Wolves of the Beyond 02 - Shadow Wolf

Her voice cracked, then she gulped. “The pup on the ridge, the ridge just north of the Slough.” Faolan nodded. “The Sark told me that you saw it on your way to visit her, and you were quite troubled. Understandably so.” Faolan nodded again. “Well, Faolan, it was my unfortunate experience to witness that malcadh ’s murder.”
    Murder! Faolan thought. The violence of those marks on the bones—how could it have been anything else. But murder! Truly, the story of the malcadh was not complete.
    Gwynneth blinked. “You don’t seem surprised.”
    “No, I saw the bones. But you saw the murderer!”
    “I heard the murderer, but I did not see him or her. You know Masked Owls have extraordinary hearing. There was a thick cloud cover and I couldn’t see, but I could hear the tiny shrieks as the pup was torn apart, and then the panting. It was a wolf’s pants and a wolf’s footfalls as it ran away. No prints of course, for it is mostly shale and rock. But how do you know about the bones?”
    “The murderer was a wolf!” Faolan felt himself stagger slightly. His hackles rose in a quivering fringe. A wave of absolute revulsion coursed through him. “I couldn’t get that little pup out of my mind, out of my marrow. I, too,after all, had been abandoned on a tummfraw . How could I see that and not think of myself? But to be murdered by a wolf!”
    “Of course,” Gwynneth said softly.
    “I decided to make a drumlyn .”
    “A drumlyn ? That is the very ancient wolf word for a cairn, isn’t it?”
    “Perhaps. I don’t know. I am still new to the ways and the expressions of wolves. But I wanted to honor the little pup. So I have been going back trying to find more bones.”
    “Be careful, Faolan. Be very careful. It wouldn’t do for you to be caught with those bones. I know how some of the wolves here regard you. They are looking for reasons for you to fail. They might whisper that you challenged the order when you jumped the wall of fire, but it’s not the order you challenge, it’s them. Right now, they don’t know about this murder, but if they find out, they might try to blame you. I am an owl, but I understand these wolves.”
    “Probably better than I do.” Faolan sighed. “Some actually think I come from the Dim World.”
    “Exactly! They are ignorant, and ignorant, superstitious wolves can be treacherous. It’s your carving, right?”
    “Yes, one said he could feel the heat from the sun I carved on a bone.”
    “They have never seen such fine carving. They can’t understand it. They think a normal wolf would not be able to do such a thing.”
    “But what if I am not a normal wolf? What then?”
    “My dear Faolan, just because you are not normal does not mean you’re bad. I have no doubt that you are not a normal wolf, not an ordinary wolf. If anything, you are an extraordinary one!” She paused. “And have you built your drumlyn ?”
    Faolan shook his head sadly. “No, not yet. Something felt wrong. I wanted to protect the bones—they are so tiny—as long as I could. Maybe I have been waiting all this time for the murderer to be caught before I build my drumlyn .”
    “So where have you kept the bones?”
    Faolan looked up and gazed into his friend’s dusky face. There was a sudden sparkle in her dark eyes.
    “Aaah,” Gwynneth said gently. “With Thunderheart’s paw, of course.”
    Gwynneth knew of Thunderheart, for it was at the skeleton of the grizzly that they had first met. The Masked Owl had been drawn there by the eerily mournful lamentthat Faolan howled upon the discovery of his second Milk Giver’s bones. She looked at Faolan. She was sorry she had to bring him this news. His experience with the malcadh had been bad enough, and now this. Well, at least she was glad she had not told him before the byrrgis . Although it was hard to imagine how he could have done much worse. A fall! Unbelievable!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
L AST P LACE
    THE GADDERHEAL OF THE MACDUNCAN clan was large, but not large enough to accommodate the crowds of wolves and owls who had gathered excitedly to hear the results of the byrrgis . So the announcement was held outside, where the owls could perch in the sparse grove of birch trees.
    There was a point system in which the gnaw wolves’ performances in the byrrgis were judged on several different aspects of ability and conduct. Scores were given for basic proficiency in running, smooth shifting in rates of speed and direction, adherence to