“What’s Gettysburg?”
“Human foolishness. I’ll tell you about that some other time. When the snow melts why don’t you store up corn, oats, whatever, just in case we get a big storm. Squirrels have a point, you know.”
“Thank you. I will.”
The horn was within a mile of them now. They looked over at a rocky foothill to the Blue Ridge Mountains shining in the distance, the very edge of the Foxglove Farm territory. The coyote was trotting along the top of the boulders of the foothill.
“Is he in danger?” Inky asked.
“No. A coyote runs only as fast as he needs to run. When he’s ready he’ll vanish. Although he’d better not let Cora or Dragon get too close. They are very fast hounds. They’re way back, though. Hear them now?”
And the faint music of the hounds drifted toward them.
Inky listened intently.“Will the coyote kill me?”
Athena swiveled her head back to focus on Inky.“Don’t give him a reason. Don’t challenge him. You’ll be all right. You have more to fear from St. Just now than from coyotes.”
“Exactly how did Target kill his mate?”
“Hubris. Conceit. Two summers ago, the summer of the grasshoppers, Target was sunbathing on Whiskey Ridge and she dive-bombed him. He leapt up and caught her. Wasn’t asleep, you see. She brought it on herself.”
Inky’s beautiful eyes seemed even more lustrous as she sat in the snow.“Athena, do you know everything?”
She laughed.“No, my, my, no, but I watch, I listen, and I learn. If you listen to older animals and watch everyone around you, you learn from their experiences, too. You can even learn from humans.”
“Really?”
“They’re a case study. You see they’ve removed themselves from the rest of us and they’re suffering. They’re losing practical intelligence. Just one example: Humans are fouling their own nest. Every bird, every den dweller knows you can’t do that. But they are. I don’t mind that they’ll pay for it. I mind that we’ll pay for it with them.”
“All of them?”
“Not all of them. Some are still close to us. But I fear their knowledge will be discounted by the city dwellers. I fear in another generation or two it will be lost and then the earth will shudder.”
“I hope not.” Inky felt frightened, for she respected the power of the earth.
“I hope not, too, little one, but they grow more and more arrogant. I tell you a common house cat—and I do not esteem cats, most especially that smart-ass, Golly—but even Golly has more wisdom than humans.”
“Even Sister?”
“Sister is one of us. Peter Wheeler was, too, and Shaker and Doug. They live within Nature’s rhythms and despite human frailty they are respectful. But Peter has gone back to earth. And what of the young ones? I just don’t know.” Athena glanced back at the boulders. The coyote had left and she saw the silhouette of the pack, in a line, crossing the rocks.“There’s good hound work for you.”
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Inky smiled.“Athena, when the snows started I was at the hound graveyard. Sister and Raleigh were there and she was hurt. She was mourning Archie and the human dead, too. And she said she was going to lay a trap on Thanksgiving hunt. She didn’t say what but when the snow melts I’ll tell Aunt Netty and Mother and Father. I don’t know what we can do but we can be out and ready.”
“I’ll stay up on Thanksgiving, then. I wonder what she’ll do?”Athena sighed, her plump chest pushing out, revealing the light-colored feathers under the long silky ones.“I’m going home to bed. I suppose Babs is there.” Babs was the screech owl in the next tree.“She’s a dear friend, you know, but that dreadful voice.” Athena shook her head then lifted off as Inky turned and scooted into her den.
CHAPTER 56
A sudden wind swirled snow in Lafayette’s eyes, up into Sister’s. Shaker, just ahead, struggled down a steep deer trail snaking to Edmond’s Creek. The coyote trotted along the rocks, then bounced down to the bottom of them and into the creek. He should have been easy to track but the hounds couldn’t find scent and Shaker couldn’t find tracks.
By the time Lafayette reached the bottom of the incline, Shaker reached the other side of the creek.
Lafayette called to Shaker’s horse.“A storm’s coming up fast.”
“What’ll I do?” Keepsake, being tried out by Shaker and a bit green, worried.
“There’s nothing you can do. They won’t smell it until it’s almost upon them or until they see the clouds piling up in the west. Shaker will get you home; don’t worry.”
Sister patted Lafayette’s neck. The weather kept everyone away, including the Franklins, who couldn’t get the trailer down the driveway since Bobby didn’t have a snowplow. The wind piled up drifts, which though not large were large enough to risk getting stuck.
She loved staff hunts. Not that she didn’t enjoy her field—she did. But those days when she didn’t have to shepherd people, when she could just fly or sit and listen to hounds turn back to her, those days made life worth living.
Standing out like a resplendent cardinal in the snow, Doug waited upcreek for the hounds to find. He, too, checked for tracks. When Shaker looked his way Doug shook his head. The huntsman rode downcreek, Sister shadowing him on the opposite bank, portions of which were steep.
“Nothing.” Shaker shook his head.
“Me, too.”
“Right under our noses.” Cora lifted her eyes back to the boulders. She felt he was hiding there but how he escaped detection she couldn’t say.“Let’s go back up.”
“I don’t think he’ll allow it,” Dasher said.“And if they don’t smell the storm, we’ll have more to worry about than the coyote.”
The barren trees began to bend and sway. Doug noticed the scudding clouds first. He pointed to the western sky. Both older people glanced up.
“Damn, those clouds are rolling in fast,” Shaker exclaimed.
They had hacked to Foxglove to cast hounds. From the kennels Foxglove was two miles on the trails. At the point where they now stood they were halfway between both farms.
“Makes sense to head home.” She smiled at her hounds. “I’m proud of all of you.”
“He’s in the rocks.” Cora wanted to circle back.
“Good girl.” Sister praised her as she turned Lafayette on the narrow path, walking back to the creek crossing. Once on the other side the three humans walked through the forest, Shaker and Sister up front and Doug in the rear.
They hadn’t ridden a half mile when the wind began to whistle. Heavy frock coats, a vest, shirt, and silk underwear kept their upper bodies warm, but their legs began to feel it. Each had learned the trick of slipping a flat heat pack in the toe of their boot, which helped keep their toes from freezing. There was no help for one’s hands, since a rider must feel the horse’s mouth.
Sister wore silk liners under her string gloves but her hands ached in the cold. She didn’t complain about it, nor did Shaker and Doug. Came with the territory.
Their ears began to sting. Snow blew off the conifers. As if the heavens unzipped, all at once the snow fell, fat flakes falling quickly. Within minutes their helmets, shoulders, and backs were covered in snow. The hounds’ backs began to turn white.