Guardians of Ga'Hoole 10 - The Coming of Hoole

had been frolicking in the water. A strange creature was crawling from the sea. She blinked. She could not believe her eyes. It was a wolf! But even wet she had never seen one this enormous. A dire wolf, she thought. There was only one place such wolves were known to inhabit—the Beyond. Grank had told her about them. Siv was immediately alert. There was something frightening about this wolf, but she did not want to betray her fear to the cubs. So she drew herself up tall and fluffed out her feathers.
    “Greetings!” she said with great dignity.
    The wolf grunted something.
    “How come you only have one eye?” Rolf asked.
    “Rolf, that is very rude,” Anka said. “You shouldn’t say things like that. Should he, Auntie?”
    “You want to know, little one, why I only have one eye?”
    Rolf hesitated. “Uh…yes.” He stole a look at Siv.
    Siv’s gizzard was roiling. This wolf was setting off all sorts of alarms.
    “It’s because a very evil wolf bit it out.”
    “Who was the evil wolf?” Rolf asked.
    “Fengo.”
    Fengo! The name shrieked in Siv’s brain. Fengo wasn’t evil. Fengo was Grank’s best friend. Oh, this was bad. Very bad. She wished Svenka were here. She had to find out what this wolf wanted and send him on his way quickly.
    Siv had not spent a lifetime in court without gaining her fair share of diplomatic skills. She knew it was best not to ask direct questions of creatures of whom one was suspect. It only aroused their defenses. So she did not ask where he had come from or where he was going or why. She acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world for a dire wolf from the Beyond to be crawling out of the sea of the N’yrthghar, sodden and exhausted.
    “I can tell you are very tired and most likely hungry. Now, what can we offer you? We have some fish and also I have a few lemmings tucked away.”
    “Thank you, madame,” MacHeath said. He enjoyedher deference, her respect—something his mates rarely showed him. These owls must know how to train their females better than we wolves do, he thought.
    He found the lemmings quite sumptuous. “Would you like some more?” Siv asked, even though she had only a few left. Wolves, she knew, were known for their very large appetites, much larger than those of owls.
    “And how about some of our bingle juice,” she offered.
    “Bingle juice? I have never heard of that.”
    “Oh, it’s great but if you…” Rolf began to speak, but Siv shot the cub a sharp glance, and he immediately shut his muzzle. If she could “bingle” this wolf up a little she might get some information from him.
    She brought him an ice cup filled with the juice. “The berries for the juice grow all over this island. It is known for the sweetness of its bingle berries.”
    He took a large swallow of the juice and pronounced it delicious. “I am very tired. I didn’t realize the currents would be so strong. I was carried off course.”
    Should she ask him what his course was? No, she decided. Another cup of bingle juice and it might just come out.
    Three cups later, Svenka arrived and the wolf who had introduced himself as MacHeath was somewhat tipsy. Hisvoice had thickened and he was now complaining about his mates. “They give me no respect. No respect at all. Bunch of lazy she wolves is what they be.”
    “Oh, Svenka, meet our guest. He’s from the Southern Kingdoms, Beyond the Beyond.” Siv blinked and gave the great polar bear a knowing look. “He had a terrible fight with a wolf named Fengo,” she said the word slowly. Siv had told Svenka all about Grank’s sojourns into the Beyond. “He says that there are some owls up there now and he is heading north from here but got carried off course by the currents.”
    Svenka was a quick study. She hid the alarm in her face and greeted him warmly. By this time MacHeath was slurring his words. “I say, all the females of this region are so…so…” He passed out as he was about to say “so” again.
    “Watch him, children!” Svenka said. “Auntie and I have to talk. Tell us if he wakes up.”
    While MacHeath slept, Svenka and Siv went a short distance away where there was no chance of being overhead.
    “He’s heading for the Firth of Fangs, I’m sure. And I think he knows about Lord Arrin.”
    “How can you be sure, Siv?”
    “You didn’t hear it all. He was rambling on about howhe gets no respect but when a big powerful owl heard what he had to tell him, what he knew, he’d not only