Читать книгу Algonquin Quest 2-Book Bundle - Rick Revelle - Страница 9

Death in the Snow

GASPING FOR AIR WHEN I reached my hunting party, I instructed Wàgosh to start a fire. Agwingos and Esiban were asked to tie the three dogs to the trees about twenty feet behind the fire. I further advised them to take the fur hides off of the dogs’ feet to make them battle-ready and to have their knives prepared to cut the dogs free if they were threatened.

Kàg asked what the danger was.

“Kàg, what does the Raven usually bring with him when there is meat or carrion about?”

“Your namesake: Wolf! How many are there?”

“I counted ten, plus the pack leader,” I said.

I then started shouting out orders and outlined our defence. I told my small group, “We have maybe fifteen minutes before they arrive. They are hungry and want the moose meat. We must be prepared with a defence, because they will circle us looking for a weak spot. We cannot let the dogs loose unless it is absolutely necessary; the size of this pack would tear them to shreds. Mònz, because you cannot shoot a bow, you will have to be behind us guarding the meat and the twins. I will face the trail where the leader and his mate will come. Kàg, you must defend the left and Wàgosh the right. We have to hope and pray our arrows fly true to the mark, because these animals are hungry and determined.”

It would be dark in a short time and the wolves would strike in the dim light. The sun was falling near the treetops, lighting the snow and the approaching beasts in a fiery red hue. They started to howl, sending a chill through my body. With this as a signal they broke into a run. Our dogs then started barking. Hearing this, the attackers immediately stopped and began snarling. The male and female pair jumped to the front and snapped in our direction. They were still a good distance away, but I loosed an arrow that flew toward the female. She moved at the last second and the arrow struck a young wolf in the chest with a resounding thump. The pack, sensing danger, pulled back as the younger wolf howled in pain.

The pack now sat as if waiting for instructions. Then they all started running in different directions. Wàgosh let out a warning and Kàg turned just in time to see two large wolves running toward him. He had no time to string his bow, so he grabbed his lance from the snow. At that instance another lance flew through the air and embedded itself in the lead wolf’s neck. Without a sound the animal dropped. The ever-wary Mònz had struck again. Kàg dropped to one knee as the other wolf sprung toward him. His lance caught the attacker full in the chest. Kàg was covered with the animal’s blood as both tumbled into the snow.

Then, upon hearing our dogs snarling and Esiban screaming, I looked around and saw Agwingos on the back of a large wolf that had his brother pinned face down in the snow. Agwingos was stabbing the wolf while Mònz was running to the aid of the boys. On the way past the dogs he cut off their leather ties with a slash of his spear blade. The dogs beat Mònz to the struggling twins and the wolf. First in battle was the small dog, and he lunged at the face of the wolf. The twins were screaming. The wolf was snarling and our dogs were barking. It sounded like a world gone mad. In a matter of seconds the small battle was over. By the time Mònz reached the melee our dogs and Agwingos’s knife had finished the intruder.

I turned my eyes back to the remainder of the pack. The female and male leaders of the group had stopped short of our circle. With four of the pack dead and dying, they realized that we were too formidable a prey to defeat. Any more losses to their family and they would have difficulty surviving and defending their territory against other wolf packs. With one last wail at us, they departed the way they had come.

With the retreat of the wolves, we gathered ourselves. Esiban suffered no wounds. This could be attributed to the quick reaction of his brother, the amount of clothes he was wearing, and the efforts of our dogs. We now had four wolf pelts. Because of the bravery of Agwingos and Esiban, they would each receive a pelt to do with as they desired.

We made camp for the evening and built the fire. That night marked the tenth day we had been gone, and we still had at least five or six more days of travel left. The extra load of pulling the meat on the toboggans was delaying our return. The next day we would push harder and try to reach one of our cedar enclosures that we had built on our trip north. We still had to pick up the deer that we had been hanging in a tree along our back trail. Again we would leave a place with the snow covered in blood. We hoped that the rest of our return trip would be uneventful and that Kitchi Manitou would watch over us and lead us in safety.

The fire was high and we ate moose and talked about what was ahead. Kàg took the first watch while the rest of us slept. The dogs didn’t need to be tied, as the wolf pack had left this area behind and would not bother us again.