a distraction for the wolves, Haarn pulled himself up onto the ledge. The bear traveled faster than Druz could have.
The wolf pack remained hidden in the shadows of the brush crowning the mountaintop. Despite their silence, Haarn smelled them even over the howling winds. Their anticipation and hunger colored their odor.
Druz threw an arm over the top of the ledge and began hauling herself up. Wariness tightened her features as she glanced around the promontory.
Haarn kept his voice soft and low. 'They're biding their time.'
He opened his senses to the forest world around him, searching for Broadfoot.
Ah, he thought, there you are.
The bear's scent threaded the air and Haarn didn't think the wolves had noticed it or considered its presence important.
Druz started to draw her sword.
'No,' Haarn said when he heard the rasp of steel against leather. He turned to face her.
She cut her eyes toward his, her sword half out of its sheath. 'If they rush us there's no place to go.'
'No, there isn't,' Haarn said, stepping forward. 'We know that already, and so do they.'
He walked beyond the shelter of the trees and out into one of the clearings atop the mountain where the rocky strata had proven impossible to dislodge. Standing in the center of the huge rock shelf half-buried in loam, trees, and brush, the druid spoke a few words of a prayer then inscribed a series of arcane characters in the air before him.
The characters glowed an eerie blue for a moment then dissipated as if torn apart by the winds.
Haarn felt the power of the spell invade his mind, opening corners of understanding to him that he could never quite remember afterward. The spell was an old one to him, but it had never quite become too familiar. A quiet filled his thoughts, then it was invaded by an angry series of throaty growls.
'What are you doing?' Druz asked.
Haarn ignored her. If his spell was going to work, he had to stay focused. He concentrated on the growling noise, knowing that it came from the wolves. As his enhanced senses sharpened, he recognized that there were eleven distinct voices among the pack. Three of them were male.
What is man doing? a soft voice asked.
Watch, a strong male voice answered. Wait.
When will we eat? My cubs are hungry.
Soon. We all eat soon. Rush now, we may have to chase their bodies to bottom of mountain.
Druz Talimsir stepped up beside Haarn. Her fist still wrapped around her sword hilt.
'What's going on?' she asked.
'I'm going to talk to the wolf,' Haarn replied.
The mercenary looked at him. 'We're not here to talk to the wolf. We're here to kill it. We had an agreement.'
'Yes,' Haarn agreed, 'but I don't want to kill them all if we don't have to.'
'They hunt as a pack. All of these animals are man-killers.'
Even caught up in his spell as he was, Haarn couldn't miss the vehemence in her voice when she called the wolves animals.
'The wolves follow a leader,' he told her. 'Take the leader away and you can change the pack.'
'We may not have a choice about how many of them we kill.'
'I'm working so that we will,' Haarn said, but he didn't know if it would work.
The lead wolf strode from the darkness. As he moved into the opening, a fierce blaze of lightning lit the heavens. The wolf growled. Dark fur stood up in a spiky ridge along his back. The wolf's gait was the crooked movement Haarn was familiar with, the hindquarters following the forelegs at an angle.
With the spell in place, Haarn understood the wolf's growl.
Human, the lead wolf snarled, twisting his head sideways and flashing his fangs in open threat.
Food, a female voice said. She emerged from the shadows and flickering lightning reflected in her eyes. Kill humans, Stonefur. We eat.
Quiet, the lead wolf ordered.
Stonefur moved with rolling precision that seemed too loose to stay together, as if he were a puppeteer's device and the strings had become worn and frayed.
Haarn maintained eye contact with the wolf and turned his body to keep the creature before him. The druid's throat worked, but growls came forth instead of words.
You are called Stonefur?
The wolf closed his jaws and took a step back. Muscles coiled and quivered beneath the sleek fur.
You speak, the wolf said.
Yes.
Excited confusion rippled through the growls of the other wolves. They strode forward from the shadows, five on either side of Stonefur.
Are you wolf-man? Stonefur asked.
No.
Haarn wondered if the wolves had encountered a lycanthrope at some point. It would have been the only way Stonefur would have known about the existence of werecreatures.
You know me, Haarn continued. Open your nose. Breathe me.
The druid spread his empty hands at his sides and the wolf approached with caution but stayed well out of arm's reach. Feral gleams ignited in the yellow-green eyes as they flicked back and forth between Haarn and Druz.
Not wolf-man, Stonefur said. Know you. You lifekeeper. Protector of lands.
Yes. Haarn remained still.
Not afraid of Stonefur?
No.
The wolf snapped his jaws, and for a heartbeat, a lightning flash made the fangs look blue while the wolf's eyes turned orange.
Stupid human.
I respect Stonefur's pack, Haarn growled.
The wolf preened, drawing his wedge-shaped head high and unfurling his tail like a flag in the wind.
Stonefur great killer, said the wolf. Stonefur kill many humans. Eat humans. Feed pack good.
I know.
The wolf paced in a semicircle before Haarn.
Why you here, lifekeeper? You search for Stonefur?
Haarn didn't break eye contact. Yes.
What want?
You can't keep killing humans.
Haarn noted the crafty set to the wolf's eyes as he paced. Stonefur knew how the meeting was going to go. Perhaps conversation with prospective prey wasn't the wolf's usual method of operation, but Stonefur was intelligent.
The other wolves milled around, their attention shifting from Haarn to Druz.
Stonefur kill humans if want, the wolf declared. Humans more challenging than other food. Fun to kill. Human young feed many wolves. Only one kill.
Killing humans stops, Haarn said.
Not stop. The wolf stood still. Stonefur say when stop. Not lifekeeper. Lifekeeper be friends with humans if want. Not Stonefur. Not Stonefur's pack.
I will stop you.
Stonefur growled and even the druid's spell couldn't translate. The wolf's teeth flashed and snapped as the first raindrops swirled into the mix of whipping winds.
The rain stung Haarn where it struck him, and spread an icy chill over his exposed skin. The stones in the clearing would become slick with the precipitation.
