Tukar stood at the top of the hill, smiling. "Little wolf! Here, little wolf," he shouted.
A few minutes later, a tall lithe wolf emerged from the nearby forest. She appeared to be as happy as the boy.
He sat, and motioned her over to him.
She trotted up to the boy, and planted a cold wet nose on his neck. Then she stretched out next to him.
Tukar rubbed at the base of her furry ears. "We need to learn how to talk to each other. I think we already understand each other most times, but we could do better."
The young wolf licked his face, making him giggle. "I was talking to Father yesterday about how he learns to speak with tribes who live far away. Let's try it."
Tukar got up, and pulled out a small piece of dried meat. He put it on the ground, and pointed to it. "Meat."
He walked over to a rock, a pine, an aspen, and many other objects, giving a name to each. Then he pointed to himself, and patted his body. "Tukar."
The wolf trotted over to the aspen tree, and sat. She placed a paw on the smooth trunk, while keeping her eyes on Tukar.
"You are Aspen?" he asked.
She bowed her head, and wagged her tail. The young wolf then walked over to the same objects that Tukar had pointed out, and made a different sound for each.
The two kept this up, turning it into a favorite game. They included names for actions, and anything else they could think of. Soon they were able to communicate very effectively.
"Let's go hunt a bison," suggested Tukar.
The two friends went to the plains, on the edge of the pack's territory. They found the huge animals grazing peacefully in a herd of around twenty.
"Let's take the young bull over there. He's away from the herd. We'll each take a different direction," whispered Tukar.
Tukar crawled closer, aiming for a thick patch of brush. He reached it unnoticed, and hid. He slowly prepared his shot, but didn't pull back on the bowstring. "Aspen is going to drive him towards me. If I stay here, I can get a perfect shot," he thought.
Aspen stalked close to the massive animal, and charged. The bison snorted, then ran. Tukar sent one arrow after another as his prey ran by, almost close enough to touch.
Aspen backed off, letting the bison stop and lie down. She walked over to where Tukar was hiding, and the two watched solemnly.
"Thank you, this will make Father very proud. I hope you and your family will enjoy your share of the meat," he whispered.
It was close to sunset when Tukar and Aspen left the plains. Tukar was dragging the heavy hide, with the choicest pieces of meat on it. Aspen's stomach almost dragged on the ground as well. She had gorged in order to take a big meal home to her new little brothers and sisters.
A few days later, Tukar woke at dawn to the sound of wolves howling. His eyes widened, and he jumped to his feet.
He ran outside, to find his parents already working on the bison hide and bones. "Father, there's a fire on the other side of Bluewaters River. Aspen says she thinks the wind will blow it this way."
The chief nodded. "Even though I was against it at first, I'm glad you were brave enough to make friends with the wolves, Tukar. Without the alliance, the Striped One would have killed many people. And now we have at least a few days warning before the fire will reach us. We will move to the shores of Meadow Lake."
Tukar howled the news back to the pack. He received a long, mournful reply.
Tukar frowned, looking around at the dry vegetation. "The young cubs won't be able to get out of the path of the fire, Father. And they're too heavy to be easily carried for such a long trip. Moonrunner asked if we might take them with us."
Father nodded. "Of course. Tell him we will be honored to care for the cubs."
Once plans were made, the human tribe left. The cubs were carried in special slings meant for traveling with babies and toddlers. The pack stayed close, but gave them plenty of room.
Tukar and Aspen traveled together, neither with the pack or the tribe. They were ahead of the tribe when they heard something big. It was grunting, and causing wood to crack loudly.
They crept closer. "That's the biggest grizzly bear I've ever seen! And that beehive he's digging into is the biggest I've ever seen too," whispered Tukar.
They watched, fascinated. Suddenly three children and two young wolf cubs crashed into sight. The chaotic running, laughing, and yipping momentarily stunned the bear. Then the woods rang with the bear's angry roar.
"Let's distract it," shouted Tukar.
The boy and wolf each took a different direction. Tukar shouted and waved his arms, leading it away from the youngsters. Aspen stayed in back of the bear, rushing in to bite then retreating until it directed its attention to Tukar again.
"Run! Get back to the group, and send help!" Tukar shouted to the children, who were hiding behind a large pine. The cubs shivered beside them.
"Get Moonrunner. Tell him what is happening," Aspen ordered the cubs.
None of them moved. The smallest child dropped to the ground, and began to weep. A cub crawled into his lap, and licked the tears from his cheeks.
Tukar and Aspen locked eyes for a second. "We lead it away," Aspen said calmly.
Tukar nodded. "Then we circle back and make sure they get back to the group."
"Hey follow me, you big furry boulder!" shouted Tukar. Then he sprinted away.
Aspen stayed behind the massive bear, and slashed a hind foot before it could overtake her friend. The grizzly roared in pain and fury as it whirled to face her. She was gone.
The bear returned its attention to Tukar, who was shouting as he ran. With a snort, it took off after him.
Aspen let it get close to Tukar, then made her presence known again. This time she sank her teeth deeply into the bear's rump, and held on for several seconds.
Tukar put some distance between himself and the fight, then climbed a sturdy tree. "Aspen, let's back off for a while, and see if it'll go away. What do you think?"
The young wolf backed away, and bared her teeth. The huge bear snarled and shook his head. He then turned around and lumbered slowly away, towards the distant mountains.
Tukar climbed down. "Let's go check on the young ones. They're probably still hiding."
When they arrived, the area was full of people. Moonrunner and the pack appeared a few seconds later.
Aspen put a paw on Tukar's leg. He bent down and rubbed her ears. "I wonder why everyone is looking at us?" he whispered.
When he stood, a woman hugged him. "My kids told me how you and the wolf saved them. How can I ever thank you?"
He smiled, and looked at the ground. "I'm glad we were in the right place to help them."
After she left, Moonrunner walked up to them, and sat. "Thank you for saving my cubs."
Tukar bowed his head. "It was my honor to protect them."
Aspen wagged her tail. "They're my little brothers and sisters. I would never let anything happen to them."
Moonrunner stood. "Aspen, because of your friendship with Tukar we have powerful new allies. I'm not sure either of us can fully understand just how important this might be yet. I have a feeling that it's going to change everything..."
Cover image made in Canva Pro using an image generated using Bing AI Image Generator