The Shadows of Night (18 page)

“Should I ally myself with your people instead, when you tried to kill me five sunrises ago?”

 
“Your people value honor.
 
There is no honor in allying yourself with cowards.”

“True,” Katara said tartly, “which is why we have no intention of allying ourselves with the Fang.
 
Your recent actions have marked you as
cowardly
, more cowardly by far than the leaf eaters.”

Hart interrupted.
 
“Trading insults gets us nowhere.”

“But it is an enjoyable way to pass the time,” Katara drawled.

Hart narrowed his eyes at her, warning her to silence, then turned his attention back to the bitch.
 
“What is your name?”

“Evening Star,” she
said,
her voice full of arrogance.
 
“I am the daughter of the alpha of the Fang.
 
If you do not let me go, you will suffer his wrath.”

Hart felt his eyebrows shoot up.
 
He was surprised that she had volunteered that information.
 
But although he didn’t know much about the Fang, he did know that rank meant everything to them.
 
“The alpha is your father?”

“Yes.
 
He will do anything to protect me.”

“And yet he left you behind easily enough.”

“My father was not among the wolves in our group last night,” she said, her eyes shooting blue sparks.
 
“He would have died rather than leave me behind.
 
Believe
me,
he will kill you if you do not set me free.”

“It seems he plans to kill us anyway,” Katara said thoughtfully.

Hart glanced at her.
 
The same notion had struck him.
 
“If true, this information gives us
a certain
leverage,” he said slowly.
 
He watched the bitch’s eyes go wide with dismay as she followed his train of thought.

Katara smiled down at the bitch.
 
It was not a pleasant smile.
 
“Indeed it does.
 
Perhaps we can convince him that killing our peoples is not in his best interest.”

Hart nodded.
 
“We will need to get a message to the alpha.”

*****

“I should be the one to go,” Katara said moments later, in the audience room.
 
Her parents, now wearing the fabric clothing of the Antler, were seated across from her, as were Prong, the monarch, and the monarch’s consort.
 
“What if the bitch is lying?
 
If she means nothing to the alpha, the Pack will pull you down and tear you to pieces.”

Hart shook his head.
 
“I will not allow you to risk yourself that way.
 
I will go.”

“No.
 
I should be the one to go.
 
I can get closer to the village before I am seen.”

“You will have to be seen eventually.
 
And over long distances, I am faster than you.
 
The sooner our message is delivered, the fewer people may die.”

Katara hesitated, seeing the logic in his argument but not wanting to acknowledge it.
 
“I do not wish to risk you,” she said at last, in a barely audible whisper.

“You must.”
 
The corners of Hart’s mouth lifted in a faintly mocking smile.
 
“It is a matter of honor.”

“The Antler is correct,” her mother said.
 
She could tell Hart had earned the respect of her parents.
 
And he had earned hers, as well.
 
His willingness to sacrifice himself for his people, and her own, made her heart swell with strange new emotions, emotions she’d never felt for a man before.
 
“Besides, his people speak the language of diplomacy in a way our people cannot.
 
He should be the one to go.”

Katara hesitated a long moment.
 
“Very well,” she said at last, in a bare whisper.

Hart nodded.
 
Rising to his feet, he stood up, pulled her to a standing position, and kissed her, pressing his mouth to hers in the presence of both their families.
 
It was a quick, firm kiss, obviously meant to make his intentions clear, to both her family and his own.
 
To stamp her as
his,
and to reassure her that he would be back for her, no matter what.
 
She could read all that in the fast, hard pressure of his lips.

And then he lifted his head and stripped off his clothes, dropping them into a pile
on
 
the
floor.
 
Seconds later, he had shifted and bounded from the room without a backward glance.

Katara walked to the great arched window and stared out.
 
A scant moment later she saw him cantering for the gate.
 
He passed through the gate and into the streets of the town.
 
Moments later he galloped into the meadows that surrounded the town.
 

She watched until he disappeared into the forest.

A hand on her shoulder startled her.
 
She had been so engrossed in watching Hart that she hadn’t heard footsteps on the wooden floor.
 
She looked up to see Prong gazing down at her, a sympathetic expression in his dark eyes.

“He will return,” he said, with absolutely no doubt in his voice.

“I hope so,” she answered, hearing her own voice clogged with tears.

“He will return,” Prong repeated, and she heard the hero worship of the younger brother in his voice.
 
Remembering what Hart had told her, she imagined Prong as a small spotted fawn, pinned on the forest floor beneath a panther, and envisioned Hart leaping to the rescue.
 
Small wonder that Prong admired his brother so greatly.
 
“My brother has never failed when it matters.
 
He will succeed.”

Beneath the unwavering confidence in his gaze she saw a flicker of the same uncertainty she felt.
 
She swallowed and pushed the uncertainty away.
 
“Yes,” she answered staunchly.
 
“He will succeed.
 
He must.”

*****

Hart cantered through the forest at his top speed, his ears swiveling in every direction, listening for the faintest sound.
 
He sniffed the air alertly, on guard for the scent of wolf and avoiding the clumps of
masala
bushes they used to mask their odor.
 
He couldn’t carry out his mission with an arrow through his heart.

The moons hadn’t yet risen, and the darkness helped conceal him as he sped through the trees.
 
He arrived at the Fang’s village as the smaller moon was rising, causing shadows to shift and flicker.
 

The fields around the village provided no concealment for his passage, despite the tall wheat that grew in them.
 
The tops of the wheat stalks did not even rise to his shoulder.
 
He stood at the edge of the forest a moment, shifting his hooves nervously,
then
bounded out into the moonlight.
 
Speed, he thought, was his best chance.
 

He bolted into the field at top speed, the soft, plowed dirt shifting beneath his hooves.
 
He darted first to the right,
then
lunged to the left, hoping that if anyone shot a fang at him, they would be unable to aim accurately.

His mad dash seemed to work.
 
The wind in his ears, and the swishing sound of the wheat as he galloped through it, obscured any sounds.
  
But if a fang was thrown at him, it didn’t bite into him.
 
Moments later he arrived at the village.
 

He dashed onto the road that led between the dwellings.
 
The road was cobbled, not unlike the stone floors of the Antler keep, and he skidded slightly at the change in footing, then steadied himself and continued to gallop.
 
His hooves clattered against the cobbles, and lights began to flicker on in the dwellings as he passed.

The smells of the Fang village were unfamiliar and alien to him.
 
He could smell the wood smoke the Fangs used to heat their houses against the light chill of the autumn evening, as well as the disgusting odor of burned flesh they cooked for their meals and the sweet scent of herbs they grew in pots on their doorsteps.
 
He smelled the live animals they kept for food and farming purposes, unlike any of the other Kindred.
 
The smells of hay and manure filled his nostrils as he passed a stable, and an animal made a whinnying sound.

He galloped on, wondering where to find the alpha.
 
Unfortunately, the leader of the wolf pack didn’t seem to live in a large, grand dwelling as the Antler monarch did.
 
But he was certain that if he sought him long enough, the alpha would come to him.

He skidded to a halt as the shadows began to move, and several dark figures skulked out of the moonlight.
 
Wolves, all large and gray, though none big enough to be the alpha.

He took a deep breath, forced himself to calmness, and shifted into his defenseless human form.

Their lips curled up to show their teeth, and they crouched to spring.

“I have a message for the alpha,” he said steadily, trying to ignore the pounding of his heart.
 
“It concerns his daughter, Evening Star.
 
I suggest you escort me to him without harm.”

The shadows shifted again, and the enormous, shaggy wolf he’d seen leading the pack slunk forward.
 
He stared at Hart a long moment, eyes glittering in the moonlight, and then he shifted.
 

In his human form, he was powerful and silver-haired, with the unmistakable arrogance of command, reminding Hart a bit of his own father.
 
Mere days ago, he never would have admitted that thought.
 
But he had come to understand that the Kindred weren’t as different as he had once believed.
 
This man was a leader, just as his own father was.

“I come with a message,” Hart said steadily.
 
“We have your daughter, Evening Song, and we hold her prisoner.
 
If you use your flying fangs to bite another Antler, or another Claw, we will kill her.”

The man actually flinched.
 
Family clearly meant as much amongst the Fang as it did to the Antler.
 
“The Antler Kindred do not believe in killing,” he growled.
 
“You don’t have the teeth to kill my daughter.”

Hart smiled slightly.
 
“I admit
,
killing is not our way.
 
But you would be surprised at what I am willing to do to protect my people.
 
I will kill her myself if I must.
 
Trust me.”

He met the older man’s gaze unwaveringly.
 
At last the man’s gaze flickered away.
 
“Then you leave us with only one choice.
 
We will hold you prisoner.”

“No.
 
If I do not return by sun’s fall tomorrow, your daughter will die.”

The older man’s hands clenched into fists at his sides.
 
“I will not allow you to hurt my daughter.”

“I have no wish to harm your daughter,” Hart answered.
 
“My people are not killers.
 
But we will kill her if we must, in order to protect our own Kindred.”
 
As he spoke the words, he realized that he truly meant them. In his head, he heard Katara’s voice.
 
My people do not hesitate to fight to protect themselves and the ones they love.
 

She was right, he thought.
 
The notion of killing again still appalled him on a deep, visceral level, yet if that was what he must do to protect his people, he would do it without hesitation.
 

The man tilted his head.
 
“Once you kill her, you will have no leverage against us.”

“True.
 
But once she is dead, she will be dead.
 
Do you wish your daughter’s lifeless body thrown into the forest to be devoured by animals, Alpha?”

The older man flinched again.
 
All at once he looked much older.

“Go, then,” he hissed.
 
“Go, Antler.
 
We will not harm you or your people,
nor
the Claw, again.”

Hart inclined his head.
 
Still in his naked, human form, he turned his back on the growling wolf pack.
 
His skin rippled involuntarily, but he refused to show fear by shifting.
 
He walked slowly down the main street of the town, away from the wolves.