Iron Oracle

by Merry Ravenell

  “There’s beer in the kitchen. You don’t have to drink my beer.”

  “Shut up, Lucas. I hate to drink alone.” She sat down next to him and put her feet up on the table.

  “Long day, Oracle?”

  “Shut up, Lucas. You’ve heard the news.”

  “Of course I’ve heard the news,” he grumbled and set his tea aside. “Magnes is forcing me to sit on my ass. The IronMoon are right there at our border! Refugees flooding in from the north, the IronMoon crushed the GleamingFang, and Magnes thinks that Aaron nibbling at the SaltPaw is going to distract Gabel? Aaron’s an idiot.”

  “Aaron’s not an idiot. The IronMoon just sawed through GleamingFang. They took losses, and Gabel’s been using them hard. We have his First Beta, and his Second Beta is inexperienced. He’s so strapped for wolves he can trust he’s left his Master of Arms in command at the heart.”

  “The way I hear it, Oracle, that Master of Arms isn’t anyone to be fucked with.”

  Kiery ignored him and went on, “Doesn’t change my point, Beta. Aaron’s forces are fresh. He’s got his own warriors, plus warriors from his allies. Gabel isn’t going to let Aaron have the RedWater. So he’s probably going to take his tired forces down there, Aaron will beat him, get RedWater and take a big bite out of IronMoon.”

  “Yes, and why let Aaron have all the glory for squashing Gabel? Nobody else has been able to slow the IronMoon down, but Aaron has taken back two territories. The IronMoon are making SableFur look weak and lazy.”

  “Magnes won’t even let you take a token force?” She put a hand on his bicep.

  “No,” Lucas snarled. “He won’t. Forcing me to sit here on my ass and watch television. He says SableFur doesn’t need to get involved. That’s not the damn point! The damn point is we are involved! We’re the ones who caused Gabel’s rampage!”

  Kiery sipped her beer.

  “Have you talked to him?” Lucas asked.

  “I try. He’s only listening to Anita right now. The Moon has Her Eye closed to me. The future is too much in flux, but Gianna can still See, and Anita claims she can as well.”

  “Maybe you are the one She’s angry with.”

  Kiery sipped her beer and pondered it. “Maybe. Or maybe Magnes should get off his duff and take control of the future that’s changing around him.”

  “By the Moon, I love you,” Lucas said with thick admiration, reaching towards her.

  She pushed him away. “Don’t say that when you don’t mean it.”

  “I do mean it.”

  “Then you’d accept I’m an Oracle. I accept you’re First Beta and what goes with that. It’s not like if I was your mate suddenly you’d be able to tell me everything. I’d still be left in the dark on some things. Discretion and all that. So what’s the difference if I leave you in the dark?”

  “Kiery —”

  “Drink your tea. We were talking about why you have to sit on your ass.”

  Lucas obliged her. “So what did Magnes say?”

  “What does he ever say? I told Adrianna, got a bit farther with her, but she’s like Magnes. They see it as weakness if we lower ourselves to deal with the rabble.”

  “Why am I not surprised Gianna was right about Gabel.”

  Another long pause from the Oracle. “I’m sorry she got accused. But I’m not sure I’m sorry all this happened. Gabel just took her. Then instead of standing up for her, he dumped her on some of the shoddiest evidence I’ve ever heard drummed up against an Oracle. But ultimately I’m not convinced it’s the greatest injustice in the world, even if she won’t see it that way.”

  “When I heard Lulu was her main witness, I figured we were in for it,” Lucas said.

  “I didn’t even know Lulu was a spy for us. Did Anita?”

  “Does it matter now?”

  Another long swig of the beer. “I guess not.”

  “What aren’t you telling me, Kiery? You know I hate your secrets.”

  Kiery sighed. “I have a terrible feeling about all this. The Moon has me shut out, and Magnes won’t listen. Gianna did not declare those little visions she was passing out as proof of the Moon’s favor. She’s been using a damn mirror, she refuses to wait for her bowls. I feel like I am locked in a storm cellar while a tornado approaches.”

  “Gianna is not showing all her cards,” Lucas said.

  Kiery finished her beer, got up and retrieved two more. She shoved one at Lucas. “Drop the tea and drink with me.”

  “You know what happens when we drink together. We end up fucking each other and waking up with hangovers and regrets.”

  She shoved it into his bicep. “Drink it.”

  Lucas sighed. “Why don’t we just have a normal relationship, Kiery?”

  “Didn’t we just talk about this? Here’s your reminder, you ox: we’ve tried. Didn’t work. You’re the one who can’t handle being with an Oracle. So since neither one of us is going to step down, beer and forlorn, drunken, ill-advised sex it is.”

  “And you still see no conflict carrying around the secrets of wolves and being with a First Beta.”

  “Oh by the Moon, we’ve had this conversation a million times, Lucas, including five minutes ago!” She groaned and flopped over backwards over the arm of the couch. “Uggggggggggggggg, Luccccccassssss. We’ve argued that into the damn grounddddd. Weren’t we talking about Gianna instead? And her cards?”

  “You mean the one she’s hiding?”

  “That’s more like it. Sobering conversation. None of this mopey why-can’t-we-be-together-Kiery bullshit.” Kiery sat back up, elbows braced on the sofa arm. “Gianna knows more than she’s letting on. Why wouldn’t she declare those little visions the Test of Favor?”

  “You tell me.”

  “She’s made it perfectly clear she wants to get in and out, to the point she’s willing to risk her sanity using a mirror. She could have two tests passed by now, but she’s only claimed one.”

  Lucas frowned.

  “Exactly. Now you see why I’m drinking.”

  “Have you told Magnes?”

  “What’s there to tell Magnes? It’s Oracle business, and she’s not spying for IronMoon. I also don’t believe her when she spits on Gabel’s name.”

  “You don’t? She seems pretty sincere to me.”

  “And Gabel’s been burning down the countryside talking about how he made promises in the Moon’s name as Gianna’s mate, but the Moon betrayed him and he’s going to build a tower to crawl up to the heavens and claw out Her Eye. Seriously, Lucas. Think about this for a minute.” She reached over and rapped her knuckles against his skull. “If Gabel willingly gave up Gianna because Gianna violated her Oracle vows, then why the hell is he ranting about the Moon betraying him?”

  Lucas sagged back against the couch and stared at the television.

  Kiery shrugged. “To be fair, I didn’t think about it either until the newest report came in and Gianna’s predictions about what he’d do were spot on.”

  “You think we’re getting played?” Lucas asked her.

  “That Mark is gone, Lucas. She suffered the sickness, she’s still not quite right. Aaron is all over her saying he can’t smell anything but her. So either Gabel is completely insane—”

  “Possible.”

  “Or there’s something way much, much, much bigger than all of us going on here.” She shrugged and finished her beer and went to retrieve more.

  “Unless Gabel’s blaming the Gift itself. I know how he feels.”

  “Now you’re just grasping at straws and being a baby.” Kiery shoved a fresh beer at him. “I will bet never fucking you again that Gianna knows exactly what Gabel is on about.”

  Lucas said, “I won’t take that bet.”

  “Smart Beta.” She ruffled his hair.

  “So do we tell Magnes?”

  “I’ve already tried. He won’t listen. Maybe you don’t sense it, Lucas, but I do. The world feels like it’s partially in a dream, and I can sense the Moon moving, but c
an’t hear Her. I’ve been locked in a storm shelter and am forced to wait while things play out around me. But maybe you can figure this out.”

  Lucas downed his beer. He then took hers and downed it. “Come on.”

  “Oh, are we still sober enough to walk to the bedroom?” She slid off the couch. “That’s new.”

  “Shut up and take your clothes off already.”

  Kiery laughed…

  ~*~

  I snapped back.

  “There are things I don’t need to see,” I told the ghost.

  He gave me a wolfish grin.

  I would have thought more on it, but my brain crumpled into exhaustion, and I collapsed into the blankets.

  A Dangerous Meeting of Minds

  Beta Lucas opened the door to my room. He looked hung over. “Come with me.”

  I obeyed. Goon A wandered behind us. “Leave,” Lucas told A. “I’m capable of handling a sick little she-wolf and don’t need supervision.”

  “You wish,” I growled. Sick or not, I’d still bite him.

  Lucas took me to an office on the far end of the house, near his own rooms. His office, I realized. In it were Kiery, and two other wolves I didn’t know. Lucas introduced them as Bernhard and Matthew, and I guessed from their bearing they were a hunter-type and a senior warrior. Lucas’ office was as cluttered as Magnes’ and Gabel’s were neat, and it was plastered with detailed maps of the entire SableFur territory, and over them, a newer map like the one hanging in Magnes’ office, crossed and dotted and pinned and lined.

  “Gabel executed the GleamingFang Luna and destroyed GleamingFang three days ago,” Lucas told me. “Aaron took some southern territories. Just like you predicted.”

  “That sounds like an accusation,” I said. “Want to get some garden hoses and nylon ropes before we go any farther?”

  Lucas sighed.

  Kiery came over to me. She yanked my shirt down to expose my bicep. She rubbed the spot where the Mark had been. “Completely gone.”

  “If you think I’m some kind of spy, why the super secret meeting? Shouldn’t you guys just tell Magnes?” I asked, amused in a dark way.

  “Alpha Magnes,” Matthew corrected.

  “What does Gabel want?” Lucas asked me.

  “To be King-Alpha. Everyone’s figured that out by now.”

  “No. Why is he saying he’s building a tower to the Moon to claw Her Eye out because She took you from him?” Kiery said. “I was there, and it looked to me like Gabel gave you up. Nothing said he had to. He was expressly told he didn’t have to. Why is he howling about the Moon betraying him, when this is, presumably, the result of your failings?”

  I shrugged. “How do I know? I haven’t spoken with him since that day.”

  “Because you’re lying.” Kiery shoved her face in mine.

  “Gabel probably expected the Oracles to behave decently,” I shot back. “The charges against me were trumped up at best. He’s probably angry the Moon hasn’t punished Anita.”

  “But he’s the one who repudiated you, and if he knew it was bullshit, he’s got nobody else but himself to blame. Why not just wait for you to vindicate yourself?”

  “Coward? Idiot? Suddenly realized what a mistake he made?”

  “But you said Gabel is clever and doesn’t make stupid mistakes like that.”

  The little fractures between my stories and the known facts began to widen, and Kiery pursued them like a hungry shark going for blood. I hadn’t expected them to drag me into their conversation, and I hadn’t prepared a song and dance to keep my head above water. Kiery was right: why was Gabel howling his rage at the Moon and blaming Her, when he was the one who had put the Oracles over me?

  Dammit, Gabel. Did you not realize you had to keep up your end of the song?! Letting everyone think you had gone a little mad from your Luna’s betrayal would have been fine, but just outright telling everyone you hate the Moon... that’s not helping!

  Kiery expected an answer, so I went with one that was close to the truth. “Perhaps the appearance of impropriety was more than he could stand, especially considering what he did to Alpha Marcus at our wedding. My Mark is gone. You can see that for yourself. Gabel’s reasons are his own.”

  “Why haven’t you declared passing two more tests?” Kiery demanded.

  “Because I don’t think those are the tests the Moon means for me to notch on my headboard,” I retorted.

  “You’re so eager to get out of here you’re using a goddamn mirror but you aren’t shoving passed tests in my face?”

  Dammit, she was relentless. “If you’re going to accuse me of something, get to it.”

  Kiery stared at me intently. She was listening for a cue from the Moon, but didn’t get one. I knew the din of restless sound well. The pressure of knowing something was going on. Her analogy of being locked in a basement while a tornado was outside was absolutely right.

  They weren’t telling me everything they knew. I looked at the maps, and the room, trying to figure out my next move, but the lack of sleep, and the pain in my hands, and the general malaise had worn down my mind. I had already made a few mistakes, and I couldn’t risk anymore. I might get Hix killed, or fail in my mission.

  But they were already on the scent. I knew from the RedWater wolf that there was a little spark of doubt, and the wet pile of leaves called SableFur was starting to smoke. Right now they were undecided, but if I kept stonewalling them, they might think me a spy, and turn me over to Magnes and Adrianna.

  Gabel would let Aaron take RedWater for the same reasons he let him have SaltPaw and SpringHide. It would prevent Magnes from striking if the SableFur saw that the IceMaw were having success. That was good. I couldn’t let Lucas goad Magnes to move, or rally the rest of the senior SableFur to lean on Magnes. Not yet, anyway.

  But I had to keep playing Lucas. His doubt was about to topple over and outweigh his loyalty.

  Time for a risk. A huge one.

  I pushed hair behind my shoulders. “Aaron is going to attack the RedWater next. He’ll succeed. Gabel, instead, is going to go north. To Shadowless. I will declare this as my Test of Prediction.”

  Bernhard said, “Shadowless is your birthpack, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why would Gabel attack Shadowless? Especially if Aaron is about to take the RedWater and be able to liberate the remains of GleamingFang. It makes no sense, Gianna,” Matthew said.

  Because I’m going to tell him to.

  I shoved the heavy feeling aside. It was necessary. It was the only card I had to play against Lucas. Gabel couldn’t stand by and let Aaron take the RedWater. He needed an excuse to let it happen, and that meant he had to be occupied elsewhere.

  “Because Shadowless betrayed him.” I looked right at Lucas, trying to see if the First Beta already knew the deal that had been struck.

  Instead, nothing but confusion.

  Magnes had never intended to honor that promise.

  “Before Gabel went to Shadowless, Kiery had a vision that Gabel chose one of the Shadowless females as a mate. It wasn’t me, it was my packmate Amber. Magnes told Jermain to let Gabel have her, as a spy, and Magnes would help Jermain get her back. Magnes did not keep that promise, and at my wedding the Shadowless tried to get me to leave with them while Gabel was on the Moonlight Run. Jermain pledged loyalty to Gabel when he was actually spying for Magnes. Gabel has known since our wedding. He’s let Jermain live. Now that he’s dealt with Anders, he’ll go to Shadowless.”

  I swallowed. Hard. Shadowless was still my birthpack. Still my family.

  Gabel was going to gut them eventually. I knew that. And I was disgusted that they had sold me for their safety. They had just given away a female on some vague promise Magnes would help get them back. It hadn’t been right. It hadn’t been okay.

  And nothing would ever make it those things.

  I knew what Gabel did to the packs that betrayed him. I had been there. I had helped.

  Had Gabel turned me i
nto a monster?

  Or had I always been this?

  “Is that true? Is that what you saw? Is that what Magnes did?” Lucas asked Kiery harshly.

  “I can’t answer that,” Kiery retorted.

  “Is it true, Kiery? Any of it? All of it?”

  “I can’t tell you. Back off!”

  My heart ached for them. It ached for Shadowless. I realized I was crying and pulled at the tears. My father would probably die a good First Beta’s death. The sort of death Hix wanted, and Lucas wanted. He’d get that, at least. I’d tell Gabel my father had to have that.

  Lucas pounded his fist into the map. “Dammit, Kiery!”

  “I can’t tell you,” Kiery said in a frosty tone.

  “Magnes wouldn’t have done that,” Bernhard said like the words were unfamiliar.

  “Why would she make it up?” Lucas demanded hotly. “This whole thing is shit! The entire thing! Someone is lying and playing games, and I know it’s not me, so who the hell is it?!”

  “Those are dangerous words, Lucas,” Matthew said in a low tone.

  “Dangerous! Who cares?! Everything about this is dangerous! The world is on fire and nobody is paying attention!” Lucas ranted. “Did our Alpha strike that deal with Shadowless? Because if he did, he didn’t tell me about it, and I would need to know!”

  Bernhard and Matthew shifted and exchanged very uncomfortable glances.

  “Lucas,” Kiery said. “Choose your words carefully here. Gianna’s prediction hasn’t come to pass.”

  Indeed. If I couldn’t reach Gabel through the tourmaline spear in time, I’d fail the test.

  But I was out of time. Adrianna was on my scent, I couldn’t let Magnes stonewall, I couldn’t let Lucas back away. My story was crumbling, the cracks were showing. I had to save Hix, I had to get back to Gabel before he destroyed everything. He’d run out of justifiable targets soon, and then what would he do?

  He’d come to SableFur.

  The Bond twisted. I’d see him again soon. Would I reign at his side then, as a blood-soaked Lady-Luna, let him put a crown of shattered obsidian on my head as Anita had foreseen?