Stormfeather Ch. 07

The red wolf had been watching, waiting and looking for a chance to leave upstream, but she didn't quite see the opportunity, not a long enough one at the poor speed that she'd be able to make. Lying on cold stone as she'd been the past two hours, and with her hurts, she doubted if she could just jump up and flee. She'd been afraid of the large one before. She didn't mind seeing the gray ones killed, but she didn't think she'd even get far if she tried to run, the way that one could move.

There had been one time that his eyes were closed for a long enough time, but she wasn't sure about it or brave enough to try. If he opened his eyes he'd see her motion and there were his ears and nose to consider as well. She didn't see the fur-covered one who she was in terror of, but she knew it had something to do with the one there – her nose said so. The thought reminded her that the fish lay there unprotected and she was hungry.

There was something else as well. She didn't understand what they were doing, but it looked to her as though they were a pack. It was something that she no longer belonged to, and now wished for. Someone like her needed a pack to feel at home, and she was still young to be on her own. If she healed, she might live alone for a time, but there were always situations which required more than one of her, and that she didn't have. Her only hope of joining a pack lay in her being discovered by others soon, and then just maybe if the lead female would tolerate her. Even so, she'd have to weather many non-fatal attacks while they judged her trustworthiness. It was the way of all wolves.

Right now, she was in no shape for it. If another pack found her too near the 2 year mark, they'd just kill her. Unless she now found a solitary male for herself, she was likely doomed and she knew it. She needed to find red wolves and there were none left nearby, the large gray ones had seen to that. Now she'd have to run from coyotes or be torn apart.

She noticed that they were still together for a time now. She didn't think that they slept upright, she'd been near the campfires of men before and they always slept lying down. But his eyes were still closed. She might have a chance. She tried to stand and force her way past the pain and stiffness, but knew she'd barely be able to walk. It was hopeless. She thought of her dead parents and siblings and felt her sorrow begin to well up. She felt so lost.

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He hadn't kissed a woman in so long, and admitted to himself that he hadn't kissed a woman this way since before he'd been bitten. He loved the way that she sighed, the soft texture of her lips and the taste ... the way that her tongue chased after his-

He froze and opened his eyes.

Amy sensed it, "What is it?" she whispered.

He looked at her, "I know they are all dead. I hear someone hurting. No, a wolf or a dog is crying quietly," he whispered back. "Stand still."

He moved his head slightly to get the direction. It was a little difficult in the arroyo, where sounds naturally bounced from wall to wall. He looked back at her, "This one is not large, and not old. It comes from the side behind you. I will go to around. You wait for me and then move ahead slowly. Take your gun, Sheena. We do not know enough yet."

She nodded and turned slowly after he'd climbed out and begun to move. He was silent enough with the brook covering the sounds of the water drops falling from him, Amy bent to reach for her Colt. A quick look showed her that a live chamber would be the next one if she cocked the hammer. She didn't want to do that yet, not without an immediate threat and with Stormfeather in the opposite direction and about to come around the pool.

The wolf caught herself after a minute. What had she been doing, crying like that? She hoped they hadn't heard her, but her heart jumped when she opened her eyes to look.

They'd moved. She couldn't hear or see them from where she was hidden. She began to raise herself again, ignoring the pain as much as she could. This might work out –

She sank back down immediately. The smaller one was coming into her field of view. She didn't know what to do, and so she did nothing. The face came only a little closer. She watched the eyes as they looked everywhere, the whole time never moving far off where she was. How could she not see? But then the eyes looked right at her own and there could be no doubt anymore. The wolf began to growl – a last desperate move to try to intimidate. From what she'd seen of this one, the thing in her paw killed larger wolves easily.

Amy gasped in her surprise. Recovering quickly, she poured as much honey into her voice as she could. She knew it sounded incongruous and silly, but she was trying to pass information without frightening an obviously terrified animal any further. "There you are," she cooed softly, "Are you hurt? She's over here Arn, a small red wolf. At least I think it's a she. You poor thing. She's scared to death here. I don't know if she's been hurt or not. She's trying to growl."

She sighed after a second, "Oh, she is hurt. I can see that her eye is mostly swollen shut. It's alright, honey. We won't hurt you. I just wish that you could understand me."

Amy flicked her eyes to where he was, just out of sight on the other side, and then looked at the wolf again. He stepped back to the trout, and picked one. With his knife, he had it in rough fillets in seconds. A few more cuts and he had a handful of pieces. He crept back.

They were careful to only frame the opening that she had so that if she felt desperate enough, she could try to run past them. But she only pulled her lips back and snarled helplessly at them both. Amy tried to place a piece of fish close enough to be reached, but left it behind when the wolf snapped at her fingers.

"I will do it," he said.

"She'll bite you," Amy warned.

"I know," he sighed, "but I will make sure that she gets a piece without using up any more of her courage. You were right, she is frightened to death. She must have been here the whole time. She saw what I did then."

"But you look different now."

He just barely shook his head slowly, "I smell the same."

He took a second piece and slowly brought it to her as Amy kept up the singsong cooing, praising her with as much admiration as she could put into it. He moved his hand inward and stopped for a minute. The lips curled back again as she snarled. He waited, and moved less than an inch to freeze again for a while. This went on for long minutes with no change. The wolf kept up the warning.

He was watching for the wrinkled snout to wrinkle just a bit more. He knew it would be the final precursor to her bite. But it didn't happen. The piece of trout bumped gently into the tip of her nose, and still she snarled. He let it drop the half an inch to the stone.

"She will bite as I take my hand away," he said softly, "Watch the skin on her nose. Her bite begins as it wrinkles more."

Sure enough, his hand was almost four inches away when the snout rippled for the briefest instant and then she lunged. She was alarmed and let go instantly instead of hanging on. Amy looked at his hand as he brought it out. She'd have thought the marks would be deeper.

"She is tired and I surprised her by leaving no fingers for her, only my fist to bite on." He smiled as he picked up another piece, "I am thankful that she is no Gray Wolf. Their jaws can break most bones if they chew on them. I have no wish to test them on mine."

"How much will you give her?"

He shrugged, "All of it, a piece at a time. If she had a way out she would be gone already, but she expected to be attacked there, I think. Maybe the other ones were hunting her. She can bite if she wants or if it makes her feel better. I will make no threat, only give her all of it, and then we pull back to give her room to leave. I hope she will eat. Right now, she suspects a trap, but it cannot be helped."

He repeated this process, delivering every chunk, but without bumping her nose again. All told, she now had six pieces of fish before her. He'd been bitten four times. But just as they prepared to pull back, she began to eat a piece very cautiously. Amy praised her as sweetly as she could, and then they left her alone.

She watched what she could as she ate. They were moving slowly in and out of her view, but she saw no stealth there. The rest of the fish were moved, and as much blood was washed off the stones as they could manage before they walked off and there was silence but for the stream's quiet sounds. She felt better for the meal and was curious now.

Creeping painfully out of her alcove, she sniffed and listened, not quite believing that they were gone. A minute later, she'd stiffly followed their scents around some rocks and stood looking down at them as they sat on some stones talking quietly. If she could have understood them, she likely would have found it humorous – and she'd make sure that he was wrong.

Amy shook her head, "I'm telling you, she won't come."

"She will," he said, "She only needs time for her hunger to fade and to find a little more courage. If she knows that the large wolves are dead, she will find us. She has to know more. She cannot understand why we would give her fish and not try to pull her out, she has to at least see us for a few minutes."

"I hope you're right," she said, "my stomach has already claimed two fish, but what's the use if they go bad waiting for her to show up?"

"Only a little longer," he said, "that is all that I ask to prove it. And if she does not begin to follow us, you can have all of the fish."

Amy laughed, "Now you're talking. What makes you so sure that she'll come anyway?"

"Because," he looked at her, "from her crying, I feel that maybe she lost her pack or they are dead. She is too young to be alone, though she may live like that, I cannot know."

He chuckled softly, "My nose is the same as hers, and she is already out of the arroyo. Look very slowly. She is there. I do not need to look."

Amy slowly turned her head while looking out of the corner of her eye.

"Hellfire," she said softly, "she is at that. I think that she must be the one in my sketch of that dream. I'm sure of it. What do we do now?"

He shrugged, "How much do you want a companion? She may stay near, though I think she is a little old to make a pet for you. You can turn and stamp your foot and she will be gone, or you can sing your interesting little songs to her again, and she might follow."

Amy was surprised, "Really? Do you think she likes my voice when I sing like that?"

He flashed her that warm smile, "I do not know, Sheena. I only know that I like it very much."

She shook her head, "She's the only thing keeping me from hitting you now. You know that, right?"

He nodded with a sigh, "Stand up slowly and begin your singing talk for her. We will walk away a little after that. She will follow."

Amy stood up and looked up the rise slowly, as though she were more interested in the weather. The wolf tensed, but relaxed as she began, "There you are, you pretty girl. You look like you're winking at me with that swollen eye. You poor thing, you're much too pretty to have that eye looking like that. Did you like the fish? We have some more, you know. Come on and see." She turned and found him standing with a soft smile and an expectant look. "What now?"

He shrugged, "Now we walk slowly. She is hurt somehow. She will decide the distance to follow if she does, and you must sing some more."

They set off slowly, ambling down the rise in the direction of the house with Amy chattering. "I do hope you decide to get more fish. You're all that's keeping my friend from being hurt as well right now, honey. He's forgotten that I have three shots left in my gun."

Amy found his shocked reaction almost too much and stifled her laugh.

"Really?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head, "It's just more of my joking. I'll need to be more careful around you, that's all" she sang.

Stormfeather had a small epiphany then. The way that she smiled just a little as she looked down while they walked made him feel as though his heart was being wrenched loose in his chest, but in a pleasurable way. She was likely unaware of it, he realized, but it didn't matter. His heart may have felt as though it had been missing all the centuries as he wandered, but by this he knew that missing or not, it was back now and it beat for her. Sheena had captured it.

He'd have thrown it at her hopefully if he were human and in more human circumstances. But he also knew that his background would have caused him to remain aloof and shy. In her own way, she hadn't only accepted it, she'd taken it, he now knew. He couldn't say how he knew the other thought which came to him as well, but he was certain that she held the hearts of those she loved tightly. He knew that he now stood in a very small circle there in her heart and he felt humbled for the honor.

He put his free arm around her and his heart wrenched again as it lifted when she'd smiled that smile and leaned her head against him for a few steps as though there was nothing different or unusual about them at all. This went on until they were more than halfway to the house. He stopped her, "Turn slowly and look where she is now."

Amy almost didn't dare to look, but she just had to know. There was the wolf, not twenty feet behind them. When Amy began to speak to her again, the wolf tilted her head, listening hard.

"I don't believe it," Amy sang softly, "How did you know?"

"She is alone with no pack. I do not know what happened yet, but I know this." He glanced at her with a grin, "I also do not know if she likes your singing, but there must be something that keeps her following us."

Amy finally caught sight of what he meant. The wolf was staring at the way that he dangled the trout with his fingers in their gills. Amy put it together.

She shook her head at being taken, "I have decided that I'm going to hit my friend," she sang sweetly without cadence or verse, "I don't know the exact moment for it, but I know that he has to sleep sometime," she looked at the wolf – who sat with her head cocked and then followed as they arrived at the house.

"He'll clean the fish," Amy sang, "and then he can feed you the scraps if you're interested. I'll cook the five that are left, honey, and you can have a cooked one all to yourself, since I like you better right now than I like him."

"But I was the one who caught – "

Stormfeather found that he was facing her wagging finger as she laughed a little, "I know that, Greedy Guts. I'll only want one. Miss Winky there can have one of mine. You can have three."

She looked up at him and he saw her with the edges of her hair glowing in the morning sun. "I'm trying to figure out the care and feeding of a man," she said. "It's beginning to look expensive, quite frankly."

He looked at her with some uncertainty, but found her laughing green eyes giving her away.

Amy walked to the small place which passed for something of a cold storage in the old house. Her father had built the well-insulated cabinet in the storm cellar. It took her eyes a couple of minutes to see by the dim light from the steps behind her. She searched for and retrieved one of the blocks of bacon and took some of the eggs that she'd brought with her from Santa Fe which she'd carried in a well-padded corner of one of her saddlebags before going back to the kitchen.

With all of that and the fish, she thought that she'd be able to manage quite a breakfast for them as she walked to search hopefully for a scallion or two from the overgrown garden.

She was surprised to find at least one healthy tomato plant as well and turned around to find him changed and on his knees over the little wolf as he held her throat in his teeth and shook her a little on the ground. Amy was about to cry out in shock, but he pulled back and she could see the wolf's tail slapping the ground hopefully.

"What in hell are you doing to her?" she asked.

His answer was quiet, since he was being mindful of his appearance, "I have cleaned all of the fish, and she has had all of the scraps. She is trying to show that she is meek to me, and I show her now that I accept her and try now to play. For her to join a pack, she expects to be attacked many times but with no hard bites unless they try to kill her. I am hoping that if I do this once, she will feel our acceptance."

He reached out his clawed hand slowly and the wolf tensed, as if expecting a blow. Amy was astounded by the soft, low sounds that came from him as he began to carefully stroke and pet the wolf.

"Wouldn't it have been better to just do this while you look like a man to her? That must have come as a shock to her, you looking like that."

"I thought that too at first," he said quietly over his shoulder, "but I think it is better if she sees me like this and runs if she has it in her mind like other animals. But I think now that it was her hunger that kept her near to me as I cleaned the fish. She caught every piece that I tossed to her, and then she just took the rest from my hand."

"Well I wish that I had my sketch book handy." Amy remarked as she shook her head with a smile, "Nobody would believe the scene before my eyes right now."

Amy worked up the breakfast as she watched them play together. The only thing which bothered her was the apparent roughness of it from her point of view, but then she guessed that he'd let the wolf decide about that. She stole upstairs for a minute and returned with a wooden ball which her father had made for her long ago. "Here," she said as she held it out to them from the porch, "I'd like it if maybe one day, I could reach out to pet her too with no fear of losing my hand. And you ought to go more easily on her. She had a hard enough time just walking behind us at first."

Their eyes were locked on the ball instantly and she had to hold back her laughter as she waved it. She gave it a quick thought, and decided that she only had time to roll it once before the bacon needed to be turned. What amazed her was the strength of their focus as the two sets of eyes moved in unison whenever she waved the ball slightly.

If he went for it now, she'd never let him hear the end of it.

Amy let it roll toward them quickly. The wolf stared at it for a moment, and then ran a bit stiffly to it to stop and watch for a second before she lunged to take it. Amy stepped back to the stove, but laughed at the way the little wolf pranced very briefly before him, as though daring him to try to take it from her. Amy shook her head and went back to her cooking. A few minutes later, she heard a bark, and saw him standing as a man with the ball, and choosing the best moment to roll it for her. She wondered briefly how he'd gotten it from her, but thought it best not to know.

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They sat on the porch steps as they ate, out of consideration for their hopeful new friend. True to her word, Amy had cooked one fish for her and cut it up, setting the pieces aside to cool, but within her sight as he'd recommended. The animal walked cautiously from one to the other, not daring to come too close, but not being able to tear herself away either. She danced back a bit when he stood to pour them each a cup of coffee, but was over her fear enough not to go very far. Amy picked up the bowl containing the chunks of fish and a few of the other scraps from her plate.

She considered it for a moment, wishing that she had something a bit less human to offer the wolf, but finally shrugged to herself. If she stayed, Amy decided, she'd try to find more wolf-like things for her to eat, if she could. She just hoped that the animal would heal well. She felt herself being looked at, and turned to see him holding the cups and regarding her with a smile.