The Little Pup

The Little Pup
Lael, the obea, carrying her to her tummfraw.
General Information:	Species: Dire Wolf (Canis Dirus) Gender: Female Age: Pup
Family:	Unnamed female wolf
Description:	Fur: Tawny/Gold Eyes: Green Deformity: Born early with breathing problems
Clan/Pack:	Clan: MacDuncan Clan Pack: River Pack Heaven: Cave of Souls (and Ursulana)
Appearances:	Shadow Wolf
Current Status:	Dead; In the Cave of Souls; Possibly a Star Wolf
Fate:	Murdered by Heep
Abilities	None/Unknown
Deformities	None physically; Born early; Uneven breathing

The Little Pup MacDuncan (Also known as "The Unnamed Malcadh Pup") was a female malcadh  from the River Pack of the MacDuncan clan. Unfortunately, she was born too early and too small. The main problem in Shadow Wolf was her murder committed by Heep.

Description

The Little Pup is described as a 'tawny drop of gold', this she-wolf pup was a beautiful golden wolf, but was born too small and too early with breathing problems. Pups born early, like herself, are abandoned because they are weak and have unseen, hidden flaws. She was the pup being carried by the Lael, the new Obea, in the second picture in Shadow Wolf. Her breathing wasn't right according to Faolan.

She was torn apart and killed by the gnaw wolf, Heep, slowly and painfully. Faolan was deeply hurt, for that could have been him, and he took the bones and buried them with Thunderheart's paw bone.

Family

None known, but the little pup's mother is the one who went to the Sark in Shadow Wolf . It is still unknown about what happened to her siblings, if she had siblings. They could have been born early like her, or just she was born early.

History

Shadow Wolf

The Little Pup was born to the River Pack (Heep's pack) of the MacDuncan clan, but much too early. Although early-born pups are not physically malcadhs, they are abandoned because they are weak, small, have hidden problems and seem to die young. The white Obea wolf, Lael, is seen by Faolan taking the pup to a moose trail, where if it didn't become an owl's supper, it would be squashed by moose passing on. Faolan, however, doesn't like the thought of the pup being crushed under the thousands of hooves. So he howls a prayer that snow will cover her, making the pup hidden from hungry predators.

Later, Gwynneth hears the shrieks of the Little Pup being ripped apart by a wolf. When she hears the pup die and her murderer walk away, she stands before the body, and sings a song meant for nestlings if they die. She tells the Sark about this. After Faolan finds her bones, he decides to gnaw them and put the bones with Thunderheart to honour her. Faolan is soon framed for the crime. The crime of murdering a malcadh is supposed as the most despicable crime a wolf can do. After Heep frames Faolan for the crime, Faolan is tracked down for trial. But in the end, however, it turns out that Heep is the true murderer and runs away to the Outermost with two outclanners.

Spirit Wolf

The Little Pup was only mentioned after Airmead reveals that Heep attacked her.

At the Crystal Plain, it is very likely that she was one of the many wolf, bear, or owl spirits who departed for the Cave of Souls , though she was not mentioned at that point.

Death

She had the misfortune to be born too small, too early, and had breathing problems. Because early pups are weak and tend to have hidden problems, they’re considered a blight on the Clan. The white wolf Lael, the Obea, was charged with taking the little pup from the pack, leaving her to die. But the little pup had a much worse fate in store for her. Instead of being abandoned in the wilderness where she had at least a slim chance of surviving on her own and returning to the pack, she got murdered by another wolf. The murderer was revealed at the end of Shadow Wolf; to be Heep. Heep ripped the pup apart, killing the poor pup and giving her much pain in her death, but before she died she scratched him and drew blood. His reason for murdering her was to get Faolan out of the way so that Heep would win the gaddergnaw and become a watch wolf.