Shadow of the Crown

by Amber Morant

  Persius hit a nerve with the last remark. He felt his grandmother's hand on his shoulder squeeze him gently. The twitch in the man's eye only meant two things. Either there would be a fight breaking out or the man would cave and let him see the chief. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eon before the larger man caved and stepped back.

  "Whatever, if you're so adamant on bringing us into a war then you can bring it up to the chief. Don't expect many to want to leave their quiet lives. Most of us actually enjoy it compared to our old lives."

  "I don't doubt many have grown soft." He turned around and held his grandmother's hand, squeezing it gently. "It was good to see you. Perhaps later we can talk some more?"

  His grandmother smiled. "We can talk after you show me you still have the skill to wield that naginata of yours." Despite her age, Persius knew she would still give him a challenge on the sparing match.

  The muscular skin walker led Persius through the village until they reached one of the largest huts. The leather and shredded fabric coated the hut like the others, but it seemed newer and fresh compared to the others, which were battered from the weather and scars. On the door of the hut was a family paw print of a large wolf. He recognized it all too well from growing up. The same paw print he had been told would one day be his own. A paw that he followed profusely as a cub growing up.

  A voice broke through Persius’s nostalgia. "Brother!"

  The door of the hut swung open, revealing a man surrounded by multiple women. Many of them didn't have any cloth around their breasts, with a few only wearing their animal pelts. The man in the center wore a wolf pelt that wrapped around his waist to hide himself. If it wasn't for the friendly smile and thinner stature, Persius would have thought he was looking in a mirror.

  "Caius, I'm glad to see you're still ah... enjoying the company of women."

  Caius laughed. "Oh, don't mind them. We were just doing a lot of celebrating."

  "Celebration must have been a year long," the muscular skin walker muttered.

  "Brutus, you're free to go. Leave my brother and I to talk. It's been too long." He paused then held his hand out. "No, actually, Brutus. Send word to everyone in the village and hunting parties when they return. If my brother is here, then everyone must know and hear what he has to say. Bring the people to my home when the moon reaches the high sky."

  Brutus nodded and walked off without another word. Persius looked at the muscular skin walker leaving, then turned back to his brother. "He seems like a friendly sort."

  "You'll get used to him. He's honestly just a teddy bear when you get to know him." Caius turned to one of the women surrounding him and kissed her on the cheek. "Girls, I have to talk with my brother so get your stuff and take off until the meeting. We'll have fun later, OK?"

  A few of the women let out a small giggle then took off inside the building into a side room. Persius sniffed the air, something seemed off about the group of women Caius was with, but he would leave it alone for now. Most likely his nose was off after being gone for so long.

  Caius stepped aside and held his hand up to welcome Persius into the hut. "Let's talk then, shall we? I still have some bread and ale left over if you want to eat."

  Persius wanted to deny it and say he wasn’t hungry, but the thought of food made his stomach growl in delight. "Fine, I'll eat. But I still need to talk."

  "We'll talk over a meal."

  The two walked side by side into the hut. If it looked large on the outside, it most certainly was enormous on the inside. Persius had been a lot younger when he had left the village and knew the chief's home was the biggest place in order to host celebrations with the people and hold meetings, but it looked to have expanded since the last time he had been back. There was only one side room where the chief and his family would sleep, but now there were multiple other side rooms with unknown purposes to him.

  "The village has grown I see."

  "Ever since Kalio took over the crown we haven't been nearly as hunted down as much as we once were. Few battles are fought to gain land. It's peaceful for once." Caius looked over at Persius. "I take it since you're here that peace isn't exactly standing anymore." He sat down at the head of the table in the center of the room. It was long enough to fit at least thirty people if they weren’t the size of Brutus. "Come. Sit. Eat. Let's talk."

  Persius sat down to Caius’s right and looked at the bread in front of him. It wasn't like what you would find at the capital, where the bread was far flakier and more filled with air pockets. Instead, it was a multi-grained bread filled with seeds and nuts. Far more filling and lasted longer. The ale was stronger as well, fermenting where others couldn't find it unless they smelled out the fruits ripening underground.

  Persius grabbed a piece of the bread and poured himself a cup of the ale. "You're right. War is coming."

  "Yet we haven't faced a battle for almost a generation. Many of these children couldn't fight anything beyond a rabbit and you expect us to fight?"

  "I expect that skin walkers know where loyalties are and fight regardless."

  "And who is this invisible enemy now? Are we going to fight the gods?"

  Persius took a bite of the bread and crunched down on the seeds. "Rebels. They've infiltrated the shadows and are planning to overthrow the crown soon. So, if you like this peace of yours, I expect everyone to beast up."

  "And the hibernation? Most are already asleep if not preparing for the long sleep."

  "Wake them up. I had to walk up here without hibernating yet, I'm sure the rest can do it too."

  "And the children?"

  Persius felt a small lump in his throat and gulped. Growing up as a child he had been trained to fight, but this generation wasn’t ready. They needed protection and training still. He couldn’t face himself if he saw an innocent child die when they couldn’t defend themselves.

  "Grandma is here, isn't she? I don't see why the elderly can't stay behind to keep the children safe until they are of age to join the pack."

  A knock interrupted their conversation. Caius stood up, excusing himself from the table and shoving the last bite of the bread into his mouth. He walked over to the door and opened it to see a crowd of people surrounding the door. A few were standing on top of one another to try and get closer.

  "I said nightfall."

  "And we didn't listen. If we're going to war, we want a voice now, not forced into a decision."

  Persius grunted and turned around. "Whatever. Bunch of animals anyways."

  "Says the guy who has elves pretending to be skin walkers in his brothel," one of the younger skin walkers said and slapped Caius on the back before walking in.

  It was a group of at least ten skin walkers of differing ages. Most of them Persius didn't recognize and guessed they were from a nearby village that joined theirs while he was away. Judging on the dirt on their skin and the sweat staining their pelts, they were amongst the hunting party.

  They all sat down at the table and poured themselves a cup of ale. Each of them looked down at Persius, waiting for him to speak again.

  Caius broke the conversation. "We're being summoned for war. Our treaty with the queen was of loyalty to her and to destroy any enemies that she required from us." He paused, letting the hunting party digest what he had said so far. "My brother says there is a rebellion brewing that could bring Kalio down and would make us lose our way of life as we have known it."

  "Why does she need us? She has an army at her side. Just send them out to kill all the rebels off?" Caius opened his mouth then closed it, looking to Persius for an answer.

  "To kill a rebellion, you don't take a sledgehammer to it. You take a knife. And what knife is sharper than a beasts’ claws?"

  The hunting party laughed. He could see now that many of them had razor-sharp teeth. A tradition for many to give themselves more of a beast-like appearance even in their common form. A few didn't have jagged teeth, but instead had markings of branches, or what he assumed might eve
n be antlers, to represent their beast.

  "So, we're just going to march down to the countryside and kill every person we think might be a rebel?" The younger one asked above the laughter. "Do you realize we were hunted down because they used to believe we would kill their children at night or snatch away their women from their homes to mate with them? And you're asking us to show them that it's the truth now? "

  "I'm not asking. The queen demands it. If we must kill an infant in its crib to make the rebels show themselves, then we will." Persius clenched his hands underneath the table. He needed to contain his beast for a bit longer. "We are going to war with the people. After that, you can go back into your soft lives if you want. But I refuse to acknowledge that the proud skin walkers who put fear in the hearts of all Narishma now sit here and hunt rabbits all day and balk at the idea of war. Were we not a people who desired the taste of blood in battle?"

  The hunting party grew quiet and looked at one another before looking back at Caius. They knew Persius had a point in his argument. Before peace came to them, battle was what each one craved every day. It was what kept them going. Battles between beasts, villages, elves. Anyone was a target for battle. Since the time of peace, only those too old to fight or too tired seemed to remember the enjoyment of those days.

  Caius broke the tension again. That was something Persius at least enjoyed about his brother and why he was the chief of the village. "Persius, if we go back to that lifestyle our people will dwindle in numbers. Babies fresh from the tit will perish because they couldn't eat. That was what we escaped when we were able to live in peace. What you are asking for costs much more than just spilled blood from warriors."

  "Then let it be done. Children should only be born of strong families anyways. You let a weak child survive with a weak family and the entire pack loses its strength."

  The young hunter let out a low growl. "So, you really don't care about us. We're just fodder for you. You probably can't fight anymore and that's why she sent you here to be a good puppy and get her a free army, is that it?"

  He stood up from the table. Within seconds, the skin walker transformed into a large wolf. His fur was a dark black with specks of white on his chest. Caius went to stand to stop the hunter from fighting but Caius put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

  "You want to fight? Fine, I'll give you what you want and show you that you all have grown soft."

  Persius stood up and felt his bones cracking inside of his body. The pelt wrapped around his shoulders grew and crawled around his body replacing his skin with the beast’s fur. The pain of the transformation lasted only a second before he was now standing on his paws. Compared to the wolf standing in front of him, Persius was twice the other's size. A dire wolf.

  He could feel the beast within him take over but pushed it back. The taste of flesh was still fresh within the beast’s mind. How long it had been since he had woken up and enjoyed a fight that led to bloodshed? No, he had to stop it. He would take down the small wolf pup and get them to listen to him finally. They were all soft from living in peace, yet so was he. There was no denying living in a castle came with some benefits, but this wasn’t the time to let them see.

  Persius bounded on top of the wolf and tumbled across the ground. Claws interlocking together. He opened his mouth and bit down on the wolf pup’s shoulder. At the same time, Persius could feel the pup bite down on his arm. He had the advantage though. As soon as he had solid ground under him again, Persius lifted the wolf pup then slammed him back into the ground.

  A soft yelp escaped the pup’s mouth and he backed away. His tail was now between his legs. Persius panted, it had been a long time since he had fought as a wolf and far longer since it was with someone also in their beast form. Despite this, he had to pull all the strength he had to present himself as the dire wolf he was and brother to the chief, deserving to be listened to.

  Caius stood up and clapped. “Well done, Persius. Destroying the ignorance of one of our younger members of the hunting party. Not much of a fight, but I'm sure we can see that unlike us, Persius still plans to fight and bring his people to how they were before."

  The rest of the hunting party nodded, no longer arguing. Persius felt his bones fall back into new positions and transformed back into his human form. Sweat beaded down his chest. The exhilaration from fighting as a beast warmed his own body, remembering how he had once been able to survive so many years ago here in the cold.

  Caius looked over to Persius. "So where will the pack go?"

  Twenty-Four

  Pain seared through Anjuu's muscles. Unlike so many elves and drow she had encountered, the cait shidhe held far more endurance in battle. Even now Azrael seemed unfazed by the punches and kicks she sent at him. Instead, he would retaliate with his own attacks in smooth succession.

  "How long until you think she will find you?" Anjuu asked between strikes.

  "Not long. Dragons are hard to hide and I'm sure she has a tracker on me. I wasn't exactly the most honest of those loyal to her. Then again," he grunted as he blocked another of Anjuu's punches before spinning around behind her, "you were loyal to the point that I'm surprised she thought you would betray her."

  "But I didn’t betray her. I am still loyal to her."

  "As I said, loyal to a fault. Even when you are standing amongst rebels."

  Anjuu lifted her hands to signal for a break. "Only to get what the queen actually took the crown to happen. She still wants equality for people, and for all we know, she may not be able to see everything for how it is. I know I didn’t, and I was with her at all times."

  Azrael walked over to a black backpack and pulled out two tattered brown towels. Courtesy of the rebellion as Azrael had put it. He tossed one over to Anjuu and they both wiped the sweat off their bodies. "If you really think she cares about the people, then there's going to need to be a sign slapped in your face for you to get that Kalio just isn't a good person."

  "Doubt you could find that proof without muddling it with the fact that she can’t see the full truth just yet. I'll show her though."

  "And your vision from Devata?"

  "I'm sure I saw it wrong. Do you really think she would burn all of Narishma to the ground just to get rid of the rebellion?"

  A roar in the distance pulled Anjuu and Azrael's attention away from their conversation. It had been only two weeks since Azrael had joined the rebels and Anjuu could recognize Azrael's dragon roar and what each one meant. This one was higher pitched, something she had never heard from him before.

  "What's going on?"

  "Not sure, but he never screams like that unless he needs help. Come on."

  They both ran into the woods behind the house. Azrael's dragon spent most of its time in there sleeping or hunting large prey. There was almost nothing out in the forest that was dangerous for a dragon unless another had found its way into the forest without detection.

  The forest grew quiet. Anjuu could no longer hear the dragon and Azrael stood sniffing the air, his ears turning in different directions to listen for the telltale roars. It was faint, but Anjuu could hear a small rustling in one of the nearby bushes.

  She lifted her hand up to get Azrael's attention then dropped it to her lips to let him know to be silent. She pulled one of her knives out from her belt and watched the leaves rustle around the area. There was no way it was the wind, but it was possible it was just an innocent animal hiding from the dragon as well. She wouldn't take any chances on giving away their location with the squawks of a dying animal.

  Anjuu held the knife between two of her fingers, then flung it forward. It lands with a thud behind the bush. No sound escaping from a creature behind it. The leaves stopped moving. The drow let out a sigh of relief and she realized the movement was most likely just an animal she had managed to scare off.

  The knife slid across the dirt toward Anjuu again like someone had slid it back. She stepped aside and noticed the handle seemed off. There was a sheen on it. Anjuu looked back
over to the bushes, still no movement, but she knew something, or someone was there.

  Anjuu ignored the knife on the ground and walked up to the bush. She pushed away some of the branches but saw nothing. The only thing left was a pair of small footprints that didn't wander off anywhere. They simply stopped with a small indent where the person's knees had been laying and that was it. Even the foot prints that led to the bush were too perfect for someone to walk backward on without standing back up and revealing themselves.

  "Who threw that back?" Anjuu asked, still looking around for a sign of a person escaping. Even a trap of some sort. She swung her arm out where the footprints stopped but didn't feel anything solid. They weren't invisible.

  "Not sure who did it, but I imagine it might be some magic to make this thing slide across the ground like that." Azrael bent down to look at the knife still laying on the ground. Anjuu turned around, about to warn Azrael not to touch the knife just yet. Before she could say anything, he picked it up. She let out a sigh when nothing happened. "Not sure why they would do that. Not like sliding a knife can be any form of—ouch!” He dropped the blade back onto the ground.

  Anjuu bolted over to Azrael. He hadn't touched the blade, but something scratched his skin. She could see the blood spotting and covering his fur. Anjuu looked down at the knife still and realized why it had a sheen to it. She had seen it a few times with other shadows. There was a small needle that was shoved into the wood of the handle. At one angle she couldn’t see the needle, but just moving it a little to the left exposed the needle.

  "Azrael, I need you to stay calm, but I need you to tell me exactly what symptoms you're feeling. That needle might have a poison in it." Anjuu pulled the small needle out of the handle and shoved it into her pocket. She would need to remember it was there or deal with someone else getting hurt. She could examine it later to see if it was another assassination attempt from a shadow or not.