The Mammoth Hunters (Earth's Children 3)

eegie asked.

“Yes. She’s out of season. And she’s a loner. That is why she was having so much trouble finding enough to eat. And why she came for the roast meat, and wanted the ermine so much. Look at her ribs. The pups have been taking a lot out of her. She’s hardly more than bones and fur. If she lived with a pack, they’d be helping her feed those pups, but if she lived with a pack, she would not have had pups. Only the female leader of a pack has pups, usually, and this wolf is the wrong color. Wolves get used to certain colors and marks. She’s like that white wolf I used to watch when I was learning about them. They didn’t like her either. She was always trying to make up to the female leader and the male leader, but they didn’t want her around. After the pack got so big, she left. Maybe she got tired of no one liking her.”

Ayla looked down at the black wolf. “Like this one did. Maybe that’s why she wanted to have pups, because she was lonely. But she shouldn’t have had them so early. I think this is the same black wolf I saw when we hunted bison, Deegie. She must have left her pack to look for a lone male to start her own pack, new packs get started that way. But it’s always hard on the loners. Wolves like to hunt together, and they take care of each other. The male leader always helps the female leader with her pups. You should see them sometimes, they like to play with the babies. But where is her male? Did she ever find one? Did he die?”

Deegie was surprised to see that Ayla was fighting tears, over a dead wolf. “They all die some time, Ayla. We all go back to the Mother.”

“I know, Deegie, but first she was different, and then she was alone. She should have had something while she lived, a mate, a pack to belong to, at least some babies.”

Deegie thought she was beginning to understand why Ayla was feeling so strongly about a scrawny old black wolf. She was putting herself in the wolf’s place. “She did have pups, Ayla.”

“And now they are going to die, too. They don’t have a pack. Not even a male leader. Without a mother, they will die.” Suddenly Avla jumped up. “I’m not going to let them die!”

“What do you mean? Where are you going?”

“I’m going to go find them. I’m going to track the black wolf back to her den.”

“That could be dangerous. Maybe there are other wolves around. How can you be sure?”

“I’m sure, Deegie. I just have to look at her.”

“Well, if I can’t change your mind, I only have one thing to say, Avla.”

“What?”

“If you expect me to tramp all over the place chasing after wolf tracks with you, you can carry your own ermine,” Deegie said, dumping out five white weasel carcasses from her haversack. “I’ve got enough to carry with my foxes!” Deegie was grinning with delight.

“Oh, Deegie, Ayla said, smiling back with warmth and affection. “You brought them!” The two young women hugged each other out of their fullness of love and friendship.

“One thing is certain, Ayla. Nothing is ever dull around you!” Deegie helped load Ayla’s haversack with the ermine. “What are you going to do about the wolf? If we don’t take her, something else will, and a black wolf pelt is not too common.”

“I’d like to take her, but I want to find her pups, first.”

“All right, I’ll carry her,” Deegie said, hoisting the limp carcass over her shoulder. “If we have time later, I’ll skin it out.” She started to ask one more question, then changed her mind. She’d find out soon enough exactly what Ayla planned to do if she found any wolf pups left alive.

They had to go back to the vale to pick up the correct set of tracks. The wolf had done a good job of covering her trail, knowing how precarious was the life she was leaving untended. Several times, Deegie was sure they’d lost it and she was a good tracker herself, but Ayla was motivated to persist until she found it again. By the time they had found the place that Ayla was sure was the den, the sun was showing late afternoon.

“I have to be honest, Ayla. I don’t see any signs of life.”

“That’s the way it should be if they are alone. If there were signs of life, it would just invite trouble.”

“You might be right, but if there are pups in there, how are you going to get them to come out?”

“I guess there is only one way. I’ll have to go in after them.”

“You can’t do that, Ayla! It’s one thing to watch wolves from a distance, but you can’t go into their dens. What if there are more than pups? There could be another adult wolf around.”

“Have you seen any other adult tracks besides the black’s?”

“No, but I still don’t like the idea of you going into a wolf’s den.”

“I haven’t come this far to go away without finding out if there are any wolf pups around. I have to go in, Deegie.”

Ayla put down her haversack and headed for the small dark hole in the ground. It was dug out of an old lair, abandoned long before because it was not the most favorable location, but it was the best the black wolf could find after her mate, an old lone wolf drawn to her too-early heat, died in a fight. Ayla got down on her belly, and started to wriggle in.

“Ayla, wait!” Deegie called. “Here, take my knife.”

Ayla nodded, put the knife in her teeth, and started into the dark hole. It sloped downward at first, and the passage was narrow. Suddenly she found herself stuck and had to back out.