Chapter 152: The Verdict

The Council came to the territory at the next full moon and they came to the circle in the trees and they brought the whole of the Council and the whole of the Alphas of the north and the whole of the Alphas of the east.

And they brought a gallows.

It was in the east field in the daylight with the whole of the territory standing around it and the whole of the line and the whole of the pack and the whole of the room and the whole of the twelve and the whole of it was silent.

The Alpha of the Alphas came into the circle with his staff in his hand and he stood in front of the flat stone and he put the staff down on it.

“Alpha,” he said. “The Council has ruled on the Beta and the Council has ruled on the keeper and the whole of it is going to be answered for in this circle at this full moon.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then answer it,” I said.

The Council heard the Beta first.

Dale came into the circle in his shirt with his hands tied and his face gray and he stood in front of the whole of the Council and the whole of the territory and he told the whole of it. The knife and the field and the coat and the money and the six years. He told it flat and he told it slow and he did not leave a thing out and when he was done he said, “I killed Owen Halloran and I am going to answer for it.”

The Council voted.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas said, “The Beta is stripped of his rank and his name and his place in the pack. He is sentenced to twenty years in the Council’s prison and he is to be taken to Boise tonight.”

Dale stood in the circle.

And then he turned and looked at me.

“Alpha,” he said. “I am going to ask you for a thing.”

“Ask it,” I said.

“My son,” Dale said. “He is eleven years old and he has no mother and his father is going to a cell. And there is nobody in this territory who is going to take him.” He put his hand on his chest. “Let the pack take him. Let the Circle Pack raise him and let him grow up in this territory and let him be a wolf of the line.”

I looked at him.

“He is a wolf of the line,” I said. “The whole of this territory is the line. And the whole of this territory is going to raise him.”

Dale put his hand over his face.

“Thank you,” he said.

They took him out of the circle.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas said, “The Council is going to hear the keeper.”

Elias came into the circle.

He was in his coat with his side wrapped and his face gray and he walked into the middle of the circle and stood on the flat stone and the whole of the territory stood around him.

“Keeper,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “You are charged with taking a wolf’s life in the circle. The Gamma of the north was in the circle and you took his life and the Council has ruled that the whole of it is a blood crime.”

Elias stood on the stone.

“The Gamma of the north put a silver blade in my chest,” he said. “And the Alpha of the Circle Pack put an axe in his shoulder to stop him and he did not die. He is alive and he is in a cell in Boise and he is going to answer for the blade.” He put his hand on his chest. “I did not take a wolf’s life in the circle.”

The Council moved.

“The Council has a witness,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “The Council has a wolf who says the keeper took a life in the circle and the wolf is the Gamma of the north.”

The Gamma of the north came into the circle.

He was in a gray coat with his arm in a sling and his shaved head and his thin face and he came into the middle of the circle and stood in front of the Council.

“Alphas,” he said. “I am the Gamma of the north and I was in the circle and the keeper came at me with a length of chain and he put it around my throat and he would have killed me if the Alpha had not stopped him.”

The circle was silent.

And then Wren said, “That is a lie.”

The whole of the circle turned.

It was June.

She was standing at the edge of the circle with her face white and her hands on her stomach.

“That is a lie,” June said again. “I was in the circle and I saw the whole of it. The Gamma of the north put a silver blade in the keeper’s chest and the keeper went down and the Alpha put an axe in the Gamma’s shoulder to stop him and the Gamma is alive and he is standing in this circle and he is lying.”

The circle moved.

And then the Gamma of the north said, “The girl is the Alpha’s sister and her word is worth nothing.”

And then a wolf came out of the crowd.

It was Mary the keeper of the room and she had her burned hand in her coat and she put a paper on the stone.

“Alphas,” she said. “I am the keeper of the room and I have been the keeper for forty years and I have a paper that the whole of the Council should see.” She put her hand on the paper. “It is the Gamma of the north’s birth record. He was born in the room in 1954 and he was taken out of the room by the Council and put in the north and the whole of it is in the register.” She looked at the Gamma. “You are the line. You are the fourth daughter’s line. And you have been the Council’s hand since you were twelve years old.”

The circle was silent.

The Gamma of the north stood in the circle.

And then he said, “I do not know what I am.”

“You are the line,” Mary said. “And you have been lying to the Council since the day you were taken out of the room.”

The Gamma of the north looked at the whole of the Council.

And then he sat down on the flat stone and put his face in his hands.

The Alpha of the Alphas brought his staff down on the floor.

“The Council has heard the whole of it,” he said. “And the Council is going to vote.”

They voted in the circle with the whole of the territory watching.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas said, “The keeper is acquitted of the blood crime. The Gamma of the north is to be held and tried for the blade and for the lie.”

The circle roared.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas brought his staff down again.

“And there is a thing the Council has to do,” he said. “The Council has ruled on the whole of it and the whole of it is finished. But there is a debt that has not been answered.” He looked at the whole of the circle. “The Council of Alphas has been wrong for two hundred years and the whole of it is going to be answered for. And the first wolf to answer is the speaker of the east.”

The speaker of the east came into the circle.

And then he said, “I am the speaker of the east and I am not going to answer for anything.”

He turned and walked out of the circle and the whole of the east went with him.

The circle was silent.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas said, “The east has left the Council.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then the whole of it is not finished,” I said.

“The whole of it is not finished,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “The east has a circle and the east has been keeping it closed since 1802 and the whole of it is going to be opened at the next full moon.” He put his staff on the stone. “And the east has taken the whole of the line with it.”

I stood in the circle.

“What?” I said.

“The east has taken the whole of the line,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “The children from the room and the whole of the ones the keeper hid and the whole of the ones the east took. The east has been collecting them for a hundred years and the whole of them are in the east and the whole of them are going to stand in the circle at the next full moon.”

The circle was silent.

And then June came up beside me.

“Wren,” she said. “The wire. There is a wire from the east. It says the whole of the line is in the east and it says the east is going to open the circle and it says if the Alpha of the Circle Pack does not come to the east before the full moon the whole of the line is going to be put in the room.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then we go to the east,” I said.