Promise Of The Wolves by Dorothy Hearst Read Free Book Online Page B

at it. Even to my own ears, my growl sounded halfhearted. Marra was awake and standing stock-still beside me, watching the bird. I shoved Ázzuen with my hip to get his attention. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the large bird. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. He yelped and scooted behind me. The bird gave a cry of laughter and flapped its wings, sending twigs and dirt over us and making us cough.
    Hide now, babywolf.
    Maybe raven won’t catch you.
    At least not this time.
    I looked again for help from my pack. The clearing was in chaos. The senior wolves had finally joined the fray but, to my surprise, did not seem to be taking the fight seriously. Birds swooped down on wolves, trying to grab their tails, their ears, their rumps, anything they could get in their beaks. The wolves snapped at the air, trying to get a mouthful of bird. But they were not snarling in anger or hurting the birds. They yipped excitedly and waved their tails.
    “They’re having fun,” Marra said slowly. “They’re playing with the stupid birds.”
    At first I thought she was crazy but, as I watched Ruuqo flip head over paws in pursuit of a bird, I realized she was right. I tried to count the birds in the clearing, but they moved so quickly it was hard to tell how many there were. I guessed there might be twelve of them. One especially large bird, bigger than Yllin’s head, landed atop her neck, and flew away again before she could snap at it. It flapped just above her head, laughing at her.
    My attacker had been watching, but suddenly whipped its head around to seize my other ear. It pulled hard.
    “Let go of me, bird!” I squealed.
    Let go, oh let go.
    The littlewolf is so scared.
    Crybaby wolfling.
    It let go of my ear and, as I shook my head in relief, made a grab for my nose. I yelped, pulling away and tumbling into Ázzuen.
    “Stupid bird,” I said under my breath. “I should bite you in half.”
    It looked at me and laughed, then took flight with a whooshing of wings as both Minn and Yllin pounced on it from behind.
    “Come on, Rainsong,” Yllin said. “Leave the pups be. Or are you afraid of a grown wolf?” She turned to Minn. “I think she’s afraid of grown wolves,” Yllin said, eyes dancing. I was impressed that she spoke so boldly. But then again, she was a lot bigger than the stupid bird.
    “Who’s a grown wolf?” Rainsong said, dropping her strange way of speaking. “I remember when you were a mewling, puke-eating pup.” She flew over Yllin’s head and Yllin leapt high in the air, twisting her body in an amazing acrobatic leap. I thought for sure she would snatch the bird from the air. But Rainsong was too quick. She gave a yell of laughter as she flew up and away. Marra, who was the most adventurous of us, took an experimental swipe at the bird, but she was too small to reach her.
    “Yllin, why do they attack us?” Ázzuen’s voice shook with fear and fatigue. “I thought we would be safe here.” He glared at the birds. “Why don’t we just kill them?”
    Keeping an eye on Rainsong, Yllin snorted. “They aren’t attacking us, stupid. Haven’t you learned the difference between fight and play? If you can’t even play, how’re you going to hunt?”
    “Be nice, Yllin. You were a pup once, too,” Rissa said, trotting over to us.
    She shook a raven from her back, its black feathers a startling contrast to her white coat. Her eyes were bright as she turned to growl at the same raven, who was trying in vain to catch hold of her fast-moving tail. Rissa was thin, still, from birthing and feeding pups, but her energy was high and I felt my own tail begin to wag in response to her good spirits. Yllin gave an unapologetic snort and chased after two ravens. “I was never that much of a curl-tail,” she said.
    “She was, you know,” Rissa said, looking fondly after her daughter.
    When Borlla, Unnan, and Reel saw that Rissa was paying attention to us, they pelted over from their boulder.