears pointed toward Tashira’s sleeping body.

  I shook my head. “I need more wood, truly, to keep the fires going for most of the night. Even after I heal him, Tashira will need to be kept warm. He might freeze to death, lying there in the snow and ice until he wakes.”

  “We’ll keep bringing the wood, then,” Darkhan said. “Count on us.”

  “Thanks,” I said, as he departed on swift legs, leaving me alone to face a daunting task.

  “You know what to do.”

  “I know.”

  Dusk crept in on silent cat paws as I spoke to Darius and Ghost, casting all into shadow. The leaping flames lit up Tashira and his wounds with enough light to see by. For the time being, all I needed to see was the horror of his right front leg. Between his body warmth and the flames’ heat, the snow I tossed on the break had melted. However, the swelling remained minimal. So far.

  Seizing his fetlock, I adjusted the break slightly. The splintered bone moved with sickening ease, yet offered me hope. If I had the strength, I’d slide the up-tilted bone back under its mate and meld the pair together again. It would take strength and courage–if I had enough of both.

  Taking a moment, I caressed Tashira’s silken muzzle. Even in his unconscious state, he may yet feel both my hand and my love coursing over him, washing him, offering him strength. How could this mouthy, fun-loving, arrogant creature have delved so deeply into my heart? Damn him. Damn him. Why couldn’t he have gone home as I told him to?

  “I’m the fool, eh?” I asked his silent body as I stood up, his hoof in both my hands. “Next time you’ll listen to me when I say go back to your vale.”

  I pulled on his leg, my left hand on his hoof and my right on his fetlock. The bone resisted the pressure, stubbornly refusing to slide back where it belonged. Tashira’s leg lay almost straight, his hoof in my chest, yet the sharply pointed bone still pointed up and defiant. The firelight danced across its white-red tip. The pale moon emerged from behind dark clouds and glinted across its stained spike.

  “Damn you to hell. Go back where you belong,” I growled, growing angry. “Do as I tell you.”

  I tugged on the leg. Nothing at all happened save his shoulder gave a bit as I drew his leg toward me. The bone started to slide where it belonged, then decided it liked the cold night air. The stars had popped into existence in the blue-black sky above, and the leg bone’s finger pointed joyfully up at them.

  “You’ll not win,” I gritted. “You’ll do as I tell you.”

  I pulled steadily, sweating, cursing, gritting my teeth. This time, the bone slid halfway in, refusing more, until my strength gave out. Panting, hot despite the outer chill, I ceased my pull. I watched in despair as the bone won yet another round. It popped from his red-black skin, as unrepentant and as evil as before.

  From the candle of my eye, I saw Darkhan and Ghost sit side by side, not far from Tashira’s tail. The firelight illuminated them, the flickering shadows making them shift and dance in my sight although they sat still, silent, watchful.

  And praying, I hoped.

  I tried again, pulling with all my strength. I leaned back, my eyes shut, my jaws clenched. My sweat-oiled hair hung in my face. It clung like seaweed to my cheeks and neck, moist tend
rils sticking as though glued to my flesh. Back and back I leaned, Tashira’s right front hoof clasped in both my arms. Digging my feet into the snow and soil, I pushed backward, slowly straightening that large piece of Tarbane. I willed, prayed, needing that stubborn bone to shift itself back into place. Whether it was stronger than me, or Tashira’s own leg was too large, it refused to set.

  I relaxed, gasping, my oily hair hanging over my eyes. His hoof sank into my lap, heavy, as my quaking muscles begged me to quit. No more, they cried. We can’t. You can’t. My lungs heaved, grasping at the icy night air, my strength gone.

  I have nothing left to give.

  The naked bone defied me, laughed at me. I’d killed hardened men by the score, never lost a fight I could win. My will, my strength, kept me alive through the years and brought me my freedom. Yet, I, the Bloody Wolf, found defeat by one piece of heavy Tarbane bone. It won, I lost. Tashira lost. Not even a Tarbane could survive on three legs.

  Tashira lost. Not me.

  It’s no good, I thought, drooping over his hoof, sweat freezing my cheeks. I’m sorry, my brother. I can’t do it. You were right, I should’ve killed you. I should’ve spared your suffering.

  “So sure are you?”

  “Dammit.”

  “Try again. This time use what’s inside you.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Chicken shit pussy. You haven’t the balls to save your friend.”

  “Shut up.”

  “He’ll die and his death will be on your hands.”

  “Shut your effing mouth.”

  “Coward.”

  At Darius’s quiet, yet stinging insult, my anger flamed alight. My fears, my heartache and my frustrations added fuel to the bonfire. Consumed by heat from within and without, I lashed out at Darius, filled with such naked ferocity I startled myself.

  “You moron,” I snarled. “You insufferable bastard. You’re all talk, you’re full of great advice. As long as you don’t have to actually do anything–”

  My daemon, never far from the surface, surged upward. “When I find you, I’ll kill you.”