‘Nah nah, Gobor,’ the pack leader growled now. ‘This one do defend a leader’s right to firstblood. Yield tha or do be marked and driven out.’

‘Then cease tha blather and give yon dinrai to the longsleep, for the words of such a one are purest treachery,’ the old wolf panted.

‘This one be not lured by any dinrai, Gobor One Ear,’ the pack leader said haughtily. ‘Now yield tha and remember tha place hereafter or be driven out and pack-less.’ Another long, tense moment ended when abruptly Gobor went limp. The leader released him immediately and turned back to me.

‘I showed you the Destroyer who once dwelt where I now live,’ I said swiftly, using the beast form H’rayka which Maruman had told me meant one-who-brings-destruction. ‘That one is not brother to me but enemy and prey. My pack drove him out and though he went far from this valley across the great sea, one day I will vanquish him. But first I must complete my quest.’

‘Tha mind is as the mind of tha H’rayka,’ the pack leader accused. ‘That one is brethren to tha.’

‘That one is my enemy,’ I repeated grimly, and I summoned up a memory of lying on the Zebkrahn machine, Ariel gloating as he tortured me. Again I sensed all of the wolves reacting uneasily, and then the silvery female who had howled before gave a low, terrifying snarl. I forced myself to hold the leader’s gaze as I said, ‘The H’rayka tried to kill my mate. He hates me and he would kill me.’

‘Tha do speak true in this much,’ sent the wolf authoritatively. ‘Even so, the Brildane care not for any funaga-li. Let the dinrai tear at one another’s hearts. This one cares not for any freedom that do be given by a funaga.’

‘I am not talking about freedom but about death,’ I sent. ‘If I cannot do what the oldOnes have bidden me to do, there will only be death for the funaga and for the Brildane and for all beasts. There will be nothing left in all the world.’

‘Let us serve this one with death,’ snarled the old female whose howl had caused Gobor One Ear to attack. The pack leader turned to her and immediately she cringed and offered her throat in submission.

‘Nah nah, Descantra,’ the pack leader growled, after he had sniffed her muzzle as if to get the scent of her words. It seemed to me there was tenderness towards her in his mindvoice, yet she could not be his mate for he was in his prime and she was clearly long past bearing cubs.

‘Rheagor, this one do claim the right of blood for blood,’ the she-wolf said. ‘No matter what this she-dinrai says, she be brethren to the one that did kill this one’s brothers.’