The next thing Dirt knew, it was morning and Socks was still asleep. He and Biandina and now Antelmu slept huddled together, lying on a blanket as close to the pup’s warm belly as they could get. The horse, Boulder, was bored, standing there with nothing to do and unwilling to go anywhere. Socks must have convinced him not to be afraid, because he had no fear in him beyond the normal fidgetiness of a prey animal. His human was lying there asleep, and that functioned as a tether.

  Just as Dirt was settling in to rest and wait, Socks woke with a start and stood. He lifted his nose to the air and said, -Wake up, you two. Humans are coming.-

  Antelmu practically jumped out of his skin, going from a dream about mice to startled wakefulness in an instant. A single heartbeat later, his face filled with fear and he rushed to his horse, making sure everything was ready to go. It was. The horse was less than enthused, and Dirt supposed it was probably hungry.

  -We were too tired to talk last night. Dirt was exhausted and so was I. But if you want to come, you cannot bring your horse. He is too slow,- said Socks.

  “Boulder is fast. We won’t slow you down,” said Antelmu, checking the various bags and things draped over the horse. He very pointedly didn’t look at Socks, just continued being busy getting ready.

  -Boulder is fast, but only for a horse. My legs are much longer than his and I can use mana,- said Socks. -I cannot see their minds from here, but I bet the humans are coming to take you back. Choose now. Ride back to meet them, or send the horse back without you on it. I will tell Boulder to follow the trail until he meets them.-

  Dirt gave a sympathetic little frown. Antelmu probably pictured things starting very differently. He loved his horse, and he was probably as skilled as anyone at riding. And without it, what did he have to offer? Instead of helping, he’d be baggage that eats. Sort of like Biandina, now that Dirt thought about it. That made him smile, which he suppressed before anyone noticed.

  Biandina stepped over and placed a gentle hand on her brother’s shoulder, which he tried to shake off. “I don’t doubt you deserve to come with us, but don’t Mother and Father still need you? They lost Prosperu, and they lost me. Who’s going to train the new dogs in the spring, and who will teach Oraziu to ride? I have to go. I don’t have a choice. But you do, Antelmu. Are you sure you want to come? We might never return.”

  Dirt had expected her to tell him to go back, but the girl surprised him. He glanced at her mind and Biandina did want her brother to come, out of affection. But she also thought it was probably wrong.

  Antelmu continued fussing with his bags. He pulled out a feedbag that Dirt didn’t get a look into before putting it over Boulder’s head so the horse could eat.

  The bright, icy morning was invigorating. Each breath of cold air sparked in Dirt’s lungs and energized him. His new clothing held the night’s heat in remarkably well, and the cold only touched his face. The snowy landscape was blinding, though, unless he was looking at Socks, who was big enough to block most of the reflection. All in all, it didn’t look like the kind of morning that needed to start with a giant flurry of activity. But here they were.

  -Horse or us. Decide right now.-

  Dirt got the impression that this was a harder decision than coming had been. Looking at Antelmu’s mind, the boy was in serious turmoil. Everything he had imagined himself doing had involved the horse. Fighting monsters, exploring, hunting, other great and exciting things. The boy already felt like a hero from a story, but now it might be cut short.

  No, this was a test. The ancestors would watch and guide him, as would the seasons and elements and stars, if he showed them his value. He would not stop already, hard as it was to choose.

  Antelmu turned toward the big pup and gathered his thoughts. He held both palms upward, as his people had done when Socks first got there, and said, “Great Wolf, will you please carry me as well?”

  -Are you sure?-

  “Yes.”

  -Why?-

  “Aren’t we in a hurry?”

  -Then be brief.-

  “I want to save my tribe, I want to see everything, and I want to make sure she’s okay,” he said. Each statement was quieter and more sincere than the previous one.

  -Then grab whatever you’re bringing.-

  The boy took a pack, a waterskin, a small bow, and a quiver of arrows. Then he unstrapped a spear and asked, “Should I bring this?”

  The spear leaped out of his hand all on its own and slid into the pup’s harness alongside the staff Dirt had made earlier. Then the three children rose up and were deposited hastily on the pup’s back. Dirt helped arrange the other two so they could lie down out of the wind and still hold on.

  Once everyone was ready to go, Socks told the horse to go back up the other way, largely by associating the ideas of food and warmth with going in that direction. The horse looked around warily, then huffed into its feedbag and started walking.

  There was one last thing to do. Socks lifted his leg and peed, a huge amount as always. It melted a bare spot on the grass several feet across.

  Dirt told Socks, “We all have to pee, too. How come only you get to?”

  -Their horses will smell the predator urine and it will be hard to get them to keep following. We’ll stop for you three in a bit, so just hold it.-

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  “Well, don’t jostle us too much or we won’t be holding it for long.”

  -I never jostle,- said Socks, amused. He was tempted to shimmy and give Dirt a good jostling as a joke, but refrained. Barely.

  The pup left at an eager run. The snow was denser now but not as deep, and Socks could run almost normally. He did his best not to jostle, but Dirt couldn’t take it and made him stop only a short time later. Biandina refused any help with her clothing, which she needed since she only had one arm now and the wounds were still painful, and everyone had to wait until she figured it out. Eventually she did, and got her pants tied to her satisfaction.

  After they were moving again, Socks went too fast for the humans to talk easily over the wind, which left everyone to dwell on their thoughts. Dirt couldn’t help his curiosity about his knew companions, so he watched their minds a bit. Biandina was relieved that she might survive, although she felt hideous and malformed now with her missing arm and all the scars. But aside from that, she kept remembering her family and how they’d clung to her, and how much she loved them. Even her mother, who was usually cold and bitter, had shown real affection there at the end. It was a kinder farewell than she’d dared hope, and a memory that would warm her for years to come.

  Antelmu, on the other hand, just felt worse and worse as time went on, although his resolve never wavered. At first he was proud of himself for being hard as iron and not getting sad at all, but the loss of his horse opened the door to the loss of his family and each person added another layer to the lump in his chest. His friends, too, who had been tighter than brothers. They didn’t know yet. But someone had to do something, like the strange little boy said. And that was him.

  Near nightfall they reached the small group of flat-topped hills and dug up the frozen meat. It was hard as ice, but Dirt’s knife was sharp enough to cut it anyway. They fed Socks some, but he didn’t like it frozen and still wasn’t really hungry yet after gorging himself here a few days ago. They ended up taking six thick strips as long as Dirt’s arm, packed in grass the other two dug up. After that, Dirt sliced off some thin strips for dinner, which they at cooked this time.

  “Can I try that knife? How do you keep it so sharp?” asked Antelmu, but Biandina was right over his shoulder.

  Dirt grinned and said, “I never have to sharpen it. It’s an eternal blade. Ever heard of those?”

  “Nope,” said Biandina. “Can we see it?”

  “Sure,” he said. He held it out and Biandina took it first. “I found it in a crypt buried with a dead man.”

  She sliced, carefully at first with just the tip, but then her eyes widened and she sliced off a strip of half-frozen meat as long as her arm. “What…?” she said, unable to believe it. “How is it so sharp?”

  Antelmu carefully reached in and plucked it from her hand, unable to wait any longer, and did the same thing. He cried out in amazement, then gave a startled laugh. “You got this in a tomb?” he said, eyes sparkling.

  “Yep, underground. It was in the ruins of an old city of my people,” said Dirt. “There are probably others.”

  Dirt didn’t have to see their thoughts to watch Antelmu and Biandina decide they needed to explore ruins now, just like Hèctor and Ignasi had when Dirt told them where he found it.

  When night came it got truly cold, and the humans huddled on blankets right up against Socks’s belly again. The three of them didn’t fit very well on the same one, so Dirt had his own and the siblings shared the other. They lay on their backs for a while, shoulder to shoulder, whispering quietly to each other. Dirt snuggled in against Socks’ fur and summoned a few warming embers, which he shared.

  “How far to the wolves’ territory, do you think?” asked Dirt, aloud, for the benefit of everyone.

  -Just a few days. Maybe three or four. It depends on how fast we go.-

  “I hope they’re happy to see us.”

  -We will see. Good night, little humans.-

  Antelmu and Biandina said their good nights, then kept whispering to each other. Dirt could still hear it, but only if he listened deliberately and he chose not to. Let them have some time to each other.

  Dirt asked Socks mentally, “What do you think about all this? I feel like we do too many things for me and not enough for you. I wish you could spend more time with your siblings and Father.”

  -I do not regret it. I am having fun. Visiting the other wolves next is a thing for me,- said Socks. -I do miss them, though. I want to roughhouse without worrying I will hurt someone. And Father teaches us different things than I am learning with you, things I need to learn. You cannot teach me how to be a wolf. But I am learning other things that my siblings cannot learn from each other. Someday, Father can teach me the rest, and I will know two sets of things.-

  “Do you think it’s a bad idea to keep fighting the Eye? We don’t even really know what it is.”

  -It’s too late to think something like that. You have two humans who have joined you expecting to fight.-

  “That’s true. I just want to know what you think, since we haven’t talked about this aspect of it.”

  -I think that if we can ever find a way to get rid of it, we should. And I hate it. I want to kill it and I will fight it every time I see it.-

  “Good. Me too,” said Dirt. “I wonder how things might have been different if these were the first humans I found instead of Marina’s party.”

  -Well, what if the first one you met was the man who shot you with an arrow?-

  “True. That really hurt, now that you remind me.”

  -It would have killed you if I wasn’t there to lick it.-

  “Also true. You save me in lots of different ways.”

  -You saved my life, too, remember. And we learned things together that saved my life other times, which I would not have learned alone.-

  “Oh, I know. I’m just saying thank you.”

  -You are welcome, dear little Dirt,- said Socks. He didn’t feel like moving, so he sent an image of licking Dirt’s face along with a puff of affection.

  Dirt smiled and returned the puff of affection twofold. Then he said, “You know what I still wonder? You know how Biandina offered a sacrifice, and then we saved her life and killed the rucche? I wonder if the gods are still listening. I wonder if they guided you to me somehow. Things like that.”

  -Who can say? Father and Mother don’t seem to think the gods matter anymore.-

  “I remember Father saying he was less free when the gods were still here. So I worry about two things, sort of. If the gods are still around, are they mad at me for breaking the world? Will they want revenge someday? And if they came back, what would happen to your kind, and to the trees? Do you think they’d put the trees back to when they were ignorant and small?” said Dirt.

  -I think,- said Socks, -that the gods are probably gone. But if not, Father is on my side, and the forest is on yours, and we are on each other’s side, so even gods would have to be careful.-

  “I’m just going to say, so you never have to wonder, that if fixing the world means hurting the wolves and the trees and the elementals, and maybe all the other wonderful things we haven’t met yet, that I won’t do it. I won’t,” said Dirt.

  -And I am going to say, that to me, the world is not broken. It is a paradise. Everywhere is open, everything is free, and the world is stuffed full of enemies and prey and new sights and wonders. The fact there are some little humans in it just makes it more wondrous. I love it. I love being alive. And I love you, my own little Dirt, and I am glad you are with me.-

  “I love you too, Socks. I’m glad I’m with you.”

  -What should we dream tonight?-

  “Let’s take Biandina and Antelmu and see what the moon is made of.”