“Peace is a fragile thing. It is forged on the trust that your enemy will choose respect over pride, selflessness over greed, and mercy over power. It is not won in wars, nor bargained for in treaties, for it can’t be won and it can’t be negotiated, not real peace. Real peace, peace that lasts, comes when parties who do not agree, set aside their disagreements for a greater purpose. It comes at the price of self. That is why true peace will never last on this earth, because we are not beings who find many things worth the price of our self.” ~Skender
“Will you not welcome one of the Fae Council into your midst Thead?” Lorelle asked the troll king.
Thead’s eyes narrowed on the fae and the stirrings of mistrust rolled in his gut.
“Since when has the Fae Council ever shown interest in the trolls, Lorelle?” Thead asked. His deep voice rumbled and he smirked as he watched the female shift nervously.
“Since we have heard rumors of war coming your way.”
Thead didn’t give her the pleasure of acting fearful, or surprised, though he might be both of those things. He could tell that there was something amiss with this Lorelle of the fae.
“Then tell me your rumors and be on your way.”
She drew herself up and pulled her shoulders back. She met his eyes, and though she was taller than he and probably more powerful, he didn’t flinch under her gaze. He didn’t flinch until she spoke.
“Cypher, King of the Warlocks, has declared war on the trolls for the murder of Thea, mate to Reyaz, the king’s brother. He will accept no prisoners; he will extend no mercy, blood for blood, life for life.”
Thead continued to hold onto the mask he had donned as soon as Lorelle had appeared, but it took everything in him to keep from lashing out. Cypher had promised him long ago that no retaliation would come after Thea’s death. He had told Thead that he would not condemn an entire race for the misdeeds of a few and he had believed him. Now, centuries later, what would bring him to go back on his word? What would change his view on something so very important?
“You do know that Cypher has taken a mate don’t you?” Lorelle said, as if she had just read the questions in his mind.
“No, I had not heard that,” he admitted.
“I suggest that you ready yourself King. Cypher will not be swayed and war will be at your door before you know it.”
Thead stood there staring at the spot that Lorelle had just occupied. He had always hated the disappearing act that the fae could perform; it left him uneasy in the sudden silence. War was coming, she had said, and at the hands of the warlocks. He and his did not stand a chance against them. They were not very powerful to begin with, but with the magic in the human realm waning, their ability to protect themselves had dropped greatly. He honestly had no idea how he could possibly ready himself and his clan, but he knew he wouldn’t just lie down and let Cypher destroy them. If he was going to die, he would die fighting.
“Cyn, Prince Thalion, it is good to see you again,” Vasile told his unexpected guests as he motioned them to take a seat in his office. “I have a feeling this is not a social call.”
“I wish I could say otherwise,” Thalion said as he took a seat. Cyn sat next to him on the love seat, her serious face firmly back in place.
“Cyn has come across some very disturbing news,” Thalion began. “Let me back up. I went to see Gerick at the warlock stronghold. Cypher has commissioned my elves to make his warriors’ weapons. I was there to verify the amount and the types today. While I was there, Gerick exhibited some very strange behavior. But he said he was fine, and so I took my leave,” he paused and looked at Cyn who took it as her cue to continue.
“He mentioned the behavior to me so I went to check on the situation. When I arrived, Cypher was there in the great hall, along with nearly all of the warlocks. They were in various states of illness. Some vomited while others writhed in pain. But still others were standing up appearing perfectly normal, other than their eyes being a blood red. Then I heard Cypher talking about war.”
“War?” Vasile had been listening quietly as the two spoke but at the mention of war, his wolf perked up. “With whom?”
“He has declared war on the trolls,” Cyn said.
Vasile sat back in his chair as her words sunk in. They reverberated through his mind and crawled into his veins like thousands of tiny ants. War, the word rung ominously in the room. Hadn’t there been enough war? Hadn’t there been enough blood spilt, enough lives taken to last many lifetimes? And where had this idea come from? Cypher hadn’t mentioned any ideas of attacking the trolls when he had met with Vasile. He had seemed completely focused on his brother and dealing with that problem. As his mind wrestled with the questions and thoughts surrounding this new dilemma, he stood and pulled his phone from his pocket. He pressed the number three and then waited.
“Alpha,” Skender’s voice came through the speaker.
“I need you in my office now.” Vasile hung up without waiting for a response.
Cyn and Thalion had also stood and were staring at him, waiting. He didn’t like repeating himself so he didn’t speak until the door opened and Skender came striding in with Decebel right behind him. No surprise there, Vasile thought to himself. Decebel was attempting to find any way to stay busy, to keep from having to be still and deal with whatever it was that kept him and his wolf so riled up.
“Skender, I need you to go see the King of the trolls,” Vasile said.
Skender nodded once before asking “Is there something…,”
Vasile held his hand up, cutting the wolf off. “I will give you the information you need if you will be patient and let me get it out.” A low growl emanated from his chest as he spoke. Skender immediately dropped to one knee and exposed his neck. Vasile’s power was radiating through the room and it caused the others to shift uncomfortably.
“Cypher has declared war on the trolls.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Decebel grumbled under his breath. Vasile ignored him and continued speaking.
“I need you to find out if Thead is aware of the declaration and if so, what response he is mustering.”
“Yes Alpha,” Skender said.
“Stand up Skender,” Vasile said in exasperation. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and squeezed his eyes shut briefly. “My anger is not at you. It is at the situation,” he explained.
Skender simply stood and nodded.
“I will go with him,” Decebel spoke up.
“I would prefer you stay here, but as I am not your Alpha you may decide.”
Decebel met Vasile’s eyes trying to get a read on him, but all he could see was frustration and irritation.
“Fine, I will send Costin with him.”
“I am not going to deliver the weapons to Cypher,” Thalion told Vasile, “not until this threat he has professed has been retracted.”
“I think that is wise,” Vasile agreed.
“Decebel, I would like for us to speak with our top males about this. We will need to take action and it will need to be swift and hard. Thalion, you are welcome to stay and listen in. Cyn could you please summon Alston?” Vasile turned then and looked at Skender, “Wait until after we’ve discussed everything before you leave.”
Fifteen minutes later, Vasile’s office was filled with wolves, fae, and an elf prince. Decebel had quickly gathered Costin, Fane, Sorin, Gavril, Adam, Wadim, and Drake. He had asked Vasile about Boian, but Vasile had simply said that he had the wolf looking into other things. Cyn had brought Alston, and Thalion had chosen to stay. He stood leaning back against his desk, staring at absolutely nothing.
“I’m beginning to see a pattern here,” Wadim spoke up. “Every time we meet like this, you tell us that someone wants to kill us.”
There were a few snorts around the room at his joke but it died down quickly when Vasile finally looked up at them all. His eyes glowed with the power of his wolf and frustration was written across his brow.
“Unfortunately, I have gathered you because of death, but it is not our death that is being sought after.” Vasile informed them of everything Thalion and Cyn had told him. He watched as expressions changed from shock to confusion and anger.
“This doesn’t sound like something Cypher would do,” Sorin said.
“I agree,” Vasile answered. “I have Skender and Costin looking into it. If it’s true, then Cypher will need to be dealt with.”
Peri’s sudden appearance into the room caused several wolves to growl. She looked around until her eyes landed on Vasile. “Can someone please tell me why I have just been informed by Dain that a hoard of angry and quite possibly deranged warlocks, led by none other than our friendly neighborhood Warlock King, are running through the forest straight towards the land of the trolls?”
Immediately everyone was on their feet, but their growls and questions were held back by Vasile and Decebel’s authority.
“Are they cloaked?” Vasile asked her.
She nodded. “Yes, Cypher has them completely covered from view, but they are moving fast. What the hell is going on Vasile?”
“Why did Dain come to you?” Alston asked though he didn’t sound offended, just curious, since he had been the one to send Dain on the mission.
Peri crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. “I was in the area and we bumped into each other.”
“Why aren’t you in the states with the females?” Decebel asked as he took a step towards her.
Peri did not like the look in the Alpha’s eyes nor the tone of his voice. “Did I or did I not just inform you that Cypher has lost his damn mind and is about to attempt to make the troll population extinct?”
“You’re hiding something, Perizada, and if that something puts my mate in danger we are going to have a problem.” Decebel’s amber eyes flashed with light and she could see his canines were lengthening.
She held his gaze, knowing that was probably the dumbest thing she could have done, but she had to make him think she was not hiding something, especially since she was. It was a pretty big something, seeing as how she knew that if the wolves in that room knew that Reyaz had shown himself at Lilly’s, and Peri hadn’t told them the minute after it happened, she was as good as dead. Then again, judging by the fury in Decebel’s face, she just might be as good as dead anyways. Might as well put the final nail in my coffin, she thought.
“Obviously you don’t catch on real quick wolf, but you already have a problem and if my idea of your problem is correct, then I can guaran-damn-tee you do not need another problem, especially one as inventive as me. So, back, the heck up,” The last few words were bit out one at a time as she motioned for him to step away from her.
With Peri and Decebel’s little encounter over, the room began to focus on what Peri had told them.
Vasile looked at Alston. “You and yours are the only ones who can get there quickly enough to at least hold them off until we can get there.”
“Say no more,” Alston told him. Then he looked at Peri. “Are you in?”
“Puh-lease,” she huffed, “like I would miss an opportunity to kick Cypher while he’s down,” she in turn glanced at Adam. He smiled his heart stopping smile, one that she knew Crina would have loved to have witnessed. “Let’s do this gorgeous, it will be like old times,” he said.
“Old times?” she scoffed, “We just did this a few months ago.”
Adam shrugged, “Okay, it will be like good times with all the killing and maiming.”
“Now we’re talking.”
“No killing unless necessary, Peri. Just incapacitate until we are sure that Cypher isn’t under the influence of dark magic,” Vasile warned.
“You wolves take the fun out of everything. No stripping, no flirting, and now we’re going to war and we can’t even freaking kill anything.”
She was gone as the last word hit her lips.
Vasile looked at Adam. The fae gave thumbs up. “No killing, only taking out knee caps and chopping off hands so they can’t hold a weapon. We got this.” He was gone just as quickly as Peri.
Alston was gone next. Cyn glanced at Thalion. His eyes told her he was worried about her, that he didn’t want her there without him, but the resigned nod told her that he knew this was a part of her job and he couldn’t stand in the way of that. He gave her a quick wink, which made her blush, and then she was gone.
Vasile was pretty sure Adam had been joking, but then he was still pretty new to the pack and he hadn’t quite figured him out just yet. He looked at the remaining males in the room and started moving towards the door. “This is all we’re taking,” he motioned to include all of them. “I want to move fast and I want to move quiet. You all heard what I said, no killing.”
“What if we have no choice?” Sorin asked.
Vasile answered even as he began his phase. “Make it clean, make it quick.”
“Hello Thead, I see that magic still protects your home.” Peri smiled as she stepped up to the trees that led into the home the trolls had hidden there. They had used magic to create the illusion of a forest so dense that light didn’t even penetrate it. Only supernaturals could see the entrance and even then you had to know what you were looking for. There was a time when the trolls had occupied the Balkan Mountains on the furthest Western side close to what is now Serbia, but the mountains were becoming more and more travelled by humans. It was either dig deeper into the mountain or leave and find sanctuary elsewhere. They had voted on it, and the majority of their clan had wanted to flee the mountain.
Thead had known there was no way for them to conceal themselves and so he had sought out the help of the fae, well, one fae in particular. Peri had agreed to help them, and she had attached no strings to her assistance. When Thead had asked why she didn’t want any form of payment, Peri had simply said, “Someone is sure to want to find you one day and it will be amusing to laugh while they wander around like idiots looking for you.”
“If it is working, why are you here?” Thead asked.
“Who has been here recently Thead?”
He hesitated before finally speaking, “Lorelle was here.”
“Bloody, freaking—,” Peri let out a stream of profanity worthy of a Jen performance as she paced. It shouldn’t have surprised her that her sister was involved. That would explain how Cypher had known where to go. “Cypher is on his way here now. They are moving very fast and there is a bunch of them. Oh, and they have freaky red eyes,” she added. Though she wasn’t sure why, she thought he should know.
“Peri, you know we are not strong enough to defeat them.”
Peri smiled, just as Alston, Adam and Cyn came walking out of the forest around them. “That, my old friend, is why we are here.” The other three fae bowed to the king and smiled reassuringly.
“Vasile and his wolves are on their way as well,” Adam told him.
Thead looked off into the forest, his eyes searching, his ears listening. “I don’t know why he is doing this now,” he said without looking at the fae.
Peri let out a deep breath as she thought about it. She had to agree that the Cypher she knew would not suddenly declare war on a race that he had kept peace with for so long.
“Have any of your clan been near his mountain?” she asked him.
“No, we rarely leave and I always know who is leaving and where they are going,” Thead told her.
“He’s under a lot of stress right now. He sent his mate away for her own safety and he’s dealing with all this crap about his brother,” she said absently as she thought out loud.
“His brother?” Thead’s voice betrayed the nervousness he hid from his face. “What about Reyaz?”
“He’s decided to come out and play, only no one wants to play the kinds of games he seems interested in,” her words faded off as she thought about them. Games, Reyaz was definitely into games of any variety, including ones that would cause one species to attack another. “Awe crap!” she growled just as the ground began to tremble beneath her feat.
She braced herself, leaning forward on the balls of her feet and watching for the attack that was imminent. The others followed suit. She smiled when she saw Adam did a few standing jumps and then rolled his shoulders like a boxer would just before a match.
“Thead, go back into your forest and do not come out until you hear from me,” Peri told him as she continued to watch.
“I will not hide behind you.”
“You will or I will turn you into a yard ornament.”
Thead’s eyes widened as he backed up and then finally turned and fled into the safety of the protected forest.
“Remember, no killing,” Adam announced just as running warlocks came into view. They moved through the forest like ghosts, whipping around trees and jumping over foliage. It was hard to believe that beings so large could move with such grace. The red eyes that peered out from each of their faces glowed dangerously and their lips were lifted in threatening snarls. Suddenly a knife flew past Peri’s ear so closely that she heard the whistle of it as it spun end over end through the air.
“Screw that,” Peri snapped, “I am in no mood to lose any body parts today, so if it comes down to my ear or them, I will not hesitate to save my ear.”
Adam laughed as he flung his arm out, his magic deflecting another soaring knife. “Vasile won’t be happy.”
“Vasile can go jump in a lake,” her words were followed by a war cry as she dodged the first warlock to finally reach her. As Peri dodged kicks, flung away knives, and dished out magical bursts meant to harm but not kill, her mind briefly jumped to her earlier realization that Reyaz was behind this. She knew it like she knew the sun would rise in the East tomorrow. The red eyes should have been enough to clue her in. But though she knew it was dark magic, her initial thoughts had not been to blame Reyaz and that idea made her think there must have been more to his spell than just planting the thirst for war in the warlocks’ hearts. So why did he do it? she asked herself as she kicked a female warlock in the face. He knew that the trolls couldn’t kill his brother, and that was what he was ultimately after, wasn’t it? At least it had been at one time. So what changed? What variable had been altered enough to change Reyaz’s plans?
When it hit her it was like a punch to the gut, well that and the fact that she was indeed just punched in the gut by the female warlock who refused to stay down. “Lilly,” she muttered, and then revised that statement, “the females.” She flung her hand to the woman’s chest and pushed, sending a jolt into her. The woman collapsed, but she was still breathing. She turned in a circle and saw that Dain and Nissa of the council had joined in the fight. And what a fight it was. Since they were trying not to kill the attackers, they were knocking the warlocks out with jolts of powers, effectively interrupting their nervous system. But warlocks were magical and still pretty powerful, so they weren’t staying down long. Her eyes found Cypher and she stood still, briefly, in awe of his power, grace, and control. He stood back just a ways, watching the battle, waiting for a moment when he would need to step in. His face was blank, void of emotion, and it sent a chill down her spine to see a man who was usually so passionate look so complacent.
She didn’t know how long they had been fighting when she heard the howls, but she did know it was about bloody time that the fur balls had shown up. She felt the air whip around her as a flash of black flew in front of her and a huge wolf landed on a male warlock battling with Adam. The huge wolf swiped his paw across the man’s head and knocked him out cold.
The wolf turned his massive head back to Peri and bared large, sharp teeth. Amber eyes burned into her as a growl rumbled out of him.
“Decebel, get over yourself and go growl at the prey you can actually take on.”
With one final snarl for good measure he turned and jumped back into the fight.
“I swear, Great Luna, if you give me a wolf for a mate I will neuter him and shave him like a poodle,” she muttered as she hurried back into the fight. She ran over to Adam who was battling four warlocks at once. She pressed her back to his. “I’ve got you covered,” she yelled over the battle sounds.
“Did you know there were this many warlocks still living?” Adam shouted to her.
Peri grabbed the arm of the warlock who had just attempted to gut her with a sword. She bent his wrist and he dropped it with a yelp of pain. He fell to his knees and Peri once again sent her power into him to knock him out. “Yes and No,” she answered.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that sometimes I don’t know everything.”
He laughed. “Can I get that in writing?”
“Would you shut up and focus on injuring these psychos so that you don’t get yourself run through?” Peri turned, just as she heard a deep growl, and had to duck to keep from being knocked down by Vasile in his wolf form. She glanced over her shoulder to see why he had lunged over her only to see him in battle with Cypher. Apparently, the King had decided that it was time he added his two cents to the fight.
Now that the wolves were present, the battle was more evenly matched, though the warlocks still continued to get up after being knocked out. Peri wasn’t sure how long they could keep fighting at this intensity before some of them began to get hurt. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something drop from above the battle. She looked up quickly only taking her eyes off her opponent for a second and saw that Thalion had brought his elves and they were dropping from the trees. It was a sight that Jen would have appreciated and surely would have deemed it worthy of some weird military lingo.
“Welcome to the party, Prince,” she told Thalion as he immediately began fighting.
“I see no one has died,” he told her.
“No,” she agreed, but under her breath she murmured, “not yet.”