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Chapter 21: Don't Tell Kel

Kilyan knew that if he kept following the river, it would eventually take him back to the forest north of his home, the summer village. But they were heading for the sun village, which was south of the summer wolves. They would have to veer off eventually, leaving the river behind.

Kilyan walked all night, Keeno draped across his back, trying to ignore the surge of guilt that kept threatening to make him stagger to his knees in the mud. The palm trees were very few and far between now, and there were more of those creepy stones with wolf faces carved into them, only these stones were huge. They lined the river either side, scowling at each other across it, scowling past Kilyan as he sloshed through the mud with Keeno draped on his back. One pair in particular stood about forty feet high either side of a bend in the river, dour guardians of those ever-flowing waters, pressed in by reaching palm trees. Kilyan tried to ignore the scowling faces and shuffled along, determined and grim, trying to focus his mind on his warrior training.

During instruction, Loryn had often forced the young warriors to play games where they carried each other. Knowing Loryn and his laid back nature, they had thought it was all in good fun: struggling to carry your friend back and forth in the sun while your friend lay laughing across your back. None of them even knew they were developing stronger backs from this, stronger arms that would later allow them to carry a heavy friend who had been wounded in battle. As Kilyan shuffled along, he remembered carrying Keeno in this same manner when they were just pups, little laughing boys with skinny arms and skinny legs who were always ready to wipe those smiles off their faces when Yzlo barked for them to. God, Kilyan missed home. He'd give anything to have Yzlo glowering at him about now.

But as Kilyan staggered along, his thoughts of home and his warrior training kept suffering intrusions from his thoughts of Avi. He felt so bad. He had never meant to hurt her. Never. And her tearstained, contorted face as she spoke those words he didn't understand and yet understood all too well -- it haunted him. He wished he could go back and hold her in his arms, tell her he was sorry, tell her that he had never dreamed in a million years that she would fall in love with him. She had raped his mouth! And he saw her rape other shemales too. Why, then, had she fallen in love with him? Probably because he had taken her virginity. He thought of this with a pang and squeezed his eyes shut. Hadn't he fallen in love with Ohana much the same way? He thanked god suddenly that he had never taken lovers in the fields before his first mating season: he didn't like the idea of breaking so many hearts. But Keeno? Keeno had probably broken hearts all the time and didn't even know it. Keeno had been the village playboy, after all. Kilyan shook his head. And now look at them both: lowlife heartbreakers. He hadn't been blind to the alpha wolf's pain: she seemed truly sorry for having harmed Keeno and also truly hurt that he had left her. But in the moment, Kilyan had not been able to look past his rage, and besides: the alpha wolf had been trying to kill him! Kilyan's chest heaved just thinking about everything that had happened with the shemales and he silently vowed to himself that he would never touch another pussy again if it didn't belong to one of his wives.

As dawn's pearly fingers reached down to make the river glitter, Kilyan passed the giant stone wolf faces that stood either side of the river like scowling gates. He passed between them at last into the blank sunlight of the wasteland he knew so well by now. He saw the craggy hills stretching away from him, the little withered trees, the boulders, and breathed a happy sigh. Home. My god, they were home! But Kilyan was suddenly too tired to go on. When was the last time he'd eaten anything? He shuffled to a little withered tree in the distance, and gently laying Keeno on his stomach beneath it, Kilyan sat against the tree and closed his eyes. His ear twitched when he heard Keeno groan.

"Kilyan . . .?" Keeno whispered hoarsely.

"I'm here, Keeno," Kilyan whispered back. He touched a sad paw to Keeno's tan mane and smoothed it back from his eyes. "My brother, I'm here!"

Keeno smiled weakly. "Kilyan . . . calm down . . . it's just a little arrow . . ."

"Oh, Keeno, I swear to god I'll get you to Zaldon -- I swear! I'm not going to let you die --"

"Kilyan, shut up!" Keeno groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. "You're not supposed to mention death . . . to a wounded warrior! My dad would've whacked you . . . over the head for that . . . when we were pups. . . ."

Kilyan closed his eyes with a pang: Keeno was straining to speak. "Yeah," agreed Kilyan, trying to sound cheerful, "and he would've given me pushups."

"Until you were relieved," added Keeno with a reminiscent smile. "And . . . knowing my dad . . . you never would have been . . . relieved . . ."

Kilyan laughed. "Stop talking Keeno. It's taking too much for you to do it."

They fell silent, listening to the winter wind whistling across the wasteland, across this barren and endless place. After a long pause, Kilyan spoke again.

"I want you to just listen to me, Keeno. And . . . don't say anything."

Kilyan saw Keeno's dark eyes snap onto him, sad and intense.

"I'm sorry I got you into all of this. I can't even begin to -- to express the guilt I feel, seeing all of these things happen to my best friend. We've been friends since your dad first brought you to my dad's hut. And even back then when we could barely walk, I . . . I got you into trouble. But this time . . . this time there's just no excuse for it."

Kilyan closed his eyes and felt the tears coming but carried on:

"I am so sorry, my brother! Seeing you like this, I . . . it makes it ever more clear what a fuck up I am, that you shouldn't even be my friend. God knows why you are! You should spit in my face -- turn your back on me -- never s-speak to me again --!"

"Shut up, Kilyan," Keeno wheezed, squeezing his eyes shut. He reached over and squeezed Kilyan's foot, the only part of him that he could reach. "I love you! You are my best friend, and you're . . . gonna stay my best friend -- no matter that you're a miserable fuck up!"

They smiled at each other.

"I leapt in front . . . of an arrow . . . for you!" Keeno went on, smiling weakly at his friend. "After that . . . would be stupid . . . turning my back on you now!"

Kilyan let out a laugh that was almost a sob, more tears filling his eyes. He hated to see Keeno so weak, lying on his stomach with an arrow in his back. And all that blood. Kilyan couldn't stand it. It was the thought of Keeno dying that was making him cry. Keeno could die if he didn't get him to help in time, and it would be his fault.

"Now take me . . . to Zaldon!"

Kilyan nodded. He carefully lifted Keeno onto his back and they started off again.

The wastelands seemed so endless and Kilyan was so hungry. He shuffled along, the sun reaching down through gray wintry clouds to touch his mane, a gentle caress. Keeno was draped heavily across Kilyan's back and his weak breaths were wheezes, he reeked of blood and sweat. Kilyan supposed he did too: his nose had taken a while to stop bleeding the night before and he was hot and aching and tired from carrying Keeno and he had bruises in his sides where the alpha wolf had beaten him. And he was so hungry! He thought he would kill over. But he didn't give up. He didn't even stop to rest: Keeno needed him to get to the sun village as fast as possible!

When night came again, Kilyan kept walking, sometimes stopping to dig up the little roots that grew dry and thirsty around the withered trees. He would eat these roots despite their bitter taste and sometimes he got Keeno to eat them too, though Keeno was more often than not asleep on Kilyan's back.

It wasn't until the next morning that the sun village came into view behind the cliff Kilyan remembered from years ago when he had come here in search of Lea. There it was: on a hill reaching over the sparkling sea. A vast village full of little brown brick huts, palm trees, flowers, sunny markets. Kilyan could see the boats on the docks from here: merchant ships, little fishing boats, wolves casting nets already in the darkest hours before dawn. Seagulls were calling, circling the gray sky, and Kilyan's stomach growled to think of scrambled seagull eggs with buttery biscuits. Julyan had been such a good cook. He wondered if Julyan was still with Zaldon. Seven years was a long time and plenty enough time break up.

"That's . . . the sun village?" Keeno wheezed on Kilyan's back as they drew near the gates. "Goddamn!"

Kilyan laughed under his breath. Yes, the sun village was pretty impressive. He had been just as impressed the first time he saw it and also just as shocked. For same sex love was largely accepted here and males kissed males, females kissed females in the very streets -- unlike the summer village, where same sex love meant banishment as a lone wolf if it was on public display. Sometimes, it even meant death.

Kilyan stopped at the gates, feeling breathless and spent, and the guards were alarmed to see two young wolves in such a state: blood-splattered and breathless and bruised, one with an arrow in his back. They ran to Kilyan and Keeno and asked with great concern what had happened to them. Had they been jumped out in the wastelands? Were there more wolves out there who needed rescuing? But Kilyan couldn't answer. He was just so damn tired. As if his body knew the goal had been reached, it gave in: his head spun, he sank to his knees, and fell on his face in a dead faint.

When Kilyan later awoke, he was shocked to find a pair of black eyes gazing fondly down at him. He could feel that he was lying on his back in a bed. A weak ray of sunlight was pouring in the opposite window and he could see the sea beyond, the gray sky. He saw flowers in a clay pot in the corner, heard the wind whistling through the banana trees that crowded around the edges of the window. And a familiar musk. Yes, he had known the smell of this fur before! Kilyan looked back at the pair of black eyes and felt a damp washcloth dabbing at his nose. Zaldon!

Zaldon chuckled. "Hello, Kilyan," said the great white wolf, leaning back to dip the washcloth sadly in a nearby bowl of water. "I've already healed your cuts and bruises. You had looked as scratched as if you'd run wildly through a forest! And all this blood. You were beaten by someone. I'd say punched around. And your anus was torn." Zaldon shook his head sadly. "Good god, what did you get yourself into now?"

Kilyan lay in the pillows and didn't know what to say. He looked over Zaldon, who looked pretty much the same as he had years ago: a handsome white wolf, very tall and bulking with muscles, leather cuffs on his forearms, the mark of the sorcerer burned on his forehead. And those same black eyes -- black eyes that could look so calm and serene in the face of something so large.

"But everything is healed," Zaldon went on with a smile and cleared his throat. "I took the opportunity to do it while you were passed out. It might have hurt too much if you were awake -- especially healing some of those bruises. Those were nasty."

"Keeno?" Kilyan managed weakly at last.

"Lying over there asleep. In perfect health."

Zaldon nodded. Kilyan looked where he had indicated and was startled to find Keeno asleep on his back in the bed beside him. Keeno's tan fur was clean of blood and he too was no longer riddled in angry cuts and bruises. Kilyan could only suppose Zaldon had healed Keeno's anus as well, which was surely torn after that fisting if Kilyan's had been torn just from all those rapes.

"A few warriors from the home patrol brought you right to my door on stretchers," Zaldon said. "Keeno told them what he could before he passed out. He gave the warriors my name." Zaldon's worried eyes shifted to Kilyan's face. "What did you come for, Kilyan? Is everything all right in the summer village?"

Kilyan grabbed Zaldon's arm, startling him by his urgency. "No! It isn't! Zaldon, my dad needs you! He's sick -- he's been sick for a while now!"

"No!" Zaldon whispered in alarm, and his big paw closed over Kilyan's and squeezed anxiously.

"He coughs and shakes and he's shedding badly. He didn't want me to come for you, but I knew you were the only one who could help. So Keeno and I snuck away from the village to come here --"

"But you ran into some trouble first," said Zaldon, smiling and shaking his head. He picked up the washcloth and started sadly wiping more of the blood from Kilyan's black fur. "I will go to Kel as soon as I can -- in a matter of hours, if I can manage it. But right now, I need to finish caring for you."

"We're going back with you," said Kilyan at once, sensing that Zaldon was going to leave them behind at the sun village.

Zaldon shook his head again. "Kilyan, you need to rest --"

"We're going!" Kilyan said, and his jaw stood out in his anger.

Kilyan looked so much like Kel in that moment that Zaldon laughed in spite of everything. He kept dabbing at Kilyan's fur sadly, dipping the washcloth in the bowl and rinsing it before dabbing away more blood.

"You know, when they first brought you to me, I thought you were Kel?" Zaldon said, glad when Kilyan relaxed again in the pillows. "You look so much like your father did the last time I saw him. But then when you were still in a daze and I was healing you, I realized it was you when your eyes cracked open and you looked at me for a moment: your eyes may look like Kel's, but Aliona's spirit peers out of them." Zaldon laughed to himself.

"I have to go back with you," Kilyan said, "because my father can never know of the things that happened to me and Keeno. No one can know! I wouldn't want to hurt them like that. We'll just say we were lost or something or the snow set us back."

Zaldon nodded but made no comment.

"Zaldon, please don't tell my father," Kilyan whispered earnestly.

Zaldon smiled sadly at Kilyan. "I won't. But, Kilyan, what happened to you? Lone wolves?"

"Not this time," said Kilyan with a bitter smile. "It's a long story."

"I never get tired of stories. I used to tell them to you, remember?" Zaldon said, brushing Kilyan's mane back affectionately from his eyes. He stopped as if he thought Kilyan might be offended or embarrassed by this fatherly affection, but Kilyan wasn't. He just smiled at Zaldon.

"We were abducted," Kilyan admitted in a low voice, "and taken across the sea. But we escaped. We made it back and I carried Keeno here from the western shore --"

"The far western shore, where the jungles are," said Zaldon with twinkling eyes. "I can smell it on you." He tapped his nose and Kilyan blushed.

"All right, all right," Kilyan admitted with a half-smile. "We were chased off by those shemales. That's how Keeno got the arrow in his back."

"Ah, I see," said Zaldon sadly. "Yes, it would hurt Kel very much to know you suffered so much for him. To think: if I'd just gone to visit him before it came to this!"

Kilyan stared at Zaldon. "What do you mean?"

Zaldon sighed. He gathered the bowl and washcloth, then carried them to a table standing near the window. Kilyan saw him lift a tray and he brought it to the bed, where he stood it over Kilyan's lap. Kilyan sat up and ate ravenously. There was fruit and bread, cool juice and juicy meat. Zaldon laughed and told him to slow down, but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten so well.

"I was going to visit your father, that's what I meant," said Zaldon, sitting beside the bed as Kilyan ate eagerly. "I thought about doing it for years, but I never did."

"Why didn't you?" Kilyan asked around a mouthful of bread.

"Because your father doesn't want me to."

"Why not?" said Kilyan with a scowl. "I thought it seemed that way when I was trying to convince him --"

"It's because we were lovers."

Kilyan froze. He knew Zaldon was a tail chaser -- given the way Zaldon had sometimes looked at his father and sometimes even Loryn -- but he had never guessed that Zaldon and Kel had been lovers. He had always thought they were simply friends, the same way Kel was friends with Loryn and Yzlo.

Kilyan didn't know what to say. He just stared at Zaldon.

"I have loved your father since we were children. He fell on top of me. Was running. Wasn't looking where he was going. He was so clumsy back then."

Kilyan blushed. That sounded familiar.

"So what happened?" Kilyan asked slowly. "My dad didn't love you back?"

Zaldon gave a bitter laugh. "Maybe it would've been better if he hadn't. Maybe then I would have moved on, let him go. But he found out that I loved him -- though I slaved to keep it a secret for years. He found out years ago when you were just a pup." Zaldon smiled at Kilyan fondly, and Kilyan knew he wanted to ruffle his mane but was holding back for Kilyan's sake: through telling Kilyan stories when he was sixteen, Zaldon had become Kilyan's friend much the way Loryn was, only Zaldon's affection was more fatherly and less brotherly. And Kilyan knew every time Zaldon smiled mistily at him that he was thinking of young sixteen-year-old Kilyan who had been so naively shocked that bad wolves existed.

"So he did love you back," said Kilyan. "And then what happened? My mother, right?"

"Exactly. Your mother has known about us -- always known about us. And I don't believe Kel ever kept us a secret from her: he loved her too much to do that, you see. But your mother understood that Kel loves both of us, much the same way you love both your wives, right Kilyan?"

Kilyan held down another blush. Zaldon had apparently visited Ohana's father, Norilyn, in the past seven years. Lynny was Zaldon's brother -- of course he would have.

Kilyan shook his head, "So why couldn't you just stay in the summer village then? I mean, why are you way out here? Don't you want to be close to my dad?"

"I do," Zaldon answered. "More than anything! But, you know, Kilyan . . . things were never so . . . simple."

"Nothing ever is with you -- with any of you!" Kilyan cried, angry suddenly. And he knew exactly why he was angry: Kel's sickness was not just in his body but in his heart! He had made himself sick for want of Zaldon!

"You and my father and Loryn," Kilyan went on, "you're always using that word. Simple. Nothing is that simple! Why the hell isn't it!" Kilyan burst and was ashamed of himself when he spilled his juice. He watched with burning cheeks as Zaldon cleaned the mess up with heavy, sad movements.

"Answer me!" Kilyan demanded in earnest. "You owe me an answer. My father is sick -- because of you, Zaldon!"

Zaldon flinched at the words and heaved a miserable sigh. "Kel can not have a husband and a wife, Kilyan. I want to be your father's husband!"

Kilyan sat in shock to hear those words.

"He could come visit me at my hut in the summer village and f-fuck me all he w-wanted to!" Zaldon went on, his words a vicious growl. "But it wouldn't be the same. Do you understand that? In this world, life is not fair and, no, it is not that simple! You could have seven wives, Kilyan, seven! And no one would say a goddamned word. If Kel took a husband and a wife, they'd kill him! Now do you understand, young one?"

Zaldon stared down at Kilyan a long moment, his black eyes alight with an emotion that was making his lips tremble, his paws shake as he fumbled to soak up the spilled juice. He bowed his head again over his work, and Kilyan, feeling a wave of guilt that he had treated Zaldon this way, that he had raised his voice to an elder, placed his paw over Zaldon's. Zaldon looked up.

"I'm sorry," Kilyan whispered, his ears flat on his head. "It's just -- I'm so scared we're going to get there and he'll be dead!"

Zaldon swallowed thickly, then pulled Kilyan roughly into a hug.

"And you still love my father, don't you?" Kilyan whispered shrewdly as Zaldon held him. He felt the tears pouring over his cheeks. He heard Zaldon sniff and knew he was crying too. "You still want to be with him!"

"Don't tell Kel," Zaldon whispered, sniffing. "Please!"

Kilyan pulled back, incredulous. "Why not?"

Zaldon's black eyes glistened with tears and he couldn't look at Kilyan. "Just don't!" he growled angrily, and Kilyan flinched, his ears going flat on his head again. "Don't tell him how I feel! Don't let him know I care!"

Zaldon rose now, taking Kilyan's empty tray with him. Kilyan watched him go, wanting to protest but knowing it was pointless. He waited, his ears pricked forward, when Zaldon paused in the doorway and said without turning:

"I'll go to the summer village. I'll heal Kel. And I'll leave. Maybe if he thinks I don't love him anymore, he won't get sick again."

"Bullshit!" Kilyan burst.

"Don't tell him," Zaldon whispered again, then left.

Kilyan sat back in his pillows, wiping angrily at his tears, his chest heaving. Zaldon was just going to hurt Kel all over again and this crazy shit would never end!

"Whoa," moaned a voice, and Kilyan looked around to see Keeno lying on his back, his eyes cracked open.

"How long have you been awake!"

"Long enough to hear some very personal shit," Keeno answered, groaning as he pulled himself up against his pillows. Kilyan noticed for the first time that a tray of food had been set beside Keeno on a low table, waiting for the moment he would awake. Keeno pulled the tray down onto his lap and started eating.

"So I take it we're not telling Kel about any of this," Keeno said with a little laugh.

"It's not funny, Keeno!" Kilyan snapped and wondered to himself how many times he had spoken those words in the past twenty-three years. Probably a million. "My dad is sick because he loves Zaldon and Zaldon won't be near him."

"Wait a minute, Kilyan," said Keeno, shaking his head. He crammed a hunk of meat in his mouth and said around the bulge in his cheek, "Don't go blaming Zaldon for all of this, okay? Blame the ignorant pieces of shit who stone tail chasers. I bet if wolves like them weren't around, Zaldon would have been your second daddy."

Kilyan folded his arms and slouched in his pillows. "Yeah, but still! My dad deserves to know that Zaldon loves him! I mean, he deserves to know the truth!"

"I know, Kil. But this is between Zaldon and your dad. Let them work it out. I mean, you're not a tail chaser. Of course you wouldn't understand what they're both going through. So just butt out."

Kilyan glared sideways at Keeno, then snatched the cup of juice from his tray.

"Hey -- Kilyan! Just because you spilled yours acting like a pup --"

Kilyan took a taunting sip, but the cup was snatched back, and Keeno drank it all down defiantly, then belched. Kilyan laughed and belched too. And they would have continued this game, except they heard a giggle. They looked at the doorway to see a small pup peering at them around the curtain.

Keeno set his cup down and said in wonder, "Yuri?"

Kilyan looked quickly at Keeno. Surely it wasn't! But it was. Yuri came bashfully into the room, her silvery mane draped around her face as if she was trying to hide behind it. She stopped some feet from them, her tail low, twisting her fingers nervously. Then she smiled.

"Oh my god," whispered Kilyan. "Where's Yana! Is she here too?"

Yuri's face clouded over, and Kilyan and Keeno glanced miserably at each other.

"Well . . . where is she?" asked Keeno, his voice full of dread.

Yuri's face was terribly sad now. She pointed a finger at her own chest and mumbled a word in the moon tongue.

"She means her heart," said a voice, and Kilyan and Keeno looked past Yuri to see a tall silver wolf standing in the doorway, the curtain thrust aside. Like most of the sun wolves, he was very tall, though not as tall as Zaldon, his silver body finely sculpted and muscular but lean. His lavender eyes smiled at Kilyan, who said with a grin, "Hello, Julyan. Lea says hello."

Julyan grinned back and entered the room, taking little Yuri onto his hip. He knelt beside Kilyan's bed and nodded politely at Keeno, who said hello too.

"How is my little goddess?" Julyan asked Kilyan.

Kilyan reclined in his pillows, his arms behind his head. "Oh, I polish her shrine everyday." He playfully dragged his tongue across his lips.

Julyan laughed to hear this, absently stroking Yuri's silvery mane. "I'm glad to hear that she's happy. She was always such a darling girl. I always hoped the best for you two. She loves you a great deal, Kilyan. Please never forget that."

"I won't," Kilyan promised. "Especially since I've been hoping for her to feel that way about me since before I could talk."

"It's true," Keeno added, rolling his eyes.

Julyan laughed, the pale lashes fluttering.

"We have a son," Kilyan went on. "About Yuri's age. His name is Roan."

"Look anything like his father?"

"He has Kilyan's green eyes," answered Keeno. "And he's black, but he's got a little white here and there."

"Oh, he'll be a heartbreaker for sure then," said Julyan. "Just like his grandfather. How is Kel?" Julyan gazed at Kilyan anxiously. "Zaldon left a minute ago. He looked upset."

"My father's sick," said Kilyan darkly.

Julyan's face clouded over. "Oh, no! How long has it been? Not too long, I hope."

"A couple weeks," answered Kilyan. "But he kept it a secret for so long."

Julyan nodded. "You know, I've been trying to make Zaldon visit Kel. But you know Zaldon: he's just as stubborn as Kel. That's probably why they love each other." He grinned at Kilyan, and Kilyan couldn't help but grin back: Julyan's pretty smiles had always been contagious.

"Where is Yuri's mother?" Keeno asked Julyan anxiously. "I mean, what happened to Yana?"

"Mmm, was that her name?" Julyan said, gazing sadly down at Yuri.

Hearing her mother's name mentioned, Yuri buried her face in Julyan's neck and Julyan stroked her mane sympathetically. He looked at Kilyan and Keeno and mouthed sadly, "She drowned."

Kilyan gasped, and Keeno buried his face in his paws, growling, "No!"

"So you knew her mother?" Julyan asked in confusion.

"She was with the wolves who abducted us," Kilyan answered sadly, rubbing Keeno's shoulder to comfort him.

Keeno kept his face in his paws, distraught, and Kilyan knew he was blaming himself for Yana's death: he had sent her unknowingly into the storm.

"My god, you were abducted and taken out to sea?" Julyan asked in alarm. "The poor thing washed up on the beach with her mother, you see. And she's so fond of Zaldon. He's the only one who can talk to her."

"Poor kid," said Keeno, looking up at last. There were tears in his eyes. "She should hate me for the rest of my life!"

"It wasn't your fault, Keeno!" Kilyan said, but no sooner had he spoken the words than Yuri came to Keeno's side, crawled into his lap, and started kissing him all over his face. Keeno laughed under the kisses and held Yuri tight. When she stopped, she smiled at Keeno and Keeno gratefully smiled back.

"She's such a sweet thing," sighed Julyan. "I wish I could talk to her the way Zaldon does. She only knows some broken parts of our language."

"Her mother spoke our language almost fluently," Kilyan said. "Probably because her husband was a merchant. He was lost at sea and Yana became a slave for her chief. That's why they were so desperate to get away."

"Yeah, the chief was a real ass - oops." Keeno winced.

Yuri stared at Keeno, then repeated the word blankly, "Ass?"

"Well, let me put Yuri down for her afternoon nap," laughed Julyan, rising and taking Yuri into his arms. "Before you two decide to teach her any more curse words."

Keeno laughed and rubbed the back of his ears. "Sorry . . ."

Julyan smiled at them, then carried Yuri out of the room. She grinned at them over his shoulder. Kilyan and Keeno never felt so relieved to see her grin.

"You know, we should go down to market," said Kilyan after some thought. "I promised Lea and Ohana I'd bring them back expensive mane brushes. And once Zalia sees them with expensive mane brushes . . ."

"Say no more," said Keeno wearily. "But, Kilyan, you know we'll never be able to keep all this from our wives. We lost our spears, our traveling packs. I've got a permanent scar in my fur from that arrow. They're gonna notice that. I mean, how the hell could they not? And besides, you aren't a good liar, Kilyan."

"Yeah, you're right. But so long as we keep it from our parents at least . . ."

"Are you kidding? Of course! I'm in no way eager to tell my dad I was raped repeatedly and fisted in the ass. I would never live down the shame and he'd treat me like a pup for the rest of my life for letting myself get abducted -- that is, more than he does now," Keeno added when Kilyan gave him a look.

They lay side by side on their pillows, their arms behind their heads, and each young wolf was lost in thought as he stared at the ceiling.

"So I guess this is it," said Kilyan with a heavy sigh. "We'll go home, lie to everyone, and go on about our lives."

"And next year when my father gets sick, you're gonna do all this shit with me again!"

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Brothers?" said Kilyan, offering his paw.

Keeno took it and whispered back, "Blood brothers!"