The Queen of Wolves by Douglas Clegg Page A

fame—a child of eight! Many districts and many farmlands sent me those who sought knowledge of the future. But one day, warriors came to our village, and to my home. They bought me from my mother and father, and took me to the palace of my emperor. There, I grew in honor and charity, and even the holy men consulted me in times of trouble. I was called the Storm Dreamer, because I felt the brothers of the wind before they had swept back their clouds. I knew when drought came, and when even the storms of war—and its victors—might descend. I became the palace favorite—in my youth—and predicted the outcome of many battles and many wives for my emperor. As I grew older, he allowed me to become a guide for his fleet in both war and trade. So it was upon this voyage—the Illuyanka, named for me, but also for the demon who had many centuries ago taken one of my ancestors for a bride—that I agreed to go, though many wished to dissuade me from such a journey.”
    “But you did not dream of what would happen here—in the dead sea?” I asked.
    He raised his eyebrows. “You will make me laugh with such questions, my demon. I dreamed of much that was bad, but also of much good. You run from one trouble; you find three more. You hide from your fate; it is angry when it discovers your hiding place. When a vision of the future is of such interesting times, one does not shrink from it. I saw my death in this ship, and I did not wish to run like a child. The dream cannot be murdered in sleep, good demon. It can only be known so that we are aware when it comes to pass in the waking from it. I am ancient now—although to demons I am certain I must seem young. But I will reach one hundred years soon. I know that before we return home, my death will come like a sweet child grasping at my hand to take me into those places unspoken of by the dead and unseen by the living. When I heard you and your lady companion had come to us, I knew all would be right for the men who remained here.”
    “Tell me, what have you seen in your dreams of demons?”
    He smiled broadly, showing small brownish yellow teeth. “You would bring us food. You are harbingers of good fortune as well as bad, though my shipmates do not understand this. They think in only dark and light, they do not understand the shading of the brilliance within the dark, or the spot of darkness in bright sunlight. If one stares at the sun, one will see night soon enough. You are the deep light in darkness, my demon friend. Your coming tells me that the great storms will seek us out, as they did in my dreams of what-will-come, where the sisters of the sea slap at the brothers of the winds. We will be set free from this stillness.” He nodded, remembering his dream. “Oh, some will die, I am certain, for demons take a price. But good fortune, nonetheless, shall be—for you are both dragon and demon.”
    “How will we bring you food, my friend?” I asked. “For we are blood-drinkers, but have no supplies for you.”
    He brought his frail hand up to my face and brushed his fingers along my features as if it would allow him to see me more clearly. “Yes, you are the demon and the dragon and the bird that brings shadow. But you are the deep light in the dark, as well.”
    He reached across for his small pitcher and took barely a drop from it. He savored this a moment, his eyes closing with the momentary pleasure, his parched lips smacking slightly as if a flagon of sweet wine existed within a single drop of water.
    He opened his eyes and set the pitcher down beside him. “We have two sister ships, also in the quiet water. Abandoned. We heard the shouts of the men leaving them on small boats to find a shore. Many of our own men left on the boats—many hundreds of them, and did not leave any boats for those who remained. The Illuyanka did not have so many boats after the storm tossed us here. Many of us could not leave. Many died within the first days after our storehouse