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the council mother, but that does not imply she gets to decide everything. She is supposed to reflect the will of the council, not the other way around.”
    â€œThat is not what I have observed,” Urs reflected drily.
    Calli clenched her fists. “Why does it matter anyway? If two people wish to marry, that is all that is important!”
    â€œNow you are just being silly.”
    â€œI hate how the women interfere in our lives! When I am council mother, women will be able to marry whomever they choose.”
    â€œHo!” Urs laughed. “ When you are council mother?”
    â€œI am serious,” Calli fumed.
    â€œI have no doubt of that.”
    â€œThen say it. Say we will be married,” Calli commanded fiercely.
    â€œOh Calli.”
    â€œPlease, Urs!”
    He stared at her, warmth filling his eyes, love softening his smile. “Yes, we will be married, Calli. I love you.”
    More kissing. Silex was getting tired of hiding behind the rock.
    â€œUrs?”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œDo you know of this thing that a man and a woman do together?”
    Urs froze for a moment, then pushed back so he could look into her mischievous eyes. “Of course I know,” he replied.
    â€œOh? Have you perhaps been visiting one of the widows?” she asked, her voice lilting.
    â€œWhat? No. ”
    â€œAll right then. You just spoke with such authority.”
    â€œI am not a child, Calli. I am a member of the hunt. Spearman.”
    â€œAh. And are you good with that spear?” she whispered.
    Silex had never heard two people talk so much about nothing in his whole life. Compared to having to listen to this, being stabbed behind the rocks did not sound so bad.
    â€œI am.”
    â€œI’ll bet you are very good.” Calli was groping for Urs’s front cloth.
    â€œCalli,” he groaned.
    â€œThis thing that a man does with a woman, spearman. Would not this warm, soft grass be a wonderful place for such a thing?”
    Silex was no longer bored. He watched as Urs and Calli untied their garments and tossed them aside, their breathing coming in short pants. He was soon surprised to see them mating face-to-face, with Calli lying on her back. Wolfen approached each other like wolves, with the man always behind the woman. It seemed perverse, somehow, to see two humans doing something so unfamiliar.
    After staring at them for a long time it occurred to him that this was the perfect moment to get away: Urs was certainly preoccupied. Reluctantly he stood, flexing the stiffness out of his legs. The woman’s face was turned away from him.
    Now.
    Silex broke from the rocks but did not get far before, with a shout, Urs had jumped to his feet. Now it was a pursuit, but Silex was of the Wolf People, fleet and agile, and he bobbed a little as he dashed up the path, his shoulders tense as he waited for the spear.

 
    FIVE
    Calli pulled her clothing together and waited for Urs, feeling sick at heart. Everything had happened the way she had imagined until, bafflingly, a man burst up out of the very earth, seemingly born of rock and soil, and fled, drawing Urs after him. Urs went from being her lover to something else, to man hunter, in less than one breath.
    When Urs came trudging back down the path, carrying his spear loosely in his hand, she was relieved to see that he was uninjured. She read his disappointment when he saw she was no longer sprawled out in the warm grasses, waiting to receive him, and it made her smile. “Was it one of the Frightened?” Calli called. “I have never seen one before.”
    Urs shook his head. He came up to her, still naked, and a small shiver of pleasure ran through her at the sight of his lean, strong body.
    â€œNo, a human. Frightened Ones are bigger and they look different in ways for which I lack descriptive words.”
    She nodded. “No doubt he was very afraid, when he saw you coming at him with both of your weapons