Nadia's Children

by Steven E Wedel

  “The female Alpha you were talking about?”

  “McGrath is the father?”

  “Probably.”

  Chris looked up, his eyes questioning.

  Cerdwyn anticipated him. “No, the goddess does not give me all the details. Thomas McGrath is the likely father. You know, in the old time, and even in some modern cultures that are still primitive by our standards, kinship follows the mother, not the father. When the baby is born, we always know what woman it comes from, but who’s to say for sure who the father was?”

  Chris thought about that. “I suppose. Okay. I’m pretty sure it was McGrath. What else? You said you had two secrets.”

  “The Old Ones have returned to their human shapes. There are not many of them left, but they walk again on human feet and speak with human voices. Three are with Shara. One is with Fenris. Well, he was, anyway.”

  “Old Ones?”

  “The first of our kind,” she explained. “The ones who were originally cursed by Nadia.”

  “I don’t know who Nadia is.”

  “You have surely dreamed about the ancient villagers, seen the witch who turned them into wolves and bears?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess,” Chris said. The description sounded familiar. Was it a dream? A movie? Something Shara had talked about? He couldn’t remember. “So, they’re human again. What does that mean?”

  “It means that the true Alpha is here. She has been born.”

  “Shara and McGrath’s baby?”

  Cerdwyn nodded.

  “I still don’t see why you came here, to me. Why not go to Shara?”

  “She is well guarded,” Cerdwyn said. “It would be very difficult for me to get to her.”

  “You want me to get to her? To get you to her?”

  “The alternative is something too terrible to think about, Chris.”

  “The alternative?”

  “Shara and those around her will train the young Alpha as Ulrik would have. Fenris will drive them to war and she will become exactly what he fears. Everyone who does not bow to her will be hunted and exterminated. When all the living shapeshifters are hers, she’ll turn against humans.”

  Chris blinked at her, trying hard to register what she was saying, trying not to laugh, not wanting to believe. “This …” he began, “This isn’t some kind of Dungeons and Dragons game,” he said. “We’re talking about real people.”

  “Yes, we are,” she agreed. “Real people, with all their real faults and ambitions. They are blind to the things I have been shown.”

  Chris shook his head. “What would you do differently? How would you keep that from happening?”

  “Shara’s female child has to be taught how to commune with the goddess, and with the wolf spirit that guides us all.”

  “And if she doesn’t, she’ll kill us all, then what? Enslave everyone? Eat them? What?”

  “She will become a tyrant unlike anything the world has known,” Cerdwyn said.

  Fenris

  “Unbelievable!” Fenris paced up and down in short lines along his back veranda. He stopped, looked at Kelley Stone, then paced some more. “You have no idea where she is?” he demanded, stopping in front of the red-haired woman again.

  “No.” Her green eyes held his, did not flicker, but for some reason Fenris felt a tug of doubt.

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure,” Kelley said.

  Fenris grunted and paced some more.

  “The Old One just got out of the truck and walked off?” Kelley asked.

  Fenris spun around and faced her. “Old One?” he asked. “Who said anything about an Old One?”

  Her face gave her away this time. She knew something she wasn’t telling. Fenris advanced on her, but Kelley sat still, showing no fear. “Why else would you disappear for so long?” she said. “We’ve all heard rumors that the Old Ones have returned to their human shapes. You go off to France to meet with someone you won’t identify, then come back and travel to Mexico with someone, but won’t let any of us near him. Even Hess was bright enough to figure that one out.”

  “Was he?” Fenris asked, towering over her where she sat in her wrought iron chair. “He wasn’t bright enough to protect himself from a fifteen-year-old girl.”

  “He was thinking with his cock that time,” Kelley said. “He’d become arrogant while you were gone. He drank all the time. You would have killed him when you got back, anyway.”

  “Jenny’s gone, Hess is dead, that idiot Draper ran off. And the Old One … he just got out and walked way. We were too damn close to the cops for me to leave the truck and go after him. This is unbelievable.”

  “What was he like? The Old One?” Kelley asked.

  “A child,” Fenris answered. He finally dropped into a chair across the round table from Kelley. “A wise child, but everything about the modern world is new to him. He managed to live completely in the forests for all those centuries. Had never even seen a car.” He paused and lifted his eyes to the lightening eastern horizon. “He’ll get himself killed out there.”

  “Maybe. Where will he go?”

  Fenris looked at her again, studying her. “You’re full of questions this morning.”

  “You just got home from spending seven years with an Old One. You might as well have been with a unicorn or a dragon,” Kelley said. “I want to know about him. I wanted to meet him.”

  “Then go find him.”

  “Is that my assignment?”

  Fenris pressed his pale lips together. “No,” he said at last. “He showed me what I needed to know.”

  “Which was?”

  “Where is everyone?” Fenris demanded, ignoring her probing. “Why are you the only one here?”

  She laughed at him. “Can’t you guess?”

  “I’m in no mood for games,” he snarled. “Out with it!”

  “They’re around. About three dozen of us. But nobody wanted to be in sight of you when you got home. Nobody wanted to be the next one skinned.”

  “You stayed.”

  Kelley lifted her palms, either in supplication or resignation. “It was decided that I was next in command after Hess was killed. I didn’t entertain any thoughts that I’d be spared your wrath.”

  “I’m too tired. Too stunned,” Fenris said. “Those two just walking off. Why didn’t I see that as a possibility?”

  “Shit happens,” Kelley said.

  “Does it?” Fenris paused, then fixed her with his cold eyes. “Do things just happen, randomly, or is it fate? Maybe they were supposed to get out. Maybe Jennifer was supposed to leave me when she did. Maybe she has a destiny of her own.”

  “We all have a destiny of our own,” Kelley interjected.

  “But do we make it, or is it planned out for us?”

  “You’re the last person I ever expected to suspect God laid out a plan for our lives.”

  “God, the wyrd sisters, the cosmos, call it what you will,” Fenris said. He felt exhaustion creeping up on him. He rubbed at his eyes. “I must be getting old.”

  “You’re not going to tell me where your missing Old One went, are you?”

  “No. Not yet. I’m going to go to bed. You are going to get on the phone. I want everyone loyal to us gathered here within a week. I know where the Mother and her whelp are.”

  “War?” Kelley asked.

  “None of our spies have made it through their defenses. And trust me, they are defended. Ulrik chose his base well. We can’t sneak in, so yes, we will assault it with force. We’ll kill them all.”

  Holle

  Holle watched Shara and Thomas as they glared at one another. Except for the three of them, the living room of the house was empty. Word had gone out that there had been intruders outside the perimeter, so more of the house guard had been sent out to patrol. Shara had become much stronger since Ulrik’s death, but her strength bordered on stubbornness sometimes. Thomas, too, could be pigheaded. Holle wasn’t sure which of the pair was right in
this case.

  “What do you think, Holle?” Shara asked.

  “Yes,” Thomas added. “You’ve been very quiet. What is your opinion?”

  “I cannot say for sure,” Holle answered. “There are valid reasons to run and valid reasons to stay.”

  “We have to go,” Shara said again.

  “Ulrik chose this place because it can be defended,” Thomas argued.

  “John Redleaf and Kiona flew an airplane right up to the front door,” Shara snapped.

  “Fenris won’t be coming in an airplane,” Thomas said.

  “When this airplane came,” Holle interrupted. “Was the house defended like it is now?”

  “No,” Shara admitted. “Ulrik told me it was just him and a handful of wolves in the woods.”

  “Only a small airplane could land inside the perimeter?” Holle asked.

  “I guess,” Shara said.

  “Our people on the mountain could shoot down any such airplane with the weapons they have?”

  “I don’t know. I think so,” Shara said.

  “Yes,” Thomas interjected. “A good marksman can do it. Take out the pilot. Hit the fuel tank. There are ways.”

  “If we left, where would we go?” Holle asked. “You have another place better fortified?”

  “No,” Shara said. She dropped her gaze to her lap, where she picked at the inseam of her blue jeans.

  “We would just be running from place to place?” Holle asked.

  Shara shrugged. “It seems safer.”

  Holle reached over and patted Shara’s knee. “I understand,” she said. “However, there is a time to run, and a time to stand your ground and fight. I believe it is time to fight this Fenris. If little Morrigan is to achieve her destiny, this threat must be removed.”

  “Her destiny,” Shara repeated.

  “We need more people,” Thomas said. “We need everyone we can get.”

  “That’s the problem with this plan,” Shara protested. “How do we know who we can trust? We could let a bunch of Fenris’s people right inside the house. Do you know every shapeshifter that’s loyal to us? No, you don’t. Nobody does.”

  “Morrigan must have a personal bodyguard, as should you, the Mother,” Holle said. “We will put our most trusted friends in those positions. Anyone we do not know well will be under close scrutiny by reliable field marshals.”

  “Most of the Pack is on our side, Shara,” Thomas said softly.

  “I can’t bear the thought of someone hurting Morrigan. Or taking her away from me like Chris did with Joey,” she answered. “I just can’t.”

  “I know, Shara. I know,” he whispered. Holle watched as Thomas left his own chair and went to his wife, wrapping his strong arms around her shoulders while she buried her head against him.

  “We are united in thought, then?” Holle asked. “We will fight?”

  Neither of them answered at first, then Thomas asked, “Shara?”

  She nodded against his chest, then answered, “Yes.” She lifted her head and smiled sadly at him. “I don’t want another fight like we had when Joey was taken, but I guess there’s no way to avoid it. I just hope Fenris is the last one.”

  “Aye,” Thomas agreed. “May it be so.”

  “There will always be threats,” Holle said. “But once the Alpha is established in her position it will be easier to organize against them and deal with them quickly and efficiently.”

  “Established in her position?” Shara asked. “You believe Morrigan will be some kind of … what? Warlord? Queen?”

  “She is the Alpha,” Holle answered.

  “Ulrik said he didn’t know what the Alpha would do. Do you? Is there part of the prophecy Ulrik didn’t know?”

  Holle smiled at Shara. “The Old Ones have been beasts for a very long time, Shara. It was not something we asked for. We were cursed, then hunted, killed, and all our progeny were, as well. I had no living children when Nadia cursed us. I gave the curse to others, to young ones, so they would be my children, and always they were killed by humans. Morrigan will unite the Pack, and we will have our revenge.”

  “No,” Shara said. “We can’t do that. I won’t let it happen.”

  “It isn’t up to you,” Holle said. “It will be Morrigan’s decision.”

  “She would never do that,” Shara said.

  “She will do what she believes is justified,” Holle answered.

  “Have you been teaching her that she will kill people?”

  “No. She is too young. I have taught her our history, though I found that she knew most of it already.”

  Shara looked to her mate. Holle saw that Thomas’s face was confused. “This cannot be,” he said.

  “It will be as Fate decrees it,” Holle said.

  “She killed her twin brother,” Shara whispered. “Did she know what she was doing? Was she already protecting herself?”

  Chuckling, Holle rose to her feet. She patted Shara on the shoulder as she passed her. “I will put the other Old Ones around Morrigan as her bodyguards. Call your friends to come and help defend this house.”

  Skandar

  Finding the man, Draper, wasn’t difficult for Skandar. Draper had left a trail of fear-scent any wolf could easily follow as he dashed away from Fenris’s car, ran along the highway for about fifty yards, then went into the trees to keep running. Skandar stayed in his human form, as there was no indication Draper had changed shape. His long, muscular legs covered the distance quickly, the scent of Draper becoming stronger with every pace. After two hours of tracking him, Skandar was able to hear the big man crashing through the trees ahead of him, still moving southeast.

  A half-hour later, Skandar saw him. Draper’s short black hair was wet with perspiration and he constantly looked back over his shoulder. He saw Skandar, paused for a moment, looking for Fenris, Skandar believed, then hurried on.

  “Wait!” Skandar called. “I would talk.”

  The man didn’t hesitate, but kept pushing through branches and dodging around tree trunks. Skandar followed, and soon was a mere ten yards behind him. Suddenly Draper whirled around, a snub-nosed revolver held in his hand. His eyes were large and scared, his breath came in short, hard gasps, and his hand trembled as it pointed the gun at his pursuer.

  “Get away from me!” Draper said, his voice dry and cracking. “They’re silver-tipped.”

  Skandar stopped. He was not breathing hard. He simply stood still and looked coolly at the bigger man and the gun. “I would talk with you about him.” Skandar jerked his head to indicate the direction they’d come from.

  “He sent you to kill me. Or take me back so he could do it. I won’t be skinned alive.” Draper pulled back the hammer on the revolver.

  “I left him like you did. He is a bad person. A bad leader,” Skandar said. “I want you to tell me more about him.”

  Draper’s suspicion wavered for a moment and the gun barrel dropped a few inches. “Who are you?” he asked. “I’ve never seen you before. Fenris didn’t call you by name in the car.”

  “I am Skandar. I am what you call an Old One.”

  “Old One?”

  Skandar nodded. “We call ourselves Nadia’s children. I lived in the village she cursed. I was one of the first of our kind.”

  Draper’s hand dropped to his side, the gun pointing at the ground. “An Old One?” he asked again. Realization dawned in his dark eyes. “You’re why Fenris has been gone so long?”

  “He came to me in …” Skandar hesitated, thinking. “The place was called France, he said. Another shapeshifter, Lucas, found me and helped me. He used the telephone to call Fenris and he came on an airplane. He killed Lucas, but he does not know that I know he did that. He tried to hide it from me. I would have killed him when I awoke and knew that, but at that time Fenris was the only person left to help me learn.”

  “Learn what?”

  “How to live in your age. I have not been a man since the world was very young,” Skandar explained.


  Alex Draper nodded his understanding.

  “We will make a pact, you and I,” Skandar urged. “I will not take you to Fenris and you will not tell him where I am. Do you agree?”

  “You don’t want to go back?”

  “No. We found the Alpha. And the Mother. Fenris would not allow me to go to them. He said they are being poisoned against us by one called Ulrik. I would go back to them.”

  “With me? You’d take me?”

  “Yes.”

  “They might kill me. They probably would kill me, just because I’ve been with Fenris.”

  “No,” Skandar said. “You will be under my protection.”

  “How do you know they won’t kill you?”

  Skandar shrugged. “There are other of Nadia’s children there and they seem to be in no danger.”

  Draper thought about it for a while. Almost absently, his thumb gently released the cocked hammer on the gun in his big right hand. His eyes drifted down, away from Skandar to the ground. “Fenris will kill me on sight for letting that girl get away,” he said at last. “I didn’t know who was in the damn truck. I saw the gate open, saw the truck drive out. Nobody told me to check everybody who left the house. They just told me to keep everyone out if they didn’t belong. I did that.”

  Skandar said nothing, letting the man talk himself into whatever decision he might make.

  “He’ll send somebody after me,” Draper went on. “You don’t cross Fenris and get away with it.” He paused and his eyes came back to Skandar’s face. “I’ll go with you. I have a better chance with Ulrik now than I do with Fenris, and I sure can’t be alone anymore.”

  “It is good,” Skandar declared. “We have far to go, I think. Where is a place called Mexico from where we are?”

  Draper put the revolver back in a pocket of his jacket. “It’s a long way. And Mexico is a big country. Do you know where in Mexico it is we have to go?”

  “We traveled many days as wolves after Fenris said we had entered Mexico,” Skandar said. “We came to this place on an airplane.”

  “Shit. That means you probably flew out of Mexico City. That’s way the hell down there.”