“Sorry boys. Clumsy hands and your slow feet, eh?” He offered a hand to the dazed men. They looked about, trying to figure out how they were on the ground. They rose warily.
“Well, might as well return to your drinks,” Roman said. Except now he stood facing them eye to eye and suddenly looking nothing like a poor guide.
The men frowned and sat back at their bench. After a few minutes, their friend that started the fight joined them. After a few more, they all left.
“I may not have your strength and size,” Roman said, grinning as he sat, “but I have brains. More importantly, a foresight that neither of you have. It’s old magic in us, not just the Lycan blood. But we’ll need all of it by the end.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, but Roman’s face had gone slack. He was staring off into a horizon I couldn’t see.
“The girl with the scarred heart comes, as the lady with the dark soul follows. Be wary of the ruins.”
I let him sit in silence, until he shook his head and looked about.The foresight. If I asked him what it meant and what he saw, he wouldn’t remember. He never did.
“Come on lad,” he said. “Let’s sleep, eh?”
Chapter 3
FEYRA
I shivered against the cold wind blowing up the fissure in the wall, its chill rattled my teeth and I wished that I had fur. By the letter's contents, I should have.
You will be the one to end it all.The words echoed deep into my soul and burned the fears into my heart. Because it was fear I felt. Even though I’d read the letter so many times now that I could recite it word for word, I still had trouble believing it.
Initially I’d been amazed, a letter from mymother. The pendant I’d been given was their,our, family seal. It had marked the letter I’d been given. What’s more, she’d asked tomeet me.
All these years I thought she’d been dead. All these years I thought I hadn’t been able to know my parents because they were gone from this world, but they were gone because they were banished.
They were werewolves. They were the King and Queen…
But my father had died protecting my mother and I. In her desperation, my mother left me with Aunt Teetee and fled. I can only assume she’d hoped to be back in my life before I shifted. But the reign of Lady Skol had lasted longer than any wolf had expected.
I was struggling to believe that I was royalty. There was no way I’d come from a line of leaders and warriors. I was a poor herbalist that lived with her Aunty.Yet I’d been abandoned on her doorstep as a child.
Even then, how was I going to unite the wolves against Lady Skol? How was I going to end it all? I couldn’t even shift. I only dreamt of being a wolf, I couldn’t actuallybeone. How would I convince them to follow me in that regard? I’d stared out at the city of Moondaj all night, watched it change as the night wore on.
The cold wind railed again, increasing its ferocity up the gap and I realized that it was way past time to leave. I’d been here all night, and the moon was beginning to set over the Warlands while Moondaj woke up.
It would be morning soon and I’d probably scared Aunt Teetee half to death. I could only imagine how late she’d stayed out searching for me, let alone how late she stayed up waiting.
But there was more there. Aunty had recognized the seal. She was always calm under pressure, nothing ever got to her. But her eyes had bulged at the sight of the letter. What did she know?
I climbed down the secret passage, suddenly aware of how tired I was. I’d been up all night battling with this new information. My muscles were sore and my stomach starving. I’d head home via the markets, I could pick up some bread and sweet fruits for Aunty too. A peace offering, of sorts.
I emerged and saw the torches of the guards walking along the wall. Night and day they patrolled, ever since the wolves had been banished from Lassig. The wall had never been unmanned in Lady Skol’s reign.
I heard the guards talking in low whispers of the attack yesterday in the Hall of Order. The shifter who’d broken through—I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten so quickly. The wolfman had attacked them and escaped, killing a number of guards and inspectors. And he’d spoken to me. Security had been tripled in the hours since and no dormant shifter was allowed in the Inner City. But how had he been able to get in anyway?
That was the mystery.
I made my way through the fields, the cool dew brushing my skin. I sniffed the air, dawn was near and I could hear the merchants talking at the edges of Outer Lassig. By the time I was among the sprawling buildings and shacks, the merchants were preparing their stalls and speaking in happy tones.
I was still battling with my new information, if it was even real,me a shifter?Still the merchants sold me sweet fruits and breads, unaware that I was potentially theheir to the throne Lady Skol had stolen!By the time I reached Aunty’s lane the dawn light was creeping among the shack housing, and wood fires burned for the morning meals. I had to know the truth.
I opened the door and heard Aunt Teetee preparing food by the stove. She stood with her back to me, robe wrapped tight, and didn’t acknowledge me when I came in.
“Hi, Aunty,” I said.
She continued to stir the pot. I came up beside her, hugging her and putting the bread and fruits on the counter. I waited for her to say something. But she didn’t. She continued stirring her oats and nodded for me to sit.
