Running with the Wolves

A New Beginning

Yanjmaa's riding boots were no longer recognizable. It looked as though she had clumps of mud strapped to her feet. And that was what it felt like, too. Altansukh had run off and found a mate, and they had a litter of pups coming soon.

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Three healthy pups were born, one steel gray and one tawny brown. The third was pure black. Strange, Yanjmaa thought. This isn't normal. Yanjmaa lifted up a gray male, a tawny female, and the one black male. She took them into her tiny tent and cared for them until they grew into adults.

There was Ganbold, Altantsetseg, and then there was Qara. Ganbold and Altantsetseg were just like dogs, faithfully trotting at Yanjmaa's heels. But Qara was more wind than wolf. He was free-spirited and often ran off, but came back, always, with something, maybe a rabbit, a marmot or two, and sometimes a scrap of cloth drifting along the forest floor.