"Fox Hair," she said, "there are humans going this way."
The emphasis she put on the word made quite clear that she did not think this a good thing at all.
Derian nodded. The signs had been evident even to an indifferent woodsman like himself. Those who had come along this trail before them had made some effort to hide their signs farther back, but this close to the gap there was no such effort. Manure dried on the narrow trails, dead wood had been cut. He'd even seen the remnants of a fire circle or two.
He decided that now was the time to tell Firekeeper some of the rumors he'd gathered back in Eagle's Nest.
"I heard," he said, "around my father's stables, that the demand for mules and sturdy horseflesh is up. The buyers aren't who you'd think either, not some farmer getting a few extra head in now that planting and plowing has begun."
Firekeeper looked blank, but Derian continued:
"We get some of that market, you know. There are those who think it wiser to let someone else do the winter feeding for them. But these folks my father and the other livestock dealersùnot only near the city, but their associates elsewhereùhave been seeing aren't interested in that. Or, I should say to be fair, they aren't interested in just that."
Firekeeper gave a low, rumbling growl. Derian held up a hand.
"More haste, less waste, Firekeeper. I'm telling you all I know to spare questions later."
Firekeeper subsided, but Derian didn't need to know her as well as he did to tell she was as taut as a strung bow.
"These buyers wanted animals who could pull a plowùeventuallyùbut they were looking for general-purpose animals, a horse or mule who could pull a wagon or plow, carry a rider, all the rest. They wanted well-broken animals, not raw youngsters. And there was one other element to the pattern. Often the buyers weren't one person or family, but a group."
"So?" Firekeeper asked, and while she didn't growl, her voice was rough.
"Firekeeper, you've figured it out already. You just might not know the word for it. These humans on the trail in front of us, they're not furriers or trappers. It's the wrong time of year for that even if they were. What we're seeing are the signs of…"
He shrugged, settling for a word that he himself didn't really use except in a historical context.
"They're colonists, like the people who came from the Old World to settle this land, except that they're not coming from across the sea. They're going across the Iron Mountains."
Firekeeper made a sound like several words trying to come out at once. The word that won through was "Why?"
"I don't know for sure," Derian said, "but I'll give you a guess. They want a place of their own."
Firekeeper stared at him. Then she nodded slowly and Derian realized that she was finding a correlation in her own knowledge. She didn't offer an explanation, so he went on.
"Since back before Queen Zorana the Great founded Hawk Haven," Derian said, "it's been traditional to stay east of the Iron Mountains. There were stories about horrible creatures that lived to the west, and there was land enough east, especially after the Plague killed so many.
"But ever since I can remember, well before Prince Barden took his expedition west of the mountains, there've been those who've grumbled that all the land Hawk Haven has is used up. We've never been a sea powerùnot like Bright Bay or Waterland. We've won a bit of land from time to time from Bright Bay, but they've always taken it backùsometimes taking a bit from us for a while."
Firekeeper nodded. She'd been drilled in the history of that conflict the summer before.
"When Prince Barden went westùI was six or seven at the time, old enough to remember the scandal perfectlyùnot everyone agreed with King Tedric's anger. There were those who were ready to follow the prince, just as soon as the fuss died down. I'll tell you, most people thought that within a few moonspansùa year at mostùthe prince would have made peace with his father.
"But nothing was heard from Prince Barden, nothing at all, and the king didn't get any less angry. He got into a tremendous argument with Duchess Kestrel when she suggested that someone lead an expedition to check on Barden's group."
Firekeeper made a surprised sound.
"You didn't know that did you?" Derian's grin was a bit forced. "It's not common knowledge, but I heard about it out in the North Woods this year."
"Makes the earl brave," Firekeeper said thoughtfully. "Braver."
Derian was confused for a moment. Then he understood.
"You mean for going out there last year? That's true, but he didn't go without the king's permission. He brought his petition to the king at the end of autumn and worked on it all through the winter. I doubt King Tedric would have softened for anyone else, but the earl did have the excuse that his sister was Barden's wifeùthat he was going to find news of Eirene for his aging mother rather than to look for Barden."
"But he was looking for Barden," Firekeeper said, "and for Blysse."
"And all he found was you," Derian agreed. "Anyhow, as you might guess, both Barden's silence and the king's abiding anger made those people who thought that moving west would be a good idea think again. But I'd guess that when we went west and came back again, and the news got around that Barden's expedition had died in a fire, not by anything some mysterious monsters did, and that the king was taking as a favorite a girl most people thought was Barden's daughter…"
"Me," Firekeeper said.
"Right. Well, I'd guess those people who'd been chaffing for more land decided they should go get it now, before the king or his heirs got around to making a proclamation against it."
"Might they proclaim this?" Firekeeper asked.
"They might," Derian answered. "Or they might not. I don't know. The thing is, Hawk Haven is getting a little cramped."
Firekeeper looked at him incredulously. She waved her hand at the empty spaces around them.
"Cramped? We barely see anyone for days!"
Derian leaned back and checked the pot of tea hanging over the fire.
There was just enough for one more cup and he poured it before setting more water to warm.
"There's cramped and cramped," he explained, dreading that this would be beyond his ability to explain. "You understand that different people own different bits of land."
Firekeeper nodded. "Like the king owns the castle and the Kestrels the North Woods."
Derian felt relieved as he saw a good example.
"Right. Now, you know the North Woods have another name. They're also called the Norwood Grant."
"Yes."
"That word 'grant' means that the land was given to the Norwood family to own and administer… to manage. Now each of the Great Houses has their grant. The House of the Eagleùthat's the king's houseùowns more land than just the castle. They have a grant of their own."
And a few crown cities and other things like that, Derian thought, but let's keep this simple.
"Then the lesser housesùlike Elise's," Derian felt an involuntary smile rise to his lips as he thought of their mutual friend, "they have grants of their own, smaller grants, but still grants."
Firekeeper nodded and Derian went on.
"That still leaves land, since Queen Zorana the Great didn't think it was a good idea to give the common folk nothing to call their own. The problem is that over a hundred years have passed since Queen Zorana's time. Just about all that unowned land has been claimed by someone. Sometimes the land has two ownersùlike in Doc's family. The Surcliffe land is actually part of the Norwood Grant, but Doc's family would have to do something pretty terrible…"
Firekeeper looked puzzled.
"Like help an enemy in a war," Derian explained. "Anyhow, they'd have to do something pretty terrible to give the Norwood family a reason to throw them off. That's good and that's bad."
"How? Sounds all good to me."
"It does, in theory," Derian admitted. "But what if the Norwoods want to reward one of their good retainersùlike Wendee or Valetùor give land to one of
their children. Remember, Earl Kestrel has four children. Only Edlin will inherit so Earl Kestrel has to find places for the others. That takes more land. Soon they don't have any more and need to buy more land."
"And," Firekeeper said, speaking so slowly that Derian knew she was reasoning it out, "that eats the land Queen Zorana left. Soon there is no more."
"You've got it," Derian said, more relieved than he could express. He'd thought he'd need to explain this far more carefully. Then he remembered something.
"Wolves are territorial," he said, "aren't they?"
"Very," Firekeeper said, and though she didn't turn to face him, he saw the edge of a scowl on her shadowed face. "And what these humans who want land don't seem to think is that this land they go to is claimed. It is claimed by my peopleùby the wolves and by the other Royal Beasts."
Derian swallowed hard. Even knowing Firekeeper, knowing Blind Seer and Elation, he hadn't ever thought about the western lands in that way. To him it was empty land, open for claiming. Now he saw that to Firekeeper, at least, that was far from the case.
"You say the wolves and the other Royal Beasts," he repeated. "They share?"
Firekeeper shrugged expressively.
"As beasts share. A wolf pack hunts larger game than do a raccoon. A raven eats the spoils of the wolf. A great cat, it may or may not shareùso with the bear. Each lives in with the others or starves or dies. I not think humans is like this."
Derian bit into his lip. He thought of mousetraps and hound packs, fences and borders, and, of course, feuds and wars. Human culture seemed to have grown up around ways to keep from sharing with anyone other than those most important to you personally.
"No, I don't think so," he said.
They sat in uncomfortable silence for a time, then Derian asked:
"Firekeeper, do you think the beasts will harm these human colonists?"
Firekeeper shrugged.
"I don't know," she said.
Derian had the uncomfortable feeling that what she really meant was. "I won't say."
In that moment, he knew what side the wolf-woman would be on if a conflict came and the night which had seemed so safe and so friendly grew darker, and he shared with the mules and horses a restless unease.
Chapter IV
FIREKEEPER WAS THE FIRST TO SEE the small community that had been constructed over the ruins of Prince Barden's failed effort. Moments like this brought home to her more forcefully than anything else how much she had changed in a year.
A year ago she wouldn't have known what a horse wasùmuch less how to differentiate it from a pony or a mule. She would have figured out that the oddly shaped things set about the cleared area were shelters, but she wouldn't have known how to see the difference between a tent and a cabin under construction, nor would she have recognized the purpose of the wall rising around the perimeter of the cleared area.
"Here," she said to Blind Seer. "They build their dens here!" She was surprised at outrage rising within her. This place meant no more to her than any other section of the forestùor so she had thought. The wolf's reply was laconic.
"Not a bad idea, really," Blind Seer said. "The first to come here when you were small cut down the bigger trees. Even the many years that have turned since fire destroyed Barden's colony haven't been enough for those great trees to grow back. Earl Kestrel's venture last year cut down many of the saplings for corral and tent poles. They even cleared some of the rubble and vines. And this place was well chosen in the first place."
Firekeeper grunted irritably, but she understood what he meant, especially now that she had lived among humans and come to know what they needed and valued. The place Prince Barden had chosen was near to fresh running water. It was on fairly level ground, which humans liked not only for building their homes, but for planting their fields. Moreover, it was less than a day's easy journey from the gap through the Iron Mountains. Still, she felt offended, as if her own home had been invaded.
"Perhaps," she said to Blind Seer, "I didn't believe the humans had really come here to settleùno matter what Fox Hair saidùuntil I saw this place. What are we going to do?"
Blind Seer rubbed his great head against her arm. In turn, she buried her hand in his fur and felt comforted.
"I think," the wolf said after some consideration, "that Derian must go to them. Humans are as territorial as a mother bird guarding her nest. They may already feel themselves owners of everything they touch. If they find Derian camping a distance from here, they may view him as an intruder."
Firekeeper noddedùa human gesture she had learned and that had become a habit. She'd been using it for moons past. Only now, here on the fringes of where she'd been only a wolf, did she feel herself use the gesture and think it odd.
"I agree," she replied. "Derian's purpose in coming west was to bring those stones and gifts to the ones who died here. He cannot avoid this place without failing."
She studied the human encampment, forcing herself to strip away the new construction and see the place as it had been when she had left it.
"These newcomers have left the place where the earl told his people to re-bury the bones and such they took from the Burnt Place," she said, feeling some relief. "They have some feelings then."
"Feelings for dried bones burnt beyond good eating," Blind Seer scoffed. "You are becoming very human, Firekeeper."
She caught him a sharp blow on one shoulder.
"Never say that!" she growled. "Never!"
Blind Seer's eyes narrowed and his lips curled back from his fangs in an ugly snarl. He glowered at her and she held his stare, her hand drifting in the direction of the garnet-hilted knife that hung at her belt.
Maybe it was this. Maybe it was thatùdespite the fact that he was younger than her in yearsùBlind Seer had been trained to view the wolf-woman as a pup, entitled to the forbearance the senior wolf gives the pup. For whatever the reason, Blind Seer's snarl melted to tongue-panting amiability and his tail gave a faint wag.
"I won't call you a human," he conceded. "Shall Fox Hair tell those there that you are with him?"
Firekeeper considered. Her first impulse was to deny her presence. She wanted nothing more than to flee humans and human things. Then her loyalty to and affection for Derian rose, reminding her just how vulnerable one humanùespecially one human possessed of what others might see as wealthùcould be. She didn't know these humans. They might be as kind as Holly Gardener, but they could be closer kin to the bandits who had attacked them along the road in New Kelvin.
"I think," she said, "that I must let them see me. Fox Hair should not be thought alone. Where is Elation? That bird is always flapping about whenever one wants her least. Now that she could be useful, I haven't seen her since last sunrise."
"Elation flew west," Blind Seer replied. "I think she is as disturbed as you about this human settlingùmore, maybe, for the winged folk could have sent her word and forewarning and they did not."
Firekeeper considered that and the sour feeling in her gut grew stronger. She had grown accustomed to having little or no contact with the Royal Wolves. Blind Seer alone of all her pack had accompanied her east over the Iron Mountains when she departed with Earl Kestrel's expedition. There were Cousin Wolves in the Norwood Grant, but these were limited in their conversation. They might be bullied into telling where game could be found, but they no more offered friendly gossip than did a chattering brook.
For the first time she wondered why some member of her and Blind Seer's packùfor they had howled their comingùhad not come to meet them and bring them this news.
"We go back to Fox Hair, then," she said with more confidence than she felt. "I will go with him to this denning of humans, see that they treat him well, and then go find our mother and father. They will know what is being done about thisùif the Royal Beasts see it as invasion or as something to be tolerated as one tolerates fleas in the summer."
Blind Seer shook.
"Even with fleas," he reminded her, "one s
cratches."
DERIAN LISTENED TO FIREKEEPER'S report with mingled dismay and resignation.
Fleetingly, he wondered if King Tedric had knownùif his request to Derian had been less a means of gathering information than a subtle warning that Derian and Firekeeper might not find the lands over the mountains as they had left them.
Then why didn't the king just tell me? Derian mused to himself. Immediately he answered his own question. Because if he did so, he would have taken official notice of these adventurers and for some reason he doesn't wish to do so.
Derian sighed. Not for the first time, he was very glad not to be the king. Sometimes it was hard enough being the king's most junior counselor.
He knew Firekeeper well enough to know that, although she was trying to keep her reaction to herself, she was very upset. He didn't need to ask why. This was the land in which she had grown up, the place where her parents had died, where her own ancestors were buried. To find that place defiled must be more upsetting that he could imagine.
However, since the wolf-woman was trying to hide her feelings, Derian decided not to comment. Instead he asked:
"Think we can get there today?"
"By twilight, yes," Firekeeper replied. "Maybe sooner, though parts of the trail are muddy and a creek so swollen we will need to take the pack animals around to a shallow place."
"The mules," Derian hinted, "will move faster if you and Blind Seer are with me."
Firekeeper nodded a touch grimly and fell into line next to the lead animal.
They arrived at the settlement shortly before dusk. The long rays of the setting sun filtering through the trees were more than enough for Derian to make his own assessment of the place. Firekeeper might have grown sophisticated enough to tell tents from cabins, but her counting still tended toward the "one, two, many" variety unless she felt numbers were important. Even then, she didn't bother much with numbers over ten. Privately, Derian suspected she continued to count on her fingers.
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