Wolves of the Beyond 02 - Shadow Wolf

blindness.
    Taking as many of the tiny bones in his mouth as he could, Faolan set off from his encampment at attack speed. He knew he could keep up this pace all the way back, for his anger fueled him. Hillocks flew by. He leaped streams he had once swum. A grove of birches flashed past him in a white blur. The clouds overhead, pushed by a strong west wind, were slow as sap in comparison to the silver streak that was Faolan running with love and hatred in his heart. Love for the pup. Love for what it never had a chance to be. And a deep abhorrence for the absolute vileness of Heep. The pup’s story was about to end.
     
    When Faolan was less than a league away from the encampment, he was caught by surprise by a skreeleen ’s howl. “The gnaw wolf Faolan approaches!” Next came ahigh-pitched shrilling from scores of wolves. He could catch threads of words—“Dim World… vyrrwolf …demon wolf…witch…murderer!”
    Just then, two large wolves swept down on either side of him. One bit him viciously on his hip. Other wolves pulled the attacking wolf off. But within seconds, more wolves were on top of Faolan, crushing him so he could not speak.
    A mass of wolves parted as if to make way. “Here he comes. Here he comes.”
    Who is coming? Faolan thought. What is happening? But the air was being squeezed out of him and he couldn’t lift his eyes to see.
     
    “Most humbly I submit that this indeed is the murderer of the malcadh and I will again, with great humility since I am but a lowly gnaw wolf—a tailless gnaw wolf—submit the evidence to the raghnaid .”
    Raghnaid? Murderer? Evidence? Faolan listened to these oily words in terror. What evidence could Heep possibly have? Faolan had brought the evidence. It had spilled from his mouth when the wolves ambushed him.
    Adair stepped forward and ordered the wolves off soFaolan could stand. “Faolan, you are to be brought to the gadderheal , where the raghnaid has assembled. You are to be charged with murder!”
    “Murder?”
    “The murder of a malcadh .”
    “That’s impossible! NO!”
    Gwynneth’s words came back to him. They might try to blame you…. They are looking for reasons for you to fail. And now it was all happening.
    “Let the tearing begin!” A high-pitched howl went up.
    “Not yet. Not yet! Wait for the judgment of the raghnaid !” someone barked.
    Two more wolves appeared and pressed in on either side of Faolan. He felt himself carried along by a surge of flanking wolves.
    “My bones! My bones!” he shouted.
    “What bones?” Adair asked.
    “The ones I dropped. They are MY evidence.” He thought he caught a glimpse of Adair picking up the little pup’s bones. But he could not be sure.
    Those bones were his only hope.
     
    When they entered the encampment, the silence was thick. Faolan was escorted immediately to the gadderheal . The path was choked with onlookers, and two wolves trotted ahead briskly and barked to clear the way. Faolan spotted Mhairie and Dearlea, weeping silently. He dared not catch their eyes. How had all this come about? He was in a daze as he was brought before Liam, son of Duncan MacDuncan. At Liam’s side was Cathmor, looking deeply angry. She nudged her son. “Get on with it.”
    “Faolan, gnaw wolf of the MacDuncan clan, for the second time in less than a year, you have been brought before the raghnaid to answer for the accusations inscribed on a gnaw-bone.”
    “Wait!” He looked around frantically for Adair. “Bring the bones that I carried!”
    Adair came forward and dropped the small pile. Faolan felt a momentary relief as he looked down at the tiny fragments of white. “I ask you, my lord chieftain, to look, just look down at my feet. I brought you the bones of the malcadh as evidence of her murder. Murder by none other than Heep, gnaw wolf of the River Pack.”
    “What is this?” Adair said. “Why would the murderer bring evidence of his own crime?”
    “Because it’s not MY crime. It’s Heep who murdered this malcadh .”
    “But it is Heep who has given us the evidence.”
    “WHAT EVIDENCE?” Faolan roared. Two large wolves leaped on him from behind, lashing him about by his tail so that he rolled onto his back. He looked up at the wolves who stared down at him. His eyes were wild.
    I must speak to them calmly. I must show some sense, exactly as Duncan MacDuncan told me.
    “Let him rise,” the chieftain said. Faolan staggered to his feet. The chieftain looked at him fiercely. “It