Wolves of the Beyond 02 - Shadow Wolf

not stand upright in the fierce winds that sweep our land.”
    The chieftain then turned to Lord Adair, second highest lord of the raghnaid , and called, “Read the charges.”
    Lord Adair came forward with a bone and began to read: “As recorded by the gnaw wolf, Heep, of the River Pack of the MacDuncan clan. On the morning after the fifteenth night of the Caribou Moon, a byrrgis was assembled on the Burn in pursuit of a bull moose. In the first quarter of the hunt, at press-paw speed, the gnaw wolf Faolan followed meticulously his obligations of sniffing and reporting on the droppings.”
    You bet I did , thought Faolan, as if Heep were right there reading the bone himself. You idiot wolf who wanted to go in my place with your dry nose and not a trace of dung to report on it!
    “I humbly pursued my course on the western flank, a flank much too grand for my base origins. As diligently as possible, I searched out urine pools of the moose and, in my most humble opinion, was able to confirm that the beast was healthy. It was not until press-paw speed had broken into attack speed that I noticed a disturbance that seemed to flow through the byrrgis, reaching back as far as my lowly position as a sweeper. It was at that time that I looked up and saw the gnaw wolf Faolan streaking through the byrrgis and cutting out to overtake the young and noble outflanker Mhairie, who, due to her outstanding abilities, had been sent from the Carreg Gaer of the MacDuncans. At the moment he overtook her, chaos began to erode the hwlyn of the byrrgis .”
    There was a gasp from the other members of the raghnaid . Hwlyn was the wolf word meaning “spirit of the pack.” Exclamations of shock and horror swirled through the gadderheal . Tails that seconds before were hanging loosely suddenly tucked nearly as tightly as Faolan’s, not in submission but in fear.
    “Continue,” Duncan MacDuncan ordered calmly. The wolf Adair read on, concluding with a description of how Faolan had risen on his hind legs, and the bull moose had wheeled about in a panic to charge the byrrgis , “thus cleaving the spirit of the pack.”
    “Was any wolf killed or injured by the moose when it charged?” Duncan MacDuncan asked with renewed vigor.
    “No, sir,” replied Adair.
    “Then I say that is rather a…well…promiscuous use of the word ‘cleave.’” Again a shudder passed through the gadderheal . For a wolf who was so close to death himself to use the wolf word for dying so calmly was unnerving, if not to the chieftain at least to the others in the ceremonial cave. “What’s this gnaw wolf’s name? The one who gnawed this bone?”
    “Heep, my lord.”
    “Aaah, Heep, yes, Heep, the one who is always carrying on about being humble. Bring the bone to my pelt so I might examine it.”
    The wolf Adair stepped forward and dropped the bone. It rested in the thick pelt of the bull elk inches from Faolan’s muzzle. He had seen a few bones that Heep had gnawed, and once more, Faolan noticed the subtlescratches made by Heep’s flawed rear-slicing tooth. Either the nick in that tooth had deepened or Heep had been more careless than usual in his work, because it was quite visible on this gnaw-bone.
    “So what do you think, lad?” Duncan MacDuncan’s breath was hot and slightly fetid. It was the breath of a sick wolf. He spoke low and tapped his tail as a signal that the others were to back away. He wanted a private conversation.
    “Me? What do I think?” Faolan asked. He shoved his ears forward with new alertness. His tail lifted a very tiny bit. He hadn’t been asked what he thought about anything since he had arrived in the Beyond.
    “Yes, what do you think about the gnaw-bone?”
    He looked up at the chieftain. Duncan MacDuncan’s eyes were a rheumy green. His muzzle twist was unkempt. Only clan chieftains and members of the Watch were permitted to wear the twisted braid. “Well, my lord, I am sorry to say every scratch, every mark the gnaw wolf Heep carved is true. I violated the order. I am deeply sorry.”
    “Oh, I know that, and I’m glad to hear you’re sorry. But what do you think of the workmanship, the craft?”
    Faolan was shocked. He slid his eyes up and gazed into the faded ones of the old chieftain. Was a lowly gnawwolf like himself really permitted to comment on anything, let alone another gnaw wolf’s ability?
    “I…I…” Faolan stammered.
    “Now, for Lupus’ sake, don’t say the word ‘humble.’ Just give your