"Separated from the rest of the men, just like we decided. Took Klaren and Meno with me. They both got themselves killed.
"Klaren got pulled from his horse by a troll and Meno took a gnoll's pikestaff in the chest. Their wolves stuck by 'em till the end, then they got cornered by a pack of hyenadons. RedTail and I tried to help, but it was hopeless. The only thing we could do was try to save ourselves. Damn shame about Klaren. He was a good man.
"We got to the rendezvous point and waited, but nobody showed up, 'cept some gnolls. So we left. My guess is that everyone is scattered from here to Eru-Tovar and gone. We'll just have to make it on our own."
"But how are we going to do that if the woods are crawling with gnolls and trolls and hyenas?" asked Mika. Then, seeing Hornsbuck casting a critical eye on him, he hastened to explain.
"I mean, I'd like nothing more than the chance to kill some more of those filthy creatures, that's for sure, but there is the princess to think of. She's still my first concern. I know that Enor will expect me to deliver her safely to the city, so I mustn't think about myself and what I'd do if I were alone. Too bad, really. The two of us could see to it that there were fewer gnolls in the world," Mika said with a sad sigh.
"I know, lad," said Hornsbuck, patting Mika on the back. "I don't like seeing them murder my men and get away with it, but you're right about the princess. We've got to see to her first. Once she's taken care of, we can find a few gnolls and show them how we feel about their kind."
Not if I can help it, thought Mika as he tried to look as though he agreed with the older man.
"But how do we get her to Eru-Tovar safely?" asked Mika. "The gnolls will surely find us before we reach the city."
"I know a way," said Hornsbuck. "But we'll need some food. We'll have to kill the roan."
"No!" blurted Mika, unwilling to sacrifice the horse to Hornsbuck's great undiscriminating belly. "We'll find something else. What is your plan?"
Hornsbuck's green eyes pierced Mika and stared at him intently. "I'll show you when the time comes," he said slowly. "It's a lost way, a path I have kept secret these many years. \bu must promise me not to tell anyone once I show you."
"All right," agreed Mika, not really caring, so long as it was safe and free of gnolls.
The next few days passed slowly. Very slowly. Hornsbuck ate what little wild stuff they were able to gather, tossed knucklebones, hawked, spat, cursed, belched, farted, and made other obnoxious and rude noises. Smart and wily he might be in the ways of survival, but the man's social graces were all but nonexistent. Mika had never quite noticed before what a coarse brute Hornsbuck was, but then he had never been thrown so intimately into his company before.
The man was addled from war-lust and if insufferable when awake, he was only slightly less noisy when asleep. Never had Mika so. missed or so appreciated Celia and the company of women. Wedged in one small corner between Tam and the princess, Mika read his book of spells out of sheer despair, in an attempt to separate himself from Hornsbuck's endless, mindless commentary.
As he read, a plan began to take shape in Mika's mind, a dangerous, yet wonderful plan.
Chapter 17
Two days had passed, and Tam was well, or nearly so. His wounds had healed enough so that he was able to walk and run without difficulty or pain.
The princess lay across one side of the tree space, and most of Mika and Hornsbuck's possessions were hung from various portions of her anatomy. In her inert state, she had taken on the air of a seldom used and rather unnecessary piece of furniture.
Hornsbuck fretted about food. He and RedTail had ventured out the previous night, hoping to return with a deer or, at the least, rabbits. But they had found nothing but gnolls, which they had killed.
Mika rose and, holding his book casually, said, "Tam and I will go out and look for deer. It will do Tam good to stretch his legs."
"Be careful," growled Hornsbuck. "Take my bow and arrows."
"No. I have everything I need," said Mika, leaving quickly before Hornsbuck could question him.
The night was cool and the air fresh and heavy with the aroma of wet evergreens. He checked on the roan, watering him and moving him to yet another small patch of grass, grateful the horse had escaped the notice of the gnolls.
Standing in the center of the small clearing, Mika shed his few bits of clothing and stood full in the light of the moon. Opening his book of spells he turned to the appropriate page and thanked the dullness that Hornsbuck had brought into his life, which had forced him to study the spells.
He wedged the book firmly into the notch of a tree and then, confident of his skills, sank into a cross-legged position and faced Tam.
Slowly, deliberately, with great precision and careful enunciation, he stared into Tam's eyes, while holding the end of his tail, and recited the words of the spell. There would be no mistake this time.
Once again he felt the strange, whirling dizziness, the nausea, and the sour taste of bile at the back of his throat. Tam's eyes blurred and multiplied, and in spite of himself, Mika closed his eyes. When he opened them, everything was different. It had worked. He was a wolf!
Joy spread throughout his body. His new, strange body. He had done it! He had succeeded! He stood erect, his sensitive nostrils quivering. He realized now for the first time how very little man knew compared to wolves. He smelled the clear, sharp, wet smell of water, the green growing scent of trees and grass, the hot, sweet aroma of horse flesh. He lifted his head and drew in the foul distant stink of gnolls and the carrion stench of the hyenas. He threw back his head and howled for the sheer ecstasy of it, the sound issuing from his throat in tight rippling waves. Tam threw back his own head and they sang together of the joy of brotherhood and the goodness of life.
They looked at each other out of wolf eyes, now well and truly brothers. Their long tongues lolled from the corners of their mouths, and Mika knew that such a gesture was indeed a laughing grin as he had always suspected.
Standing, the two wolves sniffed each other from head to tail, spending much time scenting each others genitals, for as Mika discovered, there was much information to be learned there. In some indescribable way, it told of the personal strength of the animal and his position among others of his kind. Mika learned that Tam was a wolf of power and high standing among others.
Mika wagged his tail, feeling it beat back and forth through the air. Curling it high above his back, he turned and trotted off into the forest, knowing without looking that Tam was close behind.
The woods were alive with sound. Tiny squeaks told of frightened mice leaping for the safety of their burrows, rabbits bounding swiftly away, their broad flat feet pounding against the soft debris of the forest floor, and even the smooth slither of a night-hunting snake. Mika's ears swiveled back and forth as he ran, catching the most subtle of sounds.
Mika's muscles moved smoothly under his thick black pelt, his heart pumped strongly, and he ran more swiftly than he had ever imagined possible with little or no effort. And he felt pity in his wolf heart for the weakling that was man.
Later, as the moon rose higher in the dark starry sky, they scented a roanbuck, the rank bitter smell declaring that it was a full-grown stag. They paused and looked at each other, staring deep into each other's golden eyes, silently reading the challenge, considering, deciding.
They lifted their muzzles and drank in the bitter odor, finding the specific thread of it in the air, separating it from the myriad of others and reading it like a map. Absorbing the knowledge, they turned and followed the musk deeper into the forest.