People of the Wolf - North America's Forgotten Past - Excerpt
by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear
....Carried on the wind, a faint whimpering came from behind the shelters. Some animal scratched for food scraps the People had long chipped from ice. Wolf?
Heart pounding with hope, Runs In Light traced chill-stiff fingers over his atlatl. He squirmed out from under frosty hides....into the frosty air.. "Where are you Father Sun?" he demanded harshly....
Wolf's muffled sounds came again, claws scratching at something buried in the snow. ... Runs In Light circled, .. hoping Wind Woman would keep his scent from wolf's keen nose. On hands and knees he crawled..... Dark against the stained snow, wolf struggled to dig Flies Like A Seagull's body from the clinging ice....
He bowed his head in sorrow... He'd found his mother frozen in her robes a week before. Echoes of her stories would haunt his mind forever, voice warm as she told him the ways of the People. He smiled wistfully, remembering the light in her eyes as she chanted of the great Dreamers: of Heron and Sun Walker and other legendary heroes of the People....... A bitter chill touched his soul as he saw a more recent visage of her toothless death rictus-her frost gray eyes.. So many had starved...
Too weak to do more than stumble out of the shelters, the People had carried Flies Like A Seagull's corpse only this far. Here, on the ice, they'd left her to stare at the skies, praying and singing her soul up to the bBlessed Star People. Wind Woman had blown her stiff corpse over, snow drifting softly to bury her-until wolf came to chew her frozen flesh..
The urge to rush down over the drift, screaming his rage and hurt, rose powerfully. He forced it back. Food, wolf was food.
'Father Sun looks away when hunger forces hunter to stalk hunter. What had they done that He would punish them so?'
Runs In Light took a deep breath, rising slowly to his knees, judging the distance.
Wolf stopped short, head coming up, pointed ears pricked. Willing himself to remain motionless, Runs In Light gauged the wind, waiting, hoping his hunger-robbed limbs wouldn't betray him this time..
Wolf turned his head, sniffing, gaunt ribs working as he searched the wind, an uneasy presence leaving him wary.
Runs In Light cleared his thoughts, shifting his eyes slightly to the side. He breathed softly, relaxing, forcing gnawing twists of hunger from his consciousness. He himself had experienced that feeling of being watched, that subtle prickle of eyes upon him. For long moments he waited while wolf's nerves settled and the animal's gray nose dropped to gnaw the corpse again.
Runs In Light tensed-threw his weight into the atlatl-and watched the dart as it arced. True to the Spirit Power he'd breathed into the shaft, it caught wolf just behind the ribs. The animal yipped-a startled leap carrying it straight up. Landing on all fours, wolf shot away into the night.... Runs In Light followed, the dark blotches of blood on the snow....he dropped to one knee and chipped the stained snow loose... Gut-blood... it would slow wolf to an eventual stop..... he followed long distances... The eyes of the Long Dark lay heavy and menacing uopn him.
He gazed upward, murmuring to the spirits, "Leave me alone, I must find wolf. Don't eat my soul....don't...." The drain on his soul abated, but the presence clung in the air, floating, waiting to see if his honor proved worthy. .......
He studied the tracks. Wolf had stopped here and even lain for a short while.....darker blood stained the snow.... he pried it from the ice, and heedless of the wolf hair sticking to it, he chewed, grimacing at the gut-juice taste. Food. The first he'd enjoyed in four days.
Four days? The Dreamer's number. His mother had told him that. A day for each of the directions to bring the soul awake. .... He stood...whispering, "You're here, wolf. I feel your spirit close." ..... Hunger stalked his rubbery legs as he continued to track his prey..... How long since he'd slept? Two days? "Dream Hunt?" he muttered hoarsely, wondering at the unreal sensations; hunger and fatigue played with his mind and senses.... "I must catch you wolf.?
The Soul Eaters of Long Dark drifted closer, eerie whispers haunting his ears. He clamped his jaw tightly, crying, "The People need meat. Hear me, wolf? We're starving!" .... Wind Woman tugged Run In Light's furs, pushing him toward the land of the Big Ice and Father Sun's home: south-ever south. Even now, Wolf ran that direction-away from the shelters of the People and into the unknown...... [stumbling, slipping, crawling he followed Wolf] ...... seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, he spun sluggishly. Too late.
A cornice collapsed under wolf as he leapt, blood-weak, from the crest of a cliff. ...crashing down and knocked Runs In Light sprawling. Scrambling to his knees to face wolf, he sang softly, "My brother, let me kill you. The People starve. Bless your soul to our use. We are worthy of your--" Wolf bounded forward. By instinct, Runs In Light rolled away... He stood.. the bloody dart shaft poked out of wolf's side, blood dripped, he stood his teeth bared.....
'Why do I feel no fear? Wolf faces me with hate in his eyes. We are both hungry. Maybe starving makes men and wolves fools?' ... Wolf's growl steamed out in a vaporous cloud. ... "Wolf... I'm sorry. Father Sun has truly forgotten us when we must eat each other. Where has caribou gone? Where is mammoth?"
The beast's head lowered; for the first time Runs In Light noticed the red froth building on wolf's mouth....... Wolf's limbs trembled in sudden weakness. The beast charged, but his feet lost their grace.... he stumbled, falling...
"Forgive me, brother," Runs In Light sang, arms lifted to the night sky. "I send your soul to the Star People, Your flesh will make my people strong. You are brave, brother wolf." With all his power, he drove a long dart through wolf's shoulder, using it like a spear. Wolf yipped in pain, kicking violently as Runs In Light struggled on the end of the shaft. Then the big animal quieted....
Runs In Light sagged, looking up at the Star People overhead. "Thank you, wolf. Father Sun, are you listening?" he shouted resentfully. "Wolf has just given his life to save your people. 'He' cared about us." ..... He tore the heart loose and sucked the life-hot blood from it... The acrid unpleasantness of wolf-taste filled him-- Power in its own right.
Wolf's strength coursed through his body. A warm feeling spread along his limbs like ice melting at the dawn of the Long Light..... [excerpts..pgs 12-18]