Wolves of the Beyond 02 - Shadow Wolf

don’t fly.”
    “I know some owl words. I had a friend, an owl, a Rogue smith.”
    “Oh, fantastic. You had a friend, a Rogue smith,” Mhairie sneered, then cocked her head. “Forget Ga’Hoole. You don’t belong there.”
    “Well, I don’t belong here!” Faolan answered. He tried to keep his ears laid flat as was proper, but they kept twitching up.
    Mhairie sighed. “I still can’t believe what you did on that byrrgis . I mean, for the love of Lupus, this was supposed to be my…my…” Mhairie began to stammer. “Mybig moment. I could have finished the crimp if it hadn’t been for you.
    “Look, I don’t know what the raghnaid will do. I’m not sure when they’ll call you. Not with Duncan…” She started again. “Not with Duncan MacDuncan so…so sick.” Her voice dwindled to an aching whisper. But within seconds, the sting was back.
    “And one more thing—that tone of yours! You don’t use that tone with me or with any other wolf. You are a gnaw wolf. Everyone knows that you have incredible strength. They saw you jump the fire trap. Wolves are superstitious. There are a lot who think you challenged the order when you jumped that wall of flames. Fractured the Great Chain. But that was survival. Mere survival. Just don’t go around mouthing off and asking insolent questions!”
    Why would she say “mere” survival? Faolan wondered. There was nothing small about being hunted down by a byrrgis and jumping over a wall of towering flames.
    “What you did in the moose hunt confirms what a lot of these wolves thought back then when you jumped the fire trap. They want you out. They think you’ll bring moon rot. No, not just bring it—that you are it. You are walking moon rot.”
    “They really believe that?” Faolan was bewildered. Moon rot was the shadow cast during the day by the previous night’s moon. It was believed to be an ill omen.
    “It’s no excuse that you were a lone wolf and don’t know the ways of the pack, of the clan. You show no inclination for learning them. Absolutely none whatsoever!”
    “But what’s the sense of it all? Lupus gave me strong legs. I learned to jump, to run, and it’s all wasted here. I can’t do any of what I learned—why not?”
    “You think it’s all about you, Faolan, just you. Well, it isn’t. The pack is not a single wolf. The clan is not a single pack.” Mhairie flashed him a last angry glance. “As you’ll learn when you face the raghnaid .”
    Faolan’s tail instinctively twitched between his legs. The raghnaid was awaiting him, and his biggest humiliation yet.

CHAPTER FOUR
T HE P RINT IN THE M UD
    THE GNAW BITE WAS A PUNISHMENT seldom administered. But the high-ranking members of the pack agreed that the infraction of the laws of the byrrgis was so serious that Faolan must be bitten. To add insult to injury, Heep was chosen to inflict the bite. Lord Claren, head of the River Pack, and Lord Bhreac of the Pack of the Eastern Scree, both wearing their necklaces of bones, led Heep forth. Heep kept his yellow eyes lowered, but Faolan could see the smile on his muzzle.
    A drizzle had started and was quickly turning the dust into a fine, slippery mud. Heep stepped forward to deliver the gnaw bite. The yellow wolf would tear a piece from Faolan’s pelt and possibly his flesh. Faolan would be marked by Heep, cut right to his bone if the bite was deep enough. The idea was appalling to him.
    Faolan stared at the ground, not daring to look up. His heart was beating so hard in his chest, it seemed as loud as Thunderheart’s. Indeed, it was as if thunder rolled through him. He pawed the ground nervously with his splayed foot. Faolan could smell Heep’s hot breath as he stepped closer. He would not give Heep the satisfaction of running or even flinching. He braced himself for the first tearing of his flesh. I must not waver. I must stand here. I will do this, for Thunderheart . And it was as if the great grizzly’s heart invaded him, not simply the booming sound, but the lifeblood pumping through him. Faolan shifted slightly and planted his feet, prepared to endure the pain of the bite.
    He was not sure how long he had stood when he noticed a silence had fallen on the wolves gathered around. What was happening? Nothing. What was wrong? He could feel the other wolves shrinking back in disappointment, as if the drama they had anticipated was fading. He lifted his eyes and saw Heep quivering with fear, those two yellow eyes riveted on the