She was lost.
Suvi suppressed a surge of panic. She hadn’t come far; she knew the castle lay to the southeast. She just needed to orient herself and she could find her way out of the forest. Lichen always grew on north-facing surfaces, so she looked at the nearest tree. It seemed to have lichen all the way around it. She moved to the next tree, then the next, conscious all the time of the fact that she could be going deeper into the wood in the wrong direction.
The forest was immense. It could be days before she got out. And there were animals in the forest: wild boar with their deadly tusks, territorial stags, shambling brown bears… Suvi shuddered at the thought, and then her heart stopped as a piercing howl rent the silence around her.
Wolves.
How could she be so stupid! She had no weapon, no tinder – and the twigs and branches at her feet were too damp for her to make a fire to scare away the creatures. She stumbled on through the undergrowth, pushing her way through a tangle of brambles, hearing the echo of that baying cry ring about the forest.
She spotted a crevice beneath the roots of a large tree. Pushing the basket inside first, she managed to squeeze her body through after it. Inside, it was damp and cold, but it might give her some protection.
Suvi shuffled deeper into the darkness, still clutching the basket, and then she fell backward into a ditch, too startled to even cry out. Wet leaves slapped her face as she rolled, and her hair caught painfully in the branches. Finally she came to a halt, winded, and she blinked around her.
A large laurel bush hung overhead. The basket lay near her knees, the mushrooms scattered around her. She sighed and sat up cautiously, bruised and shaken, and started to pick up the mushrooms.
Then she heard a voice outside of the shrub, and she stilled. Raising her hands, she parted the thick, glossy leaves and peeped out. Her eyes widened, and she almost cried out in relief.
She saw a clearing surrounded by ancient, gnarled oak trees, interspersed with more laurel bushes. In the centre of the clearing, slightly offset, was a huge dolmen, its stones weathered with age. Beside the dolmen sat Kari, wrapped in his furs, talking to his black wolf.
Suvi pushed back the instinctive desire to rush out of her hiding place. Not just because of her fear of the wolf, but because she was curious as to what Kari was doing. She’d seen him petting the animal before and speaking to it, as other men spoke to their dogs, but he seemed to be having a conversation with the wolf.
She knew it was foolish: wolves could not talk, they could only growl and snarl, but this one was doing neither. It was merely standing there patiently, looking at Kari, who shrugged, apparently annoyed by the beast.
He stood up and walked to the dolmen, wagging one finger at the wolf as it turned its head to watch him. Suvi had no idea what he was saying, but his tone of voice seemed troubled. He ducked his head beneath the capstone of the dolmen and lifted out a bundle, wrapped in bearskin and tied with hemp.
She recognised it as the mysterious object that had so interested the townsfolk. Holding her breath, Suvi leaned forward, wondering if he would open the bundle.
Kari laid it on the grass in front of the wolf and then looked at it, apparently undecided. The animal put its head on the ground. Kari laughed suddenly, reaching down to caress the pointed ears. He spoke to the wolf a little longer, gazing at the bundle again with misgiving. After a pause, he began to untie the ropes fastening it together, and then turned back the skins.
Suvi stared as he took something small from the bundle. It seemed to be a number of wood cylinders lashed around with leather thongs. He began to fit them together, bending his head low so his hair fell in his eyes as he concentrated. Then he unwrapped a narrow tube, unrolling a circular piece of painted hide. He stretched it across the top of the cylinder, fastening the hide to the wood by means of several small clips attached to the frame.
Suvi frowned. It looked like a drum. Why go to the effort of hiding it in small pieces? What was so special about it? A drum was just something that made a noise.
She watched as Kari ran his fingers experimentally over the hide, his head cocked as he adjusted the clips so that the drum’s note went from dull and flat to sharp and clear. Finally he appeared to be satisfied, setting the drum on the ground between himself and the wolf. He reached out and stroked the animal’s neck, catching hold of something hidden in its thick black fur, and Suvi was surprised to see him draw a thin cord from around its shoulders, upon which glittered a gold ring.
He sat there for a long time. Suvi shifted restlessly in her hiding place, uncomfortable. Her feet had gone to sleep, and she was getting cold. As she moved, a twig snapped beneath her, and she froze.
In the clearing, both wolf and man looked in the direction of the laurel bush.
Slowly, her heart beating faster, Suvi edged backward. Kari stood up and began to walk over to the shrub, and she scrambled up the slope, not wanting to be caught spying on him. She scrabbled at the roots, her fingers digging into the soft soil between them, and then she was back in the narrow crevice at the top of the ditch.
Her skirt caught on a branch as she crawled out, and she tugged at it, tearing it slightly. Suvi cursed, and then started to run.
Behind her, the black wolf burst out of the undergrowth. She screamed, her cry ringing around the forest. The animal did not run straight at her, but dodged and weaved, keeping pace as she ran faster and faster, her feet slipping on the mulch and the brambles tearing her limbs as she hurtled through the woods. Branches whipped at her face, and still the wolf was with her. She could see it at the corner of her vision, following her, tracking her.
Suvi’s lungs ached with effort as she began to tire. She slowed down slightly to risk a glance behind, looking for the wolf. She couldn’t see it. Relieved, she swung around again and shrieked when she saw Kari standing just in front of her, his eyes blazing with fury.
How did he get there? How did he move so fast? Her next, confused, thought was that he must somehow be the black wolf. She had heard of such things, men who transformed into wolves to feed on human flesh, but she had never believed it before.
Then a growl sounded behind her and the wolf appeared, driving her towards its master. Suvi looked from Kari to the beast then back again. She made a break for it through the bracken. The wolf howled and she slipped. Her hands went out to cushion her fall, and she landed in a heap, twisting her ankle painfully.
She lay in the bracken for long moments, waiting for the wolf to pounce on her, or for Kari to drag her to her feet. She gasped, her breath rasping in her dry throat, the adrenaline turning sour in her belly and making her legs weak. She knew he was there, and she shivered uncontrollably.
After a long time, she dared to raise her head.
He was crouched down a few feet from her, his silvery-blue eyes intent. “Why were you watching me?”
Suvi tried to think of an excuse. “I wasn’t… I was – gathering mushrooms. I got lost. I heard the wolf…”
“You were watching me.” His voice was cold. “That is the second time you have done so. I should have killed you the first time.”
