Part 2 of the tale about the adventures of Joana among wolves and men. If you have not read part 1 you should do so first. Enjoy!
Joana was not a welcome guest among the wolves. Alefa, the undisputed leader of the pack, made no secret of that. But the others were suspicious, too. Joana couldn't blame them. Just to think bringing a live wolf back to the village - be it hurt or no! That village, beyond the stream and the forest, that had by now burnt to the ground. Most of her thoughts took this path around her dim consciousness now. She hardly noticed the snarls of the pack leader when they arrived. It registered almost casually that Vucara seemed to have considerable leverage herself when, after a lot more snarling and whining, Alefa turned and leaped away.
The pack had gathered in a narrow dell from which a cave opened into the flank of the hill. Into this cave the wolves carried Joana's limp form and placed her gently on the ground. Joana could not have said on which way they had taken her here. Her recollection of the journey was riddled with gaps. And now in the dusky cave on the floor she let the beckoning darkness consume her.
Time passed. Hours, days, weeks even? Joana could not tell. She felt adrift as if lying on a raft on a great, calm river. And like the moon above such a raft her consciousness waxed and waned. The only constant was Vucara's face. When Joana opened her eyes she always seemed to be right beside her. The wolf's amber gaze was always watchful and alert though she never spoke. Sometimes she would dribble water from her mouth that Joana drank gratefully. Once she awoke during what seemed to be a cool night and Vucara was huddled next to her and the warmth from the wolf's body drove away the chill.
When Joana awoke with a clear head for the first time Vucara was gone. Joana looked around but could only see the twilight of the cave and a shaft of daylight from somewhere ahead of her. She got up on wobbly feet and followed the light, which led her sure enough to the mouth of the cave. Here she halted. A large pack of grey wolves was resting among some trees around the entrance. Her heart stopped. Several of the animals had already looked up at her. Then she remembered that Vucara had meant to take her back to the pack. But where was her rescuer? Would the others not harm her even if she was not around? Several of the beasts were getting to their feet. Suddenly from the side of the cave mouth emerged a particularly large specimen and bared its teeth at her with a deep growl. Joana cautiously retreated into the cave but the wolves were following her.
"I don't mean to intrude." She tried to make her voice sound calm and controlled. Her heart seemed to be pounding in her throat. "I know this is your place."
"And yet you reek of fear", the leading wolf snarled. "Your very presence here is a mockery! Humans are not our friends."
There were growls that appeared to signal agreement. Suddenly a newcomer bounded into the assembly with a loud yelp.
"Stop", it shouted with Vucara's voice, "Alefa you promised not to harm her."
"She has outstayed her welcome", the one she had addressed as Alefa returned, "the others are already doubting my leadership because I allowed her to stay as long as this."
Vucara had maneuvered herself between Joana and the pack leader. Just from the short walk Joana was feeling woozy again and had to lean against the cool rock wall.
"The others will accept your decision. And you have always trusted and heeded my counsel", Vucara spoke calmly but with urgency in her voice, "this human is not like the others. She can understand us. And she has nowhere to go", she added with a pleading note. She seemed to kneel before the leader trying to poke her nose at his. "Let her at least stay and rest until she has fully recovered from her injuries."
Alefa seemed to consider this. "Very well, but when she can run she will leave." With something like an angry bark Alefa whirled around and disappeared outside.
Exhaling a sigh Joana collapsed onto the cave floor. The tension was dissipating as the other wolves stalked out of the cave. Vucara also seemed relieved when she spoke: "Alefa does not mean ill. Are you hurt?"
Joana managed to shake her head. "Just very hungry", she said sheepishly identifying only now the ache in the pit her stomach.
Vucara helped her back to her resting place. Promising to return she bounded out of the cave. Joana closed her eyes wearily.
There was fire everywhere. Screams of pain echoed through the roar of the flames and the cracking and bursting of wood. Faceless shapes flitted here and there, stumbling, convulsing. To her horror Joana realised they were people, burning like torches. Not only their clothing but their very skin was ablaze and flames were bursting from their mouth and eyes. The only thing not on fire seemed to be herself stumbling through the inferno. It looked to her like a maze of blazing, crumbled walls and wooden beams. Then there was a voice she recognised. It called her name. She looked around wildly for with every call the voice seemed more familiar. Then one of the fiery apparitions staggered towards her. She was crying and calling out Joana's name. A female voice. As she drew near Joana imagined she could hear the burning skin sizzling like a grisly roast. She wanted to turn and run but something held her.
Suddenly the burning woman stumbled forward and clutched Joana's head between her hands. She felt the heat wave but still she did not catch fire herself. Horrified she stared at the charred face underneath its veil of viciously hissing flames.
Joana, the thing groaned, help me.
Recognition surged through Joana and she screamed and could not stop.
With a start she awoke in the dark cave. Tears were streaming freely down her face. Heavy sobs shook her entire body.
"Oh mama, forgive me!"
Consciousness now came back readily to Joana but she was weak from days of no nurishment but water. Food still proved difficult. Seeing improvement Vucara was as eager as ever to see her charge back on her feet but she had never had to feed a human. She offered Joana a chunk of meat from the pack's last kill. Joana eyed it and finally took a hungry bite. When she tried to swallow it, however, she was violently sick.
"I forgot that you humans burn your meat before eating it", the wolf said apologetically.
Then Vucara brought back several mouthfuls of wild berries that she had picked as best she could with her teeth. The following day she added some nuts to the diet. Slowly at least some of her nagging hunger began to abate and the girl could get up and walk around without immediately feeling dizzy.
Joana's head still hurt when she moved too abruptly and her ancle had swollen but Vucara licked it with her cool tongue after chewing some herbs and most of the pain went away soon after. When Joana voiced her surprise the wolf had hung out her long tongue in a canine laugh. They were on the first walk Joana had taken since her time with the wolf pack. They were sitting shielded from view behind some bushes near the stream Joana had tried to cross. That already seemed so long ago.
"You humans don't know much about us", Vucara remarked. "Many animals know such things. You'd have only to ask."
"How would we ask", Joana inquired, confused, "most animals don't understand us."
Vucara laughed again and shook herself.
"On the contrary, young human", she said in the tone of a kind teacher, "not many humans can speak our language. In fact, in my life time I have only heard tales of such Speakers-with-Animals as you are."
Joana pondered this for the time it took to finish a mouthful of nuts and wash them down with several gulps of clear water from the stream.
"Do all animals speak", she asked bashful of her own ignorance. Now it was the wolf's turn to look pensive.
After a while Vucara replied: "Most will understand though some will not readily answer you. And yet others are not happy to converse at all."
She paused before going on as if considering whether to share a secret.
"Tales speak of ancient times when Speakers were common among humans and all beings lived in harmony. In these days, however, even animals are beginning to forget that there is a language that connects us all."
Now Joana remembered what had been bothering her.
"But I have never learnt any such language", she objected. The wolf shook her head in a very human manner.
"I have no answer to that", she replied mysteriously, "only that this language is understood by all creatures. It has always been. It transcends your human tongues. But in your kind it seems to be a gift that extremely few possess. Those that do are often the stuff of legends."
Joana shuddered as Vucara's words resounded in her head.
"Why would not more animals talk to us though", she picked up another loose end.
"They are afraid", the wolf replied with a note of sadness. "Afraid of your weapons and your fire, of your hunger and greed. You have seen this in Alefa. That fabled age of enlightenment are long gone. These are darker times."
The girl lowered her gaze. She had felt Alefa's resentment towards her. He had not confronted her again but he and most of the others refused to talk to her. Still she was beginning to understand that there was more. The pack was getting restless in the gully near the cave.
"I am tying you down" she said quietly. "And there is nothing I can do to earn my keep either."
The wolf remained silent but that was all the confirmation Joana needed.
"Especially after you've done so much for me", Joana went on, "I owe you my life."
"You owe me nothing, young human", the wolf said quietly, refusing to look her in the eye. "If you had not spoken to me there on the bank of this stream things might have gone very differently. I could not let a Speaker die, especially one so young who might still have a great destiny before her. Alefa, now he has the whole pack to consider. If we stay in one place for too long we may no longer find prey. Or worse still we might be found by your hunters and their-" She hesitated as if uttering the next word required particular effort. "-hounds."
Joana did not remark on it. "I should go back", she said flatly. "It has been I don't know how many days. I need to see what is left."
"But you are afraid to see."
Joana nodded biting her lip. She whispered: "Yes."
"I will go with you. I promised to keep you safe and I will for as long as it takes", Vucara said solemly.
The girl sighed and simply nodded again.
Joana stood at the edge of a desolate expanse that had once been the hamlet of Kremitz. The streets that she had once played in lined with black and white wood frame houses now lay deserted among charred ruins that stood against the sky like rows of hollow teeth. Vucara had stayed back - both because of the scent of fire that still lingered here and to give Joana some time alone. Joana could not blame the wolf. The breeze carried with it a smell of charred wood and cold ashes that even she could pick up. But there was more: not so much a scent but a feeling of death that seemed to emanate from the ruins and the very ground like a winter chill. Joana shivered involuntarily.
Then she became aware of something else. There were noises, very alive noises coming from the center of the settlement. There was a clatter as of an old pot and hushed whispers. Cautiously she advanced in the direction. Hiding behind a half tumbled down wall she peered ahead. There were several, some five strange men scuttling around among the ruins and - she realised to her horror - the black and twisted remains of what must have once been human forms.
They were a shady bunch, their hair and beards uncempt, their clothing poor and filthy with the dirt of many days. Their forms were brawny and their movements agile. One particularly large fellow carried a woodman's axe tucked into his belt, another had a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his back.
"Bloody pots and pans", she heard one of them complain, "they has 'ardly anything worth carryin'."
The man with the axe looked up at the speaker and shouted: "Shut yar gap. Those oiron pots fetch a good proice. And we don't even 'ave to bring out a knoife for it", he added as an afterthought.
Joana bit clenched her teeth at the surge of anger and grief. She would have to wait until they had left to get what she herself had come here for. Hopefully, they wouldn't beat her to it. She turned to quietly head back the way she had come when a blackened beam snapped noisily under her foot. She froze. So did the men. Her heart skipped several beats, then it seemed to pound so loudly that she was sure they must hear it.
"Something's still alive 'ere", whimpered one voice.
"Horse shit", growled the voice she recognised as that of the man with the axe. "There's just someone else sneakin' around."
There was a hush. Nearly paralysed with fear Joana tried to edge away from the men.
An excited cry interrupted the tense silence then: "A ring! This fella's got a ring!"
Despite her fear Joana's chest seemed to constrict. Her mother had always worn a silver ring. It had been a present from father. Now there was no way to get it back. At least, it would serve as a distraction, so she could escape. Pressing her lips together she turned to leave when she bumped into something that was soft and smelled of old sweat. A grip like iron closed around her arm shoving her forward into the open. Joana stumbled several paces before winding up on hands and knees.
"Oi, lads", the man hollered, "lookie what Oi got 'ere! Looks loike it's not ghouls after all."
There was a general commotion as they all turned their attention on her. They had been crouching together near where Joana knew her house had been, bent over something on the ground. Like a pack of rabid dogs they gathered around her, except for the man with the axe who was still inspecting the thing on the ground. There was general excited speculation on who she was and what to do with her all the while shooting questioning glances at their leader.
"She's a survivor, what do you think she is", he snorted, "but tell you what: that might be worth much more than the rest of this junk."
Then with a last glance he lifted what Joana could now see was a charred hand and wrenched one of the fingers free. Joana's heart - and stomach - did a heave.
"Stop it", she screamed.
The big man paused, his eyes narrowing. Then he came almost leisurely walking over to the rest. He waved the charred finger with the slender ring around the base admonishingly. Joana fought down a wave of nausea.
"Now, now, poppet", he sneered, "no need to raise yar voice."
The man behind Joana snickered.
"S'not poloite, yer know."
"Have you no shame", Joana uttered between gritted teeth. "Can't you see what happened here?"
"We can see all right." The big man with the axe chuckled and extended his arms in an all-encompassing gesture. "There's lots o' dead folks who ain't be needin' their ... effects no more." With that he tucked the ring into a pouch he wore and carelessly discarded the finger.
"An' we is 'ere to collect them", her captor picked up the train of thought, his voice right beside her ear. His breath smelled foul.
"You scum", Joana hissed, "it'll be the gibbet for all of you!"
The leader regarded her in mocking consternation. Shaking his head sadly at her he said: "That's a 'arsh thing to say for such a luvly lass. You've just met us." There was laughter from the others. Very close to her now he leaned forward and grasped Joana's jaw between index and thumb. Squeezing her face into a pout he forced her to look up at him. His nose was crooked from being broken at least once. His eyes spoke of a brutish wickedness. "Maybe", he was smirking again, "we should get to know each other be'er."
Joana gasped. But the moment he let go she launched a gob of spittle right at his face. The man flinched. Then he gave an angry roar.
"Why you little -"
There was a sudden movement: a flash of grey fur and teeth. A vicious snarl tore through the air. The man behind Joana gave a cry of fright and pain.
"She's got a bloody dog!"
The momentum of the pounce had left Joana and two of the men sprawled on the ground. The others leaped to safety. Shouting erupted. Joana whirled around to see Vucara come out on top of the man that had captured her.
"Run", the wolf growled at her. Then Vucara's jaws closed around the man's throat. In a daze Joana scrambled to her feet. Behind her the man gave a gargling shriek that was silenced abruptly with a grisly tearing sound. Storming blindly forward she heard the leader bark orders amid various profanities.
"You: get 'er! We'll 'andle the sodding thing."
She glanced behind her just long enough to see Vucara in the midst of three of the remaining men including the leader who was hefting his axe. The glance also showed her that a fourth men was coming after her. It showed her that she still had a healthy head start and might outrun her pursuer. It also distracted her long enough to miss the handle of some tool or other that was lying across her path. She tripped right over it and hit the ground with a force that drove the air out of her lungs. When she looked up her pursuer was almost on top of her. She would not get far now. She grabbed the nearest thing she could get hold of: the thick wooden handle she had tripped over. Gripping it in both hands she got unsteadily to her feet. The young man skidded to a halt just outside the range of the make-shift club. An angry roar and more shouting came from further behind him. He ignored it and raised his hands showing that they were empty. At the same time Joana could see him tense for a lunge.
"Come no closer", she exclaimed with a warning swish of the club.
The man's face split into a smirk. He took another cautious step forward his hands up as if to catch the club should Joana aim for his face.
"Put that down now, lass", he said in a consiliatory tone, "we're not gonna 'urt you - much."
There was a cry and a painful yelp that made both of them jump. For the fraction of a heartbeat the man was off balance. Joana swung the club. The momentum made her tumble forward and the blow came in much lower than she had meant it to. Still the club was heavy headed. It caught the man just above the knee. He collapsed with a cry. Half kneeling his hands fumbled for his hurt leg. Joana stared at him wide-eyed, hardly daring to breathe.
"You little whore", he groaned, "you'll fucking bleed for that!"
Joana swung again. Time seemed to stand still for a moment. Then it came rushing back in like water from a spring. Crack! went the club across the side of his head. Jaw and cheekbone yielded with a muted crunch. The force of the impact bounced the club out of her hands. Joana was trembling. The man swayed before her. A torrent of blood mixed with broken teeth issued from his mouth. More blood ran from his mangled ear. He toppled over with a sound like bubbling water. A little puddle began to collect under his head. Joana just stared at him gasping for breath.
A cry from the other fight brought her attention back to the here and now. It wasn't over yet! Snatching up the blood stained club she ran back the way she had come.
The odds had changed - just not in Vucara's favour. She had downed one man with a knife but the other two were still unscathed and an arrow shaft was protruding from her hind quarters. The leader was keeping the wolf at a distance with wide swipes of his axe while the other man circled both of them aiming another shot from his bow. The injured man was trying to crawl out of the melee.
"Shoot the damn thing", the leader was shouting frantically.
This was when Joana came charging wildly in. Yelling shrilly she brought her club down onto the archer's head. The man had half turned in her direction. The blow caught him right across the forehead. The impact sounded like hitting a hollow log. The arrow sprang from the string unaimed while he stood there stunned - until Joana unable to stop collided with him and both keeled over.
When Joana looked up Vucara had made use of the moment of distraction and pounced. Her jaws closed around the man's right wrist. He cried out in pain stumbling backward. The axe slipped from his grasp as he toppled backward. Shouting more profanities he banged a fist at Vucara's head and she finally let go. In a flash the man was back on his feet and was running head over heels with Vucara only a pace behind. Just before the ruins of the last house the wolf leaped on him and he went down again with a quavering wail.
"Don't kill him", Joana shouted after them. "I need answers from him."
She got up from the unmoving body she was still lying on and stumbled over the the pair. Vucara had placed both fore legs on the man's chest and was snarling at his face. The big man was actually whimpering now clasping a hand around his injured wrist. Somewhere along the way she picked up the axe the man had dropped. Coming to a stop above the leader of the band she let the axe head thud onto the ground beside his head. For a moment she just stared at him. Her heart was beating like a wild war drum. The man looked back up at her his eyes wide and imploring. Think drops of blood now further soiled his shirt. He squirmed but Vucara uttered a rumbling gowl and he lay still again.
"P-please, young miss", he stammered, "we din' mean no harm. Please, call back your dog."
"She's a wolf", said Joana coldly, barely containing her rage. She remembered too clearly what this man had done.
"Wolf if it pleases yar, missie. We is just making a livin' as best we can. These - these are hard times."
"You scum", spat Joana, "to lazy to take up an honest profession, too cowardly to be highwaymen, so you violate the dead! And you even take pride in it? Give back my mother's ring!"
The man's eyes glinted with a sudden hope.
"Oh, it's the ring yer wants, missie? I have it here. You can have it back. Now, please-" A trembling hand fumbled with his pouch and produced the tarnished, slender ring. Joana snatched it from him and slid the ring on her finger.
"Now I want answers", she cut him off, "you said I'd be worth a lot. To who? Who did this?"
She pointed at the ruined village around them. His eyes darted back and forth. His mouth opened and closed a few times. He looked like a fish, Joana thought, that had been pulled on land.
"I don't know, miss", he blubbered miserably. "I ain't seen or heard anything. I wasn't 'ere when it 'appened."
"You damn-well know", Joana shouted in his face at the top of her voice.
"I don't know anything", he wailed in return.
Joana quiet all of a sudden ground her teeth staring at him loathingly. Then she turned to Vucara.
"Kill him", she said as evenly as possible. The wolf's eyes widened in shock. "But slowly", Joana added, "eat him a limb at a time."
Vucara opened her mouth as if to object but the man misunderstood the motion.
"No, no", he screamed trying to squirm away from the wolf's jaws. The words seemed to bubble out of him: "I don't know who 'e is. 'e's been recruiting mercenaries but we was too shabby for 'im. 'is name is something bad - raven or the like. I 'ear he's some big-job magician. Please, I don't know no more."
"Where was this", Joana snapped at him.
"In Tramir", the man answered breathlessly, "we was meeting 'im at an inn called ... 'The Rat and Cat'."
Joana and Vucara stared at him. Then the wolf looked up questioningly at the girl who was leaning heavily on the axe. Joana considered the groveling man with a look full of contempt. Then she turned away.
"Let him go", she whispered to Vucara. Obediently the wolf limped back a few paces eyeing the man warily.
To the man she continued: "You, scum, get lost, never come back."
"Now wait", quavered the man slowly getting to his feet, "I know 'ow this goes. I start runnin' and you sends the dog - wolf - after me to bite me throat."
Joana shrugged. "You can stay and she'll do it right here."
"Please-", the man began wringing his hands.
Joana spun around and screamed at him at the top of her voice: "Go!"
He jumped and went running out of the hamlet in a wild galop. Joana stood still leaning on the axe until he was out of sight. Then she simply slid down along its shaft to the ground. Trembling violently she burst into tears. Wearily the wolf limped over to where she was cowering and Joana slung her arms around the animal's neck.
"Vucara", she repeated the name over and over. Anything else she said was lost between her choking sobs.
The wolf, trembling slightly herself, never the less waited patiently until the girl's tears had stopped flowing.
... to be continued ...
Joana was not a welcome guest among the wolves. Alefa, the undisputed leader of the pack, made no secret of that. But the others were suspicious, too. Joana couldn't blame them. Just to think bringing a live wolf back to the village - be it hurt or no! That village, beyond the stream and the forest, that had by now burnt to the ground. Most of her thoughts took this path around her dim consciousness now. She hardly noticed the snarls of the pack leader when they arrived. It registered almost casually that Vucara seemed to have considerable leverage herself when, after a lot more snarling and whining, Alefa turned and leaped away.
The pack had gathered in a narrow dell from which a cave opened into the flank of the hill. Into this cave the wolves carried Joana's limp form and placed her gently on the ground. Joana could not have said on which way they had taken her here. Her recollection of the journey was riddled with gaps. And now in the dusky cave on the floor she let the beckoning darkness consume her.
Time passed. Hours, days, weeks even? Joana could not tell. She felt adrift as if lying on a raft on a great, calm river. And like the moon above such a raft her consciousness waxed and waned. The only constant was Vucara's face. When Joana opened her eyes she always seemed to be right beside her. The wolf's amber gaze was always watchful and alert though she never spoke. Sometimes she would dribble water from her mouth that Joana drank gratefully. Once she awoke during what seemed to be a cool night and Vucara was huddled next to her and the warmth from the wolf's body drove away the chill.
When Joana awoke with a clear head for the first time Vucara was gone. Joana looked around but could only see the twilight of the cave and a shaft of daylight from somewhere ahead of her. She got up on wobbly feet and followed the light, which led her sure enough to the mouth of the cave. Here she halted. A large pack of grey wolves was resting among some trees around the entrance. Her heart stopped. Several of the animals had already looked up at her. Then she remembered that Vucara had meant to take her back to the pack. But where was her rescuer? Would the others not harm her even if she was not around? Several of the beasts were getting to their feet. Suddenly from the side of the cave mouth emerged a particularly large specimen and bared its teeth at her with a deep growl. Joana cautiously retreated into the cave but the wolves were following her.
"I don't mean to intrude." She tried to make her voice sound calm and controlled. Her heart seemed to be pounding in her throat. "I know this is your place."
"And yet you reek of fear", the leading wolf snarled. "Your very presence here is a mockery! Humans are not our friends."
There were growls that appeared to signal agreement. Suddenly a newcomer bounded into the assembly with a loud yelp.
"Stop", it shouted with Vucara's voice, "Alefa you promised not to harm her."
"She has outstayed her welcome", the one she had addressed as Alefa returned, "the others are already doubting my leadership because I allowed her to stay as long as this."
Vucara had maneuvered herself between Joana and the pack leader. Just from the short walk Joana was feeling woozy again and had to lean against the cool rock wall.
"The others will accept your decision. And you have always trusted and heeded my counsel", Vucara spoke calmly but with urgency in her voice, "this human is not like the others. She can understand us. And she has nowhere to go", she added with a pleading note. She seemed to kneel before the leader trying to poke her nose at his. "Let her at least stay and rest until she has fully recovered from her injuries."
Alefa seemed to consider this. "Very well, but when she can run she will leave." With something like an angry bark Alefa whirled around and disappeared outside.
Exhaling a sigh Joana collapsed onto the cave floor. The tension was dissipating as the other wolves stalked out of the cave. Vucara also seemed relieved when she spoke: "Alefa does not mean ill. Are you hurt?"
Joana managed to shake her head. "Just very hungry", she said sheepishly identifying only now the ache in the pit her stomach.
Vucara helped her back to her resting place. Promising to return she bounded out of the cave. Joana closed her eyes wearily.
There was fire everywhere. Screams of pain echoed through the roar of the flames and the cracking and bursting of wood. Faceless shapes flitted here and there, stumbling, convulsing. To her horror Joana realised they were people, burning like torches. Not only their clothing but their very skin was ablaze and flames were bursting from their mouth and eyes. The only thing not on fire seemed to be herself stumbling through the inferno. It looked to her like a maze of blazing, crumbled walls and wooden beams. Then there was a voice she recognised. It called her name. She looked around wildly for with every call the voice seemed more familiar. Then one of the fiery apparitions staggered towards her. She was crying and calling out Joana's name. A female voice. As she drew near Joana imagined she could hear the burning skin sizzling like a grisly roast. She wanted to turn and run but something held her.
Suddenly the burning woman stumbled forward and clutched Joana's head between her hands. She felt the heat wave but still she did not catch fire herself. Horrified she stared at the charred face underneath its veil of viciously hissing flames.
Joana, the thing groaned, help me.
Recognition surged through Joana and she screamed and could not stop.
With a start she awoke in the dark cave. Tears were streaming freely down her face. Heavy sobs shook her entire body.
"Oh mama, forgive me!"
Consciousness now came back readily to Joana but she was weak from days of no nurishment but water. Food still proved difficult. Seeing improvement Vucara was as eager as ever to see her charge back on her feet but she had never had to feed a human. She offered Joana a chunk of meat from the pack's last kill. Joana eyed it and finally took a hungry bite. When she tried to swallow it, however, she was violently sick.
"I forgot that you humans burn your meat before eating it", the wolf said apologetically.
Then Vucara brought back several mouthfuls of wild berries that she had picked as best she could with her teeth. The following day she added some nuts to the diet. Slowly at least some of her nagging hunger began to abate and the girl could get up and walk around without immediately feeling dizzy.
Joana's head still hurt when she moved too abruptly and her ancle had swollen but Vucara licked it with her cool tongue after chewing some herbs and most of the pain went away soon after. When Joana voiced her surprise the wolf had hung out her long tongue in a canine laugh. They were on the first walk Joana had taken since her time with the wolf pack. They were sitting shielded from view behind some bushes near the stream Joana had tried to cross. That already seemed so long ago.
"You humans don't know much about us", Vucara remarked. "Many animals know such things. You'd have only to ask."
"How would we ask", Joana inquired, confused, "most animals don't understand us."
Vucara laughed again and shook herself.
"On the contrary, young human", she said in the tone of a kind teacher, "not many humans can speak our language. In fact, in my life time I have only heard tales of such Speakers-with-Animals as you are."
Joana pondered this for the time it took to finish a mouthful of nuts and wash them down with several gulps of clear water from the stream.
"Do all animals speak", she asked bashful of her own ignorance. Now it was the wolf's turn to look pensive.
After a while Vucara replied: "Most will understand though some will not readily answer you. And yet others are not happy to converse at all."
She paused before going on as if considering whether to share a secret.
"Tales speak of ancient times when Speakers were common among humans and all beings lived in harmony. In these days, however, even animals are beginning to forget that there is a language that connects us all."
Now Joana remembered what had been bothering her.
"But I have never learnt any such language", she objected. The wolf shook her head in a very human manner.
"I have no answer to that", she replied mysteriously, "only that this language is understood by all creatures. It has always been. It transcends your human tongues. But in your kind it seems to be a gift that extremely few possess. Those that do are often the stuff of legends."
Joana shuddered as Vucara's words resounded in her head.
"Why would not more animals talk to us though", she picked up another loose end.
"They are afraid", the wolf replied with a note of sadness. "Afraid of your weapons and your fire, of your hunger and greed. You have seen this in Alefa. That fabled age of enlightenment are long gone. These are darker times."
The girl lowered her gaze. She had felt Alefa's resentment towards her. He had not confronted her again but he and most of the others refused to talk to her. Still she was beginning to understand that there was more. The pack was getting restless in the gully near the cave.
"I am tying you down" she said quietly. "And there is nothing I can do to earn my keep either."
The wolf remained silent but that was all the confirmation Joana needed.
"Especially after you've done so much for me", Joana went on, "I owe you my life."
"You owe me nothing, young human", the wolf said quietly, refusing to look her in the eye. "If you had not spoken to me there on the bank of this stream things might have gone very differently. I could not let a Speaker die, especially one so young who might still have a great destiny before her. Alefa, now he has the whole pack to consider. If we stay in one place for too long we may no longer find prey. Or worse still we might be found by your hunters and their-" She hesitated as if uttering the next word required particular effort. "-hounds."
Joana did not remark on it. "I should go back", she said flatly. "It has been I don't know how many days. I need to see what is left."
"But you are afraid to see."
Joana nodded biting her lip. She whispered: "Yes."
"I will go with you. I promised to keep you safe and I will for as long as it takes", Vucara said solemly.
The girl sighed and simply nodded again.
Joana stood at the edge of a desolate expanse that had once been the hamlet of Kremitz. The streets that she had once played in lined with black and white wood frame houses now lay deserted among charred ruins that stood against the sky like rows of hollow teeth. Vucara had stayed back - both because of the scent of fire that still lingered here and to give Joana some time alone. Joana could not blame the wolf. The breeze carried with it a smell of charred wood and cold ashes that even she could pick up. But there was more: not so much a scent but a feeling of death that seemed to emanate from the ruins and the very ground like a winter chill. Joana shivered involuntarily.
Then she became aware of something else. There were noises, very alive noises coming from the center of the settlement. There was a clatter as of an old pot and hushed whispers. Cautiously she advanced in the direction. Hiding behind a half tumbled down wall she peered ahead. There were several, some five strange men scuttling around among the ruins and - she realised to her horror - the black and twisted remains of what must have once been human forms.
They were a shady bunch, their hair and beards uncempt, their clothing poor and filthy with the dirt of many days. Their forms were brawny and their movements agile. One particularly large fellow carried a woodman's axe tucked into his belt, another had a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his back.
"Bloody pots and pans", she heard one of them complain, "they has 'ardly anything worth carryin'."
The man with the axe looked up at the speaker and shouted: "Shut yar gap. Those oiron pots fetch a good proice. And we don't even 'ave to bring out a knoife for it", he added as an afterthought.
Joana bit clenched her teeth at the surge of anger and grief. She would have to wait until they had left to get what she herself had come here for. Hopefully, they wouldn't beat her to it. She turned to quietly head back the way she had come when a blackened beam snapped noisily under her foot. She froze. So did the men. Her heart skipped several beats, then it seemed to pound so loudly that she was sure they must hear it.
"Something's still alive 'ere", whimpered one voice.
"Horse shit", growled the voice she recognised as that of the man with the axe. "There's just someone else sneakin' around."
There was a hush. Nearly paralysed with fear Joana tried to edge away from the men.
An excited cry interrupted the tense silence then: "A ring! This fella's got a ring!"
Despite her fear Joana's chest seemed to constrict. Her mother had always worn a silver ring. It had been a present from father. Now there was no way to get it back. At least, it would serve as a distraction, so she could escape. Pressing her lips together she turned to leave when she bumped into something that was soft and smelled of old sweat. A grip like iron closed around her arm shoving her forward into the open. Joana stumbled several paces before winding up on hands and knees.
"Oi, lads", the man hollered, "lookie what Oi got 'ere! Looks loike it's not ghouls after all."
There was a general commotion as they all turned their attention on her. They had been crouching together near where Joana knew her house had been, bent over something on the ground. Like a pack of rabid dogs they gathered around her, except for the man with the axe who was still inspecting the thing on the ground. There was general excited speculation on who she was and what to do with her all the while shooting questioning glances at their leader.
"She's a survivor, what do you think she is", he snorted, "but tell you what: that might be worth much more than the rest of this junk."
Then with a last glance he lifted what Joana could now see was a charred hand and wrenched one of the fingers free. Joana's heart - and stomach - did a heave.
"Stop it", she screamed.
The big man paused, his eyes narrowing. Then he came almost leisurely walking over to the rest. He waved the charred finger with the slender ring around the base admonishingly. Joana fought down a wave of nausea.
"Now, now, poppet", he sneered, "no need to raise yar voice."
The man behind Joana snickered.
"S'not poloite, yer know."
"Have you no shame", Joana uttered between gritted teeth. "Can't you see what happened here?"
"We can see all right." The big man with the axe chuckled and extended his arms in an all-encompassing gesture. "There's lots o' dead folks who ain't be needin' their ... effects no more." With that he tucked the ring into a pouch he wore and carelessly discarded the finger.
"An' we is 'ere to collect them", her captor picked up the train of thought, his voice right beside her ear. His breath smelled foul.
"You scum", Joana hissed, "it'll be the gibbet for all of you!"
The leader regarded her in mocking consternation. Shaking his head sadly at her he said: "That's a 'arsh thing to say for such a luvly lass. You've just met us." There was laughter from the others. Very close to her now he leaned forward and grasped Joana's jaw between index and thumb. Squeezing her face into a pout he forced her to look up at him. His nose was crooked from being broken at least once. His eyes spoke of a brutish wickedness. "Maybe", he was smirking again, "we should get to know each other be'er."
Joana gasped. But the moment he let go she launched a gob of spittle right at his face. The man flinched. Then he gave an angry roar.
"Why you little -"
There was a sudden movement: a flash of grey fur and teeth. A vicious snarl tore through the air. The man behind Joana gave a cry of fright and pain.
"She's got a bloody dog!"
The momentum of the pounce had left Joana and two of the men sprawled on the ground. The others leaped to safety. Shouting erupted. Joana whirled around to see Vucara come out on top of the man that had captured her.
"Run", the wolf growled at her. Then Vucara's jaws closed around the man's throat. In a daze Joana scrambled to her feet. Behind her the man gave a gargling shriek that was silenced abruptly with a grisly tearing sound. Storming blindly forward she heard the leader bark orders amid various profanities.
"You: get 'er! We'll 'andle the sodding thing."
She glanced behind her just long enough to see Vucara in the midst of three of the remaining men including the leader who was hefting his axe. The glance also showed her that a fourth men was coming after her. It showed her that she still had a healthy head start and might outrun her pursuer. It also distracted her long enough to miss the handle of some tool or other that was lying across her path. She tripped right over it and hit the ground with a force that drove the air out of her lungs. When she looked up her pursuer was almost on top of her. She would not get far now. She grabbed the nearest thing she could get hold of: the thick wooden handle she had tripped over. Gripping it in both hands she got unsteadily to her feet. The young man skidded to a halt just outside the range of the make-shift club. An angry roar and more shouting came from further behind him. He ignored it and raised his hands showing that they were empty. At the same time Joana could see him tense for a lunge.
"Come no closer", she exclaimed with a warning swish of the club.
The man's face split into a smirk. He took another cautious step forward his hands up as if to catch the club should Joana aim for his face.
"Put that down now, lass", he said in a consiliatory tone, "we're not gonna 'urt you - much."
There was a cry and a painful yelp that made both of them jump. For the fraction of a heartbeat the man was off balance. Joana swung the club. The momentum made her tumble forward and the blow came in much lower than she had meant it to. Still the club was heavy headed. It caught the man just above the knee. He collapsed with a cry. Half kneeling his hands fumbled for his hurt leg. Joana stared at him wide-eyed, hardly daring to breathe.
"You little whore", he groaned, "you'll fucking bleed for that!"
Joana swung again. Time seemed to stand still for a moment. Then it came rushing back in like water from a spring. Crack! went the club across the side of his head. Jaw and cheekbone yielded with a muted crunch. The force of the impact bounced the club out of her hands. Joana was trembling. The man swayed before her. A torrent of blood mixed with broken teeth issued from his mouth. More blood ran from his mangled ear. He toppled over with a sound like bubbling water. A little puddle began to collect under his head. Joana just stared at him gasping for breath.
A cry from the other fight brought her attention back to the here and now. It wasn't over yet! Snatching up the blood stained club she ran back the way she had come.
The odds had changed - just not in Vucara's favour. She had downed one man with a knife but the other two were still unscathed and an arrow shaft was protruding from her hind quarters. The leader was keeping the wolf at a distance with wide swipes of his axe while the other man circled both of them aiming another shot from his bow. The injured man was trying to crawl out of the melee.
"Shoot the damn thing", the leader was shouting frantically.
This was when Joana came charging wildly in. Yelling shrilly she brought her club down onto the archer's head. The man had half turned in her direction. The blow caught him right across the forehead. The impact sounded like hitting a hollow log. The arrow sprang from the string unaimed while he stood there stunned - until Joana unable to stop collided with him and both keeled over.
When Joana looked up Vucara had made use of the moment of distraction and pounced. Her jaws closed around the man's right wrist. He cried out in pain stumbling backward. The axe slipped from his grasp as he toppled backward. Shouting more profanities he banged a fist at Vucara's head and she finally let go. In a flash the man was back on his feet and was running head over heels with Vucara only a pace behind. Just before the ruins of the last house the wolf leaped on him and he went down again with a quavering wail.
"Don't kill him", Joana shouted after them. "I need answers from him."
She got up from the unmoving body she was still lying on and stumbled over the the pair. Vucara had placed both fore legs on the man's chest and was snarling at his face. The big man was actually whimpering now clasping a hand around his injured wrist. Somewhere along the way she picked up the axe the man had dropped. Coming to a stop above the leader of the band she let the axe head thud onto the ground beside his head. For a moment she just stared at him. Her heart was beating like a wild war drum. The man looked back up at her his eyes wide and imploring. Think drops of blood now further soiled his shirt. He squirmed but Vucara uttered a rumbling gowl and he lay still again.
"P-please, young miss", he stammered, "we din' mean no harm. Please, call back your dog."
"She's a wolf", said Joana coldly, barely containing her rage. She remembered too clearly what this man had done.
"Wolf if it pleases yar, missie. We is just making a livin' as best we can. These - these are hard times."
"You scum", spat Joana, "to lazy to take up an honest profession, too cowardly to be highwaymen, so you violate the dead! And you even take pride in it? Give back my mother's ring!"
The man's eyes glinted with a sudden hope.
"Oh, it's the ring yer wants, missie? I have it here. You can have it back. Now, please-" A trembling hand fumbled with his pouch and produced the tarnished, slender ring. Joana snatched it from him and slid the ring on her finger.
"Now I want answers", she cut him off, "you said I'd be worth a lot. To who? Who did this?"
She pointed at the ruined village around them. His eyes darted back and forth. His mouth opened and closed a few times. He looked like a fish, Joana thought, that had been pulled on land.
"I don't know, miss", he blubbered miserably. "I ain't seen or heard anything. I wasn't 'ere when it 'appened."
"You damn-well know", Joana shouted in his face at the top of her voice.
"I don't know anything", he wailed in return.
Joana quiet all of a sudden ground her teeth staring at him loathingly. Then she turned to Vucara.
"Kill him", she said as evenly as possible. The wolf's eyes widened in shock. "But slowly", Joana added, "eat him a limb at a time."
Vucara opened her mouth as if to object but the man misunderstood the motion.
"No, no", he screamed trying to squirm away from the wolf's jaws. The words seemed to bubble out of him: "I don't know who 'e is. 'e's been recruiting mercenaries but we was too shabby for 'im. 'is name is something bad - raven or the like. I 'ear he's some big-job magician. Please, I don't know no more."
"Where was this", Joana snapped at him.
"In Tramir", the man answered breathlessly, "we was meeting 'im at an inn called ... 'The Rat and Cat'."
Joana and Vucara stared at him. Then the wolf looked up questioningly at the girl who was leaning heavily on the axe. Joana considered the groveling man with a look full of contempt. Then she turned away.
"Let him go", she whispered to Vucara. Obediently the wolf limped back a few paces eyeing the man warily.
To the man she continued: "You, scum, get lost, never come back."
"Now wait", quavered the man slowly getting to his feet, "I know 'ow this goes. I start runnin' and you sends the dog - wolf - after me to bite me throat."
Joana shrugged. "You can stay and she'll do it right here."
"Please-", the man began wringing his hands.
Joana spun around and screamed at him at the top of her voice: "Go!"
He jumped and went running out of the hamlet in a wild galop. Joana stood still leaning on the axe until he was out of sight. Then she simply slid down along its shaft to the ground. Trembling violently she burst into tears. Wearily the wolf limped over to where she was cowering and Joana slung her arms around the animal's neck.
"Vucara", she repeated the name over and over. Anything else she said was lost between her choking sobs.
The wolf, trembling slightly herself, never the less waited patiently until the girl's tears had stopped flowing.
... to be continued ...