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them?"Torak stared at the circling, hissing Soul-Eaters. "You see if you can douse
the torches, while I keep them talking--""While you what?"Before she could stop
him, he'd risen to his feet, and stepped out into the light.With startling speed the
lynx and the ice bear spun around, and stared at him with dead gutskin eyes."The
ninth hunter is come," said the Oak Mage in a voice as lethal as a bear's."But his
hands are empty," hissed the Viper Mage. "He was to have brought the eagle, the
wolverine, the otter, the fox."The talons of the Eagle Owl Mage tightened around
the head of the mace. "Why has it failed?"Torak opened his mouth to speak, but no
sound came. What was Renn doing? Why were the torches still
burning?Desperately, he sought for some way of grabbing the fire-opal, and
stopping them from opening the Door-- of achieving the impossible.A shout rang
through the cavern--and Nef hobbled237in. "The wolf is gone!" she shouted. "It's
the boy, I know it is! He set the wolf free! He set them all free!"Three masked
heads turned toward Torak."Free?" said the Viper Mage with appalling
gentleness.Torak edged backward.The Bat Mage blocked his way.The Oak Mage
wiped the black froth from his painted lips and said, " 'The Wolf lives.' That was
the message from our brother across the Sea. What did it mean, we asked
ourselves.""Then a boy came," said the Viper Mage. "A boy who wore the tattoo of
the White Foxes, but didn't look like one. I felt souls in the air around me. What
does this mean, I asked myself."Torak's hand tightened on his knife. And still the
torches burned, and still the Soul-Eaters bore down on him."Who are you?" said the
Oak Mage. "What are you?" said the Viper Mage.238THIRTYTall Tailless was
surrounded. Bravely he faced them, clutching the big claw; but against three full-
grown taillesses, he didn't stand a chance.Wolf lowered his head and crept forward.
The bad ones didn't hear him. They didn't know he was there.Swiveling one ear, he
heard the stealthy padding of the female, a few pounces away. A sizzling hiss, and
that part of the Den went dark. Good. She was helping him. Wolf could see in the
dark, but the bad ones couldn't.Tall Tailless said something defiant in tailless talk,
and the pale-pelt who stank of bear gave a cruel laugh.239Then another part of the
Den went dark. And another.Suddenly, Stinkfur and Pale-Pelt leaped at Tall
Tailless. He didn't dodge quickly enough--it didn't matter--Wolf was quicker than
any of them. With a snarl he sprang at Pale-Pelt, knocking him to the ground and
sinking his teeth into a forepaw. Pale-Pelt roared. Bones crunched. Wolf leaped
away, gulping bloody flesh.As he ran, his claws skittered on stone and he nearly
went down, wobbling as he righted himself, because his newly shortened tail didn't
give quite the balance it had before. He'd have to be careful, he thought as he raced
through the dark to help his poor, blind pack-brother, who was still trying to get
away from Stinkfur.Not far off, the pack-sister held a glowing branch in one paw,
narrowing her eyes as taillesses do when they cannot see.Meanwhile, the Viper-
Tongue had not been idle. She'd found her way through the silent trees, and past the
Stone-Faced One to the end of the Den, where she was scraping a claw over the
rock, hissing and whining in a way that made Wolf's pelt shrink with dread. He
heard the clamor of demons. He didn't know what she meant to do, but knew that
he had to stop her.And yet--Tall Tailless needed him! In his blindness, he was
blundering toward Stinkfur!Wolf faltered.He decided in a snap--and leaped to the
aid of his240pack-brother, bodyslamming him out of the path of the bad one. Tall
Tailless slipped--steadied himself--and grabbed his pack-brother's scruff. Wolf led
him to safety through the trees.But it was too late to stop Viper-Tongue. Her
whines rose to a hide-prickling scream as she spread her forepaws wide--and
suddenly in the rock, a great mouth gaped.Stone-Face gave a triumphant howl that
pierced Wolf's ears like splintered bone. Then she lifted her forepaw high. The Den [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]