"You have fooled those who fostered you," Northwest snapped, "but you have not fooled me. I see you for what you are. You are the thorn that remains buried under the skin, festering, breeding heat and infection until you kill your host. You are the sickness that spreads and carries off the pack. You are no friend to us. You must be destroyed lest you bring us harm. I would have killed you as you slept, but I would first know what you told your kin."
"You heard what I told my kin," Firekeeper replied, "for you were there. As for what I told the humans, that is my business and maybe my family's business, but certainly no matter for a sneaking coward who can only bring himself to kill when his prey is asleep."
Firekeeper lashed out with her words as she longed to do with her blade, but secretly she was harboring a new fear. Where was Blind Seer? Had Northwest found him and harmed him? She could not let herself believe that Northwest had killed Blind Seer, for if she did she would lose all her strength.
Even as her worry threatened to weaken her arm, the wolf-woman strengthened herself with the thought that Northwest's fur was without bite mark or blood splatter. Surely he could not have slain Blind Seer and come away unmarred. And if Blind Seer lived, eventually he would return. She would have help dealing with this mad creature.
Wolf-like, Firekeeper took strength in the knowledge of her pack mate. She needed that strength, for her knife arm was growing tired as the slow drain of blood from the untamped wound in her throat weakened her. Northwest must know she could not stand strong forever. He crouched, resting and waiting for the first sign of weakness.
Then shadows and moonlight shifted and from a scrubby cluster of oak, Wind Whisper stepped forth. The she-wolf was all silent scorn, her hackles raised, and her lips curling back from clean, white fangs. Firekeeper stiffened, for though she could hold off one wolfùmore by threat of the wolf's own death should it kill herùshe could not hope to hold off two.
More than ever, she wished for Blind Seer, wished that her throat were not so bruised. Should she risk a howl, even if the sound was a poor choked-off thing? No. She would not bring Blind Seer here to face these two alone and surely if she did howl, she would not live long thereafter.
But even in her aching weariness, Firekeeper became aware of a strange thing. Northwest was not welcoming Wind Whisper. His tail was not wagging a slow arc of greeting, nor were his ears perking. If anything, they were flattening further, slicking themselves to his skull. He had been belly-close to the ground, now he was belly-flat to the ground.
Hope came fresh to the wolf-woman. Hope that Wind Whisper might be here on some business of her own, rather than as Northwest's ally. Firekeeper did not lower her blade, did not relax her guard, but she did dare dream she might live to see the sunrise.
Wind Whisper yawned, her teeth strong and healthy for one who had been grown when Firekeeper first had been taken in by the wolves. They looked well for any wolf, come to that. The elder wolf stretched out her scornful gesture until Northwest nearly peed himself.
"I was," said Wind Whisper, speaking to no one in particular, "one of the council who met and discussed what was to be done about the humans. So was this one hereùthis Sharp Fang, brave hunter of sleeping furless beasts. There was much arguing and even a little blood spilled, but in the end it was thought that there had been wisdom in the warnings of one naked wolfling, one Firekeeper.
"Drive the humans away, the council decided. Try to keep them away. Even let Little Two-legs speak for us, if she speaks wisely. All there agreed to bide by this, for a time, unless the humans gave us cause to do more than drive them away. Even this Northwest Sharp Fang, hunter of stupid chickens and stupider ducks, even he agreed, though his breath was sour upon his promise.
"Some days after, this Northwest took his leave, saying he had no wish to spoil crops and frighten cattle. We saw him depart with no great sorrow for he had been poor company indeed. But I remembered the sourness of his breath as he swore to abide by the council's wisdom, and when he struck out for his home pack, I decided to follow. After all, such sour breath might mean an ill stomach and it would not do to have him fall sick on the trail.
"He jogged north and west for a night, but the next night his trail turned. Soon even an old wolf like myself could tell the trail he cast about for was that of the little Firekeeper and her human companion. I said to myself, 'Surely Northwest is ill. He is so ill he cannot even hunt rabbits but must take the stupid horses for his meat. I must go with him and hunt for him in his illness."
"But this Northwest surprised me. He hunted well, taking rabbits and fish and even, once, a deer. Still, though, he tracked those horses. I, unwilling to show myself unless he needed my aid, for I did not wish to embarrass him with my knowledge of his sour belly, I trailed him.
"And this Northwest took his time following the horses. In truth, I think he was a bit in terror of the human lands, for he traveled slowly and then only in the darkest night. Then came the night when the scent trails of the Firekeeper and her human companion parted. The human continued on the slow road east while Firekeeper took off with her pack mate north, across fields and through forests.
"Here came the strange part. Sour Belly Northwest didn't follow the horses, that easy game, he followed Firekeeper. I said to myself, 'Poor wolf! He must be very ill. He follows them so as to eat at their leavings.' I followed, too, to succor Northwest when his illness took him. Always I hid myself and made sure that the wind did not carry my scent to him, for I did not wish this Northwest, or Young Sour Belly as I thought him in my affection for him, to know I pitied him his illness.
"When the trail of Firekeeper and Blind Seer vanished at the edge of a ravine, Northwest prowled until he found a place where he could scrabble across on a heap of deadfall and winter tangle. I followed, grateful for this bridge, for indeed the humans had protected themselves quite well from unwanted visitors.
"And so I was here when Northwest would have eased his sour belly on the soft meat of Firekeeper's throat and I would have leapt in sooner, but…"
Northwest snarled interruption.
"Stop your idiot tale-telling, old one! So you followed me! So you caught me! So you will preserve this human. Tell me why if you can."
Wind Whisper looked at him and her disdain was cruel to see, but her reply was mockingly gentle.
"I saw Little Two-legs brought into the world of the Beasts. Maybe I wish to see what she will do now that two worlds beckon her."
"Destroy one or both," Northwest sneered. "That is the human way. They cannot live without reshaping the world into their image."
Firekeeper actually agreedùat least somewhatùwith Northwest's assessment of humanity, but she deeply resented having the same criteria applied to her. She also didn't much care for being ignored while these two argued.
During Wind Whisper's narration the wolf-woman had checked her wounded throat. A shallow slash proved to be the source of most of the blood. She was more concerned about the bruising, which made it difficult for her to raise her voice above soft tones.
Once again she wondered where Blind Seer was. Wind Whisper had protected Firekeeper, but would she have extended the same protection to Blind Seer? She struggled to think of a way to ask after the blue-eyed wolf without implying that he was unable to watch after himself. Happily, circumstances made this unnecessary.
Head held low, nose to the ground, so absorbed in a scent trail that he was otherwise unaware of his surroundings, Blind Seer loped into the far end of the clearing. He brought himself up short when he noticed the three clustered across from him.
His ears flickered back and he panted in foolish surprise. Then he looked at Firekeeper.
"I was hunting near the ravine," the blue-eyed wolf explained rather lamely, "when I caught an odd scent trail. I was nearly certain it belonged to our outlier kin, but some effort had been made to muddle the scents and though they ran parallel, they did not seem to run together. I followed the trails and, well…"
He stopped,
sat, scratched vigorously behind one ear. Firekeeper thought with sudden amusement that if he had been human he would have shrugged.
Then Blind Seer raised his head and scented the air sharply. In two enormous bounds he was at her side, hackles raised.
"Who has shed your blood?" he demanded, but his glare was fixed on Northwest as if he suspected the answer to his query.
"Easy, dear heart," Firekeeper said, curling her fingers in his ruff. "A misunderstanding, I think. Northwest wished to question me about my doings with King Tedric and forgot when he sought to wake me how fragile is my naked human hide."
Blind Seer didn't look convinced, but he seemed willing to accept this half-truth, especially since Northwest seemed quite contrite and Wind Whisper amused. Still, Blind Seer did not miss that Firekeeper's Fang rested bare-bladed in her hand. Firekeeper knew she would need to give him a fuller account when such telling would not precipitate a brawl.
"And did you tell him what you have done?" Blind Seer asked.
"I hadn't yet found the time," Firekeeper replied. "Aunt Wind Whisper arrived and told us of her coming just at Northwest's heels. Perhaps she would care to hear my tale."
"I would," the older wolf agreed, "since we have settled matters of rude awakenings, perhaps you should begin."
"Let me go and wash this blood from my skin," Firekeeper said, "and then I will tell."
Leaving the three wolves to sniff tails and go through whatever posturing was needed to settle them into accord with each other, Firekeeper ran to a nearby brook. She was accustomed to always being at the bottom of any wolf hierarchy and so when she returned, bare from the waist up so that her vest might soak off the worst of the blood in the water, she was surprised to find that in ways subtle but unmistakable, Northwest deferred to her.
It was a new experience, as stimulating as her dip in the cool water had been. Firekeeper seated herself on the grass, head held high and proud, and began:
"Humans are not as wise as wolves, and so they do not always listen to their Ones. With this in mind, listen to my tale."
She told them then of how she had implored Tedric to order Ewen Brooks and his settlers to leave the land west of the Iron Mountains, how Tedric had not only agreed to do so, but to issue a declaration making such settlements illegal.
"How can he do this?" Wind Whisper asked. "The land is not his to govern."
Firekeeper twisted uncomfortably.
"Humans do not see it so," she admitted. "They draw lines on paper and declare that all within those lines, whether or not they have walked that land, is their own. It is a custom," she added, trying to make some excuse, "that they inherited from those who founded these colonies and one that helps them keep some peace among themselves."
Northwest looked as if he wanted to say something rather nasty, but when Firekeeper caught his eye he humbled himself and only muttered:
"It seems foolish to claim what is not yours, but if it keeps them from fighting each other, I suppose the custom is of some use."
"I think it is foolish also," Firekeeper said, not willing to press her advantage to condescension. "I do not say I agree with them, only report how it is among humankind."
Northwest swished his tail once to acknowledge her wisdom, and then Firekeeper went on:
"Now Tedric will need to send humans west in order that they may order the colonists to leave. If these humans do not make the crossing safely, then Ewen and his people will not know they have incurred their One's wrath."
Wind Whisper gave a lazy stretch and looked at Northwest.
"It might be possible to see that these messengers arrive safelyùand without doing further harm."
Northwest looked rebellious, so Firekeeper hastened on.
"Now Tedric has made another promise. He will command his people to build a small denùlike this great one here in that it will have high and powerful wallsùin which some of his soldiers will stay and turn back those who would cross the gap in defiance of his commands."
"You did say," Wind Whisper said, "that humans would not obey their Ones when they were out of sight. In that way," and she looked slyly at Northwest, "they are not too unlike some wolves."
"But," Northwest retorted defiantly, "might not such a place be turned against us?"
Firekeeper hadn't thought of this, but she tried to answer smoothly.
"It might," she replied, "but what limits us to crossing the mountains through the gap? Humans need such wide breaches in the mountain wall for, as you have said, they cannot survive without many aids. Their horses and mules could not climb where wolf or bear or puma would go lightly."
Northwest acknowledged her point but persisted in his criticism.
"Yet this is not the only such crossing point, only the easiest."
"Is that so?" Firekeeper said. "Well, that is new to me and may be new to the humans. Once again, we know much more than they do. If there is worry that the humans will come through these other points, then we can set our own guards upon them. Surely," she added, and her dark-eyed gaze was hard, "my pack should not bear the entire weight of protecting the west."
Northwest swished his tail low in apology, but Firekeeper was not completely at ease with this persistent show of humility. She might have beaten him in a fightùbut it was a victory assured because of Wind Whisper's intervention. Firekeeper understood now why Wind Whisper had waited so long to show herself. Had she not, Northwest would have continued to think of Firekeeper as easy game. Now he would be more careful in his dealing with herùand that care would not always work in the wolf-woman's favor.
"There is a price for King Tedric's cooperation," Firekeeper went on, knowing that the wolves would trust the king's actions more fully if they had not emerged simply out of goodwill or prudence. Wolves fought their own both for precedence and respect. Something freely given was a sign of weaknessùa puppy piddling on its belly out of fear of those larger and stronger.
"King Tedric would have me and Blind Seer join with some of his pack who are set to hunt down a renegade. This renegade is the same woman who stole the magical artifacts from Bright Bay last winter and from whom we ultimately stole them back."
Firekeeper could tell from the differences in the two wolves' postures that they had each heard the tale, but she thought that Wind Whisper knew more than did Northwest.
"This renegade has allied herself with another pack, the humans of New Kelvin. They are a pack which has much interest in magical lore. My sense of these New Kelvinese is that where magic is concerned they are like young bucks growing their first rack. They have sharp points, but not many and they have yet to learn how to make those points truly dangerous. If this human womanùMelinaùhas her way with them, she may transform them into lords of the forest with racks of many sharp points and the skill to make them pierce deep."
Wind Whisper licked her nose nervously.
"Can one do this?"
"A strong leader makes a strong pack," Firekeeper quoted from wolf lore. "And whatever else is said of Melina, she is a strong leader and has ways of making even the reluctant grovel before her and obey her will.
"It is for our people," Firekeeper went on, "as much as for the humans that I agreed to hunt Melina. New Kelvin is a small land, much walled in stone. I think she might encourage a western press, for it would be far easier to go that directionùeven with the mountains barring her routeùthan taking her neighbor's lands."
Blind Seer added, "And if Melina goes west, then she has also gained a route by which she can slip her hunters into her neighbor's lands undetected, rather like a large pack that leaves a few strong hunters to spring out from where they will not be expected and where they will do more damage."
Firekeeper thought about adding King Tedric's concern for Firekeeper herself, his desire to get her away from this area at a time when her loyalty to the Beasts might be misinterpreted by humans. She decided that this would be unwise. Northwest, at least, already thought her capable of speaking from head and tail at once
. No need to remind himùor to show him that humans distrusted her as well.
Wind Whisper and Northwest discussed what Firekeeper and Blind Seer had told them at some length, enough so that Firekeeper began to feel the weight of her interrupted sleep, heaped on top of the ebbing tide of fear and fighting, pressing down on her eyelids. She stifled a yawn with one hand.
"So you go north to hunt at the behest of this human king," Northwest said, adding quickly when Firekeeper shifted her knife in her free hand, "and for our own people's good as well. What should we do in turn?"
"Wind Whisper spoke well and wisely," Firekeeper said, still startled to have the outlier look to her for wisdom. "Escort the human messengersùtracking them unseen and silent, as you have shown so well you can do. Thus the king's word will reach his people and make their punishment or defiance a matter between humans, not between humans and Beasts."
She ticked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she puzzled out a thought.
"If some of the winged folk were near," she continued, "I would beg them to carry word to the Beasts of what King Tedric has agreed to do. Best that we do not give the humans any cause to change their minds regarding leaving our lands to us."
"The peregrine Elation came east with you," Wind Whisper said. "Where is she?"
"Ask the wind," Firekeeper replied, quoting a proverb that ran, "Ask the wind, ask the rain. Empty howling and wet fur are all you earn for your pain."
Blind Seer said, "Elation came with us, but flies her own course. She separated from us some days past. Perhaps she is with Derian. I think she has a fondness for him."
"Perhaps," Firekeeper agreed. "In any case, she is not the only of the winged folk who nest east of the Iron Mountains. My guess is that others are nearby. Surely we can seek out one or more of these and make them understand the need is not ours alone but of all Beasts."
Wind Whisper puffed a bit of laughter.
"I think we can. I seem to recall hearing that a raven or two was considering nesting in these very castle towers."
The Dragon of Despair Page 22
