Wabi

THAT GENTLE RAIN KEPT FALLING as we trotted across the land that now seemed less barren. It was not just the green of the new grass, it was also the feeling of a weight lifted from the air itself. There was still loss and sorrow here, but no longer any menace.

The wolf pack led me to the place where the Oldold Woman had lived. I did not go inside. There was nothing of that evil creature’s that I wanted. It was bad enough looking at it from the outside. It was like a human wigwam, but it was even more like an upside-down nest. It was built of sticks and brush piled up and tied together by rawhide ropes. Shoved in among the brush and sticks were bones of all sizes. Many bones.

I followed the wolves to the back of that bone lodge. Stakes had been driven into the ground. Other wolves were tied to some. There were many stakes, but only eight tethered wolves. They were thinner and weaker than those who pulled Winasosiz’s sled. Before long, their bones too might have become part of the cruel one’s lodge. All of them were alive, but even after I had untied them, three of the wolves could barely move. Their starved legs could not hold them up.

Another sled was leaning against one of the empty stakes. I fastened ropes to it as the wolves who had led me to this place watched. They seemed uncertain. Would I make them pull as the evil one had done?

I carefully lifted each of the three wolves too weak to move on their own. They did not resist, but it was more from their own weakness than trust of my intent. One by one, I placed them on the sled. I tied my bow and arrows and Head Breaker to the front of the sled. Then, slinging the drag ropes over my own shoulders, I turned and began to pull. It was not that hard to do. The wolves were light and the urgency I felt made their weight seem even less, even as I climbed the small hill that rose before us. At the top I turned to look back at the empty lodge of Winasosiz.

A rumble came from overhead. Then a blinding flash split the sky as an arrow of lightning struck the lodge of bones, bursting it and setting it on fire. The wolves did not run in fear from that sound, that sudden burst of light. It was as if they had expected it. They all sat on their haunches, gravely watching. Even the three wolves on the sled turned their heads to look down the hill. Though the rain still fell, that lodge burned even more quickly than dry grass. Green smoke rose from it.

Then I turned my back on that place and leaned into the ropes. The sled slid easily over the moist ashes and the new grass. The wolf pack, led by Malsumsis and Wigowzo, coursed around me.

When we came to the place where the body of Spear-tooth lay, I stopped. My own teeth were not strong enough and I no longer had the talons of an owl, but I had been thinking about how I could do this. I slid one of the arrows from my quiver and went down on one knee by the body of the dead monster. I had seen how large the muscles of its hindquarters were. Lots of meat there.

With the sharp arrowhead, I cut through the skin and sliced away strips of red meat as the gathered wolf pack watched. I carried those pieces of meat over to the sled, and placed one piece of meat in front of each of the three weak wolves. At first they just licked the meat, then, little by little, they ate. I went back and cut more for them.

Malsumsis and Wigowzo stood between the monster’s body and the other wolves who were waiting, tongues hanging out, their tails wagging. Malsumsis looked a question at me.

Spear-tooth had been large, but the appetite of those hungry wolves was even larger. It was not long before little was left other than the creature’s bones. By then, even those three wolves that had been too weak to walk were among those chewing at the monster’s remains.

We rested there, but not long. I left the sled and the ropes behind when we entered the swamp. The trail seemed easier to follow now. We made our way quickly across. On the other side, again for the benefit of those wolves that had been so weakened, we rested once more.

The sun was sinking beyond the hills, but the full face of the moon was already showing. Her light would make it easy for us to travel through the night. We passed through the forest, by the lightning-blasted hollow oak—which still smelled of well-cooked meat—stopping to drink at the spring, which now held no danger. The body of the gelabago had been eaten by the birds and the few small forest creatures that had survived its hunger. Its long bones were the only hint that a terrible creature had once lived in those clear waters.

At last we reached the base of the tall range that stood between the wide valley and the home our hearts longed to see again. At the top of the ridge, we all stopped again. Our long valley had never looked so beautiful to me. I know that same feeling was in the minds of those with me.

Malsumsis sat down, raised his head up to the sky, and let out a long, beautiful, ululating howl. One by one, the other wolves joined in, filling the night with their song of return.

Happy as I was, I had a sudden feeling of uncertainty. Something seemed wrong. What was that in the patch of soft earth in front of me? I knelt beside it. The bright light of the full moon showed that it was indeed a footprint. It was three times as wide and four times as long as my own spread hand. The marks of four giant claws were dug deep into the earth. That footprint had not been here when we passed this way going into the wide valley. I made out another print, then another, farther down the slope. The trail led down toward the village where my humans lived.

I lifted my hand up to feel the string of clay beads around my neck. I am not sure why I did that. They had been placed there by the old man whose name I had not learned. For some reason, even after having left the village in disgrace, I kept those beads meant to mark me as one who hunts for the people. Even though they might not want me, I would not desert them.