Spirit Dance Read online

  I called out. “Listen to me! I’ll make this easy. Get my friend medical help, and I’ll surrender.” Robbie shook his head violently, prompting a coughing fit.

  Nothing.

  “No deals,” a voice finally replied, “and no prisoners!”

  The firing started again, heavier this time. Keeping my head down, I started to concentrate on a shift. It was our last chance. They wanted blood.

  Robbie grabbed my arm just as I sensed them. Too late. Something crashed down on my skull, and I slumped forward, stunned. Fighting for control, I managed to turn my head to look behind me.

  Two men. Two rifles.

  The firing from in front of us stopped. These two had used that sound cover to sneak up behind us. Focusing on my shift had dulled my other senses.

  “Silver bullet time, freak,” said the closest one. Grinning, he raised his rifle.

  With a roar, a gray mass hurtled out of the shadows. Huge jaws closed on the man’s neck with a sickening snap. A black blur pulled down the other gunman. Around us, the Tainchel screamed and cursed, dark forms leaping at them from all sides.

  My puppy had arrived, and he’d brought friends.

  Gelert shoved his face into mine, licking and whining. I could smell blood. Throwing an arm over his great back, I pulled myself up and looked around.

  The wolves outnumbered the Tainchel, but the men had guns, and their initial shock was wearing off. The survivors were in a clump, backs to each other, firing outwards. My gray brothers were falling, dying. Dying for me.

  I shifted. The Black Wolf came among them.

  ~~~

  I came out of it with Gelert nuzzling my face. A dozen wolves clustered around me, wagging their tails or licking wounds. Pain screaming from a dozen places, I rose stiffly but found no major damage.

  I remember little after a shift. Walking around, counting the dead, I figured it was just as well. Six wolves, eighteen of the Tainchel. No human survivors. Naked and freezing, my clothes shredded from the shift, I stripped one of the less bloody bodies for garments.

  I found him lying against a tree, deathly white, soaked in blood. I knelt beside him. “Robbie?”

  His eyes focused on me. “Gwyn...,” he whispered, “there’s a girl...Leiddia...”

  “I know. She’s one of us now.”

  He smiled. “You and I...always finding the same woman.” The smile faded. “Stelle...never stopped loving you. Sometimes...I hated you for that. Sorry.” His eyes closed.

  I swallowed hard. “Robbie, sometimes I hated you for being with her. I’m sorry too.”

  No reply.

  “Robbie?”

  I felt for a pulse, but I knew. I could smell it. The Bear was dead. I wondered if he’d heard me.

  In a nearby clearing away from the trees, I built a low bier from rocks, piling it with dried branches. I dragged him over and with a great struggle lifted him on top. Beside him, I placed my dead wolven brethren. Callisto, too huge to move, I covered with rocks.

  A search of the bodies provided matches. As I returned, a great horned owl lifted up from the bier into the night. A single feather lay on Robbie’s chest. I held it for a moment, then tucked it into his shirt.

  I lit the wood and stood back as the fire caught quickly, roaring with the rising wind. Turning from the flames and smoke, I stopped, surrounded.

  Black bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, animals of all kinds encircled the pyre. Gelert began a mournful howl, picked up by the wolves. The other animals joined with growls, roars, and snarls.

  Howl, beasts of the night. Howl for our fallen. Howl over the bodies of our foes.

  I walked away through smoke and mist and trees, Gelert at my side, until we stood looking down at the driver’s cabin. The guards pointed up the hill at the glow of the fire.

  One task remained. They had killed my woman. They had killed my friend. Gelert growled.

  I began to shift. A wolf howled.

  No prisoners.

  ~~~

  Ed was behind the counter when I came into the store the next afternoon. He looked up but didn’t smile. “Made up some supplies for you.”

  “How’d you know I’d be heading out?”

  He said nothing, but pushed the newspaper forward. I read the front page. The bodies had been found already.

  “You’d better go, Gwyn.”

  I looked up. He had turned his back. Taking the supplies, I placed more money than required on the counter.

  As I moved to the door, he spoke again, his back still to me. “Tom Barker was at the hospital last night. Cut up real bad. That nurse Vera knows said it looked like he’d fought a wild cat and lost.” He turned to look at me. “He’s left them. Says he’s not going back.”

  “Probably for the best,” I said quietly.

  “Yeah. Assuming they can support themselves,” he replied, an edge to his voice.

  I walked to the door, not looking back.

  “Guess there’s one more beast in the night now,” he said under his breath. I’m not sure if he meant me to hear. As I stepped outside, I felt that Ed was making a warding sign, a sign to keep away the beasts of the night. I hoped I was wrong.

  ~~~

  It is night now. I sit in my camp and stare as the spirits dance in my fire. Feel their heat on my body. Feel my body an empty shell, hollow. Wait for the fire spirits to bake it hard. Wait for the animal cry in the night to shatter this shell, crumble it to dust. Listen to the wind that will blow the dust, scatter me, send me away.

  Stelle is dead. Robbie is dead. I am dead too. Perhaps I have been dead these past fifteen years.

  The wind stirs the ashes, dancing the flames. Gelert raises his mighty head to stare into the darkness. The fire crackles. A branch snaps behind me. I turn to see liquid night flow feline from the trees toward me. It shifts. It changes. Twin emerald fires melt to gray green eyes. Paws become hands. Paws become feet. Ebony fur fades to the pale smoothness of her skin, streams to the black cascade of her hair. Naked, she stands before me, cat-beast of the night now woman again.

  I walk to her slowly, as if trying not to frighten away an animal that has strayed in from the forest. Wrapping my coat about her, I stare at her searching for something there to fill this empty shell, and she endures it.

  “Then it worked,” I finally say.

  “It worked,” she replies, a sound with the breeze. She touches my cheek, tracing a line with a long sharp nail. “I need a teacher.”

  “I need,” I begin, before my throat strangles the words and the tears flow. “I need much more than that.”

  She whispers, “I love you,” as we lie down by the fire, and I say I love her too. I hope one day we can mean it when we say it, as I fill her emptiness, and she begins to fill mine.

  After, I watch her sleep by the dying ember light. Stelle is dead. Robbie is dead. But another of the Heroka lies beside me. The spirits do not dance. For now, it is enough.

  About the Story

  This was my first story. The first one I wrote. The first one I sold. I received the acceptance letter on December 31, which was a great way to end a year and start a new one. “Spirit Dance” sold to the Canadian anthology, Tesseracts6, edited by famed Canadian SF author, Robert J. Sawyer, and his wife, the poet, Carolyn Clink.

  “Spirit Dance” was a finalist for the Aurora Award the year after it came out and has since been reprinted two dozen times, in seventeen languages and twenty countries. A French translation won the Aurora Award in 2001.

  If you enjoy the Heroka, then you should check out my other stories in this universe:

  My novel, The Wolf at the End of the World, takes place five years after “Spirit Dance.” In it, we again meet up with Gwyn, Gelert, Leiddia, Ed, and the Tainchel, and Gwyn meets up again with more shadows from his past. I’ve included the opening to that novel at the end of this ebook.

  “A Bird in the Hand” is a short story and introduces another Heroka, Lilith Hoyl.

  “Dream Flight” is a short story
and a sequel (of sorts) to “A Bird in the Hand,” again with Lilith Hoyl.

  About the Author

  “Doug Smith is, quite simply, the finest short-story writer Canada has ever produced in the science fiction and fantasy genres... His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think.”

  —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author

  “A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice.”

  —Charles de Lint, award-winning fantasy author

  “One of Canada’s most original writers of speculative fiction.”

  —Library Journal

  Douglas Smith is a multi-award winning Canadian author whose work has appeared in twenty-five languages and over thirty countries. His fiction includes the urban fantasy novel, The Wolf at the End of the World, and the collections Chimerascope, Impossibilia, and La Danse des Esprits. His non-fiction guide for writers, Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction, is a must read for any short story writer.

  Doug is a three-time winner of Canada’s Aurora Award, and has been a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award, CBC’s Bookies Award, Canada’s juried Sunburst Award, and France’s juried Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane. A short film based on Doug’s story “By Her Hand, She Draws You Down” won several awards when it toured film festivals around the world.

  His website is www.smithwriter.com and he tweets at twitter.com/smithwritr. You can join Doug’s irregular mailing list at www.smithwriter.com/mailing_list.

  Other Works by Douglas Smith

  Novels

  The Wolf at the End of the World (Lucky Bat Books, 2013)

  Collections

  Chimerascope (ChiZine Publications, Canada, 2010) Finalist for the Sunburst Award, Aurora Award, and CBC’s Bookies Award

  Impossibilia (PS Publishing, UK, 2008) Aurora Award Finalist

  La Danse des Esprits (Dreampress, France, 2011, translated) Finalist for the Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane

  Non-Fiction

  Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction (Lucky Bat Books, 2014)

  Short Stories

  “Spirit Dance” (1997) Aurora Award Finalist

  “New Year’s Eve” (1998) Aurora Award Finalist

  “State of Disorder” (1999) Aurora Award Finalist

  “Symphony” (1999) Aurora Award Finalist

  “What’s in a Name?” (2000)

  “The Boys Are Back in Town” (2000)

  “La Danse des Esprits” (2001) AURORA AWARD WINNER (French translation)

  “The Red Bird” (2001) Aurora Award Finalist

  “By Her Hand, She Draws You Down” (2001) Aurora Award Finalist; Best New Horror selection

  “Scream Angel” (2003) AURORA AWARD WINNER

  “Jigsaw” (2004) Aurora Award Finalist

  “Enlightenment” (2004) Aurora Award Finalist

  “Going Harvey in the Big House” (2005) Aurora Award Finalist

  “Memories of the Dead Man” (2006)

  “The Last Ride” (2006)

  “A Taste Sweet and Salty” (2006)

  “Murphy’s Law” (2006)

  “The Dancer at the Red Door” (2007) Aurora Award Finalist

  “Out of the Light” (2007)

  “Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, by van Gogh” (2008) Aurora Award Finalist

  “Going Down to Lucky Town” (2008)

  “Doorways” (2008)

  “Radio Nowhere” (2009) Aurora Award Finalist

  “Nothing” (2010)

  “A Bird in the Hand” (2010)

  “Fiddleheads” (2011)

  “The Walker of the Shifting Borderland” (2012) AURORA AWARD WINNER

  “Dream Flight” (2013)

  “The Last of a Thing” (2016)

  Specialty Books

  “By Her Hand, She Draws You Down”: The Official Movie Companion Book (2010)

  A complete list of Doug’s published fiction is available on his website along with excerpts and reviews of his work. An excerpt of The Wolf at the End of the World is also included in the following pages. All of Doug’s works are available in a variety of formats. See his bookstore for where you can buy them.

  Join Doug’s mailing list to be notified of new books and stories, award news, and events Doug will be attending.

  Chimerascope

  Sunburst Award finalist

  Aurora Award finalist

  CBC’s Bookies Award finalist

  Chimerascope [ki-meer-uh-skohp] — a story of many parts…

  Doug’s second collection contains sixteen of his best stories, including an award winner, a Best New Horror selection, and eight award finalists. Stories of fantasy and science fiction that take you from love in fourteenth-century Japan to humanity’s last stand, from virtual reality to the end of reality, from alien drug addictions to a dinner where a man loses everything.

  “His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think.”

  —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author

  “A massively enjoyable trek…all filtered through Smith’s remarkable imagination and prodigious talent.”

  —Quill and Quire (starred review)

  “The 16 stories in this collection showcase the inventive mind and immense storytelling talent of one of Canada’s most original writers of speculative fiction.”

  —Library Journal

  “An entertaining selection of stories that deftly span multiple genres.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “An engaging and entertaining volume, pieces of whose content resonate after the book is finished.”

  —Booklist

  “Douglas Smith is an extraordinary author whom every lover of quality speculative fiction should read. Rating: A+”

  —Fantasy Book Critic

  “Arrestingly inventive premises in a field where really interesting new ideas are harder and harder to find. …Smith is definitely an author who deserves to be more widely read.”

  —Strange Horizons

  “A beautifully diverse selection of short tales…well-crafted, easily digestible; several of the stories are incredibly moving and stick with the reader long after.”

  —Sunburst Award jury

  “Smith is a master of beginnings…some of the most well-crafted hooks you’ll find anywhere…[with] endings that feel satisfying and right.”

  —Canadian Science Fiction Review

  ~~~

  For more information on Chimerascope, including full buying links for all major retailers, please go to http://www.smithwriter.com/chimerascope.

  Impossibilia

  Aurora Award Finalist

  Doug’s first collection contains three novelettes, including an award winner and an award finalist. Stories of wonder with characters that you won’t forget. Characters who, like any of us, have things they hide inside—secrets, fears, aspects of themselves they keep locked away. Or try to.

  Only their things are a little…different.

  A painter who talks to Vincent van Gogh

  A shapeshifter hunting one of his own

  The secret to being the luckiest man alive

  Welcome to Impossibilia!

  “The finest short-story writer Canada has ever produced in the science fiction and fantasy genres.”

  —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo and Nebula Award winning author

  “One of Canada’s most original writers of speculative fiction.”

  —Library Journal

  “A great storyteller with a gifted and individual voice.”

  —Charles de Lint, World Fantasy Award winning author

  “In the grand manner that harks back to Bradbury and Sturgeon and Ellison.”

  —Chaz Brenchley

  “In my search for the perfect short story, the three in this volume certainly qualify.”

  —SF Crowsnest Book Reviews

  For more, please see the collection Impossibilia.

  The
Wolf At The End Of The World

  © Douglas Smith

  Introduction by World Fantasy Award winner, Charles de Lint

  A shapeshifter hero battles ancient spirits, a covert government agency, and his own dark past in a race to solve a murder that could mean the end of the world.

  Cree and Ojibwe legends mix with current day environmental conflict in this fast-paced urban fantasy that keeps you on the edge of your seat right up to its explosive conclusion. With an introduction by Charles de Lint.

  ~~~

  The Heroka walk among us. Unseen, unknown. Shapeshifters. Human in appearance but with power over their animal totems.

  Gwyn Blaidd is a Heroka of the wolf totem. Once he led his people in a deadly war against the Tainchel, the shadowy agency that hunts his kind. Now he lives alone in his wilderness home, wolves his only companions.

  But when an Ojibwe girl is brutally killed in Gwyn’s old hometown, suspicion falls on his former lover. To save her, Gwyn must return, to battle not only the Tainchel, but even darker forces: ancient spirits fighting to enter our world…

  And rule it.

  ~~~

  “An immersive and enjoyable reading experience. Readers will delight in learning more about Native American mythology, which is skillfully woven throughout the story. Smith’s novel is both well paced and deftly plotted—leaving readers curious about what comes next for the Heroka in the modern world.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “What makes The Wolf at the End of the World such an engrossing read are the characters and Doug’s wonderful prose, a perfect blend between matter-of-fact and lyricism. I can’t remember the last time I read a book that spoke to me, so eloquently, and so deeply, on so many levels. ... I’ll be rereading it in the future because it’s that sort of book. Richly layered and deeply resonant. An old friend, from the first time you read it.”