She staggered along in early evening, under oddly different stars. Her scraggly gray coat was covered with blood, her belly was full of pups, and she wandered alone and packless, too weak to hunt.

She had spared her sister’s life once, but she had been shown no mercy in return, even though she bore the Alpha’s litter. She wandered through the woods now, not able to form a sense of what she sought, though she was certainly headed for death. She was encroaching now on territory held by Tall Ones, the ones who smelled like apes but covered themselves in the skins of the dead. She padded on, leaving pawprints with the scent of blood behind her. Somewhere ahead was the tantalizing scent of meat.

Suddenly one of the Tall Ones was upon her, swinging its long sharp stick. She was too exhausted to defend herself; the blow knocked her back and to the ground. He loomed over her, outlined in moonlight. There was stone at the tip of the stick, pointed like a claw. His eyes glittered with the intent to kill.

She felt the cool earth at her back and the breeze washing over her and saw the wide sky, inside her the pups squirmed. There was nothing left at the end of this life, but she went fully belly up, baring her throat, though there was no hope in submission to a not-wolf.

He stood over her with the stick, then pressed it to her throat. The point pierced her skin and drew yet another drop of blood. She looked not at the stick descending to end her life, but up into the eyes of the creature, in its hairy short-muzzled face.

He pulled away the stick. Holding it to the side, it squatted and looked at her scrawny and beaten frame. He probed at her belly and felt the pups inside her. She growled but held the posture of submission, throat and belly exposed to the sky.

He reached to his side, where there were skins hanging, skins of the dead. He took out a thing like a dried vine, and tied it around her muzzle. Then he bent to lift her, and put her on his shoulder. She scrabbled weakly with her paws but had no purchase to run and escape as he bore her away.



Karr returned to camp, walking strangely, causing the women gathering in the meadow to look up in interest, then surprise, for he was a hunter, yet he bore a creature that was not dead.

“What is it, what is happening?” said Gessi, who had whited eyes and worked by feel.

“Karr comes, he has brought a whuu,” said Marha, mimicking the howling noise. “But it is alive. Even now it struggles upon his shoulder.” She stood and called out. “Hey Karr! You’re supposed to kill and skin it before we cook it!” Everyone in the meadow laughed, but Karr strode on without acknowledgement. Marha shrugged and squatted again beside Gessi

"A living whuu? That will make a fine feast," said Gessi. "Do tell me when he kills it, I would like to drink the hot blood."

Marha's sharp eyes noticed movement, and her swift hand reached out to catch a darting mouse. She snapped the tiny neck with a sharp pinch and added it to her forage bag. "I shall bring you with me, for I hope to taste some myself. It will be fun to eat of the fresh kill, as the hunters do when away." She paused to study the deepening sky. “It’s getting too dark, let us go to the fire.”

The women came in from the meadows with what they had caught for the evening meal, and the men trailed in one by one, carrying their own burdens. Gedem had snared two rabbits, Mak had found a deer corpse and recovered an edible haunch. And Karr… slow silly Karr, he had the whuu, which he set down by his place not far from the fire, not close.


"Ho, Karr the Swift has outrun a whuu!” laughed Gedem. “A fine deed, one to be painted on the wall!” All laughed with him.

Karr scratched his head and looked around, he was used to being the figure of fun. "I was about to kill it, but instead I tied it and came to you, for as I stood over the whuu, I saw that though it is scrawny and bears little meat, its belly is swollen with pups. And so my heart spoke to me, that I should not kill, for I was reminded of our women. They do not slaughter what carries young."

Marha stared, then nodded. “I see that, but why bring it back here?”

“It looked to my eyes. It has the stare like us, not like the wide-lookers, the great-horns and the long-eared-leapers. This look is one I recognize…” He looked down again at the furry form with the tired predator eyes. “I take pity on it, I shall not add it to the meal tonight.”

Gedem chuckled. “Whatever you want, but if you feed it, it must come from your own portion. We only have enough to go around, without your contribution.”

Karr nodded and knelt by the fire, looking down at his find, as he stripped the skin from one of the rabbits and helped to spread the meat before the fire. Karr took his stick of meat, peeled a chunk from it. He was largely ignored as everyone ate, but for each bite he took himself, he reached down to offer some meat to the loosened muzzle of the whuu.

She was stunned, unable to take any constructive action, tied to his side, but food was food. Her snout darted forth and she took up mouthful after mouthful of rabbit, bolting it down with pure need, as Karr used a needle to stitch and cover some of her larger wounds.
As the night wore on and the campfire tales of the day’s adventures ran down, Karr at last finished his work and stepped back from her. He took out his precious flint knife, knelt down, and cut her bonds, leaving her free to get up and dash off into the darkness.

Exhausted, she lay there. All of what had happened was beyond her experience, and there was nothing she could think of to do. The fire danced before her like a sun in the middle of the night and the Tall Ones around her made their strange sounds and dared to touch her and get their scent all over her. Inside her the pups were waiting; they would come before long. There was no place to safely bear them.

Under the deep black sky overhead with its oddly canted stars, she lay and whined softly. The pain of her wounds was abating and beside her the Tall One who had carried her here was tending to her, putting his hands all over her pelt and stroking her. These were alien sensations but she lacked any ability to fight it. She strained to rise once in a while, but there was not enough strength left in her bones to flee. All she felt was the ground below her and the hot air flowing over her fur.

Under the deep black sky overhead with its oddly canted stars, she lay and whined softly. The pain of her wounds was abating and beside her the Tall One who had carried her here was tending to her, putting his hands all over her pelt and stroking her. These were alien sensations but she lacked any ability to fight it.