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“So why didn’t you ever try to overthrow Rusalko?” Will piped up. “Aren’t you of king's blood?”
Einri turned to him. “I am a bastard, for one. And secondly, no matter what I think of him, he is still my brother. How would you feel if you had to kill Arrow?” He added pointedly.
Will winced. “Point taken.”
I pondered for a moment, then gently said, “I hate to say it, but it may come to that. Will you be able to follow through if that’s our last recourse?”
His eyes filled with pain, and my heart hurt for him. “I don’t know.”
I nodded, grateful for his honesty, and reached out to hold his hand.
“Well, that’s just shit.” I started at the voice, having forgotten Tuck was in the room. “This is bigger than you, Einri. It’s bigger than you ever planned, and now you have hundreds, if not thousands of lives that you are responsible for. You don’t have the luxury of allowing your emotions to dictate your choices.” He argued.
“It’s not my emotions that are dictating my decisions, Tuck. My morals supersede my emotions.”
“A pretty sentiment. Will your morals stand by you when you realize all the blood on your hands could have been avoided?”
“That’s enough!” I interjected. I looked between the two men in shock – I’d never seen them so fractured. They’d always seemed such a united front to me. “Instead of going for each other’s throats, let’s put our heads together and see if there is a way to accomplish both goalswithoutresorting to the worst-case scenario. Now, does anyone have any ideas for that?”
“Actually, I might.” Will piped up, and we all turned to him. He continued somewhat nervously, “What if we can gather the turned wolves?”
Tuck scoffed. “The wild ones? They’re just as likely to turn on us as help us.”
“Ruby wouldn’t.” Einri said, and I could see the light in his eyes grow in excitement as he turned to me. “Arrow, what if you could do to the others what you did to Ruby?”
I didn’t miss the slight hesitation before Einri said the feminine name for my male wolf, but I chose to rise above. “I have no idea what I did, though. I’m not sure I can replicate it.”
“Yes, but what if youcan.” He insisted, leaning forward.
I caught his excitement. “That could quite literally turn the tide…” I said slowly, imagining it.
“Do you remember what you first did when you met Ruby?” Will asked, catching the energy in the room.
I laughed nervously. “I just talked to him and tried to convince him not to eat me.”
“I’m not okay with putting Arrow in danger.” Einri growled. He actually growled!
I glared at him. “Pretty sure that isn’t your choice, big man.”
Tuck interrupted before I could get really heated. “We should ask our magic users that are here what they think was the cause.” He stated reasonably.
We all agreed that was the best course of action for the immediate future, but before I could put it into action Tuck stopped me from leaving the tent.
“You can’t be having a magic talk on an empty stomach, let’s eat first. It should be finished by now.”
My stomach decided to announce that I was starving right then, as if by mentioning food, Tuck reminded my stomach it was hungry. With a chuckle, I agreed. As Tuck began dishing up for us all from the ginormous pot, people of the Greenwood began trickling in, ready for their share.
I decided to sit with some of the people to get to know them a bit better. If I was going to be with them for a little bit, I wanted to be able to form as strong a bond with them as possible. I absolutely was not enjoying putting off returning to my failure of a magic lesson. Not at all.
Even my head didn’t believe that statement at all.
Ruby crept along the snow-covered ground in front of me while I used every trick I had to remain just as quiet. The snow was fresh so it didn’t crunch, but it was what was under the snow that would give me away. To be as light-footed as my wolf friend would be incredible.
We crept through the trees keeping low and quiet. Einri, Tuck, Will, and Little John were adamant that we figure out my connection to the rogues before we head off on another adventure. I understood their reasoning, I really did, I just didn’t agree with it.
The fate of the Greenwood didn’t rest on whatever my ability was with the rogues. Sure, using magic was useful, if I could figure it out, but I wasn’t useless. I’d proven it over and over again.
So, I was out here in the cold, instead of back at camp and covered in furs by the fire, tracking down a pack of rogues. My breath huffed out in white puffs as Ruby, and I moved. I’d feel more comfortable up in the trees, but the trees here were more spread out than the ones back home, which meant I couldn’t jump from tree to tree like I normally would.
