Tara K. Harper - Wolfwalker 4 - Wolf's Bane

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

Wolf’s Bane

Tara K. Harper

Tales of the Wolves 04

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

A 3S digital back-up edition 1.0

click for scan notes and proofing history

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

Contents

|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|

|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|

|Epilogue|

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

By Tara K. Harper

Published by Ballantine Books:

Tales of the Wolves

WOLFWALKER

SHADOW LEADER

STORM RUNNER

GRAYHEART

WOLF’S BANE

LIGHTWING

CAT SCRATCH FEVER

CATARACT

In memory of my mother

A Del Rey®Book

Published by Ballantine Books

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York,

and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada

Limited, Toronto.

http://www.randomhouse.com

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 97-92491

ISBN 0-345-40634-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition: November 1997

To those who have generously given of their invaluable time and advice,

many thanks:

Ed Godshalk

Marc Wells

Howard Davidson, Ph.D., Sun Microsystems

Thomas Moore, University of Arizona

Ernest V. Curto, Ph.D., University of Alabama, Birmingham

Matthew Beckman, Ph.D., University of Alabama, Birmingham

William C. Haneberg, Ph.D., New Mexico Bureau of Mines

Yehudah Werner, Ph.D.

Garry Mayner

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

Nick Landau

Chip Gardes

Toby Tyrel

and the crew of USGS Polar Star

Also, special thanks to:

Dan Harper, Kevin Harper, Richard Jarvis, Colleen Gaobois, Kris Hasson,

and Sandra Keen

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

In the night, the roads are different. The roots stretch out like

white-skinned arms; the moons are eyes that do not blink.

The air is thick with sounds that gather silently to watch you pass.

And you kick your dnu to a faster gait, while fear hangs on your

back like a worlag clawing at your courage. But you ride,

because the lives of your family ride with you. You ride

the black road, because your speed is the difference

between life and death,

—From Riding the Black Road, by Merai Karrliamo maKaira

Top

She came out of the night like a wraith. One moment, there had been only

darkness, with six of the nine moons waning and the woods sounds

quavering like ghosts in the wind. Then a wisp of movement breathed in the

trees. Brush snapped. Something large and menacing leaped the barrier

bushes. His heart jerked. The next instant, a whirlwind struck the road.

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

He shouted, kicking his riding beast into a charge. From the side of her

vision, she caught the dark movement. One fluid half-rearing motion, and

she twisted her six-legged dnu midrush. Then she spurred the beast back at

him.

Black hair whipped around her face in a halo of urgent violence. Her dark

eyes gleamed with the light of the yellow-white moons. The gray shadow

on the ground—the wolf with its yellow eyes—bunched its body to fling

itself after the woman.

The dnu thundered straight for him, its six hooves frantic with speed. Too

fast! By the moons, she would kill them both. He should turn—she should

turn—but she didn’t slacken her pace. Desperately, he leaned out, away

from his own riding beast. The dark woman leaned in. Her face, a blur in

the night was hollowed out by shadow. A howling seemed to hit him. Then

his arm slapped hers, and their hands dug into each other’s musculature.

Her body came free of the saddle. She snapped like a rope across the gap of

pounding hooves, letting her dnu race free in the night. Then her body

struck him.

One leg caught against his dnu; her chest hit his ribs. Her weight, slight as it

was, nearly lost him his seat even with his heavy grip on the double

pommel. Then her other leg was over, and her body melted against his

broad back as she slid into the rhythm of riding, her free arm seeking his

waist.

“On?” he shouted.

“Set,” she shouted back. She was grinning, but beneath the six moons that

hung in the sky, the expression was feral and sharp.

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

He threw his right leg over the pommel. For a moment, he hung on the

saddle and the strength of her arms. Then he hit the road running. Hooves

pounded as she picked up speed. The gray wolf flashed beside her. She was

gone, and only the scent of her hair and the sweat of her ride remained for

him to taste.

He walked, limping, after the other dnu, which had finally stopped on the

road. The sides of its bloated, segmented belly heaved with breathlessness,

and its eyes rolled in its head. The odor of fear was upon it. There was a

dark patch on its flanks, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Then the creature

shifted nervously out from under the rootroad trees and into the white-

bright moonlight. He stepped closer, and the riding beast grunted its

warning, stamping its middle legs. No wonder the wolfwalker had not

simply moved away from him like a relay runner and slowed to let him

catch up. She must have barely been able to control the beast, frightened as

it was. Had he tried to ride up from behind, the dnu would have panicked

into the barrier bushes like a hare from a hungry worlag.

He moved again, slowly soothing the creature until he could get his hands

on the reins and examine the patch more clearly. The ragged gashes that

had bled out on its flanks were deep and dark. He felt their warmth—they

were hardly clotted yet—and rubbed his fingers together. The scent of the

blood mixed with the beast’s sweat, and again he heard the howling. His

voice was low as he looked after her. “Ride with the moons, Dione.”

Menedi heard the hooves of the riding beast first. “Quick now. Look sharp,”

she snapped at the two youths. She was already half out the door.

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Wolf's Bane–Harper, Tara K–Wolf 04

“Is she here—the healer?” The younger boy’s voice was thin with

excitement.

Menedi didn’t bother to nod back over her shoulder. The boy would hear

for himself in the next few seconds. “Get the dnu loose and ready. Culli,

make sure the reins of the two trailing beasts won’t tangle.”

Hurrying to the woman’s side, the tall youth cocked his head. “She’s

coming in fast.”

“And be glad that she is, It’s your uncle who’s out on that venge.”

“I know it, ma’am.” He checked the reins of the dnu, then glanced back

through the doorway to the table where his second meatroll lay untouched.

Another glance up the road told him the rider was not yet in sight. He thrust

the reins of the relay dnu at the younger boy and dashed inside, grabbing up

the food. There was no napkin to wrap it in. Running back out, he yanked a

bandanna from his pocket and slapped it around the meatroll. He had time

only to thrust the small bundle in the saddlebag before Menedi swung up on

the lead dnu and started the other two relay beasts out at a slow trot.

Menedi’s three dnu—the one she rode and the two relay beasts she led—

strung out like a crude chain. Gradually, they picked up their pace. Then,

from the road behind them the incoming rider’s shadow separated itself

from the night. The wolfwalker was hunched low over her dnu’s neck,

rolling with its six-legged gait as if she were part of its muscles, not simply

a rider racing the dark. Culli caught his breath as he glimpsed the smaller

loping shape—the wolf that sped before Dione as she urged her riding beast

to catch up to Menedi. Maybe this time he’d be close enough to catch that

yellow gaze. Perhaps this once he’d hear the packsong himself. But the

wolf flashed by, and an instant later, Dione pounded past.

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