Part 13 (2/2)

The two wolves felt the brush of a soft wind gust and the next thing they knew, Gwynneth was soaring above them.

As the owl flew in and was seen to perch on Grizz's ma.s.sive shoulder, the drumming seemed to pause. Grizz was the grizzly elder known also as the Bear of Bears of the Beyond. Although the social organization of the bears was not nearly as structured as that of the wolves, the Bear of Bears was a kind of chieftain. He settled territorial disputes between bears and dealt with all business transacted between the wolves and the bears of the Beyond. Grizz was very old at this point and, despite his size, he was weak. Palsied, blind in one eye, with only dim vision in the other, and with many of his teeth missing, Grizz was clearly not long for this earth. His paw shook uncontrollably as the owl whispered in his ear.

”You say Toby's been found?” he rasped. ”My great-grandson's been found!”

”Yes,” Gwynneth replied. ”He comes now with an escort a.s.signed by the Fengo.”

”Bring him forth and we shall parley with the wolves.”

”What? Impossible!” Dunbar MacHeath stared at his scout. ”You're sure, Fretta?”

”I'm sure. The cub has been rescued.”

”Who? Who rescued him?”

”Edme and the wolf Faolan.”

Dunbar MacHeath's scar quivered like a boiling river running down his clenched face. ”This a this a” His voice was ragged.

The MacHeath lieutenants regarded Dunbar nervously. They'd never seen him like this before.

”Why are you looking at me so stupidly?” Dunbar snarled. ”You idiots. This will be our undoing. With the cub rescued, there's no chance for a war with the bears. We're finished.” He paused and his eyes rolled up until only the barest crescent of green showed against the whites. ”Unless a” he began slowly.

”Unless what, Lord Chieftain?” Malan asked.

Dunbar MacHeath wheeled around to Fretta. ”Where is the cub now? Where's Grizz?”

”Top lieutenants from the Watch have met up with Edme and Faolan. They're escorting the cub to the center of the Black Gla.s.s Desert, to the Twisted Four-four.”

”You mean the four yondos in the middle of the desert?”

”Yes. Grizz is making his way now to the Fengo for a parley at those yondos, not far from where the bears have a.s.sembled for their rally. The cub is to be delivered directly to Grizz.”

”Grizz is old and unsteady!” Dunbar MacHeath said, his ears shoved forward and his hackles raised. ”He's a perfect target for a slink melf!”

”Aaaah!” An exhalation of relief and hope reverberated through the cave.

”There will be a war yet with the bears. Malan, Fretta, Blyden, Andreen, Aila, Donaidh! We go now. Attack speed! By my marrow, the Sacred Ring shall be ours!”

A savage howling erupted from the gathered wolves as the largest slink melf ever a.s.sembled tore out of the cave and streaked toward the four yondos on the darkling plains of the Black Gla.s.s Desert.

With the exception of the MacHeaths, there had been much rejoicing among the clans of the Beyond when Toby returned unharmed. What had initially begun as a march to the opening front of a terrible war was now a joyous journey to celebrate the return of a cub. There were two wolves, however, whose relief was tinged with anxiety.

”You know what this means?” Katria said in a low voice to Airmead.

The white wolf nodded. ”Yes, of course. Dunbar MacHeath will not go silently into oblivion.”

The two wolves stopped as the rest of the MacNamaras flowed by them.

”He'll still want his war,” Katria said. ”They'll be up to something.”

Without saying another word, Katria and Airmead peeled off from the expeditionary force and headed toward the rondos in the Black Gla.s.s Desert, intent on stopping any wolves who wanted to turn the celebration into a bloodbath.

Airmead marveled that soon Katria, hackles raised and nose to the ground, began picking up not just scents but tracks a” tracks that, to another wolf, might seem anonymous. But Katria knew these paw prints from when she had to press the wolves running a byrrgis into crimping maneuvers, blocking strategies, and tackling sprints. She had run nearly every position on a MacHeath byrrgis. ”This is Blyden a and of course Donaidh a” the old fool. I'd know his paw print anyplace. And here's Malan and Fretta.” She stopped in her tracks. ”Andreen! Aila! Great Lupus! It's a slink melf led by Dunbar!” She looked up at Airmead. ”They're going to a.s.sa.s.sinate Grizz!”

A large silence opened up in the Darklands, like jaws that seemed to swallow the drumming of the bears in antic.i.p.ation of the cub's arrival. It was as if the entire Beyond had paused to savor the momentous event. Wolves shoved their ears forward, owls rotated their heads so their ear slits could catch the rumbled whispers that began to rise from the army of bears. ”They say he's coming. Toby is coming!”

Then near the Twisted Four, a voice split the drumming. ”Toby!” Bronka roared. The mother and cub ran toward each other through a dark, winding path that wove between the small hillocks, separating the four yondos. Grizz roared in jubilation.

”Where are they?” Airmead said desperately. The track for the slink melf had gone cold almost as soon as they had reached the Black Gla.s.s Desert. Unlike dirt, the granules of the fine sand could not hold a print. The slink melf*s scent, too, seemed to evaporate in the dry air.

”We have to keep our eyes on Grizz,” Airmead said.

”You watch Grizz. I'll watch the dark.” Katria had begun to realize that the Black Gla.s.s Desert was not all dark in the same way. And although the eerie dunes and plains seemed shadowless, there were more shades of black than one might imagine. Katria caught a movement at the far edge of her vision, less than forty strides away, where Grizz had just turned behind one of the hillocks.

An extraordinary energy coursed through her. She had no memory of her feet leaving the ground, but suddenly she was airborne and sailing over the small hill that obscured Grizz. Her teeth sank into Andreen's ruff just as Andreen sank her teeth into the haunches of the Bear of Bears. There was a roar that sounded as if the earth were being torn apart. Katria, her vision obscured by spraying blood, somehow managed to jump clear as Grizz's ma.s.sive body began to collapse.

There was a thunderous howling followed by the rumbling growls of bears. ”Grizz was attacked!” someone yelled. And that someone was not Grizz's guards but Dunbar MacHeath himself! The slink melf had managed to vanish except for Andreen, who was pinned under the Grizz's body. A tangle of wolves surrounded Edme. She glimpsed Jasper and the Fengo, but there were others.

It took Edme a split second to understand what had transpired. ”It's the MacHeaths! They attacked.”

”No!” Dunbar started to shout as he raced away from where the slink melf had been. He didn't get far before Edme was upon him like an airborne missile. She tore open his face, ripping the scar that her own mother had carved. She pulled and pulled on his flesh, digging her fangs in ever deeper until she sliced into the life-giving artery in his neck and a huge spurt of blood drenched her.

Dunbar MacHeath looked at her with bewilderment. ”How? How?” he gurgled.

”I finished my mum's work, that's all,” Edme whispered.

”Death to the wolves,” someone from the throng of bears cried out. ”Death to the wolves.”

”No!” roared a she-bear. It was Toby's mum. She loped forward with both her cubs riding on her back. ”Listen to me! Listen!”

”It's Bronka. Bronka and both her cubs,” others whispered.

The Bear of Bears stirred. The throngs gathered closer as they watched him stagger to his feet. Crushed beneath him was the body of Andreen.

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