The gray wolf's longing for Yoshi was strong, and it pulled Dion to the door of the barn so that she too stared down the dark road. Her hand automatically dug itself into the thick scruff.

Hishn strained beneath her grip. Come with me, Wolfwalker! Your need to run is as strong as the pull of the packsong. Dion felt the softness of the hair beneath the gray wolf's greasy overcoat. She felt the sticky warmth of the lupine pelt on her summer-hot hand. The wolf's breath whuffed against her legs as Hishn nipped at her thigh, and Dion let herself revel in the discomfort. Her own legs tensed to leap forward; her chest expanded as if to take a breath to run. Her eyesight shifted subtly so that she saw clearly through both the gray wolf's yellow gaze and her own, and the night was alive with contrast.

The howl that hit Dion's ears was not from Hishn, but from the wolves who had gathered outside the small town. Like a ghost, the howl rose, floating beneath the clouds. It hung over the inns and houses till Hishn lifted her head and howled back. The gray wolf's long, lean body trembled.

Abruptly, Dion released her. The wolf almost leaped into the courtyard.

"Go, Hishn," Dion whispered. She sucked in the hot air until it felt as if it scorched her lungs. "Gamon is right," she breathed. "You would be with your own mate right now if it wasn't for me. And you are one of the only wolves who has litters of more than one."

Hishn half turned at the end of the stone expanse. Wolfwalker, come!Dion's jaw tightened. "Go, Gray One. I cannot. Go get yourself another den of pups. Gray Yoshi is waiting for you out on the plains. You cannot stay with me."But the gray wolf didn't move. Your voice is alone, but twisted with mine.

Your heart is still caught in the grave. You think of death, cold and old, and look toward life, but you move toward neither. Release yourself, Wolfwalker!

Dion stepped back toward the stable. The darkness of the doorway seemed to swallow her. "Go." She forced the words out. "Run free, Hishn."

Run with me! Run with the pack!

Dion's fists clenched. "No!"

Then I will not go. Yoshi will greet me here.

Hishn did not move, and Dion snarled. "Go, Gray One, or I shall drive you away. This is no home for you. The worlags would tear your pups from the earth and kill them within days of birthing. The scrub birds would pester you like fleas. You were born to run in snowy peaks, not humid, sandy heat."

Wolfwalker!

"Go! I can't bear the guilt of your losing this year's pups just because I am

running away."Hishn's yellow eyes gleamed, and the moons, half obscured by the overcast gray, seemed caught in that lupine gaze. Yoshi found me, the massive beast sent. Your mate will find you, as well.

Dion's voice was a whisper. "I know."

Hishn snarled. The gray wolf stared at her through the night.

"Go," Dion breathed.

The shadows were suddenly empty.

Dion felt her throat muscles tighten. Her eyesight blurred, but it was not the

wolves. Hishn! she cried out.The packsong burst up into her mind. Yellow, slitted eyes gleamed, and images twisted. Dion's need was like a hand tangling in wet yarn, catching in every voice. Wolf howls flowed back over her, driving into the corners of her skull and filling the cracks in her thoughts. Hishn snarled across them all, drawing them around Dion like a blanket. And she ran. Dion threw back her own head and howled. The sound hung, long and lonely, in the night.

XI.

To wash myself in your waters, To cleanse my soul in the sea.

Previous Top Next Tehena found Dion in the courtyard. "Asuli bunked down?" Dion asked as

the other woman approached.

"Uh-huh." Almost unwillingly, Tehena added, "She had some stamina to stay in the saddle as long as she did, judging by the way she walked up to the bunkroom."

"Does she need a riding salve?"

Tehena snorted. "If she does, I'd not be the one to give it to her. Let her feel for herself what she's gotten into. She's the one who was so eager to join

us. Maybe she'll leave us alone that much sooner when she finds out what it's like riding with a wolfwalker."

"Thanks," drawled Dion.

"You've never ridden an easy trail, Dion."

"If I could find one to run, I'd take it as fast as the second moon."

"Hishn wouldn't let you."

Dion hesitated. Her voice, when she spoke, was quiet. "I sent Hishn away."

"Away." Tehena's eyes narrowed as she took in Dion's tone. "You mean

away as in farther than a scouting?"

"Back to Ariye. To mate. To have her pups."

"What were you thinking?" the other woman said sharply. "That with Asuli

here, you had enough fangs out for one group of riders?"

"She's not that bad to ride with."

"I'd rather teach a worlag manners."

"You might get your chance," Dion returned dryly. "There was worlag sign

in the forest near where we picked her up."

"That only makes sense," Tehena retorted. "That intern is a worlag's

spawn." The lanky woman gave Dion a cold look. "We don't need her with us, Dion. You don't need her at all."

"I haven't the option of turning her away. Not yet, at least."

Light spilled out of the inn as a couple of villagers left, calling their good-

byes over their shoulders. Tehena and Dion, cast suddenly into shadow, were nearly invisible. Neither villager noticed them, but Gamon, who followed the others out, caught their still figures with his sharp eyes. He nodded to them unobtrusively, then moved on to the stable to put the dnu out to graze in the inn's commons.

Tehena watched him go. "Hells. Maybe if Gamon and I put our brains together, we could get rid of her in just a few days. I've seen that old man play some mean jokes on his students."

Dion's gaze followed the older man. "He's proud of you, you know."

The sidelight from the stable threw Tehena's too-sharp face into strong relief. "He should be," she retorted. "It's his own teaching he's proud of."

Dion gave her a sharp look. "He respects you more than you do yourself."

The other woman snorted again.

"He's your friend, Tehena."

"He's your friend, Dion, not mine. To me, he's just a grizzled, gray-haired

pain in a poolah's rear."

"Look who's talking about gray."

Tehena grinned slowly and fingered her stringy hair. "Yes, but I've had this

since I turned thirteen. Back then, I was more concerned about keeping my head than with keeping my hair color brown. As for Gamon, he only claims friendship because he has no sense of my age-or lack of it, as you would say."

Dion's voice was quiet. "I wish I could have given you back some of that- the youth you lost."

"It wasn't yours to return."

Dion shrugged. "Ovousibas... "

Tehena's voice was suddenly sharp. "Ovousibas is an alien soul-sucker sunk deep in your human brain. You'd better watch the way you use it, Dion, or it will steal what's left of you from yourself."

"I don't see you complaining about what it gave you."

"It wasn't Ovousibas that gave me anything. It was you." The woman raised her thin hand, cutting off Dion's automatic rejoinder. "I'm not

ashamed of what you've done for me, Wolfwalker. When you met me, I thought I was going to die. Hells, I deserved to die, and you know it. But you gave me hope. You gave me a weapon-your own weapon when you left me. Then, later, when I found you again, you gave me a chance to be a person again. It wasn't Ovousibas that gave me a reason to live-it was you. It wasn't Ovousibas that took away my addiction to dator-that was you, too. And it wasn't your moon-wormed internal healing that removed the drug tattoos-even that was you. You gave everything to me as if you expected nothing in return, and I took it all, without questioning what you offered. Thirteen years, Wolfwalker, and still you don't ask for payment."

"The healer's gift is freely given."

"Hah."

"There is no debt between us," Dion said more sharply.

"There is, Wolfwalker." Tehena stared into Dion's violet eyes. "And if

there's anything you know about me, it's that I always pay my debts."

"And when," Dion said softly, "will you finish paying this debt off?"

"The day you stop feeling guilt for your son." The lanky woman's voice

was as flat as her chest, and she nodded at Dion's expression. "The day you stop paying everyone else's price and start living your own life. The day you run free with the Gray Ones and break your leash to the council."