Part 4 (1/2)
The Fengo's green eyes slitted as he looked at the two young wolves. ”Now the time has come for you to think in a new way. You must learn to think like a wolf of the Watch.”
Edme s.h.i.+fted nervously on her feet and looked down. But am I truly a wolf of the Watch if I was not born a malcadh? She had felt so brave when she told the MacHeaths she would join the Watch as a free runner. Now she was too frightened to say anything.
The Fengo continued, ”In protecting the ember from your posts on the drumlyns, it is important to realize that it's not how high you jump that matters, but what you learn when you are jumping. What you see. What you feel. What you smell. Our focus is the five volcanoes. You shall learn their natural history a” their temperaments.” He took a step closer to the two wolves. ”We exist in a close relations.h.i.+p with the owls of Ga'Hoole. The connection goes back to the very beginnings of our time here in the Beyond. When the good King Hoole first discovered the ember, he made a pact with the wolves that we guard it until an appointed king appeared to retrieve it.” He paused again. ”There is much to learn, is there not?”
Faolan and Edme both nodded.
”Our late Fengo, Hamish, has set much of our history down on the Bone of Bones. I now present you with it.” He turned to another Watch wolf, a silver wolf with no ears who brought out the bone tucked under her chin and dropped it at their feet.
”Here, young'uns,” she said softly. The bone gleamed with Hamish's careful incising, exquisitely elegant yet bold.
”B-b-but a b-but,” Edme stammered. ”How do we know a graymalkin? Does it tell on the Bone of Bones?”
The Fengo and the silver wolf, who was named Colleen, both shook their heads. ”There is much you can learn from the Bone of Bones, but mostly you'll learn through experience,” the Fengo said. ”The Bone does not tell you how to recognize a graymalkin. It is an instinct that you will develop, a sense that an owl is not merely looking for coals. Graymalkins spend a lot of their time flying low around the edges of the craters, making false pa.s.ses over the ember beds that spill down the slopes.”
”But how can you tell the difference between a false pa.s.s and a true one?” Faolan asked.
”Your taigas will school you in this. They are your greatest resource.” He nodded at Twist and Winks.
But do I deserve a taiga? thought Edme. How will they treat me if they know the truth? I have to tell them. I have to!
The Fengo continued, ”Twist and Winks here are ready to answer your questions. You shall begin your service at the cairns of their present a.s.signments. You will be shown to your den now. A busy time is coming. Do you have any questions?”
Edme gave Faolan a nervous glance. He nodded just slightly. She knew that the time had come for her to tell the Fengo the truth a” how she was not a true malcadh but was made one by the depravity of the MacHeath clan. She took a step forward, holding her head high and squinting with her single eye so she could better keep the Fengo in focus. She did not want to appear to be cowering in fear or shame. She would be honest and dignified as she told the horrible truth.
”Honorable Fengo, I learned much on my Slaan Leat. As you told us when we set out, it was a journey toward truth. In the course of my journey, I discovered a terrible secret.”
The Fengo c.o.c.ked his head; his eyes remained unblinking. Edme felt their penetrating gaze. ”Go on,” he said. A new severity had crept into his voice.
”I am not a true malcadh.”
There was a sharp inhalation of breath. ”What are you saying?” the Fengo asked.
”I was born normal and then was disfigured. My eye was torn out.” She wanted to tell the Fengo so much more. She wanted to tell him that the scar Dunbar MacHeath bore, that ragged line raking across his face, was caused by her mother, Akira. She wanted to tell him about Ingliss and Kyran. But she knew she must get to the point. ”I come here not as a representative of the MacHeath clan, but as a free runner. I represent no one except myself.” Edme looked down at her front paws. She could not bear to meet the Fengo's eyes.
”Look at me, Edme,” he said sharply. And when she finally looked up, she did not see anger on Finbar's face, only sadness. ”It was the MacHeaths who did this to you?”
”It was Dunbar,” Edme answered.
The Fengo sighed deeply before speaking. ”There have been rumors of this in the past. Now you have confirmed our worst suspicions. These MacHeaths are not true clan wolves. They deserve no place in the Beyond. As Fengo of the Watch, I invoke the privilege accorded only to myself as chieftain of the Supreme Raghnaid to call together a Court of Crait.”
There was a gasp from the wolves. Never in living memory had such a court been called. If the MacHeaths were judged crait, the entire clan would be cast out of the Beyond. From that moment, they would be outclanners.
It felt as if all the air had suddenly been sucked out of the den. Edme staggered slightly, then dropped her tail, tucked it flat between her legs, and began to turn away.
”Where are you going?” the Fengo asked. But she hardly heard him. ”Edme, halt! I asked, where are you going?”
She stopped and turned. An immense tear began to s.h.i.+mmer in her single eye. ”The clan I came from is to be judged. I'm not welcome here.”
”What absolute nonsense, my dear,” the Fengo said.
Then another wolf stepped forward. She was a red wolf also missing one eye. Edme had seen her at the gaddergnaw and then again as they entered the Fengo's den.
”Pardon me, honorable Fengo.”
”Yes, Banja. You have something to say?”
”I only want to suggest that we not be hasty in our decisions. By her own confession, Edme is a malcadh made. So perhaps it is not quite appropriate that a that a”
”That what?” The Fengo's voice had taken on a frightening edge.
”That she serve in the same capacity as the rest of us. Perhaps it would be advisable that she continue in her gnaw wolf status for a while, at least.”
The Fengo stalked forward on stiff legs, his tail high, his teeth bared. ”Banja, you have become as p.r.i.c.kly as a burr. There is no purpose to be served in this youngster continuing as a gnaw wolf. She must train to become a wolf of the Watch. Do I have to invoke the privilege of the Sayer to discipline a Watch wolf? I have never used it before a” please do not tempt me now!”
Faolan and Edme watched as Banja seemed to shrink in her own pelt. She backed away, her single eye that only a second before glittered now seemed dull as a dry stone.
The Fengo turned his back to Banja, who was slinking into the shadows at the rear of the gadderheal. ”Edme, you are not crait. You did not do this to yourself. It was the clan, led by its chieftain, that did this to you. By calling them for a Court of Crait, we ensure that they will never again maim a wolf to make a malcadh. If they are found guilty, they will have no say in any councils held in the gadderheals of the Beyond. Let them destroy themselves. But you, Edme, represent no one except yourself. You have an amazing ability to carve bones. You performed beyond expectation in the byrrgis at the gaddergnaw when you plunged in for the kill rush.” He glanced briefly at Faolan, who cringed at the memory of his lapse of attention at that crucial moment.
Edme, he thought, deserves to serve in the Watch more than I. She made no mistakes during the entire compet.i.tion. Faolan had simply excelled in carving, which seemed to have made up for his errors on the byrrgis.
”So I say to you, Edme, you are a true Watch wolf despite the deceit of the MacHeath clan. You are a loyal wolf despite their faithless desecration of our most sacred laws. You shall serve with honor and dignity despite having been raised in a clan marked by dishonor and disgrace. We welcome you as a free runner.” Edme felt her marrow trembling. The huge tear that had welled in her eye now ran down her face.
The Fengo paused and looked at Faolan. ”We welcome you as a free runner, Edme, and you, Faolan, as the best of your clan. Now Twist and Winks will lead you to your den. At the first phase of the newing, your training will begin.”
”Newing?” Edme whispered as they followed Twist and Winks. ”What's that?”
”It's an owl word for the new moon. They call it dwenking when it begins to fade,” Faolan replied.
”Where did you learn so much Hoolian?” Edme asked.
”From Gwynneth a” she's a Rogue smith.” Rogue smiths were owls who worked metal but lived apart from other owls.
Twist overheard them. ”Ah! Gwynneth. She'll be coming soon. It is getting to be the season of Morgan and Stormfast. The Rogue smiths particularly love the embers from these two volcanoes. And when the She-Winds blow, both volcanoes begin their most violent eruptions at the same time. It seems like every Rogue smith and Rogue collier throughout the Hoolian kingdoms descends upon us. Oh, what a time it is! But now here is your den. Your training begins shortly, so get some rest.”
”Look at this,” Faolan marveled as they slid down a steep pa.s.sage into the den. ”They've even given us pelts. I've never slept on a pelt of my own. I only got the discarded ones from my pack after pups had wet them so often they stank.”
”Me never!” Edme said. ”Even ones soiled by pups were too good for me.”
They each circled their pelts three times as was the custom with most wolves before settling down for a sleep. The pelts were caribou a” winter caribou, so they were all the thicker.
”Edme,” Faolan said. ”I think I'm too excited to sleep.”
”Me, too, but we should try.”