Keeper of the Wolves (9 page)

The Fowler hung his head but glared at the
floor without remorse. My hackles stayed up and every muscle in my
body was tense in case the man decided to retaliate.

“
Master Recorder, please
note that Fowler Bardson’s request is not to be granted and he is
on probation with the Court for contempt toward the Heirs.” The
Fowler let out a string of expletives laced with spittle. I
couldn’t make out the individual words he spoke, but the vile twist
to his face left little to the imagination. Another snarl tore from
my throat and I took a second step forward. He tripped backwards
and was again caught by the guards who promptly hauled him through
the crowd.

I could tell by the looks on the faces of
many in the audience that they were happy with the way the siblings
had handled the Fowler.

“
It’s alright,” Koya
whispered.

I took a calming breath and sat back by her
side, but it was several minutes before my ruff relaxed and the
tension eased from my muscles. Her fingers stroked the fur at the
base of my neck as if she guessed how much the man’s threat had set
me on edge.

The rest of the Petitioner’s Court went
quickly. After the Fowler’s example and treatment, it seemed
everyone else was content to voice their problems and accept the
siblings’ decisions without contention. Joven and Koya stayed until
well after the dinner hour had come and gone with no
refreshment.

The Announcer paused after one particularly
trying issue that involved a cow breaking down a fence and
destroying a cropper’s corn harvest. The case would have been
simple but it turned out that the cow was shared by both neighbors
because one owned the heifer that birthed the cow while the other
had the bull. They split the milk but neither could decide who had
forgotten to tie her the night she broke through the fence.

“
Would you prefer to hear
the rest at the next Petitioner’s Court?” the Announcer asked
quietly.

Koya shook her head despite the weary
circles that shadowed both the siblings’ eyes. “I don’t want them
to have to travel here in another week. Their work has been put on
hold and they’ve been patient. We can be as well.”

A man with a thick beard and shaggy hair
stepped up next. His eyes were small but searched the room
continuously as if he was used to being on a constant lookout for
danger. He gave a nod that held more deference than the Fowler’s
low-scraping bow before he addressed the siblings. He took a breath
as if to steel himself, then said, “My Lord and Lady, I come to be
heard ‘bout the Viel.”

A collective intake of breath swept through
the crowd and the mood tightened. Joven waited until murmurs
slowed, then spoke quietly, “What about the Viel, Herder Thackod?”
His voice was carefully calm, but I heard the underlying tension he
hid.

“
Well, m’Lord,” the Herder
began. He paused and scuffed a toe on the top step, then seemed to
realize what he was doing and stopped. He cleared his throat and
looked up. “I seen two of ‘em in the field day afore
last.”

The answering shock that met his words
turned the air acrid. I studied the crowd, wondering how even the
appearance of a creature could send such fear through them. Joven
cleared his throat and I realized that the Herder’s admission had
startled even him. “I would ask you if you are sure, but we both
know the consequences for saying such a thing lightly,” Joven said
in a tone laced with caution.

The Herder nodded. “I know, m’Lord. It was
them.”

I glanced at Joven. He nodded and a line of
worry creased his brow. “I’ll speak to the Valley Guardians and
find out how any Viel managed to get through.” He said the word
Viel as if it tasted like bitter lemonroot. “I’ll have answers by
the next Petitioner’s Court.”

“
I’d be obliged,” the Herder
replied with an accepting nod. He stepped back into the crowd and
was lost amid the now solemn assembly.

By the time the last petitioner had been
heard, the light from the setting sun showed through the high
colored windows. The petitioners were grateful for the most part
and left quietly. I heard the sound of more than one hungry stomach
as they filed out the door to the courtyard.

“
The issues are increasing,”
Koya said quietly to Joven.

“
We will continue to handle
them with ease,” he replied with a shadow of his jovial
smile.

Koya’s eyebrows lifted. “You call that
easy?”

He laughed and offered a hand to help his
sister stand. Rasmus stepped from the other side of Joven’s chair
and led the way to the door.

“
Lord Joven?” the Master
Recorder called. “May I borrow a moment of your time to verify an
item in the records?”

“
Certainly,” Joven replied.
He threw us a glance. “Go get some dinner and rest. I’ll catch
up.”

Rasmus led the way out the back door and
across the short-trimmed grass. The sun had almost set; only a
faint sliver of blushing red and steel gray touched the horizon. A
shudder ran through me and I felt the call to change. I paused and
closed my eyes, pushing past the need until I was in a place where
it wouldn’t compromise everyone. I gritted my teeth against the
exhaustion that echoed the self-control. My body had not yet
recovered, and the change demanded by moonlight took every bit of
strength I had.

A tiny gasp of surprise brought my head up.
Koya was jerked roughly around the corner of the castle into one of
the many arched alcoves. Rasmus shouted something in his rough
voice. I loped the few feet to the corner, then stopped. My
heartbeat thundered in my ears. A stranger held a knife to Koya’s
throat. They faced Rasmus so the intruder’s back was to me, but the
scent of fear from Koya and hatred from the stranger left no doubt
as to his intentions.

I stalked slowly forward and weighed my
options. If I startled him, he could cut her. A horse stomped; I
located the midnight black animal waiting near a stand of trees. He
intended to get her to the horse and ride away, that much was
clear. Rasmus didn’t have a horse and his fear for Koya’s life
would keep him from acting. They drew closer to the waiting animal.
I had no choice.

I stalked on silent paws behind the pair,
then let out a snarl that held the fury of a dozen demons. The
intruder’s muscles tightened and he spun, letting Koya go in his
shock. She ducked under his arm and ran to Rasmus. The scent of
blood colored the air and I saw a fine line of red across her
throat where the knife had cut her. Another snarl tore from my
throat and the man’s eyes widened. He glanced from me to his horse,
then took off running toward the beast.

I looked at Rasmus. Every instinct screamed
for me to chase the man as he mounted the horse and kicked it into
a gallop, but Koya had been hurt. Rasmus met my eyes. “Stop him,”
he commanded.

Fire ran through my limbs. I pressed my ears
back against my skull and leaped after the horse. It turned past a
line of short-cut shrubs and let out a shrill whinny when it saw it
was being chased. The man kicked it, and used the ends of his reins
to whip its flanks. The horse’s hooves clattered against the
cobblestones as it turned another corner of shrubs and fought to
keep its feet.

My heart pounded with every beat of my paws
against the stone walkway. When caged, I could only remember the
thrill of the chase with an ache that made the iron bars demons
guarding against my freedom. I had forgotten the way blood pulsed
through my veins in demand of the pursuit and the wind flowed
through my fur with the whisper of the prey beckoning me on. My
muscles flexed and contracted in a rhythm my body had never
forgotten. My paws barely grazed the ground. The scent of fear from
my prey drove me faster. I was a wolf again.

The last corner the man turned was his
mistake. Adrenaline flooded my limbs. I closed the distance between
us, then leaped over the shrubs and barreled into the man on the
horse’s back. The horse fell with the impact. I grabbed the
intruder’s shoulder in my jaws and bit down. He let out a scream.
The horse struggled free and trotted a few feet away, its eyes
rolling and nostrils flaring.

Red filled my vision. My heart thundered in
my ears so only the rhythmic thud and the sound of the man’s
terror-filled yells were all that I heard. It was the same triumph
I felt when I brought down a deer with the pack. Koya was safe and
the intruder should die. The man struggled. I bit down harder. Bone
crunched beneath my jaws.

A hand touched the fur on my back. Another
shudder ran down my body at the unaccustomed sensation. “Let him
go,” Joven said. His voice was tight and his breathing was short
and fast.

“
We’ve got it from here,”
Rasmus echoed in a reassuring tone.

I didn’t want to let go. Someone stepped in
front of me and crouched down. It was Joven, his blue eyes wide and
carefully coiffed hair disheveled. “You can let him go, Keeper,” he
said quietly. “We’ll take care of him.”

I blinked at the familiarity of his words.
He gave me a tight but reassuring smile. Instincts screamed for me
to end the man’s life. When a wolf was threatened, the pack did
what it must to end the danger. I didn’t want to let the man go for
fear he would try to hurt Koya again. I should kill him. That was
the only way to protect her.

“
It’s alright,” Rasmus said.
“Koya’s safe. You did well.”

I met his calm gray eyes. Reassurance washed
from him in a confident tide. He wanted to take the man away. He
wouldn’t let him hurt Koya again. The human want to give in to his
wishes warred with my wolf instincts to end the threat forever.
Despair hammered at the back of my thoughts. I was alone in
Vielkeep. I wasn’t human, I wasn’t a wolf. I was a scattered mess
of both trapped in a single mind, and each side tore at me with the
frantic need to be heard. I had to trust someone whose thoughts
were clearer than my own.

Despite instincts that demanded otherwise, I
eased the pressure of my bite. The bitter taste of human blood
coated my mouth. I opened my jaws and let the man fall to the
ground, then took a step back. Rasmus dragged him a few feet away
as though he barely weighed anything. Anger burned in the General’s
eyes along with something else, fear. He had truly feared for
Koya’s life, but had been able to keep it at bay long enough to
reason with me.

Koya! I found her standing near a handful of
maids and guards on the walkway where I had left her. Tears showed
on her cheeks in the fading light as a maid carefully cleaned the
small cut on her neck. My chest heaved and another shudder ran
through my body. It was more forceful this time, demanding to be
acknowledged.

Joven was watching me. “Go,” he said
urgently.

I ran down the path past Koya and those who
tended to her. I thought I heard her call my name, or at least the
name they had given me, but I couldn’t stop. I slid around a corner
and dashed through the door someone had thankfully had the
foresight to leave open. My paws sunk in the thick carpet as I
loped up the hall and into the room where I had spent my days
recovering.

My body shook with adrenaline and the
promise of change. The image of the man holding a knife to Koya’s
throat refused to leave my mind. My stomach rolled. I bit back my
breakfast’s attempt to escape and took several shuddering deep
breaths to calm myself. Moonlight spread across the floor. I
couldn’t fight it anymore.

A groan wrenched from my lips before my
limbs stretched and muscles twisted. The pain and frustration of
not being in control warred as I contorted and felt my fur
disappear to leave me bare and cold. The wounds which had almost
healed didn’t hurt as much as before. A healing ache filled me as
my body settled into the human form.

Chapter 7

I lay on the carpet exhausted. I didn’t have
the energy or will to move. My head throbbed from pressing my body
far beyond what I should have, and my shoulder hurt. I must have
hit it when I brought the rider down. I lay on my back and stared
up at the moonlight that filtered through the slits in the wall.
They had been filled with colored glass that changed the nighttime
glow into a rainbow-hued tapestry across the dark carpet. I
stretched my hand toward one and watched green and blue fall in
waves along my palm.

“
Are you
alright?”

I sat up at Joven’s voice and pushed back
against the bed. I pulled a blanket down to cover my nakedness. I
felt exposed and bare without my fur, and the clothing the humans
wore hinted that perhaps they felt the same way.

Joven hesitated at the door to give me a
moment to collect myself, then stepped inside. I appreciated his
quiet, unassuming manner. Neither he nor Koya had been bothered
when I couldn’t find the courage to talk in my human form. I didn’t
trust a throat that felt unaccustomed to making wolf calls, let
alone speak as they did.

“
I thought you might be
exhausted after all that,” he said. He crossed the floor and
crouched near the smoldering fireplace. Scents of confusion,
frustration, and relief wafted from him. He was quiet for several
moments as he arranged a few small logs on the coals and breathed
the flames back to life. The flicker of orange and yellow played
across his face. He studied the fire as though wishing it could
reveal answers to his problems.

He finally sighed and turned still in a
crouch to face me. “I leave her for two seconds and look what
happened.” He said the words as though he spoke them to himself,
not to me. Regret and disbelief warred across his face. “She could
have been killed.” His voice was soft and filled with
self-criticism. He blamed himself for what might have happened.