A Whisper of Wolves

by Kris Humphrey

  “Please see that she reads it immediately,” Dawn said.

  The guard nodded and Dawn strode away with her pulse racing and the sensation of having got away with something that she really shouldn’t have. But what chance was there of the princess responding to her letter? Very slim, Dawn thought, if Ona was as spoilt and flighty as her reputation suggested.

  Well, said Ebony, as they marched away. I have to say I’m impressed.

  Flattery doesn’t suit you, Dawn whispered, smiling despite herself. Anyway, we still have the king to deal with. I’d better do this alone. You know how the warden is.

  Ebony hopped from one of Dawn’s shoulder to the other. Sadly, I do, she muttered. With a caw, she flapped to an open window and sprang into the air, soaring up and up towards the intricate curves of the Spiral Tower.

  The king’s reluctance to see Dawn was no surprise. But even the warden recognized the importance of finding the merchant’s son, and Dawn was soon admitted to Eneron’s chambers.

  The rooms were opulent and dark. Thick carpets covered every inch of the floor and candles flickered weakly in the recesses around the walls. The king slouched before a crackling fire, barely awake.

  “Your Grace.” Dawn curtsied. “Thank you for agreeing to see me.”

  The king did not respond, but continued to glower silently at the dance of flames in the hearth.

  “I have come with a request, Your Grace.” Dawn paused, gathering her courage. “I wish to be admitted to Princess Ona’s chambers.”

  The instant she uttered Ona’s name a shroud seemed to lift from over the king. He turned, shocked and angry, his hands clawing at the armrests of his chair.

  “You request what?” His words rolled across the drawing room like thunder. “That I – the king of Meridina – overturn my royal decree?”

  He lurched up from his chair, swaying on his feet as he did so. He was old and unsteady, but he radiated absolute power.

  Dawn had never seen him this way before. She stepped back instinctively, opening her mouth, but only a stuttering nothing emerged.

  “I will not have my daughter ruined by the machinations of you, you…” King Eneron glared at Dawn as he searched for the words. “You petty, ungrateful people. You spiteful, shallow courtiers.”

  Dawn lowered her eyes. She was frightened, but needed to make him understand. Was it treason to argue with a king? She took a deep breath. It had to be said.

  “The kingdom is in danger, Your Grace. Princess Ona may be able to help. I would only speak with her briefly, and I promise—”

  “Out!” bellowed the king. “Out of my sight.”

  He stumbled backwards into his chair and sat down heavily, a startled expression breaking through the fury for an instant.

  “Your Grace…”

  “Out!” he cried.

  Dawn curtsied hurriedly and left, with King Eneron’s rage echoing behind her. She ignored Lady Tremaine’s smug remarks as she rushed, red-faced, through the reception room and away towards the safety and sanity of the Spiral Tower.

  When Dawn arrived she was immediately greeted by Ebony, who came swooping across the anteroom.

  You have a guest, Ebony whispered.

  A figure stood in the far corner, a woman – or rather, a girl – with her back to the door, dressed in a long hooded robe the colour of a twilit sky. Dawn closed the door behind her and only then did the girl turn.

  She had blond hair, pulled back into a tight bun, and a face that Dawn recognized immediately, although she had only ever seen it from afar. Dawn stared mutely across the chamber for a moment before recovering herself.

  “Princess Ona?” she said.

  “I received your message,” said the princess, with a tremor of anxiety in her voice. “Is Yusuf well? Is he safe?”

  There was such concern and generosity in the princess’s gaze that Dawn felt the immediate urge to protect her. But to have made it here alone and unnoticed also showed true resourcefulness and bravery. Perhaps Ona was not the frivolous young girl people thought her to be.

  “We’re still searching for Yusuf,” Dawn said. “That’s why I needed to speak to you, to find out when you saw him last.”

  Princess Ona’s eyes widened. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday, at noon. We played chess together and then he left to arrange the re-shoeing of his horse at the stables. You don’t think he’s come to harm, do you? I couldn’t stand it if something happened to him while he was a guest of mine.”

  “I don’t know,” said Dawn. “I hope not. But what you’ve told me will help the search a great deal.”

  Ona smiled warily. She glanced at the door, as if afraid someone might barge in and find her there. Dawn shared the princess’s fears, but she couldn’t help thinking that it was not Ona, but she who would find herself in trouble should this secret meeting be discovered.

  “We’ll search the stables right away,” said Dawn. “Perhaps now you should return to your quarters?”

  “He’s such a gentleman,” said Princess Ona, bowing her head as she crossed towards the door. “So quiet and clever. We have to find him.”

  Dawn nodded in sympathy. But if Yusuf had re-shoed his horse it implied he was preparing to leave town – another piece of evidence against him. Perhaps Ona was deluding herself, or perhaps the boy was simply a skilled actor and spy.

  The princess raised her hood in readiness to leave and Dawn studied her closely. The princess was no fool – naïve perhaps, but certainly no fool. She was convinced of Yusuf’s good nature, so maybe things were more complicated than they seemed.

  Help her return to her quarters unseen, Dawn whispered to Ebony. I’ll find Valderin.

  Ona pressed her hand into Dawn’s and Dawn did her best to smile reassuringly. Ona’s expression was so honest, so unguarded, that Dawn felt strangely moved by her. The princess was scared and trying her best to be brave. In that way she was not so different from Dawn herself.

  Once Ebony and Princess Ona were gone, Dawn made her way as fast as she could down the stairs and passageways of the Spiral Tower. She stopped a palace guard on the way and sent word for Valderin to meet her at the stables. A dark feeling crept over her as she descended, one she could not ignore.

  The destruction of the aqueduct came back into focus and she thought again of those marks, searing through the strong timber; she remembered Esther’s slow, rich voice: a demon can destroy any living thing it touches.

  In the lower levels of the palace all was in shadow, the towers and ramparts blotting out the sun. The chill Dawn felt as she walked was different. She was full of dread and a strange, unshakeable certainty.

  When she arrived she found the stables already busy with palace guards. Valderin had got there first and by the look on his face he had found something.

  “Come,” he said.

  In an unused corner of the sprawling stables, Yusuf was curled like a baby on a bed of straw. He was breathing, but so faintly he seemed barely alive. Valderin’s guards looked on. There was an air of confusion and fear. The horses stamped and whinnied in their stalls.

  Dawn crouched and laid a hand on Yusuf’s forehead. She felt for his presence, his living being, in the way Esther had shown her. The boy was there, inside, but far away and very weak. There was a taint on him that made Dawn flinch away.

  This was the confirmation of her fears: Yusuf’s form had been stolen by a Narlaw.

  For the first time in a century there were demons in Meridina.

  CHAPTER 8

  Dawn strode across the flagstone floor of the palace infirmary. A nurse walked with her, a scarf covering her nose and mouth. Just one bed was occupied in this ward and it was guarded by one of Valderin’s retainers. Another guard stood sentry at the door.

  The guard glanced nervously at the nurse as they approached. “Is he contagious?” he asked, gesturing to the scarf masking her face.

  The nurse said nothing, simply bending over the unconscious boy and touching his head gently to check his
temperature.

  “We don’t know,” said Dawn. “But it’s best you leave us for a moment.”

  The guard nodded, making his way towards his colleague at the exit.

  “You see,” Dawn said quietly. “He’s alive.”

  Princess Ona slid the scarf from her face and peered down at Yusuf.

  “He looks peaceful,” she said. “Are you sure he’s not in pain?”

  “All the old accounts say the same thing: a dreamless sleep. When he wakes he’ll feel confused and hungry, but that’s all.”

  “If he wakes,” the princess said.

  “We must find the Narlaw that did this. Only banishing it will save him.”

  Ona touched Yusuf’s slim dark hand. He was no older than she or Dawn.

  “His father is a merchant,” Ona said, “on the desert borders. He sent Yusuf here, hundreds of miles north, to further his education, to learn about the world. He was so different from everyone else at court, from the young nobles father forced me to associate with. Not petty or greedy or condescending to the servants.”

  She looked up at Dawn, her eyes misting with tears. “He was kind. A real friend. He didn’t deserve this.”

  “I know,” said Dawn. She too had been sent from her home in the south, thrust into this world of power and politics and courtly behaviour. She felt ashamed for having assumed Yusuf’s guilt. He had simply been unlucky, singled out by the Narlaw.

  “But we’ll find it,” Ona said. A sudden fire replaced the sadness in her eyes. “We’ll find the demon and bring Yusuf back to life. Swear it with me.”

  Dawn felt the other girl’s passion in her own heart. She was the Palace Whisperer, the defender of the kingdom. She would not – could not – let her people down.

  “I swear,” she said, holding Ona’s gaze.

  A black shape intruded on the corner of her vision. Dawn turned. It was Ebony, on the outside ledge of the window.

  “We must go,” Dawn said, glancing furtively at the door to the ward.

  Ona nodded and slipped the scarf back over her face.

  Ebony cawed from outside. The warden, she said. On the stairs. She flew past the windows, making the sunlight flash with her shadow.

  “Come on,” Dawn whispered urgently, leading Ona back across the ward.

  But it was too late to escape unnoticed. Their only hope was that Lady Tremaine would fail to recognize Ona.

  Dawn nodded at the guards as she and Ona left the ward, her anxiety barely hidden. There were footsteps from below, more than one set. The warden emerged before them and Dawn smiled, stepping in front of Ona.

  “The merchant’s son is stable,” she said. “We must expand our search to the city—”

  “Enough,” said the warden. “Do you take me for a fool, girl?” She was flanked by four Guards of the Sun, who blocked the stairs completely. “You,” the warden barked at one of her guards, “escort the princess back to her chambers and see that they are properly secured. The rest of you, return the Whisperer to the Spiral Tower. She is to be held there in confinement until such time as the king sees fit.”

  “You can’t do that!” Dawn said. “There is a Narlaw among us. It must be found and banished, I have to—”

  “Seize her!” the warden commanded.

  Dawn struggled as strong hands took hold of her arms and dragged her towards the stairs. Ona cried out behind her.

  “There are no Narlaw here,” the warden droned. “Only a saboteur from the out-country who has clearly tried to take his own life with poison.”

  “That’s not true,” Dawn shouted. “You’re making a mistake. Let me go!”

  From the top of the stairs Lady Tremaine sneered down at her. “You broke King Eneron’s decree, Whisperer. You were warned to leave the princess alone and yet here you are, arranging secret meetings with a treasonous Southlander.”

  As Dawn emerged into the courtyard, Ebony swooped down and pecked at the guards, but there were four of them, heavily armoured and strong.

  No, Dawn whispered. You must fly. Don’t let them trap you.

  Ebony ascended, out of reach. Be strong, she called. A Whisperer is free even in chains.

  Dawn went quietly with the guards then, watching Ebony soar ahead of her. She feared for Princess Ona, for Yusuf, but most of all for Meridina. The Narlaw were real and they were here among them. This was how it had begun in Queen Amina’s time, through sabotage and spying. Next would come the attacks on the borderlands, building and building until the invasion. She had to stop the Narlaw getting any further; she had to make the king and the warden understand before it was too late.

  The afternoon faded into dusk. Dawn was brought the usual fine palace food. She called for fresh candles and they were delivered. But while she studied and wrote and puzzled over all of the war histories at her disposal, she was acutely aware of the armed sentries positioned outside her chamber doors.

  She was a prisoner – a comfortable one, but a prisoner nonetheless. The longing she felt to break loose was almost a physical pain. But Ebony had been right: even locked away, Dawn could feel her companion out there in the sky, and through their bond came a version of the soaring freedom of flight.

  Ebony carried notes to Captain Valderin, first explaining where Dawn was and then suggesting a widening of the search to encompass the entire city of Meridar. Dawn wished she was out there, but she was stuck, back with her books, while a demon – maybe more than one – stalked the streets of Meridar and perhaps the palace itself.

  As night fell, Dawn found herself too exhausted to read any more. The candles on her desk were guttering. Ebony was out, patrolling the skies above the city in hopes of sighting the demon, or picking up its tainted presence.

  Dawn sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. She reached out slowly, carefully, with her Whisperer sense, feeling for the living things around her. She had known from an early age how strong she was. This was part of her selection as Palace Whisperer; a raven companion came only to those of great ability. It was for this reason that Dawn rarely used her full senses, not here in the palace. There were so many people, so many animals, that to reach out fully was overwhelming – a giddy, disconcerting experience.

  But now it was all that she wanted, to feel if Ebony was close, to sense what danger lurked in the rooms and corridors around her.

  She felt the guards first, silent and stoical, then, as she pushed out further, the residents, maids and soldiers in the rooms below and to the side. She reached further still, down into the courtyard. Birds lingered there, darting free among the fruit trees and the flowerbeds. More guards stood sentry at the base of the tower, two to each entrance.

  And then, in the courtyard, something else. A presence she didn’t recognize – still and watchful, hidden beneath the dense canopy of trees and shrubs on the far side of the open space.

  Dawn opened her eyes, her heart quickening. The sickness spoken of in the old accounts had not come, but what if things were different now? This presence, hiding from the guards, was not human – what if it was a demon?

  She rose and dashed from the anteroom to her bedchamber, to the small balcony that overlooked the courtyard. The torches made a flickering pattern of shadow on the walls. Dawn peered into the foliage. She focused on the presence there. A serving man strode across the yard with a stack of trays. The birds twittered in the trees.

  Dawn stood motionless in the night air, grasping the rail of the balcony. She reached out, concentrating on that strange presence, forming words in her mind the way Esther had taught her and then expressing those words as pure meaning, as only the strongest of Whisperers could.

  She sent the words out: Show yourself.

  Beneath an apple tree the foliage shifted, so minutely that it could have simply been the breeze. But Dawn felt the visiting presence stir. A pair of eyes glowed suddenly, shrouded in leaves, angled up to meet her gaze.

  Torchlight flickered and for an instant she saw the long, grey features of a wolf. There was so
mething lodged between its jaws.

  Dawn reached out to the wolf. She could not speak with it, but strongly felt its wariness and its urgent desire to leave this noisy, crowded place. She felt no hostility, and in return projected a wordless message of friendship.

  The wolf lowered its muzzle and laid its burden on the ground, under cover of the hanging leaves. It was a courier’s tube; Dawn recognized it now. The wolf was a messenger.

  It backed into the foliage. Dawn felt its presence slink away through the shadows. How it had made its way so deep into the palace she would never know, only that the creatures of the wild were more skilful than any human could imagine.

  She memorized the spot and returned to her study, more eager than ever for Ebony’s return.

  By midnight the courier tube lay open on Dawn’s cluttered desk, its contents unrolled and pinned flat. The message was very troubling indeed.

  There were Narlaw in the north. A village had been raided and several citizens taken. The village Whisperers, Moraine and her novice, Alice, requested help from the palace. Just like before, in Queen Amina’s time, the Narlaw were trying to take the outlying towns by stealth. And what would come next? A full-scale invasion?

  These were terrifying thoughts, but they were a sign that Dawn had to act quickly.

  She addressed a note to Valderin, ordering the dispatch of as many guards as he could spare to this northern village. She watched as Ebony carried the message from the tower, her black wings merging with the night. Then, when Ebony was gone, Dawn remained on the balcony, staring blindly at the pitch dark sky.

  Already the responsibilities of palace life weighed heavily on her shoulders, but now a new kind of pressure had emerged. History itself had come calling; the hundred-year peace hung in the balance.

  Dawn’s mind raced with questions: Why now? Why her? Why couldn’t Esther be here to help?

  But such questions were pointless. They had no answer.

  Dawn was the youngest Whisperer the palace had ever known, but still she must do her duty. And her duty was clear.