Wolf-speaker
4/5
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About this ebook
When Daine is summoned to help a pack of wolves—dear friends from her old village—she and Numair travel to Dunlath Valley to answer the call. But when they arrive, Daine is shocked to learn that it’s not only animals whose lives are threatened; people are in danger, too.
Dunlath’s rulers have discovered black opals in their valley. They’re dead set on mining the opals and using the magic contained in the stones to overthrow King Jonathan. Even if it means irreversibly damaging the land—and killing their workers. Daine must master her wild magic in order to save both her animal friends and her human ones.
Tamora Pierce
Beloved author Tamora Pierce has written a great number of books, including the Song of the Lioness quartet, The Immortals quartet, the Circle of Magic quartet, the Protector of the Small quartet, The Circle Opens quartet, the Trickster series, The Will of the Empress, Melting Stones, the Beka Cooper series, and The Numair Chronicles. She lives in upstate New York with various cats, other four-legged animals, and birds who feed in her yard, and can be e-visited at Tamora-Pierce.net.
Read more from Tamora Pierce
Song of the Lioness
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Reviews for Wolf-speaker
1,254 ratings19 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a very easy read, even with five courses I finished it in a couple of days. Daine learns to shape-shift in this one.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
I read this book surrounded by animals, because how else should I have read it? I love Daine ao much. I l8ve her compassion, and I love that she learns to be open-minded towards all creatures. Numair is so loyal to his friends, and Alanna is bad ass as ever. This book also deals with conplicated issues, such as her unwilling changes to the animals that she engages with.
I love animals, Daine loves animals, therefore, I love this book! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm loving Daine and her story!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This moves on from its predecessor (Wild Magic) by exploring Daine's ability not only to communicate with animals but to shift into their minds, and finally (after some disconcerting manifestations of bristles, odd-shaped feet, etc.) to shapeshift herself. Her travel with animals is well imagined and described, though it was not entirely clear to me what her body was doing while her mind was roving (and when she finally takes animal form, the convenient closeness of her pack when she returns to human form after a cross-country chase and finds herself nude is simply too handy).The tale centres on trying to discover and counter the evil plans of the mage who is wreaking havoc in Fief Dunlaf, where the wife of the overlord aspires to the Queen's throne. Daine's recruiting of animals spies and assistants plays a major part, with the mage Numair carefully ushered off-stage and kept there by a magic barrier. However, the accretion of supporting characters began to strain my suspension of disbelief. Daine creeps through the woods trying to avoid being spotted, accompanied by at least one pony, a squirrel, a small dragon, a younger girl, several wolves, an ogre, a hunter, and a basilisk. This last seems much too aristocratic and mature a character to have trailing around in this ramshackle following, waiting to be useful to the plot. The hunter, too, seems to come to terms far too readily with the prospect of alliance with the wolves he was cursing and hunting to the death only days ago, and with the uncanny spirit-travel and shapeshifting engaged in by the young teenaged girl who is telling everyone else what to do.Pierce also commits two authorial crimes which I cannot let go. One concerns grammar. Daine "corrects" Maura's use of "me and Kitten" to "Kitten and me" (and is corrected in her turn three pages later). This may have been a pet superstition of the author's English teacher, but it is quite illegitimate: the grammatical context indeed requires "me" (not "I") but only over-genteel stylists suppose that the other person must come first. The other is stylistic: most of Pierce's writing is fluent, but I actually came to a halt at one point and had to reread the sentence (p. 302): She had learned the trick to add to her power when she was tired by getting cold or cold and soaked from him. No points for the editor there.I did like the confrontation between a Stormclaw (unpleasant harpy-like monster) and Daine hitching a ride with an animal friend:"Get that squirrel!" shrieked Rikash as Flicker bolted past.The cooks gaped at him. "Get the what?"There's a thoughtful thread concerning the status of Stormclaws, whom Daine learns not to treat merely as crossbow targets. I shall be happy to continue reading the series, but I wouldn't count it among the classics of YA fantasy.MB 11-ii-2011
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!This second installation of the Immortals is written by Tamora Pierce. I like this book because Tamora Pierce lets us find out a little bit more about Daine and her history with wolves. When Daine travels to the fief Dunlath, they come out (more like escape out), finding that the fief Dunlath ruler's Yolane and Beldan, with the help of the Carthaki mage Tristan, is plotting to overthrow the Crown (aka: the Crown is Jonathan of Conte' and Queen Thayet). As they escape, Daine stays behind to watch over the wolves and find that they found Maura, that's trying to warn the Crown. They keep on traveling, and find out that Daine can share the minds of other animals.Daine uses this ability to do a sort of recon of the area, but they're trapped within the valley with a barrier. The group then finds that an immortal basilisk snuck in through the border via the mage's summoning spell. They befriend each other and eventually becomes a messenger, when a friendly squirrel said that Numair was outside the barrier. Daine talks to him via basilisk messenger and then Numair also gave her a message, saying that in order to break the barrier, Daine has to find a model of the valley and destroy it. Daine sneaks into a forbidden tower as one of the kitchen cats, Scrap, accompanied by Blueness.Then Daine goes into the tower and finds the model, but not before a Coldfang tries and kill them. Daine defeats it, but Scrap was almost killed in the process. Daine calls upon the Gods of animals to heal Scrap, and it works. Daine then finds the model and promptly destroy it. Numair then comes and makes sure that Daine is okay and says a spell/prank to get rid of Tristan's, the mage in charge of the conspirisy.Tristan shows up on a hurrok (an eagle pegasus monster) and battles Numair. Both are fighting furiously, calling upon huge elemental powers, and then Stormwings came, wanting to kill Numair, but Daine stopped them, wanting peace with Lord Rikash. The brunette Stormwing tried to kill Daine, but with her swift archery skills saved her. Tristan, in a last desperate attempt to hurt Numair, Tristan lunged at Daine, attempting to kill her. Numair then turned Tristan into a tree to protect Daine.The King's Own then went to check up on Beldan, but found that he did suicide, drinking poison, saying that his wife will not tarnish his reputation. Yolane tried to get out on horseback, but was captured by Daine and the wolves and arrested. Maura, the girl who warned King Jonathan of fief Dunlath's plans was put in charge of the fief. Since Dunlath is the only fief that asks for the wolves, squirrels, basilisk, ogres, and bats that advise the fief. Then Numair and Daine go back to the castle.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I enjoyed Wolf-Speaker even more than its predecessor. I felt like, in Wild Magic, Daine had come into her own without realizing it by the end of the story, and that Wolf-Speaker is the story of her testing, so to speak.
I enjoyed meeting the new (fully-fleshed-out) characters, but I enjoyed watching Daine fend for herself and protect others even more. She is, in the course of the story, separated from the adults that gave her guidance and support in Wild Magic, and the stakes become so dire that it is essentially a sink-or-swim moment. I liked watching her go from a confused newcomer to Tortall (in the first book) to a protector of both people and animals. It was an intensely satisfying read. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daine, Numair, magic, wolves, ogres and of course, the Badger. This is one book the family enjoyed reading inded.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the second of The Immortals series featuring Daine, who was introduced in Wild Magic. For me this is the weakest book of the series, even the book by Pierce I like the least. I found the environmentalist/animal rights theme heavy handed and at times eye-roll worthy. Those kinds of themes are certainly present in all of Pierce's books, but this is the one where I found it nearly unbearable. That said, I first read these books as an adult on the recommendation of a friend who fell in love with them as a child. I'm sure if I had read these when I was in the targeted age of 12 to 16, I would have eaten up this tale of a girl who not only can talk to animals, she can shapeshift into one. And even I loved the next two books in the series, which have scenes I'd call cinematic and memorable quotes suitable for bumper stickers. And there were enjoyable bits here too, such as the dimension give to the Stormwings and "Kitten" the dragon.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Book 2 of the Immortals series, Wolf Speaker, follows Daine and Numair as they visit Dunlath, an estate in the mountains. The local wolves, who Daine used to know, have asked her for help. Daine and Numair arrive just in time to discover a treacherous plot. As Numair leaves to get help, Daine stays behind to help her wolf friends and see what else she can discover. Meanwhile, Daine's powers are growing and she must cope with the changes...all sorts of changes. New friends are made, and new enemies, but humans, animals, and immortals all have to work together to survive. Another great book by Pierce!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the sequel in Tamora Pierce's Immortals series. The novel opens while Numair and Daine are on a discovery mission in Dunlath to find out what happened to seven of the Queen's riders, when Daine is approached by the wolf pack that cared for her and helped her avenge her mother's death in the beginning of the series. Something terrible is happening in Dunlath, and only Daine can help the wolf pack. What begins as a favor to her pack, ends up becoming about something far more important; protecting the lives and freedoms of all in the valley, mortal and immortal alike. I loved this book. Granted, Pierce stole my soul with Wild Magic, but sometimes sequels disappoint and Wolf-Speaker did not. Pierce uses Wolf- Speaker to explore themes of good and evil, bigotry and prejudice to teach a valuable lesson about not judging everything based on what we've been taught or have heard previously. Considering this is a YA novel, I think that's a valuable lesson to teach growing children. Numair and Daine have wonderful chemistry as usual, but in Pierce fashion Daine fought all of her battles alone, and is the heroine of the story. Highly recommend and can't wait to get my hands on the next novel in the series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daine's wolf pack from her former home asks her to talk to the humans in their new territory about the destruction of the land, the water, and the hunting grounds in the new valley they have moved to, but it turns out that the situation is much different - and much worse - than anyone could have guessed.Wolf-Speaker is one of my favorite Tortall book. Although the main characters are (as usual in Pierce's books) just a touch too good to be true, Daine grows and learnes and makes mistakes throughout the story and people besides her play roles vital to the plot. I particularly like Maura, a young noblewoman who is terrified but brave, and Tkaa, one of the immortals that Daine meets and befriends.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weaker than the first in the quartet, yet Tamora's worlds still are interesting enough to be worth the time to read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An excellent adventure, even better than the first book in the series. When Daine is called by the wolf pack she once ran with, she must use her unique talents to cooperate with animals, humans, and Immortals and save the valley the pack calls home.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting insights into Daine and her magic, Numair and his past, immortals of various sorts, and (a little bit) Tortallian law and politics. But for all that, not as good as Wild Magic. I like Brokefang and most of the pack, and Daine's various new friends; we also get to see Tkaa for the first time. I'd forgotten this was his intro.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daine has been called North to Dunlath Valley by the pack of wolves that used to live near her hometown. The wolves are concerned because the humans of Dunlath Valley are exploiting its natural resources (although they certainly don't express their concerns in those words). Numair undertakes the journey with Daine and they soon discover that the lord and lady of Dunlath are plotting for their own advancement - perhaps to royal levels. Daine for the first time discovers her ability to see through other animals' eyes and that she can shift her own body. She also discovers that prolonged contact with animals, particularly if they ingest some of her blood, leads to them thinking more like humans. We also see more dimensions to the Immortals who have returned to Tortall. As usual I greatly enjoyed Pierce's storytelling although this is clearly a middle volume in Daine's adventures. I look forward to listening to the next two!
Listened to the Playaway narrated by the Full Cast crew. Previously read several times. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Daine has been called to Dunlath Valley by her old wolf pack, the Long Lake Wolves. The humans are tearing apart the trees and poisoning the water. Wildlife all around the valley is dying and Brokefang, the alpha of the pack, wants help reclaiming his home. When Daine and Numair arrive, though, they find out the people of Dunlath are mining something. Though they can't figure out what, they know it must be important. And when they find the charred remains of a squadron of Queen's Riders as well as Stormwings, they know there's something more than meets the eye.After following such a fantastic book like Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker had a lot to live up to and unfortunately, it didn't quite make it. Of all the Tamora Pierce books I've read to date, this was the weakest. There wasn't much character involvement because really, Daine was the only human character through the most part. Numair rarely showed up and Alanna only appeared briefly after the final battle. I loved all the animals that showed up but for some reason, I just didn't love them as much as Dain's human friends. A good majority of the book also seemed to be Daine discovering and growing into her powers. While I understand the importance of this, it felt like chapter after chapter was devoted to Daine entering the mind of yet another animal and transforming her own body more and more. It got old.Lastly, the final battle was quite a letdown. There was so much build-up through the book as to what horrible things Tristan and his mages were doing, and there was such a struggle to get to the room where his weapon was being kept, and it only took a couple of hits from the hilt of her knife to destroy it. Boring.I hope I haven't dissuaded anyone from reading Tamora Pierce. Her books are thoroughly enjoyable and while I don't remember exactly what happens in the rest of the books, I remember loving them and I'm almost certain this is just a dry spell. It happens to every good author so please, read on!3 stars!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In this book things get a little more challenging for Daine. She's left without the aid of her powerful friends for a bit and has to figure things out on her own. She also continues to grow her abilities.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A few months after her first adventure Daine finds herself being called again by the wolf pack that helped her revenge her mother's death. She goes through even more adventures, makes friends with Immortal beings, has to care for a baby dragon, has to help a forest not die, and at the same time finds out she has even more magic powers than she though in the beginning.
again, a good book, its alright. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a great book. Loved it and Diane is awesome!
Book preview
Wolf-speaker - Tamora Pierce
diagram ONE diagram
ENCOUNTERS
diagram The wolves of the Long Lake Pack, gorged on a careless mountain sheep, slept as they digested their meal. Only Brokefang, their chieftain, was awake to see the moon rise. He sat on a stone outcrop, thinking—an odd pastime for a wolf. In the last full moon of summer, on the advice of Old White, the wolf god, he had sent his best travelers, Fleetfoot and Russet, in search of a two-legger who once belonged to his pack. Their orders were to bring her to him, to speak to the local humans on his behalf. The sight of that night’s full autumn moon reminded him that winter was coming. What if his messengers couldn’t find Daine? What if something had happened to them?
He did not like what if
thoughts. Until he’d met Daine two winters before, he had worried about nothing but eating, mating, ruling his pack, and scratching fleas. Now he had complex thoughts all the time, whether he wanted them or not.
Soft chatter overhead made him look up. Two bats had met a stranger. Clinging to a branch over his head, the three traded gossip in the manner of their kind. The newcomer brought word of a two-legger on the other side of the mountains, one who was human outside and Beast-People inside. She carried news from bats in the southwest, and if a Long Lake bat was hurt, she could heal him with her magic. She traveled in odd company: two horses, a pony, an extremely tall human male, a big lizard, and two wolves.
The local bats exclaimed over the news. Their colony should hear this, they decided. Would the visitor come and tell them in their cave-home? Along with their guest, the bats took to the air.
Brokefang stretched. One new thought had been that he could learn much if he listened to the talk of nonwolves. Now he could see it was a good thought, so perhaps the others were good, too. He was interested to hear that Daine also had learned new things since leaving the pack. Before, she could not talk directly with bats. Her healing was done with stinging liquids, needles, thread, and splints, not magic.
He stopped in midstretch as he remembered something. When Fleetfoot and Russet had gone, the pack was laired near the valley’s southern entrance, where a river flowed from the lake. While they eventually could find the new den in the valley’s western mountains, it might take them days to locate the pack.
He would take his wolves south and guide his visitors home.
diagramTwo days later, the girl called Daine watched rain fall outside the cave where she and her friends had taken refuge. For someone Brokefang regarded as Pack, she looked quite human. She was five foot five, slim for her fourteen and a half years, with blue-gray eyes the color of the clouds overhead. Her curly brown hair was tightly pinned up, her clothes as practical as her hairstyle: a blue cotton shirt, tan breeches, and soft-soled boots. Around her neck a heavy silver claw hung on a leather thong.
She played with the claw, thinking. She had been born in mountains like these, in a town called Snowsdale over the border in Galla. The first twelve years of her life were spent there, before she lost her family. When she left Galla to serve the king and queen of Tortall, she had hoped that she might never see the mountains again. And here she was, in a place that could be Snowsdale’s twin.
Soon she would be with the wolves that had hunted in her old home. They had left soon after she did: Fleetfoot and Russet, her guides, had told of fleeing human hunters to find their new home by the Long Lake. What would it be like to see them again? To be with them again?
What are you thinking of?
a light male voice asked from deeper inside the cave. You look grim.
Daine turned around. Seated cross-legged by the fire, a traveling desk on his knees, was her teacher, the wizard Numair Salmalín. He wore his springy mass of black hair tied into a horsetail, away from his dark face and out of his brown eyes. His ink brush was dwarfed by the hand that held it, an exceptionally large hand that was graceful in spite of its size.
I’m just wondering if Onua is managing the Rider horses all right without me. I know the king told her he needed us to come here, but I still feel as if I should be helping her.
The man raised his eyebrows. "You know very well Onua managed the Rider horses for years before you came to work there. What’s really bothering you?"
She made a face. She never could distract him when he wanted to know something. I’m scared.
He put down his brush and gave her his full attention. What of?
She looked at her hands. They were chapped from cold, and this was only the third week of September. Remember what I told you? That I went crazy and hunted with wolves after bandits killed Ma and Grandda and our animals?
He nodded. They helped you to avenge the deaths.
What if it happens again? When I see them, what if I forget I’m human and start thinking I’m a wolf again? I’m s’posed to have control of my wild magic now, but what if it isn’t enough?
She rubbed her arms, shivering.
May I remind you that the spell that keeps your human self apart from your magic self is one I created?
he teased, white teeth flashing in a grin. How can you imply a working performed by your obedient servant
—he bowed, an odd contortion in a sitting man—might be anything but perfect?
More seriously he added, Daine, the spell covers all your contacts. You won’t lose control.
What if it wasn’t the magic? What if I simply went mad?
Strong teeth gripped her elbow hard. Daine looked around into the bright eyes of her pony, Cloud. If I have to bite you to stop you feeling sorry for yourself, I will, the mare informed her. You are being silly.
Numair, used to these silent exchanges, asked, What does she say?
She says I’m feeling sorry for myself. I don’t think she understands.
I understand that you fidget over stupid things. Cloud released Daine’s elbow. The stork-man will tell you.
Don’t fret,
said the mage. Remember, you allowed me into your mind when you first came to Tortall. If there was a seed of genuine madness there, I would have found it.
Daine smiled. "There’s folk who would say you’re the last man to know who’s crazy and who’s not. I know a cook who won’t let you in his kitchen, a palace quartermaster who says he’ll lock you up if you raid his supplies again—"
Enough!
Numair held up his hands in surrender.
Just so you know.
Feeling better, she asked, What are you writing?
He picked up his ink brush once more. A report to King Jonathan.
Another one?
she asked, startled. But we sent one off a week ago.
"He said regular reports, magelet. That means weekly. It’s a small price to pay for being allowed to come to the rescue of your wolf friends. I just wish I had better news to send."
I don’t think we’ll find those missing people.
In March a group of the Queen’s Riders—seven young men and women—had disappeared in this general area. In July twenty soldiers from the Tortallan army had also vanished. They could’ve been anywhere inside a hundred or two hundred miles of us.
All we can do is look,
Numair said as he wrote. As wanderers we have seen far more than soldiers will. Even so, it’s a shame the whole northeastern border is opaque to magical vision. I hadn’t realized that a search by foot would be so chancy.
Why can’t you wizards see this place with your magic?
Daine wanted to know. When I asked the king, he said something about the City of the Gods, and an aura, but then we got interrupted and he never did explain.
It has to do with the City of the Gods being the oldest center for the teaching of magic. Over the centuries magic seeped into the very rock of the city itself, and then spread. The result is a magical aura that blanks out the city and the lands around it for something like a five-hundred-mile radius.
Daine whistled appreciation of the distance involved. So the only way to look at all this mountain rock is by eye. That’s going to be a job and a half.
Precisely. Tell me, how far do you think we are from our destination?
Fleetfoot and Russet had measured distance in the miles a wolf travels in a day. Daine had to divide that in half to figure how far humans might go on horseback. Half a day’s ride to the south entrance to the valley, where the Dunlath River flows out of the Long Lake. From—
She stopped as something whispered in her mind. Animals were coming, looking for her. She ran to the mouth of the cave as their horses bolted past.
Here they came up the trail, wolves, three in the lead and four behind. Two of the leaders were her guides to the Long Lake: the small, reddish white male known as Russet and the brown-and-gray female called Fleetfoot. Between them trotted a huge, black-and-gray timber wolf, plumed tail boldly erect.
Brokefang!
Daine yelled. Numair, it’s the pack!
She ran to them and vanished in a crowd of yelping, tail-wagging animals. Delighted to see her, they proceeded to wash her with their long tongues.
Standing at the cave entrance, waiting for the reunion to end, the man saw that the rain was coming down harder. Why don’t we move the celebration inside?
he called. You’re getting drenched.
Daine stood. Come on,
she told the pack, speaking aloud for Numair’s benefit. And no eating my friends. The man is Numair. He’s my pack now.
Two wolves—Numair was touched to see they were Fleetfoot and Russet, his companions on their journey here—left the others to sit by him, grinning and sprinkling him with drops from their waving tails.
Once out of the rain, the newcomers greeted Cloud, sniffing the gray mare politely. Brokefang gave the mare a few licks, which she delicately returned. The pony, the sole survivor of the bandit raid on Daine’s farm, had stayed with Daine in the weeks the girl had run with the pack. In that time, wolves and pony had come to a truce of sorts.
Next Daine introduced her pack to Spots, the easygoing piebald gelding who was Numair’s mount, and Mangle, a gentle bay cob who carried their packs. The horses quivered, whites showing all the way around their eyes, as the wolves sniffed them. They trusted Daine to keep the wolves from hurting them, but their belief in her couldn’t banish natural fear entirely. Once the greetings were over, they retreated to the rear of the large cave and stayed there.
Kitten,
Daine called, looking for her charge. Come meet the wolves.
Knowing she often scared mortal animals, the dragon had kept to the shadows. Now she walked into the light. She was pale blue, almost two feet long from nose to hip, with another twelve inches’ worth of tail, a slender muzzle, and silver claws. The wings that one day would carry her in flight were, at this stage, tiny and useless. Her blue, reptilian eyes followed everything with sharp attention. She was far more intelligent than a mortal animal, but her way of knowing and doing things was a puzzle Daine tried to unravel on a daily basis.
This is Skysong,
Daine told the pack. That’s the name her ma gave her, anyway. Mostly we call her Kitten.
The dragon eyed their guests. The newcomers stared, ears flicking back and forth in uncertainty, tails half-tucked between their legs. Slowly she rose up onto her hindquarters, a favorite position, and chirped.
Brokefang was the first to walk forward, stiff-legged, to sniff her. Only when his tail gave the smallest possible wag did the others come near.
Once the animals were done, Daine said, Numair, the gray-and-black male is Brokefang.
When the wolf came to smell Numair’s hands, the mage saw that his right canine tooth had the point broken off. He’s the first male of the pack, the boss male.
Numair crouched to allow Brokefang to sniff his face and hair as well. The wolf gave a brief wag of the tail to show he liked Numair’s scent.
The brown-and-gray male with the black ring around his nose is Short Snout,
Daine said. The tawny female is Battle. She fought a mountain lion when she was watching pups in Snowsdale—that’s how she got her name.
Short Snout lipped Numair’s hand in greeting. Battle sniffed the mage and sneezed. The brown-and-red male is Sharp Nose. The gray-and-tawny female is Frolic.
The girl sat on the floor, and most of the wolves curled up around her. Frostfur, the boss female, and Longwind stayed in the valley with the pups.
Greetings done, Numair sat by the fire and added new wood. Has Brokefang said why he needs you?
he asked. His call for help was somewhat vague.
Daine nodded. Brokefang, what’s going on? All you told Fleetfoot and Russet was that humans are ruining the valley.
As the wolf replied, she translated, He says this spring men started cutting trees and digging holes without planting anything. He says they brought monsters and more humans there, and they are killing off the game. Between that and the tree cutting and hole digging, they’re driving the deer and elk from the valley. If it isn’t stopped, the pack will starve when the Big Cold comes.
The Big Cold?
asked Numair.
It’s what the People—animals—call winter.
The man frowned. I’m not as expert as you in wolf behavior, but—didn’t you tell me that if wolves find an area is too lively for them, they flee it? Isn’t that why they left Snowsdale, because humans there were hunting them?
Yes, said Brokefang. They wanted to hurt us, because we helped Daine hunt the humans who killed her dam. They killed Rattail, Longeye, Treelicker, and the pups.
Daine nodded sadly: Fleetfoot and Russet had told her of the pack’s losses. The older wolves had been her friends. The pups she hadn’t met, but every pack valued its young ones. To lose them all was a disaster.
Brokefang went on. We left Snowsdale. It was a hard journey in the hot months, seeking a home. We found places, but there was little game, or other packs lived there, or there were too many humans. Then just before the last Big Cold we found the Long Lake. This valley is so big we could go for days without seeing humans. There is plenty of game, no rival pack to claim it, and caves in the mountains for dens in the snows.
Scratching a flea, Brokefang continued. The Long Lake was good—now humans make it bad. They drove us from the valley where I was born, and my sire, and his sire before him. Before, it was our way to run from two-leggers. Yet I do not run if another pack challenges mine—I fight, and the Pack fights with me. Are humans better than another pack? I do not believe they are.
Will you help us? Will you tell the humans to stop their tree cutting and noisemaking? If they do not stop, the Long Lake Pack will stop it for them, but I prefer that they agree to stop. I know very well that if the Pack has to interfere, there will be bloodshed.
Daine looked at the other wolves of the pack. They nodded, like humans, in agreement. They would support Brokefang in the most unwolflike plan she had ever heard in her life. Where had they gotten such ideas?
Will you help us? asked Brokefang again.
Daine took a deep breath. You’re my Pack, aren’t you? I’ll do my best. I can’t promise they’ll listen to me, but I’ll try.
Good, Brokefang replied. He padded to the cave’s mouth and gave the air a sniff. The breeze smelled of grazing deer just over the hill. Looking at Daine, he said, Now we must hunt. We will come back when we have fed.
They left as Daine was translating his words. She followed them to the cave mouth, to watch as they vanished into the rain. It was getting dark. Behind her was a clatter as Numair unpacked the cooking things. Thinking about the pack and about her time with them, she was caught up in a surge of memory.
The bandit guard was upwind of a wolf once called Daine. The night air carried his reek to her: unwashed man, old blood, sour wine. Her nose flared at the stench. She covered it with her free hand. The other clutched a dagger, the last human item she remembered how to use.
He did something with his hands as he stood with his back toward her. She slunk closer, ignoring the snow under her bare feet and the freezing air on her bare arms. Forest sounds covered the little noise she made, though he would not have heard if she’d shouted. He was drunk. They all were, too drunk to remember the first two shifts of guards had not returned.
She tensed to jump. Something made him turn. Now she saw what he’d been doing: there was a wheel of cheese in one hand, a dagger in the other, and a wedge of cheese in his mouth. She also saw his necklace, the amber beads her mother had worn every day of her life. She leaped, and felt a white-hot line of pain along her ribs. He’d stabbed her with his knife.
Brokefang found her. She had dragged herself under a bush and was trying to lick the cut in her side. The wolf performed this office for her.
It is dawn, he said. What must be done now?
We finish them, she told him, fists clenched tight. We finish them all.
I think I know why Brokefang changed so much.
she said. I mean, animals learn things from me, and probably that’s how most of the pack got so smart, but Brokefang’s even smarter. I got hurt, when we were after those bandits, and he licked the cut clean.
It’s a valid assumption,
agreed Numair. There are cases of magically gifted humans who were able to impart their abilities to nonhuman companions. For example, there is Boazan the Sun Dancer, whose eagle Thati could speak ten languages after she drank his tears. And—
Numair,
she said warningly. Experience had taught her that if she let him begin to list examples, he would not return to the real world for hours.
He grinned, for all the world like one of her stableboy or Rider friends instead of the greatest wizard in Tortall. He had begun to cook supper: a pot of cut-up roots already simmered on the fire. Daine sat next to him and began to slice chunks from a ham they had brought in their packs. Kitten waddled over to help, or at least to eat the rind that Daine cut from the meat.
—This is very nice,—a rough voice said in their minds.—Cozy, especially on a rainy afternoon.—
They twisted to look at the cave entrance. It shone with a silvery light that appeared to come from the animal standing there. The badger waddled in, the light fading