Wolves of the Beyond 02 - Shadow Wolf

did not every one of us long for a second Milk Giver like yours, Faolan, when you read your story bone? How we would have loved to meet Thunderheart. You only read part of the story on your bone, but tonight I believe you are both to read them in full to all of us?”
    “Yes, that is the plan,” said the Fengo. “And what a night to read it is! For tonight is the first night the Great Wolf is fully visible. The Star Wolf will hear your stories.”
     
    And so it was as the first stars in the paws of the Great Wolf constellation clawed over the dusky purple horizon that Edme concluded her story, and Faolan began to read the last gwalyds of his.
    He began in a quavering voice, “This is the story of my second Milk Giver, a grizzly bear. The word ‘ fao ’ in both the language of the bears and wolves means ‘river’ as well as ‘wolf.’ The word ‘ lan ’ in the language of bears means ‘gift.’ She said I was her gift from the river.
    “I had no name for her in the beginning, but my very first memories were of being cradled in her arms and hearing the enormous thumpings of her huge and majestic heart. This sound wove through my milk dreams while I slept, and so the grizzly became in my mind not simply the Milk Giver but Thunderheart.”
    There were three more gwalyds , one for each season Faolan had spent with Thunderheart. When he finished, a hush enveloped the wolves, and oily tears ran from their eyes. Then, one by one, all of the wolves of all the packs of all the clans came up to Faolan.
    Liam MacDuncan was first.
    “May I lick the bone?” the chieftain asked.
    “And I, too,” Cathmor whispered. “I fear, young one, I have not treated you well. I will do better in the future.”
    “No, ma’am,” Faolan replied. “You need only treat me as a member of the MacDuncan clan.”
    Cathmor sighed softly. “But you are a member now of the Watch of the Ring of Sacred Volcanoes.”
    “But I represent the MacDuncan clan. I was born a MacDuncan and shall always be a MacDuncan.”
    “My mate believed in you,” Cathmor said, her voice breaking.
    And I still believe in him, Faolan was tempted to reply, for it was as if the mist of Duncan MacDuncan surrounded him as he accepted these avowals of faith. The bone of the marmot that Faolan had carved glistened now from the tributes of the clan wolves’ tongues.

CHAPTER THIRTY
A C HURNING G IZZARD
    AS GWYNNETH FLEW FAR OVERHEAD, following the footfalls of the animals below, something in her gizzard did not feel right. Despite the thick cloud cover, she was sure it was wolves, from the sound and the rhythm of the footfalls. And she was sure there were more than two wolves. The Sark would laugh at her and tell her she was more superstitious than a wolf. But she did not like what she heard nor what she saw when she broke through the cloud cover.
    Her gizzard clenched with a deeper twinge. It was three wolves, all right! Heep with two ragged wolves from the Outermost.
    Outclanners! Why were they tramping down this trail? There was no game in this part of the Beyond at this time of the year. It seemed as if…No! Not possible!But Gwynneth carved a sharp turn in the sky. She must take no chances, for it seemed as if these wolves, with Heep in the lead, were on a direct path to the site where Faolan had buried the paw of his beloved Thunderheart! Heep had been there when Faolan said where he kept the bones, and now he was about to exact the ultimate revenge! Gwynneth’s gizzard was churning. The wind was with her, and she flew like a hag out of hagsmire back to the gaddergnaw site. She had to alert Faolan.
    Gwynneth arrived just as the wolves were paying homage to Faolan and his bone story. Gwynneth knew she could not interrupt this ritual and so she watched impatiently from the branches of a spruce tree.
    As soon as the wolves had finished licking the bone, Gwynneth flew down to Faolan and took him aside.
     
    “Are you sure that’s where they are heading?” Faolan asked.
    “I can’t be sure. But do you want to take a chance?”
    “No, of course not.”
    “We must waste no time,” said Gwynneth. “You set off. I’ll go tell the chieftains. They will organize a byrrgis ,but that takes a while, and I know how fast you run. You’ll get there sooner.”
    Faolan was off and Gwynneth soon followed, but the byrrgis was behind them both. Gwynneth could cover the distance much more quickly than any wolf, but as she looked down at Faolan, she was amazed to see