Chapter 156: The Last Challenge

The whole of the shore was silent and Kern was standing at the water's edge with his hands at his sides.

"There is a thing about this morning," the woman with black hair said, "that the whole of this shore is going to hear before the guards put a hand on anybody. The Court of Alphas has been in this village since Friday and it has heard the whole of the file and the whole of the co-op and the whole of the ring and the whole of the healer's book. It has heard the woman Eileen say the whole of it on this slip and it has heard the man Kern put the second file on the stones." She put her hand out. "And there is a thing about the Court of Alphas that the whole of this shore is going to hear now. It is not the Council. It is nine wolves from nine territories and it has the power to set aside a seat and to declare an heir and to banish a wolf from every territory on this island. And there is a thing about a man who has been the Keeper of the Rolls for thirty six years and who has been taking the tenth out of every pack on this coast. He is not a wolf. He is not a member of the Court and he is not a member of the Council. He is a man in a good coat and there is not a thing in the charter of the Court of Alphas that is going to be able to put him in a file."

The whole of the shore was silent.

"But there is a thing about the whole of it," she said, "that the court can do and that it is going to do this morning. The Council of Alphas has a man in every region and the man in this region is standing on this slip with a case in his hand. And there is a thing about a man who has been the enforcer of a region for three years and who has been in that building and who has read the whole of the file. He is not a wolf who is going to be the enforcer of this region by the evening. The court strips him of the office and it strips him of the rank and it puts the whole of it in a file with the date and the hour."

The whole of the shore went up.

And then Ahern put the case down on the slip.

"There is a thing about this morning," he said, "that I have been trying to say since the office in Galway and that I am going to say now on this slip in front of the whole of the co-op. I have been the enforcer of this region for three years and I have been in that building and I have read the whole of the file and I have known the whole of it since the first day. And there is a thing about a man who has known the whole of it and who has not said a word. He is not a man who is going to be able to say he was not a part of it." He put his hand in his coat and took out a paper. "This is my resignation. It is in my own hand and it has a date on it and it is going to the Council in London before the evening. And there is a thing about a man who resigns an office on a slip with the whole of a pack in front of him. He is not a man who is going to be in a file as a thief. He is a man who is going to be in a file as a witness."

The whole of the shore was silent.

And then the whole of the co-op turned round.

Because there was a wolf on the slip who had not been there a minute before.

It was the grey wolf with the frost coat and the long muzzle and she was standing at the top of the slip with her head up and her tail straight and she was looking at the whole of the pack.

Mairéad shifted.

"There is a thing about the whole of it," she said, "that I have been trying to say since the hall and that I am going to say now on this slip in front of the whole of the co-op. The whole of it was not a man in a good coat and it was not a woman in a black coat and it was not a village that was frightened. It was a thing that a whole lot of wolves did and there is not a wolf on this shore who is going to be able to say he did not do it." She came down the slip. "And there is a thing about a wolf who has done the whole of it and who is standing on a slip with the whole of the pack in front of her. She is not a wolf who is going to be able to say she is sorry and have the whole of it be over. She is a wolf who is going to be in a room in Galway and then in a room in Dublin and then in a file and there is not a thing in the world that is going to be able to say it was not her."

The whole of the shore was silent.

"Then there is a thing I have to say," I said, "and I am going to say it and then the whole of it is going to be in a file in Galway before the evening. The whole of it has been in a file and a court and a hall and a slip and the whole of it has come down to a thing that no wolf on this shore has said out loud. It is the last challenge and it is not a challenge for a seat. It is a challenge for a pack. And there is a thing about a pack that has been in a village for thirty six years and that has been told what to do by a woman in a chair and a man in a good coat and a woman in a house on a road. It has never once been asked what it is." I put my hand out. "So I am going to ask it now and I am going to ask it on this slip. Not a vote. Not a claim. A thing that a pack says to itself. The whole of it is over and there is a thing that a pack has to do when it is over. It has to say the whole of it out loud and it has to say it to each other."

The whole of the shore was silent.

And then Tom came down the slip.

"There is a thing about a village," he said, "that I have been in all my life and that I have never once been able to say out loud. It is a village that has been quiet for thirty six years and that has been quiet because every wolf in it was frightened. And there is a thing about a woman with gold hair who has been in it for a month and who has not been frightened." He put his hand on the wall. "I am Tom and I have been the Alpha's hand for fourteen years and I set a fire in a back room and I have known since I was seventeen that my father pushed a woman off a cliff and I have never said it out loud. And there is a thing about a wolf who has never said it out loud. He is not a wolf who is going to be able to be in this pack until he has."

The whole of the shore was silent.

And then Hannah came down and then Arthur and then the whole of the eleven and the whole of the twenty and the whole of the nine.

It took until the sun was over the water.

And when it was done there was not a wolf on that shore who had not said the whole of it and there was not a wolf on it who was standing alone.

And then the woman with black hair came down the slip with the nine of the Court behind her and a paper in her hand.

"There is a thing about this morning," she said, "that the whole of this shore is going to hear and then it is going to be in a file in Galway before the evening. The Court of Alphas has heard the whole of the file and the whole of the co-op and the whole of the ring and the whole of the healer's book and the whole of the second file and the whole of the woman Eileen and the whole of the man Kern and the whole of the woman Mairéad. And it has made a decision and the decision is this. The seat of Dún Aonghasa is confirmed in the woman Niamh and she is the Alpha of this pack and the whole of it is in a file with the date and the hour." She put the paper out. "And there is a thing about a seat that is confirmed. It is not a thing that a court gives. It is a thing that a pack gives and a court puts in a file."

The whole of the shore went up.

And then the whole of the pack came down the slip and the whole of it was forty wolves and the whole of it was the sound of a village that had stopped being a co-op.

Mairéad was standing at the top of the slip with her silver hair down and her black coat and her hands at her sides.

"There is a thing about a wolf who has been in a chair for fourteen years," she said, "that she is going to be in a room in Galway by the evening and there is not a wolf on this shore who is going to be able to say she did not say the whole of it." She turned round. "And there is a thing about the whole of it that I have to say before the guards take me. The whole of it was not a man in a good coat. It was a woman in a chair who signed the papers and called the hunters and put a rope round a woman's neck and I am not going to be able to say I was told to do it."