Part 10 (2/2)
”Don't be angry,” Gwynneth said, suddenly contrite. ”I tend to go off a bit about slipgizzles. They have their place in owl society. And they've done a lot of good. The Great Tree is very dependent on them.”
”All right. I'm sorry I asked you.”
”Don't worry,” Gwynneth said as she began to spread her wings. Effortlessly, she lifted into flight.
As so often happened when Faolan stood close to owls or watched them take off into the sky, he seemed to feel stirrings deep within him, whispers from another time or another world. But it wasn't just when he watched owls. These whispers had started coming to him during his Slaan Leat, his journey toward truth. There was a truth out there still waiting for him, and every once in a while, he caught a glimpse of it. Sometimes when he did his leaps, especially the high ones where he rode the warm drifts to wolf's peak, he felt as though he was coming close to catching mists or wraiths from the past.
Owls called them scrooms, wolves mist or lochin. These mists from an unreachable past seemed to seep through his mind. He felt sometimes as if he were trespa.s.sing on someone else's memories or dreams. But it was not his fault. He could never quite figure out what prompted these moments. And when they occurred, he felt as if he were a wolf out of time.
When he had completed his scanning jump and landed back on the cairn, he looked down and spotted Edme.
”Going off duty?” he asked. Edme looked up at him.
”Yes, finally!”
”I'm on until dawn. Why aren't you back in the den already asleep?”
”I don't know. I find it hard to sleep. It seems like the whole Ring is holding its breath and n.o.body is telling us anything.”
”It's not just us. Gwynneth came by and she doesn't know any more than we do.” Faolan tipped his head skyward, scanning for graymalkins. From the corner of one eye, he caught sight of a Spotted Owl lingering low in the sky on the southeastern edge of the crater. He felt a funny twitch in his marrow. Was this owl cratering? Should he howl the graymalkin alarm? He listened for the brittle crunching that was said sometimes to emanate from the crater when a graymalkin approached, but he heard nothing. False alarms were not looked upon kindly. Besides, it was not really the season for graymalkins. They usually came with the She-Winds, flying under the camouflage of the throngs of colliers and Rogue smiths streaming in. Still he was nervous.
”I'm going up!” he said to Edme. ”Wait here.”
Edme was so tired by this point that she could not have managed a hop. So she settled herself on the cairn's platform and tipped her head to follow Faolan's jump.
He was a magnificent jumper, no doubt about it. The tales of when he leaped over a wall of fire had swept across the Beyond. She had not witnessed it, but those who did had said they'd never seen anything like it. That alone should have qualified him for the Ring.
”What in the name of Glaux!” Edme muttered as she looked up. She had begun to take up many of the owl expressions and milder swear words. She watched Faolan reach out and grab what looked like an ordinary Spotted Owl. Before she could wonder, Faolan was back on top of the cairn.
He dropped the owl and quickly pinned it down with his starboard forepaw.
”I didn't mean to! Honest, I didn't mean it!” The owl was hysterical.
”Faolan, a graymalkin!”
”I think so.”
”Well, why didn't you howl the alarm?”
Faolan looked at her blankly. ”I'm not really sure.”
”That's unconscionable! You could get into a lot of trouble.”
”I didn't want to send a false alarm. I just thought there was something a””
”Don't, don't, don't! Please don't sound any alarm,” the owl pleaded.
”Why were you hanging around over the crater? There weren't any coals shooting out. The She-Winds are gone. What's your excuse?” Faolan's voice was rising.
”All right, all right. I just a I just a” the owl sputtered.
”You just what?” Edme stomped down on his other wing.
”I did it on a dare,” the Spotted Owl blurted out.
”A dare!” Faolan said. ”Are you yoicks?”
”Yes, definitely. I am completely, totally, eternally yoicks.”
”But why?” Edme asked.
”I was sick of them making fun of me. I wasn't really going to take the ember if I saw it. But Skylar said that sometimes after the She-Winds blow out, you can see the ember float to the top.”
”Skylar is full of wet p.o.o.p!” Faolan said. This was one of the nastier owl curses because owls prided themselves on their discreet and n.o.ble digestive systems, which allowed them to produce neatly packaged pellets, unlike other birds who excreted white splats.
”Probably, but I just wanted a well, you know, for them a to like me. I fly funny. You saw it. That's why you caught me so easily. My port wing tip is turned funny.”
”That is no excuse! Look at Edme. She has one eye. Look at me.” Faolan s.h.i.+fted his weight so he could hold down the Spotted Owl's wing and lift up his splayed paw. ”Have a look, idiot!”
”That's, uh, some paw!”
”It certainly is. And I've learned to live with it a” very well, I might add a” as Edme has learned to live with one eye. And guess what else?”
”What?” the owl asked in a trembling voice.
”We were never accepted until we came here. We were gnaw wolves, bitten and beaten up, the last ones at the kill allowed to eat.”
”I'm really sorry.”
”Sorry!” Edme exclaimed with contempt.
”Are you going to howl the alarm?”
”We should,” Faolan replied.
”No, you shouldn't,” the owl said quickly.
”Why not?” Faolan asked.
”Because I know something a something important.” His yellow eyes had a sudden crafty s.h.i.+mmer. ”I know about a cubnapping!”
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