Heir of the Curse

by B. Kristin McMichael

  “What?”

  I would have heard from Red if more people had been bitten and turned into wolves. In fact, I think the tree village would be at the wolf village with guns loaded if that many people had been changed into wolves.’

  Micco ran his hands through his dark brown graying hair. Those streaks had been there as long as I could remember but somehow seemed to make him look older now in his defeat. He took a deep breath as I waited for some sort of explanation.

  “They kicked them out.”

  It hit me. I knew exactly who he was talking about. Since the time the curse was broken, many wolves had decided to move back to the human villages they grew up in. Without the curse, they were safe to be home. Some of them had been wolves less time than they had been human. It made sense for them to go home. With the curse back, that meant they weren’t safe.

  It was better than what I was thinking. If Micco turned any more humans into wolves, they would hunt him, and the wolves would lose. My mother might have been singing the whole let's be one people song, but she was stockpiling weapons in the tree village. I had never told Micco, but I’m sure he suspected that she wasn’t going to let the curse be the same as before.

  “What am I supposed to do with that many hungry wolves. Yes, spring is coming, and we can plant more food, but our granaries are getting low, and we will need all summer to grow the crops. We need meat to stay healthy. We can’t live on spring crops like spinach and peas alone. We won’t survive.”

  “I take it Elder’d farmers also cut off trade?”

  The wolves made a living trading with the tree people. They provided meat, animal skins, and wild berries in trade for items like tools and grain from the plains. It was an even trade. But without animals to hunt, they didn’t have anything to trade, and they couldn’t buy on credit for the following season if the people were too afraid to trade with them. It’s impossible to trade with people that won’t come within a hundred saplings of you because they are afraid.

  “Yes. We’ve been informed by the farmers of Elder that the wolves are on their own. We have to stay away from the people of Elder, and if one more person gets taken, whether they are hurt or not, the wolves will be hunted.”

  I would have argued that Red would never do that, but what I had seen only the day before told me she would. Red wasn’t the same peace-loving leader I had grown used to in the past few winters. She was protecting the tree people.

  “What will you do?”

  Micco stared into the sky and then at the woods silently for several moments.

  “I don’t know.”

  Micco was defeated. His wolves were getting sick. Elder didn’t support them, and they had no one to turn to for help. Red’s need to help the people of Elder didn’t extend to the wolves. She was treating them just like everyone else. To say I was disappointed in her wasn’t quite adequate to express what I was feeling. She was supposed to help all the people of Elder, and if they changed into wolves’ part of the time, the wolf villagers were still people of Elder. They needed her help now more than ever.

  I sat with him in silence. What was there to do? The wolves were sick and cursed, and we didn’t know what the cure was. Red was against the wolves when she once was their greatest champion. And Micco was forced to kill his friend to save the rest of the wolves. Nothing made sense, and it sure wasn’t fair.

  “Legend has it when the first curse hit, a group left and lived completely as wolves. They claim the curse only affects those that transform back and forth. If we live like wolves, maybe we will stay safe.”

  “I thought that you said that this could only be passed wolf to wolf. Isn’t that the opposite of what you’re saying now?”

  Micco shrugged. “That was guesswork when I thought it was just an illness. Now we think the curse is back I’ve been forced to reevaluate. The truth is I don’t know for sure either way. Maybe it’s something to do with the transforming between forms. I only know that those living only as wolves didn’t get affected.”

  That was hopeful—if it worked.

  “But we need to finish the fences first,” he expanded. “We can’t let the sick wolves out of the villages, and we can’t let those that don’t know how to transform any more out either. Some of those wolves that returned to their homes haven’t transformed since they left. I’m not sure they remember how to transform. They will be a liability, and all liabilities need to be locked up.”

  “And you need to stay human to make the fence,” I added. That was the real problem. If his idea really would work, then most of the wolves would be fine until we found answers. But if they didn’t cage the ones that were sick, nothing would matter.

  Micco stood up.

  “Go home, Castiel. I don’t need Red mad at me. Try and talk to her again. Tell her we need help making it safe. The more people that come to build, the quicker the wolves will be separated from everyone.”

  I didn’t want to leave him alone, but I understood. He was right. The wolves didn’t stand a chance to get the walls built. They needed help. I had to go back and talk to Red, no matter if I wanted to deal with her right now or not.

  Micco rose and patted me on the shoulder. He was a good leader, and I hated to see him giving up. The wolves would never survive without him.

  “You’re a good kid, Castiel. Don’t get caught between all this. Do as your mother asks.”

  I didn’t say a word as Micco walked back the way he came. I wasn’t about to lie to the older wolf, but I couldn’t just follow what Red wanted blindly. She might not want the wolves killed outright, but she wasn’t helping them stay safe. She was choosing the tree people over the wolves. The women and children of the wolves’ villages were just caught in the crossfire.

  I got up and started to walk back to my place. I had to think and come up with a plan. There had to be something more I could do. Heck, my mother was the leader of the whole kingdom. There had to be something she could do.

  I made it almost home when I heard a branch break. Whipping around, I planned to attack whatever was following me. My knife was in my hand without a moment’s hesitation as I was readied to attack. I stopped when I recognized the red wolf peeking around a tree.

  “Grace,” I called to the wolf. She lost her shyness and bound over to me.

  I ducked as she moved in to give me a sloppy wolf lick. That might be an okay way to greet another human wolf, but I didn’t appreciate being covered with wolf spit.

  “I don’t think so,” I tsked at her. “So why are you out here? Shouldn’t you be back with the wolves? If any of the tree villagers are out, they’ll shoot you on sight. You should probably be going home. I’ll see you in the village tomorrow after I talk to Red again.”

  Grace pushed me with her nose toward the way I was already walking.

  “Yes, I need to head back.”

  I took a few steps towards my house, and she trotted along beside me.

  “That’s the wrong way,” I told her. Surprisingly I was fine talking with wolves. I was more than used my best friend Nikkan as a wolf. He spent at least ninety percent of his time as a wolf, so it wasn’t strange to me, but it was a little hard to understand what Grace was saying. “The wolves live the other direction.”

  Okay, she knew that. It wasn’t like I needed to explain that to her. Wolf Grace sat down by my feet and didn’t move to go back to her village. It seemed like she had something to tell me.

  “Fine, we can go to my place,” I told the wolf. “Then you can head back to the wolves. I’ll even walk you back to keep you safe.”

  Wolf Grace happily followed me back to my house. I opened the door and let her in.

  “I have your clothes from the other night,” I told her as I went over to the basket by my door and dug through it, pulling out her clothing. I set it down on the couch and walked back to the kitchen to get some water on the stove to make tea for us.

  “I’ll step out so you can change after I get this water heated up,” I told her with my bac
k to her as the kettle filled from the slow trickle of my sink.

  “Castiel, I think we need to talk,” Nikkan said as he walked into my house.

  I turned back to my friend and noticed that Grace was in the corner of the room, hurrying to get her shirt on. Her back was to us, but I was pretty sure her cheeks were flaming red by now. Nikkan’s eyes went straight to the corner as mine did before he looked back to me. He didn’t say anything more.

  The hatred behind his eyes was something I had never seen directed at me before. Without a single word, Nikkan stormed out of my house. I set the kettle down on the stove before hurrying to the door to chase my friend, but before I had the chance to chase him or try to explain, he was already deep into the woods.

  “Great,” I said, running my hand through my hair as I came back from the doorway. Nikkan got the completely wrong impression.

  “Sorry,” Grace said quietly, her cheeks still flaming. “I figured I could get dressed before you turned back around. We get pretty good at taking off and putting on clothing with all the transforming.”

  “Not your fault,” I told her. And it wasn’t. Nikkan ran off before either one of us could explain things to him.

  “But he was already mad at you. I can’t imagine how bad it will be now.” Grace looked hurt by the whole situation. She bit her lip like she was going to cry. “I screwed up.” The tears were ready to fall, and I had no clue what to do. Crying girls was Nikkan’s specialty, not mine, though thinking about it, that probably wasn’t true either.

  “Really, Grace. Not your fault. And he will get over it once I finally talk with him. I promise. We’ve been friends forever. Nikkan will understand this is just a big screw up. Really.”

  Grace seemed to pull her tears back and nodded but didn’t look entirely convinced.

  “I’m still sorry.” The tears were barely being held at bay. I needed to act fast to avoid anything messy.

  I smiled and handed her a cup. She took the tea from me and walked back to my table. I followed with the hot tea kettle to pour us each a cup. My house wasn’t too warm; I hoped the tea would be enough to warm her up from her run outside.

  “So why were you in the woods? The tree people are terrified of wolves. It isn’t safe for you to be running around as a wolf.”

  Grace bit her cheek and nodded. “I know….”

  I stirred my tea leaves as I waited for her to continue. One thing Red had taught me well was how to wait when someone was talking.

  “I’m scared to stay in the village,” she blurted out and then quickly grabbed her cup to take a sip and not have to talk more. I just waited, and she realized I wasn’t going to ask more. I nodded for her to continue, taking a long sip of my tea, too.

  “Ten people fell sick this morning. If I stay there, I’m going to becoming a monster like the rest of them, or I’ll end up as their food. One of the newly sick wolves killed a wolf person last night. I can’t stay there. I don’t want to become a monster or be eaten by one.”

  I understood. Part of me feared for Nikkan. Fight or not, he was still my friend, and I didn’t want him to become part of the curse either. I didn’t blame Grace, in the least, for not wanting to be in the wolf village. I had no idea what the solution should be, but I wasn’t going to send her back to someplace she was scared to be.

  “You can stay here,” I told her. She wasn’t sick, and I knew she’d be safe with me from the wolves or the tree people. I’d keep Grace safe.

  7th March

  Grace refused to sleep on my couch bed since it was my house. She said she absolutely couldn’t take my bed. No matter how I tried to convince her, she just wouldn’t do it. So, we both ended up sleeping on the floor. Neither one of us would budge. My back was a little sore when I woke, but I didn’t care. I had enough other problems to deal with. Grace was curled up in my one blanket, looking like the wolf she could become but in her human form.

  Nikkan was crazy to think I had something with Grace. As I stared at her right now, I still couldn’t picture anything but being friends with her. She was just Grace. In fact, I couldn’t imagine how Nikkan could see her as anything other than the younger sister she felt like. She was cute, but it was little-sister cute.

  Grace stirred and then stretched, a full-body stretch cracking her neck down to her toes without opening her eyes. The wolf was ever-present in her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared at my very dull ceiling.

  “I don’t have much for breakfast,” I told her as I stood up and walked into my kitchen. “Normally, Nikkan gets extra eggs for us because I don’t have chickens. But he’s been gone a couple of days, and I don’t have any food beyond some meat and bread my mother gave me yesterday.”

  “That’s fine,” Grace said as she sat and stretched further.

  I rummaged through my cupboards and pulled out the meager breakfast I had to offer. Grace sat on the floor and just watched me as she talked.

  “Do you remember Mira? She was short and had that wild blond hair that was always sticking up in every direction. She moved back yesterday.”

  I nodded. I didn’t exactly remember who she was talking about, but I had a feeling quite a few people moved back, not of their own free will.

  “And Ashton moved back too,” Grace added. “The village is so full right now, there aren’t enough homes. Some of the guys had to stop building the fence and start some new homes.”

  That had to be stressing Micco out. He needed that fence built before the remaining uncursed wolves could go off into the woods to live without being affected by the curse. But he needed homes for all his wolves until they could leave. It just was a tough situation all around.

  “Do you think Nikkan will come back today, and we can explain yesterday to him?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t want to disappoint her, but I had a feeling Nikkan wasn’t coming back for a while. It took him days to come back after I just asked her out. I could only imagine what he was thinking about now. It would be weeks if he chose to come back at all. I kind of had the feeling he wasn’t going to return until he knew the truth, and if we couldn’t tell him the truth, he’d never know.

  “Well, he should. I mean, he just walked in here and didn’t even say sorry,” Grace continued. “It was embarrassing. I’m used to shifting with the wolves, but Nikkan wasn’t among them. He’s never gone for a run with everyone else. He’s different.”

  Oh, I had a good feeling if he came back it wasn’t going to be to apologize. I kept that to myself. Nikkan wasn’t really the apologizing type as it was, but this was one thing I was pretty sure he’d never budge on. And it was going to be impossible to find and talk to him. His typical reaction when he didn’t want to speak was to turn into a wolf and run away. How the heck were we supposed to have a real conversation when I had to chase him, and he couldn’t speak back?

  I got how Grace felt. It was embarrassing because she obviously felt the same way about me as I did her. There was nothing romantic between us and nothing to be ashamed of or for us to apologize for because nothing happened, but I doubted that was what Nikkan was going to be thinking.

  And with that thought, there was a knock at the door. Grace looked up at me and quickly stood. I had no clue who would be visiting me early in the morning, let alone knocking at the door. I hoped it wasn’t Red. She’d be more than a little upset to find Grace in my house.

  I opened my door and surprisingly found Micco standing there. Behind him stood Nikkan and a few more of the male wolves from the pack. They all had scowls on their faces as they tried to stare me down; four big, burly men with arms the size of tree trunks, doing their best glares. Not that they cared, but none of them intimidated me in the least. Muscles didn’t mean strength. Trust me. That was lesson number one with Red. She wasn’t more than a sapling tall and could kick the butt of any person: woman, man, or wolf.

  “We are here to escort Grace back to the village and make sure she gets there safely,” Micco explained while I stayed in the doorway. He didn’t
look happy to be at my house, but it was something else I couldn’t put my finger on.

  I looked over my shoulder, and Grace stared back in shock at Micco. She hadn’t been expecting to see her alpha. I had a feeling why Micco knew Grace was in my house, but I wasn’t sure about the whole escort situation. It didn’t seem like Micco. He was usually more laid back. He wasn’t into bossing his wolves around. At least, he never had been in the past. Maybe it was the curse.

  Micco was the alpha of the wolves, but he was just a citizen of Elder. Red was the real leader. While he had some control, it wasn’t really absolute or that he could be ordering people to be certain places in the kingdom. Grace was a citizen, too, and had the right to go wherever she pleased in the kingdom. Micco was overstepping his authority by ordering her where to go.

  “Grace, do you want to go back?” I asked, loud enough for all the people outside my house to hear.

  “No,” she whispered and quickly averted her eyes from Micco and the group.

  Micco was her alpha. He hadn’t given a direct command that she go back to the wolves, but he could. Unless she left the wolf village, she had to do what he commanded. It was a wolf thing. At least, he was just asking for the moment.

  “Thanks for the offer, but she’s staying here for now,” I told Micco, but looked at the wolves behind him instead. Most of them sneered back at me, and a few made fists at my words. Micco had to understand what was I saying.

  I wasn’t scared of a gang of wanna-be alpha wolves. Not a single one of them stood a chance against me. I had spent winters training on how to fight and defeat wolves. It was a joke that they even thought so. It indeed showed just how much I was an outsider to the wolves.

  “She belongs with her people,” Nikkan spat out from behind Micco’s shoulder. If Micco wasn’t the alpha and in charge, I was pretty sure Nikkan would have been pushing him out of the way.

  “The same people she’s afraid of?” I raised an eyebrow at him in a challenge.