Watch Wolf

cubnapping was not news to him.
    “It’s out there. Gossip. I heard the owls talking about it.”
    “The owls don’t know a thing.”
    This was true, but Faolan could hardly say it was a graymalkin who was the source of his information, because he would be in trouble for not sounding the alarm. And in truth, he hardly thought of Arthur as a real graymalkin. He seemed more like a confused youngster than anything else. But Faolan could be dismissed from the Ring if they discovered he had spoken to a graymalkinand had not sounded the howl alarm.
    Faolan had also not yet mentioned that he knew where the bear cub was being kept. If the foaming-mouth wolf bit anyone from the Watch, the disease would spread like wildfire. The fewer who went to the Pit, the better. Faolan’s intention had been to say that he would like to go talk to the bears, and not mention his and Edme’s plan to rescue the cub. But he wasn’t sure how to introduce the notion of a parley with the bears.
    Faolan would do anything to stop the war. He couldn’t tolerate the idea of going against the bears, his second Milk Giver’s species. It was like making war on himself.
I will die before one drop of grizzly blood is shed.
    Jasper, a dark brown wolf who was the highest-ranking wolf of the Watch after Fengo, now stepped forward. One of his hind legs was half the length of the others and ended not in a paw but in a knob with claws sticking out of it every which way.
    Jasper always spoke slowly as if he were turning over each word before uttering it. “Now … young’un … this is a council of war. Whatever makes you think that you belong in this cave? You’ve been here, what” — he looked around with a musing air — “one moon, certainly less than two, and you feel that you have the right tointerrupt this meeting. What could you possibly contribute in this situation?”
    Faolan was growing desperate. He would have to tell them he knew where the cub was being held. But it was Edme who stepped forward. She looked up with her single eye into Jasper’s large and handsome face.
    “Sir, I was a MacHeath. I know wherethey took this poor cub.” The cave grew still. “They took him to the Pit.”
    “The Pit? You mean it really exists?”
    “Yes. It does. It’s a terrible place. Let Faolan and me go after the cub.” She was careful not to mention Arthur.
    Thank Lupus,
Faolan thought.
    “I know the ways of the MacHeaths, and Faolan knows the ways of bears,” Edme continued.
    “But it will be dangerous for the two of you,” theFengo said. “Is there truly a foaming-mouth wolf in the Pit?”
    “Yes. But the danger of the Pit is nothing compared to the danger of a war between the bears and the wolves. If we can save that cub …”
    “I see what you are saying.” Finbar paused and thought for several seconds before speaking again. “I have been informed,” he said, “that the cub snatched was not anymere cub but the great-grandson of none other than Grizz, the Bear of Bears.” There were gasps as the wolves absorbed this latest information. “Yes, so you can understand how truly dire this situation is. Scouts have already brought in reports of the bears massing. If they attack, we shall have no choice but to defend ourselves. Therefore, I think it is wise that Edme and Faolan go to the Pit immediately and try to rescue the cub. But, by Lupus, be careful! If one of you is bitten, the other must leave you to die alone. The disease must not be spread. In the meantime, our
raghnaid
will go and seek to parley with the bears. If you can bring the poor cub back in time, we might be able to avoid war.”
    Banja now stepped forward. “I do not think it is at all advisable that we permit Edme to go on this mission. She is, after all, a MacHeath. Suppose she decides to join them.”
    “What!!” Edme and Faolan both barked in astonishment. The Fengo himself seemed to stagger upon hearing Banja’s words.
    Every hair on Edme’s pelt stood up and she suddenly seemed twice her size. “Are you accusing me of being a turnpelt? You think I want to help the monsters who tore out my eye and then killed my mother? You have hatedme since the second I stepped into the Ring. I don’t know why, but you have.”
    “Stop!” roared the Fengo. “This is no time for squabbling.”
    Squabbling!
Edme thought.
This wolf accuses me of being a turnpelt and he calls it squabbling!
    “Banja, I do believe you’ve lost your senses. If Edme doesn’t go, how