Chapter 161: My First Assembly

The challenge was set for the next morning and the whole of the square went quiet and the whole of the pack went home and the whole of the north stayed in the north field.

I went up to the pack house and sat down in the Alpha's office with the door open and the whole of the line came in and sat down on the floor and the chairs and the windowsill.

“He is a Corrigan,” June said. “He is the brother of the Gamma of the north and he is a wolf of the north and the whole of the north is behind him.”

“I know who he is,” I said.

“Then why did you accept the challenge?”

“Because the old law says a wolf may challenge for a rank in front of the whole of the pack and if I refuse the whole of the pack is going to say the Alpha is afraid.” I put my hand on the desk. “And because the whole of the north is in the north field and the whole of the east is on the ridge road and the whole of it is going to be decided in one night and the whole of it is not going to be decided by a war.”

Ruth of the Riverside pack came and sat down on the corner of the desk.

“Alpha,” she said. “The challenge is not a fight. The challenge is a claim. Two wolves stand in the square and each one speaks the words of the old tongue and the ground answers.”

“I know,” I said. “I have read the whole of it.”

“Then you know that the ground is not going to answer for a wolf who is not the line,” Ruth said. “The Corrigan boy is not the line and he is not the keeper and he is not the Alpha and the ground is not going to answer him.”

I looked at her.

“Then the challenge is a lie,” I said.

“The challenge is a lie,” Ruth said. “And the whole of the north knows it. And the whole of the north is going to stand in the square and watch the ground refuse a wolf of the north and the whole of it is going to be finished.”

I sat in the office.

“And if the ground does answer him?” I said.

Ruth was quiet.

“Then the ground has chosen the north,” she said. “And the whole of the line is going to answer for it.”

The whole of the night went past and at dawn the whole of the square was full.

There were four hundred wolves of the Circle Pack and the whole of the line and the whole of the north and the whole of the east and the whole of the Council. There were four thousand wolves in the north field and four thousand on the ridge road and the whole of the territory was in the square.

And in the middle of the square there was a stone.

It was the flat stone from the circle. I had had it brought up from the trees at midnight with four wolves and a wagon and the whole of the line and it was in the middle of the square and it was warm.

The Corrigan boy stood on one side of it and I stood on the other.

The Alpha of the Alphas came into the middle of the square and put his staff down on the stone.

“The challenge is called,” he said. “The old law says the challenge is a claim and the claim is made in front of the whole of the pack and the ground answers. The whole of it is going to be spoken and the whole of it is going to be answered.”

He looked at the Corrigan boy.

“Speak,” he said.

The Corrigan boy stood on the stone and he spoke.

He spoke the words of the old tongue. He spoke them loud and he spoke them clear and the whole of the square was silent.

And the ground did not answer.

He spoke them again.

The ground did not answer.

And then he said, “The ground is refusing me because I am not the line. And the whole of it is a lie. The line is not the Luna. The line is the whole of the north and the whole of the east and the whole of the territories and the whole of it has been the line since 1802.”

The square was silent.

And then the whole of the north moved.

It was four thousand wolves in the north field and the whole of it came over the wall and into the square and the whole of it was silver and blades.

“The whole of the north does not accept the ruling of the Council,” the Corrigan boy said. “The whole of the north is going to take the circle and the whole of the line.”

I stood on the stone.

“Then the whole of the north is going to have to come through the whole of the pack,” I said.

The whole of the square moved.

And then the ground answered.

It came up out of the stone and out of the whole of the square and out of the whole of the territory and the whole of the north went down on their knees and the whole of the east went down on their knees and the whole of the Council went down on their knees and the whole of the square was white.

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 north has come against the land and the land is going to answer.

And then it went out.

The square was dark.

And then the light came back and the whole of the north was on the ground and the whole of the east was on the ground and the Corrigan boy was on his knees on the stone.

And there was a wolf standing in front of me.

He was old and he had a gray beard and a hat and he was leaning on a stick and he was not a wolf of the north and he was not a wolf of the east.

He was Harlan.

“Wren,” he said. “I have come back.”

I stood on the stone.

“Harlan,” I said. “You are supposed to be dead.”

“I am supposed to be dead,” Harlan said. “The whole of the Council told the whole of the territory that I died in the winter and the whole of it was a lie. I have been in the east for six months and the whole of it has been a lie.” He put his hand on the stone. “And I have come back to tell you the whole of it. About the east. About the circle. About the whole of it.”

I stood on the stone.

“Say it,” I said.

“The east has a bargain and the bargain is not the one the Council has been told,” Harlan said. “The bargain is that 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 and the whole of it has been kept by the whole of the Council and the whole of the north and the whole of the east.” He put his hand on the stone. “And there is a thing about the bargain that nobody has told you. The bargain is not a bargain. It is a marriage.”

The square was silent.

“A marriage,” I said.

“A marriage,” Harlan said. “The east and the line were married in 1802 and the whole of it was a marriage of the circle and the whole of it has been going on for two hundred years.” He put his hand on my arm. “And the whole of it is going to be broken the same way it was made. In the circle. In front of the whole of it. With a vow.”

I stood on the stone.

And then the whole of the north got up off the ground.

And the Corrigan boy got up off the stone and put his hand on his chest.

“The whole of the north is going to stand in the circle at the full moon,” he said. “And the whole of the north is going to make the whole of it a marriage again.”

I stood on the stone.

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

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

And then the whole of the north came into the square.