Whistlers

Overview

Whistlers are the fat marmots of the high meadows. They live in colonies among the scree and the alpine grass and whistle shrilly at anything that might be an eagle, a cat, or a stranger. Every traveller on the high roads knows the sound. The Edgeway Kindreds' caravans on the Long Tread listen for it, and say a colony that stays silent marks a bad stretch.

Appearance

A whistler is the size of a large cat but round and heavy, with a short bushy tail, short legs, small round ears, and a blunt face with large orange-yellow front teeth. Its fur is thick, grizzled grey-brown on the back, warmer brown underneath, darker on the head. By autumn it is so fat it waddles.

It sits up on its haunches beside its burrow to watch, and at a threat gives a single shrill, piercing whistle and dives below. A colony warning goes from burrow to burrow across a whole meadow. It smells faintly of earth and dry grass.

Habitat and Range

Whistlers live in colonies on the alpine meadows, scree slopes, and high pastures of the Stormcrown, the Ironspine, and the heights above the Headwater Marches, along the colossal roads and terraces as much as anywhere.

Behaviour and Temperament

Whistlers graze grass, herbs, flowers, and roots through the short summer, sunning themselves on rocks between meals. They dig deep burrows with many entrances. A colony is families living close together, and adults take turns on watch. They are timid, but used to travellers on a busy road, and will sit and watch a caravan pass.

Life Cycle

Whistlers sleep through the winter, a whole family packed together in a burrow sealed with earth and grass, from the first snows to late spring: more than half the year. Young are born soon after they wake, three or four to a litter. They may live fifteen years.

Uses and Dangers

Their fat is rendered for an ointment sold in the Headwater towns against aching joints, and their fur and meat are taken by high herders and hunters. They do no harm, though their burrows break a pack animal's leg now and then.

Lore and Belief

Kindred caravans on the Long Tread say a colony that stays silent as a caravan passes marks a bad stretch: something has been through recently that frightened them, or the ground is wrong. Caravan masters slow down there. Headwater folk say the whistlers wake in spring when the mountain lets them, and that a whistler seen above ground in winter means a death in the valley.

Where It Appears

• Overview: Animals