Free Spirit's Princess by Esther Friesner Page B

reach them, but I won’t take much time to get ready, I promise.” I reached for my clothes, spread out at the foot of my bedding, and slipped my tunic over my head.
    My brother looked uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, Little Sister, our day will have to wait. You’re such a good girl, I hate saying no to you about anything, but we can’t do this today.”
    “Why not?”
    “You know why, Himiko,” Aki said soothingly. “You were here yesterday when Emi’s uncle brought word that he’d spied a wolf pack near our fields. Luckily, most of our clan was out planting the new rice, and they made enough noise to send the beasts fleeing toward Cypress Mountain. You heard Father say we’d be sending a hunting party after them.”
    “Wolves—that’s all we need.” Father’s grim words ranthrough my memory. “A bad winter’s left them hungry and much too bold. If we let them come so close to our village unchallenged, the next thing you know, they’ll be over the ditch and inside the palisade. I won’t allow it! We don’t raise our pigs and chickens to feed wolves.”
    “That doesn’t mean you have to go, Aki,” I protested. “Father has plenty of other hunters; he doesn’t need you. He’s not even here! I’ll bet he’s already left the village!”
    “I know he has,” Aki replied. “That’s the plan. I helped him work it out last night, after everyone else was asleep. He’s leading the older hunters up the eastern mountain trail right now, and I’m going to bring the younger ones around by the western way. It’s steeper, and the winter’s probably crumbled the path in places, but we have to be ready to outflank the wolf pack if they flee Father’s men by that route.”
    He stood up and slung his bow over his back. “I’m supposed to be late to this hunt so that the wolves don’t sense too many men on the mountain at once. We want them dead or driven far away, not scared into hiding. It’ll be no good if they den up today and come back to our village tomorrow.” His teeth flashed in the shadows of our house. “Don’t you fret about any of this, Little Sister. I wouldn’t want you to be afraid that a wolf will come prowling after you.”
    “ I’m not afraid. I only want—”
    He spoke on as though I’d never opened my mouth. “We shouldn’t be gone more than a day or two. You be good and wait patiently”—he patted my cheek—“and, I promise, the two of us will have our day together soon.”
    I had no chance to say another word to him before he bounded out of the house. By the time I followed him onto the porch, he was down the ladder and racing through the village, summoning other young men to join him as he ran.
    I knelt on the boards and watched him go. I had a fine view from up so high and saw my other brothers, Masa and Shoichi, join his hunting party. After two years, Shoichi had gotten better at handling weapons, but Masa was still unskilled. In spite of that, he was allowed to be a part of the wolf hunt, while I was left behind like a baby’s discarded toy.
    I tried to console myself. Oh, so what? This doesn’t involve me. I’m no hunter; I’ll never be one. Why should I care if Masa—?
    But it’s not fair! The words burst inside my head with such force, it was as though a mountain ogre had bellowed them in my ears. I’m tired of being treated as if I were helpless. I hate being nothing more than the good girl, the cheerful girl, the pretty girl. Is that all I’ll ever be?
    I turned my eyes toward the great pine tree. “This is your fault,” I muttered, before I remembered that it was only bark and wood and fragrant needles. Still grumbling, I climbed down the ladder and began to walk aimlessly through the village.
    At that time of day, in that season, nearly everyone was off working in the fields. Our village was like a land of ghosts, with only the smoke from the potter’s kiln and the blacksmith’s forge to show that people lived there. I paused on the path between