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

strike fire. She valued these less than the Fang, but without their power she could not have survived this
winter or others before it.

Faintly, Firekeeper remembered when she did not live this way, when she wore something softer and
more yielding than hides, when winters were warmer. Almost, she thought, those memories were a
dream, but it was a dream that seemed strangely close as she ran to where the One Male awaited her.

The one male was a big silver-grey wolf with a dark streak running along his spine to the tip of his tail and
a broad white ruff. He was the third of that title Firekeeper could remember and had held the post for
only two years. His predecessor would have dominated the pack longer except for a chance stumble in
front of an elk during a hunt in midwinter along an icy lakeshore.

The current One Male had been accepted by the One Female, who had led the pack alone through the
remainder of that winter until the mating season early the following spring. Competition for her had been
fierce and one contender had been killed. A second chose exile rather than live beneath his pack mate’s
rule.
Yet the diminished pack had fared well, perhaps because of, rather than despite, the losses. Fewer
wolves meant fewer ways to split the food. New pups had since grown to fill the gaps and the Ones
reigned over a fine pack eight adults strong—with a single strange, two-legged, not-quite-wolf to round
out the group.

Although she remembered when both had been fat, blue-eyed, round-bellied puppies, Firekeeper
thought of both the One Male and the One Female as older than herself. However, though the human had
more years than the wolves, the reality was that they were adults while she, when judged by her abilities
rather than her years, was a pup. Indeed, she might always be a pup—a thing she regarded with some
dissatisfaction during rare, idle moments.

When she loped into the flat, bone-strewn area outside of the den, the One Male was waiting for her.
None of the rest of the pack was visible.

The One Female was within the cave nearby, occupied with her newborn pups. The day for them to be
introduced to the rest of their family was close and Firekeeper warmed in pleasant anticipation. Already
she knew that there were six pups, all apparently healthy, but everything else about them was kept a
guarded secret until the great event of Emergence.

Seeing Firekeeper—though doubtless he had heard her arrive—the One Male rose to his feet. She ran to
within a few paces, then dropped onto all fours. When he permitted her to approach, she stroked her
fingers along his jaw, mimicking a puppy’s begging.

Tail wagging gently, the One Male drew his lips back from his teeth as if regurgitating—though he did not
actually do so. All spare food these days went to the One Female and the pups. Firekeeper, who had
been made hungry by her swim followed by a swift run, was rather sorry. Many times during the past
winter meat had been carried to her from a kill too distant for her to reach before the scavengers would
have stripped it.

“You summoned me, Father?” she asked, sitting back on her haunches now that the greeting ritual had
been completed.

The One Male wagged his tail, then sat beside her, tacitly inviting her to throw an arm around him and
scratch between his ears.