Chapter 153: The Sentence

The Council of Alphas did not let us go to the east.

The Alpha of the Alphas brought his staff down on the stone three times and the whole of the circle went quiet and he said, “Alpha, the east is not a territory. The east is the Council’s oldest seat and the east has forty Alphas and two thousand wolves and the east has been keeping the circle closed for two hundred years. You cannot go to the east with four hundred wolves and a keeper and a line.”

“Then what do you suggest?” I said.

“I suggest you send an envoy,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “And I suggest you send the one wolf the east cannot refuse.”

“Who?” I said.

“The Luna’s granddaughter,” he said. “Ilse of the west. The east has been hunting her for forty years and the east has never caught her and the east is going to want to look at her face.”

I looked at Ilse.

She was standing at the edge of the circle with her cane and her white hair and she was looking at the Alpha of the Alphas.

“I will go,” she said.

“No,” I said.

“Alpha,” Ilse said. “I have been hiding for forty years and I am not going to hide any more. And there is a thing about the east that the whole of the Council does not know.” She put her hand on her cane. “The east has a circle and the east has a keeper and the keeper of the east is my sister.”

The circle was silent.

“Your sister,” I said.

“My sister,” Ilse said. “She was born in 1932 and she was taken out of the room in 1936 and put in the east and she has been the keeper of the east circle since 1954 and she has never once written to me.” She put her hand on my arm. “Let me go to the east. Let me go to my sister.”

I stood in the circle.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas said, “The Council has a second thing to say and the Council is going to say it now before the whole of the territory.” He looked at me. “The keeper is acquitted of the blood crime. But the keeper is not acquitted of the whole of it. There is a charge against the keeper that the Council has not heard and the charge is breaking pack law.”

I turned around.

“What pack law?” I said.

“The keeper took a wolf’s life in the circle,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “Not the Gamma of the north. The keeper took a wolf’s life in the circle at the full moon and the wolf was the assassin and the assassin was the line and the whole of it is in the record.” He put his staff on the stone. “The keeper took a life in the circle and the old law says a life taken in the circle is a life owed to the circle.”

I stood in the circle.

“That is not the same thing,” I said.

“It is the old law,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “And the old law has not been used since 1802 and the Council is not going to use it now unless the east demands it.” He looked at me. “And the east has demanded it.”

The circle was silent.

And then Elias said, “Then the east can have me.”

I turned around.

“Elias,” I said.

“Wren,” he said. “The east has the whole of the line and the east has the circle and the east has my son and the whole of it is going to be decided in one night. And if the east wants the keeper, the east can have the keeper.” He put his hand on my face. “But the east is not going to have the keeper alone. The keeper and the Luna hold the curse together. And if the east takes the keeper, the east has to take the Luna.”

The circle moved.

“That is the vow,” he said. “The keeper and the Luna hold it together and neither of them holds it alone. And if the east takes one of us, the east takes the both of us.”

The Alpha of the Alphas stood in the circle.

“The old law does not say that,” he said.

“The old law does not say it because the old law was written by the founders,” Elias said. “And the founders did not know about the vow because the vow was made in this circle at the last full moon.” He put his hand on the stone. “And the ground heard it. And the ground is going to hold the Council to it.”

The circle was silent.

And then the ground answered.

It came up out of the stone and it went through the whole of the circle and the whole of the Council went down on their knees and the whole of the territory went down on their knees and the whole of the clearing was white.

And then it went out.

The Alpha of the Alphas got to his feet.

“The ground has answered,” he said. “The Council is going to rule that the keeper and the Luna are one and that the east cannot take one without the other.”

The circle roared.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas said, “And there is a thing about the east that the Council is going to say now. The east has the circle and the east has the line and the east has the whole of it. And the Council is not going to send an envoy. The Council is going to send the whole of the Council.”

The circle was silent.

“The whole of the Council,” I said.

“The whole of the Council,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “Forty Alphas and two thousand wolves and the whole of the north and the whole of the west and the whole of the territory. The Council is going to the east at the next full moon and the whole of it is going to be decided in one night.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then the whole of it is going to be a war,” I said.

“The whole of it is going to be a war,” the Alpha of the Alphas said.

And then June came up beside me with a wire in her hand and her face white.

“Wren,” she said. “The wire is from the east. It says the whole of the line is in the east circle and the east circle is open and the whole of the line is going to stand in it at the next full moon.” She held up the wire. “And Wren. It says the whole of the line is going to give the east the curse.”

I stood in the circle.

“What?” I said.

“The east has a bargain,” June said. “The east made a bargain in 1802 and the bargain is the same as the founders’ and the whole of it is in the east and the east is going to give the whole of the line the curse at the next full moon.”

I stood in the circle.

And then I said, “Then we go to the east tonight.”

“Tonight,” June said.

And then a wolf came into the circle.

It was the younger Corrigan boy and he was out of breath.

“Alpha,” he said. “There is a wolf at the gap. He is old and he is in a black coat and he says he has come from the east and he has a thing to tell you about the east circle.”

I turned around.

“What does he look like?” I said.

“He is old and he has a white beard and he has a burn on his face and he says his name is the keeper of the east.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then let him come,” I said.

He came.

He was old and he had a white beard and a burn on his face and he walked into the circle with his hands at his sides and he stopped in front of me.

“Alpha,” he said. “I am the keeper of the east and I have been the keeper since 1954 and I have a thing to tell you that the whole of the Council does not know.” He put his hand on his chest. “The east does not have the line. The east has never had the line. The whole of it is a lie and the line is in the west and it has been in the west since 1802.”

The circle was silent.

“What?” I said.

“The east has been telling the Council that it has the line for two hundred years,” the keeper of the east said. “And the whole of it is a lie. The line is in the west and the west has the circle and the west has the whole of it.” He put his hand on my arm. “And the west is not a territory. The west is this territory. The line is in the Palouse and it has been in the Palouse since 1802 and the east has been lying to the Council for two hundred years.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then the east does not have the line,” I said.

“The east does not have the line,” the keeper of the east said. “The east has a room and a circle and a bargain and the whole of it is a lie. And the whole of it is going to be answered for at the next full moon.”