Wolves of the Beyond 02 - Shadow Wolf

I’ve ever seen! And you’re the gnaw wolf who jumped for the sun, aren’t you? They said you disturbed the order.”
    “I didn’t jump for the sun. I jumped for my life.” Faolan stood straighter, squared his shoulders, and lifted his tail just a bit. In the evening light, he was bright and silvery, and the pups once again fell silent, for they had never seen a young wolf with such noble bearing. And to think he was a gnaw wolf!
    Suddenly, a howl peeled through the air. It was Alastrine, skreeleen of the MacDuncan Carreg Gaer. Soon, other skreeleens joined in. Barks and yips from all the clans scored the air.
    “They’re coming! They’re coming! The Fengo Finbar and the taigas are coming!”
    “Come on,” Mhairie said. “I know a good place to watch from.”
    Faolan followed Mhairie as she scrambled up an escarpment. Soon, another wolf joined them. “This is my sister Dearlea,” Mhairie said, looking over her shoulder as they made their way up the steep slope. Dearlea was a deep brown that perhaps had once been lighter, like her sister’s tawny gold, but despite their difference in color, there was a strong resemblance.
    “Oh, look!” Dearlea exclaimed as they reached the top. There was a long line of wolves wending their way down a narrow defile.
    “Can you hear the tinulaba ?” Mhairie asked.
    “What?” said Faolan.
    Mhairie and Dearlea looked at each other in dismay.
    “You don’t know what the tinulaba is?” Dearlea asked.
    “No.”
    “The tinulaba is the clinking sound tailbones make when they jingle-jangle against one another softly. That’s what the word means—‘chimes of the bones.’ The wolves of the Watch make their necklaces out of those small little bones from the tails of animals.”
    “They wear necklaces? I thought only the clan chieftains and members of the raghnaid wore them.”
    “No, wolves of the Watch can wear them, too. But theirs are made out of just the tailbones. They gnaw them.”
    “They gnaw designs into tailbones?” Faolan was astonished. Tailbones were among the smallest.
    “Yes, you’ll learn how to do it when—” Mhairie stopped herself. “I mean if you are selected for the Watch. The taigas will teach you.”
    All the barking and howling stopped. A silence descended over the land as the wind rose from the direction of the Watch wolves’ procession and carried with it the tinulaba . The tinulaba was not merely a sound but truly music, chimes that went straight to Faolan’s marrow and stirred him deeply.
    As the Watch wolves slowed on the steepest part of the defile, he could observe them more carefully. They were large, muscular animals. It was often said that a malcadh ’s deformity could become a source of strength.Even from a distance, the Watch exuded a power and confidence that Faolan had never seen before.
    Of all the wolves, the Fengo was the most elaborately bedecked in bone necklaces. He even had tiny fragments of bone braided into his beard. Mhairie and Dearlea began to whisper.
    “There’s Jasper,” Dearlea said, pointing her muzzle toward a dark brown wolf.
    “That’s Briar, isn’t it?” Mhairie said.
    “The red wolf with the bad eye?” Dearlea asked.
    “Yes. There are two red wolves, and I always get them mixed up because they both have bad eyes,” Mhairie said.
    Faolan wondered how they knew so much. They seemed to be able to identify every wolf and his or her particular deformity while the wolves were still a fair distance away.
    “And they are sister and brother. That makes it harder,” Dearlea replied.
    “Sister and brother?” Faolan could not hide his surprise.
    “Yes, very unusual. Two malcadhs in one litter.”
    “That must have been nice for them…I mean the pups.” Faolan detested the word malcadh . “I mean they had company.”
    “Not so nice for the mother.” Dearlea sighed. “Imaginetwo of her litter born malcadhs . And who knows; maybe she only had two pups that year.”
    “But they both survived and returned to the clan,” Mhairie said. “Imagine that!”
    Yes , thought Faolan. Imagine that! He looked at the two sister wolves who stood beside him. They were so lucky to have been born whole and perfect and to be sisters. And though he would never wish his life on another, wouldn’t it have been easier to have a brother or sister with him on that tummfraw ?

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
G WYNNETH’S A DVICE
    THE FIRST EVENT OF THE GADDERGNAW was the byrrgis . The scouts had gone to look for the