I Am Wolf by Alastair Chisholm

Author:Alastair Chisholm
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

When everything was stowed, they climbed up to the little deck on Cub’s back and strapped themselves in.

“What happens now?” asked Brann.

“We join the Call again,” said Rieka. “And then we just … walk. The Construct will handle things, just like on Wolf.”

“OK,” said Coll, trying to sound confident. “Ready?”

They nodded, and Coll closed his eyes. He listened to the deck below him, just like on Wolf. There it was – that tiny vibration, the shared song. He let himself sink into it and felt it around him: the beating silver blood of the Construct…

I am Wolf.

Cub stood on short shaky legs. Pistons hummed and hydraulics whined as he turned his head, and power came in little bursts as his crew tried to stay in harmony.

I am Wolf. Wolf. Or … Cub? Am I Cub?

“Wolf!” shouted Coll to the others. “Not ‘Cub’, ‘Wolf’! Remember!”

“But he’s called ‘Cub’,” said Fillan, looking confused.

“He should be Raven,” hissed Brann, and suddenly Coll felt the Construct remember wings and the tips of feathers and the perfect whisper of air currents lifting him up… “WOLF!” he roared.

Brann grumbled, but the image of wings faded.

I am Wolf.

“All right,” said Coll. “We’re going to walk now, nice and easy. Ready … go.”

Cub pushed forward with his back legs, spread his front legs wide and tipped straight down on to his face.

“Argh!” shouted Rieka.

Fillan squealed and grabbed his straps.

Cub heaved himself back to his feet and shook his head. Coll tried to figure out what had happened.

“OK,” he said, keeping his voice calm. “We’ll try that again, but this time let’s all remember that wolves have four legs.”

“It’s not my fault!” said Brann. “Four is a stupid number of legs! It’s so complicated! I don’t even know which goes first!”

“It’s obvious!” snapped Coll. He pointed to the legs in turn. “Left-back left-front right-back right-front, one-two-three-four, everyone knows that!”

Fillan nodded and Brann’s face turned red.

“Not everyone,” said Rieka. Her voice was soft but she was glaring at Coll.

Coll clenched his fists. “All right,” he said after a few seconds. “No. If you’d spent your life on a … a bird, you might not know that. Let’s try again.”

They tried again. Walk, thought Coll. It wasn’t like Wolf at all. On Wolf everyone just knew what to do without even thinking. Now they were having to learn again.

Walk…

Cub took a half-step forward, and then another, and another. Its gyroscopes whined and Coll felt the Construct’s delight and fear as the ground kept coming. He could hear Brann muttering “one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four” behind him.

“We’re doing it!” he shouted. “We’re walking!” He looked ahead. “Hang on, this is the wrong direction. We need to turn round.”

“Yeah?” muttered Brann. “One-two-three-four, how do we do that then? One-two-three-four—”

“Just stop for now,” said Coll.

“One-two-three-four, how? One-two-three-four—”

“STOP!” shouted Coll.

Cub lifted his front paws, held them out like wings, and smacked head first into the ground again.

“Oof!”

“OW!”

“Brann!”

“It’s not my fault!”

There was a silence.

“All right,” said Coll at last. “Good. That was good. Let’s … try again, OK?”

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