Summary
It has been raining nonstop for 3 days. Skylos has been spending the last hour in the Keep library, studying bridge designs of the world. He stretches and opens a window, and howls into the rain. He feels a sudden urge to run. So he closes the window and hurries out of the library, down to the Deaf Mule, where several other canines are sitting in the corner. He howls, and they join in. He greets them with playful sniffs and shouldering, and invites them all for a run. The dogs hurriedly pay as they rush to join him, shifting into full canine as they run through the Keep hallways.
Wanderer hears Skylos's howl from the library, and is agitated as Chris dictates a message to Lurene. When Skylos's pack runs by, even Lurene starts to whine. Chris finally gets up and lets them both out; Lurene leaps out of her clothes as she shifts. The pack stops, sniffs, and welcomes the two newcomers; other canines soon join them.
Wanderer leads the pack along the battlements and into the armory, where Lieutenant Blake has just finished his evening rounds. By the time Blake manages to open another door to let the canines out, his stacks of weapons have spilled everywhere, and his dry clothes have been soaked.
Skylos leads them off the wall and onto a lower path, which turns out to be a water flue. Unable to stop, the pack falls into a grated room. A dingo shifts to his morph form to open the door, and the pack runs out into the lower halls of the Keep. Yonson has just finished business with Thomas when suddenly the wet canines race into the room, spoiling Yonson's fine doublet. Thomas's guard stop them, but Thomas laughs and lets them go.
Wanderer leads them upwards to the top of a tower. To the east, the full moon is rising through a break in the clouds. The canines howl, and all throughout the Keep, people turn and listen to the howls.
One by one, the canines quietly leave, all except Lurene and Wanderer. Wanderer stares at the moon, his mind in turmoil. Lurene nuzzles him, and they head back downstairs together.
Characters
Main characters:
- Skylos: A beagle morph, an engineer. He leads his fellow canines in a run through the rain.
- Wanderer: A full wolf morph in mind and body, the former Keep bard. There is a slight trace of humanity within him that confuses him. He joins his canines in the run.
Supporting characters:
- Lurene: A wolf morph and female gendermorph, Chris's ward and student and assistant. She helps write messages for Chris. She joins the pack with glee, staying in the rear. She later stays in the tower with Wanderer as he tries to remember.
Minor characters:
- Chris: A full bear morph in body, a mage and tutor of the Keep, caretaker of Lurene and Wanderer. He can communicate mentally with others, but needs others to write for him. He lets out Lurene and Wanderer when the canines pass, and is eating a sandwich when they howl.
- Lieutenant Blake. He works in an armory in a tower along the Keep walls. He was just about to rest his sore feet by the fire, when he heard the canines barking outside. Not knowing what was to come, he opened the door, filling the room with canines who soaked his lower half and toppled over the weapons.
- He had an oilcloth coat that he wore while making his evening rounds.
- Yonson: A lemur morph, an ambassador from the Chateau Marzac.
- Thomas: A horse morph, the Duke of Metamor Keep. He takes the canines in good humor and sends them off.
Cameo:
- Fox Cutter: A fox morph, the Keep librarian. He tells Skylos to take his howling elsewhere.
- Donnie: A bull morph, the bartender of the Deaf Mule.
- Charles: A rat morph, a Sondeckis and Long Scout in-training. He is meditating while the canines are howling.
- Misha: A fox morph, amateur mechanic and head of the Long Scouts. He is tinkering with clockwork as the canines are howling.
Locations
- One of the towers has an armory built into it, where Lieutenant Blake rests. Inside are racks of spears, arrows, and bows. There is a fireplace and a sturdy wooden chair for Blake to relax in.
- Around the Keep are gutters and channels directing rainwater into cisterns below the Keep, collected for times of siege.
- The room where the flues lead is grated to collect large debris such as wood, while the rest of the water flows to the cisterns below the Keep. It is tilted on one side. A door leads out into the halls.
- The tower where the wolves end up is unknown, though Skylos suspects it is used for observation or for mages.
Chronology / Story Connections
- Wanderer's troubled mind is briefly revisted from For I am Lost.
- There is a full moon tonight. Going by the calendar of 706, and taking place after the Lessons trilogy, there are 4 likely dates this story could take place around: August 24, September 23, October 21, and November 20.
