скачать книгу бесплатно
Annja smiled. “Thanks for taking care of them.”
“They wouldn’t have lasted without me. Guess you were right.”
“Well, every once in a while I get something correct.”
Joey pointed behind her. “You really should put that away. The wolf doesn’t want to hurt you.”
Annja turned her back to Joey and let the sword return to the otherwhere. She wasn’t sure how to explain the sword’s behavior to Joey. When she opened her eyes and looked at him, he didn’t seem the slightest bit fazed by the sudden disappearance.
“I guess you don’t want me telling anyone about that, huh?”
“I’d prefer that we kept it between us, yes.”
“People find out, there’ll be way too many questions. I can dig it.”
“You sure?”
“Well, another fifty would help seal the deal.”
Annja pointed at the tree overhang. “Tell you what. If you help me get my stuff back from the wolf it’s a deal.”
Joey smiled. “No sweat.”
He knelt in the muddy ground and put his hands to his mouth. In a split second, he exhaled and made a strange sound that resembled a type of bark, but nothing like anything Annja had ever heard before.
The effect, however, was instantaneous. From under the tree, there was a rustle of movement. And then Annja saw a large shape dislodge itself from the branches and come through the darkness toward Joey.
Her heart raced but she stayed where she was. Joey must know what he was doing to tempt fate this way. She had to trust him.
The wolf trotted out and sniffed Joey’s hand. He spoke to the wolf in a low voice and a different language. With a casual glance at Annja, the dark gray predator stood at Joey’s feet and let himself be stroked.
Joey looked up at Annja. “You want to pet him?”
Annja held up her hands. “Are you kidding?”
Joey smiled. “Humans spend too much time thinking that animals are different from them. The truth is, we’re all just the same, made by the Creator. We’re not different—we all belong to the earth. And the spirit that moves in all things moves in this guy just as much as it moves in you.”
Annja watched the wolf loll its head back to better expose his ears to Joey’s fingers. From its throat, Annja heard a low rumble come out, but it didn’t sound remotely menacing. It almost reminded Annja of a cat purring. But somehow she thought maybe the wolf wouldn’t appreciate the comparison.
Joey waved her over. “Trust me, okay? I wouldn’t tell you it was safe if it wasn’t. This guy is one of the protectors of his forest.”
“You know him?”
Joey shrugged. “We’ve kind of grown up together. I’ve been coming here for years, ever since I was old enough to run around on my own. Cheehawk here has been around about the same time as me.”
“It’s got a name?”
Joey frowned. “Well, what’s wrong with that? I’ve got a name—several, actually. And so do you. Why shouldn’t this guy?”
“Cheehawk, huh?”
The wolf turned its head again to better see Annja as she started to approach. Joey held up his other hand.
“Take it nice and slow. Don’t do anything to upset him and you’ll be fine. Just like any other animal, you’ve got to give him time to scent you and get used to your smell. Once he does, he’ll be fine. Just come to him without the intent to harm him.”
Annja approached very cautiously. This was, without a doubt, one of the stranger things she’d done. Making friends with a wild predatory animal like a wolf wasn’t what she’d expected to happen when she responded to Jenny’s e-mail from her New York City loft.
Cheehawk continued to appraise her as Annja drew nearer. When she was within a few feet of the wolf, she sat down and extended her hand until it was under Cheehawk’s snout.
She could feel the wolf’s hot breath on the back of her hand as he sniffed her. And then she felt the curious sensation of his tongue lapping at it.
Joey chuckled. “I guess you passed.”
Annja let her hand wander up behind Cheehawk’s ears and ran her fingers through his coarse fur. It was almost like patting a big dog, but not quite. Even though Cheehawk seemed to have accepted her, Annja couldn’t shake the idea that this animal could easily tear her throat out if it wanted to.
Joey shook his head. “Don’t believe that.”
Annja looked at him. “What?”
“Cheehawk would only attack if he felt threatened, just the same as you.” He smiled at Annja. “Don’t look so surprised. The expression on your face was enough for me to figure out what you were thinking.”
“Oh. Well, this is a bit new for me.”
Joey nodded. “For Cheehawk, too. You’re only the second human he’s let pet him.”
“Really?”
“I’m the first,” Joey said proudly.
“I’m honored, then,” Annja said. She looked into Cheehawk’s eyes. “Thank you.”
Cheehawk rose without making a sound, looked once at Annja and then at Joey, before turning and stalking off into the night.
“Where’s he going?”
Joey got to his feet. “I told you. He’s looking for his dinner.”
Annja stood, awed by what had just happened. Then she thought about why she was even in the Oregon woods in the first place. “We need to find Jenny. If she wasn’t able to make a fire, she might die of exposure out here.”
Joey frowned. “All right, but we’ve got to be careful. Those lunatics with the guns are probably still around. And I don’t feel like running into them.”
Annja got her gear from under the canopy. Despite the awful sounds, very little of her stuff was damaged at all. She emerged and saw Joey standing on the trail.
“Ready?” the young man asked.
Annja nodded. It was still terribly dark and she had no idea how they were going to find their way. But Joey didn’t seem to notice and before she knew what was happening, they were headed down the trail.
5
“How long have your people lived here?”
Joey picked his way along the path without making a sound. Annja marveled at his ability to stay quiet. He was very much every bit his namesake.
“Hundreds of years. We’re a splinter group of Apache.”
“Apache? I thought that tribe was from the Southwest,” Annja said.
“It was. We came up north to escape the persecution of the Spaniards and the white man. It took us a long time to find a suitable home, but this was it. We had a need to remain hidden until such time as we could prosper.”
“Has that happened yet?”
Joey shrugged. “There’s always the future to look forward to. Life on a reservation doesn’t offer very many Native Americans a lot of hope. Crime’s rampant. Kids drop out of school. It’s a mess.”
“You lived on one?”
“Me? Nah. I visited a cousin one summer. It was all I could do to hope for September to hurry up and get there so I could come home and go back to school. Not the kind of place I’d choose to live, you know?”
“So you live here?”
“Sure. My grandfather takes care of me. My parents died in a car accident when I was really young.”
Annja ducked under a tree branch. The wind had died down some and she lowered her voice since shouting wasn’t necessary anymore. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t really know them. It makes me sad to think of them sometimes, but my grandfather is all the family I need. Him and the animals who live here.”
“I don’t blame you. I never knew my parents, either.” She nodded at the trail. “You really know your way all over these parts?”
“Yep. I’ve been running around here for about five years now. My grandfather insists I come out here to practice my skills so they aren’t lost. He was a scout for his tribe when he was young.”
“That must have been a long time ago.”
Joey nodded. “Yep.”
“And he taught you how to do all of this stuff? The tracking? The stalking? All of it?”
Joey paused and studied the ground. “Skills like that are what made my people such a tough enemy. They’re also what protected us when we needed them. My grandfather says it’s my duty to ensure they never die out. When I have a son, I’ll teach them to him, as well. Just the way it goes, I guess. Stuff gets passed on this way like it has for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years.”
“Incredible,” Annja said. “You’re very lucky to have someone like your grandfather in your life.”
“Yep, he’s pretty cool. He once walked from Alaska to South America. He called it the spirit journey where he learned how to beat his own limitations. Eventually, I’ll probably do something similar. Kind of a rite of passage for my tribe.”
“How many of you are left?”
Joey ran his hands over the ground. “Your friend passed this way about an hour ago.”
“Really?”
Joey glanced at Annja. “She’s stumbling, though. You see how her footprints are staggered? There’s not a rhythm to them anymore. She’s in danger, most likely from the wind and the rain.”
“You’re certain these tracks were made about an hour ago?”
“I might be off by fifteen minutes or so, given the degradation of the track from the weather, but yes, it’s pretty accurate.”
“Can you find her?”
Joey frowned. “Be a lot easier if she was in better shape. As it is, she’ll be unpredictable. Her footwork will make it tough to follow her along a set course. In her state she might easily stumble and fall and we’d never find her.”
“We’ve got to try,” Annja said. “Lead the way.”
“Can you keep up? I’ll move faster if I know you can hang with me as I go along.”
“Don’t worry about me. If I can’t keep up, I’ll call out and ask you to slow down.”
Joey eyed her. “Okay, then. Let’s go.” He turned and started moving quickly. With his body stooped lower, Annja watched him move at a crouching run, checking the ground every few minutes for more signs and then continuing on.
Annja kept pace pretty well for a while, but then her own stamina took a bit of a hit. She felt herself starting to grow weary from the fast pace. Joey kept moving. Annja forced herself to push on, concerned that Jenny could well be dying somewhere close by.
Joey paused. “You okay?”
Annja bent over and breathed deeply. “Fine. Why?”
“I can hear you panting. You sound like a train huffing along back there. Honestly, I thought you were in better shape.”
Annja frowned. “I’m in fine shape, thanks. I’m a bit tired, though.”
“You want to rest?”
“No. Jenny needs us.”
Joey pointed to a nearby tree. “Stay there and get some rest. I’ll go on alone and find her. When I do, I’ll come back and lead you there. Right now someone needs to make sure she’s okay.”
“I’m slowing you down, aren’t I?”
“Yep.”
Annja nodded. “All right, then. Go.”
Joey turned and vanished into the night. Annja watched him disappear and then leaned her head back. The trunk of the tree behind her felt solid and somehow comfortable. Within a few moments, her eyelids dipped shut and she fell asleep.
And then she felt herself being shaken.
“Annja!”
She popped her eyes open. Joey’s face was close to hers. “Come on and wake up, sleepyhead.”
Annja got to her feet. “You found her?”
Joey nodded. “About a mile farther on. She was in a bad way but I got a fire going and huddled her up close to it. Hypothermia, I’d guess. The rain and wind probably took her down, but she should be okay. I made some pine-needle tea for her to drink, to warm her from the inside out. She was coherent when I left.”
