The Raven answered her with a couple of tunes of his own. Wolf impressed, clapped again. Then the Raven announced, "This is a little ditty I'm teaching Red." He started playing 'Brian Boru's March', and after one round Red joined in. With every round of the tune they picked up the pace. Wolf had never seen a flute up close much less a six-hole fife. He couldn't follow the movements of their fingers. Eventually Red couldn't keep it up and started to stumble over the notes. She finally gave up and laughed. Wolf and the Raven were laughing with her.

The Raven jested to Red, "If you can't play a good tune, maybe you could sing one." She complied by singing 'Walking in the Air.' On the second verse the Raven joined in with his fife. It had a very haunting melody and made more so by the noise of the wind in the trees.

Wolf suddenly wished he could be like the boy in the song, flying over the world. It made him sad. Seeing the boy's downcast face, the Raven stopped playing.

The Raven tried to sooth the boy, "It's just a song about a dream."

"I know Sir, It's just I feel so trapped in this world."

The knight thought a minute before saying, "I can't fly, but I've been to some amazing places, and performed good deeds. Life tends to live up to your expectations. If you want it enough, I think adventures will come your way. For now enjoy the adventure you are in. It will prepare you for the ones you will have."

Red suggested to Wolf, "Please why don't you join in the song. It's always better to sing with others." Wolf refused at first; he had never sung before, but with gentle encouragement by Red he tried the first verse of 'Walking in the Air'. He had to work on it, but the pitch of his voice was close enough to Red's and it sounded good. Red promised him that she wouldn't tell anyone unless he said she could.

In the morning the boy found the wolf again curled up asleep next to him. He stroked the wolf's head and the animal turned to lick his face. The boy gently checked out the wolf's wound. The bandage had been lost, but the stitches held and the wound did not look infected or swollen. Wolf noticed the Raven staring at him.

"The wolf is doing a lot better. You need to remove the stitches or he will pick at them until the wound becomes infected again." The Raven gave him a tiny pair of scissors with which to snip out the stitches.

Speaking softly to the wolf the boy managed to get it to lay still long enough to cut the stitches and pull the thread out. Once he finished the wolf arose and trotted off. It still had a noticeable limp.

Wolf started preparing the coffee, tea, fresh apples, and dried figs. Wolf kept busy with boiling water when he realized there wasn't a break in a day's work. He had something to do all day long. From the first day with the Raven he had picked up a new job or skill every day. While out on patrol the Raven expected him to keep up with his school lessons, so he learned how to read in the saddle. He wondered what would be added when he returned from patrol. He would find out soon enough.

From their camp near the eastern pass, they traveled south then southwest to the southern entrance to the valley. There they found a break in the mountains surrounding the valley. Here the small river of the valley exited. A barely recognizable wagon trail paralleled the river, mostly hidden from view by dense under growth.

"This is the main way into the valley," Red commented, "all our supplies come this way by wagon."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"There must be a lot of traffic on the trail," Wolf said.

"There was a lot when camp was being set up, but now it is mostly food coming in and trash going out. That is a lot of what Mary and the other Percherons work at, pulling wagons."

"Why did we come through the mountain pass?" Wolf inquired.

"We had to conduct business in town," Red replied.

"What kind of business?"

"We had to deal with the National Forestry Service. We do some ranger work for them in return for their supporting our school."

"What kind of ranger work do you do?"

"We track and rescue lost people. We also track bad guys."

"What kind of bad guys?"

"Mostly illegal lumber operators and miners, but also drug growers, they are the worst."

"How is that?"

"They would just as soon kill you as talk to you."

"Whoa!" exclaimed Wolf. "What do you do with them? You don't have real weapons."

"Don't discount arrows and lances. What we really do is make these mountains so unpleasant for them that they just leave."

"How do you do that?"

"That is something the knights and older squires do. It is very dangerous work. The Raven says I'm good enough to go on the next raid if we have one this summer."

Later they took a north westerly course to the base of the western pass into the mountains. There they camped for the night. Red and Wolf had time to hunt rabbit and she killed three large ones. The boy insisted that one be left for the wolf that still followed them.

In the morning they climbed up to the gap in the western pass where the Raven took a report from the squires on watch and gave them orders for the next day. The pass had been quiet since the pig incident. After descending from the pass they spent the rest of the morning returning to the main camp. They demobilized, attended to the horses, and went to their tents for a long awaited rest.

Wolf walking back to his tent heard a whimpering sound coming from a copse of trees between camping areas. It sounded like a dog or possibly a puppy. He entered the copse and found the puppy tied to a small bush by its rear leg. It was in pain. Wolf bent down to untie it so he could take it to its mother. He didn't do it; he was blindsided by a fist to the side of his head.

As soon as the lights stopped flashing Wolf realized Wayne was astride him with knees on his arms. "Awake I see. Why don't you save me the trouble and go back to the orphanage. That's where you fit in." To emphasize his point he did a roundhouse punch to Wolf's cheek.

Wolf brought up a knee attempting to hit Wayne in the back. It wasn't enough. He tried again with a little more effect. Wayne just leaned down till he was face to face with Wolf. "I mean it. I'm going to make you go." Wayne spit on Wolf's cheek.

This time Wolf brought up both legs quickly and forced them onto Wayne's back knocking the page over Wolf's head. Wolf instantly rolled over and from a kneeling position fell on top of Wayne. He would have gotten in a few wild punches, but a low growling sound interrupted him.

Both boys instantly stopped struggling with Wolf lying on top of Wayne. They looked for the source of the sound. Wayne saw it first, his eyes went wide open, and he desperately tried to get out from under Wolf. When Wolf looked back up from Wayne, he saw the source of the growling. The wolf stood about three meters away, fangs bared.

"Call him off!" Wayne shakily said.

Wolf not know what to do nervously said, "I can't." The boy paused, "He isn't mine."

"Do something, get him away."

Wolf slowly got up, and then quickly turned his attention back to the animal. It had disappeared.

"That wolf is dangerous; I'm telling."

"I'll tell about the puppy," countered Wolf. He bent down and untied the puppy and cradled it in his arms. When he looked up Wayne had also disappeared.

Wolf returned the puppy to its mother, fearing what would happen if the knights found out what the wolf had done. He needn't have worried; Wayne never reported what had happened.

What Wolf should have worried about was the Wolverine. During his next self defense class he tried to block one of her blows, but was too slow for her unexpected swiftness. The fist landed on his cheek where he already had been hit by Wayne. He gasped in pain and realized he would have a nasty bruise. Her next blow had similar results.

The knight called a halt to the exercise, "You have to learn to block. Go report to the nurse and have that cheek looked after. Then report to my tent." Wolf ran to comply with her orders.

When he reported to her tent she invited him in and told him to sit down. "I hope I didn't hurt your cheek too much."

"No more than it already had been." Wolf realized he had let slip that he had been in a fight.

The Wolverine grimaced. "I noticed you had fallen on your cheek. You could have at least put your arm in the way."

"I couldn't move my arms."

"Interesting, I think I'm going to have to teach you some tricks to get those arms moving again. There is no excuse for being in a situation where you can't move your arms. I don't see any reason to discuss your clumsiness any further. Wolf, you need to make self-defense a deadly serious business. You're dismissed"

"Yes, Ma'am." Wolf stood and stepped for the entrance.

"Oh, Wolf."

The boy stopped and turned to face the woman. "Yes, Ma'am?"

"Try and teach that gray wolf how to act among the other students."

Wolf stunned realized his jaw hung open. She had virtually confirmed that he had been in a fight and the wolf had intervened. Had she seen what had happened? Not likely. She would have stopped it. He couldn't figure the woman out. "Yes, Ma'am." Wolf quickly left her tent before she could say something else.