13.
The next morning, Ferith called Thalia to alert her that she had guests in need of her attention, currently milling about her strategy room. She hurried through her morning routine and dressed like a commander, not a fairy queen. Which meant black trousers, heavy matching sweater, and her ass-kicking boots.
Four wolf guards were waiting for her, two sitting and two pacing. This was her favorite place in Daruvar, her books and maps, and all the things that represented her plans to lead their people to a better future. It also helped that the staff kept the fire burning in here, so the chamber was warmer than most.
She offered a polite smile. “Good morning. Has everyone eaten?”
“Sort of,” Skylett mumbled. “But we’re all bloody tired of fish.”
“Sky,” Janek cautioned.
“It’s true. When the hell are we hunting? Raff promised—”
The old wolf took the younger woman’s arm, a clearly cautioning gesture. “Let’s see to the niceties first, shall we?”
“Oh right, they’re going. Sorry, Your Highness.” Skylett didn’t look remorseful.
Nor did she seem to mind acting like she stood in her own living room. In fact, she radiated defiance, like she had something against Thalia personally. The Animari didn’t favor politesse or protocol; that was for sure. Thalia kept her social smile in place, though she’d like to lose her temper at this fractious little wolf.
She turned to Tavros and Bibi. “Are you departing, then?”
“I’m sorry that we’re leaving in the middle of…well, everything.” Tavros bowed deeply, and Thalia waved away his regret.
“It seems sudden.” Unless she’d misunderstood before, Raff had given them assignments at Daruvar, and those tasks remained incomplete. They had also been talking about laying in supplies, hinting at a longer stay.
“There are…issues at Pine Ridge. Korin can solve them with my help, but I can’t tarry here any longer, and I need Tavros to watch my back as I travel.” The wolf seer folded both arms, as if daring Thalia to poke into their business further.
Issues? Like a Golgoth attack? That would be worrying.
Nonetheless Thalia took the hint. “I understand. Please take care of the demesne while your packmaster is away.” She included both Tavros and Bibi in the request, but the seer scowled, her thick brows pulled together.
I have a long way to go before I’ll win this woman over.
“Of course,” Tavros said quickly.
“Did you say farewell to Raff already?” Asking the question revealed that she didn’t know as much as she wished.
They might know I’m fishing.
In all honesty, Thalia wasn’t even sure where Raff had gone. This was the second day that she’d woken without him and it was starting to set her teeth on edge, not least because she was normally a light sleeper. Yet somehow, that rogue wolf could vanish without rousing her. If he had any consideration, he’d leave a note informing her of his plans for the day. Instead, she was sleuthing among his own people, hoping not to make a fool of herself.
“Yes, we saw him on his way out,” Bibi said.
That told her nothing. Janek and Skylett stood nearby; they’d decided to remain with Raff for the remainder of his time at Daruvar. With any luck, she’d have a better grip on Eldritch leadership and they’d have put Ruark Gilbraith down like a rabid pig by the time she was supposed to go spend time at pack headquarters.
“Take care on the way home.” Thalia rose and bowed to each wolf emissary in turn.
Tavros scrambled to return the gesture while the seer remained impassive. Finally, Bibi dipped her head in acknowledgment. “We’ll see you soon.”
Once those two wolves left, she relaxed a little. Something about the seer made her feel like she’d turned up for a formal meeting in her underwear. Thalia rubbed her hands up her arms, conscious of a chill that permeated down to her bones, cold that couldn’t be countered with scarves or blankets.
“She doesn’t like you,” Skylett noted.
“I hadn’t noticed,” she lied.
You don’t, either.
Janek was a true diplomat; he changed the subject. “Raff should be back from setting the mines and programming the drones soon.”
When the elder wolf threw her a wink, that made his intentions clear. Totally clueing me in. Thalia pretended not to notice. Now she remembered Raff saying he intended to get on that first thing, and relief swelled through her on a warm tide, like stories she’d heard of tropical seas in human lands.
“Are the mines safe for wildlife?” she asked.
Skylett nodded. “They have different settings. Raff will use the shock feature, so if an animal gets too close, it’ll be stunned, not killed. When a mine goes off, a drone is dispatched. Measures will differ depending on what’s been caught in our traps.”
“No action for a hart or a hill cat,” Thalia guessed. “But if you find an Eldritch spy—”
“The drone will deploy a tranq dart, so we can take the intruder alive,” Janek said.
That worked. Better for intel if they could interrogate those creeping around Daruvar’s borders. Now she needed to identify the traitor who had murdered Lileth and then she’d go after Ruark Gilbraith.
Ferith had been waiting quietly during the discussion and she cleared her throat, drawing Thalia’s attention. “If I could have a moment, once you’re finished?”
“Of course.” She turned to Janek and Skylett. “Would you excuse me?”
“Certainly. Let’s go look for Raff, little pup.”
“Don’t call me that,” the young wolf snarled.
After the wolves left, Ferith shut the door firmly. “It’s not that I don’t trust our new allies, but it seems best to share this information with you first. If you decide to disseminate further, that’s up to you.”
Shit. This must be bad news.
“Don’t be dramatic. Tell me already.”
“I really don’t know how to say this because it’s such a tremendous Noxblade failure. It would be easy for me to blame Gavriel, as he was in charge when we arrived, but I’ve had security for a while now, and I just noticed the problem.”
“Which is?” Thalia snapped.
“There’s a secret tunnel in and out of Daruvar. We didn’t notice it at first because it leads to the portion of the fortress that we condemned as uninhabitable.”
The implications hit her at once. “Then it’s possible that someone slipped in and poisoned the food and drink for our table?”
“Possible,” Ferith allowed, “but not probable. I still think inside help would be required to execute the op with such precision. None of the other samples came back tainted. Which likely means the toxins were added after the food was plated.”
Thalia considered, then nodded. “That’s a small window of opportunity. They needed to be fast and accurate.”
“That’s why I think the escape route is being used for another purpose.”
“I’m listening.”
“You won’t like this,” Ferith warned.
Thalia twisted her mouth in a bitter smile. “When have I liked anything since my father set off a bunch of bombs in Ash Valley?”
“Point taken. Well, if someone inside our walls was transmitting intel to Ruark, we’d have spotted it by now. Between our tech and what the wolves have added, we’re essentially a locked data fortress. I’m jamming all non-official comms and scanning everything that comes in or goes out. Let me say, the wolves weren’t thrilled.”
She waved that away, following the thought to its logical conclusion. “Then you suspect low-tech espionage. Someone’s slipping out the back and rendezvousing with Gilbraith’s forces.”
“Whoever it is, they’re also responsible for Lileth’s death,” Ferith said.
Nodding, she tapped her fingers against the wooden arm of her chair, pensive. There were two ways to handle this. Part of her wanted to plug the hole quickly, so no more information could leak out, but she could also see the merit in setting surveillance on the tunnel. Anyone who used it instead of the front gate—well, that was tantamount to an admission of guilt. While risky, setting a trap might be the best and quickest way to catch the traitor in the ranks.
“What do you think?” she finally asked.
“It’s hard to get to with all the ruined walls and fallen stairs, so simply reaching the access point requires a certain fitness level.”
“Understood.” There was one solution, and she didn’t hesitate at the hard choice. “I’ll check it out. Alone. You stay hidden, keep me in sight at all times.”
“You’re playing bait? Your Highness, that’s—”
“Objection noted. Unless you have a better idea, let’s do this.”
Raff didn’t like to delegate, so he made good on all his tech promises personally. Unlike the day they were attacked, it was all quiet, nothing to disturb the countryside, which made for good hunting. Silently, he shifted and stalked a hart, reveling in the thrill of the chase and the blood-bright satisfaction of making the kill. He field dressed it himself with the knife he always carried.
He returned to Daruvar triumphant, with the carcass slung across his shoulders. After the fact, he realized he probably looked like a fucking barbarian, smeared red and glorying in carnage. Too late to dial it down. Pretending he couldn’t read the looks from the Eldritch, he carried his bounty to the kitchen. Raff half expected they wouldn’t know how to process the meat.
Though the head cook’s eyes widened, she didn’t react otherwise. “The smokehouse is this way. We’re using it to cure fish, but there’s space for the venison, too.”
“Thank you.”
The ‘smokehouse’ was a bare room at the back of the fortress, chilly even for him, and full of racks of fish. He hung the field-dressed hart from hooks dangling from the weathered timbers. From the bloodstains on the floor and the scars on the wall where equipment had been removed, it seemed likely that this had been a torture chamber.
“Daruvar has a dark history,” the head cook observed. She seemed to be guessing his thoughts, her gaze on those stained stones.
“We’ve all got our skeletons,” he said.
She offered a brisk nod. “Indeed, that’s true. I’ll take it from here. You must be tired of our cuisine by now, but if you can bear with it for another week or so, I’ll make you something lovely from this venison.”
“Thank you.”
Maybe now, Skylett would stop complaining. Sixty pounds of meat would feed three of them for quite a while.
Raff inclined his head at the cook and headed off in search of his wife, who should be relieved to hear they had mines in place and drones on patrol. He was tired and cold; normally, he didn’t work this hard, and he wanted a pat for his uncharacteristic industry. Failing that, some of her burden might be relieved, at least. He knew all too well how it felt to worry about the people under your protection.
He did wash up and get dressed first, though.
One perk of having a wolf’s nose, even in human form, was that he should be able to find Thalia anywhere in the fortress. He picked up her trail near the strategy room and followed it toward the unused portion of the keep. This can’t be right. But the scent markers only got stronger, leading him over piles of rubble and down damaged staircases.
Where the hell is she going?
Deeper in, he caught another scent, fainter but unmistakable. He’d encountered this person before, but not enough to be able to name them in one whiff. It seemed like this person was stalking Thalia, though, and that sent a cold chill down his spine. Raff quickened his steps, relying on enhanced senses, but while he felt like he was getting closer to both of them, he still didn’t see anyone.
Must be a Noxblade.
He raced on, over tumbled stones and ice-slick rubble, nerves prickling with the desire to change. With effort, he controlled the urge because he’d already left one set of clothing in the hills, and he hadn’t packed that much stuff. The hair stood up on the back of his neck as he came to a dead end, just a shadowed corner, only he could feel the whispers of chill wind crawling over his feet.
Raff felt around, half with his hands and half with his senses, until he found the trigger mechanism, just a minute depression in the wall. Which swung open to reveal a dirt passage descending into darkness. Both the scent trails he’d marked went this way. If Thalia didn’t know about her stalker, something terrible might happen.
The door started to close, and he dove through. Seems like it’s on a timer. The chilly wind got stronger inside the tunnel that smelled of ancient graves and fetid damp. No telling what might be down here…or why the Eldritch buried it. Better question would be why Thalia was going after it.
Up ahead, he glimpsed movement. The gloom helped him narrow in on his prey, and with a snarl, he pounced on…Ferith, slamming her against the wall. “What’re you playing at?” he demanded.
The Noxblade struggled against his hold, futile at best. “Let me go! Every second you delay me, the princess is in danger!”
He let go in reflex. “What are you talking about?”
“We laid a trap and caught only a foolish wolf. You might have ruined everything.”
“Explain. Quickly.”
“There’s no time for that!” She broke his grip as the ceiling rumbled above them.
Raff flung her away as a ton of rock and soil dropped; with superior reflexes, he twisted away from the worst of it, though his lower body was pinned. Crushed would be a better word. That was almost enough to kill a wolf. Snarling in pain, he dug himself out by increments, a feat possible only due to his Animari strength.
No telling how long it took, but Raff finally crawled backwards, fresh blood trickling from wounds that healed and cracked open all over again from the rough treatment. He lay against the packed dirt wall, conscious of the dead roots jabbing into his spine. He was filthy and injured, but at least he was alive. Raff had a feeling he wasn’t supposed to be and calling out might alert their enemies. Hopefully, Ferith could backtrack to the door and get out on that side.
He pulled out his phone, but the screen was cracked, and it wouldn’t power on. Unsurprising, the rubble that shattered his femur also broke the phone in his pocket. The bone needed to be set, or it would fuse crooked, then doctors would have to break it again when he got out. Inconvenient and painful for an Animari but not permanently debilitating yet he didn’t want to go through all that shit if it could be avoided.
Currently, it was all he could do to breathe. Even Animari healing took time, so Raff rested, his senses sharpened by the darkness. He heard the scrape of shoes and smelled Thalia above the dankness of the tunnel, long before she spoke. She must’ve heard the cave-in and come to investigate.
“Who’s there?” she whispered.
“Just me.”
“Are you all right?” A narrow beam of light appeared, necessary for her, not him.
The yellow glow skimmed over him and then she knelt with a muffled exclamation. “Raff, your leg!”
“I’m well-aware of my predicament. Do you think you could help me set it? Time is of the essence.”
Raff expected her to protest, but she surprised him by setting her light down and taking hold of his foot. “I’m not a professional, but I have basic medical training. Count to three and clench your teeth.”
He managed not to scream when she pulled on his foot and guided the bone back into position. The ends ground together, which meant it should be good enough to set on its own. He just needed to rest a bit. Still, the pain-sweat trickled down his forehead and other injuries hurt more as if in some awful sympathy.
“Thanks,” he got out.
She sat beside him and presented her shoulder. Raff wouldn’t have thought she was strong enough to hold him, but she didn’t budge when he dropped his head on the perch she offered. She smells like flowers…and the ocean.
“What happened? And what are you doing down here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked in a wry tone. “I’m saving you.”