The Princess and the Bear - Mette Ivie Harrison [22]
The bear shuddered.
“Of course, the mother wolf was uncomfortable there,” said the girl. “She could not bear the smell of the smoke or the taste of cooked flesh. She hated the way her once-wolf son looked, in his human clothes. And the soft touch of the furs under her feet here seemed wrong, for there was no contrast of hard ground underneath. She whined and whined at him until he let her go.
“He mourned her absence, but in time taught his own son to speak the language of the wolves as he had learned it. They went often to the forest and called to the wolves, and though his wolf-mother was long dead, still the wolves knew him and did not fear him. They spoke to him freely, and his son learned in his turn the way to speak with wolves. And with other animals.
“At the end of his life, the man went to the forest and lay down, calling to the wolves to come and devour him. But as the wolves came closer and began to tear at him, the man’s body was transformed into the body of a wolf. He died as a wolf, at their hands, and this, they say, was the beginning of the animal magic.”
The bear thought of the magic he had seen in Prince George’s kingdom—of speaking to animals only, not transforming into them. What had happened? Even Prince George had never made himself into an animal. Was magic growing weaker with time?
“Good,” said Sharla to her daughter. “You always tell that story with feeling.”
“And what is your point?” asked Frant. “That those who have grown up too much with animals have no chance of being happy with humans?” He glanced at his son and then away.
“No,” said Sharla gently. “Only that there is animal in all of us, and the more we have of it, the more magic we have. We should seek it out, for it is that which makes us truly alive.”
Frant’s jaw was clenched. “I want my son to have a life like mine.”
“And if he wants one that is better for him?” asked Sharla.
She suddenly shouted at her daughters to leave their brother alone, speaking partly in human language and partly in the language of the hounds. Annoyed with their teasing, the boy had begun biting his sisters as a hound would have done.
Finally the others quieted and slept.
But the bear stared at the stars, thinking of the approaching encounter with the wild man. He did not know what would happen this time, but he knew what had happened last time. The wild man had been harsh and unrelenting, hardly human at all. He had been a mouthpiece for the magic.
The bear feared that magic greatly. But he feared the unmagic even more.
His thoughts turned to the hound.
He had allowed her to come too far with him. He could have stopped her and he had not.
Now he would.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Hound
IN THE MORNING the hound awoke as the family prepared to leave. The bear was still sleeping, and she thought she should leave him be.
The boy spoke in the language of the hounds, furtively watching for his mother’s disapproval. He was in the shape of a boy, and the others of his family all spoke as humans.
But the hound loved to hear the familiar sounds, and to be able to speak back in them was too tempting for her to resist.
She listened as he told her of the best parts of the forest here for hunting, for hearing howls echoed back, for running a race without obstacles. He wanted her to race with him and changed himself into a hound to do so, but his mother called him back and insisted he help with the chores around the camp, such as disguising their tracks and scattering dirt over the fire and their sleeping places to make sure no smell of them remained.
Just before they left, the hound had an idea. Speaking to the boy had made her realize that she could speak to the family as well. They would understand her.
Excitedly she leaped toward the woman and explained about Prince George and his proclamation about animal magic. She told them about his history with magic, his mother, and his school for animal magic.
Frant’s eyes lit, but he was cautious. “And can he protect us?” he asked, in the language of the hounds.
The hound thought of the blond boy and his