"Jane Lindskold - Firekeeper Saga 1 - Through Wolf's Eyes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lindskold Jane)

Firekeeper snatched a stone from the bank and, swifter than even the Whiner’s paranoia, threw it at the
wolfs snout.

“Ai-eee!”

“That might have been your skull,” the woman reminded her. “Go, bone-chewer. My feet may be slow,
but my belly is full with the meat of my own hunting!”

A lip-curling snarl before the Whiner vanished into the brush showed that the insult had gone home.
Faintly, Firekeeper could hear the retreat of her running paws.

Her own departure would be less swift. Bending at the waist, she shook the water from her
close-cropped hair, then smoothed the locks down, pressing out more water as she did so.

Even before her hair had stopped dripping down her back, Firekeeper had retrieved her most valuable
possession from where she had set it on a flat rock near the water. It was a fang made of some hard,
bright stone. With it, she could kill almost as neatly as a young wolf, skin her prey, sharpen the ends of
sticks, and perform many other useful tasks. The One Male of her youngest memories had given it to her
when he knew he was going into his last winter.

“These are used by those such as yourself, Little Two-legs,” he had said fondly, “since they lack teeth or
claws useful for hunting. I remember how they are used and can tutor you some, but you will need to
discover much for yourself.”

She had accepted the Fang and the leather Mouth in which it slept. At first she had hung them from a
thong about her neck, but later, when she had learned more about their uses, she had contrived a way to
hang them from a belt around her waist. Only when she was bathing, for the Fang hated water, did she
take it off.

Now she held the tool in her teeth while she reached for the cured hide she had hung in a tree lest those
like the Whiner chew it to shreds. Most hides she couldn’t care less about but this one, taken from an elk
killed for the purpose, was special.

Out of the center she had cut a hole for her head, wide enough not to chafe her neck. The rest of the skin
hung front and back, protecting her most vulnerable parts. A belt made from strips of hide kept the
garment in place and she had trimmed away the parts that interfered with free movement of her arms.

Some of the young wolves had laughed when she had contrived her first hide, but she had disregarded
their taunts. The wolves had fur to protect themselves from brambles and sticks. She must borrow from
the more fortunate or be constantly bleeding from some scrape. An extra skin was welcome, too, against
the chill.

In the winter, she tied rabbit skins along her legs and arms with the fur next to her flesh. The skins were
awkward, often slipping or falling off, but were still far better than frostbite.

Later in the year, when the days grew hotter and the hide stifling, Firekeeper would wear only a shorter
bit of leather around her waist, relinquishing some protection for comfort.

Lastly, Firekeeper hung around her neck a small bag containing the special stones with which she could