Chapter 156: The Lowest Night

They took him in the east circle and they put the chain on him in front of the whole of the Council and the whole of the line and the whole of the territory.

It was silver. It was the same chain they had put on him in the pack square and it was the same chain they had put on him in the round room and it burned him and he went down on his knees on the flat stone and the whole of the room was silent.

“Elias,” I said.

I went to him and two Council wolves took me by the arms and held me.

“Wren,” he said. “Do not.”

“Let go of me,” I said.

The Council wolves did not let go.

The Alpha of the Alphas came and stood in front of me with his staff in his hand.

“Alpha,” he said. “The Council has ruled and the Council is going to hold the keeper until the next full moon. He is going to be held in the east and he is going to stand in the east circle at the full moon and the whole of it is going to be decided in one night.”

I stood in the room.

“You are going to hold him,” I said.

“The Council is going to hold him,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “And the Council is going to hold the line and the Council is going to hold the twelve and the whole of it. And the whole of it is going to stand in the east circle at the full moon and the whole of it is going to give the east the curse.”

I stood in the room.

“Then the whole of it is a lie,” I said. “The east does not have the line and the east has never had the line and the keeper of the east has told you the whole of it.”

“The keeper of the east has been arrested,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “The Council has ruled that the keeper of the east is a liar and a traitor and he is going to stand in the east circle with the keeper.”

I looked at the keeper of the east.

He was on the floor of the room with a chain on his wrists and his white beard and his burned face and he did not say anything.

“Then the whole of the Council is a liar,” I said.

“The whole of the Council has ruled,” the Alpha of the Alphas said.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas looked at the whole of the room.

“The Council rules,” he said, “that the Alpha of the Circle Pack is stripped of her rank. She is no longer the Alpha of the Palouse and she is no longer the Luna of the line. She is a wolf who has broken pack law and she is going to be held until the full moon.”

The room went silent.

“What?” I said.

“The Council has ruled,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “The Alpha of the Circle Pack is stripped of her rank and her name and her place in the line. And the whole of the line is going to be given to the east.”

I stood in the room.

And then the whole of the line moved.

June came forward with her face white and her hands on her stomach and stood in front of the Alpha of the Alphas.

“You cannot strip her,” she said. “The whole of the line voted and the whole of the line chose her and the whole of the ground answered.”

“The ground is not the Council,” the Alpha of the Alphas said.

“The ground is the land,” June said. “And the land is the line and the line is the Alpha and the whole of it is the same thing.”

The Alpha of the Alphas looked at her.

“The Council has ruled,” he said.

And then the whole of the room went dark.

It was the ground. It came up out of the east circle and out of the flat stone and out of the whole of the room and the whole of the Council went down on their knees and the whole of it was white and the whole of it was silent.

And then the ground spoke.

It said: The Alpha is the land and the land is the Alpha and the whole of it is one. The whole of the Council has ruled against the land and the land is going to answer.

And then it went out.

The room was dark.

And then the light came back and the whole of the Council was on the floor and the whole of the chain was on the floor and Elias was on his knees on the flat stone with his hands free.

“Elias,” I said.

I went to him.

He put his hands on my face.

“The chain is off,” he said. “The ground took it off.”

“The ground took it off,” I said.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas got up off the floor.

He stood in the room and his staff was gone and his face was gray.

“The Council has been answered,” he said. “The ground has answered the Council and the whole of it is going to be decided in this room tonight.”

I stood in the room.

“Then decide it,” I said.

The Alpha of the Alphas looked at the whole of the room.

“The Council cannot rule against the ground,” he said. “The Council has never been able to rule against the ground. The whole of it is the oldest law and the whole of it is older than the Council and the whole of it is older than the founders.” He put his hand on his chest. “The Council is going to withdraw the whole of it. The rank and the name and the whole of it. The Alpha of the Circle Pack is the Alpha and the whole of the line is hers.”

The room roared.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas said, “But the whole of it is not finished. The east has a bargain and the east has a circle and the east has been waiting for two hundred years. And the whole of it is going to be answered for at the next full moon in this room.”

I stood in the room with Elias beside me and the whole of the line around me and the whole of the Council in front of me.

“Then the whole of it is going to be answered for,” I said.

And then the whole of the room shook.

It was not the ground. It was the door. It was the stone door behind us and there was a sound from the other side of it and then the door came in.

There were wolves in the doorway.

They were not Council wolves and they were not north wolves and they were not the line.

They were the east.

And in front of them there was a woman.

She was old and she was tall and she had white hair and a face like the founder's wife and she was holding a staff.

“I am the speaker of the east,” she said. “And the whole of it is a lie.”

I stood in the room.

“The east has a bargain,” she said, “and the bargain is not the one the Council has been told. The bargain is this. The east gives the line the curse and the line gives the east the land. And the whole of it has been going on since 1802.”

I stood in the room.

“Then the east has been lying to the whole of the Council for two hundred years,” I said.

“The east has been lying to the whole of the Council for two hundred years,” the speaker of the east said. “And the whole of it is going to be answered for tonight.”

And then she raised her staff.

And the whole of the east came into the room.