Back in our tent, those evening insights erupted like wildfire. Fear mixed with doubt and resentment. Some wolves were encouraged by the idea that the adversary was establishing an alliance—a menace that might, if uncontrolled, unite our opponents. The idea that treason might be controlled by the exact forces we had battled against stopped others as well because it suggested it was not restricted to our own ranks.
I summoned an emergency council under the wavering light of a solitary lamp, the weight of the forbidden alliance pushing on every heart. "We now know that our enemy seeks to break us from within," I continued, voice strong but filled with grief. "The Forbidden Alliance is a ploy—a union of dark forces that will set our legacy ablaze with treachery and ruin. We have to move quickly to cut this evil link before it destroys us all.
