The Wolf's Heart

by Rain Oxford

  “I guess you’re Lindow?”

  “Yes.” His voice, though as deep and loud as any other troll, sounded more intelligent than the average troll. Not by much, though.

  “I’m here to rescue the elf princess. Hand her over and we won’t cause any problems,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I was.

  “You can’t have her!”

  I didn’t have my staff on me, but I could summon it to me through the gates. However, a sword would do little good and my best defense was to conjure my dragon, which would take too long. Nevertheless, cowering was the worst thing to do when facing a troll.

  Instead, I aimed my wand at him threateningly. “I am Ayden Rynorm, of one of the most powerful sorcerer families on Caldaca! I could call a thousand dragons out of the sky to destroy you and your cave! I could turn you into a harmless bat in an instant!”

  Lindow hesitated, confused and worried by my bravado. I highly doubted anyone had ever threatened him back. To my astonishment, this worked; he turned and ran into an adjoining room. Instead of chasing after him, I returned to the gate and pulled the lever. The gate raised into the ceiling and allowed Merlin and Gmork into the room. I grabbed my robe and put it on. It was protective against weapons as well as cold.

  At that point, the troll emerged with the elf princess over his shoulder. She didn’t scream or shout for help, but her entire body was clenched in fear.

  Lindow didn’t try to go through the gates but through another tunnel. Gmork and Merlin raced to block his escape and he turned towards me. I aimed my wand at him, only to lower it when he took a step backward toward the cliff drop. “Don’t let him go over the edge!”

  They herded him away from the cliff and I advanced so that we could surround him. His eyes darted frantically from one exit to another. I could see the panic growing in him. Before I could back off, his composure snapped and he rushed me, since I was the smallest and in the way of his original path. His massive arm slapped me out of the way. I barely stopped myself from going over the edge of the cliff.

  Merlin was torn between helping me and stopping him. I sat up, clutching my stinging chest. “I’m fine.” Then the ground crumbled beneath me. I grabbed for anything and only managed to cut my left palm on a particularly sharp rock.

  Merlin shouted my name. Instead of falling to my death, my foot caught a narrow ledge. I held onto the side of the cliff as best as I could, ignoring the pain in my hand.

  Gmork stuck his head over the ledge. “I see him! You go! I will save him.” Gmork reached his paw down and I could almost reach him.

  Merlin hesitated. “Go, Merlin! Hurry!” He took off after the troll. “Maybe I can climb up,” I said, testing my footing on any rock in the wall. They all crumbled. When I looked back at Gmork, he had withdrawn his paw. “I’ll try throwing my robe up. Can you catch it in your teeth?”

  He looked me in the eyes without saying a word, and then he walked away. I mentally berated myself for trusting him, but that wasn’t going to get me out of danger. I moved slightly to the left to reach more rocks sticking out of the dirt. They crumbled just as easily. Just when I decided to take a moment to breathe and calm myself, the ledge under my feet crumbled. I started falling at the same time a rope dropped in front of me.

  I grabbed it on instinct and found myself being pulled up rather than falling. In a moment, I was on solid ground, but it was a few more moments before I could make myself let go of the rope. Gmork was there, and he had saved me by getting the rope out of my bag.

  “You could have let me die. Merlin wouldn’t have known.”

  “I lost my best friend. I do not want him to lose his.”

  We followed after them and found Merlin and the troll king at a stalemate. The cavern was a bedroom with tunnel beyond, except that the tunnel had been caved in, possibly from the fleeing trolls. Lindow had left his club behind and has some pretty nasty cuts on his face and arms. Merlin was limping on his right front leg. The princess was safe on a mattress, huddled in the corner to be as small as possible. She was small and thin even for an elf, so that wasn’t hard for her to do.

  When I tried to approach the elven princess, Lindow growled and she shivered. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said softly. “We’re here to help you.”

  “I don’t need your help.”

  “Your father sent us to rescue you.”

  “I don’t need to be rescued! I wasn’t kidnapped! I ran away!”

  I stopped. “Did your father hurt you?”

  “No.”

  “Are you being forced to say this?”

  “No! I ran away because I love Lindow and my father would never understand.” In response to the princess’s distress, Lindow went to her, picked her up, and hugged her. There was no fear in her eyes as she wrapped her small arms around his massive one.

  “Oh. Your father has a piece of a scroll that we need and he said we had to bring you back to him to get it. If you go with us, we’ll explain that this was a misunderstanding. I’m sure your father would want you to be happy.”

  “Would you let your daughter marry a troll?” she asked.

  “If I had a daughter, I would want her to be happy… as long as she was safe.”

  “My father wouldn’t believe me that Lindow makes me happy. He hates trolls. He would kill Lindow on sight.”

  “Maybe you should come with us without him and let us explain.”

  “No! He would lock me up to keep me from Lindow!” She was nearly in tears. Lindow stroked her hair softly to comfort her. He was easily four times her size, but he was gentle with her as if she was a newborn. If she was separated from him, he wouldn’t understand. He would attack the elves to get her back.

  “This is nonsense,” Gmork said. “She can tell her father what she wants herself. Knock her out and let’s go.”

  “We can’t do that,” I said. “She knows her father better than we do. I don’t want to be the reason someone dies or gets separated from the one they love.”

  “We have to take her back or we cannot save Nimue! Nimue is more important than some little elf!”

  I shook my head. “To you and Merlin, she is. To the elf king and troll king, Nimue is no one. We have no right to separate them. We’ll return to the elf king and explain the problem. He can decide to attack or let her be happy. We will get the scroll another way.”

  “Merlin, tell him he is being an idiot!” Gmork insisted.

  Merlin watched the elven princess as she held onto Lindow. She knew she couldn’t stop us if we insisted on taking her from him. She didn’t want Lindow to get hurt fighting us.

  “We will get the scroll another way,” Merlin said. He wasn’t certain we could, but he also wouldn’t separate her from the troll she loved. I wondered if he was doing it because of the troll, though. Gmork had taken Nimue from him.

  The princess gasped with relief.

  * * *

  Empty-handed, we left the troll caves and made our trek back to the elf king. He was sitting on a low tree branch, waiting for us, and didn’t look happy to see us return without his daughter. “Where is she? You have failed?”

  In response to his anger, ten elves dropped down from the trees and surrounded us with sharpened spears. Gmork sneered, not worried in the least.

  “No,” I said. “We fought the trolls and found her, but she didn’t want to come back with us. She wasn’t kidnapped; she ran away to be with Lindow.”

  “Preposterous! You struck a deal with Lindow to deceive me!”

  “We didn’t.”

  “My daughter would never fall in love with a troll.”

  “Those with the purest of hearts always see the man behind the beast,” Merlin said. “Whether that man is a true monster or a diamond in the rough, her heart will lead her to someone worthy of her love. To deny your own daughter that, you have to be the cruelest monster of them all.”

  The king sat back as if struck, his eyes wide with shock. His tribe members took a few steps closer with the
ir weapons raised to attack, but he didn’t give the order. After a long moment, the king cleared his throat. “I see. I did not realize her love was this serious.”

  “Then you won’t separate them?” I asked.

  “I will visit her and make sure he is treating her as the princess that she is. As long as he is, I will let her stay with him.”

  “Then send us on another quest so we can get the scroll,” Gmork said, not impressed with the king’s mercy.

  “There is no need for that,” the elf king said. “For putting my daughter’s happiness over your own needs, you have proven yourselves.” He held out his hand and the scroll piece appeared.

  I grabbed it before he could change his mind. “We did it! We have the whole scroll.”

  “Before you celebrate, I suggest you leave this forest,” the elven king said. “It is troll season and many of them would sooner cook you than ask if you are allied with anyone.”

  Chapter 15

  We decided to take the scroll back to Vactarus’s mansion to figure out the next step. When we reached the troll bridge, the troll appeared. I wasn’t worried this time and didn’t even slow down.

  “One copper coin,” he said.

  “We’re not hunting monsters,” I responded, handing him the gold coin. He vanished. “If he doesn’t magically know, he should ask us instead of guessing.”

  “You gave him a gold coin instead of copper?” Gmork asked. “Who corrects a mistake made in their own favor?”

  “I can get more gold. I’m not selfless like a wizard, but I’m honest.”

  By the time we made it out of the forest, it was night. I made the crystal of my staff glow like a torch because the large moon was dark and the small moon was only half full. I was excited about having the entire scroll, so I wasn’t thinking about the villager’s warning…

  Until a bandit appeared in front of us with a staff aimed at me. From his long black hair and crimson eyes, I knew he was a sorcerer. His robe was deep purple velvet, but I didn’t recognize the family crest. He did recognize mine, though.

  “Well now. It has been a long time since I’ve seen a Rynorm. I didn’t know they had any wizards.”

  Merlin braced himself to attack. Gmork didn’t bother. “I’m a curse breaker, not a wizard,” I corrected him.”

  The man scoffed. “That’s even worse. I’m a Stesfen.”

  I’d heard of them only by reputation. “I thought your family lived in the ice lands.”

  “I am venturing out. There isn’t enough prey there. So, hand over your money, and no one has to get hurt.”

  I opened my mouth to point out that we outnumbered him, when Merlin yelped. Before I could draw my wand, Merlin was slammed onto his side and another sorcerer appeared with a dagger pressed to his throat.

  “Oh, were you about to say that you outnumber us? I must have forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Cho. I worked my way up in the ranks of my assassin’s guild from newcomer to master in less than a month, so I’m very hopeful that you’ll resist. I am going for a record.”

  As Cho was talking, Stesfen shot magic at my staff, which flew out of my hand.

  When Gmork tensed to attack, I held out my hand to stop him. “Don’t hurt him.”

  “Clearly, you haven’t spent enough time with real sorcerers. If you even reach for your wand, he’ll die.”

  “Take my money and go.”

  “If you insist,” a third sorcerer said, appearing right beside me. He looked identical to Cho. With a cruel smirk, he reached into my robe pocket and pulled out my coin purse. Fortunately, he didn’t get my wand. After all, most sorcerers and wizards only had one.

  “Chan, grab his bag and staff, too,” Cho said.

  “No!”

  Merlin whimpered as Cho pierced his skin in warning. Chan grabbed my bag, but when he reached for my staff, it zapped him with the last remaining energy it had.

  “The staff is bonded to him. It’s worthless,” Chan said.

  Cho sneered. “I can see that.”

  “We’ll be off then,” Stesfen said. “And you may want to get a healing potion for the wolf; our blades are poisoned.” With that, he and his companions disappeared into the woods.

  Gmork started chasing after them, but I stayed with Merlin. “Save the scroll,” he said.

  “Gmork will get it. You’re more important. Can you stand?”

  With obvious pain, he climbed to his feet. Every slow step caused him to shake and his knees nearly buckled. We were almost to Vactarus’s mansion when Merlin did collapse, so I levitated him the rest of the way.

  When Vactarus saw that Merlin was hurt, he immediately became concerned. Of course, he couldn’t do anything himself, but there were some healing potions in the magic room he had stocked up on. Merlin passed out as soon as I gave him one, so I settled him in a room.

  Once I was certain the potion was helping him, I left, trusting Vactarus to watch over him. I knew he would be upset when he found out I’d left, but I couldn’t risk waiting. We had to get the scroll back, or Merlin couldn’t save Nimue. I was more interested in using the heart to stop Erica.

  * * *

  I stopped in the first village I came to and approached a woman tending to some frightened goats. “Excuse me. Did you see three sorcerer bandits being followed by a massive black wolf?”

  “I did. Those fiends stole my necklace.”

  “Where did they go?”

  She pointed down the road into the heart of the town. I heard a commotion at that point and followed it. There were five warriors surrounding the sorcerers. The sorcerers were bound by invisible ropes, but so was Gmork. In front of them was a pile of their stolen goods, including my bag and a bunch of jewelry. “Release the wolf. He’s not part of their group,” I said.

  The closest warrior gave me a momentary glance. “Go home, wizard. Your stolen property will be returned if we find it.”

  “I’m not a wizard, I’m a curse breaker.”

  “We don’t need a curse breaker.”

  “You will if you don’t release my friend.” Two of the warriors looked at each other with confusion. “The wolf. The black wolf was chasing after them because they stole my bag.”

  “We will release the wolf if we decide he’s innocent.”

  As anger filled me, my staff pulsed with a blue glow. I was prepared to summon my dragon. “Ayden,” Gmork said, startling everyone. “Merlin might forgive me for taking Nimue from him, but he would never forgive me if you got hurt trying to save me.”

  “You must not know him as well as I thought.”

  “I know him better than you. He might tell someone he forgives them, but he never forgets. I can handle these silly excuses for wizards. You get the scroll and leave this to me. People like this are worse than the bandits; if you let them take the bag away, you will never see it again.”

  The warriors all snarled at him. I pointed my staff at my bag on the ground and it shot into my hands. Two warriors aimed their swords at me and one aimed a sorcerer’s wand. I didn’t need to check how many of them had magic; they outnumbered me and they were trained to fight. I could do enough to get away, but not enough to actually beat them.

  “Merlin and I will come back for you,” I said.

  “I do not expect to ever see either of you again, let alone another sunrise. Just save Nimue. You have to save her.”

  “You really love her?”

  “More than anything else in the world. Take the scroll back to Merlin so that you two can save her. Do not worry about me.”

  I studied the warriors for a moment. They had easily subdued the thieves that had beat Merlin, Gmork, and me. If I fought them alone, I could lose the scroll and Gmork, not to mention my life. “When the scroll is safe, Merlin and I will come back for you.” I left and practically ran back to Vactarus’s mansion.

  Of course, that meant I was completely out of breath when I arrived and it took a while before I could tell Vactarus what happened. All five pieces of the scrol
l were safe. Merlin woke soon after, his wound mostly healed and the poison completely out of his system. He was pleased that I had gotten the scroll, but he couldn’t hide his concern for Gmork.

  For the rest of the night, we discussed the plan and he rested. I knew the warriors wouldn’t let Gmork go free, nor did they think he was one of the thieves. Wolves were valuable, and Gmork was massive, so he was worth twice what a normal wolf was. He could be sold as a guard or laborer, or if he refused to do that, he could be sold for parts.

  * * *

  We left early the next morning and arrived at the small town before the sun had fully risen. For the same reason my magic gave me an advantage on Merlin’s world, he had an advantage here. Thus, we switched. I felt a lot more confident as a wolf. When I was a child, I was known to bite. I rather enjoyed having the fangs to go with it.

  Merlin didn’t need the wolf’s courage to be intimidating; he walked as proudly as any sorcerer with the determination of a hero and the wit I was used to. He carried my staff as if it would work for him with enough mettle that I was sure it would.

  We stopped in front of the same woman from the previous day who was now tending to some freshly-baked pies. I noticed she wasn’t wearing a necklace. “Excuse me,” Merlin said. “There was a commotion here last night, right?”

  “Yes. Some thieves were caught. One of them got away with everything, unfortunately.”

  “I’m really glad I got the scroll,” I said.

  Merlin responded in my mind. “Most likely, you are the one who ‘got away.’ That is a common scam in this type of situation. The warriors wanted to keep the stolen goods for themselves, so they said someone got away with the goods. Citizens probably saw you escape with your bag, so the warriors used you as a scapegoat.”

  “That’s low. Warriors are the face of honor, yet the more we meet, the less I trust them.”

  “Your world is going through many changes in class.” Out loud, he asked, “Do you know what happened to the wolf?”

  “They have him and the thieves locked up in the tavern.” She pointed to a large wooden building at the end of the road.