The Island of Wolves

by Elizabeth Avery

  “Please,” I mouthed desperately. “Stop.”

  Conon closed his eyes, went limp, and said, “I yield.”

  A roar went up around the ring, but I barely heard it. My focus was on Conon. All the tension seemed to have gone out of him, and he didn’t resist as Harmon dragged him out of the ring. As soon as he hit the sand on the other side of the torch line, the other minotaurs were flooding the ring to congratulate the victor. Two of them hoisted Harmon up on their shoulders and started parading him around.

  “Toasts to the new chief!” someone roared.

  “Drinks!” yelled another.

  The crowd looked to the captain, who gave a dramatic sigh.

  “Alright,” he agreed. “Break out a keg. Just one! ONE!” He roared at their retreating backs.

  I quickly found myself swept up in the crowd, and shunted away from the beach and back into the camp. Before I knew it, the tables from the kitchen tent had been moved around the central fire, and laden with food and drink. The ale was flowing, and raucous songs were being sung. Somehow, the whole event had become a party.

  Looking around, there was no sign of Conon, so it was clear the black-haired minotaur had not come back with the rest of us. Before I could search for him properly, I found myself cornered at one of the food tables by Harmon.

  “Hey,” he greeted as soon as he saw me, an elated smile spread wide across his face. “I won.”

  “Congratulations,” I said politely. I may not have been happy about the situation, but I was respectful enough to accept that this was how they did things. If the rest of the minotaurs accepted the outcome as legitimate, then I would as well, just as I would if Harmon had told me he’d won the general council elections back home.[10]

  “The party’s going to go until dawn, probably. But if, uh, you’d like to head off sooner…” he trailed off suggestively.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I won,” he said again, as though it explained everything.

  “Yes, and…?”

  “You’re the chief’s woman,” he said. “I’m the new—”

  “Let me stop you right there,” I said, holding up a hand to silence him. “I am my own woman, first and foremost. But if I was anyone’s woman, I’d be Conon’s woman exclusively.”

  Could I even consider myself his anything really? A few kisses were hardly the basis for a relationship. But then, neither was winning some kind of minotaur dick-measuring contest.

  “But he lost.”

  “He could be a cabin boy swabbing the lower deck and I’d still be his woman.”

  “But didn’t you leave your other man for him?”

  “No, my hired bodyguard, whom I am paying to travel with me, was arrested, for lack of a better word,” I said. “Risk and I met the morning of the day I boarded your ship.”

  “That’s not what I was told.”

  “Well, that’s not my problem,” I said. “If you wanted to date me, you should have wooed me properly.”

  “Properly?”

  “The human way,” I said. “You know, because I’m not a minotaur. So I don’t really care about your clan politics. You should have approached me earlier, made your intentions known.” I raised an eyebrow. “Or did you think you would just get to have me as a prize?”

  “I wasn’t going to force you.”

  “Good,” I said. “So then, congratulations again on becoming the new chief. I’m going to go find my boyfriend now.”

  With that, I turned and left Harmon standing awkwardly at the feast table.

  I found Conon sitting against a tree away from the party, a single torch stuck in the sand next to him. He was staring out at the ocean, a wet towel draped over his shoulders. To my relief he still had both horns, but the one on the right had a large crack in it now.

  “Hey,” I greeted softly and got only a tired grunt in reply. “Are you mad at me?”

  Conon looked up. “Why would you think that?”

  “It sounded like he only challenged you because he wanted to have me,” I said. “I feel like I’m responsible for you losing your position.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” he assured. “I’m still the head of security. The captain’s not going to fire me because I’m not the clan head anymore.” He sighed. “I’ll just have to balance the job authority I have, vs the political power I don’t have as carefully as I can.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do fine,” I assured, giving him an encouraging smile.

  “Ah well, it was only a matter of time before it happened anyway,” he said. “No one is ever on top forever.” He chuckled. “Something our new boyo will learn soon enough.”

  “Why?” I asked. “It sounded like they were pretty happy with him.”

  “Oh there’s always a celebration when there’s a successful challenge,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Just depends if he can hold the others’ respect in the long run. Could be a rough next few months. Sort of glad I’m out of it.”

  “Can’t you challenge him back?”

  “I could,” he said thoughtfully. “After a time, of course. It’s bad manners and bad for the clan if the chief is changing too often. But you know what, I don’t want to. I think I’m going to kick back.”

  “Well, I think you’ve earned it.”

  “You’re more amazing to me every day,” he said after a moment, finally returning my smile.

  “Did you think I was going to jump in another man’s pants just because they took your spot?”

  “I did for a moment,” he admitted. “When I was laying there in the dirt, realising I wasn’t going to win. I hated myself for it. Though you’d be in your rights to do it.”

  “You really think so?”

  “A woman like you deserves to be with the top dog.”

  Was he serious or just flattering me? What about me suggested that I deserved anything?

  “I didn’t even realise you were some top dog, until the other day.”

  He shook his head, a puffing laugh of disbelief slipping out. “So you’re saying, all this time, it was just me you liked?”

  “Of course. What else would it be?”

  I joined him on the sand and nestled under the tree, warm in each other’s arms, we watched the moons and their light reflexing off the ocean late into the night. It was nice.

  Chapter 13:

  The Other Side of the Story

  As the party died down, and the sky began to pinken with the coming sunrise, Conon got up and carried my dozing body back to our tent. As he tucked me into his bedroll, I groaned sleepily and rolled over with a mumbled, “not joining me?”

  It felt weird to have his bed all to myself, though mine still hadn’t been washed.

  “I have to go on patrol,” he whispered, before laying a gentle kiss on my head.

  When the sun was fully up and I’d awoken properly, I couldn’t even remember going back to sleep. I sat up in the bed roll, yawned, stretched my neck and shoulders, and yawned a few more times.

  I checked to make sure all my bandages were still in place, and took my time getting ready, relishing having woken up without a headache for the first time in a couple of days. Kneeling in front of my trunk, I opened it and selected a fresh summer dress for the day. After getting dressed, I took my time carefully brushing my hair. I put on a soft headband, applied some tinted lip oil, and curled my eyelashes with a few drops of clear mascara. I didn’t know why I was bothering to dress myself up. I shouldn’t have anyone here to impress, and yet, I could help wondering what Conon might think if he saw me in something pretty. Apart from that, after everything that had happened, it made me feel good to look nice. Satisfied with myself, I took a small travel tea-set from a secure compartment in the trunk and left the tent.

  “Have a nice lie-in?”

  I nearly jumped out of my sandals. Skeever was standing right outside the tent. Had he been waiting for me?

  I shrugged. “Yes, actually.”

  I didn’t feel I really had to justify mys
elf for it, though. If I was anywhere else with my injuries, I’d probably have been bedridden on doctor’s orders, maybe even hospitalised. Compared to that, sleeping in ‘till noon seemed pretty minor.

  “Have you thought about what I said?” he asked.

  “I have,” I said. “And I won’t deny I’m still curious, but I don’t plan on going around badgering people for information.”

  “Probably the wisest decision.”

  I frowned. “Why do you care about what happens to me?”

  He didn’t seem to think much of me when I first got on board the ship, and yet, something had changed his tune.

  “You’re not who I thought you were,” he said, his tone surprisingly genuine. “Things are falling apart around here faster than you realise.”

  “You mean last night?” I asked.

  “That was just the culmination of part of it. The minotaur-side of things will sort itself out in its own time, with or without your boyfriend. It’s the other stuff that worries me more.”

  I balanced the tea set box in one hand, and placed the other on my hip. “And of course you’re not going to tell me anything.”

  Skeever grinned with his eyes and shook his head.

  “Well if you’re not, can I go?”

  “Of course, my lady,” he replied, giving an exaggerated bow as I left.

  Conon returned an hour later to find me sitting on a log by the central fire. I had a small metal pot nestled amongst a pile of hot charcoal fragments in front of me, and a floral printed cup clenched in my hands.

  His nose wrinkled at the sharp citrus smell. “Asami?”[11]

  “Yep.”

  “Why?” he asked, sitting down next to me. “We haven’t gotten naughty yet.”

  He smirked and I rolled my eyes. Yet. Looked like he was still counting on us going all the way. Well, I wouldn’t deny the thought hadn’t been growing on me over the past few days, but he didn’t need to know that.

  “Just making sure I keep my routine.”

  “Makes sense. So what’s your plan for today, then?”

  “Well actually,” I said. “Seeing as you’re here, I was wondering if you and I could talk about minotaurs?” I produced one of my new notebooks from my dress pocket. “For my report.”

  “You’re still working on that?” he asked, clearly surprised. “I figured with your partner in the brig, you wouldn’t bother.”

  The look of genuine confusion on my face had clearly caught him off guard, because his eyebrows shot up briefly, before furrowing into a deep frown.

  “The stuff about the museum,” he said. “Your partner admitted everything to the captain. He took the whole fall for you. You don’t need to keep up your cover story to me. It’s not like I’m going to rat you out.”

  I wished Conon had been with me on the ship when I’d gone to see Risk, so that he would know the mercenary had only said the things he had because they were what the captain had wanted to hear. He’d been protecting me, just as the minotaur had. Of course, if he’d joined me, Risk may not have been so open about the truth.

  Putting my hand in my pocket, I pulled out my old notebook and passed it to him. “Would I go to these lengths?”

  I watched Conon thumb through the notebook, his frown deepening with every page he turned. It was too much, too detailed. He could see my handwriting evolve over time, over years, going back and forth on each page as I added notes to older work. The postcards and letters slotted inside were all date-stamped by the Post Office, their pages yellowing from the passage of time.

  “How long have you been working on this?” he whispered.

  “My uncle gave it to me before I started school. I’ve had it since I was eleven.”

  He handed it back, with a bitter laugh. “Alright,” he said after staring at the fire for a little while. “Ask me what you want. Can’t see that I’ll be able to tell you much. Didn’t your bodyguard already regale you with how terrible we are?”

  “He didn’t really go into much detail. Not about culture, anyway.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “He told me about the legend of the minotaur’s creation,” I said. “How accurate would you say the legend is?”

  “Pretty accurate, I suppose” he said. “Most clans take it as truth anyway.”

  “Can I hear the story from your perspective?”

  “Can’t really say I have one,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Although, the way it’s written down in human texts is a little different to what I was told.

  “See, humans like having morals in their legends, something for people to learn from. The story of the Heaven’s Spear is one of hubris, warning mortals away from trying to get too close to the gods. But in the story I read, the gods commissioned the tower.”

  My eyes widened.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Before the tower was built, the gods could only communicate with their followers by speaking through their priests. So they wanted a better way.”

  “Why destroy it then?”

  “They didn’t,” he said, shaking his head. “When the tower was finished, the priests performed a ritual they thought would pierce the barrier between our world and the Celestial Plane. But the barrier was too powerful to break, and the rebounding magic is what destroyed it. Some stories swear the tower is still out there somewhere. Of course, no one knows exactly where or has ever found it.”

  “I’ve never heard that version,” I said. “What about the minotaurs, then?”

  “As far as I know, there aren’t that many versions of our origin story,” he said. “Everyone agrees the first one was a bandit trying to rob the tower and he came across the Shield Maiden.”

  “You’re sure it was her?”

  “Definitely,” he said. “Humans don’t really have much of a relationship with the celestials, beyond some minor blessings. But to the otherkin, the celestials are literally our mothers and fathers. It’s a point of pride to a lot of the celestially-created races to know not just who created us, but when, and why we were created. And to think you look down on us for it.”

  “Look down on you?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Because you Homos are natural.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Homos, you know, Homo sapiens? You came from Alvis, while the celestial races were just ‘poofed’ out of nothing with divine magic.”

  That’s more or less what Risk’s opinion had been. It seemed it might not be as uncommon as I’d hoped.

  “Does that make you related to the other races created by the Shield Maiden?”

  “Technically,” he said. “We’re all Okuzi, like how the captain and his ilk are Urusi. But just because all minotaurs are Okuzi doesn’t mean all Okuzi are minotaurs, if that makes sense.”

  “I think so.”

  Like how all parrots were birds but not all birds were parrots.

  “After the Maiden created the first minotaurs, I think it was really a shock for the other celestials,” he said. “It wasn’t just a simple curse, this guy was having children, you know. She’d created a whole new species somehow. Before that, well I don’t think the celestials knew they were that powerful. She wasn’t happy with them though, the early minotaurs. I think maybe she regrets making us how she did.

  “She and the Farmer, they were the first two who really experimented with it. I guess they didn’t really know what they were doing at first, so they just took something that was like an animal, and then something that was like a human, and then tried to stick them together.”

  “But, if you don’t mind me saying, the captain just looks like a bear. He’s not, you know, a man-bear.”

  “No,” he agreed. “The more the celestials each tried their hand at creation, the better they got at it. So you’ll notice the later creations, like the Urusi, are cleaner. They don’t just look like two things stuck together anymore. There are still some, though. I think the Farmer liked his initial design, so there’s consistency there, but the Ma
iden’s later creations are more, I dunno, complete?”

  We sat in silence for a while as I wrote down what he’d said. When the scratching of my pen ceased, he spoke up again.

  “So, was the legend the only reason your bodyguard gave for why he has such a hate-on for us?”

  I explained about the job to the mountain clan that Risk had told me about. The more I talked, the more Conon frowned.

  “Would you say this is an accurate representation?” I concluded gently.

  “More than I’d like to admit,” he replied. “We can’t have kids without women. It takes two to tango and all that. But there are almost no female minotaurs.”

  “I thought there were none at all,” I said.

  “They’re rare, like really rare. Only about five-percent of the current population, but their numbers are slowly growing. It used to be that if a boy was born, it was a minotaur and if a girl was born, it would be whatever the mother was. These days, every now-and-then, a girl child will be born that’s a minotaur as well. And of course, with two minotaur parents, you get all minotaur children.”

  “Why do you think it changed?”

  “Couldn’t say,” he shrugged. “Maybe the Maiden wanted to give us a second chance. If it keeps going on like this, minotaur numbers will finally be self-sustaining and the clans won’t need to be involved in the slave-trade anymore. Of course, I can’t say whether those clans will keep to themselves, or if they’ll want to start expanding their territory. Could be bad for some of the settlements they’ve been trading with.”

  “You think the clans will become raiders?”

  “Not all of them, but some? Sure. It’s in our nature.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said quietly. “After all, you’ve never hurt me.”

  Conon reached out and cupped my face. He ran a thumb over my cheek, his orange eyes boring into my trusting ones. “I’ll give you a piece of advice,” he said slowly. “For if you ever run into any more of us on your travels.”

  I nodded, feeling pinned by the fiery colour of his gaze.

  “If they’ve got red eyes, you turn and you run.”