His father was here, protecting their territory. Maybe there was more to the ceremony than just ritual after all. His heart felt cold when he thought of what his father had told him during their last conversation. Did the seal weaken if the ashes weren’t scattered along the lines of protection? Kallik had never said anything about that, and he hadn’t noticed the seal becoming any weaker. But it would also make sense if the magic degraded over time and needed to be refreshed. How long had it been since the magic was reinforced?
It was curious; even so, he didn’t want to use up all the ashes right here. So after a few steps, he used his paws and his teeth to close the sachet again and, with some effort, pushed his head back through the braided cords. The rest of the adornments remained in the snow, an extra offering alongside the ashes. They were all kind gestures, but he had a long journey ahead, and they would only weigh him down.
He gave one last look to the seal, watching it glow where it hovered in the air for a long moment as he wondered what it all meant. Then he turned and loped away, heading south.
His tentative plan was to make a complete circuit around the entire territory along the edge of the Blight, leaving ashes scattered at each border. The seal was on the westernmost edge of the village; heading south and moving counterclockwise, he guessed he would arrive back at the seal after sunset. A long day, but it felt good to walk such a long distance in this form. It was easy to slip into the more animal side of his brain on a journey like this, and despite everything, the wolf part of him felt content with his mission. That drowned out everything else, a temporary but welcome relief to his pain and worry.
For a little while, all that existed was the snow beneath his paws; the sharp scent of the cold air and the acrid Blight in his nose; the faint hum beyond the barrier and the distant sounds of animal life further in the forest. Even his vision became secondary to his other senses. There was no village further within the forest; no world beyond what was immediately around him; no responsibility waiting for him when his task was done. He was here, alive, following his instincts, and nothing else was important.
Eventually, the edge of the territory curved inward, and he moved further along the southern border, pausing to empty out some ashes again. There was no seal to glow brighter in response, but he still had a faint sense it was the right thing to do. Maybe it was his imagination, or he was projecting. Regardless, it made the rest of the day ahead of him seem a little easier.
As he headed east, he noticed the sounds of small paws following him at a distance. At first, he startled, thinking one of the wolves must have followed him; but when he stopped and peered through the trees, the soft bluish-white ears of a snow fox popped up from a nearby shrub. The fox had been following him, watching curiously and seemingly without fear. He remained motionless as he looked at it for a long moment, until the creature slowly began slinking out of the shrub, as if to see him better. Kade and the fox stared at each other for a beat; then the fox sat back on its haunches and lowered its head, its beady black eyes flickering between looking at Kade and down at the ground between its forepaws.
It was as if it knew who he was, why he was here. Well, if it wanted to follow him, he would not stop it. Slowly, he turned away and resumed walking. After a few seconds, he could hear the small paws crunching along through the snow behind him—still at a distance, but not quite so far now. They walked on.
By the time he reached what he estimated was the center of the eastern border, the exact midpoint of his circuit around the territory, he had a small entourage of woodland creatures following him. The snow fox led them all, closely followed by an ermine, a rabbit, several lemmings, two squirrels, a raven, and when the sun had set, a silent snowy owl that he occasionally glimpsed watching from the trees.
Between the cold and the hours of travel, Kade’s paws had long since begun to ache; but now that he had an audience, he was hesitant to stop for long. After he’d scattered the ashes for a third time along the eastern border, he curled up in the snow and took a rest for about an hour. At first he tried not to take his eyes off the creatures following him to see how they would react, but they remained at a respectful distance and even seemed to keep watch on the surroundings for him. So after a bit, he buried his nose in his tail and allowed himself to nap.
He never fell deep enough into sleep to dream, though, and the sensation of a creature landing in the snow near him brought him back to wakefulness. When his eyes opened, he saw the raven standing about two full strides away from him with a pile of berries and nuts at its feet. In its beak, it held a smooth, shiny stone, and it turned its head to give Kade a meaningful look before dropping the stone beside the food and leaping into the air with a piercing cry.
Kade stood, shook himself free of snow and dirt, then padded over to the offering the raven had left him. A few sticks laden with dark, plump gooseberries and a pile of acorns; he carefully pulled the gooseberries off their stems and ate them, but left the acorns behind. Then he sniffed the smooth stone the raven dropped. It had a faintly metallic smell, but overall didn’t seem different from any other ordinary stone aside from its faint shine, as if it had once been polished. But it was a kind gift, so he gingerly picked it up in his teeth and carried it with him as he continued. It would fit in the little pouch around his neck, but he wanted to fully empty it first.
As Kade came up along the east toward the northern border of the territory, he could occasionally catch a faint whiff of smoke again. It was comforting to know the village was there, safe and nearby. It meant he was over halfway done now.
His entourage was still following at a careful distance. With moonlight shining overhead, he could just make out the sight of the fox and the squirrels; but the rest he could only detect from the sounds of their tiny paws in the snow, or the occasional soft noises of them breathing or squeaking at each other. How far would they follow him? Did they know what he was doing? That he would go through the night?
This part of the wolf kingdom was rocky and mountainous, so his pace was much slower as he moved north, then west. There were fewer trees for the two birds to watch from as well; Kade kept hearing the raven flapping back and forth overhead as it followed him in wide, looping circuits.
It was well past midnight when he determined that he’d reached the midpoint of the northern border. He had carried the smooth stone in his mouth the whole way, the metallic taste lingering on his tongue even as he dropped it onto the snow and tugged loose the pouch around his neck with his forepaws. The animals following him had gone silent as they observed from a short distance. He glanced over at them, then up at the closest tree where he could see the eyes of the raven and the snowy owl glowing in the moonlight, watching him.
He turned his attention back to the pouch that now lay between his paws, maneuvering it to pull it open. For the final time, he held it gently in his teeth and let the last of the ashes fall from it, scattering in the snow. When he was sure it was empty, he returned to the stone, and with some careful placement of his paws, set it in the pouch and looped it back around his neck.
Something was pulling him back toward the western border, where the seal was. He headed toward the forest, then paused and looked back. His entourage was still watching him. When he took a few more steps, the raven leapt from where it was perched and followed, then the rest slowly started to move toward him. They would stay with him through the night, he thought.
Rather than continuing to move along the border, he cut through the forest to get there faster, clambering up rock formations and sliding back down to soft snow-filled valleys. Though the other animals following him were not shifters, they seemed to have an uncanny understanding of how best to traverse the terrain with him—even the little lemmings were able to keep up with him without difficulty. His paws were well and truly sore now, slowing his pace, and his whole body was starting to ache with the effort of holding his form for this long.
His circuit around the borders of the territory had been a relief. He didn’t dwell on his worries or feel anxious about the future; all that existed was the snowy forest around him and the repetitive movement of his lupine body, leaving his mind comfortably empty. It was always simpler in this form, but it felt especially pronounced as he traveled.
With his mission complete, though, a few of his thoughts were able to push through the white noise that had occupied his brain for the day. He thought of the village, of the rest of his family, and wondered what they were doing then. Then he thought of Florian and wondered where he and Koji were, if they had made it safely to the kraken kingdom and found the aid they were seeking out. He hoped so. His heart squeezed a bit when he thought about Florian. Had he been this scared when his father had died? Had the thought of becoming king been so daunting to him, too? Somehow Florian made it seem nearly effortless—for all the anxiety he’d confided in Kade, he’d adapted easily to the role and hardly seemed affected by it.
But when the thought of Florian became almost painful with longing, Kade pushed it out of his mind as much as he could, bringing all his attention back to the present: the cold snow between his paw pads, the crisp night air filling his nostrils, the quiet sounds of his entourage following him through the woods, and the distant moon lighting his way.
It took less than an hour to reach the seal once more. Its faint glow peeked through the branches of trees as he approached—a faint bluish light that gave everything a wintery cast. The light seemed to spread out from the circular sigil, like a spider web. It hadn’t been visible when Kade was here in the daytime. Was it always there? He couldn’t remember ever seeing it before or hearing anything about it, but neither did its appearance surprise him. He followed the spidering lines of light up through the air, watching them until they disappeared from his vision far overhead.
The lights were lines of magic in the protective seal around the territory. Somehow, he was certain. And somehow, too, he was certain that he needed to follow them—that there would be something at the center where all the lines of light converged once more. So he kept his tired paws moving, padding back toward the very center of the woods, and still the woodland creatures followed.
The longer he walked, the less aware of his surroundings he became; he felt less aware of himself, too, as if his consciousness were melting into the snow beneath him. Something was calling him, leading him, and he needed to find outwhat.
The light of their protection against the Blight converged in the center of the woods; there was no sigil to mark it, but instinct told him this was it. He looked up at it and, without thinking, let out a long, low howl. The sound pierced the silent night air, and after a moment, another wolf answered distantly—then another, and another. Then it sounded like there were a hundred wolves answering his call, a thousand, far more than could be back in the village, far closer than any wolves should be.
He opened his eyes, and this time wolves of every size and color surrounded him, all staring at him with the same expectant look. They were his ancestors, the kings of the wolf kingdom of long ago, converging into a single point: him, and him alone.
The crowd of wolves rippled with movement, and he saw his father, strong and whole, his gray fur glossy with vitality. Kade stood as his father padded toward him, but it was the other wolf who dropped lower as he approached, acknowledging him as the alpha, the king.
The King Who Brings the Night,Kallik said.You are our final hope. Our kingdom will not survive much longer in this world. End the Nova Blight, no matter the cost. Only then can we continue to live in the Veil.
I will,Kade answered, and somehow it was a whisper.I will.
