Watch Wolf

the Great Horned Owls’ tufts are wider apart and stick out at an angle. And the Screech’s tufts are, well, somewhere in between.” He paused and squinted at the two young wolves, a merry glint in his green eyes that reminded Faolan of the green sparkles on the river on a clear summer day. “Now, here’s a tricky question for you.”
    “What’s that?” said Edme, eagerly hoping to redeem herself with a truly challenging question.
    “It has nothing to do with owls’ heads.”
    “Uh-oh!” Edme and Faolan both said at once.
    “Have a little faith in yourselves, young’uns. Which owl has featherless legs?”
    “Featherless legs!” Edme said.
    “Not a single feather!” Malachy snapped his jaws shut for emphasis. “Bare as a bear cub’s butt.”
    Faolan and Edme inhaled sharply. “Uh,” Edmesaid, her voice taut. “Are you sure bear cubs’ butts are bare?”
    “Oh, yes, indeed. When they’re first born. They hardly have a patch of fur on them. By the time they come out of the den, they’re little fur balls. The cutest things you’ve ever seen. But never go near them; never touch them.” Faolan and Edme grew very quiet, alarmingly quiet.
    “Come on now, young’uns, the question isn’t that hard. Which owl has no feathers on its legs?”
    Faolan broke the silence. “Can you give us a hint?”
    “Well, if you insist. I know you haven’t seen that many owls because the volcanoes aren’t very active yet, but which one did I tell you is the worst flyer?”
    “The Burrowing Owl because … because …” Edme started to speak but was distracted by the thoughts of bear cubs.
Why did I play with that cub?
    “Because they’re good at walking,” Faolan said in a tentative voice.
    “Exactly!” Malachy boomed. “Who needs feathers for walking or running?” He paused. “Anything wrong, young’uns?” He peered at them curiously. Their enthusiasm, their wonderful keenness, had suddenlyvanished. Just then, a strange whining seeped into the den whereMalachy tutored new Watch wolves in the habits and customs of owls. He tipped his head.
Could it be?
It was strange it would come so early, but if that wasn’t the peevish complaint of the She-Winds, well, he didn’t have crooked hips.
    “Hear that, young’uns?” he said softly but with great excitement.
    At just that moment, a wolf came skidding down the chute into the den. “Hear that, Malachy?” It was Padraigh, wind scout for the Watch.
    “Is it what I think it is?”
    “It is, indeed. I’ve been as far south as the border of the Shadow Forest. It’s the She-Winds. They’rea-coming!”
    “But it’s not the season!” Malachy swayed a biton his crooked hips, as if the very idea had unhinged him.
    “She-Winds don’t seem to mind none.They’re back, and you know the owls can’t be far behind them.” He looked directly at Faolan and Edme. “Now your real larnin’ begins, young’uns. No more jump bones. Real live owls on the wing!”
    The She-Winds were unique to the Ring of Sacred Volcanoes. They seemed to arrive outof nowhere and go nowhere, but when they blew, they stirred the hot fluidsin the deepest parts of the craters of all five volcanoes, and every Rogue smith and collier flocked to the Ring.
    In the excitement of the moment, Faolan and Edme forgot their anxieties and followed Malachy and Padraigh out of the den. Twist and Winks came rushing up to them. “Your shifts are about to start. Get to your cairns.”
    The gusts were so strong that Faolan and Edme had trouble even standing straight at first. The ground beneath their paws shook as the first quaking belches of the volcanoes rumbled up from deep inside the earth. Faolan couldn’t imagine how he was supposed to stay upright on his cairn, let alone perform the repertoire of scanningjumps they’d learned.
    “Hang on to your fur, young’uns.” Padraigh laughed raucously as he trotted away, angling himself to the winds that were lashing about them.
    “Don’t worry, we’ll stay with you through your shifts,” Twist said. “But regard Paddy — Padraigh — see how he is angling himself across the gusts.” But Paddy always walked oddly. Of all the wolves of the Watch, his deformities were possibly the most curious. On one side, he was missing an ear, an eye, and a paw. It was as if he had been born lopsided, and yet despite his odd gait, he waseffectively cutting through the maze of gusting winds that seemed to blow willy-nilly across the Ring, first from one