The House of the Wolf

11

"The Greenwoods are in their summer lair," the rugaru had said. "South of here, in the forest near the Trembling Mountain."

"Then that is where we must go," Josephine replied.

They went in human form, in human vehicles, because the distance was so great – not too great for the wheeled machines to travel, however. These made what would have been a journey of days on wolf-foot into one night's ride. Hunter was puzzled by their quest, and the fact that it was taking him and Josephine off their planned route. If these human "packs" were so dangerous and defensive of their lairs and family members, surely it was a mistake to confront them? And what was the point? They did not know this young human female, had never even met her. She was not their kin. But for some reason they were willing to risk all to intervene in her pack's plans for her.

"You will understand one day," was all Josephine would say.

At last the vehicles halted. The rugaru jumped out and stripped off their clothing before taking lupine form. The night was dark and still, with no man-made lights showing anywhere and no traffic on the road. "This is a wilderness area," said Josephine. "The humans have set this forest aside, reserved it for the use of beasts and birds." He wondered why they would do such a thing. Had not the Stone pack wolves said that humans always destroyed wilderness?

The tawny-brown wolf that was Jean-Louis turned to look at Josephine. "Did you hear that?" The whole pack of transformed rugaru raised their heads, wolf-ears pricked. They all heard the noise: the sound of wolves' cries carrying through the clear autumn night. The voices of wolves are as distinctive and individual as those of human beings. These members of the other pack were saying to each other as they raced through the thick dark forest: "This is I, here I am!"

"It is the Stone brothers, and the Greenwoods," said Josephine listening.

"They're hunting," said Jean-Louis. "Do you hear? One just said to the other, 'There she goes, follow her!' "

"She?" repeated Josephine, her tone sharp.

"They're coming closer," said another wolf.

"Then move towards them! Cut them off!"

"Is that wise?" said Hunter. He remembered the viciousness of the wolf-brothers on the Stone Plain, the older one in particular. "They're in full cry after whatever it is. They will be angry if they're thwarted of their prey – "

"Not prey, Hunter. She," muttered Josephine again. "The young female, it must be..."

She broke into a loping run, and they all ran to keep up with her. They burst into a glade, wide and open under the stars. They were just in time to see a pale figure emerge from the dark beneath the trees. It was a human form, female. She did not see them. She had run so hard she had cast off one of her shoes, and as they watched she tore off the other and attempted to run on in her bare feet. But she tripped on something and fell to her hands and knees. The wolves burst from the wood. He saw a grey-muzzled she-wolf at their head, another younger female, and then with a raising of his hackles he recognized the two brother wolves from the Stone Plain. The woman cowered as the pack encircled her, and she screamed – a scream that became an unnatural rasping howl. She tore at the outer layer of her clothing, ripped it away with hands that changed their shape even as she raised them. She was turning into a wolf and she was not yet out of her clothes. She whirled, rending the fabric that enclosed her into strips with her teeth and claws. It fell away and she struggled free of the tattered remnants as her form changed completely from woman to wolf.