Chapter 163: The Truth at the Lake

I read the wire three times.

“A body,” I said. “In a green scarf.”

“The wire does not say who,” the keeper of the east said. “It says the lake has been drained and the body was found in the mud and the scarf is green and the body is a woman.”

I stood in the square.

“My mother is buried in the churchyard in town,” I said. “I have stood at her grave a hundred times. I put flowers on it in the spring.”

The keeper of the east put the wire down.

“Then there is a thing the east has been keeping for a hundred years,” he said. “And the whole of it is not about your mother.”

Ilse the grandmother came down off the stone and stood in front of me.

“Alpha,” she said. “The lake in the east is not the lake the founders drowned the Luna in. I told you that and the whole of it was a lie. The founders drowned the Luna in the mill pond in the Palouse and she was pulled out of it and sent east and the whole of it is in my mother’s diary.” She put her hand on my arm. “The lake in the east is a different lake. It is older than the founders and older than the Council and the whole of it has been in the east since before 1802.”

“Then whose body is in it?” I said.

Ilse was quiet.

“It is the Luna’s other daughter,” she said. “The one who stayed in the east. The one who was born in Walla Walla in 1894 and was taken east and given to a family and the family put her in the lake when she was six years old.” She put her hand on my arm. “And the whole of it has been in the lake since 1900 and the whole of it has been kept by the east and the whole of it is going to be answered for at the full moon.”

I stood in the square.

“A child,” I said.

“A child,” Ilse said. “And she was the fourth daughter’s line and the whole of it was a taking and the whole of it has been in the lake for eighty years.”

I sat down on the stone.

And then Elias came and sat down beside me.

“Wren,” he said.

“There is a child in a lake in the east,” I said. “And there is a green scarf on her and the whole of it has been there since 1900 and the whole of the east has been keeping it and the whole of it is going to be answered for at the full moon.”

He put his hand on my back.

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

And then Harlan came and knelt down in front of me.

“Alpha,” he said. “There is a thing I have to say about the lake and the whole of it is the worst thing I have ever said.” He put his hand on the stone. “I have been in the east for six months and I have been in the room where the lake records are kept and I have read the whole of them. And the lake is not a lake. It is a place where the east takes the line. The east has been taking the line to the lake since 1802 and the whole of it has been going on for two hundred years.”

The square was silent.

“The lake is a grave,” I said.

“The lake is a grave,” Harlan said. “And there are not one body in it. There are nine.”

The square moved.

“Nine,” I said.

“Nine,” Harlan said. “Nine of the fourth daughter’s line have been taken to the lake since 1802 and the whole of them are in it and the whole of it has been kept by the east and the whole of it is in the record.” He put his hand on the stone. “And the whole of them are going to be brought out at the full moon and the whole of them are going to be named and the whole of them are going to be answered for.”

I stood up.

“Then we are going to the east,” I said.

“The east is here,” the keeper of the east said. “The speaker of the east has withdrawn and the whole of the east is in this territory and the whole of it is going to stand in the circle at the full moon and the whole of it is going to answer for the lake.”

And then the speaker of the east came forward.

She was old and she had white hair and she had a staff and she had been in the square the whole of the time and she had not said a word since the ground had answered.

“Alpha,” she said. “I am the speaker of the east and I am the wolf who has been keeping the lake for forty years and I am going to answer for the whole of it.” She put her staff down. “The lake is drained and the nine are out of it and the whole of them are in this territory and the whole of them are going to stand in the circle at the full moon.” She put her hand on her chest. “And there is a thing about the lake that the whole of the territories does not know. The lake is the first circle. The lake was the circle of the old pack before the founders came and the whole of it was drowned in 1802 when the east took it.”

I stood in the square.

“The lake was the circle,” I said.

“The lake was the circle,” the speaker of the east said. “And the whole of it is going to be answered for at the full moon.”

And then a wolf came into the square.

It was the younger Corrigan boy and he had a wire in his hand and his face was white.

“Alpha,” he said. “The wire is from the Council. The Council has ruled that the whole of the line is to be taken to the east at the full moon and the whole of it is to be put in the lake.”

I stood in the square.

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

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

And then the whole of the square went quiet.

There was a wolf standing at the gate.

He was old and he had a white beard and a black coat and a burn on his face and he was not a wolf of the territory and he was not a wolf of the east.

He was the keeper of the east and he had a blade in his hand.

“Alpha,” he said. “I am the keeper of the east and I have a thing to give you.” He held up the blade. “It is the silver dagger. The one the founders made in 1891 and the one the whole of the Council has been looking for since the room was built.” He put it on the stone. “And it is the only thing in the whole of the territories that can cut the line.”

I looked at the blade.

“Cut the line,” I said.

“Cut the line,” the keeper of the east said. “The whole of the line is bound to the east by the marriage and the marriage is bound to the lake and the lake is bound to the blade. And the whole of it is going to be cut at the full moon by the Luna.”

I stood in the square.

And then Silas came and put his hand on the blade.

“Alpha,” he said. “The blade is mine.”

I turned around.

“What?” I said.

“The blade is mine,” Silas said. “I am the line and the whole of it is mine and the whole of it is going to be cut by me.”

And then he took the blade and he ran.