People of the Wolf(14)

Runs In Light squeezed his eyes shut. Crow Caller's Spirit Power chafed at the edges of his soul. "Wolf protects me. ..." he repeated over and over, heart throbbing. "He won't let me die until I reach the land beyond the Big Ice." He touched the blood-wolf effigy on his forehead. "Wolf leads me south to the land of the Father Sun. I follow the" Wolf Dream."

Crow Caller's Power seemed to ebb at the edges of his being. Runs In Light opened his eyes and smiled his relief at the old shaman where he danced.

Awed exclamations erupted behind him, at the demonstration of his Power. Broken Branch grabbed up her toes, rocking back and forth like Grandfather Brown Bear. A grin exposed her toothless black gums and pink tongue.

"Wolf Dream!" her gravelly voice cracked. "Ha-heee! I go south with Runs In Light. I go south with Wolf!"

Father Sun slid below the jagged horizon to the southwest, darkness accenting the hollowness of the People's cheeks and eyes. Dusk descended like opalescent veils of smoke. The wavering brilliant fires made by the Monster Children's war rose in rainbow patterns to light the northern sky. The Twins had fought from the beginning of time, one good, the other bad, locked in eternal combat.

"You go south to death! Hear me, Father Sun! I, Crow Caller, have your Dream. Feel my Power? I curse these . . . these traitors! Their souls will never reach the Blessed Star

People. Death!" he shrieked, pirouetting, arms spread like an eagle to end in a low crouch facing Runs In Light.

' 'I follow Wolf. Anyone who eats the meat of Wolf follows my Dream." Turning, Runs In Light weaved through the crowd to duck beneath the shelter flap.





Chapter 5



Crimson light flickered over the hide walls of the shelter, accenting the fear and longing in people's eyes. They huddled silently around the low flames, letting the dark smoke warm them.

One Who Cries lifted the hafting of his new stone dart point to his teeth, finding the nub of sinew with his tongue., He clamped it tightly between worn incisors and pulled hard, feeling the knot go tight. With a critical eye, he examined the binding, grunting satisfaction at the set of the stone point in the split end of the dart shaft.

Singing Wolf poked at the smoldering chunk of mammoth dung in the fire pit. Along with dried moss, it made a meager source of heat. It had been a day of good luck; one of the children had found the fuel where the wind had stripped the snow away. The sadness of his baby's death still rested heavily in his eyes. The dung glowed red, smoke hanging thick and musty in the air.

One Who Cries sighted down the long shaft of his dart to the chunk of wolf meat in the middle of the floor. ' 'Do I have to sit here all night and stare at that pile of meat?''

"What's stronger? Your stomach? Or your fear of what Crow Caller will do to you if you eat wolf?" Singing Wolf wondered aloud, hungry eyes on the thawing wolf quarters. The side of meat nearest the fire glowed eerily red. Singing Wolf swallowed hard, as if the watering in his mouth irritated him.

"Shamans!" One Who Cries muttered, twirling the dart

anxiously in his fingers. "Playing for Power while the People starve . . .I'm eating the meat." He started crawling across the floor.

"And going south with Runs In Light?" Singing Wolf lifted an eyebrow.

One Who Cries stopped short, hovering over the meat. Perplexed lines gouged his brow. He set his stubby teeth in his lower lip. His round face looked almost pudgy in the light cast by the fire. High broad cheeks emphasized his mashed-flat nose. Hunger ate at the perpetual merriment in his eyes.

Uncertain now, One Who Cries lifted a shoulder. "Raven Hunter says his brother's a fool. A fool can talk himself into believing things. You know Runs In Light, he's always seeing things. Maybe—"

"Raven Hunter, now there's a man with sense. How can two brothers be so different?"

"So, what do we do? Look at that meat." He stabbed a hand at it. "Why do spirits have to get mixed up with my stomach? Get mixed up with us at all with death all around.''

"Because shamans are all crazy," Singing Wolf groaned,

"I'm going to eat it. You trust spirit meat?"

Singing Wolf scratched under his arm, eyes squinted thoughtfully. "Don't be an idiot. Of course not. Spirits are unpredictable." A pause. "Crow Caller didn't want to sing for my child. Didn't want to!" Behind him, Laughing Sunshine's eyes grew bright with tears. He clasped her hand firmly.

One Who Cries gave him a pained look. "You saw Light's eyes, huh? Did you see the Dream in them?"

He shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know. There was something there, but ..."

"But what?"

'' Raven Hunter said— "

"I know what he said," One Who Cries grunted in disgust and rocked back on his heels, jaw vibrating with grinding teeth.