Page 31 of Blacktail

“How so?”

“Well, when the trees are sparse, the two-legs generally don’t guard them as well as they might. They think that if they can see the trees, they should be able to see us. That may be true, but they esteem their own eyesight too highly, I think. Forests are busy on the eye. It’s easy to lose yourself in them. I know.” He smiled a little. “Anyway, Mum always said that if I bet on the two-legs being arrogant and their hounds being noisy, I’d stay safe enough.”

“What about the hounds? Won’t they see us?”

“I doubt it. They’re not like wolves. Their noses are exceptional, but their eyes are generally poor. They’re inbred, most of them—even the two-legs can see better. If we stay downwind we should be safe enough. Also, those woods have a stream which may serve to obscure our scent. You don’t mind getting your paws wet, do you?”

Blacktail considered this. After a moment he said, “Mrrr.”

“ ‘Mrrr’? What does that mean?”

“It means that you’re a clever little shit and I’ll follow your lead.”

“Oh, I thought it was a new way of saying ‘thank you.’ Silly me.”

“Just…go.”

Slipper set out toward the southern wood. Blacktail trotted along behind. They moved first through a shallow ditch at the side of the narrow trail. The snow was coming down hard now and the bottom of the ditch was filled with icy mud. Blacktail winced when he broke through the scrim of ice and felt the cold mud squish between his toes. Blacktail opened his mouth to gripe a little…but Slipper was wading through mud nearly up to his chest, without complaint.

The trail more or less traced the route of a road to their right. The road was closer than he would have liked, but they were flanked by granite cliffs to the left and a sheer drop-off to the right. Every so often, some Car roared by. One had hounds hanging out of its flanks. As it passed, one of them scented Blacktail. They broke out into a barking frenzy.

“There! There he is! That’s him! The wolf! Dad, stop! Oh, blast. Car! Car, listen to me—that’s the wolf Dad is hunting! You must stop!” But Car obeyed only the two-legs. It roared on, oblivious.

Slipper watched them pass by, eyes wide and lip trembling, then trotted over to the asphalt and waved his behind at them. “There!” he said, howling with laughter. “Take a good look! That’s the closest you’ll ever get to Trap-Slipper, you servile, cringing morons! Give your father a good bite in the balls for me, will you? Next time you hump your mother, send her my love as well—she won’t have forgotten me, I think! And your sister! She was the best—”

“Are you quite finished?” Blacktail interrupted from the ditch.

“Eh? Yes, yes, I suppose so. See here, fellow. What’s your name?”

“Blacktail.”

“Oh?” Slipper gave him a longer look. “I may have heard of you. Look, I’ve no doubt you’re a fine hunter, Blacktail, but if you don’t mind me saying, you should try to get more fun out of life. Did you see the looks on their faces? Hoo! I tell you…” He trailed off, seeing it was a lost cause. “Oh, never mind.” He hopped back in the muddy ditch and resumed his slogging.

Tough, clever, and a babbling buffoon, Blacktail thought. When fate is not cruel, it is funny. I sometimes wonder which is worse.

But perhaps he did smile a little when he was sure Slipper would not see.

iv

When they reached the border of the southern wood, Slipper peeked over the rim of the ditch. His eyes widened. The trees of the southern woods fairly bristled with men and their hounds, many-many of them, standing only a pace or two apart. They moved forward through the woods almost shoulder to shoulder.

Slipper sank back into the ditch and made a low groan deep in his throat. Blacktail wasn’t sure if he knew he was doing it or not.

“You’ve seen them do this before, yes?” Blacktail asked.

Slipper looked at him, wide-eyed. “I’ve never seen the like.” He looked Blacktail up and down, then took another sniff of his neck. “You really did it, didn’t you? You killed a pack of men.”

“You didn’t believe me?”

“I’ve met my share of braggarts,” Slipper said. “Let’s just say I was reserving judgment.”

“Maybe you should go now.” Blacktail’s tone was gentle. “You’ve done enough. There’s no need for both of us to…” He trailed off. “I can come up with something.”

Slipper stared at Blacktail. He was deep in thought. It took him a moment to answer. When he spoke, all the mocking was gone from his voice. “No,” he said. “That’s absolutely out of the question. I’m going to get you out of this. That’s all there is to it. Come along.”

“Where to?”

“We’ll circle back through the ditch, then try to flank them. Their line can’t stretch out forever.”