Marsheila Rockwell - Legacy of the Wolves

“… and, of course, that’s when I found out she was really a he . Talk about embarrassing.”

“… when Uncle Zaxon thought it would be funny to turn me to stone for a few years …”

“… be sure to add that to my list of things never to say to a dragon …”

Irulan wrenched her attention away from the sound of the dwarf’s voice and sent her awareness back out into the forest, searching for the wolves.

There, to the south. Three … four. Where were the others?

Ah, the two females, one approaching from either side, but thankfully nowhere near the horses. Irulan could not sense them, but she knew the mounts would be whickering in alarm as they scented the wolves. Luckily, the spell hid them not only from sight, but from smell and hearing, as well. As long as their tethers held, they should be safe.

As the wolves moved in, Irulan noted their positions, then let her awareness of the hunters fade. She opened up her eyes and looked at her companions.

“They’re here.”

With the two females split off from the rest of the pack, Irulan knew the dire wolves would try to run them. It was a tactic their smaller counterparts commonly used to cull the weak from herds of deer and other ungulates. The pair would harry their frightened prey until the luckless animals ran, at which point the two wolves would chase them straight into the midst of the waiting pack. This time, though, they were in for a surprise.

The wolves were all but invisible, their grizzled black pelts blending seamlessly into the forest shadows. If not for their glowing yellow eyes, Irulan might not have known they were there until they moved out of the underbrush on either side of the clearing. As it was, she pretended not to notice them as she alerted her companions, making sure to keep her tone light and airy.

“The two females are circling us,” she said, as though she were discussing nothing more serious than the weather. “They’ll try to get downstream of us and force us to move closer to the males. When they make their move, draw your weapons and stand your ground, but whatever you do, don’t attack.”

“That’s like making your lady get all dressed up for the party, then refusing to dance with her,” Greddark said, not quite able to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

Irulan smiled, watching the wolves approach out of the corner of her eyes.

“Oh, never fear, there’ll be dancing. But the steps may not be to your liking.”

The dwarf grunted. “Nothing else about this plan has been. Why should this part be any different?”

Irulan laughed at his surliness.

“It’s a good thing you have such a quick wit, Greddark, because you’re going to need it. Right … about … now.”

As if her words had been a signal, the two females rushed them, snapping and snarling. They were at least five times the size of a normal wolf, with teeth twice as long as those of their smaller cousins. Their claws were like miniature sickles which the huge canids used to trip prey that got too close.

The companions sprang up, Andri and Greddark’s weapons clearing their sheaths with a song of steel on leather. Andri called flame to his blade, and the smaller of the two wolves whimpered when she saw it, crouching low with her tail between her legs. The larger, dominant female growled at her packmate, her own tail held high. The other female took courage from her leader, and soon she was standing and growling as well, though she stayed a good distance away from Andri.

Irulan did not draw her own blade, but shifted instead, feeling her claws lengthen and thicken as she crouched, making sure that she was still taller than the large female. Height was one of many way her animal cousins showed dominance, and she wanted it clear that there was only room for one leading lady in this clearing -her .

The pack leader reacted predictably, her ears jutting upward as she bared her long teeth at the shifter. She stalked forward slowly, stiff-legged, her hackles bristling, until she was within arm’s reach of Irulan. Then she very deliberately raised her hind leg and urinated all over Irulan’s saddle bags, which were sitting on the ground not far from their campfire. Marking her territory. Letting Irulan know who was really in charge here.

Irulan leapt, clawed hands reaching for the thick ruff of fur at the base of the dire wolf’s throat. Grasping the long hairs firmly as she sailed over the female’s back, using her momentum and her angle to heave the wolf off her feet-no mean trick, given that the dire wolf outweighed her by several hundred pounds. They rolled across the grass until she came up with the struggling animal pinned beneath her, her arms locked about the wolf’s throat in a hold that cut off the creature’s air supply. While Andri held the other wolf at bay with his flaming sword, Irulan bent low and murmured soothing words in the female’s ear. As she spoke, the charm began to take effect and the wolf’s struggles subsided, her flattened ears gradually perking up again. When Irulan was sure the pack leader was completely under her thrall, she loosened her hold and climbed off her, allowing the female to regain her feet. The wolf turned to face her, panting and darting forward to lick her face, then abruptly grabbing the shifter’s chin in powerful jaws.

Greddark hissed and started to move toward her, but Irulan waved the dwarf back. The female was merely showing her submission. She meant the shifter no harm.

“It’s fine,” Irulan said when the wolf released her, “She’s just trying to mouth my muzzle.” The phrase elicited only blank looks from her companions. She just shook her head. She didn’t have time to tutor them on the intricacies of wolf behaviors. “It’s fine,” she said again.

She stood slowly, scratching the now subordinate female behind the ears. The wolf’s coloring reminded her of Destry, the pup she’d bonded with back in the Reaches. Destry had gotten himself killed trying to defend her from a mother bear whose cubs she’d stumbled across by accident, and she hadn’t had the heart to take another animal companion since. But sometimes, when she happened upon a wolf in the wild, she’d think of that fierce little pup and how much she missed him. Maybe, once this was all over and Javi was free, she’d go back to the Reaches and see if she could find one of his littermates. Traveling with Andri and Greddark reminded her how lonely her life was. It would be good to have a friend again.

But first things first.

She whispered to the female, who wagged her tail once, then sat back on her hind legs and let out a long howl that reverberated through the small clearing. The other female joined her in the echoing chorus, a forlorn sound that was oddly incongruous in the bright sunlight.

Greddark shivered, and even Andri looked unsettled.

“What in Onatar’s name are they doing?” the dwarf demanded, his grip tightening on his hilt as his eyes roved uneasily over the surrounding trees.

“Calling the rest of the pack.”

It didn’t take long for the pack to respond. An answering howl sounded, much closer than Irulan had anticipated, and before its last echoes had faded away into the canopy, the other four dire wolves materialized silently out of the woods.

Irulan identified the dominant male. He was easily a foot taller at the shoulder than the other males, and probably weighed more than her horse. With jet black fur and eyes that blazed amber, the hostility radiating from him made it clear that charming him was not going to be an option.

She would have to fight.

Irulan stared into the male pack leader’s yellow eyes, her refusal to look away a clear challenge to his dominance.

“Whatever happens to me,” she said to her companions, not taking her eyes off the wolf, “don’t run.”