Chapter 172: The Peace Treaty

The treaty was signed in the east circle in the snow with the whole of the territories standing around it and the whole of the Council behind it and the whole of the line in front of it.

It took three days to write and Silas wrote the whole of it.

He sat in the pack house with the register and the whole of the Council's paper and the whole of the east's paper and he wrote the treaty in a hand that was small and neat and did not shake. He wrote the whole of it. The lake and the room and the silver and the land and the circle and the whole of the line. He wrote the whole of it into a treaty that the whole of the territories could sign and the whole of the Council could sign and the whole of the east could sign.

And on the third day the whole of them came to the east circle and the whole of them signed it.

The Alpha of the Snoqualmie pack signed it first. He came into the circle with his paper and his pen and he put his name at the bottom and he did not look at me.

And then the Alpha of the Coeur d'Alene signed it and the Alpha of the Clearwater signed it and the Alpha of the Salmon River signed it and the whole of the territories signed it one at a time.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas signed it.

And then the speaker of the east signed it.

And then the whole of the line signed it.

And then I signed it.

And then Silas signed it.

And then the whole of the circle was silent and the whole of the treaty was signed and the whole of the war was over.

The Alpha of the Alphas put his staff down on the stone.

"The treaty is signed," he said. "The whole of the east is the line's and the whole of the lake is the line's and the whole of the room is closed and the whole of the silver is the line's. And the whole of the war is over."

The circle roared.

And then Silas stood up.

He had the treaty in his hand and he was standing in the middle of the circle and he was not smiling.

"There is a thing about the treaty," he said, "that the whole of the territories has not read."

The circle went quiet.

"The treaty has a clause," Silas said. "It is clause eleven and it is on the last page and the whole of it says that the Circle Pack is a pack under the Council and the whole of the Council is the whole of the east and the whole of the east is the whole of the Council."

The circle was silent.

"What?" I said.

"The whole of the treaty is not a peace treaty," Silas said. "The whole of the treaty is a surrender. The whole of the Circle Pack is under the Council and the whole of the Council is the east and the whole of the east is the whole of the room and the whole of the room is the whole of the silver and the whole of the silver is the whole of the line." He put the treaty down on the stone. "The whole of the line is going to be in the room by the next full moon."

The circle broke.

And then Elias was across the circle and he had Silas by the coat and he put him against the stone.

"You wrote it," he said. "You wrote the whole of it."

"I wrote the whole of it," Silas said. "And I have been writing the whole of it since 1960 and the whole of it has been the Council's and the whole of it has been the east's and the whole of it has been mine." He looked at me. "I am the line and the line is the room and the room is the whole of it. And the whole of it is not going to be closed. The whole of it is going to be opened."

I stood in the circle.

"You were the one who told me to open the room," I said. "You were the one who told the Council the whole of it."

"I told the Council the whole of it," Silas said. "And the whole of it was a lie. The whole of it was a lie to get the whole of the line in one place and the whole of it is going to be taken in one night."

The circle was silent.

And then the ground answered.

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

And then the ground spoke.

It said: The whole of it is the line and the line is the pack and the whole of it is not the Council's and the whole of it is not the east's. The whole of it is the Luna's and the whole of it is the keeper's.

And then it went out.

Silas was on his knees on the stone.

And then he got up.

"The whole of it is not the ground," he said. "The whole of it is the paper. And the whole of the paper is signed."

He raised his hand.

And then the whole of the east came out of the trees.

It was four thousand wolves and the whole of it was in the east circle and the whole of it was silver and blades and the whole of it went for the line.

"Elias," I said. "The line."

Elias turned and ran for the line and the whole of the pack ran with him and the whole of the east ran with him and the whole of the circle was a war.

And then the whole of the territories came.

It was the Coeur d'Alene and the Clearwater and the Salmon River and the whole of the territories and the whole of them came into the circle and the whole of them stood with the line.

And then the whole of the Council came.

It was the Alpha of the Alphas and the whole of the Council and the whole of them came into the circle and the whole of them stood with the line.

And then the whole of the east broke.

It broke in the middle and the whole of it ran and the whole of it went back into the trees and the whole of it was gone.

The circle was quiet.

And then I turned around.

Silas was gone.

He had gone into the trees and he had taken the treaty and he had taken the whole of it and he was gone.

And then June came across the circle with her face white.

"Wren," she said. "The whole of the east is not gone. The whole of the east is in the territory and the whole of it is in the tunnel and the whole of it is under the ground."

I stood in the circle.

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

And then the whole of the circle went dark.

It was the ground. It came up out of the stone and out of the whole of the circle and the whole of it was white.

And then the ground spoke.

It said: The whole of it is not the east. The whole of it is the line. The line is in the tunnel and the tunnel is under the ground and the whole of it is going to be opened by the Luna.

And then it went out.

The circle was dark.

And then the light came back and there was a wolf standing on the stone.

It was Ilse the grandmother and she had a cane and a shawl and she was standing on the stone with her hands at her sides.

"The whole of it is not the east," she said. "The whole of it is the tunnel. And the whole of the tunnel is the room and the whole of the room is the lake and the whole of the lake is the line."

I stood in the circle.

"Then the whole of it is going to be opened," I said.

"The whole of it is going to be opened," Ilse said. "And the whole of it is going to be opened by the Luna who is not you."

I stood in the circle.

"My daughter," I said.

"Your daughter," Ilse said. "And the whole of it is going to be opened in twenty days and the whole of it is going to be opened by the whole of the line and the whole of the pack and the whole of the territories."

I stood in the circle.

"Then the whole of it is going to be opened," I said. "And the whole of it is going to be opened by the whole of the line and the whole of the pack and the whole of the territories and the whole of it is going to be opened in twenty days."

And then the whole of the circle roared.