Wolf Magic Page 4

  “Josephine,” I began, sitting down with her at one of the tables in the lair. Even with the pillow, the stone that served as a chair was damp and hard, revealing that beneath the opulence of the palace there were still certain Wolfish elements to the design. I couldn't help longing ever so slightly for familiar human comforts.

  “Yes?” Josephine was on edge. “What is it?”

  I took a deep breath, weighing the effect of my words.

  “What the Giantess said,” I began. “You know all those myths and legends, don't you? After growing up in Feyland your whole life? So you must know about the Red Wolf, and the Wolfstone?”

  Josephine's eyes narrowed. “Ye-es,” she said slowly.

  “Well, do you believe in them? The Giantess said...”

  Josephine considered. “Well, we know she's no ordinary Giant,” said Josephine. “That stuff that happened with her stomach out there – that's powerful magic. Fey magic. I'd be surprised if she didn’t know what she was talking about.”

  “And do you know anything about them?”

  “About the Red Wolf? And the Wolfstone?”

  “Yes?”

  Josephine chewed her hair, her eyebrows furrowing as she was lost in thought. “I was a little kid when I heard those stories,” she said, thinking. “I can hardly remember. The legend of the three girls – the three sisters something like that?”

  “Well, you know more than I do,” I said. “Do you think they could help us? Restore the Fey magic, I mean.”

  “If only it were true,” said Josephine. “That a Wolfstone somewhere – out there – held the key to us wolves getting all our magic back. It's a nice story, in any case. Of course, if it did exist, it would be incredibly dangerous. Creatures like the Giantess would be willing to risk their lives to get it”

  “If it restores Wolf Fey magic,” I said, “perhaps it could give Fey magic to other creatures, too.”

  “Maybe,” said Josephine. “There are so many legends – and almost all of them add something new to what the Wolfstone can do. Some say it turns cotton into gold. Others swear that it makes the wearer invisible. Still others try to say that it cures ills – mental, emotional....”

  “Emotional.”

  “Love, for example,” Josephine raised her eyebrows at me with a small smile.

  “Cure love?”

  “Take away all the hurt, all the pain. Everything human about it.” She laughed bitterly. “Well, if it's real, I know whom I'm giving it to first...” She patted my hand. “I do feel for you, cousin. If only there really were a Wolfstone that could cure you.”

  It took every ounce of self-control I had not to pull out the Wolfstone then and there to test her theory, but I knew better than to reveal the stone in public like that.

  But before I could succumb to my own temptation I heard a strange rumbling sound in the distance. A sound that made the cave begin to shake, and plaster powder fall from the ceilings. The wolves were looking up, confused, as the whole cave throbbed with a strange rhythm.

  “What's that?” Gideon turned to Josephine.

  She bit her lip. “I'm not sure,” she said slowly, “But it sounds an awful lot like an earthquake.”

  Chapter 6

  All at once, the hair on the back of my neck – hair that so often morphed into fur – began to stand on end. I shuddered as I looked around, sniffing the air, my wolfish senses truly kicking in. I could feel the spike in my blood, in my heart rate, the sense of power and passion all around me that I knew meant that danger was in the air. Some people feared danger – but not wolves. We loved it. The adrenaline gave us new and strange strength. We were addicted to that smell – the smell of fear – that challenged us to do better, to be better. To be stronger than ever before. Josephine and I traded glances and I saw in her eyes that which I knew in myself. That there was something that united both of us – as leaders of our Wolf packs. Some strange force that made us exhilarated when danger was afoot rather than merely afraid. A delight we took in being challenged, in being pushed to our limits. Even now, after an exhausting fight with the Giantess, my mind having been inverted by her tricks, her ways, I was ready for another battle. My muscles tensed up. My whole body began to shake and shiver in anticipation.

  “Could it be the Giantess again?” Josephine grimaced as her bright eyes turned upwards, towards the ceiling, which was beginning to shake with the sound of the storm. “Or…what?”

  Immediately she took off towards the corridor, which had a little hole in the wall from which one could spy the outside world. She was swift, and left both me and Gideon behind in her wake. I watched as Gideon turned to look after her, his gaze mournful with longing as he watched her from behind. He looked, I thought to myself grimly, exactly how I felt. If I was any good at all at hiding my emotions, it was only because I had a job to do, a job that precluded me from letting myself fall into my customary melancholy stupor about Breena.

  I couldn’t do that. Not now. I had to be strong – to show Josephine that I could be strong, that I could be a leader as powerful as she was. I took off after her, the air spicy with scents – the smell of Wolves, of battle, of blood, of danger.

  I caught up to Josephine by the looking-out point, where she was pressing against the little window.

  “There,” she said sternly. “Recognize that?”

  I drew in my breath. There, in the distance, I recognized something familiar. A sheen I had seen before – a dull ivory. The sheen of strange horns.

  “Minotaurs.”

  Josephine nodded, confirming my fears. She frowned.

  “But what would Minotaurs want with us?” She looked into my eyes, and for a moment I feared that I saw in her steely gaze a look of understanding. I feared that she knew what I kept hidden – knew all of my secrets, knew about the Wolfstone that burned into my pockets that I could feel alongside my skin like a red-hot ember. “What could we possibly have that would…”

  I gulped and stammered out a reply. “I don’t know,” I said, looking at the floor. It was lucky that it was dark, or else I knew Josephine would have easily cottoned onto my nebulous expression.

  “Not that they need a reason,” Josephine’s dislike of the Minotaurs luckily meant she was in no mood to pry. “After all, what Minotaur ever needed a reason to start a fight?” She scoffed softly and tossed her long chestnut hair.

  “Right,” I said, my heart beating as much with fear that Josephine would discover my secret as with fear of the Minotaurs.

  “But these aren’t just some drunken brawlers.” Josephine looked out over the horizon, where dozens of Minotaurs – their rippling male torsos given way to the heads and horns of bulls – were making their way over the hills. “This is an army. They’re not looking for a few punches – these guys mean business.” The question was implicit; it hung in the air. Why? What have you brought upon us, Logan?

  “Business?” I gulped.

  “This is an army,” Josephine said again. “Whatever they want – somebody pretty high up in the Minotaurs wants it. I don’t know what they think they’re doing, starting this kind of aggression with us!” Josephine was righteously indignant. “After all, we’ve never done them any harm! We’ve let them be. And they think they have the right to come in here and dare…”

  I cut her off, my guilty secret making me too anxious to let her go on. I couldn’t tell her the truth straight out, though. So I hedged instead. “The Giantess seemed to be under the impression that I had the Wolfstone,” I said at last, my voice shaking only slightly. “Or at the very least that I might know where it was. Well, maybe that rumor wasn’t just a one-off. Other people heard it. If the Wolfstone is as powerful and as magical as all that…” My voice trailed off. Deep down, I thought, I wanted Josephine to guess my secret; I wanted her to know that the Wolfstone was in my possession. I trusted her; deep down I knew I could trust her. But something held me back from telling her directly. Fear, perhaps. And doubt – doubt that all of this madness could really
be happening, could really be true, that I could really be the one tasked with carrying the Wolfstone.

  I sighed, and Josephine did too.

  “If someone thinks we have the Wolfstone,” said Josephine. “Rightly or wrongly – it puts us all in danger. That stone is pretty powerful – and creatures like the Minotaurs, like the Giantess, won’t stop hunting us down until they find it.”

  Hearing her put it like that made my cheeks crimson, as I suddenly became aware of the selfishness of my actions. By being here, I had put all the Wolves of the pack – from Josephine to Gideon to Cat – in danger. And if I didn’t give up the Wolfstone, it wouldn’t be long before other, more powerful creatures, got wind of it. Fairies. Pixies. Banshees. I shuddered as my mind checked off a mental list of Feyland’s scariest creatures.

  “I won’t let that happen,” I said, more bravely than I felt. “I promise. I won’t have the Wolf Fey subjected to attacks from every creature between the North Odin Mountains and the Southern Plains – I won’t! We’ve got to find a way to end this.”

  “How?” Josephine’s eyes were soft and full of something strange – almost pity.

  “The Three Sisters – those three women you mentioned. We have to find them.”

  Josephine broke into a surprised laugh. “The Three Sisters! Why, they probably don’t even exist. They’re just stories for children, Logan.”

  “Well, aren’t we just stories for children?”

  This stopped Josephine in her tracks. She bit her lip and considered.

  “They’re fables…” she said, less surely this time. “Legends, nothing more…”

  I took in a deep breath. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being here in Feyland,” I said slowly, “it’s that the one thing you need here is faith. Faith that Feyland will guide you to where you need to go. That it won’t steer us wrong. And right now, my gut – call it intuition or call it Feyland’s whispers or call it whatever you want – is telling me that those sisters are real, or else they’ll have to be real. We need to figure out how to harness the power of the Wolfstone – and we need to figure it out before the Minotaurs and Banshees and whoever else decides that we’re ripe for the pickings.”

  “And what do we do about the Minotaurs?” As she looked out over the horizons, Josephine’s voice had grown sharp. “They’ll be here in minutes. If only we had more time…” I could see the fear in her eyes. “We’ll need to evacuate, to run…”

  “Go,” I said, cutting her off mid-sentence. “Run, warn the others. Tell them to grab their weapons.”

  “You want us to fight?” She looked at me in abashed astonishment. “Cousin, there is no fighting with Minotaurs. They’ll rip us to shreds and eat us alive. This isn’t a battle we can win, Logan. We need to get as many Wolves out of here as we can.” She swallowed hard. “I’ll stay back – I’m not leaving here until every one of my Wolves is out safely…”

  “I’ve fought Minotaurs before,” I tried to insist. “In the Fey army. And I’ve won, too. They’re strong but they’re slow, stupid. Agility gets them every time. The key is to strike at their weak spot, to get them where it’ll hurt, in the neck…”

  Josephine turned away. “I know you’ve been gone a long time, Logan, but this isn’t how we do things around here.”

  Her words stung, but I pressed onwards, blindly. Deep down I knew I couldn’t let us lose, that I couldn’t be the one to be responsible for defeat because of my Wolfstone, not today. I had to fight. I had to stand up to them.

  “I can call our allies – the Frost Fire Knights.”

  “Fairies,” Josephine looked disgusted. “You’re saying we have to rely on fairies?”

  “They’ve got strong archers among them – archers who can let fly an arrow into the neck of a Minotaur at a thousand feet. Something we don’t have.”

  “We are not fighting alongside the Fey this time,” Josephine rounded on me. “How would it look for my men and women if we only survived a Minotaur Raid because of the charity of the Fey?”

  “How would it look to run away?”

  Her cheeks blushed red with anger as she conceded my point. “Not great, I guess,” she murmured through between clenched teeth.

  “No,” I stared her down. “Not great at all. Josephine, I need you to do this. I need you to stand up for the Wolf Fey, for all of us.”

  “I can’t.”

  And then I said it. The words that no Wolf could ignore. The words that made her eyes light up with fiery rage. “Josephine, as your leader, I order you to prepare for battle.”

  I’d pulled rank on Josephine for the first time in her life. And from the fury in her gaze I could see just how much she resented it. “We’re going to lose several in the battle, you know,” she said. “Even if we win.”

  I swallowed hard but did not vary my gaze. “I know,” I said. “Do you think we can do it, Josephine?” For a moment I was vulnerable – for a moment I wavered.

  At last she nodded. “We’re Wolf Fey,” she said with a bitter smile. “Of course we can.”

  Without stopping to let me react, Josephine dashed off to the Great Hall. I could hear her howls and the howls of the other wolves, echoing through that enormous chamber, the call to battle I knew all too well, invigorating all of the Wolves in their turn.

  “We’re ready, Prince.” Gideon, dressed in silver armor, appeared before long, his sword in hand, zeal clear upon his face. “Lead the way.”

  “Prince…” Josephine bowed too, her face inscrutable as her pride mingled with her respect.

  I looked back out towards the Minotaurs, to where they were approaching one by one against the darkness of the shadows and the cold, eerie light of the moon.

  Let them come, I thought to myself.

  Chapter 7

  The night air was alive with howls. The sound was piercing, intoxicating, exhilarating and terrifying. The sound of ten thousand wolves calling to arms their fellow brothers and sisters, ready to fight, ready to die. My ears stung at the sound – the agonizing and yet beautiful sounds of howls that echoed and reverberated off the walls. They all howled one familiar cry – the Wolf call to battle. But, my heart pounding within my chest, my whole body trembling with excitement, my whole being alive with the power that I knew I wield, I would make a different call. I made my way to the very top of the cavern complex, to the top of the cliff which served as a barrier between the Wolves and their enemies, barely even conscious of transitioning once more into my lupine form. My fur was thicker than usual; it shone with a strange light as I lifted up my muzzle to the stars and howled. A Calling. To the woman I loved – to the men I trusted, for whom I would lay down my life. Asking them to lay down their lives for me. Asking them to come hither, to help us fight, to help us win. For I knew Breena, at least, would recognize the tenor of my call – perhaps Alistair too. The Frost Fire Knights of Feyland. I closed my eyes as I pictured Breena as I had so longed to see her for so many days – beautiful and resplendent on her steed, her skin dewy and glowing from her ride, her face flushed from battle, that high nobility I knew all too well reflected in every aspect of her gaze. As I closed my eyes, allowing my howls to get louder and louder, stronger and stronger, I gave myself over to fantasies, to the mental image of Breena coming with her Fey army behind her. The army of the United Feyland.

  For so long, as a child, I had dreamed of a United Feyland. A Feyland of peace – of prosperity, where Winter and Summer were no longer at odds with one another. And yet now, the thought of that banner filled me with a cold chill. For the United Feyland banner, the flag that represented the melding of Summer and Winter, also represented another union: the joining of Summer and Winter meant the marriage of the Winter Prince and the Summer Queen, of my Breena and the Kian whom I could never be, never live up to, in her eyes.

  I called, and called, and called again. To everyone I could think of. To the young and proud Alistair, my brave young friend from Autumn Springs. To my allies, to my friends. To the Dukes and
Counts of all the different provinces under fey dominion. Praying that one of them would hear me, would recognize my call, and would come to our aid…

  I had made my choice. A choice that had risked the lives of so many fine and brave Wolves. And now I’d have to live with it. To defeat the Minotaurs – or die with the blood of Josephine’s clan upon my paws. I swallowed, hard, as I scanned the horizon for any sign of recognition, any hope of deliverance.

  “Come on, then!” Josephine interrupted me from my reverie. She was in human form, now, striking not only for her beauty but for the aura of power and confidence she exuded. While I knew she doubted in her heart the efficacy of my plan to stay and fight, she’d never let on – not in front of the Wolves who relied on her to lead the way. I scanned the Wolves who had followed her, mentally selecting a second- and third-in-command from the pack, recognizing those who had distinguished themselves in battle with the Giantess. In case I fall. I didn’t want to think about that. In case Josephine falls. The pack would need a leader.

  I stepped close, leaning in to whisper into one of the young women’s ears. “No talking,” I said. “Once we’re out there – they might intercept our plans. We’ll only be able to communicate in howls.” Which meant less complex strategy, and more simple aggression. The Wolf nodded curtly at me and looked down, her eyes filled with steely resignation. We were going to fight this thing – we knew it, all of us. And we had no choice but to win.

  We were interrupted by the sound of a bugle, echoing distantly on the horizon. I looked up with surprise, excitement flowing through me. I recognized the sound – the music was a familiar one. It was the call of a Fairy Horn – of the army of Autumn Springs. I broke into a wide smile as hope washed over me. They were coming – they were on their way! Help was arriving!

  “We want to sneak through the tunnels,” I told the wolves. “Preserve the element of surprise. They’re expecting to storm the main entrance – but we can sneak behind them into the woods, then take them on from behind.”