In the end, she’d closed the Liaison’s Office early and gone home—and wasn’t surprised to find Nathan waiting on her porch by the time she’d put her BOW in the garage and connected it to its charger. Until Simon got home, the watch Wolf was on duty.
She wasn’t sure if it was being home, or doing some of the moves she’d learned in the Quiet Mind class, or her amusement at Nathan, in Wolf form, doing some of the moves with her, but the prickles faded. And yet the unease had lingered through the rest of the afternoon.
“Simon, what’s going to happen?”
He didn’t answer. Then: “I don’t know. A lot of things broke at the same time. A lot of the Wolfgard died. In the past, trouble boiled up in one place. One form of terra indigene or other would deal with it, the humans who caused the trouble would be gone, and some—or all—of the land would be reclaimed and become part of the wild country again.”
“The terra indigene who none of you will talk about.”
“The Elders.”
Meg nodded. “The Elders. Are they going to reclaim all of Thaisia? What’s going to happen to people like the Intuits at Ferryman’s Landing? They aren’t the terra indigene’s enemy.”
They walked in silence. Finally Simon stopped and looked around. Meg wondered how much more he could see than was apparent to her.
“Do you know why Wolves howl?” he asked.
“To say, ‘We are here.’”
He looked at her and smiled. “Yes. We are here, keeping watch. We are here, thinning the weak from the elk and deer herds, from the bison. We are here to defend the wild country that borders on the human places.” The smile faded. “But the terra indigene who are Namid’s teeth and claws are coming to deal with the invasive predators, and where there are no Wolves to sing to the night sky . . . I don’t know what’s going to happen in the places that are filled with silence.”
“It won’t be silent in Lakeside. You’ll tell them you are here and you’re still keeping watch.” Meg thought a moment. “What about Ferryman’s Landing or the River Road Community? None of the Wolfgard live there.”
“The Coyote and the Fox live there. And there are a few of the Beargard on the island, and now there are Bobcats and Lynxes and a Panther at the River Road Community, as well as the juvenile Sanguinati. Different songs but the same message.”
He stepped closer and put his arms around her in a tentative hug.
Meg tensed, not sure what to do. The assault of male hands. Her body still reacted to the memory of her life in the compound. But this was Simon, and Wolves just liked contact with members of their pack.
She put her arms around his waist and allowed her body to relax against his.
“We were attacked here too, so I don’t know how much of Lakeside will be standing when this is done, but I think our pack will be all right,” Simon said quietly. “I don’t think the girls at the lake will let things get too bad in the Courtyard.”
“When?”
“At least one of the storms will reach us by tomorrow.” His arms tightened around her as he rested his cheek against her fuzz of hair. “You’ll be all right, Meg.”
“We’ll be all right.” She wanted to believe that, but would believing it be enough to make it true?
CHAPTER 46
Watersday, Juin 30
Jesse Walker opened the general store’s door, glad to have even that much relief from feeling closed in. She’d pulled the shutters over the store’s windows just before the storm hit. Prairie Gold hadn’t lost electric power—yet—but the lights kept flickering and annoyed her enough that she’d shut the damn things off, preferring the twilight and the reassuring hum of the refrigerated units to the constant reminder of how much food they could lose if the power went out in town.
“Arroo!”
“Rachel, honey, that’s enough. Come in now.”
The juvenile Wolf had shown up shortly before the storm hit and had stood outside the general store howling and howling. And her howls had been answered by two Wolves who had arrived in Bennett the day before—the new leader and dominant enforcer of the Prairie Gold pack. Jesse had expected them to continue on to the terra indigene settlement once they reached Prairie Gold. Instead, they had taken one of the rooms at the truck stop motel.
The howling of the wind and the howling of the Wolves started at pretty much the same time.
“Rachel?”
The Wolf looked at Jesse, then resumed her howling.
Jesse stayed in the doorway to keep Rachel company and because she had a feeling she would learn something important if she did. Besides, the wind had finally quieted and the rain was more a drizzle.
Gods above and below, no one would be able to travel on the dirt roads until they dried out some—assuming that the roads hadn’t washed out completely. At least the storm had passed over them quick enough. She saw some trash that had blown into the street, and a few shops had a shutter or two missing, but it didn’t look like too much damage.
“Arroo!”
A shimmer in the rain was the only warning that something moved out there. More than one. Intelligence and power. She’d felt that when she’d taken the human children and terra indigene youngsters to the hiding place in the hills. That same sense of something out there, thinking. Judging.
They moved on past the town. Jesse sagged against the doorframe, realizing only then how much they frightened her.
“We are here,” Rachel said, now a naked, shivering teenager. “That’s what we told the Elders. We are here to take care of the land, and you’re helping us.”
So they passed us by, let us live, Jesse thought. “Honey, either put your fur back on or come inside and dry off before you catch a chill.”
“Do you have warm milk?”
The girl sounded so hopeful, Jesse had to smile. “I can warm some up for both of us.”
Rachel followed her into the store, full of curiosity and questions about the unfamiliar human things piled on the shelves. The danger had passed, and the fear was shaken off like water shaken off fur.
As Jesse warmed up milk for them, she thought the Intuits would be wise to learn that skill, because she had a feeling that the Elders would never again be a danger seen from a safe distance.
CHAPTER 47
Watersday, Juin 30
Stavros watched the passengers boarding the ocean greyhound. So many of the wealthy HFL supporters were taking the last ship leaving Toland before the storm descended on that part of the coast. They were going to Cel-Romano to see for themselves the triumph their money helped bring about.
Fools.
And there was Nicholas Scratch in a “disguise” that wouldn’t fool a human, let alone one of the terra indigene. Of course, most of the people coming aboard had talked to Scratch—or at least seen him enough times that he couldn’t really believe a disguise would work for the length of the voyage. He had probably told the elite that this was a ruse to escape his “enemies.”
Scratch did have enemies now among the humans. Toland’s elite might still support him, or still believe there would be some reward for that support once they reached Cel-Romano, but those who understood the connection between the human places that were disappearing and the HFL movement were now pointing fingers and calling Scratch a charlatan who had deceived them.
Stavros had found this epiphany quite entertaining since it came in the wake of Scratch’s final speech, in which the man stated he could not be held responsible for actions other people took because they misinterpreted his motivational speeches as a call to commit violence against the terra indigene. Every man should be held accountable for his own actions.
Scratch had slipped away before the stunned crowd could react.
Stavros smiled. Now Nicholas Scratch was here, and so was he. And somewhere in the waters just beyond sight of land, the Sharkgard waited.
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