Chapter II

Three weeks had passed since Sula had woken in the humans make shift camp.  He’d been in a cage and his leg had been tended too and was wrapped in a white bandage.  It had felt so much better–Sula could hardly feel any pain in it.  At first the humans ignored him–only caring to feed him and tend his wound.  But as his paw healed and his strength returned, the humans began to get very interested indeed.  They’d gather around his cage and talk about him like he wasn’t there–or like he couldn’t understand them.  Sula had let them believe he couldn’t understand, he wanted to know what they had planned for his future.  Unfortunately, they hadn’t given any useful information.  All that Sula could gather was that they were waiting for someone, or something.

Being stuck in a cage for three weeks really gives a person time to think, and Sula had a lot to think about.  Had any of his family survived the attack in the Wood?  Was he going to end up like Old Grir?  Had he done the right thing by sending Jepsem into the Wood alone?  Thousands of questions haunted his thoughts all the time.  He didn’t know the answer to any of them, and the not know kept him up most nights.  One thing he did know–when he got out of this cage he was going to find Jepsem again and never let her go!

He was laying on his back in his cage in human form (the humans were nicer to him in this form) counting the cracks in the wood roof, trying to distract his thoughts.  He’d gotten to two hundred forty-three when the taste in the air changed.  Humans smell differs when their emotions change and Sula could smell and taste the different emotions on them.  All morning the men had smelled of old deer meat, sweat, fire smoke, dirt, and boredom.  They’d all been getting restless waiting for Sula to heal and for the secret something to arrive. 

Sula rolled over and rested his head on his hand and stared at the humans getting up and moving around in an excited fashion.  He sniffed the air–all the men were excited and nervous–whatever they’d been waiting for Sula had a good idea that it was about to happen.  He sat up smelling the air more deeply, all that was there was human.