The God's Wolfling (Children of Myth Book 2)

by Cedar Sanderson

  The tears started again instantly, and this time it wasn’t all pain causing them. Or not the pain of damage, anyway. A fuzzy image loomed into her range of vision, and she flinched. It disappeared again, and then a blobby face surrounded by dark fuzz appeared.

  “Linn? Linn, honey, can you see me?” Her mother’s voice was the sweetest thing Linn had ever heard.

  Linn opened her mouth, but all that would come out was a croak.

  “Oh, sweetie...” The shape that was her mother moved away, then back. Linn felt the bite valve of a camelback. She sucked greedily. Her mouth tasted vile, full of stuff she didn’t want to think about, and the water was sweet and delicious. She had to stop for breath a couple of times, but her mother didn’t take it away until Linn pushed it out of her mouth.

  “Mom! When did you get here?”

  “In just about enough time to see you doing a victory dance atop a huge troll, and then Mac’Lir wrapped you in a spell to keep you from further harm.”

  Her mother sounded equal parts amused and scared.

  “I’m sorry...”

  “Oh, baby. You need to lie still and rest... We’re working all over on healing spells, sorry we didn’t get to you sooner.” Linn felt her mother’s hand on hers, squeezing gently. It was sore, but not too bad. The other one had taken the worst of the blood, and throbbed abominably.

  Theta murmured and Linn could see the glow of her power through closed eyes. A deep sleep sucked her down into utter blackness, and she was glad the images couldn’t follow her, until she was too soundly unconscious to care any longer.

  Chapter 11

  Linn woke up in a bed. She lay there for a long time, assessing how she felt, and a bit afraid to open her eyes. She ached all over, but the burning and itching seemed to have gone away. She flexed the hand that had been drenched in acid. It worked. Linn opened her eyes and blinked.

  They felt crusty and like someone had poured sand in them, but she could see clearly again. The ceiling overhead, rough plaster and age-blackened beams, was familiar. She turned her head, and saw Deirdre sitting in the chair reading. Deja vu.

  “Hello.” Linn’s throat felt much better, and that actually sounded like a word, not something a frog would say.

  She was enormously relieved to see her friend, whole and apparently healthy. “Where are Merrick and Blackie?”

  Deirdre was getting a glass of water for her. “They are fine. Being healed, like you.”

  Linn levered herself up on her elbows and took the glass once she was sitting. “I feel much better.”

  Dee snorted. “You should, you’ve been asleep for three days.”

  Linn choked on her water. Dee took the glass before she made more of a mess, and patted her back while she regained the ability to breathe.

  “Three days?” Then she remembered something else. “My mom?”

  “She’s here. Want me to go get her?”

  Linn nodded. “And Spot, is he ok?”

  Dee nodded. “He was with me. He’s mad he missed the fighting.”

  Linn smiled wryly. “Boys!”

  She could hear Deirdre laughing as she walked down the hall. Linn lay back and started at the ceiling, not seeing it, but rather the face of Granny Clinch, telling them stories about Manannan Mac’Lir. That had only been the beginning, Linn knew now. There was something coming, and with the goblin attack, she was afraid it might be bigger than she could handle.

  On the other hand, she had started this, she really wanted to finish it. There were so many things she didn’t know... didn’t need to know, really, as much as she was dying of curiosity some days. This situation, with Mac’Lir, she knew there was a lot unseen, things she could only guess at. The battle made her shiver, thinking about it now. At the time, she’d just stopped thinking and done.

  Theta walked into her room and came to sit on the side of the bed. “How do you feel, baby?”

  Linn sat up, which came easier than it had the first time. “I’m okay... a lot better than I was.” She wrinkled her nose, remembering the pain and stink of the dead troll and other things, lying there.

  “I was so scared for you.” Her mother touched her cheek gently. “I’d like to take you home, to Sanctuary, if you feel up to traveling today.”

  Linn swallowed, hard, and blinked back tears. It took her a fraction of a second to make her decision, and a lot longer to tell her mother. “I... I have a job to do, still. If Mac’Lir will trust me.” She wasn’t sure about that part. She hadn’t been able to report on the first trip, yet. Mac’Lir had been in the gate, but she was not yet to him when the troll had charged... Linn shuddered.

  “Linnea...” Theta started, then stopped. Linn could see she was thinking. “You’re growing up,” Theta finally added softly.

  Linn nodded.

  Another set of footsteps clattered along the hall, stopping at Linn’s door. Theta looked around as the unseen person rapped on the open door, and cleared their throat.

  “Lady Vulkane, Mac'Lir would like audience with your daughter, if she is awake?”

  Theta stood and Linn could see that the coblyn who was in the doorway was unfamiliar. He wore bandages, so he must have been involved in the fighting. On second glance, she didn't think he was actually a coblyn, either. He was the right size, but tanned rather than greenish, and with small, rounded ears. His thick brown hair looked as though he had run his fingers through it, as it stood on end.

  “I think I can get up,” Linn told her mother. The little being in the doorway beamed at her.

  “So good to see you on the mend, Miss.” His cheerful voice was at odds with the amount of white gauze she could see. There might be more, but he was wearing long pants, boots, and a short-sleeved white shirt. “I'm Dugan, you can call me Dug. Bein's as we fought together.”

  “We did?” Linn was sure she would remember him, and she couldn't.

  “Well, manner of speakin' as you were on one side of the troll and I was on t'other. Thing of beauty, that sword thrust and leap.” He shook his head, still smiling in admiration. Linn peeked under her blankets. She seemed to be wearing a long dress-nightgown, and nothing else.

  “Um, Dug? Could you give me a minute?” She was sure she shouldn't attend the king's summons in her nightie.

  The cheerful little man swung the door shut, and Linn stood up with her mother hovering. She wobbled a little, once on her feet, but it didn't hurt any more than lying down had.

  “Oh, dear. I'm not sure where my clothes are...” Linn looked in vain.

  “You couldn't have worn those. The acid destroyed most of the fabric, and we had to cut the rest off.” Her mother sounded upset again.

  “I have a change in my backpack.” Linn started to pull it out of the space pocket where it had been since she left Granny Clinch's house.

  “I think you should wear that.” Her mother pointed at a rack behind the door. It had been hidden before, but now Linn could see the fabric hanging there. Closer inspection revealed a long yellow dress embroidered beautifully with red and orange birds, and a white thin dress like the one she was wearing.

  With Theta's help, Linn got dressed. It turned out the thin white fabric dress was an under-thing, and the stiff outer one laced up. Even the long sleeves laced on. Linn looked down at herself. “This is positively medieval.”

  Theta laughed. “That's because it is. I have noticed since my arrival that time seems to have stopped, here.”

  “We're not on earth, I know that much.” Linn found the shoes were very comfortable, but more like soft moccasins. It was when she bent over to put them on that she made a discovery.

  “My hair!” Linn put her hands to her head, finding short, feathery hair on one side, above her ears, and on the other, it fell to her shoulder. “What happened?” she wailed, sitting back on the bed and wanting a mirror badly.

  “Shh...” Theta sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her gently. “We had to cut it – and you will want to have it styled again when we get home – the
acid blood ate through your braid. It looked and smelled horrible.”

  Linn watched her mother wrinkle her nose in memory. Now she thought she could remember that burning-smell hair odor, but there had been so much else going on.

  Dug rapped on the door. “Everything all right in there?”

  “Yes,” Theta called back. “We're coming now.”

  Linn nodded. It was silly to be worried about her hair at a time like this. It was just... she had never had short hair. She touched the ragged ends again as her mother opened the door. Walking down the hall, she felt off balance. It wasn't just the loss of her hair's familiar weight, it was how much had happened in only two days. She didn't feel the same, but everything still looked the same.

  As they approached the Great Hall, where the doors were closed, Linn saw Deirdre had dressed in a pretty gown in the same style as hers. Only Dee's was dark green, which somehow made her skin look just pale. Spot was sitting erect next to her, his sleek tail wrapped neatly around his paws. Dugan opened the doors with a flourish, and Deirdre and Spot followed Linn and her mother into the hall, Dugan staying with the doors.

  Mac'Lir was sitting on his throne, looking grey and grim. He had a patch of gauze on his forehead with very modern medical tape, which looked terribly incongruous in the setting of the ancient castle. Linn tried not to stare at it.

  “Lady Vulkane, Daughter of Fire.” Mac'Lir greeted them. He sounded tired and sad. “Daughter of Fire, are you well?”

  Linn felt oddly shy. Before, she hadn't been reverent of him at all, but now... he looked like the old king he had been. “I am healing, I think.”

  “Can you relate your adventure to our Court?” He asked gently, leaning forward and stretching out a hand to her.

  Hesitantly, she stepped up on to the low dais and at a slight gesture from him, turned to face the Hall. There weren't many people there, and she knew half of them, so she relaxed slightly, and started to tell the story. It didn't take her long to discover that she couldn't look at her mother. Theta's emotions showed so clearly on her face, it upset Linn to see her reacting to the idea of her daughter being threatened with a gun and then tied up.

  At the end of her tale, she looked at the king. “We failed, I know. We didn't check the call out before I knocked, and... And we had to be rescued.”

  To her surprise, Mac'Lir chuckled. “Daughter of Fire, you are too modest.” He reached over to the low table beside his throne, overflowing with papers, books, and parchments. A roll of parchment was flourished in front of her. “An old friend sent me her assessment of the three young people who had visited her. Along with it, a chastisement of me for being too hasty and endangering them without a full understanding of the call that was being sent out by rote.”

  “Oh.” Linn could just imagine how Granny Clinch had said it, too.

  “In addition, there is the act that you, all three of you, returned with a distress call and plunged into battle on my side without a hesitation. Can you still say that I have not seen your true mettle?”

  Linn shook her head, mutely.

  Mac'Lir went on, his mirth dropping away, and lowering the scroll to his lap. “What comes now is more uncertain, and you, I have learned, are perhaps the most able of all the elder blood to carry it out.”

  Linn blinked in surprise. “Me? I'm not special...”

  He shook his head. “I hate to ask this of you, so soon after you were injured grievously in battle alongside me. There are forces you do not know of at play, and I have been too much out of the world below to keep track of them, myself. The goblin raid was only a raid. There will be others, in search of my secrets, and I must keep the raiders from them. However, this is only possible with your help.”

  He leaned forward, and Linn faced him, everyone else in the room forgotten as she listened intently to the king. “Are you willing to quest on my behalf once more? I cannot give you time to rest and heal; this must be done quickly.”

  Linn nodded. “I had already wanted to continue with my mission. Mom asked me if I would come home, but...” She spread her hands, helplessly trying to find the words for feeling responsible to finish this. It sounded pompous and silly in her head.

  He nodded. “I understand.”

  Linn could see in his stormy grey eyes that he did. Mac'Lir smiled just a little at her. “I look forward to you meeting my daughter.”

  He leaned back in his throne and raised his voice enough for the whole room to hear. “Linnea, Daughter of Fire, on the second eve, you will go forth with a band of chosen companions. You will have all I can render to aid you on your way, and the security of my kingdom, nay, an entire world, rests on your quest. Do you accept?”

  Linn took a deep breath. She didn't think he was putting her on, with that save the world bit. And he hadn't told her why he thought she was special. But she couldn't back down now. “Yes, I do.”

  “Then we will meet on the morrow, for planning. Until then, rest, feast, and be merry with your compatriots!” He finished with a flourish, and Linn stepped back off the platform and her mother took her arm when she wobbled a little on landing.

  “Come on, let's put you back in bed.” Theta didn't talk more until they were out in the hall, Deirdre and Spot silently tagging along.

  “Mom...” Linn wasn't sure what to say. I don't have a driver's license yet, but I’m needed to save the world?

  “You will always be my little girl.” Theta had Linn's hand tucked in the crook of her arm, and she pressed it gently. “But you are growing up, and I have to let go. You are special, my dear girl.”

  “How am I special?” Linn was starting to feel a bit cranky about that. She didn't feel any different, really. Just off balance from the last couple of days. Nothing major had changed.

  Her mother didn't get a chance to answer before Blackie and Merrick came around the corner. Blackie was back to cat-form. They stopped dead and stared at the women. Merrick's jaw dropped.

  “Linn?” He asked, his voice breaking.

  Linn looked at them. It was hard to tell, with Blackie, if he'd been hurt. Merrick had a bandage on one hand, but seemed to be healthy otherwise.

  “What, have I turned into a monster?” She was already cranky, snapping at them came naturally.

  Merrick turned bright red, and Blackie lay down flat on the hall floor, turning his head so he wasn't looking at her. Linn felt her own jaw drop. “Mo-om!” She wailed, turning and grabbing her mother's arm with both hands “I need a mirror!”

  It turned out there were very few mirrors in the old castle. Deirdre, not meeting Linn's angry glances – why hadn't she said anything? – led her to a full-length one in an unused and very beautiful bedroom. Linn stood and looked into it for a long couple of moments, and then took a deep breath.

  “It's ok.” she reassured her friends. “I just...” her voice wobbled. “I just will have to learn how to wear make-up.”

  Chapter 12

  Her mother shook her head, “No, what you need is some time in the sun again. The discoloration isn’t permanent, it’s just that your new skin isn’t tanned and the old skin is.”

  “Oh.” Linn looked back into the mirror, taking a little longer now. “It’s not so bad, then. But my hair...” She touched the longer side mournfully.

  “I know who can cut it neatly for you,” Deirdre offered.

  The boys, who were all three hovering in the doorway, bumping into one another, were Linn’s next target. “And you guys – you gave me a heart attack!”

  “Didn’t mean to!” Merrick spoke for them. “It was just... I didn’t expect...”

  Linn sighed. “I wonder if there’s any soda and pizza on this plane.”

  Her mother laughed out loud. “I don’t think so.” Theta looked at all of them. “But I think it would be good for the five of you to have a little party. I will see what I can come up with. Deirdre, can you find a place for you chi-” Theta corrected herself, “You young people to hang out in?”

  “Well, there’s
the library...”

  All three boys groaned. Dee grinned, showing her sharp teeth. “Now, it’s not just because I love books! There’s a table, and comfy chairs, and something I want to show Linn. But you might be interested in goblin history, too.”

  “That might be interesting,” Merrick admitted reluctantly.

  They reassembled less than an hour later in the library. Linn had wanted her spare clothes rather than the long gown, and Blackie walked in on two legs, which visibly startled Dee and Spot. Spot looked at his brother, then down at his own paws.

  “I want to be able to talk...” Blackie explained. He was still wearing the nice clothes he’d appeared in at Granny’s house. Linn thought he looked spiffy, and told him so. She’d also discovered that making her friend blush was a lot of fun.

  Deirdre, giggling, disappeared into the disheveled stacks. Linn looked around. She hadn’t really been paying attention when she’d visited the library before, only wanting something to read. She’d had an impression of controlled chaos, which she now revised.

  It was sheer chaos. Everything was random, piles teetered on top of shelves. There were piles of flat stones under the narrow window. Everything was dusty, like it hadn’t been touched in ages. Linn peered at the stones, which had deep runic scratches on them. As old as some of this was – literally ages, not just years – Hypatia would love it.

  Deirdre reappeared, a huge book in her arms. The pages seemed to be falling out.

  “Hey! Here...” Blackie jumped forward and swept a lot of the papers from a section of the table so the tiny girl could set it down.

  “Careful!” she chided him. “Some of that is very delicate!”

  “Well, you were about to drop that thing,” he pointed out reasonably.

  “This thing,“ Deirdre opened the cover reverently, “is the closest I have been able to find to a compiled history of the coblyn and goblin lines.”

  “I know you told me, or your uncle did, in class, that Coblyns and Goblins were all the same, until a point when your family emigrated, and the ones who stayed behind... changed.” Linn could remember that first creature, fighting with the coyote, and then attacking her. Which reminded her…