As from one throat, a skin-crawling howl burst from the wolves. Ryan saw that Blood-sniffer was the only animal abstaining from the bloodthirsty vocalization.
Pizi dipped the lance, and the point pressed lightly into the soft hollow at the base of Ryan’s throat. He kept his expression impassive and fixed his eye on Pizi’s face.
“Do the Wolf Soldiers so fear the power of the outlanders that you will murder me while I’m bound and helpless?” Ryan’s words were heavy with contempt. “If so, then end this farce and chill me now. I’m sick of all this Wolf Soldier bullshit.”
Anger flashed briefly in Pizi’s eyes, and the pressure of the spear point increased.
“Enough!” Sisoka snapped. “The outlander, no matter what he has done, no matter what else he might be, is a warrior and deserving of a warrior’s chance.”
“He had his chance,” Pizi said grimly.
” Henakeca !” Sisoka cried angrily.
The pressure of the sharp point lessened on Ryan’s throat, but Pizi didn’t lower the lance.
“You swore to recognize me as the one true Guardian,” Sisoka said sternly. “The pack has rendered its verdict, but it is my duty, my right, to impose the final sentence.”
Sisoka paused. Her face and tone were imperious as she announced, “He must face a soldier in equal combat. If he survives, he will be a member of the pack, and if he betrays the pack, then the pack’s justice prevails.”
In an angry motion Pizi pulled back the lance and slammed it butt-first to the floor. “One soldier must volunteer to face the outlander. If one does not, then he dies.”
Without hesitation Blood-sniffer stepped forward and nosed Sisoka’s hand. She looked down on the wolf with a fond, sad smile. “We have the volunteer.”
Ryan stared at the big, muscular animal, trying to convince himself that, armed with his panga, he could make short work of Blood-sniffer. After all, he had battled other beasts, giant mutie wolves included, and emerged alive, if not exactly victorious or unscathed.
As if sensing his thoughts, Blood-sniffer looked over at him. Something in that intense, inhuman gaze shook him.
Pizi stalked out of the tepee. The wolves remained, watching Ryan. Sisoka moved toward him, drawing a bone-handled knife with an obsidian blade from a voluminous sleeve. She began cutting the rawhide bindings around his arms and legs.
“What kind of weapon can I use?” he asked.
“The same as Blood-snifferyour teeth and nails.”
“What?”
She sawed through the last of the thongs holding him to the framework. “Equal combat. Nor may you stand erect.”
As soon as she said it, Ryan fell down, his legs like dead fish, as numb as if they had never been alive. Sisoka helped him to kneel, massaging his deadened muscles to restore the circulation of blood in his arms and legs.
Ryan touched his head, his fingers brushing a crusted lump on his right temple. He felt scabbed-over claw marks. He glanced at the knife Sisoka had laid on the ground while she kneaded the stiffness from his shoulders, then to the four wolves scarcely an arm’s length away from him.
Pizi returned, his arms full of a furry bundle. For a moment, Ryan couldn’t identify the dark, shaggy mass, then he recognized it as the skin of a huge black wolf. The fore- and hindlegs still retained their shape, as did the head and the thick, bushy tail.
Ryan painfully climbed to his feet, and Pizi shoved the bundle into his arms. “These are the remains of Deathmaul, one of our most respected soldiers. Do not dishonor them.”
Ryan looked blankly at Sisoka, who said, “It is the custom of the Wolf Soldiers to retain the mortal coverings of their greatest warriors. The two-legged soldiers wear the skins of their departed four-legged brothers to give them strength and courage in battle.”
“And,” Pizi interjected sourly, “it is the only protection you will have.”
Ryan slowly put on the wolf skin, slipping his hands through leather straps sewn on the underside of the forepaws, attaching the main trunk to his chest and waist with a harness. Pizi pulled the skullcap over Ryan’s head and secured it there with a thong knotted under his chin. The muzzle covered his forehead like a cowl.
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