Daylight was fading, so they decided to spend the night right there. They already had a nest here, after all, and the egg looked quite content where it was.

  The first thing Antelmu wanted to do was rotate it all by himself, but that proved nearly impossible with his broken wrist. The brace Dirt had placed over it was doing its job, and Antelmu insisted he could feel it healing and that it seldom hurt anymore. He could flex his fingers normally, as far as the brace would let him. But that didn’t mean his hand had any strength in it. Any amount of serious weight made him wince and turn green.

  Even if Antelmu’s wrist had been fine, the egg weighed nearly as much as he did and there was nowhere to grab it. It was the wrong shape to get his arms under and pick it up. He tried hugging it all the way around from the top, squeezing it with his arms as much as his hands. Then by twisting his torso, found he could rotate it by inches. It wasn’t easy and both Dirt and Socks were growing more concerned that he was going to crack it by leaning on it too hard.

  After a moment of watching him struggle in frustration, Dirt suggested, “Why don’t you roll it?”

  “I don’t want the shell to crack. I don’t know how tough it is,” said Antelmu.

  “Then roll it on something soft instead of just the ground,” said Dirt.

  The older boy looked like he was happy to try anything but that, out of annoyed petulance, but quickly decided it was a good idea after all. The nest was big enough for two gryphons to snuggle together and most of the inside was softened with whatever packing material the beasts could find. Grass and chewed fibers from plants, tufts of fur from different-colored animals, and even large feathers that didn’t match this pair of gryphons.

  Antelmu rearranged the floor to create a little furrow for the egg to roll in and piled some extra padding at the far end so it wouldn’t go too far on accident. Then he got under it and lifted. It barely moved, and he had to stop because it still put pressure on his wrist. What finally did the trick was sitting with his back against it and pushing with his legs. Thank Grace, the egg held together. It was probably sturdier than it seemed, but no one wanted to find out the hard way.

  After that, Antelmu stood with his hands on his hips, anxiously scowling at the interior of the nest. Dirt and Socks looked at his thoughts, obviously, and now he was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to start a fire to keep it warm without burning the whole nest down.

  “I wish we had a dryad around right now,” said Dirt.

  “Why’s that?” asked Antelmu.

  “They told me they can see temperature with their eyes. They were upset that I got too cold, once,” said Dirt.

  “Oh,” said Antelmu. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll make a little tent around it, and then… I guess I can dig down to the stone and build a fire down there. The tent should catch the heat if it’s pointed right. Then I’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t get too hot or cold.” Would that even work? He wasn’t sure. Increasing levels of trepidation crept into his voice as it grew more and more apparent just how hard his task was going to be. He thought himself capable, but all the little details were turning out to be big details. The dead gryphon lying right over there just made it worse. He almost wanted to apologize to it.

  “I might need a hand with some of this,” he finally admitted.

  Socks snorted. -If you were with your tribe, you would rely on them to help you. Can you hunt while you keep it warm? Can you watch it day and night without sleeping? Do not be silly.-

  Antelmu nodded, relieved, and said, “Dirt, can you help me make a little tent to cover it? I can’t wrap it in a blanket and I don’t have any loose cloth it can breathe through.”

  Socks preempted all of that by settling down and curling up over the egg. Then he looked smugly at Antelmu, who grinned sheepishly and said, “That works for tonight, if you don’t mind.”

  -If I let one of you stay up to watch it, you will be grumpy and annoying. Or sleep all day.-

  Dirt quoted, “Dig harrows in the earth. Cause havoc. Turn rivers from their courses. Leave fields of bones behind you.” Then his mouth giggled while his mind thought, “Nest on an egg like a mother bird.”

  -You forgot the last part. Explore and return with experience, my son. I bet none of my siblings have done this. Maybe not even Mother or Father.-

  “What are you talking about?” asked Antelmu.

  “Socks’s Father’s instructions for what he should do during the winter. Let us know if you spot a good river; he still hasn’t done that one yet.”

  -He said rivers, not river. I’ll have to do it twice.-

  Antelmu wasn’t really in the mood for banter, though. He reached between Socks’s limbs to find the egg and rest his hand on it, nervous it’d be too warm. “Will it be fine in there?” he asked.

  Socks looked at him, then off into the distance. He gave no answer for a moment or two, then said, -Mother says the egg should be the same temperature as my insides, or yours. That is close enough. A little colder than that is too cold, and if it feels like it has a fever, it is too hot. Dirt sleeps in there and he doesn’t overheat or get a fever so it should be fine. And Mother wants me to remind you again that it will probably die.-

  The three of them didn’t go to sleep right at nightfall, since night still came early. Dirt and Antelmu harvested the gryphon’s talons, since Antelmu wanted to keep them, as well as a few choice feathers from its tail.

  Then they sliced open its rear leg for the meat, which Socks was all too happy to eat. No sooner had he swallowed than he said, -It doesn’t taste like bird meat. I thought it would.-

  Dirt carved off a piece for himself and stuffed it in his mouth. The flesh was tough, but not stringy, and it tasted much stronger than any bird he’d had. Nor did it taste like deer or cattle. He couldn’t place it at all. Antelmu even tried some raw, convincingly suppressing his revulsion, and said he couldn’t place it either.

  After they ran out of things to do that weren’t going to bed and finally lay down for the night, Antelmu spent a while thinking about his family again while Dirt and Socks watched quietly. In his mind, they were still brightly remembered, still close by, as if he might wake and find them standing there. Or himself back home sleeping with Gnaziu instead of Dirt.

  The egg would have been a lot easier to tend at the fort. They could leave coals burning day and night, providing a steady heat and a constant watch. Actually, no, that was a terrible idea—little Oraziu would find a way to break the shell. He broke everything else he could get his hands on.

  Such thoughts carried them off to sleep, and that night, Apkallu joined them in the dream. He had nothing to say, just smiled from a short distance and otherwise kept to himself. Dirt wondered if he was waiting for something, but Socks ignored him, so Dirt did the same. As strange as it was, in the morning Dirt decided he was glad it was the little fae man and not the Devourer visiting him again.

  In the morning, the egg was still alive, and its tiny mind showed no signs of distress. Just placid and empty, waiting. Antelmu sent it a tiny puff of affection, the first time he’d tried doing that, but it wasn’t clear if the embryo understood or not.

  Antelmu seemed disappointed, so Socks said, -I am sure it will understand when it gets bigger in there. Mother spoke to us before we were born, and since I remember it, I was old enough to understand.-

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “What did she say?” asked Antelmu.

  Socks replied in the way of wolves, without words, and shared a complete mental image. He was drifting in a world without direction, vague impressions and sensations of things he would later recognize as touch and gravity, but not now. Sounds caught in his tiny ears, but he made no effort to perceive or understand. It was not a dark world, but rather, a world in which light had not yet come to be.

  hello, my child

  Just a whisper, soft and gentle. It sounded absolutely nothing like the Mother that Dirt knew. Then, abruptly, it was over, and Socks ended the thought. -That’s how it was. Did your mother talk to you when you were in the womb?-

  “I don’t know. Probably not. I don’t remember her talking to her other babies before they were born,” said Antelmu. “Humans don’t remember being infants, though. My first memory is when I was already in my third year. Wait, so you remember being born?”

  -I do.-

  “What was that like?”

  -Traumatic and confusing. And a big surprise. I was very distressed until I found a nipple and started nursing.-

  “Sort of like a human baby, then.”

  -I suppose,- said Socks. -Someday I will watch one get born, and then I can tell you for certain. Dirt, do you want to talk to the humans from yesterday?-

  “Well, we don’t have to go out of our way, but if we see them, sure. It might be nice to visit their tribe if it’s close.”

  -Okay, then stand up and wave at that bush,- said Socks, indicating with a thought which one he meant.

  “I’m going to get cold as soon as I get out of the covers,” said Dirt.

  -Then you can experience being born.-

  Dirt faked a scowl and got up. He straightened his shirt, which had crept up into his armpits overnight somehow, and waved.

  Sure enough, one man stood, then another. They’d been hiding and watching carefully to see what the giant wolf was up to, as if you could hide from Socks like that. They gestured behind them and the other six came riding out from behind the hill. They didn’t get any closer, and the horsemen kept their bows at the ready. Dirt waved harder, and finally, one of them waved back.

  Dirt hopped out of the nest and gracefully slid down the snowy hill, then jogged over to meet them. “Good morning,” he said.

  “Good morning, little boy,” said the man Dirt thought was named Iliaru.

  “The first thing everyone wants to know when they meet Socks, is if they’re about to be eaten. The answer to that is no. Then the second thing is, where did I get such a handsome pet? And the answer to that is he’s not my pet. He’s my best friend. So, what’s your third question?”

  The men stared for a full count of twelve, simply trying to process what was going on. They shuffled in a stupor, but at least the horsemen lowered their bows.

  “Do you want the rest of the other gryphon? We can’t use it all,” said Dirt.

  “Is it safe?” said Larenzu.

  “What, the gryphon? It’s dead, so I’m pretty sure.”

  “The giant… wolf.”

  “Okay, you have to tell me. Is that not what a wolf is to you? Because I don’t know anything else the word could mean,” said Dirt.

  The man looked down at Dirt, hesitant, and said, “Wolves are about this tall.” He held his hand about three feet off the ground.

  Dirt chuckled. “Socks was bigger than that when he was born. Are you sure you don’t mean a dog? I guess you said so yesterday. Oh well. Come on, you can meet him. He won’t hurt you if you don’t try to hurt us. Also, Antelmu is keeping the egg, so you can’t have it.”

  “That other boy; is he up there?” asked one of the five whose names Dirt hadn’t learned.

  “Yep, and he still has all his guts and blood in. He just didn’t get up because he’s comfortable in his warm bed. But come along. When are you going to get another chance to meet a real wolf?”

  -I am tempted to growl just to watch them panic.-

  Dirt grinned and replied, “Don’t you dare!”

  His enthusiasm must have encouraged the men, because they followed him back. The horses didn’t want to get too close, so the men dismounted about halfway up the hill and whispered gently to soothe them. Dirt helped, speaking to the horses’ minds and calming them, giving them the idea they weren’t in danger.

  When the first of them climbed up into the nest and stood shakily on the unsteady ground, Socks sat up, then pulled the blanket off Antelmu and put it on the egg. -Good morning, little humans,- he said.

  The men shied back and tried to hide behind each other without making it obvious. They shot a startled look at Dirt, then back at Socks.

  “Yep, he spoke right to your minds,” said Dirt. “You can either think your reply or just speak aloud.”

  They only stayed for a short while. Mostly they tried not to get caught staring at Socks while they chatted with Antelmu, who asked them questions about their horses and what kinds of animals they tended. When the questions got too specific, the answers grew vague, and Dirt saw in their minds it was because they didn’t want a predator like Socks coming to feast on their flocks.

  The men never sat, and it wasn’t long before they began stepping back to politely indicate they wanted to leave. When Antelmu didn’t get the hint quick enough, Larenzu said, “We rode over because we were curious, and now we know. It’s time we head back. Do you need anything for your journey?”

  Antelmu said, “Are your lands far from here? How many days’ travel?”

  Dirt said, “They don’t want to tell us, Antelmu. They’re worried about Socks.”

  “I know. But they can tell us how far it is, at least.”

  “Why do you want to know?” asked Iliaru.

  Antelmu gave the man a stricken look, then a shy one at Dirt. “I want to do what’s best for the egg. I don’t know how Socks can even carry it, and I can’t take care of it here on my own. Are you going to be staying here much longer?”

  “We’ll probably leave tomorrow, once we’ve finished with the gryphon,” said Larenzu.

  -I can carry it. It weighs less than Biandina and I carried her,- said Socks.

  “No, I know that, but I mean, carry it and keep it warm and out of the wind. I can’t let it get cold,” said Antelmu.

  “We don’t have a way to carry it either, lad. We could drag it on a sled with the meat but I don’t think you’d like that. If you ask me, it’d be better to give up. Nasty things, gryphons. I wouldn’t want to be near even a little one when it got hungry,” said Larenzu.

  “I still have to try,” said Antelmu.

  “It’s five days’ travel in good weather, you understand. There’s no way that egg would survive, even if we wanted you to let it hatch. And we don’t. Especially not around our children,” said Larenzu. “Do you…” He paused.

  Antelmu looked up.

  Larenzu leaned in and whispered, “Do you need help getting away?”

  Antelmu gave a wistful, forced chuckle and said, “No. Socks and Dirt are my friends, too. I’m with them because I want to be.”

  Larenzu regarded him carefully, trying to detect distress or dishonesty on his face. Satisfied there was none, he gave a resigned sigh and glanced at Socks again. “I suppose if the beast wants to follow, there’s nothing we can do about it. Our lands are to the north and west. The way is treacherous, with cliffs and winding canyons, and that’s why we stay there. The tribe we hope to meet each year is to the south, only a few days, but I’ve never been there and I don’t know what their lands are like. We don’t go farther east than this, and haven’t for several generations.”

  “So what’s straight west?” asked Dirt.

  “Wilderness, until you find the Wall of Storms at the edge of the world.”

  “What’s the wall of storms?” asked Dirt.

  “The cliffs Prevo Tipro put there to wall in the mortal world, and the lightning that dances on it. And past them, there is nothing,” said Larenzu. His mind stirred with several questions he wanted to ask, but didn’t. If the travelers weren’t mortal, then he wanted nothing more to do with them.

  The men gave polite gestures of farewell but wasted no time departing. Once their horses all reached the bottom of the hill, they snapped the reins and held on tight with their legs as they broke into a gallop. A moment later, they were gone.

  -They thought I killed the gryphon and it scared them that I wasn’t injured- said Socks, amused. -They thought I might be a spirit.-

  “I still want to see the thing they think is a wolf,” said Dirt.

  -Perhaps we will find one. First, we should figure out how I will carry the egg.-

  Antelmu stepped off the blanket they’d slept on and rolled it up, then formed it into a circle. “We can start by putting the egg on this. Socks, can you lift it without cracking it?”

  Socks hid his nervousness, but Dirt caught a hint of it anyway. The pup turned his full attention and lifted it very, very carefully. His main concern was the liquid inside—he’d learned from experience that moving a container too fast made the contents spill out.

  -Now what?- asked Socks.

  “I think what we’ll have to do, is put this circle up by your front shoulders, and whoever is in front will hold on to the egg. Probably Dirt, since he can make those little warming things. If we put leather around it and you run with a shield, that should keep most of the wind off,” said Antelmu. He itched to walk over and grab the egg, not trusting it to hover there safely.

  Dirt and Antelmu rose from the ground and sat in their usual places, followed by the wrapped up blanket. They arranged it into a circle again and Socks gently set the egg atop it.

  “It’s getting cold!” said Antelmu, panicking. Dirt snapped his fingers and summoned four warming embers, which he distributed around the egg, close to the shell. Socks set the blanket over it and the boys arranged it so there would be gaps for air, and places to keep the embers.

  “Hold it tight, Dirt,” said Antelmu anxiously. “Don’t let it fall.”

  -It will not fall. I will feel if it moves and catch it.-

  “Good. But still. This is making me really nervous,” said Antelmu.

  -Either we will succeed today, or it was hopeless from the start. Watch it to make sure it stays warm enough. That will be your job,- said Socks. He eyed the nest to make sure they weren’t forgetting anything, then made a big shield to block the wind before he even started moving. He stretched it farther than usual, all the way back past where the boys were sitting. Having it so large in such a strange shape would take more of his attention than he was used to.

  Then he took off, walking gently at first and only slowly speeding up to a run. He kept from bouncing or jolting how he usually did, and didn’t go as fast overall. They crossed over the top of the hill and oriented themselves westward. -So far, so good,- said Socks.

  Dirt and Antelmu held on tight, and the day began in earnest.