Wolves of the Beyond 02 - Shadow Wolf by authors_sort Read Free Book Online Page A

expect to arrive so quickly. I didn’t know I was so close to the honorable Blue Rock Pack,” Faolan said after dropping the bone from his mouth.
    “You aren’t. I was just out hoping for a hare. They are often where the lichen eaters graze and much easier prey.”
    “I’ve heard about lichen eaters but never seen one,” Faolan replied. “Their meat is supposed to be very tasty.” He knew they had antlers and appeared nearly identical to caribou but were smaller and seemed to have a tastefor lichen as much as for the grasses that caribou fed on. The Whistler definitely needed easy prey, from the looks of his bones, which appeared to be nearly jutting through his pelt.
    “You can rise up now,” the Whistler said.
    “Are you sure?” Faolan was trying to do everything just right. He would become the best possible gnaw wolf he could, so he could leave the clans behind and beome a member of the Watch.
    “Yes, please come. They are expecting you.”
    Faolan was taken aback. No wolf had said “please” to him since he had been taken into the clan. He tucked the bone snugly under his chin and began to walk. But then he stopped. This poor wolf looked as if he hadn’t had a decent meal in months.
    “What’s the problem?” The Whistler turned around.
    “Why don’t we go track down some of those lichen eaters. I’ve never hunted them. And you look as if you could use a good meal.”
    The Whistler twitched his ears. “You know how it is in a big pack like the Blue Rock. I’m last to eat after twenty-five others.”
    “Twenty-five! How do you get even a bite?”
    “Often I don’t.” He sighed. “I mostly go after hare. Small stuff. Not very satisfying. No fat on a hare, you know.”
    “I know. So let’s go after these lichen eaters. There’s time. You said I’m early.”
    “Are you sure? I mean, you think just the two of us could do it? Take down a lichen eater?”
    “Well, if we succeed, it’s going to be a lot tastier than a hare. And two have a better chance than one,” Faolan answered.
    “I certainly could use some real meat. I think we might be able to pick up a trail yonder.” He nodded toward a dry creek bed. “They often travel through that way.”
    “Let’s go,” Faolan said.
     
    They found the trail immediately.
    “One of them might be limping,” the Whistler said after a few minutes. “It’s setting down its east foreleg unevenly.”
    Faolan was impressed. The Whistler was clearly an observant wolf and knew how to read tracks.
    It was hardly a herd, just four lichen eaters traveling together, two females, a calf, and an elderly male.The male had a deep wound in its hock and was indeed limping. It seemed to Faolan as if he would be an easy takedown. The strategy was simple. Split the male off from the others and chase him down. Faolan and the Whistler were working well together and gaining on the old male by playing a bluff strategy in which they would run him hard for a period, then ease up and feign loss of interest. This gave the prey a sense of false security so that it became less vigilant, perhaps even stopped to take a rest. Faolan had the feeling that this was just about to happen, when all of a sudden, they heard a commotion in the brush on a hillside. A big healthy buck came charging down a slope, stopped a short distance from them, and pawed the ground. Lichen eaters were generally fleet and small of build, but this one was huge. There was nothing small about him. The buck began dipping and raising his immense rack of antlers. Faolan had seen caribou do this. It was an aggression display that often preceded territorial conflicts or mating battles among male members of a herd. But he had never seen it used in confrontation with predators.
    “Uh-oh!” the Whistler groaned. “We better get out of here!” But Faolan wheeled about, dug in his four paws,shoved his ears forward, and snarled at the buck, who was lowering his head as if to charge.
    What is this wolf doing? the