Chapter 154: The Lowest Point

Ilsa came up the hill with the paper in her hand and two Council guards behind her and she did not come into the house.

She stood in the yard.

"Luna," she said. "Alpha. The Council has sat in the north and it has heard the evidence of the keeper Eamon and the keeper Cael and the lord of Ravenscar and it has taken a vote."

The yard was filling. The nine and the fourteen and the seven and the twelve and the whole of the pack came out of the house and stood in the yard.

"Say it," I said.

"The Council finds that the founder broke the chain without a vote and without the leave of the Council of Alphas, and that three wolves died of it." Ilsa's old face was grey. "The Council has voted to declare the founder a rogue and to strip her of the Luna's seat and to order her out of the Blackthorn territory pending a final judgment."

The yard went up.

It went up in a roar and I stood in the middle of it and did not move.

"Silence," Ilsa said.

The yard did not go silent.

"Silence," she said again, and this time it went quiet.

"Elder," I said. "The trial is in twelve days."

"The trial is in twelve days and the Council has voted to declare you a rogue before it." Ilsa looked at me. "Luna. The vote was four to one. Rannoch voted against it and the other three voted for it and there was a fourth vote that was not an elder's."

"Whose?"

"Soren's." Ilsa's jaw worked. "He is in a cell and he has no seat and he has no vote and he sent a letter to the chamber that was read out and it was the letter that decided it."

I stood in the yard.

"Read it," I said.

"I will not read it in this yard."

"Read it."

Ilsa looked at me for a long moment.

And then she unfolded the letter and read it.

It was short. It said that the founder had broken the chain in a cellar without a vote and three wolves had died, and that a founder who breaks a thing without the leave of the Council is not a founder but a rogue, and that the Council had a duty to the north that was older than any founder's claim.

And at the bottom of it, in Soren's small neat hand, there was a line that said: the Council may do as it wishes with the founder. But it should remember that a rogue founder is a founder still.

The yard was silent.

"He has done it again," I said.

"Luna," Ilsa said.

"He has been in a cell for a fortnight and he has written a letter and he has made the Council declare me a rogue and he has done it with a piece of paper and a quiet voice." I looked at the paper in her hand. "And he has done it because if I am a rogue I cannot stand in that chamber as a founder and give evidence against him."

The yard was silent.

"Then you will stand in that chamber as a rogue," Ilsa said. "And the Council will hear you."

"And the pack?" I said.

Ilsa did not answer.

I turned round.

The yard was full. The nine and the fourteen and the seven and the twelve and the whole of the pack. And there was not a wolf in it who was not looking at Ronan.

"Alpha," the woman at the front of the nine said. "Say something."

Ronan stood in the middle of the yard.

"Fiadh," he said.

"Say something to your pack," I said.

He looked at me.

And then he looked at the yard.

"The Council has declared the Luna a rogue," he said. "And I have been an Alpha for eleven years and I have been a rogue Alpha for a fortnight and I have been in a chamber and a square and a cellar and a fire. And I am standing in this yard and I do not know what to say to you."

The yard went up.

"Alpha," the woman said. "The Luna has been in this pack for four months and she has sewn up eleven wolves in one night and she has broken a chain and she has held a coast and she has buried her grandmother on that hill. And the Council has declared her a rogue and you are standing in this yard and telling us you do not know what to say."

Ronan did not answer.

The yard went up again and this time it did not come down.

I stood in the middle of it and listened to a pack come apart. I heard one of the nine say the word rogue. I heard a wolf at the back say, we have been declared vacant twice in a year. I heard Colm's brother say something that made the wolf next to him turn round.

And through the bond, in the back of my head, the door was shut.

"Silence," Ilsa said.

The yard did not go silent.

I walked out of it.

I walked across the yard and through the gate and down the hill to the harbour and I did not look back.

I got to the slip.

And behind me, on the road, a wolf was running.

"Luna," Nessa said. "Luna, wait."

I stopped.

She came down the slip with her skirts in her hands and her face wet.

"Luna," she said. "The Alpha has gone into the house and he has shut the door and he will not come out and the yard is full and there is a wolf saying we should send for Maeve."

I stood on the slip.

"Then send for Maeve," I said.

"Luna."

"Nessa. I have been declared a rogue by a Council that has been sitting in the north for a fortnight and my mate has stood in a yard in front of his own pack and told them he did not know what to say." I looked at her. "And I have been in nine packs and I have never once been in one that did not come apart."

And down at the end of the slip, a boat came in.

It was a small boat and it had a green sail and there was a woman in it with copper curls and a guard behind her.

Maeve.

She brought the boat in and got out and stood on the slip.

"Luna," she said.

"Maeve."

"The Council has declared you a rogue." She looked at me. "And I have been in a cell in the north for a fortnight and I have been thinking about a great many things and I have come south on a boat with a guard and a paper."

"What paper?"

Maeve held it up.

"It is a paper that says the Beta of the Blackthorn Pack is released from custody and restored to her seat." She looked at me. "The Council has given it to me because the Council needs a Beta on this coast who will hold it when the founder is gone."

I stood on the slip.

"Then you have what you wanted," I said.

Maeve looked at me.

"No," she said. "I have what I did not want. And I have come south to tell you that I am not going to take it."

And down in the harbour, a horn sounded.