"Damn it, Waino, there must be some clue. Can't you think of anything odd or unusual that's happened in the past few days?"

Waino frowned. "A white owl has taken up residence in the tallest of the pines. The owl seemed to disturb Ivan for some reason not connected to Marti's disappearance. I hadn't made any connection until you asked."

Wolf blinked. An owl? Some of the medicine men he'd met believed owls were death birds. Most agreed they were birds of power. "I'll take a look at that owl after you show me the spot where the hound lost Marti's scent."

Wolf saw nothing to distinguish the place where Marti apparently had disappeared except the stick Waino had thrust into the ground there to mark the spot. They went on the small stand of pines. As they approached, Wolf noted that no owl was visible among the dark green of the branches.

"The owl chose the tallest tree." Waino pointed. They walked between the trees, looking up into the greenery. "That one," Waino said.

There was no sign of a white owl. Wolf dropped his gaze and froze, staring. A small form lay crumpled under the tree. Marti? He plunged forward and dropped to his knees beside her. She didn't move.

"No!" Waino cried as he knelt next to Wolf. He touched her neck gently and smiled in relief. "She's alive!"

A brief examination didn't show any obvious injuries but Marti remained limp and unresponsive as her father gathered her into his arms.

When the little girl was safely in bed, Samara sat by her side, begging her to wake up. Neither her words nor anything else roused Marti.

She didn't open her eyes for two days. When she did, she seemed unchanged from the Marti they'd grown used to. Because she didn't talk, she couldn't tell what had happened to her. Samara decided Marti had just been lost on the grounds and been overcome by exhaustion.

Wolf didn't believe it but, since he had no better explanation, he said nothing to contradict Samara.

"We have to think about hiring someone to keep an eye on Marti," he told Samara and Waino a few days later. "Someone who has no other duties, who's with her day and night." "Bring a stranger into Volek House?" Samara's voice was shocked.

"Not any stranger," Wolf said. "We'd be careful. We'd screen the person carefully and, if possible, let Marti meet her before she comes here."

"Marti?" Samara frowned. "She wouldn't know a stalker any more than the rest of us."

"But," Waino objected, "didn't you once tell me that you and Wolf sensed the last two stalkers?"

"Too late," Samara said sadly. "And only as danger, not as stalkers."

"I wasn't worried about stalkers," Wolf said. "What I meant was Marti would have to approve of anyone who came to look after her. Otherwise the person might not stay because Marti has the ability to make her life miserable."

"I don't like the idea," Samara said. "I'm against it. Voleks have too much to hide to allow a stranger free access to the house."

"We'll consider your suggestion," Waino said.

Wolf dropped the subject but decided he'd begin looking for possible candidates anyway since sooner or later Samara was going to realize Marti needed full time watching. Full time protection. At least until she got older. Like Jennifer, who'd nearly destroyed her twin before she learned to control her bizarre talent, Marti was too young to understand the power she commanded. Without protection, she might not have the chance to grow older and learn.

Or, alternatively, without help, she might destroy them all.

While he didn't have his father's special ability to sense auras, Wolf had learned the hard way to screen out liars and opportunists. And, since he'd become a shaman, he recognized power, no matter how intensely a person tried to conceal it. Marti needed a caretaker, someone to concentrate on her and her alone, and he meant to find one before it was too late.

A week after Marti's strange disappearance and recovery, news came from Alaska.

Aleut fishermen had recovered airplane parts they'd found floating in the Bering Straits between Alaska and Siberia. The plane had been positively identified as the one piloted by Hawk Volek. There was no trace of the pilot.

For Hawk the roof had proved too high after all.

Wolf packed and went alone into the mountains to grieve. He recalled old Bear Claw's long ago vision that saw him mourning the one who was no longer there--a true dream. Though Druse held a special place in his heart as his firstborn, Hawk had been the child of his spirit. His death saddened Wolf's soul.

There was little use in trying to console himself with the knowledge that Volek House was as secure as it had ever been, that even with their unresolved problems, the clan was safe for the time being. Not when Hawk was gone forever. Wolf had been camping at different sites for ten days when he woke before dawn one morning, every sense in his body alert. He sat up and looked around.

A blue haze shimmered at the foot of his bedroll. He tensed, waiting.

"You know me." The voice spoke in his head.

He did. Bear Claw.

"Your shadow-soul has come far to seek me," he replied in the same fashion. "To console me."

"No, Wolf-Shaman, my spirit-soul has come. To warn, not console."

Then Wolf knew Bear Claw was dead.

"I have delayed my journey along the Path of Spirits to bring you my final vision," Bear Claw told him. "The one you seek is not far. She waits, blind to her power and bereft of knowledge, in the golden city by the bay. You must rescue her to save yourself and those of your blood. If you fail, your enemy will destroy you all."

As the shimmer faded and disappeared, Wolf called after Bear Claw, "May your journey be swift and your path smooth." Wolf rose and packed his belongings, regretting the days he must travel to reach home. Who the enemy Bear Claw spoke of was he didn't know. Another stalker? The demon-witch? In any case, it was imperative he begin his search as soon as possible for the woman he must rescue in order than she might rescue them.

But go home first he must--the delay was inevitable. All journeys held peril. Before he he started on his next one, to find the woman of Bear Claw's vision, he must first prepare his surviving sons in case he didn't return.

Hawk had died trying. Now Nicholas and Reynolds must fulfill the vow made to Sergei. It was up to them to search out and decipher the past-beginning in Russia.

All my life, Wolf thought, I've tried to protect the wilderness around me. Is this our family purpose?

Whether it was or not, Voleks needed purpose in their lives to offset the disasters brought about by the sinister legacy they carried. Whether he lived to see their return or not, he knew what Nicholas and Reynolds must bring back from their journey.

Clan safety wasn't enough. His sons must bring back hope. Or else the Voleks would perish.

end.