The Sight Read Free Page A

she whispered, as if to reassure the Sikla.  ‘But as cubs the grown-ups used to tell dark stories about it too.  They say Morgra climbed up there once.  But she was always so inquisitive.  That’s why she always asked so many questions about the Sight.’
    Huttser threw Palla a warning look but it was too late.
    ‘The Sight,’ whispered  Kipcha excitedly, her breath stroking the others.  ‘Tell us more about the Sight, Brassa.’
    Brassa was the pack’s advisor and keeper of stories, but the old she-wolf suddenly seemed rather nervous.  As she stared around the cave the others’ eyes had locked on hers though and Brassa turned to Huttser, for she knew he disapproved of discussing such things.  There were so many rumours already circulating now that the Dragga let her speak.
    ‘Most say that the Sight is pure myth, Kipcha,’ growled the nurse quietly.  ‘The Varg’s belief in it died out long ago, thank Tor, although it was the way of seeing that the predators have believed in since the birth of the sun.  The seeing that comes through the forehead.  The sense beyond sense, drawing its strength from the energy in all things.  They say the power had not reappeared among the wolves for generations.  Until Morgra came.’
    ‘Why?’ asked Palla.
    ‘Who knows.  Perhaps it faded because the Varg began to look to reason and their wits, though the Sight was always a very rare gift.  That, too, made it feared.  But some say when it reappears, it usually comes to more than one.’
    Bran gulped.
    ‘In the old days, Brassa,’ growled Kipcha, ‘what did the wolves use it for?’
    ‘That, too, little is known of.  Some say it helped the wolves survive the Great Trek, when we first came out of the Land of the Northern Snows.  Others that the old Seers cultivated it as a way of telling the future.  Still others argue that it was a gift from heaven to help the wolves in their search for Truth.’
    ‘The stories, they frighten me,’ growled Bran.  Brassa nodded coldly.
    ‘Yes, Bran.  It’s frightening.  There are three powers of the Sight.  The first is to see through the eyes of birds, the Helpers.’
    Bran stirred, unhappily.
    ‘The second is to look into still water and see things there of far off realities, of past, present and even future.’
    The wolf pack all looked up, not simply because of the strangeness of the idea, but because a wolf fears nothing more than death by water.  If a wolf is drowned then they believe the soul can never find a true resting place in the skies with Tor and Fenris.
    ‘But the last power,’ whispered Brassa, ‘that is the most fearful, although it is said that none have even reached it before.  It is the power to touch the minds of others directly and control thoughts and even physical actions.  Some say that only predators can wield the Sight, but that if they do it always brings great unhappiness and misfortune.’
    The wind outside was screeching now, moaning and howling around the cave mouth.  The wolves were all thinking fearfully of Morgra, and they hoped more than ever that they had left her far behind.  But as Bran watched Brassa, for a moment he fancied she was keeping something back.
    For a while in the den not one of the wolves dared speak as the wind went on moaning.  But suddenly Huttser sprang to his feet.
    ‘All this is nonsense,’ he cried irritably.  ‘The Sight is nothing but a myth, as Brassa says.  And besides, doesn’t the wolf have senses enough to master the world?’
    Even as Huttser spoke, a shadow suddenly spread across the wall of the cave.  It swayed gently and though it looked something like a wolf, its muzzle was strangely extended and misshapen.  Huttser swung round, growling threateningly, and even Bran raised his tail in challenge, although he drew backwards too.  But as the pack recognized the handsome face that suddenly appeared through the darkness, they all sighed with relief.
    ‘Khaz,’ cried Kipcha, wagging