Keeper of the Wolves (12 page)

Joven let out a strangled laugh. “You’re
asking a man who talks to wolves?”

She laughed too as if it was the only thing
keeping her from sobbing. “I guess you’re right.” She stared at the
body behind us and the fear that she kept hidden touched my nose.
“What do we do now?”

Joven let out a breath in a rush. “We need
to inform the others that the Viel have made it past the Valley
Guardians.”

The weight he gave the word Viel said the
telling might be more difficult than the battle we just fought.

Silver Leaf gave a small whine. She was
anxious to get her pups as far away from the clearing and the
corpse as possible, and I couldn’t blame her. I met Shadow Runner’s
gray eyes and gave a grunt of agreement too quiet for the humans’
ears. He turned and led the way into the forest. Silver Leaf licked
my hand, then followed her mate between the trees. Cricket, Pond
Jumper, Night Seeker, and Trace hurried after her with anxious
glances at the Viel’s body. Gull and Traveler brought up the rear.
The older wolf paused at the tree line and looked back at me, his
head tipped in question. I let out a small breath and closed my
eyes in denial. His tail gave a slow wave of acceptance and he
disappeared through the trees.

My heart ached at their absence. It hurt
more to watch them leave than it did to hear their questioning
howls at night. The wild half of my heart longed to disappear from
human life forever, to fade into the trees and never look back. I
had made an unspoken agreement when Koya let me out of the cage,
but its bonds were weak with the promise of freedom ahead of me and
the castle walls behind.

“
Go.”

I turned to see Joven with an arm around his
sister’s shoulders. He nodded toward the woods and said again, “Go
with your pack. You don’t have to stay here.”

Even as my heart leaped at his words, I
looked at Koya and saw confusion and regret on her face. She opened
her mouth to say something, then closed it again and held me with
her eyes. Her gaze was pleading even as she nodded her agreement of
her brother’s words. “You’ve risked so much for us,” she said
quietly, her brow furrowed and a stray strand of hair catching in
front of her eyes. “You deserve your freedom.”

A knot tightened in my throat and I
swallowed against it. Every fiber of my body willed me to obey; my
instincts yearned after moonlit meadows and the fierce adrenaline
of the hunt. I longed for the simple life beneath trees and in
forests so old the loam told of the history of the world. I wanted
to hear the pad of paws beside me and follow the trail of an elk
fresh under my nose. I wished for water crisp and fresh from
glaciers melting in the mountain tops, and to feel dew on my face
as it clung to long grasses awakened by the early morning
light.

The wolf side of me longed for freedom
almost as much as the human side reminded me of what I was, a
stranger in both lands changing in the same moonlit meadows and
following the pack on two feet instead of four. The human thoughts
that waged war with the wolven images in my head begged for
knowledge and thirsted for something greater that I couldn’t
comprehend. I couldn’t say when the human side became more
demanding than the wolven, but I knew what my choice would be
before the wolves disappeared into the forest.

I shook my head slowly, my eyes on the way
the starlight caught between the branches of the trees. “I’m. . .
needed. . . here,” I forced out. The words were unrefined and still
sounded like the growl of an animal, but Joven stepped forward and
set a hand on my shoulder. I turned to face him.

“
Yes, you are,” he agreed.
There was a light of respect in his eyes as if he knew how much the
words had cost me. He spoke to Koya. “We need to tell Rasmus and
have him send word to the other duchies.”

She nodded but her eyes were on me. I met
her gaze, then had to look away. Her blue stare laid me bare as
though I stood with only the shredded remains of my soul for
protection. I gritted my teeth and willed my fists to unclench. I
wasn’t used to people who dared to face me without fear, and her
look tore down every wall I so carefully held in place to protect
myself from those who hurt me without remorse. I felt the scars on
my body and heart stand in stark contrast to the innocence of her
quiet acceptance.

“
Koya?”

She turned away at Joven’s call and hurried
to catch up to him. I followed more slowly, feeling each step away
from the pack with a keen edge that reminded me of what I left
behind.

“
Rasmus will be furious we
left the castle without him,” Koya said.

“
He would be right,” Joven
replied. “First an assassin, now a Viel? The walls are becoming
only stones to be scaled.”

“
He’ll never let me out of
his sight.”

“
Between the guards and your
maids you’ll be a child in leading strings again,” her brother
replied with a quiet chuckle.

Both talked as though they kept thoughts of
what had just happened at bay. I didn’t have the luxury of such
distractions. The scent of the Viel lingered on my hands and the
clothes Joven had given me. I grabbed a pine branch and pulled the
needles from it, then rubbed them across my palms in an effort to
mask the foul smell. It mingled with the odor and my stomach turned
over. I swallowed, threw the needles down, and paused.

A bent patch of grass stood next to a small,
broken aspen branch, its leaves just barely turning yellow. A few
feet away, another indentation revealed a second set of footprints.
Both smelled of Viel. I pictured the white creatures standing
soundlessly as they watched the castle wall.

“
Keeper?” Koya
asked.

I glanced back at the footprints, then
walked after the pair who waited by the hidden gate.

“
Everything alright?” Joven
asked.

I concentrated on making the word
understandable. “More.”

“
Viel?” Koya pressed. Her
face paled at the word, but she watched me intently.

I nodded and heard Joven’s teeth grind
together. He pushed open the gate and waited for us to pass, then
made sure it was closed securely behind us. We hurried through the
gardens and into the main corridor of the castle. Fatigue burned
through my body, but I ignored it and the questioning stares of the
servants we passed.

Joven led us down one hall, up a flight of
stairs, through another hall, then into a room that smelled of iron
and the oil of the suits of armor that lined the walls as though
ready to march into combat. The table that took up almost the
entire floor was scratched and worn and overlaid with a giant map
that detailed the forests and the five duchies along with the
outlying mountains and rivers. Small red wax dots surrounded the
perimeter as well as the land in between each duchy, blue dots were
scattered among the seas, and one green dot sat in each duchy where
tiny gray buildings marked the castles.

The scent of windswept hills and steel met
my nose when Rasmus entered the room. “I’ll bet you could fill it
in better than we have,” he said when he noted my attention on the
map. He gave my clothes a curious glance but didn’t comment on
them.

“
You’re going to need more
red dots,” Joven said in a grim voice.

Rasmus lifted an eyebrow in question but
waited without speaking. Joven ran a hand down his face and took a
steeling breath before he lifted his eyes back to the General. “A
Viel attacked us outside the north gate.”

Rasmus studied him for a minute. “You can’t
be serious.”

“
Do I look like I’m
kidding?” Joven snapped. When Rasmus didn’t reply, Joven shook his
head. “I apologize. I’m a bit on edge. I never thought I would
actually see one.” He said the last sentence quietly as an
afterthought and a haunting tone touched his words.

Rasmus’ expression darkened and he looked
back at the map. “We’ll add more red dots,” he said in a tone of
quiet irony. I felt vaguely surprised that I could recognize irony
and the subtle nuances of their conversation.

“
They shouldn’t be here,”
Joven said. “Why are they so close?”

“
There have been more
attempts to breach the border. It looks like they succeeded,”
Rasmus replied with a hint of uneasiness.

“
This isn’t the first time,”
Koya said. I remembered the herder from the Petitioner’s
Court.

“
Which is why you shouldn’t
have gone outside the wall,” Rasmus replied in clipped
words.

Joven met the General’s eyes. “We are free
to go wherever we want.”

Rasmus dropped his gaze and nodded. “I
didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I just feel that with the threat
toward Lady Koya and rumors of spies and the Viel it would be wise
to stay where you can be protected.” He lifted his eyes back to
Joven’s and put a fist over his heart. “You know that I and my
brothers in the guard would die for either of you. I am only
concerned about your safety.”

Koya nodded. “And we appreciate that.” She
gave her brother a stern look. “And we will do our best to stay
within the boundaries of your protection.”

Rasmus bowed. “Thank you, my Lady.”

I studied the map of the mountains south of
the valley where I had been captured. Rasmus was right. There were
details to those mountains not listed on the map, hidden valleys,
caves, and streams I had once thought of as home. The fact that I
had turned down the chance to return there weighed heavily on my
heart. I wondered if the wolves would go back without me.

“
I doubled the guard after
the assassin’s attack, and I’ll spread word to the Valley Guardians
about the Viel. They send hawks every five days, but they’re a day
late. I’ll let you know when we hear back from them.”

“
I appreciate it,” Joven
said gratefully. He glanced at his sister. “Any word on who sent
the assassin?”

A look of reluctance crossed the General’s
face. He sighed. “Lord Storion sent him.”

Koya put a hand to her mouth that didn’t
quite stifle her gasp.

“
But he’s an ally,” Joven
protested. “It couldn’t have been him.”

Rasmus met his eyes. “There’s no doubt, my
Lord.” The surety of his tone left unpleasant things unspoken.

A sheen of liquid showed in Koya’s eyes.
“He’s the last.”

Joven shook his head and put a hand on
Koya’s arm. “No, he’s not. We still have the Torgusons and Lord
Brayton, not to mention Lady Stry. We aren’t alone, not yet.”

“
We are if you count
individuals with actual sway in society,” Koya replied. “The
Gathering takes place in a week. They’ll tear us apart.”

“
Not if we put up a good
front.” The determination in Joven’s tone left little room for
argument; both siblings looked too tired to continue.

Koya nodded. “We’ll do our best.”

“
That’s all we can do.”
Joven glanced at me. “Care to learn how to waltz in half a
fortnight?”

At my look, he laughed. “Dancing’ll do you
good. You’re light on your feet, if the fight with the Viel said
anything.”

Rasmus held up a hand. “You fought the
Viel?” He looked incredulously from Joven to me.

The tightness around Joven’s eyes was the
only sign that the cheerfulness in his words was feigned. “It was
quick, really, what with Keeper’s wolves and his good aim. I merely
helped finish it off.”

Rasmus looked at me as if he knew there was
more to the story, but I was too tired to try to explain myself in
their confusing language. He nodded in acceptance of my silence,
but didn’t look happy about it. He gave the siblings a chiding
look. “Stay within the walls. I’ll have my men dispose of the
body.”

“
Thank you, General,” Joven
replied.

We left the room and walked back down the
hall. I wasn’t the only one dragging my feet by the time we reached
the door to the room I had been using. Joven put his hand on the
doorknob, then looked back at Koya and me. “I don’t suppose I could
convince you to sleep in Koya’s chambers?”

“
Joven!” Koya
exclaimed.

He held up his hands. “I know it’s not
exactly proper.” Koya let out a sound of amazement; he pretended
not to notice. “But until we know there are no more assassins and
the Viel are beyond the valley once more, I feel it’s the only way
you will be safe.”

“
I have my maids,” Koya
argued. Her cheeks were touched with red. “And I can defend
myself.”

“
We saw that with the
assassin’s attempt,” Joven replied dryly.

Koya’s entire face flushed and she turned
away.

The scent of her embarrassment touched the
air. I didn’t know what to say, I just knew her brother’s words
hurt her more than she showed. I glanced at him, wondering if
humans needed protection from each other’s careless tongues. He
appeared not to notice his sister’s reaction. Instead, he surveyed
me with a gaze I had seen many times, the look of one assessing the
value of an object instead of a person with thoughts or
feelings.

“
You’d need a new wardrobe,
and some help with your mannerisms. . . .”

“
What are you talking about
now?” Koya asked, her tone a bit sharper than usual.

“
The way he stands there,”
Joven said. He gestured toward me. “People don’t hold so still.
It’s. . . animalistic. He’d never fit in, and with the Gathering
coming up in a week, we have a lot of work to do.”

Koya’s eyes widened and she glanced at me. I
met her gaze but didn’t know whether to be offended or amused.
Keeping still was part of survival in the woods. Stillness meant
food, avoidance of enemies, peace; an animal that couldn’t hold
still didn’t last long. I wondered how long Joven would last. His
wardrobe would get smudged, something that would definitely put him
out. Of course, it was dirty now from attacking the Viel in time to
save my life. The thought made me sober. I owed him for that.