Venick blinked. His face went soft. “Incredible.” He looked down at the sleeping banehound, which resembled a wolf pup. Jet black fur. Two pointed ears. Each pink paw pad like a little stamp. “I’ve only heard tales of banehounds. I never thought I’d meet one.”
“She is yours.”
Venick’s eyes snapped up. “What?”
“A gift.”
Venick stared at the woman as if she was mad. “I can’t accept this.”
“You saved our city.”
“I didn’t—”
“Our life prices are yours.”
Venick pressed his mouth shut. He looked at Ellina, who asked, “Are banehounds dangerous?”
“Not dangerous,” Venick said hoarsely. “Just, valuable. Rare.” He spoke to the woman. “The gift is too much.”
“In repayment for our lives? It is not enough.” The owner was stern. “The gods require that you accept.”
Venick shifted the puppy more securely against his chest, careful not to wake her. The woman—probably to prevent Venick from handing the animal back—vanished into the crowd.
Later, after they’d exited the city and remounted their steeds, Ellina asked what she did not understand.
“Banehounds are unique,” Venick explained. The puppy was tucked into his jacket, her head lolling softly in sleep. “She’s tiny now, but they grow to be huge and fiercely protective. They’re also intelligent, but more than that…” He trailed off.
“What is it?”
“They have uncanny abilities,” he admitted. “Some call them mind readers. And like I said, they’re rare. Reallyrare.” A pause. “They’re an interbreed. A mix between dog and wanewolf.”
“Dogs and wanewolves cannot make puppies,” Ellina said. “They are two different species.”
“That’s what everyone thought for a long time. We were wrong. It’s not common,” he added. “That’s the point, I think. Mostly, it doesseem like dogs and wanewolves can’t interbreed. But if the conditions are exactly right…” He shrugged. “You get a banehound.”
Ellina looked at the puppy. Silky fur, wide black nose, little tufts between her eyes. “If what you are saying is true, she would be an outcast among her pack. Not a dog, not a wolf.”
Venick surprised Ellina with a laugh. “If she’s an outcast, she’ll fit in here just fine.”
???
The hound grew quickly as they traveled west, settling into her big paws. Though Ellina did not know much about puppies—elves did not keep pets—the animal was different than expected. She was not playful, nor did she show any interest in bones or sticks. Rather, she preferred to sit in silence, often switching between Venick and Ellina, leaning against their legs, staring—glaring—at any who came too close.Fiercely protective,Venick had said, yet the puppy was not aggressive, either, and the horses did not seem to mind her. That was curious. Had the horses encountered a true wanewolf, instinct would have sent them fleeing. But of course, the puppy was not a true wanewolf.
A mix. An interbreed of two unlikely species.
One afternoon, as Ellina was carrying her small wash bag to a nearby stream to bathe, puppy trailing at her ankles, she thought of her visit to the Secret Keeper. She recalled how Miria had led them to a little hut in the northern foothills, the wizened elf waiting within, followed by Ellina’s tearful confession, her fears that Miria might not be her true sister.
People say that she acts like…like a human. But true elves do not act like humans. And if she is not an elf, she cannot be my sister.
The Secret Keeper had leaned forward. Her brow was painted with golden stars. They seemed to make her eyes shimmer.
Ellina remembered, vividly, the secret she had shared in return.
The world is not merely divided into humans and elves,the Secret Keeper had said,just as it is not divided into day and night. There is dawn and dusk, too.
Ellina looked at the pure black puppy that was half dog and half wanewolf.
She thought of Miria’s black hair.
