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Lone Wolf
Lone Wolf Cover
Author Kathryn Lasky
Publication date January 1, 2010
Publication Order
Preceded by
The Guardians of Ga'Hoole Series
Followed by
Shadow Wolf

Lone Wolf is the first book in the Wolves of the Beyond series, written by Kathryn Lasky. It was released on January 1st, 2010.

Preview[]

A destiny written in the stars...

In the harsh wilderness beyond the owl world of Ga'Hoole, a wolf mother hides in fear. Her newborn pup, otherwise healthy, has a twisted paw. The mother knows the rigid rules of her kind. The pack cannot have weakness. Her pup must be abandoned on an icy riverbank- condemned to die.

But alone in the forest, the pup, Faolan, does the unthinkable. He survives. This is Faolan's story, the story of a courageous wolf pup who rises up to change forever the wolves of the Beyond.

Plot[]

Lone Wolf AudioBook

Lone Wolf Audiobook

Part one: The Beyond[]

A silver she-wolf named Morag is searching for a den to give birth to her third litter. Scared of birthing a malcadh, she goes by-lang and attempts to cross the border. Morag then finds a pregnant fox waiting to give birth in a den, and chases her away.  After Morag gets rid of the vixen, she gives birth to three pups, two tawny females and a silver male. The silver pup has a splayed paw, declaring it a malcadh or cursed one. This is a small flaw, but will be serious in the clan. Morag also notices the dim tracery of a spiral on the pad of the splayed paw. Morag tells herself the deformity would leave in a few days, but she has no time to watch that.

The Obea of the MacDuncan clan, Shibaan, then tracks Morag down. Shibaan had learned to become suspicious when a she-wolf went by-lang. She is able to pick up the smallest of signs and see through Morag's tricks. She finds Morag and takes the silver pup to an icy river bank, later to bring Morag and her daughters back to the clan and announce the news so that Morag will be exiled. Shibaan is oddly unnerved by the spiraling marks on the pup's paw. Having no feeling for any pup she carried off, she places him on the ice of a frozen river about to melt. The little pup is left whining weakly, clinging to life.

The pup lies on the ice, wondering what happened to his mother and siblings, whom he only knows as warmth, milk, and a beating heart. The ice melts, and the loud cracking and buckling of the ice opens his eyes and ears. The pup instinctively grips hard on the ice with all of his paws as the turbulent rapids carry him downriver. As he goes, his ice raft begins to break apart, and crumbles to bits, forcing the abandoned pup to slip off into the river.

Meanwhile, a female grizzly appears on the bank downriver, full of grief. Her cub, her last likely newborn, was taken and killed by cougars. As she pleads with Great Ursus, the bear spirit, she asks that her life be ripped from her, and the river swallow her, although the water is too shallow for her to drown. Just at that moment, something prickly snags her foot, and she thinks it was some river debris. Somehow, she knows it is not just a passing bramble thicket, so she gently picks the abandoned wolf pup off her leg. As the sun rises and shines into the pup's eyes, she realizes it sought life while she sought death, and believes he is a gift from Ursus. She names the pup Faolan, "Fao" meaning both river and wolf, and "Lan" meaning gift. She brings him back to her den, where he drinks her milk.

The newly named Faolan hears the heartbeat of the grizzly, which is louder and more frightening than his first Milk Giver's. However, he feels safe, and she gives him milk. Though it is strange to him, he continues to nurse until he falls asleep.

At first, the she-bear finds it difficult to care for Faolan because he is so different from the cubs she is used to, and begins to worry constantly about how small he is, even though his species is smaller. However, the two quickly form a strong bond. While struggling to remember all she knows about wolves, she still tries to raise Faolan as she does her own cubs. That spring, Faolan grows into a smart, fast, but sometimes whiny pup. The she-bear teaches him to dig for spring onions, and first, Faolan tries digging with his good front paw. The grizzly becomes angry when he refuses to use his splayed paw, smacking his good paw and digging with her non-dominant paw. This way, Faolan learns to overcome his weakness. Later that evening, the grizzly begins to wonder where Faolan came from, what the spiral on his paw means, and if she might be able to teach him to walk on his hind legs. Faolan now becomes used to the thunderous beating of her heart, and names her Thunderheart.

Later on, Thunderheart takes Faolan out for his first fishing lesson. She kills a trout and drops it near her adopted son. Faolan lies on his stomach, not touching the fish. At first, Thunderheart is puzzled, but later realizes he instinctively wants her to eat first. Thunderheart takes a bite of the tail and he devours the rest. The young pup quickly becomes an expert fisher. The two later pass a mother bear and her two cubs. The cubs laugh at Faolan, making their mother nervous. At first he hides behind his second Milk Giver's leg; Thunderheart reluctantly refuses to shelter him, but soon Faolan takes on the dominance postures of wolves, walking as if an invisible pack were surrounding him and frightening the bear family. Faolan realizes just how different he is from the bears, upsetting the young wolf. Thunderheart silently reassures him that she loves him. After Thunderheart has a nightmare about a male bear who killed one of her cubs, she teaches Faolan to scent mark to protect himself from male bears.

Later in the summer, Thunderheart decides to teach Faolan to walk on his hind legs. She does this by holding his favorite berries above his head, so that he must stand higher to reach them. When Faolan is walking upright, he spots an ermine and goes after it. It fights viciously to defend its nest, but Faolan escapes. After the battle, Faolan refuses to nurse anymore, his instinctive blood passion awakened. Thunderheart goes on to teach Faolan to jump very high. She trains him to jump for the lowest branches of a tree. One day, Faolan gets stuck jumping too high, and Thunderheart leaves him to work out how to get down. The two form a hunting strategy to bring down caribou, and Thunderheart tells Faolan that the best food in spring is caribou from the Outermost. She tells him how to get there by following the stars, but tells him it might not be good for his "kind". She also teaches him about the stars, telling him how the Guardians of Ga'Hoole use them to navigate.

When fall comes, Thunderheart begins to eat all she can to last through hibernation, or "cold sleep" in bear terms, while worrying about what Faolan will do during this time. She and Faolan fish for salmon and hunt caribou to get fat, and although Faolan is now older, he still has only vague ideas of real wolves and finds everything he needs in Thunderheart. The two travel into the mountains to find a winter den in an old lava bed. Thunderheart tells Faolan that she'll sleep all winter, and gives him permission to go out and hunt and play. Faolan frequently ventures out of the den on his own, playing and bringing back food for Thunderheart. For the first time, he also begins to hear wolves howling.

Near spring, Thunderheart wakes up and her wolf pup is not there. Forgetting she gave him permission to go out of the den, she panics and goes out to look for him. When Faolan returns to the den after his run, he finds Thunderheart gone. He also begins to panic. An earthquake strikes, causing Faolan to fear that Thunderheart is in danger.

Meanwhile, Morag has moved on with her life, joined the MacDonegal Clan, and found a new mate with whom she had a new litter. One day, she leaves the den after the earthquake to find a new den closer to the wolf packs. She finds a pool of water with a spiral symbol in it, and she grows distressed. The sound of crows redirects her attention from the pool, to searching for the carcass the birds were calling about, to the nearby body of a grizzly bear with its back broken. Morag suddenly smells the scent of Faolan on her hump, becoming anxious. She recalls that she never saw his lochin descend the Spirit Ladder and decides to guard the bear's body in a show of gratitude for taking care of her pup.

Part Two: The Outermost[]

Now alone and unable to find Thunderheart, Faolan believes she traveled alone to the Outermost to hunt caribou and makes his way there using the stars as she taught him. When he does not find her, he detects the scent of cougar and wonders if he can locate Thunderheart by killing the animal that took her cub. He tracks down the cougar and chases it until it jumps into a tree. Faolan leaps after it, kills it, and instinctively performs lochinvyrr for the first time. Two other wolves—outclanners, though this is unknown to Faolan—interrupt his meal, intending to steal the carcass from him. He takes advantage of their greed and lack of strategy to distract and pounce on them, breaking one's back. The second wolf grabs the body and drags it off to devour it. Shocked, Faolan watches but turns away to eat his prey.

Morb, the surviving outclanner, flees Faolan in fear, searching for a rout of fellow outclanners to travel with. Soon, he encounters a craw, which Faolan also watches secretly. The young wolf finds himself disgusted with the savagery of the outclanners. Faolan stays in the Outermost all that spring and into midsummer, searching for Thunderheart. When he is still unsuccessful, the lone wolf decides to return to the Beyond. While still at the border, he stumbles upon a large cave with animals painted on the walls.

Meanwhile, Shibaan brings another malcadhone born with half a hind paw—to a tummfraw. The Obea relives her years in her original clan when mate after mate left her when she could not have pups, until the news that Shibaan was barren spread and she joined the MacDuncans. Angry and bitter over her fate, the old she-wolf still performs her duty, and for the first time, she wonders what will happen when the pup she leaves dies. As she leaves, a second earthquake strikes, breaking her spine. Awakening, Shibaan fears punishment for taking the malcadhs away, and as she dies, her spirit rejoins that of the last pup. Duncan MacDuncan sees them climb the star ladder that night.

Faolan begins to explore the strange cave he found, studying its paintings. He sees an image of the spiral mark on his paw and cowers in submission. He is especially drawn to an illustration of a byrrgis guided by an owl spirit. As he ventures into the cavern, now calling it The Cave Before Time, Faolan discovers that the paintings tell the story of how the wolves of the Beyond, led by Fengo, initially found their way there. When he discovers a blocked passage, he digs through it and finds a chamber with paintings of the Ring of Sacred Volcanoes and two owls diving for the Ember of Hoole, realizing they are ages apart. While trying to figure out what the story and his spiral mark mean, Faolan falls asleep and dreams of his first Milk Giver and the moment Shibaan took him away. After waking up, he decides to leave the cave. That night, he realizes his pack abandoned him because of his splayed paw. However, he takes comfort in the spiral marks, believing they mean he belongs to the endless cycle of time.

Back in the Beyond, Faolan comes upon a herd of caribou. He picks out an old, weak caribou cow and begins to chase her, remembering the picture of the byrrgis even though he is alone. His target proves tricky, but he still manages to take advantage of her and catch her. He decides to drag the body to a spot where no animal will desecrate her body. He protects it from crows—even to the point of plucking one out of the air—and takes it to a place near a river. Faolan howls about the caribou, where he can carve her bones and build a drumlyn for her to climb her star ladder, discovering his talent for carving bones. Faolan stays here until the constellation of the caribou disappears from the night sky in late summer before deciding to join a pack of wolves.

Part Three: The Beyond[]

While Faolan makes his way back through his and Thunderheart's summer territory, he comes across a mother bear and her cubs fishing in the salmon rapids. He is disappointed it's not his Milk Giver and is bothered by the look the female grizzly gave him that said, "What are you?" He finds Thunderheart's skull and begins to howl in grief for his second Milk Giver. An owl, the rogue smith Gwynneth, overhears Faolan mourning his loss of Thunderheart. She tells him to come with her, saying they have so much in common. Faolan follows Gwynneth to her forge, bringing Thunderheart's paw bone. Gwynneth tells him that she too lost her parents and foster mother, and explains the ways of the wolves and why he was abandoned as a pup, telling him that when he rejoins the wolves, he will become a Gnaw Wolf and may be selected to be a Watch wolf. He asks why Thunderheart abandoned him too and the two believe she thought he was lost. Faolan asks if he can stay with her, but she tells him he has to rejoin the wolves. Taking her advice, he leaves. After this, Gwynneth finds herself forging a replica of his spiral mark. Like most creatures that see it, she wonders what it means.

He begins to observe the packs and clans, seeing which one seems best to join, and taking note of the pack behavior and especially how gnaw wolves are treated. One night, a thunderstorm hits, and the lightning skreeleen of the pack of the Western Scree of the MacAngus clan reads the story of the great Fengo and why he lived again. Because it is a bad omen for a skreeleen to read this story, Angus MacAngus, their chieftain, comes to talk to the pack. He smells the scent of bear and wolf and finds Faolan's splayed paw print. Without realizing the truth, they mistakenly think he had the foaming-mouth disease. Angus calls the other chieftains, Duncan MacDuncan, Drummond MacNab, and Duffin MacDuff, and they all decide to go to the Sark of the Slough. She agrees to help them build a wall of fire and trap the animal inside.

The Sark is unsure of the prints, as it seems only one of the paw prints is actually splayed, and the wolf is giving off other signs that it is not diseased. However, the chieftains and their clans refuse to listen, and follow the wolf's trail to the salt lagoons, where they plan to trap it.

Later, Faolan visits the salt lagoons, burying Thunderheart's paw bone carved with his story on the way, and realizes that several packs of wolves are on his tail. He tries to outrun them, but they manage to steer him toward the wall of fire. Just when he is driven into its heat, he leaps the wall of fire, jumping for the sun. Gwynneth sees it happen and is dismayed that the wolves are trying to kill her new friend. The wolves finally realize their mistake and are terrified of Faolan.

Duncan MacDuncan remembers that a malcadh with a splayed paw was born in his clan a year ago, realizing Faolan is this malcadh. He orders the young gnaw wolf Heep to record the events of Faolan's rejoining the clan. The wolves whisper that Faolan disturbed the order and Heep makes it look like Faolan broke the Great Chain, gnawing it over a crack in his bone. Duncan tells Heep to let Faolan read his gnaw bone, letting the young lone wolf join his clan as a gnaw wolf. The book ends with Faolan introducing himself.

Release Date[]

Lone Wolf was released in hardcover on January 1, 2010, and the paperback on April 1, 2011.

Excerpt[]

(Excerpt from Chapter 2: The Spark from the River)

A dark sodden clot snagged on her half-submerged hind leg. She shook her foot at the annoying scratching sensation. But when she shook, the clot clung tighter. It made her irritable, and she dragged her paw up onto the bank.

She would later wonder what it was that stopped her from reaching forward and simply scraping off the clot. It betrayed no sign of life. The scratching could have been the prickly thorns of a bramble that had become entangled with the flotsam of the racing currents. River trash. That was all. And yet she felt something.

She would think of it as a spark. She had seen sparks come from the sky, and sparks struck from rocks when tumbling boulders collided, but she had never imagined a spark coming from a river. A spark from a river, unquenched, undamaged, undiminished, flying upward from the watery turbulence and containing in its minuscule sphere of light, the promise of life. So she reached forward and carefully picked up the sodden clump with both her front paws. It didn’t squirm. She couldn’t see signs of breathing. But it was a cub of some sort, and when it opened its eyes with what seemed to be great pain, she saw the spark.

As the sun lifted over the horizon, she saw its light reflected in the cub’s two eyes. And then she saw an image that shocked her. It was her own reflection in the eyes of an animal that was not born of her, nor of her kind. It’s a wolf, she thought. I seek death, and it seeks life.

And then she looked up at the sky, searching for the Great Bear constellation. She could not see it, for dawn was breaking, but deep down she knew that this wolf was a message from Ursus, a scolding. She must not think of death. Her time had not come yet. It wasn’t an accident that the pathetic pup had fetched up on her leg. It was a gift from the river.

“Faolan,” she whispered. “I shall call you Faolan.” Fao meant both “river” and “wolf.” And lan was the word for “gift.”

“You are my gift from the river.” And she gathered him to her chest.

* * * * * *

The Milk Giver? The pup smelled the milky traces in the thick fur and nuzzled toward the source. But the closer he got, the more confused he became. It did not seem the same. The smell was different and the taste as well. And there was a new frightening sound. The thunderous roar of the river was replaced by a great rhythmic booming, and threading through the misty reverberations were gusty bubbling sounds. As the grizzly gently pressed Faolan closer to her teat, the sounds actually shook him. Yet he felt safe.

It was a different Milk Giver. A huge one, many times bigger than the first, and he was hearing the pumping of her heart and the turbulence of her stomach. Gradually, he became used to the sounds. They blended into the rushing of the river, folded into the quieter noises of his own sucking.

He sucked. His world became one of milk. Thick rich milk. He shut his eyes and slept, still sucking.

* * * * * * *

The grizzly looked down on Faolan and huge tears rolled from the corners of her eyes. The river spirit brought you to me. There must be a reason. I shall nurse you through this morning into the day and through the night. A spark can become a flame, a flame a fire.

She blew her warm gentle breath onto him. The pup’s eyes fluttered, and he sank deeper into a dreamless sleep.

Chapters[]

  • Away...
  1. The River Roars
  2. The Spark From the River
  3. Milk and Light
  4. Thunderheart
  5. Den Lessons
  6. Blood Lesson
  7. The Golden Eyes of Thunderheart
  8. The Winter Den
  9. A Dim Memory
  10. The Frost Forest
  11. A Savage World
  12. Outclanners
  13. The Bitterness of the Obea
  14. The Cave Before Time
  15. A Story in Stone
  16. First Milk
  17. The Byrrgis of One
  18. A First Drumlyn
  19. The Skull in the Woods
  20. An Owl Listens
  21. A Fireside Conversation
  22. "You Must Go to the Wolves"
  23. Inspiration
  24. The Ridge
  25. Moon Rot and Doom
  26. The Sark of the Slough
  27. The Trail of the Splayed Paw
  28. Jump for the Sun

Parts[]

Part One: The Beyond

Part Two: The Outermost

Part Three: The Beyond

Characters[]

Trivia[]

  • In chapter 15, in the paintings in the Cave Before Time, Fengo and his wolves are mistakenly said to be traveling west instead of east.
  • In Shadow Wolf, the MacNamara's territory is not shown on the map, as the clan has not been mentioned yet. The clan's territory only appears on maps from Watch Wolf onwards.

Gallery[]

Covers[]

Parts[]

Japanese Edition[]

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