The House of the Wolf

9

"Wake up, pup!" called Josephine.

Hunter opened his eyes and looked around him.

Since parting company with her friend the tundra-man, who had set them down at a considerable distance from Pingualuit, the white wolf and his new companion had travelled a considerable distance southwards. Josephine had worn her wolf-form most of the time, needing its superior stamina. Hunter had never dreamed the world was so large. As the moon slowly changed its phases high above them, the land around them also changed. Tundra gave way to taiga, where clumps of birch and willow higher than their heads reared up from the heath. Then they passed through the vast region of the tree line, where at last they saw true forests: conifers whose dark-green tips rose to impossible heights, or so it seemed to Hunter's eyes: he wondered that these monstrous plants did not topple over from their own vast unwieldy size. Yet Josephine told him the trees further to the south were taller still. "These are just little baby trees up here," she had laughed. "You haven't seen anything yet, pup!"

As they journeyed southwards food became more plentiful. There were hares, and deer too: smaller than caribou and lighter of build, and very swift of foot. He and Josephine had to find older ones to chase down. Hunter was unaccustomed to being first to eat at a kill, savouring the rich taste of entrails and muscle meat that were still warm and steaming instead of chewing at cold bony remnants after others had had their fill.

It was at this point that isolated cabins built of felled tree-trunks began to appear deep in the forest. They had not yet come to the domain of men, Josephine explained; any they encountered here would be loners living far from the rest of their kind. The wolf-woman returned more frequently to human form now, appealing to the native trappers and woodsmen in the log cabins to lend her clothing and a bed for the night. Some of these humans were shape-changers too, others were friends of the rugaru who did not fear them. A few had to be kept in the dark however; she approached those ones always in woman form, clad in borrowed garments, and instructed Hunter to hide himself out of doors while she stayed in the cabins. One elderly man allowed him to come in and sit in a warm corner by the hearth.

"I told him you were a dog," said Josephine after they had left and she resumed wolf-shape.

"What!" Hunter was indignant and astonished at once. "Is his eyesight failing him? How could he mistake me for a dog?"

"I told him you've got wolf blood. Which is true, after all." She grinned at her own joke, showing all her wolf-teeth, as they set out again.

At the next lonely dwelling Josephine borrowed a vehicle from another old friend: not a flying machine, but one that ran on round limbs along a rough track trodden into the earth. Hunter rode with her at first in the front seat, but he could not stand it for long. The land-vehicle bounced up and down in the ruts, making him feel dizzy and sick, and its speed was alarming. Everything – trees, boulders – seemed to be rushing straight at him, making him duck and cringe. Finally Josephine stopped the vehicle, and he rode for the rest of that trip in its flat open back, watching things race away from him into the distance. The track grew wider, and not so rough, and he did not get jostled about quite so much. Hunter began to relax. This man-made object was not as swift as the thunder-wing, but it was still far faster than walking. With each day that passed he drew ever closer to the lands of men, yet he still had the company of Josephine and her rugaru friends. He had it both ways: he had left the wolf-lands behind, but not the companionship of his kind.

Now after many days they had stopped again. Before him Hunter saw a large structure, hewn out of tree-trunks and blazing through the dusk with unnatural lights. This was apparently a safe-house for rugaru. There were several native humans sitting on the front porch, black-haired and tawny-skinned like Josephine; when they saw her emerge from the vehicle they ran down the steps in a gleeful mass and hugged her. Out of the woods at the back several rugaru in wolf form came running, some transforming back to humans even as they ran. It was very apparent that Josephine was well-known here, and greatly loved. At last she gestured to Hunter, who had jumped out of the truck but stayed close to it, shy and hesitant to join the joyful gathering. He was not afraid of the humans; it was the wolves that made him feel edgy and defensive. But when several of those in wolf-form approached him, he began to relax. Their body language – broad grins, lowered ears and tails – indicated non-hostile intent.