Prince Wolf

by A. Katie Rose

  I had my suspicions.

  That fateful night the wolves came to stay, Shadow was the wolf who stole Tuatha from his adoptive father.

  Tuatha never forgot or forgave.

  I can’t allow him out of my sight. I feared the thirty pound Tuatha might challenge the three-hundred pound Shadow very soon. Shadow, of course, had too much sense and too much honor to fight a baby, no matter how belligerent that baby might be. Tuatha, of course, didn’t understand the difference.

  I’d have to keep them separate, not an easy thing with men and wolves and horses in one huge massive, milling group. Sooner or later, Shadow and Tuatha would cross paths again.

  “What am I going to do with you?” I sighed, bending over to plant my lips between his eyes.

  Tuatha growled.

  “Not a chance, kid,” I replied. “You’re grounded.”

  I reined in Mikk at the top of a high hill, shivering under my warm hides. Up here, near the top of the Mesaan Mountains, the temperatures dropped to mid-winter levels. Stunted trees, their branches growing only on the south side of their trunks, bore silent testimony to the constant cold wind that ever blew down from the north. Unlike the high, snowy ranges that bordered our beloved Kel’Halla from Khalid’s Federation, these mountains played hell with our resources. We made slow but steady progress northwest, and climbed quite high over the last few days.

  Though, thus far, the weather remained good, the altitude continued to suck. We’d consumed much of our stored food, used every blanket, cured skin and piece of wood to stay warm. By camping early each day, we hunted enough game to stay fed and used the skins to stay alive.

  “I’m so not ready for winter,” I muttered, wrapping my hide around my legs and Tuatha more tightly. That north wind really cut to the bone.

  Reining in beside me, Kel’Ratan glanced around. His red mustache contrasted sharply with his purple lips. “Are you calling a halt?” he asked, his teeth chattering.

  Other than those outriders and wolves with them, the rest of my band also halted. Bar sat down outside the nearest rider and extended his left wing to preen. Whether out of a strange disinclination or concern for my welfare, Bar hadn’t flown much. Instead, he trotted beside Mikk for leagues upon leagues, his wings tightly furled to his massive lion shoulders. During our mid-afternoon breaks for rest, water or hunt, he’d beat hard for the sky, rising higher on the icy northern blast with wings spread. Up there, he’d stalk his own midday meal. Hours later he’d return, bloody and sated, and bitch about the icky climate.

  Silverruff sat down, panting lightly, his steaming breath whipped away on the fresh wind. He growled as he glanced up at me.

  “He says game is scarce here,” Rygel translated.

  “Nor is there any water,” I observed, shading my eyes to see better in the glare. “We ride for an hour or two. Lower down, among those bluffs to the west, I’ll wager we’ll find better accommodations.”

  “Righty - o.“ Kel’Ratan sighed. “Will you hunt with us today?”

  I nudged Mikk into a canter down the steep hillside; Kel’Ratan stuck like glue to my right hand. Complaining bitterly, Bar spread his wings and soared alongside us a few feet above the rock and scrub oak covered ground. In an orderly procession, the others galloped hard on our heels. Arianne swore under her breath as Rufus slid halfway down the precipitous slope on his haunches.

  Though Silverruff and Thunder held hard to Mikk’s flanks, the remaining wolves weren’t as trusting. They fanned away from the hard hooves of our mounts. If a horse tumbled ass over ears, he’d not roll over to crush a wolf under his terrible weight.

  I gave Mikk his head and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Come with us,” he urged. “You love hunting.”

  “I know.”

  “Someone else can stay behind and babysit.”

  I stifled a laugh as the ground beneath us leveled out. We reached the shallow valley where a small river flowed and cut a tiny canyon through its heart. Bar returned to earth to gallop on all four feet, and kept an even pace with Mikk. Arianne ceased her string of choice oaths while Rygel praised her riding skills. Darkhan growled.

  “I’d love to, but –“

  “No buts today. Come with us.”

  I stroked my hand down Tuatha’s small face. “He’ll let only me look after him,” I murmured.

  “Oh, for –“ Kel’Ratan snapped, impatient.

  “If you’re concerned I like serf’s work,” I said, smiling. “You can quit. I don’t, but it’s necessary for the good of all of us.”

  Kel’Ratan grumbled under his breath a bit before sighing. “If you hadn’t said that, I’d doubt your ability to reign.”

  “Don’t you?”

  He snorted, offended. “You’re an obnoxious sort.”

  I laughed. “That’s why you love me.”

  “Go hunt,” Arianne called from my rear. “I can handle the camp duties.”

  I considered the prospect before shaking my head. “Thanks, but I think I’d rather huddle beside a warm fire while you attend camp duties.”

  Kel’Ratan guffawed as Arianne huffed.

  I didn’t sit beside the warm fire as I threatened, tempted though I was. Kel’Ratan, Corwyn, Tor, and Rygel accompanied my boys as they galloped, whooping, across the bluffs. All the wolves save Tuatha joined the hunt, tails high and jaws parted in happy grins as they chased the horses around the hill and vanished.

  “Maybe they’ll bring back something interesting,” Arianne said, speaking over her shoulder as she unsaddled her Rufus. She accomplished the feat only by bullying the flashy stallion into standing still beside a large rock. Fortunately, the saddle and cloth weighed less than she did. After a quick curry, she sent him to graze on the thin tufts of tough grass and set her saddle down beside our tent.

  “Like what?” I asked, currying Mikk’s cream hide of dirt and sweat.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she replied, hopping down. “We haven’t had any bird meat for a while. I’m rather tired of venison.”

  “Perhaps today is your lucky day.”

  Interestingly enough, today was her lucky day.

  Among the two deer, a feral piglet and a wild cow the hunters returned with, Alun shot a mountain grouse. Small, a bead of blood trickling down its open beak, it went into the pot over the fire after Arianne, in delight, plucked it featherless and cut it into pieces for a stew.

  Of the wolves, only Black Tongue and Thunder reappeared with the successful hunters. After assisting their human friends, the pack loped away to track down a meal for themselves. Not as hungry as they were, Black Tongue curled next to the fire, gazing into the mysterious flickering depths, mesmerized. Thunder bent himself in half and chewed annoying burs out of his tail.

  The sun set behind the tall mountains to our north, clouds trailing red, purple and orange flames over their peaks. The wind dropped at the same time the temperature slid downward. I huddled under my hide covering, my teeth biting into my lower lip to prevent them chattering. Tuatha, not complaining, sheltered in my lap under the warm hide I wrapped us both in.

  Reduced to serf’s work, I skinned the deer of their hides as Tor spitted the piglet over the fire to roast. My boys cared for their horses, and Tor’s placid mare, their duties for the evening only begun. Left and Right, with clean-up duty in their future, sharpened their swords. Witraz and Rannon’s chores included dissecting the deer and the cow of their meat to roast for later. Yuri and Yuras spiked a large chunk of beef to cook alongside the piglet. Alun wandered away to stand his watch. Black Tongue trotted after him.

  “Where’d you find those?” I asked as Tor dropped several tubers into the pot to simmer alongside the grouse.

  He half-shrugged, surprised. “I just found them.”

  “He has a nose for it,” Kel’Ratan said, squatting and warming his hands at the fire. “Always jumping off his horse to pluck, dig or shove something into his saddlebags.”

  Thunder yawned and ambled over to me for
an ear scratch, his cold nose nuzzling my neck. “Dammit,” I yelped. “Don’t do that.”

  Thunder merely lay down beside me and rested his head across my lap. As he both interfered with my work and risked suffocating Tuatha, I pushed hard, grunting with the effort, and displaced him. With a low growl, he cooperated by curling up beside me instead.

  “He says you work too hard,” Rygel translated.

  “Someone in this outfit has to,” I replied.

  “You –“ Arianne began, but Rygel cut her off with a quick kiss.

  “Will the pack be as successful?” I asked the air in general.

  “Of course, Your Highness,” Rannon answered. “They’ll also bring back the intact hides.”

  “Jolly good,” I muttered. “More work.”

  Kel’Ratan opened his stupid mouth to comment, but I forestalled him with a glare. “Don’t.”

  He turned his face away, grinning.

  Without Darkhan’s growls to annoy him, Rygel flirted with Arianne shamelessly as she both helped Tor with our evening meal, fed the conflagration and bullied Left and Right into erecting our tent. I scraped the deer hides of their fat, blood vessels and staked them out to dry beside the blazing fire. The process of curing them took several days, and I worked on the each batch at every opportunity. As we travelled, I rolled them up and strapped them to Rygel’s black gelding. He soon learned that when I approached, he was given more work. As a consequence, that boy disliked me on sight.

  Bar floated in, his beak and breast feathers bloody, to land a rod away from me, as close to the fire as he could get.

  “Weenie,” I muttered, scraping.

  Bar hissed, complaining of the cold.

  “Do me a favor,” I retorted. “You don’t have to work.”

  Bar’s returning utterances, at length, told me of how well he’d earned his just rewards by guarding my life at the expense of his own. After listening to his tirade for ten whole minutes, I held up my hand an inch from his beak, palm out. “Do I look like someone who cares? Shut up and go away.”

  While he didn’t go away, he did shut up.

  The thirteen hunters returned after we devoured the piglet, the beef roast and Arianne’s delicious grouse stew. Feeding themselves lavishly on the wild cattle they pulled down, they loped into the firelight, grinning, tails wagging with blood still staining jowls and chests. Silverruff greeted me with a meaty lick to my cheek, his pack dispersing among their human friends.

  Nahar and Darkhan bore two rolled-up shaggy hides across their backs. I sighed, eyeing my new workload.

  “Yuri and Yuras,” Kel’Ratan called, stifling a laugh. “Your turn. Stake ‘em out and scrape ‘em.”

  The blonde brothers rose from their spots by the fire, saluting absently, and took the heavy hides off the wolves. Nahar shook himself and trotted to Kel’Ratan as Darkhan bristled, seeing Rygel sitting so close to Arianne. Yet, he said nothing as he curled up in the vacant spot beside her. She ruffled his ears, but otherwise gave him no other greeting. Oh, that’s not fair. If I were Darkhan, I’d -

  Darkhan suddenly bared his very sharp fangs, gleaming white against his dark muzzle. Rygel, that bastard, kissed Arianne’s hand under his very nose, lingering over her skin, his grin flashing in the firelight. Arianne sighed and fluttered her lashes. Where did she learn that trick? I never learned how to flutter my lashes like that.

  I eyed them with concern, worried their antagonism might flare into violence. One powerful wizard and one very large wolf could do untold damage to one another. Keeping one hand on an irritated Tuatha, who watched Shadow stroll past, I leaned toward Kel’Ratan.

  “Doesn’t Darkhan realize she’s a girl and he’s a wolf?” I whispered.

  “Maybe he’s hoping he’ll win her heart and Rygel in his gallant defeat will turn her into a wolf for him,” Kel’Ratan replied, chuckling.

  Being Kel’Ratan, he found the entire thing funny and wagered in undertones with Witraz and Rannon.

  “Remember what Elder said about their god liking a human too much?” I hissed at him. “And look at what happened to him.”

  Kel’Ratan laughed and gestured toward Darkhan with an airy hand. “That’s his problem, isn’t it?”

  I grumbled under my breath. “This is going to get real old, real quick.”

  Arianne found their enmity and the courtship they each paid her delightful, and reveled in it. I watched them, half-expecting their animosity to explode into violence. Would Rygel forget his training and blow Darkhan into dust with his magic? Or take his blade and stab the wolf in the heart? Would Darkhan lie awake while Rygel slept, awaiting his chance to open the wizard’s throat? Even if the dreams of a black wolf hadn’t kept me awake, the worry over those two killing each other certainly did.

  I yawned, covering my mouth with my wrist as I curried Mikk.

  Two hours till sunset, we broke for the day beneath a sheltering bluff, with good water and grazing for the horses. The tails of my boys’ mounts vanished behind it along with the majority of our wolf pack. Outside of young Tuatha, only Thunder and Nahar hadn’t been hungry enough to hunt. Thunder imitated me, his own yawn huge and gusting out on a high-pitched whine.

  Even Bar flew away, in a different direction, seeking his own late afternoon meal.

  Left and Right stayed behind to begin camp chores, as did Kel’Ratan, who didn’t feel like hunting. Arianne, standing on a rock, finished grooming Rufus and eyed me sidelong.

  “You’re tired,” she commented, as I stifled yet another yawn, my eyes tearing.

  “I don’t know why,” I replied, trying to shake off the drooping weariness.

  Arianne pushed Rufus’ shoulder, sending him off to graze and stepped down from the rock. She tipped her head slightly, as though examining me. “You’re not sleeping at night.”

  “We all know that,” Kel’Ratan interjected, unpacking the black gelding. Left and Right helped him by taking and sorting the packs of food and other necessities, setting aside the small tent.

  I tried a scowl, which didn’t work when another yawn almost dislocated my jaw. “Like either of you’re awake to notice anything.”

  Kel’Ratan offered me a sharp stare over his shoulder, his blue eyes annoyed. “I notice plenty.”

  I caved in when Left and Right, with identical minute frowns creasing their mouths and their dark eyes concerned, shook their heads at me, in unison.

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  Arianne set her hands on her hips and tried a scowl of her own. “I’ll worry if I want,” she stated firmly.

  I shrugged. “Knock yourself out,” I muttered, slapping Mikk on the rump as his signal to graze. He ambled away, snorting down his nose, and munched the high meadow green. Setting about my own task of gathering firewood, I walked away to find some. Tuatha toddled at my ankle as Thunder strolled at my shoulder. In affection, I threw my arm over his neck as we walked companionably side by side.

  “Take a nap,” Arianne said.

  I stopped, turning. “I’ve my share of chores.”

  Surprisingly, Kel’Ratan agreed with her. He gestured toward a pile of tanned skins. “A short sleep won’t hurt the workload and you need it.”

  “I don’t –“

  “Don’t make me call Thunder,” Kel’Ratan growled.

  I laughed. Until I caught Thunder’s eye. I gulped, seeing the calm threat in those gentle brown eyes. I may not understand his vocal speech, but those eyes spoke volumes. Rest, or else.

  “Am I a baby who needs her naptime?” I groused, following Thunder back to the campsite.

  “No,” Kel’Ratan said calmly, kneeling to pound in the tent stakes as Left – or was it Right? raised the tent pole and Right – or was it Left? held the far edge firm. “You’re our leader whom we need healthy and strong. Besides,” he added, grinning a little, “you know we’re right.”

  A short nap won’t hurt, I thought, stifling another yawn at just the thought of sleep. Thunder lay down close enough to the pile
of skins that I could rest my head on his shoulder. Tuatha, whining low in his throat, burrowed into my arms as Arianne tossed a blanket over me. I expected a terse comment from her, but all she did was smile before walking away to find firewood.

  Just a few minutes, I told myself. Only a few moments to rest, then I had to get up and resume my work. Only –

  Sleep captured me before I finished my resolve.

  I saw him.

  He walked into a crowded tavern, shoving a dispirited, filthy soldier before him. His weird eyes took in the place, shifting here and there, before finding a table and sitting down. He lowered his shaggy head to speak to the soldier, who then shambled away.

  What the bloody hell was he doing in a town, for goddess sake?

  While I felt relief that the Tongu and Khalidians hadn’t killed him as I’d feared, I found new concerns. Outside of Raine walking into a tavern full of folk who might recognize him, that was. I suspected why he walked into that place.

  He’d lost weight. His cheek bones stuck up like jagged mountains from his face, his stained tunic hung off his broad shoulders as though one size too large. His massive biceps, still massive, lay under only a very thin layer of skin and no fat. Raine, I tried to say, but no sound emerged. Raine, what are you doing –

  He waited with the patience only a wolf knew, his head down. Yet, I caught a glint of his eyes beneath the fall of his oily hair. He may appear just one more merc in a room full of them, but his sharp instincts were on high alert. Still, no one in the busy common room paid him the slightest attention.

  The soldier returned, bearing a platter of food and ale. He knelt – he knelt? – and served Raine from his knees, depositing his meal onto the table. Raine tossed him a coin, his mouth speaking words I didn’t hear. The man shuffled away.

  The vision failed to reassure me. Raine must have been desperate enough to enter a town in order to find a meal, but where did the soldier fit in and why did I want Raine out of there like yesterday?

  Ja’Teel was why.

  No sooner had Raine filled his mouth when that tattooed monster walked through the door. Raine remained where he was, his back daringly turned on the dark wizard. I knew they spoke, but heard not what they said to one another.