The three children watched from the top of the tower all morning until the wolves finally came into view. Biandina spotted them first—a sleek black shadow followed by a smaller dark gray one, emerging from the horizon like they were crawling up out of the ground.
With such an enormous expanse to cross, it was the first time Dirt had thought Socks looked slow. In fact, compared with the endless plain of white snow spotted with rocky grays and yellow grasses, he didn’t look all that big, either. It took several long minutes for the wolves to reach the tower, even despite speeding up as they got closer.
Once the two wolves arrived, Dirt jumped right out the window with a heartfelt cheer. Socks caught him and yanked him down to smother in licks. Dirt allowed it for a moment, but all of him was covered in clothing except his face, and he couldn’t breathe through the big pup’s tongue. Socks set him down and Dirt hugged him around the snout, scratched everywhere he could reach, and then ducked away with mana speed when Socks snapped his jaws to catch him.
Then they played a bit of tag, heedless of the others. Dirt laughed all the while, darting faster than a bird between the wolf’s legs or jumping out of the way like a grasshopper. Socks’s playful snarls and growls rumbled against the wall of the square tower, always terrifying no matter how friendly Dirt’s mind knew it was.
Amused, Big Sister sat and watched from the side, ears perked up and fierce yellow eyes focused on the games. Once the initial excitement wore off, she said, HE LOOKS LIKE ALL THE OTHER HUMANS. HE IS NOT CUTER.
Dirt felt himself plucked by a rough mental hand and pulled over to the giant black wolf. She was a third again Socks’s size, or perhaps more, fuller and more muscular. Her winter coat was poofy and thick and she looked absolutely enormous. She could’ve peered into the third or fourth story windows without rising off her front paws. Her fur was free of scars, a detail Dirt found interesting. Just like her Mother.
She turned Dirt slowly in the air, and he remained calm and sent her a short mental poof of respect and submission—something he would never have dared do with Mother or Father, but it seemed acceptable here. She pulled him closer to sniff a few times, then set him lightly on his feet.
Big Sister turned toward Antelmu and Biandina, who were just then walking out the front doorway. Even without looking at their minds, he could see they were anxious and fearful, although they did their best to hide it.
THOSE ARE YOUR STRAYS?
-They want to help Dirt save all the humans,- said Socks.
THEY DO NOT LOOK UP TO THE TASK.
-It will take many. These are just two of the first.-
“I’ll grow to be up to the task,” said Antelmu, in a very short moment of stalwart dignity. It lasted exactly until Big Sister fixed her fearsome yellow gaze upon him, at which point he involuntarily ducked a little and took one step back, which was perfectly understandable.
Big Sister’s tail gave a faint twitch of amusement, but that was all, and Dirt only spotted it because he had practice. He didn’t dare look at her mind—she was too far above him to risk that—but it seemed she wasn’t going to be testy and hostile.
IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE HUMANS CAME NEAR THIS PLACE. HUNDREDS OF YEARS, said Big Sister, her mental voice loud in their minds even though its timbre lacked any hostility. She sounded rather relaxed, Dirt decided. She peered around like she was wondering what was going to happen next.
Dirt jumped onto Socks’s back and slid down to the part of his harness where the rake was kept. He pulled it out and checked it to make sure it was in good repair. It was. He fell the rest of the way to the ground, then stood holding it without looking directly at Big Sister.
YOU MAY SPEAK TO ME DIRECTLY IF MY BROTHER PUP IS WITH YOU, she said.
“Thank you. Would you like me to rake your fur? I’m sure Socks told you about that,” said Dirt.
LET ME SEE THAT, said Big Sister. But before she took the rake from Dirt, her gaze flickered to Biandina, who had her hood down and her teeth clenched to remain calm. I AM BEING TOO LOUD, she said, quieting her mental voice to the level of Socks’s. -You have my permission to complain if something I am doing is hurting you, if you are with my brother.-
“Thank you, Great One,” said Biandina. She closed her eyes, took a very deep breath, and exhaled slowly. When she opened her eyes again, the last of her fear drifted away on the wind. She smiled, remembering at the last second not to bare her teeth.
-You will not cause me alarm if you smile with your teeth. I am familiar with humans. Now show me that rake,- she commanded.
Dirt was rather surprised she hadn’t seen it yet, but he stepped forward and held it out. Big Sister yanked it from his hand with her mind and looked it over carefully. Then, in the time it took to blink, Dirt felt a flash of mana too bright to measure and found three rakes. Not one. Big Sister had multiplied them instantly. Now that was a trick he wanted to learn.
She gave one to each child, then settled down on all fours. She rested her head on the ground and flicked her ears impatiently. The three children got the message and got to work.
Dirt said, “Don’t worry about brushing too hard. Their fur is thick and it’s hard to hurt them. Dig in and scratch a little if you can. It works better if you use short strokes.”
He jumped onto Big Sister’s back and moved forward until he could reach her ears. That seemed like a good spot to start, and it was. He could feel the enjoyment emanating directly off her fur as he dug in and did some decent scratching, then smoothed the spot over and moved on to the next.
-I told you they are useful,- said Socks.
-Humans lived on this spot for a millennium and not once did one of them try this,- replied Big Sister. -They are seldom useful.-
Biandina started on the front shoulder and had trouble at first. Rakes were not easy to operate one-handed, it turned out, but she quickly figured out how to brace it with her neck or stomach or knee for extra leverage, and that worked rather well.
Antelmu started nearby, working his way along Big Sister’s ribcage. Even with her laying down and reaching as high as he could, the rake didn’t quite get all the way up to her back. In frustration, he turned to Socks and said, “Would you mind?”
Socks was more than happy to oblige and lifted Antelmu with his mind, carrying him from spot to spot as needed. The boy worked so hard that he shed his coat, but he gave no sign of wanting to stop.
The great wolf enjoyed herself immensely. She closed her eyes and looked so relaxed that Dirt wondered if she was falling asleep, but her ears still twitched now and then, upright and alert. It made him wonder how a wolf like Big Sister would have treated him without Socks’s introduction first. Probably with complete apathy, as long as he didn’t encroach into her territory or do something annoying. Despite how nervous her appearance and scent made the deeper animal parts of him, something like her was probably safer to encounter than a smaller creature, like an ornery bull.
“Will you tell me your name, Great One?” asked Biandina, her voice calm. Dirt was so surprised he had to look down at her. She seemed right at home, which made him wonder if it was him being silly. That wasn’t Mother or Father, this was a much smaller wolf who’d come out here to see the novelty. Still, better respectful than ripped in half with hardly a thought.
-My name? I took one, a very long time ago. My brother made me promise not to be threatening unless you overstep yourselves, so I will not tell you what it is.- said Big Sister. She rolled to her side to expose her stomach for the rakes.
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Biandina gently said, “I still want to hear your name, if you’re willing to tell us. If you’d rather not, then just ignore me.”
-Do not rake my nipples,- she instructed. Then she spoke in the way of wolves, an experiential image full of sights and sounds and smells, rich and complex and overwhelming. The story began when she was young, only a few dozen years old. She left Father’s den for good and found a mate, afterwards finding this land and choosing to claim it for themselves. It was richer then, with thick forests and fewer storms, and the rivers ran deeper and straighter than they do now. Tornadoes seldom touched the earth and when they did, the grasses healed the scar in the space of a moon. Rocky hills and sweeping plains, wide caverns and caves in the earth, beast and birds great and small, it was a perfect place for cubs to explore and elders to hunt.
It was, however, no virgin territory. Humans lived here in a kingdom much smaller than the Empire that had come before it. But a few humans didn’t matter. Though they maintained the forests and herded great numbers of beasts across the plains, the gods protecting them were gone. This was human land no longer, and ripe for the taking.
Her mate believed it would be a chore to kill them all. There were far too many, and it would take too much time. Humans were poor eating, and their corpses would heap upon the earth and smolder for months. Let them take their belongings and depart instead, to save effort.
Big Sister had no name then, only her scent and presence, which had always been enough.
But the ruler of the humans had one. Hers was Maxima, and Regina, and all the other humans obeyed her. She had aspirations, this Maxima, and a touch of true madness. When the wolves tore open the front of the palace to order her to leave, she rose and commanded them to bow.
Her blood painted the wall, and not a single creature in the palace escaped alive. The wolves broke the grand building to rubble and tore through the city like a conflagration, leaving nothing but mists of blood as they cleansed the earth of its inhabitants. They glutted themselves on bony, fleshless prey that day. The elderly collapsed on the streets and begged, the females and males hid with their brood, all to no avail. Only those who fled in reckless haste survived. The scents of fear and death rested on that place for a long time afterward.
Of all the city, they spared but one life. Big Sister chose a young male whose scent reminded her of the Queen’s. She told her mate, Let him tell all the others in every town and lonely hut that I am now Regina and Maxima, and I order them to gather all their goods and depart. Let the houses and streets be emptied, and we can bury the ruins at our leisure to make this place our own.
Maxima’s mate agreed, and they spoke to the human in his own tongue. He wept with gratitude that his life was spared, along with the remainder of his people. From that day, no tribe of men came closer than the border town. They built a large tower there to keep watch and begged for their lives and offered gifts whenever the great wolves appeared. Umbra Maxima, they called her, and Cruenta Regina, and Maxima Potentia. Her mate, they simply called Mors, for he needed no other name.
Their names remained on mortal tongues even after the human language mutated away and the old meanings were lost. When the tower was at last left empty, their names ceased also to be heard, perhaps forever.
The great wolf’s story ended abruptly, and in the stunned moments afterward, Antelmu stumbled away and vomited, mind reeling with horror at the carnage he’d witnessed. They had experienced it as though through the wolf’s own eyes, tasting the blood, smelling the terror and excrement, showing no mercy or hesitation.
Dirt looked nervously at the two children, unsure what would happen next, but Biandina surprised him. She took another deep breath to wash away the green in her face and the horror from her eyes, and simply said, “Maxima. That is a lovely name.”
-I warned you, tiny creatures,- said Maxima, nonchalantly.
-Biandina was just asking for the word, though,- said Socks.
-How can a name be just a word, pup? That is not a name. That is just a noise. A name must be who you are,- said Maxima.
-Human names are usually just a noise,- said Socks. -Although sometimes they tell you who the sire was.-
“My name tells you a lot, if you know what it means,” said Dirt.
“Dirt just means dirt, doesn’t it?” said Biandina.
“Yes, but I’m the only Dirt. And it’s a good name for me. But my other name is Avitus Numitorius Urbanus, and if you know what that means, it tells you a whole bunch,” said Dirt.
“What does it mean? I remember that fairy calling you Avitus, now that you mention it,” said Biandina.
Antelmu stood up on shaky feet, still looking distressed and unwell. Maxima pressed her magic into the world again, and Dirt missed it because he wasn’t watching. A globe of pure water appeared in front of the boy’s face, and he nodded, leaned forward and drank. He washed his mouth with some and spit it out, then gulped down the rest and started looking a bit better.
Dirt didn’t answer during that pause while everyone watched, so Biandina asked again, “What does Avitus mean?”
“It means ‘grandfatherly’ or ‘elder’ or ‘ancient’. But like the name Dirt, if you know that it means me, that tells you a whole lot,” said Dirt.
-I was born after you and do not remember,- said Maxima. -I see Antelmu fretting about the hopelessness of the human situation. How can they survive, when something like me can destroy them so easily? Well, the first thing you can do to improve your chances, is keep raking. You stopped but I am not done.- A hint of amusement leaked into her voice and she wagged her tail expectantly.
Socks let his tongue loll out, which made him look smug. He watched without comment as the three children went back to scratching and combing until they were done. Afterward he rose and stepped over to sniff the three of them. He gave Dirt three licks, and Antelmu one out of pity. Finally, he put all three rakes in that spot on his harness.
Maxima said, -That was pleasant. I will remember it. Now it is time to show me what I came to see.-
Biandina and Antelmu stepped a bit closer together and held still, unsure what was about to happen and doubting it would be pleasant.
Dirt said, “The mind meld?”
-Show me.-
Dirt nodded, and briefly explained to Biandina and Antelmu, “Socks and I can merge our minds together and become one mind with two bodies. It doesn’t look like much unless you can see like a wolf.”
After that, he and Socks reached for each other and slid their thoughts together, sharing everything. –“Look, Big Sister. Watch,”- said Socks and Dirt. They threw the boy into the air, and their focused minds summoned a cloud of sparks that went everywhere, including places that Socks couldn’t have seen by himself. They let the sparks sizzle and burn, but didn’t ignite them, choosing instead to let them fade.
-“Nothing can sneak up on us.”-
They sent the boy’s body running around to Maxima’s back and viewed her from two angles at once. The boy’s eyes watched her ears and tail and the muscles in her shoulders, and the wolf’s eyes watched her face and legs and paws.
-“We can fight from two angles. But watch this. We are sure you’ve never seen this before,”- said Socks and Dirt. They opened their mind sight and all the minds in the area snapped into place, showing their true locations—near and far, left and right, up and down. Maxima’s mind blazed brightest, nearly drowning out the others, but there was a snake sleeping underground four paces to the left of the wolf, and a bird in a tower window, up and to the rear. –“Nothing can hide from us like this. It has been useful.”-
“Dirt, did you start yet?” asked Antelmu, peeking around the great black wolf.
“We started. The boy is looking from a different angle,” said Socks and Dirt with the boy’s mouth.
“It doesn’t look any different. I guess you were right,” said Antelmu.
“We are still the same two bodies,” said Dirt’s mouth.
“I feel like now would be the time to ask them a really hard riddle,” said Biandina. “Ugh. This is terrible. I want to tease them somehow, but I don’t have any ideas!”
“Are they doing it? How can you tell?” asked Antelmu.
“Look at how weird he’s standing. It’s obvious. Just look at him. And Socks, too. Look how still he’s holding,” said Biandina, pointing.
“I don’t see it. I guess… Okay, I do, a little. Dirt, can you go like this?” he said. He put his finger on the center of his head and spun like a top.
-“Talking to Dirt speaks to both of us,”- said Socks and Dirt, mentally. –“We do not want to make him spin like that.”-
“See, Socks sounds different, too,” said Biandina.
-“We will not spin but we will do this,”- said Socks and Dirt. They brought Dirt’s body close to Socks’s and placed him next to the wolf’s front paw. Then they moved in perfect harmony—Dirt’s leg raised, and so did Socks’s. They swung their heads, jumped and turned, all at exactly the same time.
Then they danced. They stomped a rhythm, just a simple one, but turned and moved and hopped as they did it. Socks waved his tail and Dirt shook his hips. They raised their arm and paw. Dirt clapped and Socks snapped his jaws, once, then twice. It was similar to the dance that Hèctor had shown them, all those months ago. They kept it short, just long enough to make the point. Then they stopped, and the boy’s face grinned widely.
-“The boy can only convince the wolf to do this when our minds are one.”- said Socks and Dirt. Antelmu and Biandina stared as if unsure whether they were allowed to laugh.
-Very well. I have seen enough.- said Maxima. She looked at the two children and said, -You should laugh. That was ridiculous.-
It was too late to break into laughter, but they did smile, and Maxima had a certain sparkle in her eye.
Socks and Dirt let their minds slide back apart and Dirt immediately felt a little deflated. They should have done it longer, shared their thoughts and hearts a bit more to make up for several days apart. Oh well. They weren’t going to separate again any time soon.
-I am pleased. That is quite a talent you have learned. It is a shame humans are so short-lived,- said Maxima. -I will permit these three to enter my territory long enough to remove some garbage from the palace ruins.-
-She is teasing you. It is good garbage. Get your packs so we can leave,- said Socks. Then he lifted Biandina and Antelmu right up into the seventh story window. To their credit, they didn’t scream.