Wolves of the Beyond: Shadow Wolf Read Free

used for the pack of the chieftain. But why was she here? It seemed as if she was embarrassed by Heep’s lavish display of humiliation, and she turned away to join the gaddergludder . Soon the skreeleen ’s voice rose to a high pitch as she howled the final summoning call.
    “To the Marrow!”
    The two packs raced off to the north.
     
    There were always two flanks in a byrrgis formation, either east and west or north and south. If there was just one gnaw wolf, that wolf was required to cover both flanks. With two, Faolan had been assigned the eastern flank, considered the inferior flank because of an old superstition. Heep was the sweeper on the west, and together they were the very last in the line of the thirty-two wolves that comprised the byrrgis .
    The byrrgis stretched out over half a league as it climbed a steep incline. They were traveling at anexasperatingly slow speed. But Faolan knew he must stay in position. The first pile of droppings appeared and he diligently sniffed it. He was making his way up to report the scent to the sublieutenant, a large male named Donegal, when Heep appeared. “I’ll be obliged to report that.”
    “But why? I got the scent.” And before Faolan spoke next, he eyed Heep carefully. “Although I am even lower than you as a new gnaw wolf, I think that if you reported this, it would be considered most…most un-humble for the scent finder to have another report from the western flank.”
    Heep raised his yellow eyes. There seemed barely a trace of the luminous green that suffused the eyes of the wolves of the Beyond.
    “You don’t say,” he replied softly.
    “I do say. You might provoke the sublieutenant, for your nose is dry, and not damp with the steam of moose dung.”
    The yellow wolf began to walk away but turned once and gave Faolan a baleful look.
    After Faolan reported to the sublieutenant, he and Heep were the last to reach the top of a rise. This gave them a good view of the byrrgis on the flats as it accelerated from what was known as press-paw speed to attack speed. It was as if a wave passed through the byrrgis at themoment of acceleration. The nearly three dozen wolves worked as one, their minds, their spirits, and their muscles merged. They didn’t need to think, they didn’t need to bark, for they belonged together, pressed between earth and sky like streaking clouds racing low on the horizon.
    Faolan blinked as he saw the young tawny she-wolf flash out from behind an outflanker. Until prey came into closing range, the outflankers hung back. Once the point wolf thought the prey was beginning to tire, the outflankers streaked out to run.
    How Faolan envied the young wolf from the Carreg Gaer. He could almost feel her muscles as her tawny body stretched. Her neck seemed endlessly long. Threads of saliva spun from her mouth as she ran, and yet it appeared so effortless. Faolan wanted to be a part of this. He could do this. He knew he could. He had picked off a caribou from a herd by himself just moons before.
    Faolan saw Heep scurrying ahead. He must have found some droppings or perhaps a pool of urine. Well, let him have the “honor” of reporting to the sublieutenant.
    The image of those streaking wolves spurred Faolan to charge ahead. He kicked up a whirlwind of dust with his hind legs as he sprang forward. The entire eastern flank had contracted into one tight unit that suddenly increased its speed. Faolan was not sure exactly why theywere doing this, but he wanted to be a part of it. No one would notice if he sped up and packed in with them.
    Seconds later, some sort of signal passed, and he felt the pressure of the wolves compacting around him. He was becoming one of them! He felt it in his marrow. Like metal in the heat of the forge, he was changing. His pace melded with theirs, his muscle became part of a larger one, his heart pumped, joining the single rhythm of all the hearts of all these wolves. He was a member of the byrrgis ! A deep thrill coursed