Wolves of the Beyond 02 - Shadow Wolf

to each other. This meant that Heep, the Whistler, and Faolan always had to gnaw side by side.
    Across the scrape from Faolan were Creakle the MacDuff wolf, Tearlach from the MacAngus clan, and Edme, the pathetic one-eyed she-wolf who had enduredunspeakable abuse from the infamous MacHeath clan. One of the vilest secrets of the MacHeaths was that they would purposely maim young pups, hoping to gain a place in the Watch of the Sacred Volcanoes. MacDuncans had been favored for the Watch, but when Hamish became Fengo, he worked hard with the best scholars of the gaddernock so that the law could be changed and others could be considered for duty. Hamish felt that new blood was needed to keep the Watch vigorous. It had been one of his last achievements before he died.
    As they chatted and gnawed around the scrape, Faolan worked on a design that he hoped someday to perfect so he could carve it on Thunderheart’s huge paw. It was a carving of a summer night when Thunderheart had watched the stars with Faolan, naming the constellations for him and pointing out the Great Bear. Faolan was determined to incise this constellation on his bone—every little star from the Bear’s muzzle to the tips of its hind feet.
    Edme had risen up to stretch her legs. “Oh, my goodness! Look at what Faolan’s done!” she exclaimed.
    “What?” grunted Heep.
    “Why, he’s only made the most beautiful constellation I have ever seen. With all the proper stars surrounding it.”
    “It looks like a bear, not a wolf—if that’s what you intended.” Heep scowled.
    “That’s exactly what I intended. It is how the bears look at the stars. They call the Great Wolf the Great Bear. My second Milk Giver taught me those names. The Great Bear points to Ursulana, the place where bear spirits go when they die.”
    “Oh, her again, that bear,” muttered Heep.
    “It’s beautiful, Heep!” Edme said. “What difference does it make what one calls it? Stars all have different meaning for different animals, and heavens have different names. It’s an inspiration.” She scurried to the center of the circle and picked a femur from the pile, then returned to her spot and began gnawing diligently. “I’m starting over, a new bone, new design! All because of Faolan!”
    Edme was such a cheerful wolf despite her pitiful appearance.
    “Yes, Faolan’s is one of the loveliest designs ever.” The windy words of the Whistler brushed Faolan’s shoulder as Whistler leaned over to study the bone. “Edme’s right; what difference does it make?”
    “Blasphemy, perhaps?” Heep muttered.
    “I think you’re going too far,” Creakle said.
    “That’s your opinion, Creakle. But some might call itprofane to call the Great Wolf by the name of another animal.”
    “Oh, really!” The Whistler groaned and it sounded like the clattering of bare branches in the wind.
    Faolan knew that his gnawing had caused talk, especially since he had gnawed the bones of contrition. The elegance and beauty of his work had stirred rumors among the most superstitious of the wolves that he was from the Dim World, or perhaps was the malcadh offspring of an outclanner! Wolves were watching him closely now, and it was unnerving. If Heep began muttering about the constellation he had just carved and saying it was blasphemy, there could be trouble. But should Faolan change his design to look more like a wolf? That seemed dishonest, even profane. He had wanted to show how bears viewed the night sky. The bear’s point of view. Did the entire universe always have to be seen through the eyes of wolves?
    Edme paused in her gnawing. “Don’t you find it odd that both wolves and cougars share the word ‘scrape,’ but the meaning is so different?”
    The clicking sound next to Faolan stopped. Heep dropped his bone. He began to make the writhing motions that often were the prelude to one of his humble speeches. “I am well aware that I am the humblest of all the gnawwolves gathered here today, and perhaps I am reaching beyond my lowly station to even suggest that the esteemed gnaw wolf from the MacHeath clan goes too far.”
    Faolan felt his hackles rise at this. Heep had just wrapped an insult in the deceptive pelt of his fawning words. Poor Edme knew that she was the least-esteemed gnaw wolf in all the Beyond because the brutal clan she came from was a whisker’s breadth away from being considered outclanners. Heep’s words rubbed a raw wound.
    “But it is my humble opinion