The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [61]
"What are you doing?" Druz asked.
"I can save the wolf cubs." Haarn placed his knife back in its boot sheath. "You killed the mother, but you didn't kill her cubs."
Haarn probed at the wound and prayed to Silvanus to guide his efforts. He hoped he had the knowledge to stave off death for Stonefur's line.
"She would have killed you," Druz said.
Unwilling to argue, Haarn concentrated on the bloody task at hand. He slipped his fingers into the wolf bitch's body and felt for the cubs. He let his fingers rest for just an instant against the straining womb and he could feel the squirming bodies inside. He hoped they were strong enough.
Broadfoot padded closer, his shadow covering a pool of water. He stood on his hind legs, tall against the night, and watched the wolves that remained of Stonefur's pack. Anxious and distrustful, the wolves shifted in the protection of the tree line.
Lightning shivered through the sky again, and for a moment Haarn saw the silver rain flash against the dark tan of his hands streaked with bright crimson blood.
He took a small blade he had sewn into his clothes. It was little more than a knuckle joint long, and he hoped it was up to the task.
Shoving his hand back inside the wolf corpse, Haarn traced the womb with his little finger while holding onto the little blade with his thumb and forefinger. He pressed against the tiny body with his little finger, moving it out of harm's way as best he could.
With deft precision, Haarn slit the womb. Hot liquid spilled out over his hand, mixing with the blood already there. A moment later it gushed from the wolf bitch's body. Druz sucked her breath in and took an involuntary step back.
The slit he'd made in the womb remained too tight to allow him to withdraw one of the cubs. Knowing time was running out, that the pups were already suffocating, he pushed his other hand into the wolf bitch's corpse and tore the womb.
One of the small, furry bodies slid out into Haarn's waiting hands. He felt it squirm in his grasp, strong and limp as it flexed. Breath tight in his throat, pain pounding his temples, he pulled the pup from its dead mother. He hunkered over to shield the infant from the rain and the bitter cold.
"Get my dothing," he told Druz. "I've got to keep them dry."
The warrior hesitated for a moment, as though she was going to argue, then she rose and got her own pack.
"I've got some blankets in here," she said, taking one of them out.
Haarn used the tiny knife he held to slit the umbilical cord, then nicked the placenta. He tore the hole in the placenta larger and removed the pup.
"Here," he said, and Druz took the pup without complaint and wrapped it in the blanket.
Haarn threw the placenta toward the other wolves. The membrane plopped on the ground only a few feet in front of them. One of the females dashed from the shadows, plucked the placenta from the mud with her sharp teeth, and returned to the pack.
"What was that?" Druz asked.
"Birth sac," Haarn said. "The females will eat it, as the birth mother usually does."
He removed another pup and began tearing the next placenta open.
"How are you going to feed the pups?" Druz asked.
Pain hit him again so hard he thought he was going to black out. He fought his way back to consciousness, then reached for the next pup.
"The pack always cares for the young," Haarn said as he handed over another pup and reached in for the next. "When one of the females starts carrying a litter, all of the bitches in the pack start producing milk. The pups nurse from all of them, just as all the males share in taking care of the young."
Druz leaned in closer to Haarn, shielding the pup from the storm winds, then adding it to those already in her blanket. Haarn kept working despite the exhaustion that ate at him.
There were five cubs in all. All of them were healthy except for the last one. Somehow its umbilical cord had gotten wrapped around its neck and almost strangled it.
As he held the young wolf pup, Haarn knew he was going to lose it if he didn't do something.