Wolf-Speaker

‘May I ask you something?’ the mage enquired.

—I am an immortal, the first male creature of my kind. The male badger god, if you like. That is what you wished to ask, is it not?—

‘Yes, and I thank you,’ Numair said hesitantly. ‘I – thought I had shielded my mind from any kind of magical reading or probe—’

—Perhaps that works with mortal wizards,— the badger replied. —Perhaps it works with lesser immortals, such as Stormwings. I am neither.—

Numair blushed deeply, and Daine hid a grin behind one hand. She doubted that anyone had spoken that way to Numair in a long time. She was used to it. The badger had first appeared in a dream to give her advice sixteen months ago, on her journey to Tortall, and she had dreamed of him often since.

‘Another question, then,’ the mage said doggedly. ‘Since I have the opportunity to ask. You can resolve a number of academic debates, actually.’

—Ask.— There was a studied patience in the badger’s voice.

‘The inhabitants of the Divine Realms are called by men “immortals,” but the term itself isn’t entirely accurate. I know that unless they are killed in some accident or by deliberate intent, creatures such as Stormwings, spidrens, and so on will live forever. They don’t age, either. But how are they “lesser immortals” compared to you, or to the other gods?’

—They are ‘lesser’ because they can be slain,— was the reply. —I can no more be killed than can Mithros, or the Goddess, or the other gods worshipped by two-leggers. ‘Immortals’ is the most fitting term to use. It is not particularly correct, but it is the best you two-leggers can manage.—

Having made Numair speechless, the badger went on. —Now, on to your teaching. It is well enough, but you have not shown her where to take her next step. I am surprised. For a mortal, your grasp of wild magic normally is good.—

Numair looked down his long nose at the guest who called his learning into question. ‘If you feel I have omitted something, by all means, enlighten us.’

The badger sneezed. It seemed to be his way of laughing. —Daine, if you try, you can learn to enter the mind of a mortal animal. You can use their eyes as you would your own, or their ears, or their noses.—

Daine frowned, trying to understand. ‘How? When you said I could hear and call animals, it was part of something I knew how to do. This isn’t.’

—Make your mind like that of the animal you join,— he told her. —Think like that animal does, until you become one. You may be quite surprised by what results in the end.—

It sounded odd, but she knew better than to say as much. She had questioned him once, and he had flattened her with one swipe of his paw. ‘I’ll try.’

—Do better than try. Where is the young dragon?—

Kitten had been watching from the other side of the fire. Now she came to sit with the badger, holding a clump of his fur in one small paw. She had a great deal to say in her vocabulary of chirps, whistles, clicks, and trills. He listened as if it meant something, and when she was done, waddled over to talk with Cloud and the horses. At last he returned to the fire, where Daine and Numair had waited politely for him to end his private conversations.

—I must go back to my home sett,— he announced. —Things in the Divine Realms have been hectic since the protective wall was breached and the lesser immortals were released into your world.—

‘Do you know who did it?’ asked Numair quickly. ‘We’ve been searching for the culprit for two years now.’

—Why in the name of the Lady of Beasts would I know something like that?— was the growled reply. —I have more than enough to do in mortal realms simply with keeping an eye on her.—

‘Don’t be angry,’ Daine pleaded. ‘He thought you might know, since you know so much already.’

—You are a good kit.— The badger rubbed his head against her knee. Touched by this sign of affection, Daine hugged him, burying her fingers in his shaggy coat. To Numair he added, —And I am not angry with you, mortal. I cannot be angry with one who has guarded my young friend so well. Let me go, Daine. I have to return to my sett.—

She obeyed. He walked towards the cave’s mouth, silver light enclosing him in a globe. At its brightest, the light flared, then vanished. He was gone.

‘Well,’ said Numair. She thought he might add something, but instead he busied himself with stirring the vegetables.

Suddenly she remembered a question she had wanted to ask. ‘I think he puts a magic on me,’ she complained.

‘How so?’

‘Every time I see him, I mean to ask who my da is, and every time I forget! And he’s the only one who can tell me, too, drat him.’

Kitten gave a trill, her slit-pupilled eyes concerned.

‘I’m all right, Kit,’ the girl said, and sighed. ‘It’s not fair, though.’

Numair chuckled. ‘Somehow I doubt the badger is interested in what’s fair.’

She had to smile, even if her smile was one-sided. She knew he was right.

‘Speaking of what is fair, what do you think of the advice he gave you, about becoming a magical symbiote?’

Most of the time she was glad that he spoke to her as he would to a fellow scholar, instead of talking down to her. Just now, though, her head was reeling from Brokefang’s news and the badger’s arrival. ‘A magical sym – sym – whatsits?’

‘Symbiote,’ he replied. ‘They are creatures that live off other creatures, but not destructively, as parasites do. An example might be the bird who rides on a bison, picking insects from the beast’s coat.’

‘Oh. I don’t know what I think of it. I never tried it.’

‘Now would be a good time,’ he said helpfully. ‘The vegetables will take a while to cook. Why not try it with Cloud?’

Daine looked around until she saw the mare, still at the rear of the cave with Mangle and Spots. ‘Cloud, can I?’

‘Cloud, may I,’ the man corrected.

You can or you may. I don’t know if it will help, said the mare.

The girl went to sit near the pony, while Mangle and Spots ventured outside to graze again. Numair began to get out the ingredients for campfire bread as Kitten watched with interest.

‘Don’t let him stir the dough too long,’ Daine ordered the dragon. ‘It cooks up hard when he forgets.’ Kitten chirped as Numair glared across the cave at his young pupil.

The girl closed her eyes. Breathing slowly, she reached deep inside to find the pool of copper light that was her wild magic. Calling a thread of fire from that pool, she reached for Cloud, and tried to bind their minds with it.

Cloud whinnied, breaking the girl’s concentration. That hurt, the mare snapped. If it’s going to hurt, I won’t do it! Try it with less magic.

Shutting her eyes, Daine obeyed. This time she used a drop of copper fire, thinking to glue her mind to Cloud’s. The mare broke contact the minute Daine’s fire touched hers. Daine tried it a second, and a third time, without success.

It’s the same kind of magic, she told Cloud, frustrated. It’s not any different from what’s in you.

It hurts, retorted the pony. If that badger knew this would hurt and told you to try it anyway, I will tell him a few things the next time he visits.

I don’t do it a-purpose, argued Daine. How can I do it without paining you?

Without the fire, Cloud suggested. You don’t need it to talk to us, or to listen. Why should you need it now?

Daine bit a thumbnail. Cloud was right. She only used the fire of her magic when she was tired, or when she had to do something hard. She was tired now, and the smell of cooking ham had filled her nostrils. ‘Let’s try again tomorrow,’ she said aloud. ‘My head aches.’

‘Come and eat,’ called Numair. ‘You’ve been at it nearly an hour.’

Daine went to the fire, Cloud following. Digging in her pack, the girl gave the pony a carrot before she sat. Numair handed over a bowl of mildly spiced vegetables and cooked ham. Kitten climbed into the girl’s lap, forcing Daine to arrange her arms around the dragon as she ate. Between mouthfuls she explained what had taken place.

Cloud listened, nibbling the carrot as her ears flicked back and forth. When Daine finished, the mare suggested, Perhaps I am the wrong one to try with.

‘Who, then, Cloud?’ Daine asked. ‘I’ve known you longer than anybody.’ She yawned. The experiment, even though it hadn’t worked, had worn her out.

But I am a grazer – you are a hunter. Why not try with a hunter? It may be easier to do this first with wolves. You are practically a wolf as it is.

‘And if I forget I’m human?’

(‘I wish I could hear both sides of this conversation,’ Numair confided softly to Kitten. ‘I feel so left out, sometimes.’)

The man said you won’t, replied Cloud. He should know. Brokefang is part of you already. Ask the stork-man. He will tell you I am right.

Daine relayed this to Numair. ‘She has a point,’ he said. ‘I hadn’t thought the predator-prey differential would constitute a barrier, but she knows you better than I.’ He watched Daine yawn again, hugely, and smiled. ‘It can wait until tomorrow. Don’t worry about cleanup. I’ll do it.’

‘But it’s my turn,’ she protested. ‘You cooked, so I have to clean.’

‘Go to bed,’ her teacher said quietly. ‘The moon will not stop its monthly journey simply because I cooked and cleaned on the same meal.’

She climbed into her bedroll and was asleep the moment she pulled up the blankets. When the wolves returned much later, she woke just enough to see them group around her. With Kitten curled up on one side and Brokefang sprawled on the other, Daine finished her night’s rest smiling.

It was damp and chilly the next morning, the cold a taste of the months to come. Breakfast was a quiet meal, since neither Daine nor Numair was a morning person. They tidied up together and readied the horses for the day’s journey.

The wolves had gone to finish the previous night’s kill. They were returning when Numair handed Daine a small tube of paper tied with plain ribbon. ‘Can we send this on to the king today?’ he asked.

Daine nodded, and reached with her magic. Not far from their campsite was the nest of a golden eagle named Sunclaw. Daine approached her politely and explained what she wanted. She could have made the bird do as she wished, but that was not the act of a friend. The eagle listened with interest, and agreed. When she came, Daine thanked her, and made sure the instructions for delivering Numair’s report were fixed in Sunclaw’s mind. Numair, who had excellent manners, thanked Sunclaw as well, handing the letter to her with a bow.

Brokefang had watched all of this with great interest. You have changed, he commented when Sunclaw had gone. You know so much more now. You will make the two-leggers stop ruining the valley.

Daine frowned. I don’t know if I can, she told the wolf. Humans aren’t like the People. Animals are sensible. Humans aren’t.

You will help us, Brokefang repeated, his faith in her shining in his eyes. You said that you would. Now, are you and the man ready? It is time to go.

Daine put Kitten atop the packs on Mangle’s back. Numair mounted Spots, and the girl mounted Cloud. ‘Lead on,’ the mage told Brokefang.

The wolves trotted down the trail away from the cave, followed by the horses and their riders. When the path forked, one end leading to the nearby river and the other into the mountains, Brokefang led them uphill.

‘If we follow the river, won’t that take us into the valley?’ Daine called. ‘It won’t be so hard on us.’

Brokefang halted. It is easier, he agreed, as Daine translated for Numair. Humans go that way all the time. So also do soldiers, and men with magic fires. It is best to avoid them. Men kill wolves on sight, remember, pack-sister?

‘Men with magic fires?’ Numair asked, frowning.

Men like you, said Brokefang, with the Light Inside.

‘We call them mages,’ Daine told him. ‘Or sorcerers, or wizards, or witches. What we call them depends on what they do.’

Numair thought for a moment. ‘Lead on,’ he said at last. ‘I prefer to avoid human notice for as long as possible. And thank you for the warning.’

The humans, Kitten, and the horses followed the wolves up along the side of the mountains that rimmed the valley of the Long Lake. By noon they had come to a section of trail that was bare of trees. The wolves didn’t slow, but trotted into the open. Daine halted, listening. Something nasty was tickling at the back of her mind, a familiar sense that had nothing to do with mortal animals. Getting her crossbow, she put an arrow in the notch and fixed it in place with the clip.

Numair took a step forwards, and Cloud grabbed his tunic in her teeth.

‘Stormwings,’ Daine whispered. Numair drew back from the bare ground. Under the tree cover, they watched the sky.

High overhead glided three creatures with human heads and chests, and great, spreading wings and claws. Daine knew from bitter experience that their birdlike limbs were steel, wrought to look like genuine feathers and claws. In sunlight they could angle those feathers to blind their enemies. They were battlefield creatures, living in human legend as monsters who dishonoured the dead. Eyes cold, she aimed at the largest of the three.

Numair put a hand on her arm. ‘Try to keep an open mind, magelet,’ he whispered. ‘They haven’t attacked us.’

‘Yet,’ she hissed.

Brokefang looked back to see what was wrong, and saw what they were looking at. These are harriers, he said. They help the soldiers and the mages.

Daine relayed this to Numair as the wolves moved on, to wait for them in the trees on the other side of the clearing.

‘Stormwings that work in conjunction with humans,’ the man commented softly. ‘That sounds like Emperor Ozorne’s work.’ The emperor of the southern kingdom of Carthak was a mage who seemed to have a special relationship with minor immortals, and with Stormwings in particular. Some, Numair included, thought it was Ozorne’s doing that had freed so many immortals from the Divine Realms in the first place. He had his eye on Tortall’s wealth, and many thought he meant to attack when the country’s defenders were worn out from battling immortals.

‘Now can I shoot them?’ Daine wanted to know.

‘You may not. They still have done nothing to harm us.’

The Stormwings flew off. Vexed with her friend, Daine fumed and waited until she could no longer sense the immortals before leading the way onto the trail once more. They were halfway across the open space when Numair stopped, frowning at a large, blackened crater down the slope from them. ‘That’s not a natural occurrence,’ he remarked, and walked towards it.

‘This isn’t the time to explore!’ Daine hissed. If he heard, he gave no sign of it. With a sigh the girl told the horses to move on. ‘The wolves won’t touch you,’ she said when Spots wavered. ‘Now go!’

Follow me, Cloud told the horses; they obeyed. Daine, with Kitten peering wide-eyed over her shoulder, followed Numair.

Blackened earth sprayed from the crater’s centre. Other things were charred as well: bones, round metal circles that had been shields before the leather covers burned, trees, axeheads, arrowheads, swords. The heat that had done this must have been intense. The clay of the mountainside had glazed in spots, coating the ground with a hard surface that captured what was left of this battle scene.

Numair bent over a blackened lump and pulled it apart. Daine looked at a mass of bone close to her, and saw it was a pony’s skeleton. Metal pieces from the dead mount’s tack had fallen in among the bones. Looking around, she counted other dead mounts. The smaller bone heaps belonged to human beings.

Grimly Numair faced her and held up his find. Blackened, half-burned, in tatters, it was a piece of cloth with a red horse rearing on a gold-brown field. ‘Now we know what happened to the Ninth Rider Group.’

Daine’s hand trembled with fury. She had a great many ties to the Queen’s Riders, and the sight of that charred flag was enough to break her heart. ‘And you stopped me from shooting those Stormwings.’

‘They don’t kill with blasting fire like this,’ Numair replied. ‘This is battle magic. I have yet to hear of a Stormwing being a war mage.’

‘I bet they knew about this, though.’

Numair put a hand on her shoulder. ‘You’re too young to be so closed-minded,’ he told her. ‘A little tolerance wouldn’t come amiss.’ Folding the remains of the flag, he climbed back up to the trail.

CHAPTER 2

THE VALLEY OF THE LONG LAKE

Three days after leaving the cave, the wolf pack led the humans and their ponies through a gap in the mountains. At its deepest point they found a spring, where they ate lunch; from there they followed a stream downhill, until Brokefang stopped.

You must look at something, he told Daine. Leave the horses by that rock – they will be safe there, with the rest of the pack to guard them.

Daine, with Kitten on her back in a sling, and Numair followed them up a long tumble of rock slabs. When they came to the top, they could see for miles. Far below was the Long Lake. Daine noticed a village where a small river – part of the stream they had followed – met the lake. Not far offshore, linked to the village by a bridge, was an island capped by a large, well-built castle.

Numair drew his spyglass from its case. Stretching it to full length, he put it to his eye and surveyed the valley.

What is that? asked the wolf, watching him.

‘It’s a glass in a tube,’ Daine replied. ‘It makes things that are far away seem closer.’

‘This is Fief Dunlath, without a doubt.’ Numair offered the spyglass to Daine. ‘I can’t see the northern reaches of the lake from here. Is that where the damage is being done? The holes and the tree cutting?’

Most of it, Brokefang replied. That and dens for the soldiers, like those they have at the south gate.

‘Soldiers at the northern and southern ends of the valley?’ asked Daine. ‘Then why not here, if they want to put watchdogs at the passes?’

Most two-leggers follow the river in and out, answered Brokefang. Few come here as we did. When they do, usually the harriers catch them outside, as they did those Riders you spoke of.

Numair listened as Daine translated. ‘This is not good,’ he muttered, squinting at Dunlath Castle. ‘There is no reason for this fief to be heavily guarded. Under law they’re only entitled to a force of forty men-at-arms … May I see that again?’ He held out a hand, and Daine returned the glass.

They continued to examine the valley until Brokefang said, Come. We have a way to go still. Let us find the meeting place, and my mate.

Daine and Numair followed the wolf back to the spot where they had left the horses. A strange wolf had joined the others, a grey-and-white female with a boldly marked face. Brokefang raced to meet her, tail erect and wagging gaily.

‘Well, he’s glad to see this one,’ Numair remarked as they followed more slowly. ‘Who’s the stranger?’

‘His mate, Frostfur. The boss female.’

Where were you? Frostfur was demanding of Brokefang. What took so long? You said you were going only to the other side of the mountain and you have been gone four nights.

Daine sighed. She’d forgotten how much she disliked Frostfur. During her time with the pack, Rattail had been Brokefang’s mate. A sweeter, gentler wolf Daine had never met. After her death, Brokefang had chosen her sister. The new female pack leader was a cross, fidgety animal who had never accepted Daine.

We were travelling with two-leggers and horses, Brokefang told his mate. They can’t run as fast as we can.

The only two-legger we need is her. Why didn’t you leave those others behind? We can hunt if we are hungry. We don’t need food brought to us, like the humans’ dogs.

At this, Cloud, who stood between Frostfur and the horses, laid back her ears. Kitten reared up in her sling, bracing her forepaws on Daine’s shoulder, and screeched at the she-wolf. Daine was shocked to hear her friend voice something that sounded so rude. Frostfur looked at them and bared her teeth.

‘Enough!’ the girl ordered. ‘We’re friends. That means you, Frostfur, and these horses. If you disobey, you’ll be sorry.’

Frostfur met her eyes, then looked away. You are different, the wolf said. You and the pony both. I suppose you don’t even realize it. The pack never was the same after you left it. How much will you change us this time?

Brokefang nuzzled his mate. It will be good, he told Frostfur. You’ll see. Take us to the pups. You’ll feel better when the pack is one again.

Without reply, Frostfur ran down a trail that led north. The wolves and their guests followed. The path took them on a line that ran parallel to the lake. For a game trail it was wide and, if the tracks and marks on the trees and shrubs were to be believed, used by many animals, not only wolves.

‘Mountain sheep,’ Daine commented, showing Numair a tuft of white fur that had caught on a bramble. ‘A wolverine, too – keep an eye out for that one. They’re nasty when they’re crossed.’ Looking up the trail, she saw each of the wolves stop to lift a leg on a pile of meat. Even the females did so, which was odd. Marking territory was normally done only by males. ‘Graveyard Hag, what are they doing?’ she asked, naming one of Numair’s gods. She trotted to the head of the line. ‘What is this?’ she asked. ‘What’s wrong with the meat?’

Brokefang replied, One of the two-leggers is a hunter of wolves. He leaves poisoned meat on our trails. We are telling him what we think of this. When he comes to check the meat, he will curse and throw things. It is fun to watch.

Daine laughed, and went to explain it to Numair.

They made several stops to express such opinions: twice at snares, once at a trap, and once at a pit covered with leaves and branches. Each time the wolves marked the spot with urine and dung, leaving a smelly mess for the hunter. At the last two stops, the horses and Cloud also left tokens of contempt.

‘That should really confuse him,’ Daine told Numair and Kitten. ‘He’ll never figure out how horses came to mark a wolf scent post.’

A lesser trail split from the one they walked; the wolves followed it into a cuplike valley set deep in the mountainside, hidden by tangles of rock. There the woods opened onto a clearing around a pond. At the water’s edge trails crossed and recrossed, and large, flattened areas in the brush marked wolf beds.

A challenge-bark came from a bunch of reeds, and five half-grown wolves, their colours ranging from brown to frosted grey, tumbled out. They still bore remnants of soft baby fur, and were in the process of trading milk teeth for meat teeth. Eyeing the strangers, they whined and growled nervously, until the pack surrounded them and shut the newcomers off from view.

Another grown wolf, a black, grey, and brown male, pranced over to say hello. ‘He’s Longwind,’ Daine informed Numair. ‘He was babysitting.’ To the wolf she said, ‘Say hello to my friends. Cloud you know.’ As Longwind obeyed, the girl walked up to the pack. The moment the pups noticed her they backed away.

Frostfur said with grim satisfaction, I knew bringing strangers was a mistake. Brokefang nuzzled his mate, trying to sweeten her temper.

Fleetfoot stuck her nose under the belly of one of the male pups and scooted him forwards. We know this isn’t what you’re used to, she told him, but you may as well learn now as later.

Russet gripped a female pup by the scruff of the neck and dragged her to the girl, adding, Daine is Pack, and if she is Pack, so are these others.

The female was the one to walk forwards, still clumsy on her feet, to sniff Daine’s palm. She is Leaper, Russet said, and Leaper wagged her tail. The male pup trotted over. He is Chaser, commented Russet. These others are too silly to have names. At that the remaining three pups approached timidly, whining.