Wolfwalker - Wolf In Night Part 45

"MaDione?" the Tamrani said more sharply.

She shook her head again, trying to make sense of his words. She could still feel the tips of the claws that had pierced her back, but the badgerbear was young, and it had made only small punctures, blunted by her jerkin. The blood was sticky across her back, but there wasn't much of it, for all that the taste of it was in her mouth. She got to her feet shakily. It was Rishte's tongue she tasted, and she tried to shut him out. He paused and snarled at her, and she had to close her eyes.Back off, back off, she growled back.I can't have you in me now.

Hunger, hungry,he growled.

Deliberately, she formed the words, but they came out more like snarls. Eat, then. Fill your belly.

There's time for that, at least.

He turned back to the dead beast eagerly. When he dragged a strand of something ugly out of one of the punctures, Nori turned away. She was shaking, and her vision wasn't yet right. She needed to . . .

needed to tear at the badgerbear, taste it again.

Fentris moved around to the other side of the beast. His sword had been wrenched out of his hand when he'd cut deeply into the spine, and the bones had locked around the steel. He muttered a curse and worked it free, then wiped it carefully on the gra.s.s. He gave Nori a wary look as he slid it back in its scabbard. "Black Wolf," he started. Then, harder, "Black Wolf, shouldn't we go?"

Nori shook her head in answer, but it was a s.h.a.ggy motion. She closed her eyes and scrunched up her face, then rolled her neck and shoulders until she felt her own muscles, not those of the wolf. "No," she managed. She opened her eyes and looked at the wary Tamrani. "If the adults had heard this, they'd have been here by now. They'll be occupied for hours with the dnu. We'll wait for Hunter."

"He's here?" Fentris looked around quickly.

She nodded shakily down the slope. "He's coming up now."

Carefully, she set her hunting blade in the gra.s.s. Then she wiped her longknife on a handful of leaves, but the blood was already drying. She had to spit and work the leaves over the blade before she could put it away. Then she took her hunting knife, nudged the wolf aside, and started to skin the beast.

Fentris stared at her. "What are you doing?"

She jammed two fingers into one of the slits she'd made and slid the blade between them. "I want the fur." She cut the pelt back in a long line toward the abdomen. She left the inner membrane as intact as she could, and had to snarl at Rishte when he tried to tear through it again.Not yet, she snapped.

"Hmm, Wolfwalker, I know this is your wilderness and all, but it seems to me that there might be better times to take a fur."

"It's not for me," she returned sharply. "It's for the Harumen." Her hands were b.l.o.o.d.y, and she had to grip the knife sharply to cut down the insides of the legs.Just a minute, she snarled at the wolf. She cut away a large, b.l.o.o.d.y chunk of haunch, and the Grey One almost took off her fingers when he yanked it from her grip. By the time she'd freed the fur of both rear legs, Hunter was at the edge of the clearing.

He took one look at Nori's b.l.o.o.d.y arms, another long look at the carca.s.s. "What the h.e.l.l happened here?"

"My fault," Fentris said flatly. "I left blood on the trail."

Hunter's expression closed, and his cold green eyes seemed to pierce the other man. Nori glanced at him. "And mine," she told him. "I didn't notice he'd been injured." She went back to work on the carca.s.s and explained tersely before he could ask, "I'm taking the pelt. We can use it against the Harumen. We need every advantage now." If they hadn't run into that trap, she'd have tried to hunt something like this down herself, once the Harumen got closer.

Hunter reached for his hunting knife, but its leather hanger was torn and the blade was gone. Fentris silently handed him his own knife, and Hunter tried not to snort at the patterned steel and inlaid handle.

The blade was still master-sharpened and unscratched, and Fentris almost winced as Hunter stropped it twice on his trousers to wipe off any oil. But when he started to squat beside the wolfwalker, she snarled at him and refused to shift over. Carefully, he eased back. He kept his voice calm. "Use the pelt how?"

he asked instead.

She reached in through the abdomen to cut out the tissue around the glands inside the a.n.a.l cavity, and Fentris looked quickly away. "Tied to a bent-back on a thread-release." Her voice was still too much of a growl, and she steadied it. She didn't touch the glands with her knife. Instead, she took a leaf from the pile nearby, and used one to pinch each gland shut, so she could pull it gently out and set it carefully on the ground. She had to force herself to add, "It will spook their dnu. It might even put some of them afoot like us."

She rolled the pelt up against the spine of the beast, then grabbed its knees and heaved it onto its other side. The head stayed where it was, the neck twisted limply. The ribs sagged where they had supported the guts. All three tongues tangled in the sunken circle of fangs, and the slashed gums drained blood and saliva onto crushed gra.s.s. There was something obscene about it. Fentris swallowed again but, with some sort of horrified fascination, couldn't look away.

The wolfwalker had worked the pelt up to the shoulders when both she and Rishte stiffened. Hunter whipped to his feet, and Fentris slid out his sword. "Stay still," Nori snapped at both.

She crouched over the carca.s.s and stared into the brush. She could hear it now in her own ears, the quieting of birds just over there, the stopping of the insects that then started up again as the somethings, the creatures, pa.s.sed. A moment later, the first wolf slunk into view. Rishte growled. Then the pack leader slipped into the clearing, to the left, forcing Nori to turn. He bristled at her as the other wolves moved in then and made a half circle around the carca.s.s. Two of them licked their teeth.

Slowly, Nori straightened. She could almost hear the quickened heartbeats in Fentris's and Hunter's chests. Her own was pounding like hooves on a hard, stone road. Her lips curled back as she fingered the knife.

The pack leader growled.Back away. Ours now. Back away.

She didn't have to meet the wild wolf's eyes to hear his intent. Rishte started forward and she snapped, Back. He froze, startled. She glared at the pack leader.My kill. Mine first. You wait.

Golden eyes gleamed as they took in the humans.Weak pack. He bared his fangs.Hungry. Our kill.

Nori's lips curled into a feral smile.My kill. Mine first, and I am well armed. Do not challenge me.

Human. Hungryhungry pack. We take the beast now.

"No." All eight wolves flinched at the spoken word. Rishte growled low, and automatically Nori hushed him.Twenty minutes for me to finish, and Rishte gets first meat. Then the beast is yours.

Ours then. Our meat, our pack.

Aye.

The male wolf licked white fangs and considered that. Nori noted the broken tooth in front, the scar that split one ear where he had fought another wolf in the past. She could feel the strength in his voice from the years he had led. He had seen humans before, but had always avoided them. Now she stared him down.

Wolfwalker,he acknowledged.

"Aye," she said softly. She didn't turn her head, but she ordered the two Tamrani, "Stay where you are, make no threatening moves. I'll be done here in a few minutes." She waited till the pack leader sat. A minute later, the other wolves did also, and the wolfwalker turned back to the carca.s.s. Rishte didn't lower his head. She snarled at him, and he finally dropped his head and began tearing at the haunch.

Around them, the other wolves watched. They looked as patient as poolah, but Nori could feel the edge in them. They were poised, ready to leap forward when the pack leader gave the signal. They would fight for the meat if she let them. She looked up every few seconds to meet the male's gaze and let him feel the taint in her mind. It made the wolf more wary.

She worked the pelt off over the skull. Then she rolled it up, blood-side out, to keep the mites from jumping from fur to her. Finally, she stood and looked at Fentris. "Let me have your shirt?"

Quickly, he shrugged out of his jerkin and stripped off his shirt. He was putting his jerkin on again when he realized what she intended. "Wait, what are you-"

Hunter snorted a laugh. She had tied the sleeves around the bundle, turning his shirt into a makeshift bag.

The blood had already stained the fine cloth. Nori merely slung it onto her shoulder, then looked at Rishte. He had torn and glulped about half the meat from the haunch, and she waited patiently till he finished. Then she called him softly in her mind.

He looked up at her.Wolfwalker. There was a new note in his voice, and he didn't argue when she gestured for him to leave with the Tamrani. Instead, he trotted past the two men, then through the other wolf pack, bristling only slightly.

Nori looked into the gaze of the pack leader one more time. The Grey One snarled in response, then stalked forward and, ignoring her, began tearing at the carca.s.s. The other wolves shied away as she walked through them after the Tamrani, but they lunged eagerly forward as she cleared away from the badgerbear. She glanced back only once. They were growling over the guts and limbs, eating as fast as they could.

x.x.xVI.

Knife in hand Wolf in mind -Randonnen saying Payne had seen Nori throw herself into the trees, dragging Fentris with her. He had no time for more.

When his dnu panicked, he could only hunch low on the neck and pray he could stay in the saddle.

Wakje clung behind him, the man's face tucked into Payne's back to protect his eyes as the forest clawed at their limbs. Trunks of bent trees, low boughs slammed their shoulders, calves and knees. One stirrup caught on a branch that whipped back with the dnu, then shattered across Payne's ankle hard enough to bruise it through his boot. Then the dnu hit a stand of greendup and, with the double weight of two men, floundered like a deer in a mud hole. "Easy," Payne commanded sharply. He had already begun pulling back on the reins, but the dnu was mindless. It felt the pressure on its face and started to rear.

Wakje went off and landed hard, barely missed by the hooves. Payne pressed his knees in and pulled firmly down on the dnu's neck. Its sides were heaving and its eyes were wild, but after a minute it came to a halt. "Easy, easy," he murmured. He didn't dismount. Greendup was hard enough to wade through on a dnu. On foot it was worse than brambles.

Carefully, he eased the riding beast back until one of its hooves tangled. Then he dismounted carefully, kept his hands on its trembling body to soothe it, and peeled the vines from its leg. He stood for a moment listening. He couldn't hear Kettre, but she had to be nearby with Leanna. He tried not to curse as he caught sight of Wakje wading toward him. Nori-G.o.ds only knew where she was. The two Tamrani were with her, that was something, but it would take time for her to circle to meet them, time the Harumen wouldn't have to take.

Something crackled in the brush to the left, and both men stiffened. Then an alder bird cried out softly.

Payne let his breath out in relief. Wakje waited till the cry came again, then returned it three times. A few minutes later, they led the dnu free of the rest of the greendup stand.

At first, they didn't see Kettre. Then she and Leanna stood. Wakje nodded his approval. The two women had crouched and forced their dnu down to the ground to stay out of sight till they knew him. He gave them a quick once-over as they met up. Kettre was solid, her weapons ready, but he could see the fear in Leanna's eyes. "Alright?" he asked sharply. The girl stiffened. She threw her loose braid back over her shoulder and nodded tersely. "Fine."

Kettre exchanged a wry look with Payne. Pride had always been one of the best and simplest goads.

She kept her voice low. "What about Nori?"

Payne sobered. "We cut left. She went off to the right. She could be anywhere." He squinted ahead, but the brush was thick even outside the greendup stand, and he couldn't see clearly more than thirty or forty meters in any one direction. "High ground is that way," he pointed. "She'll expect to meet there."

Wakje nodded. He looked back along their trail. They had crushed brush in long swaths where their dnu had smashed through the forest. The tangled ma.s.s was the obvious work of a panicked creature-no eerin or deer would go into such a patch unless driven by a predator. They needed to regain the trail, get to a point where they could see far enough behind them.

Payne's gaze sharpened. Three birds flew abruptly up in the distance.

"I see it," Wakje said flatly. The Harumen had found them.

Kettre murmured, "We're short a dnu for running."

The ex-raider didn't answer. He simply took the reins to Leanna's dnu and motioned the girl up behind Kettre. The woman hesitated, but didn't argue. Weight was everything, and the ex-raider weighed as much as she and Leanna together.

They forced their way quickly through the thick growth. Twigs snapped, ferns broke, waxy leaves split and bled. Animals fled from their path, and a pair of jackbraws called the warning raucously as they trampled too near a nest.

It was Payne who first saw the party behind them. He'd been scanning the forest constantly, looking for signs of Nori when he caught a glimpse of movement too high up for a predator. It was a hat, and he took a second to verify it. Then he whistled low and sharp.

Wakje looked back and caught the jerk of Payne's head. They had regained the trail barely four minutes before, and after doing the tick dance to shake off the forest mites had spurred their dnu to a quick trot.

Now the ex-raider pulled up and studied the forest. The skyline had the thinness of a sharp drop-off, and Payne felt a chill. High ground, yes, but Nori had told him to avoid the deep ravines. "We're only a kay from the canyons."

"No choice," Wakje snapped back. They'd have cover among the rocks and first choice of high ground.

When the wolfwalker found them, she and the Tamrani could flank the Harumen or come up behind them and put the group in a crossfire.

"What about Nori-" Kettre snapped.

"She'll find us," Payne threw back. "Run for it." Then he leaned low over his dnu and kicked it into a canter.

Behind them, they heard the first horn.

Nori halted abruptly on the trail.

Fentris almost ran up on her. "What is it?" he demanded.

"Horns. The Harumen have seen them." They were close enough to Payne not to worry about being subtle. She looked to where Rishte had loped ahead. "Hurry," she told them. "They're near the ravines."

"Is that a problem?" Hunter asked sharply.

"No," she said shortly. G.o.ds, Payne, don't climb down.

But the fear was back in her eyes, and Hunter started to ask, "Black Wolf?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's go." She broke into a run.

He steadied his bow and quiver. Fentris's sword was useless at a distance, and Hunter himself had only seven bolts left. What Nori expected them to do against moons only knew how many Harumen . . . He swore under his breath. But he had seen the tightness in Nori's face, and as Fentris stumbled in front of him, he matched Nori's pace without question.

Payne's dnu pounded over the trail. Small, slick rises slowed him down, and new growth tangled the trail. He guided the beast around ma.s.sive boulders and ducked broken branches that hung head-high, while behind them, the Harumen came into view. He risked a glance back, caught the blank intensity in Kettre's expression and the top of Leanna's head as the girl tucked in behind the woman. Wakje leaned so low on the saddle he was almost off his dnu.

Payne jumped his own beast over a deep puddle, skidded on the other side, and spurred the dnu back to a gallop. They were close to the ravines; he could see sky through the trees. For a moment the brush thickened. In the rear, Wakje saw the same thing. He whistled, low and sharp. Payne, keyed up like an overtight bow, obeyed blindly. He grabbed his weapons and dove off his dnu. When he hit, he rolled instantly under the ferns and wormed away on his belly and elbows. Leanna kicked free of Kettre, hit the ground after him and bounced, then scrambled into a root-ball.

Kettre gasped as she felt the girl kick free. She started to shout for her to hang on. Then she understood.

She looked back, but her dnu had plunged on after Payne's, and the thick brush was already behind her.

She'd been too slow. The Harumen could see her.

"Faster!" she yelled, as if at Payne. "They're almost on us." She didn't look back again.

Nori ripped through brush to get to the trail. Ahead, Rishte howled the hunt, and her senses seemed to sharpen. She could smell the broken leaves; she could clog her lungs with the odors of mud, but she tried to hold herself away. She had to see clearly to run.

Fentris struggled behind her, and she left it to Hunter to help him. She was focused ahead, on the horns, on her brother, on the thudding that seemed to beat in her ears with the pounding of hooves of dnu. She registered movement, the shift of creatures away, a bursting in the brush as an eerin startled and bounded away. The late-afternoon breeze was rising to a wind, and the day's warmth had leached away until the shadows were chill with sweat and fear. Payne, turn away, get away from the cliff. Moons help her to reach him in time.

Payne watched Kettre gallop past and cursed, cursed under his breath. He slid his bow into position and huddled so that he could leap to a crouch when the Harumen pa.s.sed. He could hear the pounding now, the Harumen approaching. Five of them slammed past on the trail; they looked neither right nor left.

Seconds later, the other six whipped by. Immediately he started squirming after them, staying low in the brush.

Ten meters, twenty. Wakje was working forward to the side. Leanna was somewhere behind him. None of them risked standing; the Harumen would have people watching for exactly that. G.o.ds, careful was so slow. How long had it been? Ten minutes already? The Harumen were at the rim, moons alone knew what they were doing, but they weren't moving on.

There were few shadows to help Payne hide as he worked his way forward. The fragments of sky that he could see were half grey and half blue with that thick mugginess of spring, and he couldn't see the moons. He made enough noise that the forest remained silent to watch. He squinted past the dark perion shrubs, then around a ma.s.sive root-ball. He froze at a glimpse of movement, but it was just a fern collapsing; the Harumen were not yet starting back. Kettre must have misled them enough. But his bones chilled as he heard her cry out. Then he heard her scream- He scrambled to his feet and sprinted toward the rim, staying behind heavy trees. Wakje thrust up after him and high-jumped brush to catch him. Payne tripped, fell but didn't lose his bow, and leapt back to his feet. He could hear men talking now, arguing. He could hear dnu being trotted away.

The forest thinned but the tree trunks thickened where they got more light, making it easier to work his way forward. Brush scraggled out on the ravine rim. He caught sight of half a clouded sky, pieces of an open trail, and ragged coats of lichen, and then the Harumen. They had Kettre. He could see the blood on her temple and torn cloak. He brought up his bow as three men turned. Wakje's bolt was an instant behind him. Both arrows sank into the same heavy man, the one holding Kettre. Both Payne and Wakje dropped to their knees and shot again as the first man sagged, and the others brought up their weapons.

Payne dodged instinctively, and the first war bolt phuttered through the leaves he'd been sprinting past.

He leapt, dove, rolled into a clear spot, and came up on one knee. He fired as he caught his breath. He missed. One dark-haired Harumen woman dodged into cover; the blond man went down with Wakje's bolt in his throat. The blond thrashed and tore at the bolt, but it was sunk all the way through his neck.

The Haruman started choking. Three arms reached out and dragged the man behind the rocks. One arm jerked back as Payne's arrow caught it.