by Willa Hart
The cold is gone. The scent of Arianna’s fear wafts to me on the wind. I glance down; my hands are no longer hands but are paws.
I am a Wolveskin.
My fear is replaced with anger and fierceness. I turn my head and there…there is Arianna. She has cowered back, looking at me as though she is afraid…very afraid…of me.
A great growl comes from my throat, deep and harsh, rising up with the power of a million roars, with the sound of every bit of rage that I’ve ever felt. I curl my lips back from my teeth and I lunge forward. Arianna lowers down and bares her teeth. We circle around each other. And while she may look as though she will attack, I know she won’t, because I can smell her fear. I am bigger and stronger, and while I might be less experienced in my Wolveskin form, it is by sheer physical might that I will force her to submit.
Or she will die.
I leap and lunge forward. My body is strong. Muscles shift and contract beneath my skin. My wolf has taken over. I bump into Arianna’s side, and she falls to the ground. I pin her with my paws. She is beneath me. I growl and show her my teeth. Her eyes grow wide and the silver lining around her pupil pulses.
Submit.
My teeth close to her neck. She relaxes, and her body is now completely limp.
Is this a form of submission? The sounds of fighting behind me stops. I press my jaws and teeth even closer to Arianna’s neck. The ability to kill her speaks to my Wolveskin form. I can take her life, and she will never challenge me again. I can win. Or I can…
Submit, I think.
She yelps. I pull one paw away, and she rolls over onto her back showing me her belly.
Brianna trots up behind me. Blood drips from her muzzle. I press my tongue to it. She has a cut, and I lick it several times. It is not deep, and the bleeding stops. We both turn back to where Arianna and her second cower in fear of us both.
So you are half-Wolveskin, I hear Brianna’s voice in my mind.
I nod. What do we do now? I glance at Arianna and her second.
We kill them, or we take them back with us. They’ve submitted, so now you are Alpha.
Warmth threads through my Wolveskin. She’s greatly pleased with the idea of being the Alpha Wolveskin and the Wolveskin Queen. And while I can acknowledge her pleasure and joy, I also know that there is much responsibility that comes with both.
They shall live, I think. I won’t start my rule as Alpha by killing a female Wolveskin.
As you wish, my Queen, Brianna thinks, and drops her gaze from me. She walks over to Arianna and her Beta and presses her nose to both. They stand and walk to me. Both submit once more by rolling onto their backs and showing me their bellies. My Wolveskin loves this, my human thinks it’s a silly display. We form a line with Brianna as point, then Arianna and her Beta, and I follow in the rear. We still have many miles to travel before we return to the Wolveskin lair.
Rex? I reach out to King Rex, now that my challenge is complete. But I receive no response. I thought our connection would be even deeper if and when I ever shifted into my Wolveskin form. That I could reach his mind more easily. When I don’t receive a response, a shiver of fear goes through me.
Where is he?
The sun breaks over the horizon as we leap from Wolf rock. I pause. The woods outside our lair are oddly quiet. On my dawn walks each day, there are usually a number of Wolveskin prowling in the woods or returning home from their night in the wilds. But right now there is an eerie silence that hangs in the air.
I sniff. My nose tingles. What is that scent? Harsh? And foul, a bit like sour milk. That is…that is…human?
Brianna stops beside me. I smell it too.
I glance to Arianna and her Beta, but they are running now. Fast and hard they are running away from our lair.
My heart beats hard. What is going on? Brianna looks to me…to me as Alpha to lead, to tell her what to do…to know how to handle something that is obviously wrong.
Is there…is there another way into the lair? I think.
Follow me, she thinks.
By the time we circle to the far side of Wolf Mountain, the sun is high in the sky above us.
The back entrance is across the valley, Brianna thinks.
We leap onto an outcropping of rock and look down upon the valley with a river that leads to the back entrance to the Wolveskin lair.
My heart breaks in my chest. The horror of the valley.
Oh, no, my Goddess! I think.
Scattered across the floor of the valley are hundreds of…of bodies. Wolveskin who have been killed and in death returned to their human form. Arrows stick up from many of them. Even cubs lie dead curled in upon themselves as though they have been…mindslayed.
Oh my Goddess! What happened…how…? Rex! I call out in my mind. Rex! Where are you, Rex! I start to bolt, but Brianna leaps in front of me.
You are our Alpha, our Queen, you cannot put yourself at risk…you must—
Where is Rex? How can I leave all of the pack there…how can I—
Come with me, there is a safety place that we are to convene at should we ever be attacked. Follow me, quickly. Brianna turns, and I am fast on her heels. I can never unsee the horrible death of my pack, and when I discover who is to blame—rage thunders through my Wolveskin—when I discover who is to blame they shall pay dearly for what they have done.
The sun has nearly set on the horizon when Brianna finally stops at an outcropping of rocks, far from Wolf Mountain. We have traveled far north, crossing over rivers and streams and crossing back to lose our scents to anyone—Wolveskin or otherwise—that might be following us.
Brianna stops. She places two paws on a rock and tilts her head up to the moon above. She lets loose a howl. Lonely and sad, the sound causes my great Wolveskin heart to break. We are not meant to be alone…our pack…our pack has been slaughtered. Once her howl is complete, she turns to me. I step up beside her, ready to join her call, when in the distance, in the darkness of the night, I hear it…the sound that causes my heart to beat faster. The return call.
Oh my Goddess…they are…they are alive.
Yes. Brianna turns and I follow her as we wind toward the safety meeting place. We are met by two sentries of the Royal Guard. Both wounded with gashes on their bodies. We follow them into a lair that is heavily guarded.
A fire burns inside. Only a very few Wolveskin are in human and Wolveskin form. Dr. Atta rushes about the lair tending to wounds.
Rex? I rush to Rex. He lies on a pallet on the floor beside the fire. A great gash is on his head and across his chest. A patch is placed over a spot on his belly.
“Oh, my Queen! You’ve survived…and you are so, so beautiful in your Wolveskin form.”
He reaches out to me and grasps the fur of my neck into his hand and pulls my snout to him. I shift and am immediately naked in his arms.
“You’re hurt,” I say. “What…what happened?” I fight the bitter tears that lodge in my throat and threaten to spill out of my eyes.
“We were ambushed. They knew where we were, and they came at us from all sides. I…” He drops his gaze and shakes his head. “When I tried to get all the cubs and women out the secret entrance, as we fought at the front, they were…they were…” Rex cannot even say the words. A deep anger builds within him. “When I find them, those who have done this to my pack, when I find them they shall pay with their lives.”
I nod. “Do you know who?”
“Eregos,” Rex spits out his brother’s name. “Working with Vlissimal. There were humans…so many humans…the challenge? It was a ruse, a way to pull my attention away from the very fact that my brother was there and waiting. When he couldn’t convince the counsel to get rid of me he decided to get rid of the entire pack.”
“Oh my Goddess,” I say. Bile burns the back of my throat. I’m angry and sick. I look at Rex. “But you’re alive,” I say.
His gaze rips away from me. “It means nothing when I could not save my pack. The females, the elderly, the s
ick…the cubs… They do not live because their leader failed.”
“Their leader did everything to save them,” I say. I press my hand to his cheek and force him to look into my eyes. “We will survive. We will find who did this and they will pay, but until then we will survive,” I say.
Rex meets my eyes. Pain is in his eyes. My King has been beaten, and the strength that I have relied upon, that the pack has relied upon, that even he has relied upon, is not present within his gaze. As though all of his warrior nature has been lost with the ambush and death of the pack. I press my lips to his. It is though he has died. He has given up. I sit up and pull the blankets around him and tuck him in. I reach for a robe and circle it around my body.
“Sleep now,” I say. “There is much to discuss and do, but first you must heal.”
He closes his eyes. His mind, his warrior spirit, are so very far away. I sense in my mind that he has disconnected from me, from all of us.
Do not give up, my King, I think.
He does not respond. I turn and walk out of Rex’s sleeping chamber and into the main area to survey the wounded. Dr. Atta looks at me from across the chamber. There is worry in her eyes. Wolveskin that managed to escape the great slaying still arrive. Some wounded and some not.
“Brianna, place sentries far outside this position. We don’t know how safe we truly are here. If every member of our pack knows this is the place we are to convene, we may only be able to stay here for a short while. I need you to send scouts to find another suitable location, for us to move to by tomorrow,” I say.
“Yes, my Queen.” She turns away from me to carry out my orders.
“And Brianna?”
She turns back.
“Make sure that wherever the next position is that it is North,” I say. “We will be heading North with every move.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She nods and walks away. It’s very clear to me that while Rex recovers, I am Alpha, I am Queen, and ready or not, I am the woman and Wolveskin who is in charge.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Taraz
My arms ache from my hands being pulled tight behind my back. I twist and turn my hands, and the rough rope scrape my wrists, biting into my flesh. I can’t see anything.
“Jix?” I whisper. How long have I been in this room? I’ve lost track of the time. My blindfold prevents light from getting through. Is it morning? Is it afternoon? Night again? Sarkany? I send out a mind-tendril.
“Stop that!” A hand smacks the side of my head. “We told you filthy mindscum to stop that. None of it in here.”
How do they know? Makes some sense, really, that the technology that blocks my Eliterrati mind abilities could also alert Dregs to when Eliterrati attempt to use our mind abilities. There is sound of boots scraping across the stone floor. A hand grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet. The blindfold is ripped from my face. Bright light sears into my eyes.
“Come on then. Kaxon wants you.”
I squint. My right eye is swollen shut. My mouth is dry with the metallic taste of blood still on my tongue. The guard half drags me out of the room and down a short hall. Two Dregs stand in front of a doorway. The guard pushes open the door.
Jix stands beside a grey-haired bearded man. Is that Kaxon? His blue eyes stare at me. His face doesn’t move as I’m drug to the center of the room. The guard releases my arm, and I crumple to the floor.
“Where…where is my brother?” I ask. My gaze travels from the older man beside Jix.
“He’s been a bit of a”—Kaxon lifts his eyebrow—“challenge.” His gaze travels to Jix. “I’m told that he’s worth the trouble. As are you.”
“He saved me, Father.” Lorelai wears a clean dress and stands next to Jix and Kaxon. Her hair is no longer braided back. She is…quite beautiful. And obviously Kaxon’s daughter. She continues, “From the ambush caused by Nixal and also in the alley. We were lucky that your Guild arrived. Had they not, I believe they might’ve killed us all. It was Prince Taraz and Prince Sarkany that saved my life.”
Kaxon rubs his hand across his chin. He examines me. His face doesn’t move. Assessing what to do with two Roya Princes that have arrived on his doorstep unwanted and unannounced.
“We’ve come to help,” I say.
“Yes, yes, I’ve been told what your intentions are. I’ve also been informed that you believed that you were sent for.” Kaxon leans back in his chair. “Or at least you thought that you were sent for and that’s why you came.”
“Nixal was a traitor,” I say.
“To us all,” Kaxon says. He shows no emotion. I cannot use my mind to read him, nor does he offer any expression for me to infer his feelings. “And now I’m left with the conundrum.”
“Of Sarkany and me.”
Kaxon nods. “First and foremost, you are Eliterrati. Two of the Tripsett that was meant to rule.”
“Indeed.”
“More than half of Ninaku would see you and your brother hang for the sins of your people. Do you understand?”
“I do.”
“But, you saved my daughter’s life.” He glances at Lorelai. For a brief moment, a wave of emotion crashes over his face, and then it is gone. He turns his gaze back to me. He squints and presses his palms against the arms of his chair. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and we share a common enemy in Vlissimal.”
My mouth tightens. “We do indeed,” I say. “He has tried to kill me more than once.”
“Ha! You’re lucky then, for me his attempts are becoming a daily occurrence.” Kaxon leans forward. “There is more than one reason why we must be certain of your intentions.” Kaxon glances toward Jix and Lorelai. “But, as I said, you’re also at war with that devil. And the two of you were raised by him and know him perhaps better than any other Eliterrati that still live. You also have the Goddess-given ability to fight with your mind. While our technology has improved and we can protect ourselves as never before, we cannot mimic all of a Mindslayer’s gifts. Yet. Therefore, you and Sarkany are an asset to us, if I can convince my people to trust you.”
I glance at Jix. He nods to me. My former assistant has worked hard, I can tell, to persuade his former mentor to even have this conversation with me. What is it that Kaxon needs from me? From us?
“May I…may I speak?” I ask. I fear that I’ve limited time to make my argument.
“You may,” Kaxon says.
“We share a common enemy in Lord Vlissimal. He wants nothing more than to destroy me and my brother, and to enslave every creature that is not Eliterrati. I…my brothers and I do not share this desire. We want a unified kingdom like our mother and our fathers wanted, what they started with the Wolveskin and the Dregs and with…with Meela,” I say.
“Jix has told me about your fated-mate. How she is a part of the trinity as promised by the Goddess.” The corner of Kaxon’s mouth turns up. “I know her. A very smart girl, able to talk to all and stand her ground. It surprises me little that she is the promised one, if indeed she is.”
“We are…she is my Queen,” I say. “She shall also be Queen of the Wolveskin. She was bound as a girl.”
“Aye, I knew her father. He was often our envoy to the great wolves. You are lucky for these recommendations, otherwise you and Sarkany would already be dead.”
“So I gather.”
“While you are guests, my guests, you will have limited freedoms. This is as much for your safety as for the Dregs in Ninaku.” His gaze goes from me to Jix. “But you must convince your brother Sarkany to stand down.”
“You’ve tied him?” I ask.
Kaxon nods. “He nearly killed three of my men. He’s a beast, your brother. A warrior.”
“Leader of the Warriors Guild.”
“We need him fighting with us, not against us,” Kaxon says. “I’ve got over a hundred thousand Dregs able to fight, but not one of them with the skills they need. Can you convince him to help?”
“May I reach out to him?” I press my finger to my temple.
>
He shifts in his chair. Kaxon looks to Jix.
“We are linked since the day we were born. I…you can listen in if you like.”
“You may reach out to him now, but you aren’t to use your mind ability without permission from me. Is that clear to you?”
“Yes,” I say. Sarkany…Sarkany…they will free us if you will calm yourself.
I am tied. Arms. Legs. Tied! he roars. The sound of his rage pulses through my mind. Do you understand? Flattened in a cell, splayed out on the floor.
“You have chained my brother to the ground?”
“You’ve seen your brother enraged?”
I press my lips together. Sarkany’s rage is deadly. I nod. “May I go to him? I can promise he will hurt no one.”
“It will be your life if you’re mistaken and he harms anyone. Do you understand?”
“So it shall be,” I say.
Kaxon nods to his guards. “Take him to his brother.”
I walk toward the guards at the end of the room.
“Prince Roya?”
I turn. I meet Kaxon’s gaze. “The value of your lives to me and to my community shall be evaluated daily. Should you fail to carry through on what you promise, or be more difficult that we desire, then you and Sarkany shall suffer the fate of thousands of Dregs before you.”
He glances at Jix who drops his gaze.
“We’ve developed technology that can scrub an Eliterrati mind. I’ll not hesitate to use it whenever I deem it necessary. Is that clear?”
“Crystal,” I say. I take a deep breath. I’m unsure as of yet that serving Kaxon is any better than serving Vlissimal. Is Kaxon a better choice? It seems that he wishes to do what is best for the Dregs of Ninaku, but Vlissimal wishes to serve the Eliterrati. Power corrupts. Is it possible that these two men are simply opposite sides of the same coin?
