He gazed back and saw Cub on the far side of the valley. For a moment, he thought about not returning, but that was foolish. He sighed, walked back on aching, shaky legs and heaved himself aboard. Rieka and Fillan were there. Brann wasn’t.
“Hey,” he muttered, climbing over the deck rail.
Fillan turned. “Coll!”
He ran towards Coll, wrapped his arms round his waist and hugged him so tight Coll thought he was going to fall over.
“Hey,” Coll muttered again. He felt embarrassed but oddly pleased to see the boy.
Fillan looked up. “Coll, where’s Brann?”
Coll frowned. “What?” He looked up at Rieka. “What do you mean?”
Rieka hadn’t moved. She stood at the far end of the deck, watching him. “Brann’s gone,” she said in a cold voice. “She left.”
“Maybe she’s just cooling off,” said Coll. “Like I, um, was.”
“Her pack’s gone too,” said Rieka.
Coll looked at her. “Well…” he said, and stopped. He realised, with a flicker of shame, that part of him was relieved. “Well,” he said again. “I mean, I guess that’s her choice.”
Fillan pulled back and gaped at him. “What?”
Coll shrugged. “She was never happy on Cub. She wasn’t Wolf. I suppose she’s … you know. Decided.”
But Fillan shook his head. “No, no, we have to find her, Coll. She’s one of us! She only left because you… Because…” He didn’t finish. His face screwed up as if he was confused.
Coll scowled. “I’m not responsible for what she does, Fillan,” he said. “She wasn’t Wolf. She never was, do you understand? She’s not our problem.”
Fillan stared at him for a second, his mouth open. He took a step back.
Then he roared and charged at Coll, crashing into him.
“Hey!” spluttered Coll, almost tripping. “Ow, stop it!”
“GET HER BACK!” screamed Fillan. He bounced away from Coll, but charged again. His small arms wheeled furiously, and Coll struggled to hold him back. “GET HER BACK!”
“Stop this!” snapped Coll. “Fillan, don’t be ridiculous! Stop!” He shoved Fillan, but the boy came at him again. Coll pushed him away hard, and Fillan sprawled backwards and landed on the deck.
Coll stared down at him. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
Fillan glared up at him. Beside him, Kevin the Ant reared up on its back four legs, chittering angrily. Fillan reached for the little leather pouch round his neck, tore it loose and flung it at Coll.
Coll caught it automatically. “Fillan—”
“Open it,” hissed Fillan.
Coll sighed and tipped the contents out into his hand.
There were the three pebbles he’d seen before, grey and water-smoothed, the ones Fillan had brought with him when he joined Wolf. Fillan, his mother, his father. But now there was also a small piece of dark brown glass, sharp and brilliant. A single black feather. And a little carved wolf’s head.
Coll glanced at Rieka. Her arms were folded and she was glaring at him. He noticed her eyes were the same colour as the piece of glass. Fillan must have found this in the Glass Lands and packed it away. The black feather was from Brann’s Raven cape, he realised. And the little carved head was Coll’s, the one Coll had given him, long ago it seemed now, in the dorm room on Wolf. He’d taken it off the chain, put it in the bag with the others. All of them together.
“She’s one of us,” growled Fillan. “One of us. Get. Her. Back.”
Coll studied the little items in his hand. The brown glass glinted and the feather shone almost blue. This didn’t mean anything, he knew. It was just Fillan being silly. The little wooden boar’s head was worn slightly, as if someone had held it tight.
“It’s not that simple.” He looked away around the deck, anywhere but Fillan’s gaze. “I mean, it’s not.” The deck was a mix of metal and wood, plastic and anthryl. It was Cub, but it had been Raven once, hadn’t it? Brann had been Raven. What was she now? Alpha had stared right through him. Was he still Wolf? What was he? What were they?
He stared again at the collection. After a long time, he nodded. “All right.” He coughed. “All right, then. We’ll get her back.”
Fillan gazed up at him from the deck. “Really?”
Coll sighed. “Yes. I’m … I’m sorry. Yes.”
Fillan sniffed and nodded. He stood up and brushed the dust off his cloak, the Wolf cloak he’d been so pleased with when he first came aboard. He took back the bag and stored the items carefully inside. He didn’t look at Coll.
“Do you know where she went?” asked Coll.
Rieka was still glaring at him but shook her head. “There’s no way of knowing.”
Coll thought. “She’ll have gone after Dragon,” he said at last. “That’s what I would do, if I were her. Dragon destroyed Raven. She thinks Dragon took the Raven crew. She was angry.”
Rieka mused. “Dragon went east, after Wolf.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go,” said Coll.
“We’ll have to be quick,” said Rieka. “If she reaches Dragon, she doesn’t have a chance.”
