Warden's Path

by Heath Pfaff

  “We speak with them, explain what is needed, and figure out how we can keep the city’s people safe without murdering women and children.” I answered. “Or are you really so keen on killing that you won’t look for another solution?”

  Arthos considered me for a time, his expression stoic. “We will try things your way, but I have a feeling this will become a lesson for you, and one that you’ll regret having to learn the hard way.”

  “If we try and things come to violence, at least I will know we’ve tried. I won’t kill just because it’s the expedient route.” I told him firmly. Arthos thought I was making a mistake, and I could tell he believed this by the disappointed expression he cast at me for a few long moments.

  “Then I will let you lead the way on this matter, but if this falls to a mess and we have to kill these wilifen later, you’ll be the one to do the cleanup.” He answered me with a shrug.

  I knew that wouldn’t happen. “That won’t be a problem. If there is one thing that my time in training has prepared me for, it’s violence.” I told him, and then I slipped out of the house to find the willifen who’d brought us here. When I got outside she was hunched over what looked like an old flower garden, plucking out the overgrown weeds.

  “Tawny?” I asked, looking to confirm my guess about who we were traveling with.

  Her head turned to me and tilted to one side as her ears perked up. “Long time anyone say that.” She said. “New Pack different words, old words. No names. I am Tawny.” She repeated the last part firmly, her tail swishing twice.

  “Tawny, your pack needs to move away from the roads, back here to this cabin. It is dangerous to stay where you are. It’s dangerous for your people, and it’s dangerous for ours.” I wasn’t sure how to explain any of this to her, but I thought I’d start there.

  “New pack not like house. Alpha say not our way.” She explained, looking wistfully back at the home.

  “The Alpha is dead, and so are his seconds. You are the Alpha now. The strongest. You can make the rules for your pack, and if you want to live here, to live the way you did while Friend was still with you, the you can do that.” I told her. “You should do that.”

  She considered me carefully. “Others will not like.”

  “It will be strange to them, but time will change that. You know how to live here, right? To grow food, and to hunt?” I had the idea that they’d been self reliant while they had lived here with the man called “Friend.” They’d survived here without him for four years on their own.

  “Yes. I remember.” She answered.

  “Do you . . . “ I was hesitant about this. “Do you know what the males have been doing while they’re out, Tawny?”

  Tawny looked down and a small whimper slipped through her lips. “Kill. Steal.” She almost whispered the words.

  “That can’t happen anymore.” I said firmly. “If it happens again, then . . . then we will have to come back and stop you. Do you understand?” I hated threatening her, but she had to know. There had to be a clear line drawn.

  “You kill.” Tawny said. “I don’t like kill or steal. We will do no longer.” Her expression shifted a bit, and I thought I saw concern in her eyes. She took a step in my direction, and I was reminded that she was much bigger than me, all lean muscle, teeth and claws. She had gray in her fur, but it was just color, not a sign of age or weakness.

  “Babies? You take babies?” Her voice wavered some.

  What could I do? I couldn’t just leave the human children with the willifen, could I? Arthos wouldn’t allow that, but was it really better to take them away? What would become of them if they were taken back to the city? WIthout a family they would end up in foster care, and there was no saying how they would be treated there. “I need to speak with the human children, the stolen children. They need to choose what they want.”

  “Choose.” She repeated. “And if choose stay?”

  I took a deep breath. “Then they will stay, and you will take care of them, and love them, and teach them just like Friend taught you, right?”

  Her expression seemed to brighten and she nodded. “Teach. Love. Yes.”

  “Alright, let me speak with my partner, and then we will return to the others. We will help you move your things here today, and then you will not return to the road.” I said the last part firmly.

  “Never to the road.” She agreed, nodding.

  I wasn’t as certain about this as I wanted to be, but I believed that this particular willifen would try her best to adhere to what I’d said. It really depended entirely upon how much control she had over the others. I went back into the house and saw Arthos flipping through the pages of the journal. He looked thoughtful. His eyes came up when he heard me.

  “It would be harder to do what we should do after reading this.” He said, the closest thing to an acquiescence I would ever get from him on the subject. “Well?” He asked, looking at the door.

  I decided not to pose it to him as a suggestion. I would tell him what I’d decided, not ask him if we could do what I had decided. “We will take Tawny back to the others and then help them relocate their belongings here. She will make sure they don’t go back to the road. I think that was the preference of the alpha males that had come here anyway. She would have preferred to stay here.”

  I took a brief pause before going onto the next part. If there was going to be trouble, it would be here. “We will talk to the human children and let them decide whether they go back with us, or stay with the willifen. If they are happy here, then here they should remain. I think they will get an unusual raising, but they won’t lack for family or affection. If we take them back, they’ll be put into the foster system more than likely, and they may end up far worse.” Back home, many foster children ended up being sold as indentured servants, or they simply vanished when the system couldn’t afford to keep them anymore. I’d heard bad stories about where they ended up.

  To my surprise Arthos just nodded. “The children are already considered dead. Any that we bring back would be seen as a blessing. It’s probably better not to bring any of them back at all. It risks exposing those who remain behind, but if that is your choice.”

  “It . . . it is.” I was so taken aback by his agreement with my decision that I stumbled a bit in my reply.

  “Then let us get to it. We’re burning daylight.” He answered, and that was it.

  We traveled back to the others quickly, not wanting to end up caught at night in the woods. Once there Tawny set about talking to the others, and we, in turn, spoke to the children. We explained the situation to them as best we could, and told them it was their choice whether to stay with the willifen or return to the humans in the city. In the end, only the oldest girl chose to return with us. I bore some doubt about this. I couldn’t help but question my decision to let the children have the final say in such a delicate matter, but I reminded myself that the future of orphans within the system our people had established was no blessing. I had seen that the willifen could provide love and nurturing, a hope more substantial than that of the uncaring world of orphanages.

  One of the female willifen wept and hugged the departing child tightly, not wanting to see the girl go, and even though she was steadfast in her decision, I saw tears in the young woman’s eyes. It was touching, and in a way helped ease the tension I felt at leaving the remainder of the children behind. After that we helped the willifen move their personal things and the little ones who would be staying. It was almost dark by the time we reached the hut again, but we didn’t linger once we’d finished.

  We set ourselves on the path home and returned to our mounts, the girl who wished to return, Winfrya, tagging along. As we rode I spoke with her some. I asked about her time with the willifen, and about her treatment. She told us the males were sometimes cruel, growled and roared, but they were always gentle with the children. The women had been kind and sweet, and though Winfrya was afraid of what might come next in her life, she had family in the city,
and she didn’t think she would be happy living in the woods, even if the willifen weren’t really monsters.

  We were about an hour outside of the city when Arthos quite suddenly pulled us to a stop. It was nearing midnight. Wnfrya had fallen asleep some short time before and lay nestled against me.

  “We’re being followed.” Arthos spoke in a firm whisper as he dismounted, drawing us into a clearing. He drew his weapon from his back.

  I hopped down also, as Winfrya stirred from her sleep. I reached out and put a hand on her back. “Still, Win. Something comes. Stay on Zara’s back, and she will keep you safe.” I told the girl who looked afraid as I fell in beside Arthos.

  “There.” Arthos said, pointing one half of his weapon at the edge of the woods. I braced myself, a thousand different possibilities flowing through my mind. What might be lurking in the night, waiting to attack us? My imagination spun up hundreds of possible horrors.

  Then it emerged. I frowned, though I didn’t drop my weapon. It was a willifen, and I recognized her from the group we’d just left. She was breathing hard, had clearly been running as fast as she could to keep up with us. She’d come through the tree line on all fours, but as she saw us she stopped and stood up on her legs. She had dark black fur and yellow-gold eyes that I could now see were touched with a bit of green. They were bright and curious. Her fur was long on her chest and between her thighs covering up the most notable markings of her gender, though her breasts could be just seen beneath her fur. It was a strange thing, the mix of animal and human characteristics.

  “Not kill!” She pleaded. She touched her chest. “Dreea.” She spoke her name urgently. “You help my sister, my pack. I . . . come with.” She pointed at us.

  Arthos was lowering his weapons, but he didn’t look happy. I was trying to figure out exactly what was happening. Why did she want to come with us? She wasn’t the female that had cried over Win’s departure. She didn't seem concerned with Win at all.

  “You were told to not go near the road.” Arthos said, voice terse. “We told you what would happen if you did.”

  “Not here for killing.” She whimpered slightly with her speech, and I noticed that her words seemed a bit smoother than her sisters and sounded more out of practice than just badly put together. “Here to travel. Wish to . . . “ She paused, searching for words. “. . . know world. Explore.”

  “You can’t travel with us.” I said, pointing back the way she’d come. “Return to your sister. Humans have a strong fear of your kind. You just can’t come along with us. We’re on Warden business.”

  “No, come with. Look!” She said, and then she turned and took off a small pack that I hadn’t seen on her back before. She opened it quickly and started pulling things out. She pulled out clothes and began to scramble into them as we watched.

  I looked over at Arthos who was looking at me. He shrugged. “This is your problem.” He said.

  I frowned at him, and turned back in time to see Dreea finish dressing. She was wearing a dress of muted green tones that fit her quite well, and over that a traveler’s cloak. She’d pulled up the hood, and beneath it, if one didn’t make the effort to look closely at her, she looked like any woman bound up to hide from the weather.

  “Friend showed us how to make clothes. I know how to be like humans.” She said, taking a step forward as she put her pack back into place.

  “We are Wardens. We can’t just stop our duties to help show you the world, Dreea. We have important things to do.” I said, trying to be firm on this matter, but in my head I was questioning why it was so important I deny her passage with us. Did it really matter? If she could fend for herself well enough, and wasn’t a strain on our resources, then there was no reason for her not to come along.

  “Wardens, yes. Ghost men. Friend tells us stories. Wardens protect. Wardens fight monsters. Wardens scary. I knew you were. I will be Warden. I train. Strong. Fast!” She stood up straight and growled, which was sort of funny to see in her clothes. “I hunt well. I hear and see very well. I can help.”

  “It would be most unorthodox for us to bring someone with us.” Arthos said, but he looked at me. “This is your situation to deal with. I will only counter your choice if it seems immediately threatening.”

  I looked back at Dreea. Her tail swished at her back like a puppy that was excited, causing the back of her dress to dance about. This seemed like trouble in many ways, and yet I was going to let her tag along. I already knew it, even if I was still going back and forth in my mind. I sighed. “Alright, Dreea, you can come with us, but you have to do as we say, and you can’t interfere with our business. You may have to wait outside of places like the city at times. If you cause us trouble, we will leave you behind.”

  Dreea nodded. “I understand. Thank you.” She curtsied then, and the gesture was very well performed. It was so strange to see, and yet very fitting of her at the same time. Arthos was keenly quiet on the matter for a few long moments that felt like forever.

  Finally he simply shrugged and sighed. “Alright, we’ll make camp here for the night. It’s late and I don’t feel like returning to the city just yet.” If he had a judgement about my choice, he kept it to himself. I was still trying to decide whether or not I’d just made a massive decisive failure.

  “If you’re a good hunter, then I expect you to provide us with meat at night when the game is good.” I told her. “Don’t run off, and don’t hurt anyone unless you see us fighting as well.”

  She gave a sharp nod. “I do not like to hurt. Not cruel.”

  “Is it safe to come out?” Winfrya’s voice called from over by the Kea.

  “Yes.” I answered, having almost forgotten about the girl. “We’ll be traveling with one of your willifen friends until we reach the city.”

  The girl came forward, her expression bright. “You’re finally going to get to travel.”

  “Were you listening in on us?” I asked, eyebrow raised in amusement more than any actual anger.

  “I . . . well, I mean, I heard voices and you weren’t fighting, so I thought it might be safe.” She said, a faint flush on her cheeks.

  “Safe enough, I suppose.” I said, trying to hide my own amusement. It really wouldn't do to have her not listening to what we said, but no one else was this night. The authority of the Wardens seemed a bit lacking just then.

  “Yes, I travel now! Become Warden, fight the black thing. See the world!” Her tail made her skirts bounce around again as it wagged in pleasure, but a chill swept down my spine at her words.

  “The black thing?” Arthos asked before I could. “What black thing?”

  Her tail slowed a bit, and her eyes became wide and serious. “The black thing in swamp. It came to mountains, chased my people into swamp, and then out of swamp. Takes them. Kills some, gives back others. The ones who come back are . . . “ She was hunting for words. “They broken in their mind. Always seeing nightmares.”

  The little girl was nodding. “The willifen talked of it sometimes. Dreea and her sister would tell us what the others had told them. It’s like a black water that appears at times, and it makes dark and terrible things happen. Sometimes members of their pack would vanish, and other times they would turn up weeks or months later, and they’d be crazy. Ranting, speaking of things that could only exist in bad dreams.” Winfrya drew her cloak more tightly about her. “I wanted it to just be stories, but they believe it’s true.”

  Dreea nodded. “True. Seen in swamp, once. Black stuff. Feels bad to see. Feels bad to smell. Pack who comes from swamp, they lost rest of pack. Gone or crazy . They very afraid.”

  I looked at Arthos. This had to be what we’d seen in Camiden. The description was just too similar. The mountains were a very long way from Camiden, and even further from Black Mark. The blackness was spreading, and it was further afield than we’d even guessed. I felt like I needed to talk to someone who knew more. I really wanted to talk to Ghoul at that moment, as strange as that impulse was. He knew more. He h
ad to know more. He worked with the stuff. It was what he put into his golems.

  Arthos looked uneasy. “I’ll send word to Black Mark.” He told me as he reached into his stone pouch to do so. I wanted to talk more with him, but the night was deep and dark, and it seemed like a bad time to discuss such things. These were topics best carried on when the sun could light a path, and the devils of the shadowy night weren’t lingering so close at hand.

  “I’ll set a fire. It’s a bit chil tonight.” I said, though the truth was just that I wanted to dispel the dark to some degree.

  “Yes, and the night hides things.” Dreea added, her eyes shimmering a bit in the dark. She could see far better than we could, and I thought perhaps that she looked afraid as well.

  “It does, but we’ll give it less ability to do so.” I told her as I set about making a good fire.