The Exiles

by Sven Grams

  ‘Do what you must,’ he said with a slight tremble in his voice, not from fear but from exhaustion. ‘I am leaving immediately.’ With that said, he left the room, not stopping to look at anyone on his way out.

  Sara stared at her father’s back, though his ears were limp and he was shaking slightly he still had a proud posture, he had not submitted fully. Sara’s mind was still too scared to react to the events. Later, she would wonder how her father had managed to withstand such a pressuring force of intimidation and not cave in to his wife straight away. There was obviously still a lot to learn about the power of emotional projection.

  Sara blinked for a few seconds, across from her Fera was doing the same, also stunned. Sallice and Patt had argued often over the last few years and it had often become heated, nevertheless, this was the first time Sara and Fera had been in the middle of it.

  As annoying as their parent’s arguments were for the two girls to listen to, it was not uncommon for Anthro wolves. They were more passionate creatures by nature and expressive with their emotions. However, to use intimidation so directly was not a common event, or at least it was not socially acceptable, as wolf males were emotionally, and so on their world ultimately physically, the weaker sex for Anthro wolves. This was despite them normally being slightly physically larger then the females.

  Sallice was still calming down, not used to having to turn her emotions up so high. She and Patt had only come to this extreme point once before in their relationship, and now, like then, she was somewhat ashamed of herself.

  He had raised the stakes, she told herself, and this was not a point she was going to compromise on, not when it concerned her family. Sallice had been told what to do with her family once too often, and it was time to take a stand.

  Breathing in deeply, she looked at her two daughters. They sat back, looking with apprehension at their mother. Sallice became momentarily more ashamed, seeing the look of fear in her daughter’s eyes. Focusing back onto the matter at hand, she directed her thoughts towards her family, streamlining her mind to give her strength.

  ‘I am not proud of what just happened,’ Sallice said more calmly. ‘It should give you some idea of how complicated things are at the moment. So I would ask that you do what I say until I can find out more about the whole thing. There are many things about your grandfather that I don’t know.’

  You don’t know the half of it, Sara thought to herself. Sara felt an urge to tell her mother everything, but with so many things going through the young wolf’s head, her mouth simply wouldn’t open.

  ‘You girls had better go to bed, it’s late,’ Sallice said tiredly. ‘We have plenty of things to do tomorrow.’

  Sara got up, replacing her chair before she and Fera made their way up to their bedrooms in silence. Walking past her parent’s bedroom, Sara could hear her father grumble to himself as he packed. The young wolf would have most liked to have simply gone in and given her father a hug, but once again uncertainty stopped her. With a frown on her face, she rushed into her room, closing the door behind her.

  Throwing herself on her bed the young female buried her head into her pillow.

  ‘What a mess,’ she whined to herself out loud. She had said or thought those words often the last few days, and every time, things had somehow managed to get even worse then before. Though her world had turned completely topsy-turvy the last few days, the one thing that she had felt confident about was her family, even if she had been distant from them lately. Suddenly it was made clear exactly how important her parents were to her.

  Sara’s parents argued, but that was normal. What was not normal was what she had seen tonight, something that had shaken her belief in the stability of her family.

  Had she been that distant lately that she hadn’t noticed how bad it had become? Or had it always been this bad, and she had simply never seen it? With her mind full of thoughts and emotions, she irritably turned to lie on her back.

  She clutched a pillow to her chest as she stared at the angled ceiling with a blank expression. In the dark and silence, her troubled mind was quickly overwhelmed. Confused, upset and angry, she simply gave in, allowing her overflow of emotions to come out as tears. Clutching her pillow for comfort, the young female cried quietly to herself in the still, dark room.

  Exhausted from her emotional release, Sara’s mind was empty as she lay on the brink of sleep.

  Suddenly, she could hear movement from outside of her open window. Tired, she slowly got up, shuffling across to her window that overlooked the main compound. Down below she could see her father leading his travel-ready horse out of the barn. Pitch and Tatch had gotten down from their tree again to farewell the older grey wolf. Patting the two animals, her father was about to mount up when he stopped. Following where he was looking too, Sara could see her mother sitting on a fence railing that flanked the main path to the road. Hesitating for a second, Patt mounted up, moving off towards his wife.

  Sallice watched as Patt approached. She gazed up once more at the stars before her husband got closer. Patt tried to focus on the road, but his eyes were automatically drawn to his wife as he felt her remorse as he approached. The projected feelings from his wife flowed over him like a sorrowful autumn day, growing in strength the closer he got. Anger and intimidation were not the only emotions that wolves could project, deliberately or accidental. Trying to ignore her feelings, he urged the horse on, refocusing on the road. Even his horse could feel Sallice’s regret and sadness. The animal faltered.

  Sighing heavily to himself, Patt turned the animal around to face his wife. His mind struggled to keep his own emotions in check.

  ‘I have to go,’ he said calmly, his expression concentrated, his voice business like.

  ‘I know,’ said Sallice, her voice soft. ‘And I have to stay.’

  Her tone was graceful but strong.

  Patt could see that she had been crying, the moonlight caught the moist fur around her eyes. Sallice’s voice was steady and she made no effort to hide her tears. Crying in itself was not considered a sign of weakness amongst wolves.

  Jumping down from the high fence, she took a few steps towards her husband.

  Patt wanted to be stubborn, he wanted to leave, comforting her would be a sign of submission, and he was still upset about before.

  Having been brought up in the best schools, Patt was only too well aware of the power and manipulation of female wolf’s emotions and how they projected it. He had stayed smart, had paid attention and knew how to play the game. He hated the manipulation, the power females had over males, but it was something that you could learn, something that you could use to your advantage, if you were smart. Sallice was different; she wasn’t one of those rich manipulative heiresses. She was honest, smart and headstrong, sometime too headstrong. Patt had to occasionally remind himself that she didn’t play the game, at least not deliberately.

  Gritting his teeth, he allowed himself to be swayed, concluding that if he did it from his own volition he could still maintain some pride. Jumping down, he moved across towards his wife, enveloping her in a tender hug. Sallice rested her head on the physically larger male’s shoulder, her relief being tangible to both wolves. Patt allowed himself to be enveloped and Sallice felt her affections returned.

  ‘Why did I have to marry such a headstrong wolf?’ he asked softly.

  ‘I don’t know. You’re the romantic,’ she replied.

  After a moment Sallice broke the embrace, looking into her husband’s eyes, her expression turned serious.

  ‘Be careful, and stay on your toes, this is not as simple as you think.’

  Patt grimaced slightly, but then mellowed.

  ‘I’ll try and find out what is going on,’ he said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. ‘There won’t be anything,’ he reassured her.

  Sallice gave him a meaningful look, and then gave him a kiss.

  ‘If something goes wrong don’t hesitate to come home, we are safest here,’ she said.

/>   Patt shook his head, smiling to himself.

  Back up in her room, a tiered Sara watched as her father remounted his horse then rode off into the night. Looking back, she could see her mother simply standing there.

  Turning from the window, Sara fell back into her bed. At least that was one sign that things were not quite as bad as she thought. Too tired to contemplate anything else, the young wolf fell asleep. Her dreams would be troubled that night.

  Sara awoke early the next day sprawled unceremoniously across her bed. Outside, the sky was just starting to get brighter. Not a real morning person, Sara stretched a few times before taking a deep breath. Her eyes were still closed, as if in denial of the new day. The noise coming from a wild colourful swarm of birds in a nearby tree had brought the young wolf out of a deep sleep.

  Moving automatically, Sara walked downstairs and outside, her eyes still half closed. Only then did she realize that she had slept in her clothes. Taking the time to remove them, she had a quick morning wash-down from the large tank of water near the house. Not bothering to replace her bindings, she walked back upstairs, clothed only in her outer layer.

  Memories of last night began to filter into her tired mind. They quickly multiplied to blow away the last of the cobwebs obscuring her thoughts.

  ‘The letters,’ she whispered to herself, now fully awake. Running upstairs, she was about to enter her room when her mother opened her own bedroom door from across the hall.

  ‘Sara,’ said Sallice.

  Sara hesitated, cursing her luck.

  ‘After you do your morning chores, I need you to move the younger herd down to the lower fields.’

  Sara grimaced, that would take her most of the morning to complete.

  ‘Get changed quickly, I will see you in the kitchen for breakfast,’ Sharlee added as she moved off down the hall.

  Entering her room, Sara quickly got out the letters that she had hidden behind her small desk. Looking through them quickly, she could hear her mother through the door, awakening her sister.

  ‘Come on you two, get a move on,’ called her mother.

  Faltering for a second, Sara held the letters in her hand. She then placed them back on her desk. Running to her closet she pulled out fresh undergarments and her sturdiest travelling clothes. The garment was a slightly longer skirt and top made of more durable materials, and containing more pockets. Dressing quickly, she finished by adjusting her chest straps slightly. Sara picked up the letters, stuffing them in one of the many pockets. Grabbing a large utility belt, she scampered out of her room just in time to run into her sister.

  ‘Ummmph.’

  ‘Hey! Watch it,’ said Fera. She was also not a particular good morning person.

  ‘Good morning,’ said Sara, her voice not really all that cheerful.

  ‘Good morning,’ replied her sister, the two exchanged a look that held much more meaning then their few words.

  ‘Breakfast is on the table!’ called their mother from below.

  It was almost noon and Sara had still not had a chance to read the letters. The morning had been spent doing her chores. During this time she had been working near, or with, her mother and sister.

  After initially becoming frustrated, Sara had then focused on her work, trying to get it done quicker so as to have a chance to get away. She and Misha were now close to getting the last of the livestock into the lower paddock, having done the hard work of rounding up all of the large beasts with the help of Pitch and Tatch.

  Sara’s eyes scanned the animals, they were now assembled and simply following the routine. They knew the way; the tricky part was getting them to realize that that was where they wanted to go.

  The livestock in question were not like cattle on our world, but they had the same function, providing meat and milk to the Anthro farmers. The livestock on the Anthro’s world actually looked like a giant version of an Australian wombat. They were called morsets and weight up to a tone or more each. Morsets had massive, round muscular bodies which sat atop stumpy powerful legs; a small round head with large furry ears was located at one end of the stocky body, with a short triangular tail at the other. On top of their head, with its small eyes and large mouth, were a series of plate like horns running from its wide nose all the way up to the top of its head. Morsets were normally covered in a greyish short fur and were actually quite tame, despite their large bulk.

  Sara moved Misha forward to hurry the last of the smaller stragglers through the gate, their round bodies bouncing along as they scurried through the fence opening. Off to the side of the gate, Tatch was already lying under a tree, exhausted from the round up in the warm morning sun. Pitch had also disappeared. Looking up, Sara could see the young animal stretched out on a low branch, its four limbs dangling over the side as it panted happily while looking at its owner

  ‘Good job boy,’ praised Sara. ‘You to Tatch,’ she said to the older ossum, who was too tired to acknowledge her.

  Moving Misha around, Sara closed the gate. Satisfied that she had completed her task quickly, Sara looked for a good spot to take a break. Just across another field was a small creek; it being the same one that she and Trex had eaten the stolen melons at those many years before.

  ‘Stay here,’ Sara quickly instructed.

  The two spotted ossum males watched their master ride away from the comfort of the shade, their desire to move anywhere anymore in the increasing day’s heat being low in any case.

  Sara knew this creek well. As her family’s neighbours had two young children of Sara’s age, it was a place she had spent many an afternoon until only a year or so ago.

  The changes of entering adolescence had altered many more things in the young wolf then just her appearance.

  Below the shade of the large trees that flanked the creek, Sara found her favourite large rock, right next to the small trickle of flowing water. She let the young horse roam free as she eagerly took the documents out of her pocket.

  Thumbing through the letters, Sara inspected each of the envelopes. Many had large elaborate prints and water marks, probably identification seals and authentication markings. Sara noticed that each letter was dated. The young wolf thanked the Anthro wolf version of god, called Gaia, that her grandfather’s meticulous record keeping had carried onto his secret life.

  Reading the first document, Sara was disappointed. It was effectively some kind of high-society newsletter. She didn’t understand the connections, but did recognize a few of the names used, these were quite important wolves. The next few were similar, and Sara noticed, quite detailed. It appeared much was going on back at the capital of the Wolf Kingdom.

  Finally she came to a letter addressed to her grandfather. It was only brief and indicated that agents of the council would be in the area soon to undertake some affairs. It gave no details, but stated that it would require giving them assistance in undercover operations throughout the Wolf Kingdom territory, and providing information about the Lion Empire held territory as well.

  Sara noticed that this was only three months old, about the same time that her grandfather had asked for her to undertake scouting missions in the lower plains.

  The next letter looked very official and somewhat weather worn. It appeared to be a basic identification document, stating that the carrier had the full authority of the Mintury High Council, and should receive the full support of her grandfather. Attached to it was a small letter addressed to her grandfather, it was effectively reassuring him of the importance of the mission and the trustworthiness of the exiles. Looking back at the other document, Sara read the name, Philton Histock. Sara assumed that this must be the name of the elegant red wolf her grandfather had fought. He had definitely looked like a natural leader to Sara.

  Turning over the document, she noticed handwriting down the bottom. It was a short list:

  •Information on river crossings across the river Thitchel upstream of BridgeHead.

  •Details of the coastline.

  •Up t
o date maps and troop placements within lion and wolf territories.

  •Boat acquisition options.

  •Details of the desert.

  •Maps and information on the WesternWilderness, including border patrol information.

  And finally:

  •Detailed information about the layout and guard movements within the inner city of RefugeCross.

  The handwriting was not her grandfather’s. It was probably that of the red wolf, Sara concluded. The fine penmanship was elegant and elaborate, not something you would expect from an exile. Sara wondered what the red wolf had done to be exiled in the first place. Though Torstberg did receive regular news from the rest of the kingdom through its own postal service, not everything was made public.

  Continuing on, Sara found another newsletter, which she skipped to go onto the two final documents, both being personal letters. The young female wolf recognised the sender as being an old friend of the family, one of the most influential families in the kingdom. They were clearly responses to letters her grandfather had written. The first was a month old and gave details of a possible traitor within Torstberg. The sender speculated that the group of exiles was probably sent to root out the culprits.

  Sara stared at the last letter. She was trying to make sense of responses to a letter she had not seen, and answers to questions she didn’t know. Reading it slowly, she realised that her grandfather had obviously been informed of some of the details regarding the plan of the exiles, but was ultimately not sure what they were trying to do. The response from the friend of her grandfather agreed that the exile’s requests were odd, and that they would investigate further on her grandfather’s behalf.

  Then came the clincher, her grandfathers friend had agreed that the wolf Sage Filfia was the likely suspect for the traitor investigation. Apparently Filfia had cast some key votes that blocked the Mintury Council’s intentions. The Sage was well recorded as a peace activist and was pro-dialog with the Lion Empire. Sara blinked a few times; this was a massive accusation, particularly against a member of the government.