row 
old like anyone else if they gave up their spirit wolves. Taha Aki had lived the span of three 
old men's lives. He had married a third wife after the deaths of the first two, and found in her 
his true spirit wife. Though he had loved the others, this was something else. He decided to 
give up his spirit wolf so that he would die when she did. 

"That is how the magic came to us, but it is not the end of the story. . . ." 

 

He looked at Old Quil Ateara, who shifted in his chair, straightening his frail shoulders. Billy 
took a drink from a bottle of water and wiped his forehead. Emily's pen never hesitated as 
she scribbled furiously on the paper. 

"That was the story of the spirit warriors," Old Quil began in a thin tenor voice. "This is the 
story of the third wife's sacrifice. 

"Many years after Taha Aki gave up his spirit wolf, when he was an old man, trouble began 
in the north, with the Makahs. Several young women of their tribe had disappeared, and they 
blamed it on the neighboring wolves, who they feared and mistrusted. The wolf-men could 
still read each other's thoughts while in their wolf forms, just like their ancestors had while in 
their spirit forms. They knew that none of their number was to blame. Taha Aki tried to 
pacify the Makah chief, but there was too much fear. Taha Aki did not want to have a war 
on his hands. He was no longer a warrior to lead his people. He charged his oldest wolf-son, 
Taha Wi, with finding the true culprit before hostilities began. 

"Taha Wi led the five other wolves in his pack on a search through the mountains, looking 
for any evidence of the missing Makahs. They came across something they had never 
encountered before - a strange, sweet scent in the forest that burned their noses to the point 
of pain." 

I shrank a little closer to Jacob's side. I saw the corner of his mouth twitch with humor, and 
his arm tightened around me. 

"They did not know what creature would leave such a scent, but they followed it," Old Quil 
continued. His quavering voice did not have the majesty of Billy's, but it had a strange, fierce 
edge of urgency about it. My pulse jumped as his words came faster. 

"They found faint traces of human scent, and human blood, along the trail. They were sure 
this was the enemy they were searching for. 

"The journey took them so far north that Taha Wi sent half the pack, the younger ones, back 
to the harbor to report to Taha Aki. 

"Taha Wi and his two brothers did not return. 

"The younger brothers searched for their elders, but found only silence. Taha Aki mourned 
for his sons. He wished to avenge his sons' death, but he was old. He went to the Makah 
chief in his mourning clothes and told him everything that had happened. The Makah chief 
believed his grief, and tensions ended between the tribes. 

"A year later, two Makah maidens disappeared from their homes on the same night. The 
Makahs called on the Quileute wolves at once, who found the same sweet stink all through 
the Makah village. The wolves went on the hunt again. 

"Only one came back. He was Yaha Uta, the oldest son of Taka Aki's third wife, and the 

 

youngest in the pack. He brought something with him that had never been seen in all the 
days of the Quileutes - a strange, cold, stony corpse that he carried in pieces. All who were of 
Taha Aki's blood, even those who had never been wolves, could smell the piercing smell of 
the dead creature. This was the enemy of the Makahs. 

"Yaha Uta described what had happened: he and his brothers had found the creature, who 
looked like a man but was hard as a granite rock, with the two Makah daughters. One girl 
was already dead, white and bloodless on the ground. The other was in the creature's arms, 
his mouth at her throat. She may have been alive when they came upon the hideous scene, 
but the creature quickly snapped her neck and tossed her lifeless body to the ground when 
they approached. His white lips were covered in her blood, and his eyes glowed red. 

"Yaha Uta described the fierce strength and speed of the creature. One of his brothers 
quickly became a victim when he underestimated that strength. The creature ripped him 
apart like a doll. Yaha Uta and his other brother were more wary. They worked together, 
coming at the creature from the sides, outmaneuvering it. They had to reach the very limits of 
their wolf strength and speed, something that had never been tested before. The creature was 
hard as stone and cold as ice. They found that only their teeth could damage it. They began 
to rip small pieces of the creature apart while it fought them. 

"But the creature learned quickly, and soon was matching their maneuvers. It got its hands 
on Yaha Uta's brother. Yaha Uta found an opening on the creature's throat, and he lunged. 
His teeth tore the head off the creature, but the hands continued to mangle his brother. 

"Yaha Uta ripped the creature into unrecognizable chunks, tearing pieces apart in a desperate 
attempt to save his brother. He was too late, but, in the end, the creature was destroyed. 

"Or so they thought. Yaha Uta laid the reeking remains out to be examined by the elders. 
One severed hand lay beside a piece of the creature's granite arm. The two pieces touched 
when the elders poked them with sticks, and the hand reached out towards the arm piece, 
trying to reassemble itself. 

"Horrified, the elders set fire to the remains. A great cloud of choking, vile smoke polluted 
the air. When there was nothing but ashes, they separated the ashes into many small bags and 
spread them far and wide - some in the ocean, some in the forest, some in the cliff caverns. 
Taha Aki wore one bag around his neck, so he would be warned if the creature ever tried to 
put himself together again." 

Old Quil paused and looked at Billy. Billy pulled out a leather thong from around his neck. 
Hanging from the end was a small bag, blackened with age. A few people gasped. I might 
have been one of them. 

"They called it The Cold One, the Blood Drinker, and lived in fear that it was not alone. 
They only had one wolf protector left, young Yaha Uta. 

"They did not have long to wait. The creature had a mate, another blood drinker, who came 

 

to the Quileutes seeking revenge. 

"The stories say that the Cold Woman was the most beautiful thing human eyes had ever 
seen. She looked like the goddess of the dawn when she entered the village that morning; the 
sun was shining for once, and it glittered off her white skin and lit the golden hair that 
flowed down to her knees. Her face was magical in its beauty, her eyes black in her white 
face. Some fell to their knees to worship her. 

"She asked something in a high, piercing voice, in a language no one had ever heard. The 
people were dumbfounded, not knowing how to answer her. There was none of Taha Aki's 
blood among the witnesses but one small boy. He clung to his mother and screamed that the 
smell was hurting his nose. One of the elders, on his way to council, heard the boy and 
realized what had come among them. He yelled for the people to run. She killed him first. 

"There were twenty witnesses to the Cold Woman's approach. Two survived, only because 
she grew distracted by the blood, and paused to sate her thirst. They ran to Taha Aki, who 
sat in counsel with the other elders, his sons, and his third wife. 

"Yaha Uta transformed into his spirit wolf as soon as he heard the news. He went to destroy 
the blood drinker alone. Taha Aki, his third wife, his sons, and his elders followed behind 
him. 

"At first they could not find the creature, only the evidence of her attack. Bodies lay broken, 
a few drained of blood, strewn across the road where she'd appeared. Then they heard the 
screams and hurried to the harbor. 

"A handful of the Quileutes had run to the ships for refuge. She swam after them like a shark, 
and broke the bow of their boat with her incredible strength. When the ship sank, she caught 
those trying to swim away and broke them, too. 

"She saw the great wolf on the shore, and she forgot the fleeing swimmers. She swam so fast 
she was a blur and came, dripping and glorious, to stand before Yaha Uta. She pointed at 
him with one white finger and asked another incomprehensible question. Yaha Uta waited. 

"It was a close fight. She was not the warrior her mate had been. But Yaha Uta was alone - 
there was no one to distract her fury from him. 

"When Yaha Uta lost, Taha Aki screamed in defiance. He limped forward and shifted into an 
ancient, white-muzzled wolf. The wolf was old, but this was Taha Aki the Spirit Man, and 
his rage made him strong. The fight began again. 

"Taha Aki's third wife had just seen her son die before her. Now her husband fought, and she 
had no hope that he could win. She'd heard every word the witnesses to the slaughter had 
told the council. She'd heard the story of Yaha Uta's first victory, and knew that his brother's 
diversion had saved him. 

 

"The third wife grabbed a knife from the belt of one of the sons who stood beside her. They 
were all young sons, not yet men, and she knew they would die when their father failed. 

"The third wife ran toward the Cold Woman with the dagger raised high. The Cold Woman 
smiled, barely distracted from her fight with the old wolf. She had no fear of the weak human 
woman or the knife that would not even scratch her skin, and she was about to deliver the 
death blow to Taha Aki. 

"And then the third wife did something the Cold Woman did not expect. She fell to her 
knees at the blood drinker's feet and plunged the knife into her own heart. 

"Blood spurted through the third wife's fingers and splashed against the Cold Woman. The 
blood drinker could not resist the lure of the fresh blood leaving the third 