Ankyra Sound meanwhile, buster was waiting in the hallway.

Maude had returned with little fanfare and merged seamlessly with the other member of her crew: scavenging for food. It wasn't a far cry from what she had done before the locusts attacked; they had been close to starving before anyway. Now things were made worse by the fact that there was little food for everyone, not just them.

But it didn't seem to outsiders that Maude minded. Oh no. Maude seemed to relish in the famine. Perhaps it was the lack of food enhancing her madness. Perhaps she found some sick pleasure from seeing everyone else starving like she had her whole life. Perhaps she liked the fact that they had very very good reason now to raid other packs. Whatever it was, it put a strange skip in her step, and a song on her lips.

Old Billy Riley was a dancing master.
Old Billy Riley, oh, Billy Riley! Old Billy Riley!
Old Billy Riley,master of a drogher.
Old Billy Riley, oh, Billy Riley! Old Billy Riley!
Master of a drogher bound for Antigua.
Old Billy Riley, oh, Billy Riley! Master of a drogher.


She approached the beach jovially, ready to scour the sands for some food to fill her belly and the crew's caches. But the plump wolf caught her eye first. She had seen the remains of a wolf in the sand and in the caches: cannibalism wasn't taboo any longer. She licked her lips, pausing momentarily in her song.

Old Billy Riley has a nice young daughter.
Old Billy Riley, oh, Billy Riley!
Oh Missy Riley, little Missy Riley.
Old Billy Riley, oh, Billy Riley! O, Missy Riley!
Had a pretty daughter, but we can't get at her.
Old Billy Riley, oh, Billy Riley! Had a pretty daughter.


She walked up to the wolf's side, smiling but feeling the corner of her mouth crash downward slightly at Caiaphas' powerful scent. So's ye's a new crewmate, then, lad? She said, regaining her mask of joviality.