by B N Miles
He took a step forward, still staring at Cam and not looking at Felin. “But the others can’t find out about her,” he continued. “If they know we’ve had a wolf in our midst this whole time, I don’t know what they’ll do. They’re on edge enough about the Elves.” He glanced at Miuri. “Sorry, Princess.”
Miuri waved him away. “I’ve gotten used to Human acceptance over the years,” she said. “And I know Felin’s true nature is a shock to you, but that doesn’t change who she is.”
“Miuri’s right,” Key said. “Felin’s a good person. She risked herself for us and snuck off into that camp just to bring back this information. I know this is a surprise, but you have to see that, at last.”
Dagan grunted and held up his hands. “All right. I hear what you’re saying. Felin, I apologize for my reaction.”
Felin shrugged like it was no big deal. “No need to apologize,” she said. “We’re the ones that were deceiving you.”
Cam let out a breath and felt some of the tension ease. “Since we’re not going to start killing each other, maybe we can go back to discussing what to do about this army,” he said.
Theus leaned forward. “We need a distraction,” he said, poking at the rectangles in the dirt with his toe. “If the army can break free and get moving, they might be able to make it back to the Mansion, especially if the packs aren’t working together very well.”
“And they’re not,” Felin said. “They have a similar goal, but they’re not coordinated at all.”
Cam nodded. “Miuri and I were talking about that out on the ridge,” he said. “Dagan, how dry would you say these woods are right now?”
Dagan let out a breath. “Dry enough to burn, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“What we need is something big enough to keep the wolves at bay, or at least unable to rally,” Cam said. “There aren’t enough of us, and even if we went back to the Mansion now and returned with every man in there, I still don’t think we’d have enough men to stand and fight the wolves in open battle.”
“So you’d rather start a distraction,” Theus said. “Confuse the wolves, maybe make them think they’re being attacked.”
“Even attacked by their own people,” Key added.
“Exactly.” Cam picked up a stick and jabbed down at Felin’s diagram. “Fires here, here, and here.” He indicated several spots between the two major factions with the point of his stick. “We’d do it at night and coordinate with the army. Once the fires are set, they rush from their gates and move along the ridge toward the Mansion. What do you think, Felin?”
She frowned and ran a hand through her hair. “Maybe,” she could. “The packs are on edge right now. Night doesn’t mean as much to Weres as it does to your people.”
Cam nodded and jabbed at the diagram again. “It’ll have to be enough,” he said. “If we keep waiting, the army will only get weaker and weaker.”
“I could run through the camp,” Felin said. “Make noise, sow discord.”
“No,” Cam said. “You’ve done enough. I can’t ask more of you.”
“It wouldn’t be dangerous,” Felin said. “I’d go as a wolf. They wouldn’t turn on me, wouldn’t even realize I wasn’t part of them. Not in the chaos.
Cam opened his mouth and shut it again.
Key spoke up instead.
“You don’t owe us anything,” she said. “You know that, don’t you?”
“It’s true,” Cam said. “You’ve already given us a lot.”
Dagan had an odd look on his face but Cam ignored him. Felin rocked back on her heels then stood up in one graceful motion. She tilted her head and a little smile moved across her lips.
“I know you don’t need this from me,” she said. “And that does mean a lot. But I want to contribute, and this is the best option we have. Without me, the fires will just be fires. But if I run through the camp and claim one of the packs has turned… that might work.”
Cam felt frozen in place. He wanted to open his mouth to object again, but he couldn’t find the words. He knew Felin was right, he knew that if she went out there in the night and did what she said she would do, then they’d have a better chance of making it through this alive.
But he hated the idea of letting her put herself at risk. Then again, they were all risking their lives every time they went into battle, every time they pushed forward against the wolves. He didn’t argue with Key when she took her position in the shield wall. He didn’t fight Miuri when she went scouting.
He had to accept that Felin was a part of them and equal to any task she took on.
“Okay,” he said. “We’ll trust you, Felin. If you want to do this, I won’t stop you. But I just need you to know that you don’t have to put yourself in danger if you don’t want to.”
She beamed at him. “And that’s what I love about you,” she said.
“All right,” Dagan said, raising his voice. “Enough of this. We have a lot more planning to do if we’re going to make anything happen.”
Cam nodded then looked at Miuri. “Can you sneak back into the army’s camp?”
She waved a hand in the air. “Of course.”
“Good. We’ll work out the details, then you’ll go tell the army their part in the plan,” he said.
“What happens if they don’t want to go through with it?” Miuri asked.
“They will,” he said, his eyes hard. “They won’t have any other choice. When those fires start, they’d better move, or we’re all dead.”
Miuri sighed and gestured down at the little diagram. “Okay, then. Let’s get started.”
Theus and Dagan moved closer, leaning over the rough drawing of the wolf packs. Felin returned to her spot, hunching down on her toes, and they began to talk details.
27
Miuri left camp the next morning, slipping out and disappearing into the trees. Cam watched her go with narrowed eyes before he sat down to do a couple hours of meditation.
The warriors were restless, but they knew the plan and didn’t object. As far as he could tell, they were excited to do some good. It was going to be incredibly dangerous, especially considering they were moving forward at night, but even Arter and the former prisoners seemed set on pitching in. Cam thought it was better than waiting to die in the Mansion.
The day passed as they made their preparations. Cam and Felin went over the plan in detail several times, and by the time night came, he felt confident that he could pull it off.
Or at least get close enough.
Miuri returned in the evening, the moon shining bright in the night sky. She ghosted into camp without a word, scaring the hell out of Kenden and the other sentries.
“They’re ready,” Miuri said to Cam as she crouched down beside him. Cam was enjoying his nightly meal of cold fermented fish, hard, stale bread, and some raw sliced mushrooms they’d foraged from the forest.
“They’ll move when we go in?” he asked.
She nodded. “They’ll do it.”
“Good.” He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky and set aside his meal. “We should start moving into position.”
Cam helped split the warriors into two groups. One group followed Key and Dagan down the ridge. Arter and Kenden went with them, though Cam could tell Arter wanted to be close to him. Miuri volunteered to guide them down the rocky slope in the near dark. They moved without torches or lamps, using only the stars and the moon to guide them. Their job was to move deeper into the forest and flank the wolves from the far side.
The other group was with Cam, Felin, and Theus. They set out after waiting twenty minutes to allow Miuri and Key to get into position. He took his people along the same path he’d followed with Miuri the day before.
It was slow going at night. Cam stumbled once or twice over rocks, although Felin didn’t seem to have many issues. The warriors with him were silent and he could feel their tension. Normally, there’d be some nervous chatter, but the only sounds Cam heard were the wind in the
pines and their boots over rocks. He couldn’t blame them. His men had the harder of the two jobs, and they would be exposed to Cam’s fire as soon as the fighting started.
But they were committed. The army was waiting on them, and as soon as they saw Cam’s flame begin to take hold, they would break free from their position and start moving.
At least, that was the hope. Cam had to trust that the army understood how important this was.
They reached the ridge as the moon rose higher in the sky. It was a clear night with a slight breeze moving across the valley. It tugged at his tunic, and he adjusted his father’s leather armor. It still didn’t quite fit, but even the way it rubbed against his joints made him feel more secure. He gripped the hilt of his sword and took slow breaths as he stopped the group at the edge of the tree line.
Campfires burned in the valley below. They were bright spotlights in the otherwise pitch-dark forest. He tried to count them but stopped after twenty. They stretched into the distance, and Cam wondered at them for a long moment.
He went down on one knee and turned to Felin. She crouched beside him, staring down at the valley with a blank gaze. She leaned up against his shoulder and tilted her head in his direction.
“Are you ready?” he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.
“I’m ready,” she said. “I have the easy job, after all.”
Worry lines creased his forehead. “Just be careful,” he said. “When the fires start, I won’t be able to tell you from the other wolves.”
“I know,” she said. “I won’t stay long. I’ll rejoin you back at camp when it’s all finished.”
He nodded. His eyes scanned over the valley and back along the ridge to where the Human fort was set up against the sheer mountain. More lights burned along their walls, and he hoped that the Humans were preparing their armor and gathering their strength.
Even with the distraction, this wasn’t going to be easy.
He put a hand on Felin’s thigh then kissed her cheek.
“See you soon,” he whispered in her ear.
She smiled at him then stood. He watched her walk off, then start jogging. She disappeared into the gloom as she headed down the steep slope.
Cam knew she’d ditch her clothes nearby and shift into her wolf form, but she couldn’t do that in front of the others. He stayed put and waited for her to get into position. He reached for his meditative state and found it waiting for him, like an old friend at his door. He slipped into it and let his breathing relax, let his nerves and his jitters smooth out.
He looked up at the sky and nodded to himself.
It was time to get moving.
He stood and gestured at the others. Theus caught his eye and gave him a thin smile. Cam returned that smile then moved forward at a quick walk, hand on the hilt of his sword.
He heard the clatter of boots and spears as the others kept close.
They streamed down the grassy scrubland toward the forest valley below, invisible in the deep night.
28
Cam led the way over the uneven terrain. He went slowly down the steep slope and angled along the ridge, keeping the mountains to his left and the forest below to his right. He held the diagram Felin drew in the dirt in his mind and tried to picture all the small campfires down in the forest as separated into different camps and packs.
But they all looked like one giant mess of light. He forced himself forward, trusting the plan. His palms sweated and he felt his heartbeat in a steady, rough rhythm.
Behind it all he held on tight to the black calmness that allowed him access to the priori.
His group slipped further down the ridge and reached a long grassy hill that descended down toward the killing zone the army had made. They’d cut down as many trees as they could when first setting up camp and created a wide, open plain between them and the wolves. Cam could see the logs standing straight along the fort’s walls, could see torches and lamps glowing along their pointed tops, but he kept his focus on the forest to his right.
Once they reached the bottom, they stopped at a group of large boulders. Cam crouched behind them and motioned for Theus to join him.
“Torches out when I start,” Cam whispered. “Only go for the tents. Run as fast as you can and keep moving. Don’t linger, get out as soon as the fire takes.”
Theus nodded. “You sure you can do this?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine,” Cam said. “Worry about yourself and the others.”
Theus glanced back at the other warriors. Their spears leaned against their shoulders, and each man held a torch in their hand. They were long branches, pruned back, cloth wrapped around the top and dipped in lamp oil.
The plan was simple. Cam would light their torches then start burning the woods. They’d break into the camp and throw more fire at tents. Meanwhile, Dagan and Key would do the same on the far side of the forest. Once the fires began, the army was supposed to break free from their camp.
There were a lot of uncertainties. Cam took a deep breath to steady himself. He smelled rock dust and pine needles, but also cook fires and burned meat. He wished he could do this part alone, but he knew he couldn’t leave the others behind.
Cam put a hand on Theus’s shoulder. “Good luck,” he said.
Theus returned the gesture then moved back with the other warriors.
The wind picked up, a slight breeze through the darkness. The tree line was fifty yards away, and he could see the campfires still smoldering. Tents were scattered throughout the trees, and he thought he saw some movement, maybe a four-legged creature slipping between bushes, a shadow of a wolf.
He closed his eyes and dipped down into his trance.
There, just there, almost out of reach, was the power. It buzzed for him, begged for him. He reached out with his mind and touched it, just enough to let it flow through him and fill his body with so much potential that he almost wanted to scream.
He stood and walked. The others moved out behind him, keeping their distance as instructed.
Twenty yards from the tree line, they were close enough to see tents with ratty, ragged clothes hanging outside of them, fires with pots in their centers, logs pulled up to act as seating, blankets and furs thrown haphazardly on the ground, all the detritus of life scattered throughout the underbrush. When he was close enough to taste the copper of their cookware, he drew the fire from deep inside of him and let it swirl around his hands.
He turned and made a sweeping gesture. The men came forward, torches out, and touched them to his flames. The torches leapt to life as the men began to run forward, angling to the right. When they were streaming ahead, Cam turned to the left, walked forward, and drew his sword.
Flames rolled off him in waves and slammed into the trees.
He heard the first screams. It was a crescendo of fear and confusion. To his right, he was dimly aware of Theus and the others running through the woods, shoving their torches against tents, spreading more confusion and chaos. Cam waded forward, each step leaving a burned footprint in the dirt as the fire continued to pour off his body like sweat. He stepped through the initial trees and took a deep breath, a smile coming to his lips.
Urspirit forgive him, but it felt so good.
He released fire. Tents went up in a blaze, copper cookware melted like ice, and more screams broke through the air. There were shouts, barks, howls. He didn’t recognize any of it, and didn’t care. All Cam could do was burn, was release more spouts of fire to slice through the night.
A wolf leap through his flame and tried to dive at him. Cam simply raised a hand and the wolf was thrown backwards by a spout of flame, throwing the wolf to the ground and leaving it a smoking cinder.
Cam ashed more wolves. He saw some running away from him and burned their backs with a smile. He saw some in Human form, naked and covered in light black downy hair, shouting and waving weapons, and he ashed those too.
There was no hesitation. He waded deeper into the woods and drew more power than
he’d ever taken in his life.
The woods were an inferno. He should have been able to feel it, his skin should’ve bubbled and burst, but instead it was like cool water licking against his lips. He let out a growl of pleasure as he ripped fire through a row of tents to his right, slamming more flames against them.
Soon he saw wolves gathering nearby. Thirty wolves, forty, they came together in formation. He threw fire at them, but they danced away. The underbrush was burning, bushes and small trees bent beneath the heat. The whole forest was wild with it, and Cam kept pushing more and more out.
But he knew those wolves would keep gathering. Soon enough, they’d throw themselves at him. And maybe he’d burn them all to a crisp, maybe he’d slaughter each and every wolf in the forest, but he knew that wasn’t the plan. In the back of his mind, he knew what he was supposed to do.
The forest burned. Ash dropped from tree trunks and branches and drifted in the breeze. The fire spread quickly, moving out in great arcs and racing lines. Cam turned away from the forest, began to move back toward the ridgeline. He continued throwing his flame, but there were more wolves around now, more throwing themselves at him.
He swung his sword and sliced through the flank of one animal. The wound cauterized instantly as his fire raced down his blade’s length and burned a hole the size of a watermelon in its skin. He moved his sword in a glittering arc, sliced through two more, burned them to cinders, and began to walk faster.
The wolves came faster. He killed them with grace and joy. He smiled as he followed the sword patterns Miuri had taught him, but he also put his own spin on the motions. Where she was like leaves bending in the wind, he was more like thunder. There was a touch of Elven grace in his movements, but he had more power, more strength, and he had flames to follow through each stroke.
Wolves died by the scores around him. The smell of charred and ashed skin and meat filled his nostrils. The first time he’d smelled that, back when they first made their escape to the Mansion, it had sickened him.
Now, he breathed it deep like perfume and his eyes went wide with pleasure.
