House of Vultures

by Maggie Claire

  ***

  “There!” I shout from within the Ddraig’s clutches. “The House of Vultures is in that clearing. Take me down to them, Siri.” Siri slides low over the canopy, making my eyes water with the sudden change. Along the fence, two bodies are draped in the traitor binds. I celebrate and holler when I recognize one of them is Condor. “He did it, Siri! Wolf defeated the House of Vultures!”

  I do not see the spear that grazes Siri’s toes from the ground. My ears throb with the intensity of her shrieking as I tumble through the treetops, falling through the branches until I land face up on a sharp rock. My back cracks audibly and radiates with pain, my voice unable to do more than gurgle.

  My name is shouted by someone beside me, and I can feel the vibrations in the ground as Wolf runs to my side. Gentle hands cradle my head, blood clumping my hair into thick clods. Calloused fingers wipe my face, but the words that Wolf speaks are as cold as the first winter snowstorm. “There was no other way to save you, Mynah. You had to die. I’d rather live a life without you than have you bring the Pith evils into this land.”

  Wolf’s voice sounds strange, like he’s talking in his sleep, and his eyes are glazed and unfocused. Yet I cannot ask him anything, nor can I seem to move any of my limbs.

  “What makes you think she needed saving?” Siri snaps as she watches from the cover of the trees. I know exactly where she is, feeling her rage and sorrow radiating through the forest to me as clearly as if they are on a breeze.

  “Who speaks to me?” Wolf demands, hands reaching for the spear as the Ddraig steps out of the shadows. My breath rattles with effort in my chest as I try to move my fingers.

  “I answer to no one,” Siri roars, flames pouring out of her mouth with her fury. “But you will cower before me by the time I am finished! Why did you hurt her?”

  Wolf says nothing more, and although he does not react in terror, I can tell he is frightened. The tip of his spear shakes with his trembling hand, his shoulders scrunched ever so slightly.

  “Lis’n,” I manage to say through the blood filling my mouth, praying Siri will understand. The pain in my body slowly reaches my awareness, and a tortured moan escapes my lips. My eyes flutter rapidly, the shock finally catching up to my scattered mind. “Tell….” My words fail me as my body begins shutting down, my vision blurring as white spots form along the edges. Wolf returns to my side, his fingers tightening around my hand. I can feel his presence, but I cannot move or speak.

  “She is dying!” Siri cries, stomping her way up to my side. The spear in Wolf’s hand raises up to her throat.

  “It is the only way,” Wolf persists, brushing the spear tip against Siri’s scales surrounding her heart. “The evil of the Pith had to be stopped before it entered the Houses. I love Mynah, but not enough to risk everyone’s lives!”

  “Bloody fools!” Siri curses, sniffing the air around Wolf’s head. “Impossible!”

  “What?” Fox stumbles up to my body, his hands assessing my wounds. “Gods, no! There’s too much damage. I can’t stop this!” Tears well in Fox’s eyes as he bows his head over me.

  “How did the boy survive? His burns should have been enough to do the job—”

  “So, you did try to kill him?” Wolf accuses, crouching over my body. He reaches for the spear, preparing to attack Siri once more. I cough and wheeze, desperate to calm him, but my efforts are for naught.

  “Of course, I did! That little maggot was a spy from Déchets! He was only in the Pith in search of its secrets.” Siri paces, eyeing Wolf suspiciously. “You were touched by the Windwalker. He shared his name with you, didn’t he? You’re the reason he lives!” Siri slaps the spear out of Wolf’s outstretched hand easily. Her tail flattens him to the ground beside me, and in a blink, Siri pins him under her claws. “Stupid boy! You gave him a place in your thoughts, and he exploited it! He altered your mind with his magic; I can smell his taint in you.” A breeze of ash and soot stirs around us, and Wolf shakes his head as if awakening from his nightmare.

  “Lupe! What happened?” Wolf demands, his rage focusing on Siri as he struggles to free himself. “Did you do this to her?”

  “I’ve seen what’s in your heart,” Siri answers strangely, her silver eyes glittering in the sunlight. “Does Mynah know what you’ve done?” Wolf grows still as Siri lifts her claws, yet despite their unmoving natures, hostility roils in the air around us. I feel like a mouse caught between two tigers, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Siri smiles, fury in her features as she adds, “If you’re looking for someone to blame, you should attack yourself, Wolf. You’re the reason her body is broken, not me.”

  “Impossible! I would never….” Wolf’s protests die as he catches sight of Fox’s nodding head. Slowly, Fox retells the events surrounding my fall. Dropping to his knees, Wolf leans over my head, whispering, “I am so sorry, my Lupe. Please, trust me with your true name. Let me give you what strength I have left.”

  It feels like I am sinking in sticky mud and fighting to speak is like attempting to swim out of that mud hole unaided. With a gasping breath, I shove my final words out of my mouth, the attempt painful to my tongue. “I…ris.” The last shreds of my vision fade to a snowy blanket in my sight. My ears roar with the sound of blood draining from my head. I can feel that I am falling asleep, a slumber so deep that I will never wake.

  Until a golden thread of light bursts forth in that white space, a tether that holds me in my body. My back aches, my shoulder hangs at a funny angle, and my legs are numb from my severed spine to my toes. I can see it in my mind’s eye even without my vision working properly. A fire roams like a lion in my veins, burning through every internal injury, cauterizing me from the inside out. I have enough strength in me to scream when my shoulder finds its way back to the socket, and my back crackles as the vertebrae realign. Agony races down to my toes as the nerves fire off in my feet, and I am certain that my body is burning me alive. Wolf drops down beside me, exhaustion forming sweat on his brow as he wraps his arms around me, muttering unheard words in my ear.

  When I come to, I have been moved into the charred remnants of the House of Vultures. Somehow, the living room and its dilapidated furniture managed to survive the onslaught of battle. The cushions of the broken couch smell of ash and soot. “I always knew this room was a part of hell; that has to be how it escaped the fire.”

  “I should think you’d be grateful to be here. Alive, I mean,” Fox whispers, his hands pulling at my eyelids as he inspects my pupils. “You are extremely lucky, young lady. If you had not told Wolf your true name, you would not have survived.”

  “Where is he?” I sit up too fast, but the dizziness that I feel will not stop me from finding him. “Fox, tell me what happened! Where is Wolf?”

  “Right behind you, love, on this horrible monstrosity that you people call a couch.” His voice tickles my ear as I am suddenly aware of his hands on my lower back. He groans as I shift, spinning around to face him.

  “Leave us, Fox. Let no one enter this place on pain of death. Please.” The juxtaposition of my command and polite manner rends a giggle from my lips. Waiting for the medic to leave, I stare at Wolf’s mask until I hear the front door slam shut, my fingers itching to rip that carcass off his face as soon as possible.

  “Tell me everything that has happened, Wolf!” I demand the minute that mask falls to the floor.

  “Cane.”

  “What?”

  “My true name, Iris, is Cane. When it is just you and me, use it.” His hand slinks down my cheek, his fingers grazing my hair and pushing the loose strands behind my ear. The action raises goose flesh on my arms. “Not Wolf, not Lupe, not Mynah, or Beta, or anything else. Just the real you and the real me at last.”

  I let his words warm my heart, savoring the intimacy of his demand. The real you and the real me. Wolf’s mouth slowly captures mine in a kiss. His fingers hold my chin firmly in place, and when Wolf pulls away from my touch, it is just long enough to whisper my
true name.

  He pours the depths of his affection into his caresses, but my mind is far away. The more I remember about my near-death experience, the more concerns grow in my mind. Siri had asked if I knew what Wolf had done. What did she mean by that? Condor’s warnings about Wolf brush the surface of my mind, an unwanted voice in my head. I desperately shut down his voice in my memory, but the stain of his accusations remains. Why is everyone so afraid of Wolf? Who is this man really?

  The slow circles Wolf rubs on my back pull my attention back to the present. “Why did you throw a spear at Siri?” I whisper as my mouth grazes his chin.

  “Why did you not go to the cave as planned?” He counters gently, not fully revealing the depth of his anger as he brushes my hair back from my face.

  “I should have. I trusted Antero, and that was a mistake,” I admit. Antero’s howl as he flew out of the Pith caverns fills in my ears once more. No matter how hard I try, I can never unhear his agony.

  “Well, having fallen into that trap myself, I can hardly blame you. That boy was very convincing,” he replies, his fingers tracing the iridescent lines Siri etched into my skin. “Iris, what was that creature you were flying with? What happened to your face? And why are you not wearing a mask anymore?”

  As I explain everything that occurred in the Pith, Wolf’s expression closes into an unreadable mask. Whatever he thinks about the Ddraigs and the Carreglas weapon of the Pith, he says nothing to me.

  “I am sorry that I did not take you to the Pith. Can you forgive me?” I lean up against Cane’s chest, comforted by the sound of his heartbeat. “I needed to make sure that whatever was in that place would not harm your pack before I brought it to your attention. Do you understand?”

  “Iris, love, you do not need my forgiveness or permission to do anything. But at the same time, please know that I worry about you. Just tell me your plans. I will support you always, even if I do not agree.”

  Wolf’s last words catch my attention as soon as they are spoken. Pushing away from his chest, I exclaim, “So does this mean you think the Ddraigs are dangerous?”

  “Any creature that could do this…,” Wolf points to the swirling patterns on my hands, “is not a monster that I easily trust. There is an elemental power in these beasts that I do not understand. The people of Déchets think the Ddraigs are—”

  “Who cares what those people think, Cane?! Wasn’t Antero proof enough that the citizens of Déchets are just as dangerous? If Siri is right—”

  “Iris, listen to yourself! You are siding with a creature you’ve only known for a couple of days! How do you know she’s to be trusted? Isn’t it just as possible that Siri is a deranged beast?”

  “Will you go with me back to the Pith? Will you meet the Ddraigs and see for yourself?” I shout, hurt by the fact that Wolf does not have faith in my judgement. “If there are more like Siri says, then maybe they can help us protect our lands. These Ddraigs could be a game-changer, Cane! They could pull Cassé back to its former glory!”

  “I will go with you, of course. But I think we should be careful too. We know very little about them, and we should be careful with unfamiliar acquaintances. That’s all I meant.” Wolf pulls himself up to sitting on the couch just out of my reach.

  “Don’t you want to see Cassé as it used to be? Aren’t you tired of hiding behind a mask and living like an animal?” I mutter, wrapping my arms around my knees as I wait for his answer. Or are you really the monster Siri and Condor want me to think you are?

  Rather than answer my question, Wolf stands and walks toward the door. “We need to address our people formally. Let’s show them a united front as their leaders and speak to your Ddraig about this Carreglas.”

  “Just like that?” I struggle to believe that all the people outside will welcome me as their second in command. Everything is moving so quickly that my head is spinning in an effort to keep up.

  Cane seems to feel my anxiety, his hand finding mine in a steady embrace. “I have waited a long time for you, Iris. I will not let anyone stand in our way now.” There’s an edge to his words that worries me, an almost painful grip in his fingertips, and I find myself shuddering rather than feeling comforted.

  “How many people are out there?” I worry at the thought all the furious eyes that will be watching me, vying for a chance to take my place. No doubt there are plenty in the pack that would kill to be Wolf’s beta. I’d much rather be able to stay on this couch just as Iris and Cane, unaffected by the world outside our door.

  “There are about one hundred or so that joined us from Lion’s House, and my pack already has one hundred fifty people. How many are bound to your house?”

  “About sixty-seven, I think. Most of them live in the edges of the forest. Hawk was much more of an elitist than the others,” I remark with a laugh.

  “He was a good man,” Cane answers grimly beside me. “I thought of him as one of my greatest allies. I was heartsick to hear of his death.”

  “I loved him,” I answer lamely, the guilt of having taken his life still burning my insides. “I am surprised you knew him so well.” Power players in Cassé do not have the luxury of befriending one another. To do so is to show weakness and provide an opportunity for betrayal. The thought of two major house leaders being on such intimate terms is mind-boggling to me.

  “He was my father, Iris,” Cane replies, and I nearly tumble off the couch at the revelation.

  “You knew he was your relative? Why did you never tell me before?” I gasp, a frigid numbness creeping into my bones.

  “I was nine when the houses were formed. He pushed me to the House of Wolves because he thought it would be safer for us to separate. That way no familial connection could ever be found between us. I did not have trouble earning my place, but I always kept in touch with my father.”

  “I didn’t know.” My eyes stare unblinking at the wall, my pulse dropping to an imperceptible rhythm. Hawk, the leader that I had loved enough to put out of his misery, was Cane’s father. How can I tell him? Can I bear the look of horror in his eyes when I announce that I murdered his father? I know that I need to divulge this information before we address the people. How can I ask him to forgive me?

  “Iris? What’s the matter?” Cane wraps a hand around my shoulder, gently shaking me from my darkness. “You’ve gone white as a sheet! Is it really that shocking to you? So, I knew my father was leading your House. What’s the big problem?”

  “I killed him, Cane. I killed Hawk.” I cannot bear to say the words “your father” aloud.

  He drops his hands from my side immediately. His jaw tightens, a hard glint appearing in his eyes. “You just said that you loved him.”

  “I did love him! I thought of Hawk as a father. He meant everything to me!”

  “Then why would you kill him, Mynah?” Wolf demands angrily, his voice low. He used my masking name. I’m losing him, I realize as I launch into the story of Condor and Falcon’s treachery.

  “Wolf, please—”

  Before I can finish my plea, Cane grabs his mask, leaps out the door, and races through the grounds like a wild animal on the hunt. Wolf stops in front of the traitor binds, slamming a fist into Condor’s face. Blisters from the sunburns on his skin break open upon impact.

  “How could you be that cruel, that blood thirsty, that you would attack our father like that?” Wolf cries, pummeling Condor’s body mercilessly.

  Our father resonates in my mind as I examine Condor anew. It is difficult to see the resemblance with the feathered mask hiding his features. Same eyes, same hair color, same mischievous quirk of his lips.

  “Stop it, Wolf! He’s had enough,” I demand, forcing my way between the furious leader and Condor. Fox and Jackal grab Wolf’s flailing arms before he can hurt me accidentally. They drag him away from the traitor binds, leaving me alone with Condor.

  “Want to take a turn yourself, hmm?” Condor sneers, blood oozing around his mouth.

  “I’m going to loose
n your mask,” I whisper, watching Condor cringe.

  “So, you’d rather just let the others finish me off?” Condor wheezes and coughs out his laughter in choking sobs. “You know, there was a time when I would have scoffed at the idea of you killing me. I mean, I know you hate me, but I never thought you could stomach murder.”

  “Creeper’s death wasn’t murder,” I mumble, trying to keep my chin from wobbling as the ghost of that monster appears behind Condor. He leers at me, his hands reaching to stroke my hair.

  “Vengeance is just a fancy name for the same end, Mynah. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he’s dead. I just wish you hadn’t been the one to do the deed.” Condor drops his head against his chest, muffling his words as he continues. “It changes you, doesn’t it? This brutal life we lead. No matter how hard we try, we can never come back from some of the things we do.”

  Condor’s words leave me shaken. I can hear the rawness of the emotions in his voice. His earnest regret startles me. “I…I just want to see your face,” I stutter, fingers trembling as I reach up to Condor’s mask. “I will not remove it completely.”

  “I’m not really able to stop you, am I?” Condor remarks snidely, but I can tell by his shallow breaths that he is terrified.

  “You know, you’ve put me through hell over the years. Everyone who knows you would understand if I let the pack rip you to shreds. None of them would blame me!” I accuse as I tug at the cords binding his mask. After years of remaining knotted, the leather is tight. Stepping closer, I work my broken fingernails into the binds.

  Condor takes advantage of the intimacy to whisper in my ears, but his words surprise me. “I know I’ve caused you pain, Mynah. But it was never what I wanted. Please! You have to believe me.”

  I feel it in Condor’s mask when the leather cords finally release their binds. The soft black feathers drop down onto my chest, tickling the skin exposed around my neck. It is an effort to raise my eyes to view my leader’s unmasked face. “You are twins!” I bellow when the shock of revealing a familiar face overtakes me. The only difference is the scar! Otherwise, Wolf and Condor are identical! “Did you know Hawk was your father too?”