Keeper of the Wolves (8 page)

I stepped into the sunlight and blinked as
my eyes adjusted from the shadows of Koya’s grandfather’s quarters
to the golden light of day. Pollen from a hundred different
varieties of flowers tickled my nose. I took a deep breath of rose
and lavender mixed with the sharp pine scent of evergreens kept
trimmed on the east side of the garden. A breeze brushed across my
thick fur, chasing away the scent of sickness and herbs. The
twitter of maids chattering happily as they worked in the gardens
was harmonized by the deeper calls of the stable hands that ran
horses in the corrals near the wooden buildings.

“
Are you coming?”

I looked up to see Koya watching me with a
smile on her face as if she guessed just how much I had missed
being outside. I followed her along the brick-lined garden path.
Her fingers strayed down to tangle softly in my fur. I turned my
attention to our surroundings to keep my mind focused. Sunflowers
and pink and purple lilies with petals that darkened to shades of
deep violet lined the pathway. The soft ivy underfoot gave off a
scent of summer rich with hot days, cool evenings, and nights
filled with the promise of gentle rain.

The gardens were vast, spanning the entire
area behind the castle in squares and small mazes with shrubbery
walls high enough to give privacy to those inside. The sound of
talking faded to a soft murmur the deeper we walked. Koya led me to
a back area of the garden where the flowers were allowed to grow
with wild abandon. To me it was more beautiful than the carefully
manicured walkways closer to the castle.

We turned a corner and my heart slowed at
the scent of iron. The smell was all that remained of my cage, a
stale trace of metal that tainted the grasses and bent willows that
had just begun to rise after being flattened by the heavy
enclosure. I hoped the cage had been melted down to a puddle. Koya
felt me hesitate and her hand smoothed the fur at the base of my
neck reassuringly. “I had Rasmus get rid of it. You’ll never have
to live in a cage again.”

I followed her to a stand of aspens near the
back corner of the garden. She sat down at their base as though she
had done so many times before. She patted the soft grass near her
invitingly. “You look like you could use a rest.”

I didn’t like the thought of appearing weak,
but the short walk had used up most of my strength. I settled onto
the warm bed of grass lit by a circle of sunlight. The sun warmed
my muscles and soothed the throbbing of the healing whip wound
along my back. I let out a quiet sigh.

“
I know what you mean,” Koya
replied. I glanced at her without lifting my head from my paws and
she smiled. “I always come here when I’ve had a long day.” Her brow
furrowed slightly. “That’s been more often lately.” She rested her
head against the white bark and closed her eyes. Her hand strayed
to my back, a reassuring weight that was quickly becoming familiar.
I welcomed the tingle of warmth that always accompanied her touch.
“It’s nice to share this spot with someone,” she said
quietly.

A few minutes later she spoke without
opening her eyes, “I always imagined sitting here with a man I
trusted and cared about. I saw myself marrying the man of my dreams
and living with him at Vielkeep Castle for the rest of our days.” A
laugh touched with regret escaped her. “I guess I figured Joven and
I would share the castle and the responsibilities as we’ve done
since Father passed away. I conveniently ignored the fact that if I
married, I would be obliged to go to my husband’s holdings.” A note
of longing entered her tone. “I don’t want to leave this
place.”

Her fingers tightened in my fur at the last
words. A long-forgotten memory ran through my mind. I saw myself
after the first time I changed, a scared pup whose life had been
turned upside-down with no explanation as to why. The other wolves
were afraid of me and I feared what I had become. My first impulse
was to run away and leave behind the scent of their fear and my own
terror, but they were my woods. I had grown up beneath the trees
playing with the other wolves and learning to hunt like our elders.
I knew every rock and tree, the murmur of the brook past our den
and the sway of the breeze through the leaves. My heart belonged to
the woods and the wolves. I didn’t want to leave.

Remorse filled me as the memory faded away.
I had been forced to leave anyway, and as a prisoner instead of at
my own choice. My woods were no longer my own. My home had been
shattered with one wrong step.

“
Koya?”

We both looked up at the sound of Joven’s
voice. Koya’s brother appeared a few seconds later looking flushed
and out of breath. A glint of frustration touched his gaze when he
saw us. “Koya, the Petitioner’s Court is about to start. I’ve been
looking everywhere for you.”

He seemed a bit worn around the edges. His
usually carefully folded cravat was skewed and his hair looked as
though he had tangled with a lilac bush and the bush won. Bits of
sticks and a few light purple flower petals littered his clothing
and hair. Koya giggled. “Joven, you look ridiculous.”

The comment did nothing to ease her
brother’s flustered state. She rose smoothly and picked the pieces
from his hair while he straightened his black jerkin and dark red
cravat.

“
We were supposed to be
there at high noon,” Joven scolded, his tone slightly more relaxed
than before. “We can’t keep them waiting.”

“
I wasn’t planning to,” Koya
replied. “Tessa was to come and get me when it was
time.”

As if on cue, the maid stepped into view.
She saw us and smiled in relief. “Lady Koya, it’s time.”

“
Thank you, Tessa,” Koya
replied with a graceful nod. “We’ll be there.”

Tessa eyes slipped to me and a brief shadow
of concern crossed her face before she curtsied and disappeared
back around the corner. Joven followed her gaze to me and his brow
creased as if he had forgotten I was there. “Don’t you look
comfortable?” he asked, his tone level.

Koya guided him to the edge of the small
square of garden where we had been resting. “Let him be,” she said.
“He needs to rest.”

Joven paused before exiting the shrub and
met my gaze. “You should come with us. You might find the
Petitioner’s Court enlightening.” He said the last word as though
he was attempting to be humorous, but both he and Koya looked weary
and determined as if they faced a heavy trial.

I rose to my feet. If they had to confront
something unpleasant, it wouldn’t do for them to face it alone. I
limped after Koya and when she glanced back and saw me, the
heaviness of her gaze lightened and she waited for me to catch up.
Both siblings walked slowly enough that I could keep up, but when
we got to the small gray building on the west side of the castle, I
was ready to drop from exhaustion. It scared me how weak I felt. If
Koya was truly in trouble, I wouldn’t be much good to her as
helpless as a newborn pup.

I gritted my teeth and lifted my head. The
scent of hundreds of people, washed and unwashed, sweaty or scented
with perfume, assailed my nose when we stepped through a back door
held open by a palace guard in Vielkeep black and red. Koya and
Joven exchanged a heavy glance before passing underneath a thick
red cloth curtain separating them from the hum of commotion that
filled the hall. I followed them through the gap in the cloth and
paused at the sight of at least two hundred people standing and
sitting around the vast room. Scents of anxiety, fear, hunger,
sadness, and worry assailed my nose along with the smells I
attributed to workers of livestock, wood, metal, meat, plants and
the other various crafts that supported city life.

Talking ceased as soon as Joven and Koya
appeared. Several men in front stepped forward but were held back
by four guards armed with heavy black clubs. Swords hung at their
sides, but it looked as though the clubs saw more use. I crossed to
Koya’s side and felt all eyes shift to me. I sat next to her and
let my eyes roam the crowd. I was used to being gawked at, but
somehow the absence of bars between me and the audience changed the
situation. I felt as though I had the upper hand this time. I met
the gazes of several men who had pushed their way through the crowd
at the siblings’ appearance and they looked away uncomfortably.
That was something I could definitely get used to.

Joven nodded at the expectant crowd; his
smile was tight and well-rehearsed. It put the crowd at ease, but
kept him above them as a superior. I wondered how a human could
develop such expertise in expression. My experience in the circus
led me to believe most were rough and unrefined in the area,
unaware of how a simple tightening of the eyes or a slight crease
at the corners of the mouth spoke more than a thousand words. It
seemed that Joven, on the other hand, was well-versed in the art of
expression without speaking.

A man stood near the dais wearing a black
robe with a red rose on the shoulder. “Welcome, citizens of
Vielkeep. The Petitioner’s Court is ready to begin,” he
announced.

“
About time,” one of the men
in front mumbled.

Joven and Koya sat in the two simple chairs
on the raised dais that took up the front of the court. Rasmus
entered the room, nodded respectfully at the siblings, and stood on
Joven’s left side. He threw me a curious look, but didn’t question
my presence.

Koya’s hand slid down to rest at the base of
my neck. I wondered if she did it for reassurance; it was obvious
neither sibling enjoyed the Petitioner’s Court. I respected them
for doing what was necessary despite an apparent distaste for the
proceedings.

Joven nodded and the guards cleared a path
two steps below. The first petitioner was a man with well-patched
clothes and a worn canvas hat that he removed to reveal a bald
patch amid his white and gray hair. The guards gestured and he
stepped onto the step just below the dais. A scent of fresh grass,
early morning dew, and clean dirt met my nose as he addressed the
siblings.

“
My Lord and Lady,” he said,
his eyes lowered respectfully in a manner that reminded me of
lesser wolves in a hierarchy, “My son ‘as injured when our horse
kicked ‘im being shoed. ‘Is arm is swollen and ‘e can’t work.” The
man’s voice dropped as if asking for help was hard but necessary.
“My hay’s down but I can’t gather et quickly enough. I beg
assistance for help with gathering ta harvest so’s mold don’t ruin
ta field.” He crushed his hat in his hands and stood there with his
eyes lowered waiting for a response.

Joven glanced at Koya and she turned her
attention to a man sitting at a small desk near the front corner.
“Master Recorder, please note that Cropper Andrus Varn is allotted
two prisoners for the amount of time he needs to clear his field.
The work will go toward paying off the prisoners’ debts and Cropper
Varn’s fields will be cared for.”

The Master Recorder wrote quickly. The scent
of his ink, a walnut and iron mixture, touched the air as his quill
scratched on the sheet of parchment.

“
Thank ye kindly, m’Lord and
Lady,” Cropper Varn said with a grateful bow. He stepped back down
and was swallowed by the waiting crowd.

The next man, tall and skinny in a strange
high brown hat with a goose feather sticking out of it, bowed low
and swept his hat in front of him with a practiced ease. When he
rose, I saw that his nose was long but crooked as if he had lost a
fight once. A scent of goose down and corn dust wafted from the
long brown jacket that fell almost to his knees.

Another scent, a lingering smell of stale,
sweet barley and cruelty made the hair stir on the back of my neck.
He spoke in a gratingly honeyed voice, “M’Lord and Lady Vielslayer,
my geese are unmanageable and I been hard pressed ta keep ‘em from
ta foxes and mink. I request a goose girl ta shield ‘em from
harm.”

I felt Koya’s hand tighten in my fur and
glanced up to see that her face was a wall of calm, but anger
roiled beneath the façade of her sky blue eyes. Joven was watching
the man with a slight curl of distaste to his lips as though even
he couldn’t hide how he felt. Koya pierced the man with a look.
“Fowler Bardson, need I remind you that your last goose girl ran
away and was taken in by Baker Mailyn. She was covered in bruises
and said you beat her when you were drunk.”

The man straightened from his groveling post
and a shadow of anger clouded his face. “It’s me own business what
I do wi’ me ‘elp,” he said in a bark that sent spittle to the
steps. “She wa’ a coward and a nuisance, and et would be in your
bes’ interest not ta send my name through ta mud.”

I bared my teeth at the undercurrent of
violence in his tone. A growl rumbled in my chest and I took a step
toward him. The man’s eyes widened and he stumbled back down the
steps. The guards below caught him and halted his descent. The
murmurs that had risen through the crowd at the Fowler’s request
fell completely silent.

“
Wh-what’s tha’ beast doin’
up there?” he stammered.

Neither Joven nor Koya seemed ruffled by my
response; instead, slight scent of satisfaction rose from both of
them. I kept my eyes locked on the Fowler’s. “I suppose this is an
appropriate time to introduce Koya’s new personal guard,” Joven
said with a wry lilt to his words. Another murmur went up through
the crowd, but it was speculative and not filled with the anger
that had responded to the Fowler’s demand for a new goose girl.

“
A wuf that size ain’t no
ordinary beast,” the Fowler growled in an undertone.

“
I would suggest that no one
threatens my sister while he is around,” Joven replied in his
casual tone. His words sharpened slightly, “Speaking to your Heirs
as you have is disrespectful, Fowler Bardson. Need I remind you how
closely you came to imprisonment last year when you appeared at
Petitioner’s Court drunk and demanding your goose girl be returned
to you?”