Sometimes, when he slept, he dreamt of the landslide. It had been such a sudden thing, but in the dream it had felt like eternity. He recalled the earth giving out from under his feet, recalled Marlowe’s startled cry, and then tumbled with the soft ground under his feet pulling him down. In these dreams he twitched and moaned like a dog, for they so often brought up memories of the pain and the loss. This one was different. It was Marlowe, not Ezekiel, who came to the wolf-thing and began prodding him with frantic pecks. Up! You have much to do! Up, Gabriel!
The piercing raps against his skull became less ethereal as he woke. Someone was at his door. The hybrid, still in the only form he showed in the clan. If he allowed them to see he was capable of anything more, his decision to step down would destroy the fragile leadership he had allowed to step in for him. Ezekiel would turn it over in a second. Gabriel pushed himself up. Talitha sounded frantic. He crossed to the door in three paces, and yanked open the rope-pull he used to operate the device.
“Talitha what—“ Blood. He smelt blood and stared, startled, at the child in her hand. His eyes widened and for an instant, he was shocked. Then fury filled his face and set his fur on end. “You put him down now,” he growled, unsure of whom had done such a thing (and believing, even now, his daughter was capable of it).
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