| Fred and Alicia carried Loam on the litter and followed the woman in
front of them. She was a small, weasel headed villager and had come to
them with the summons from the council. She led them down into a wooded
vale, at the bottom of which was a rocky hillock. A small, dark mouth had
been cut into the rock. The weasel woman seemed nervous, always jerking
her head back to look into the sky. Alicia said her name was Egwene. When
they reached the cave mouth, Egwene nodded at Alicia and hurried back up
the way they had come.
"Is the council that frightening?" Fred asked Alicia. She turned to him with a puzzled frown, and then understood why he asked. "Oh no, not the council. Egwene just wanted to be with her family before the moon rose." Fred nodded, though Alicia could tell he didn't really get what she meant. "Haven't you wondered why you've seen so few people so far?" she asked him. "There are quite a few of us on this island. But during the Cycle of the Moon we all separate into our families and move to our own territories. Wolves with wolves, bears with bears, foxes with foxes, and so on. In our animal state if we meet each other and are not of the same family, we usually end up hurting each other. So we stay with our own kind." Now Fred understood. "Well aren't we running out of time? The moon's going to rise soon," Fred said. "Yes," Alicia answered, worry in her voice. The path that bore into the hill was lit by torches set in sconces hammered into the walls every ten feet. They were a somber procession as they walked along that flickering hall toward the council chamber. Loam moaned softly from the litter. His praeternatural body was healing incredibly fast, but his wounds had been nearly fatal to begin with. Suddenly the hallway opened onto a large, circular, domed room. There was no ornamentation here, only rock and earth, but Fred could sense the power and authority of that room. On a slight rise ahead of them was a simple rock table. Behind it stood two men and a woman. "That's Padre Fin," Alicia whispered, and motioned toward the man who looked like a raccoon. "And I am Carradene," the old and grizzled wolf-man said loudly. "I may be old, but I'm not deaf Alicia. If the young one has questions, let him ask. And if he wishes an introduction, I am sure that we can provide." Alicia blushed, part embarrassment, part anger. Fred knew she had been a princess before becoming trapped here, and Fred knew how princesses expected to be treated. "You are so wise Carradene," she said with a touch of mockery. Fred wondered at her tone though, was there more here than just rankled pride? "But is it wise to bring us here now? The moon is upon us." Carradene's eyes blazed at Alicia. "The moon is in its place as it has
always been. My question little girl is, what is that doing here?"
He pointed at the silver studded club tied to the litter. Whether Alicia
liked it or not, that was a question that could not wait to be answered.
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