Wolves of the beyond Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Watch Wolf
Faolan 2
Author Kathryn Lasky
Illustrator Cover art by Richard Cowdrey

Cover design by Lillie Howard

Publication date June 1, 2011
Publication Order
Preceded by
Shadow Wolf
Followed by
Frost Wolf

Watch Wolf is the third installment of the Wolves of the Beyond series, written by Kathryn Lasky. The hardcover was released June 1st, 2011.

Preview[]

A battle for the Beyond.

Far from the owls of Ga'Hoole, a war is brewing. A bear cub has been snatched by a wolf-- an unthinkable betrayal of the peace that has long existed between the wolves and grizzly bears of the Beyond. The bears are massing, roaring for revenge. The wolves claim to be innocent, but they must fight back or face total annihilation.

For Faolan, a young wolf raised by a grizzly bear mother, the threat of war starts a terrible race. Somewhere in the honorable wolf clans lies a traitor, and Faolan must stop him and rescue the cub before it's too late. If he fails, Faolan will lose everything... and the Wolves of the Beyond will be destroyed forever.

Release Date[]

The hardcover of Watch Wolf was released June 1, 2011.

Plot[]

The book opens with Faolan and Edme as new winners of the gaddergnaw, leaving to go on their Slaan Leat before coming to the Watch, as a way to find peace with their state as malcadhs. Edme asks Faolan if he feels his tummfraw is truly the riverbank, because she doesn't feel that her tummfraw, the northernmost mountain peak of Crooked Back Ridge, is hers. When she sees the stars, she begins to howl a song that all the heavens are one, and Faolan hopes to see his second Milk Giver, the grizzly bear Thunderheart, in the afterlife. The weather turns cold, even though it is the beginning of the Moon of the Flies, the first summer moon. The wolves settle in for the night, gnawing bones as they rest. The next morning, a sudden frost has arrived. Faolan notices a spiderweb close to their resting place that is now covered with frost, admiring its beauty and the fact that it is untorn. He tells Edme that the Sark of the Slough once told him that spider silk was unbelievably strong, and that she uses it to bind wounds. That morning, the wolves separate. Edme travels to her tummfraw and realizes she was not abandoned to die there, but never was there in the first place.

Faolan visits his tummfraw,  which he had been told was the banks of the big river. Tracking the path upstream from the spot where Thunderheart found him, he suddenly locates a rut made by ice tearing away. Feeling as if this spot is familiar, he circles it, scent-marking the ground. He decides to build a drumlyn for Thunderheart on it, for he is disturbed that he never saw her lochin climb the star ladder to Ursulana. The young wolf wonders if he has family still living in his clan.

Edme, traveling back from Crooked Back Ridge, is intercepted by Ingliss and Kyran, two yearlings who take delight in abusing her. At first, she is tempted to cower as she used to, but then musters her authority as a future member of the Watch, standing up to the pair. They initially do nothing but laugh at her, but then Ingliss suddenly says Edme doesn't deserve to be a Watch wolf. Edme ignores her, but the other wolf admits she was a malcadh made. Edme forces them both to tell the truth, and they explain that their chieftain, Dunbar, ripped out her eye. Edme decides to confront him with the evidence. Ingliss and Kyran, knowing what the consequences would be, beg her not to, but she shuts them out and marches toward the camp of the Carreg Gaer.

At the same time, Faolan places Thunderheart's femur upon her drumlyn. It is explained that he has made separate trips to her skeleton, both to bury her paw bone above the salt lagoons in Lone Wolf, and to bring bones for her drumlyn, while having no desire to move her skull from the spot where he first found it. Once the work is complete, he howls a song to help her climb the star ladder.

When Edme enters camp, the celebration of Litha Eve is going on and Dunbar is conveniently drunk on the juice of Litha leaves. Boldly, the young she-wolf orders him to summon the raghnaid. As Dunbar is too intoxicated, she leads him and his similarly drunken lieutenants into the gadderheal. Dunbar demands to know if the Fengo has rejected her. Edme asks him if he should, to which Dunbar protests too much. He calls on Airmead, the Obea, to testify that she truly brought Edme to a tummfraw. Airmead refuses, but Dunbar attacks her for it. Edme reveals that she is indeed a malcadh made. She notices the snow on some of the wolves, and knowing how superstitious they can be, she asks if Dunbar's actions have offended the first Fengo and this is what caused it to snow at the beginning of summer. The MacHeaths are horrified, and Edme announces that she will be going to the Watch as a free runner, leaving the camp immediately as a blizzard strikes.

As soon as she departs, the wolves argue over what to do with Edme. Sobering up, Dunbar quickly orders them to be quiet, beginning to lay out his plans of revenge. Dunbar orders his wolves not to kill until he says so. He goes on to explain that they are to watch Edme carefully, find her weakness, and use it to punish her. Finally, while carefully holding the excitement of his audience, he tells them slyly that he may become the next Fengo.

Airmead rushes after Edme in the blizzard to tell her that in fact, no malcadhs have ever been born into the MacHeath clan, which has always relied on maiming their pups. She tells Edme about the Hordweard Society which has kept abused MacHeath wolves seeking shelter for so long, and that she herself has a chance to leave and start a better life in a new clan. Edme asks who the previous members might have been, and Airmead reveals that the last one was Edme's mother, Akira, who was killed on the way to the MacNamaras and scarred Dunbar's face for her daughter's eye. When Edme meets back up with Faolan, she relays everything she found out. She worries about what the Fengo will say, but Faolan encourages her. The two stumble upon the mangled bodies of Ingliss and Kyran, and Edme realizes the MacHeaths found out they were at fault for her denying them representation on the Watch and killed them. Ironically, the young she-wolf realizes she found out the truth about her origins and peace with her fate, thinking about her courageous mother. As they travel, he wonders about the cold spring, the summer blizzards, and the scarcity of elk antlers, feeling as if he has seen something like this before.

Near the Ring, the two wolves stop and observe a byrrgis from the Watch sharing their kill with a grizzly bear mother. For the first time, Faolan uses an Old Wolf phrase without being aware of it. Edme observes how cute her two cubs are, and Faolan is powerfully reminded of his earliest days with Thunderheart. The two wolves take a nap in the midday heat. Faolan wakes up to find Edme playing with the cubs while her mother sleeps. Panicking, he sneaks up and leads Edme away from the cubs, telling her never to touch a bear cub.

The two arrive at the Ring and are greeted by their taigas, Twistling and Winks, who show them around. When the two young wolves meet with the Fengo, Edme tells him that her eye was ripped out and that she has renounced her clan and become a free runner. Finbar decides to call a Court of Crait to judge the MacHeaths for breaking the sacred rules. Shamed, the one-eyed wolf worries that she won't be welcome on the Watch, but Finbar welcomes her just as much as Faolan. At that, Banja steps forward and suggests that Edme remain a gnaw wolf for a while. Finbar furiously shouts her down. On their first night, the young wolves are shown to their den, with the most luxurious pelts they have ever slept on. Faolan wakes Edme repeatedly to tell her how brave she was and how much she deserves to be on the Watch, to the point of annoying her. Too excited to sleep, Faolan begins reading the Bone of Bones Finbar gave them to study, finding a warning about touching bear cubs. Faolan wakes Edme to ask if she touched the cubs, fearing for her safety. Nervously, Edme replies no.

Fretta reports to Dunbar what happened when Faolan and Edme found the cubs. Katria, Kyran's mother, makes an innocent remark that gets her abuse from the chieftain. Desperate, she wonders how much longer she can last. She continues to watch Fretta's report. The scout explains the incident with the bear cubs. Dunbar is not displeased with the news that Edme survived, saying he could get more out of it with her alive. Fretta also tells Dunbar a rumor that their clan will be called for a Court of Crait. Dismayed, Dunbar furiously cooks up a plot to overthrow the Watch and put his clan in power. To the shock of the other wolves and the horror of Katria, he tells them of a plan to start a war between the Watch and the grizzly bears, starting with snatching the cub Edme played with and keeping him in The Pit.

Twist and Winks fetch Faolan and Edme for their first day of training, showing them many of the strangest and most wonderful parts of the Ring. The training starts with jumping, which Faolan excels at. Edme also jumps well until Banja deliberately breaks her concentration. Though Winks says little, she does not seem to believe Banja's excuses. Edme is dismayed by the nastiness of the other one-eyed wolf. Twist later takes Faolan to the cairn of the Fengos, which gives Faolan a strange feeling. When Twist explains about the code of the Fengos' final carving, Faolan has an odd sense that he knows it. Admiring the beauty of the Ring at night, Faolan feels happy for the first time since losing Thunderheart.

Meanwhile, Katria mourns her daughter when her mate, Donaidh, walks in on her. She growls and rebuffs his abuse. Doniadh arrogantly tells her he was selected for the cubnapping and might be promoted afterward, though Katria believes otherwise. As soon as he leaves, Katria decides to plan her departure to the MacNamara clan and warn them about the cubnapping and the war. She sneaks off the next morning, traveling fast and reveling in her freedom and the strength of her spirit. During the first part of her journey, Airmead surprises her. The white wolf reveals that she finally decided to leave when she saw Katria decide to leave during the meeting in the gadderheal, and hopes to be able to rescue the cub. Katria persuades Airmead to join her on the trip to the MacNamaras.

During a test on owls, Faolan and Edme become nervous when Malachy uses the phrase "bare as a bear cub's butt." Malachy doesn't have much time to wonder about their nerves when the She-Winds begin to blow out of season. Every wolf marvels at the early arrival of the winds. Twist and Winks hurry to get the new gnaw wolves on their cairns. Twist teaches Faolan how to move about in the gusts properly, and shows him how to jump high enough to reach the thermals and be lifted higher. Faolan finds it incredible and rushes to tell Edme about it in their den, only to find her lying miserably in a heap. Edme tells him Banja punished her for something neither of them had heard of before. Faolan furiously grumbles about the mean-spirited red wolf. While trying to sleep, the two young wolves reminisce about the old days with their gnaw wolf friends.

Later in the summer, the peculiar snowy weather continues, the owls follow the She-Winds to the Ring and so does Trader Luce, a trader magpie. Faolan and Edme are surprised by her arrangement of wares, and Gwynneth tries to explain to them about the Others. Trader Luce tries to sell some of her items, but when she mentions gadfeathers, Faolan realizes he knows about them. Gwynneth is confused, but he lies about the feeling he cannot explain. Later, he wonders about how he knows all of these things that had only come on recently.

Toby, the cub Edme played with, feels bored with his brother Burney and his mum Bronka napping, and wants to play with a wolf again. He begins to play alone with a bone, but just then Fretta steps out and attempts to make friends with him. Toby feels afraid after a bit, but suddenly four other wolves rush out and grab him, carrying him far away. Toby screams that all the bears of the Beyond will get them, which makes the wolves laugh. They drop him in the Pit, and he catches his first glimpse of Old Cags. Panicking immediately, the young cub waits to figure out his next move. The wolves start trying to get Toby to tell them his name, but he refuses. They begin to argue about needing a name for Old Cags, for a reason Toby has yet to decipher. He makes up a name for himself - Ishodd, which it turns out is unlucky to wolves. The wolves are thoroughly spooked, and Toby hides from Old Cags in a narrow rock slot. He stays inside as night falls, trying to plot an escape and doing his best to avoid Old Cags. A summer snowfall makes Toby worry that his family will decide to hibernate without him. Earlier that day, Burney awakens to find Toby gone. He hurriedly wakes Bronka, who discovers that wolves have taken Toby and flies into a rage, frightening Burney.

Continuing on their journey, Katria and Airmead decide to swim across an inlet to Broken Talon Point to save time. The swim is hard, but the two she-wolves turn to the newly discovered strength within themselves to make it. Later, they discover two sets of wolf tracks, one wolf being blind. It turns out to be Morag, Faolan's mother, and her new mate, Brangwen, on their own journey to join the MacNamaras. The MacDonegal wolves are only too happy to join the MacHeath runaways. When they reach the MacNamara territory, two scouts tell them that Galana MacNamara knows about the impending war with the bears. Katria reveals the MacHeaths' involvement, and the group follow the scouts to tell the Namara.

Back on the Watch, Faolan and Edme are aware that something odd is going on, but no one will give them any information. Faolan captures an owl he thinks might be a graymalkin, but it turns out the owl, Arthur, has information about Toby's cubnapping. He tells Faolan and Edme all about how he and his friend Skylar witnessed the MacHeaths snatching Toby. He goes on to explain that because Skylar attacked the MacHeaths and he didn't, Skylar dared him to look for the Ember of Hoole, leading to his run-in with the young Watch wolves. Arthur adds that the bears are going to war against the wolves, which horrifies Faolan. The owl describes Toby's imprisonment, and Edme explains to him and Faolan that he was put in the Pit. The two wolves recruit the reluctant owl to help them rescue the cub.

While Old Cags fumes over his luck in not having a name to call his strange prisoner, Toby notices his tail fur shedding. The sight causes a fracture between the young cub's fear and his rational mind. He realizes that he must conquer his fear of Old Cags, so he confronts the wolf and refuses to give his name. Seeing him confused, he becomes aware of his fear weakening. Meanwhile, the young wolves tell Finbar about the cubnapping. Though Faolan wants to first suggest a parley, Edme is forced to reveal that she knows where Toby is. She asks for herself and Faolan to save the cub. Finbar approves of the plan, but Banja objects to Edme going under the assumption that she will betray Faolan. Faolan is triggered and calls Banja a traitor, but the squabble is quickly stopped by Finbar. Faolan, Edme, and Arthur leave to find the Pit, and notice that the bears are already marching to rally in the Black Glass Desert, with an army of wolves coming out to meet them. The group races the rest of the way to the Pit. They arrive the next morning to find Toby shouting at Cags from his hiding place. They plan to distract Cags by having Edme and Arthur jump and fly around over his head, but Toby shouts out Edme's name and the plan comes to a halt.

Meanwhile, the Namara leads a large force toward the Black Glass Desert. She stops long enough to tell her troops they must not fight the bears, but the MacHeaths. Having heard Edme's name, Old Cags constantly shouts it out, causing her to freeze. Arthur sacrifices himself to save her, caught in Old Cags' jaws. The wolves and cub flee the Pit to watch as their friend dies in agony before racing to the Black Glass Desert. Gwynneth finds them there and spreads the news that the cub has been rescued. Once Toby returns to his mother, Dunbar comes up with a new plan to assassinate Grizz the Bear of Bears. He tries to lead a slink melf to target Grizz, but they are foiled by Katria, Airmead, and Edme, who kills the treacherous MacHeath chieftain. Finbar arrives and exiles all of the surviving MacHeaths to the Outermost.

Eight moons later (indicated by the title of the last chapter, Eight Moons Passing), Faolan is taken to meet his dying mother. She does not recognize him at first, but he presses his splayed paw to her mouth, and she is overjoyed to recognize him. She shows him a mother's love for the first time since he can remember, and asks his name. He tells her his name and what it means, "gift from the river". Morag likes the sound of the word "gift", repeating it several times before she dies. Faolan decides to build her a drumlyn on Broken Talon Point, and when he begins, he observes her climbing the star ladder, and to his delight, Thunderheart is following her to rest in peace. He howls joyfully that all the heavens are one.

Excerpt[]

(Excerpt from Chapter 4: A True Gnaw Wolf?)

“Well, you’ve certainly learned quickly!” Ingliss, the larger of the two, said.

“Yes, but doesn’t a one-eyed wolf look funny with her hackles up?” Kyran added nastily. Kyran always took her cues from Ingliss. They worked as a tag team of abuse.

“You know, of course, you don’t deserve to go to the Ring,” Ingliss said. Edme tilted her head. She wouldn’t deign to answer them and walked on. But they followed her, one on either side, pressing close.

“Get away!” Edme yipped. “You can’t do this to me anymore, either with words or bites.”

“Oh, yes, that’s true,” Ingliss said brightly. “Indeed we should never have abused you. Seeing as you were never a true gnaw wolf.”

This stopped Edme. “Are you cag mag? What are you talking about?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Ingliss teased. She turned to Kyran. “Should we tell her?”

“I suppose so,” Kyran replied casually, as if she had better things on her mind.

“Dear Edme, we have come to apologize for our behavior,” Ingliss said. Edme’s head swiveled between the two wolves.

Edme tried desperately to maintain a cool, disinterested demeanor. “An apology is not necessary, really. Now on your way. I must get to the Ring and the Watch.”

“I wouldn’t rush if I were you,” Kyran said.

“No, no, definitely not. For what will they say when they discover you were not born a malcadh, but made one!”

“What are you talking about?” Edme said, and she bared her teeth. Never had such a small wolf seemed so fierce.

The two yearlings cowered. “He did it to you, the chieftain Dunbar MacHeath!” Kyran blurted.

“Did what?”

“Tore out your eye!” Ingliss said.

“You mean… you mean…” Edme’s jaw dropped open. It was as if she was searching for the actual words. “I wasn’t born this way?”

“Not at all,” the two wolves said at once, regaining their composure. A smirk crawled across Ingliss’s face. “We heard it whispered in the gadderheal. So you see, you are not a true gnaw wolf,” Ingliss said.

“You’re a fake,” Kyran offered. “They’ll reject you when they find out.”

“They sense these things,” Ingliss said.

“What if I tell them?” Edme said, turning around and heading straight into the heart of MacHeath territory.

“Tell them? Tell who? Where are you going, Edme?”

“To your chieftain.”

“What?” the two wolves shrieked.

“You’re telling him what we told you? We’ll get in big trouble!” Ingliss was running beside Edme now, pleading with her.

“You should have thought of that before.”

“But what’s the use of telling Dunbar MacHeath? What will you tell him exactly?”

“Exactly?” Edme stopped short, and the beam from her single eye seemed to pierce Ingliss right to her marrow. “I shall tell him that I will serve at the Ring not as a member of the MacHeath clan, but a free runner!”

The two yearlings collapsed and began crawling after Edme on their bellies, begging her not to go to the chieftain. But Edme closed her ears and trotted on toward the Carreg Gaer of the MacHeath clan. Now it all made sense. She felt nothing when she arrived at her tummfraw because she had no connection with it whatsoever. Had they gone through the rituals of kicking out her birth mother and sire from the clan? What did it matter? It was all a charade and nothing more.    

Parts[]

  • Part One: The Journey
  • Part Two: The Ring
  • Part Three: The Cub

Characters[]

Chapters[]

  • Thus Sayeth the Fengo
  1. Under the Stars
  2. Winter Dreams on a Summer Night
  3. The Scent of the River
  4. A True Gnaw Wolf?
  5. Blood and Thorns
  6. The Obea Speaks
  7. Tatters
  8. View from a Ridge
  9. The Hot Gates
  10. The Bone of Bones
  11. Dunbar MacHeath Considers
  12. First Watch
  13. Escape of the She-Wolves
  14. The She-Winds
  15. A Twinge in the Marrow
  16. Old Cags
  17. Shadows of War
  18. Graymalkin
  19. Killing Fear
  20. Breaking Rules
  21. The Pit
  22. Drums of War
  23. "Edme! Edme! Edme!"
  24. The Black Glass Desert
  25. Eight Moons Passing
  • Epilogue
  • Author's Note

Sequel[]

The next book is called Frost Wolf and is the fourth book in the series. Frost Wolf is not last book in the series, there are two more books following Frost Wolf. The author has written, and will only write six books in total. The fifth book is called Spirit Wolf. The sixth book in the series is titled Star Wolf.

Trivia[]

  • Even though five wolves captured Toby, there were stated to be four multiple times.
  • Toby was snatched during the day, so it is unknown why Skylar and Arthur were out searching for fish at the same time.
  • The Twisted Four are mistakenly called the Twisted Four-four.

Gallery[]

Covers[]

Japanese edition[]

Advertisement