Wolf-speaker Read Online Free PDF Page A

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 strangewolf had joined the others, a gray-and-white female with a boldly marked face. Brokefang raced to meet her, tail erect and wagging gaily.
    â€œWell, he’s glad to see this one,” Numair remarked as they followed more slowly. “Who’s the stranger?”
    â€œHis 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 traveling with two-leggers and horses, Brokefang told his mate. They can’t run as fast as we can.
    The only two-legger you 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 tohear her friend voice something that sounded so rude. Frostfur looked at them and bared her teeth.
    â€œEnough!” 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.
    â€œMountain 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 isthis?” 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.
    â€œThat 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