“We found it on the third day,” chattered Luna in an excited voice. “The wind must have uncovered it. It’s a full cache, just waiting there, doesn’t seem to be disturbed or anything!” But then she saw Coll’s face, and she grimaced. “Sorry. I wish you could have come with us.”
Behind her, Lyall pushed past with his friends. “Yeah, shame you weren’t there, eh?” he called in a mocking voice. “Still. Wasn’t anyone’s … fault.”
Coll stepped forward, but suddenly Rudy was at his side. The old man’s face was friendly, but his hand gripped Coll’s arm like iron. “Steady,” he murmured.
Lyall chuckled and swaggered away. He would share the glory, Coll knew, just for being part of the scout group. Finding a cache…
“What’s a cache?” asked Fillan.
Rudy looked down at the boy and grinned. “Ah, Alpha told me about you,” he said. He crouched down to Fillan’s height. “A little piglet come to join our crew, is it? What’s your name, lad?”
Fillan looked at him but said nothing. He tucked himself slightly behind Coll.
“It’s Fillan,” said Coll. “He’s Wolf now.”
Rudy nodded. “Good to have you aboard, young Fillan,” he said. “Alpha tells me Coll recruited you all by himself…” His eyes crinkled. “Now, what would make him do that, I wonder?”
Coll shrugged, embarrassed. “I just…” he said, and stopped. “He was in trouble. He needed someone to look after him.”
“Too soft for your own good, you are,” said Rudy, but he was smiling. He turned back to Fillan. “A cache, lad, is a stack of supplies. Something left ages ago, by the old folks. Fuel, equipment, weapons, water, anthryl for repairs … everything. A cache is gold.” He stood straight and kept talking while he watched the crew prepare. “We found it by chance, headed back right away. But then Raven saw us. We hid in the forest and escaped her, but she’s out there. And she’ll have figured out what we were looking for.”
“Why’s Raven even here?” asked Coll.
Rudy nodded. “Good question. It’s not like her to leave her territory. And Hyena before her…” His lips pursed. “There must be something going on up north, pushing them south—” He broke off to shout at a crew member fastening a canister, then turned back and nodded towards Fillan. “You’d better get the whelp strapped in. Luna, help below. Hoy! Mingan, get that rope cleared away, you lazy cur!”
He strode off, and Coll led Fillan to a seat near the middle of the deck, strapping him in tight and attaching his tether. Around him, the crew were doing the same, or clearing the last of the loose equipment on board. Below decks, he knew the galley would be hurriedly stowing pans and plates. Tocks ran past, holding scanners and talking in their fast half-gibberish, while ahead, Alpha, Dolph and Rudy took their positions.
“What’s going on?” asked Fillan nervously, but Coll didn’t answer. He was looking across at the Tock girl Rieka, working at a panel near one of the storage bins tailside. Everyone else was rushing around, but she was standing still, with her back to the chaos. She was carrying a leather pack bag, and as Coll watched, she glanced about, quickly slipped the storage bin open, removed three wrapped packets and stuffed them into her bag. She did it in a single movement before returning to the control panel – it happened so fast Coll almost thought he’d imagined it.
She walked off to the next panel as if nothing had happened. Coll frowned. What could she have been doing? Why take those packets? She’d looked shifty, but there was nothing in that bin but rations and food supplies. And there was plenty of food aboard after their trip to Scatter, enough for all the crew. He stared as she moved to the next panel.
“Coll!” Coll looked down. Fillan was tugging at his shirt. The little boy looked nervous. “What’s going on?”
Coll shook his head. “We’re on the move,” he said. “Do you know what you have to do? The Call, I mean. Do you know how to respond to the Call? Did you do that on Boar?”
Fillan gaped at him. “They said I was too small,” he said.
Coll scowled. “They taught you nothing,” he muttered. “You’re big enough. All right. Just … listen. Listen to the deck.”
Fillan looked at him and then at the deck. “What?”
“Shh. Listen through your feet. You can feel it move, right?” Fillan nodded. “Now, listen further. Under the movement, there’s a sound. Hear it with your feet.” Coll heard it himself. The soft, steady, deep, strong beat that surrounded them, protected them, guided them. “You hear it? Like a heartbeat. Like a song.”
As he spoke, Coll let his attention drift down into the deck. He ignored the people rushing around them, and the sounds of shouting and orders. He felt the pistons moving underneath, and the hum of motors. He felt all the parts of the great machine preparing to run, and the silver blood running through huge veins, leading to the very centre of Wolf. The way everything worked together. The heart…
Coll felt the Call.
Suddenly he wasn’t hearing Wolf, or feeling her. He was her, alongside all the rest of the crew – Alpha, Rudy, Luna, Rieka and the other Tocks, even Lyall and his mates. They were all part of one single creature. They thought together as Wolf. Their hearts beat together.
We are Wolf.
And now there was a new tiny flickering heartbeat, and he knew that Fillan had joined them. And Fillan was Wolf too – albeit a slightly round wolf, with thick black hairs like a boar…
Coll opened his eyes. Fillan was staring at him. “Oh!” the boy said, and Coll smiled.
“This is what it means to be Wolf,” he murmured. “This is the Call. When we fight, we all fight. We are Wolf. You understand?” Fillan nodded, but Coll persisted. “We are Wolf. There is only Wolf. Nothing else matters. Nothing else exists. Understand?” Fillan nodded again.
Coll grinned. “Well done.”
Fillan smiled at him, and for a moment Coll felt oddly proud.
“Rudy, what’s our status?” bellowed Alpha.
“Last ones coming aboard now!” called Rudy. Two men found a place and strapped in. “All set!”
“Wolf!” shouted Alpha.
“WOLF!” roared the crew.
And beneath them the huge Construct’s head lifted, and her teeth bared, and she ran.
She ran from a standing start, her massive back legs driving her forward, her forelegs stretching out, gripping the ground. The deck pitched and rolled as she ran. Stabilisers squealed and gyroscopes kept them as level as possible, but still the crew swung up and down in their seats. It was wild and chaotic and exhilarating. Coll could feel his body on deck, shaking back and forth – but from a distance somehow, as if watching. He was Wolf now. Wolf was him. It was his legs running, his heart pounding, his tongue lolling from an open mouth, feeling the air rushing past.
The part of him that was still Coll looked down at Fillan. “YOU OK?”
The boy was white-faced but he raised one shaky thumb and gave a half-smile.
Coll laughed. “Isn’t she wonderful?” he roared.
