***
Zanek
***
I walked right out of Camille's and into the view of my brother, the one person whose location I'd forgotten to check.
Immediately he came toward me.
"I hope you know lying for you is about the easiest thing I've had to do today."
I nodded, stuffing down the groan that still wanted to come out every time I took a sore breath.
"Did Camille release you?"
"Aye, but she doesn't know it yet," I told him stiffly, walking around his huge figure and throwing on the cloak in my hand to hide the bruises I knew were still visible through the thin shirt.
His glare was pointed straight to the back of my head.
The extra weight of the cloak was a bit welcome, as I had no interest in expending rich energy to warm myself in the close-to-freezing air. However odd it felt to have another layer over my shoulders.
Ian claimed my side and matched the pace. "More are coming in tonight," he informed me.
I didn't answer.
"Jason is already expecting them."
"A dozen more won't affect his offered space."
"A dozen more foreigners his men now have to watch for."
"Fine. I don't want any more coming in."
He barely nodded. "I'll tell them. Oh, and Dagan insists on sending more wolves."
My nose twitched as I fought a snarl. "Erin didn't want to send numbers down before and I won't accept any now."
"... I didn't think you'd fight that proposal. Tami thinks they could be useful."
"I don't."
"... What would Ana think?"
"It doesn't matter what she would think."
"Zanek," he said, stopping his movement. After a couple steps I was forced to stop, too, but the only acknowledgment I gave him was a short glance over my shoulder.
"What?" I bit out, my mood negatively pricked and the snarl still hiding there.
"Do you resent her?"
"No."
"You resent him."
"I can't say I'm pleased," I spit, annoyed by his persistence.
I started walking again and it only took him a second to claim my side as if he hadn't stopped.
"Where are you going?" he asked sternly.
"To find my bloody swords. Now, are you going to follow me around all afternoon, or are you going to do something?"
"Ha! Well, I don't know about you, but I have a mate that needs attention."
Before any real thought passed, I jerked to him and had his back shoved against a wall. "Are you trying to push me today?"
"That depends," he replied, shrugging as best he could with his shoulders pressed firmly back. "Is it working?"
"Try me again," I snarled.
Ian's eyes narrowed, baiting me. "Hit me. I dare you."
The fabric in my fist began to shrivel. I gripped it tighter. "You would enjoy it too much."
My release was more of a toss to the side as I turned away from him and tried to storm off.
Not a second after, his arm was reaching around my neck. I flinched in my attempt to block, which hindered my speed. His elbow hooked around my throat and his weight attempted to throw me under him, but I thrust my fist into his gut -- a suddenly desperate act that would've never had to feel desperate, except that the awkward twist he was pulling me into made my entire side scream in pain. I hated the feeling of vulnerability.
We were in the middle of the street, but my brother didn't seem to care.
He knew the twist hurt my side so instead he bent backward, pulling me up by the hook around my throat. My hands were firmly placed over his forearm and burned hot enough that I could hear the whine in his thoughts.
Why are you doing this? I asked angrily, ready to give in to what he wanted.
He dropped me. The contact I made with the stone street shot a stabbing pain up my entire right side, and I tried my best not the show it as I crouched low.
"So you don't murder some human tonight."
"That wasn't even in my intentions! What the hell are you reading into?!"
He shrugged. "Preventative care."
I tried hard to simmer down the anger that was steadily ripping through me. I had to be calm. I'd managed to pull that image off for Ana. I could pull it off then.
"You should save it for Gail."
"About that," Ian said, jumping back to me as I started to walk. "What is our plan?"
"There is no plan."
"There should be!"
"Then make one, Ian. I'm tired of playing commander."
"We need to go back to the books, then."
"No. We need to break the relation with the Grimmer first."
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"Convince Gail they aren't working the way he wants."
I turned up the steps to the Meeting House of the city, the doorways to which were partially blocked with rubble and broken furniture to prevent others from entering. I stepped over them without care.
The main floor was trashed from the previous skirmish and the entryway to the hidden basement was blown open, though by the knights and not the grimmer. I ignored the details and carefully walked up the stairs -- my right hip ached with every step up.
The black seal was still burnt into the far corner.
Ian and I stood over it.
"... He put this here on purpose, you know," my brother said unhelpfully.
I crouched down beside it, tracing my fingertips along the outer curves. Hreath had shown me the symbol in his old books, and the very same mark was branded across the back of any Knight.
The rose and crown of the White Knights there tainted, bloodied, jagged, and the crown appearing cracked. Dark wings stretched from the crown as an extension to complete the rounded appearance of the symbol.
I knew it well enough.
"Gail wouldn't've stopped to put this here in his shift."
"Then he put it there before," Ian offered.
"... Or someone else did it." My thumb rubbed over the blood stains in the wood. "By magic. Unmistakably."
I stood. "This is all I came to see. Do you still insist on following me?"
He nodded, brow and shoulders raised. "For now."
"Then we go to find the others before they notice."
"Notice what?"
I walked out of the room without answering, slowly walked down the stairs, and stepped back into the daylight. The light did not help the dull ache in my head.
An hour later, I had to stop. I sat on a bench in the area designated for Eritt's camp and tried to silence the groan as I did so. Elves surrounded me, and Human majors sat not far off. Refusing to look at the latter group did not erase the fact that the very man I wished to murder sat there, as well. But this was where my people chose to gather -- for reasons I would not have agreed with -- and I could not continue the brisk pace I'd held the last hour.
The others stood around me as I caught my breath; it did not escape me that my brother's mate stood back behind the others, as if to hide.
Good. That they be out of my sight.
"I'll say it here and not again," I began, voice stronger than I felt. "All who are here by order of Erin, Dagan, Kerragin, or Tailin are not welcome, and may now to leave."
I straightened back to sweep a hard look over the lot. An unsettled wave of emotion crossed over their expressions. My lack of respect in mentioning the queen was not new. The hostility I felt when mentioning this... leader of wolves, however, was.
"I do not lead those who are ordered, and I refuse to correlate my efforts with those who do not care enough to be here of their own accord. Is this clear?"
They all looked down at the ground by my feet rather than into my gaze. I did not recognize many of them. They were not Vari members, and I'd known it awhile. But Ana had reminded me of my original position. These Elves have chosen to follow my lead. Or at least, that was what I had intended.
"I will not watch over elves who do more harm here than good. Relations with these knights are already precarious; we do not need any undevoted beings standing in our way."
The quiet daughter in the back passed a silent message through the minds of her wolves that I was not meant to hear directly. How foolish of her.
You are not to return to Dugrai, she'd told them.
I stopped abruptly and looked in her direction. "Then return to your packs. If Erin will not allow you back into your own borders, you may need to reevaluate your loyalties." Again I glanced over the unfamiliar elves I knew were shifters. "Leave now, unless you have an interest in fighting. Anyone else will be nothing more than dead weight, and will be left behind without a second thought. I want you gone by tonight."
Instead of walking off, I stood there and allowed the group to disperse. Those who remained included Chris and Shayn, the only two who would've been hard-headed enough to stay even if I'd told them to run.
My glare was then directed to my brother's mate, but to avoid the others, I said nothing. Though I knew I'd hate what I'd find, I threw my thoughts to hers and gripped and pulled at every memory she'd had from the second Ana went to her room after we'd spoken. Where she told Ana she had no real connection to me. When she'd seen Ana fighting beside him. When she saw my link writhing on the ground in the pain she felt through me. When she tried to throw an order over mine not a minute before. Hopefully my look was enough for the excited elf, because my chest ached far too much to lecture.
I sank back to the bench after she hurried off, as well.
"Was that really necessary?" Ian asked sternly, standing to my side.
"I don't trust her."
"With what? She doesn't have the ability to do anything."
"I won't speak of this now."
"Fine," he bit. "But she isn't responsible for anything here. Just remember that."
My lip raised in a snarl, so I looked away, straight into the lost eyes of the human major a few tables off. Immediately my expression grew harder and the snarl became slightly vocalized.
I tore my look away as he turned to respond to something another major had said. He was simply sitting there. Talking. As if he were innocent.
I would be more than happy to rip his throat out there.
With my teeth.
I abruptly stood to my feet, hating everything in the world as I did that -- at the inhale, the sides of my chest burned.
I turned to slowly walk away, trying to keep my shoulders back while trying to keep from doubling over as the sore pain coursed through me from ankles to head. Then, effortlessly, as if to call out my struggle in front of others, Ian jumped to my side. At the excuse of stopping to make it look at if I were glaring at his advance, I narrowed my eyes in his direction.
"Hey, where is Ana?"
The question made me hesitate. Fists balled up, shoulders ached as they were straightened, chest whined in pain. My look burnt right through the group of humans eating at their tables. Burnt through my brother. Into the eyes of the hardly-innocent Major.
Ian looked at me in waiting.
"She left," I said dramatically enough that I knew the human would catch the meaning on my lips.
Ian stared at me, confused. "What? Why?"
Cenna was staring back at me. My glare was hard. Vengeful. He knew I could've killed him but he stared at me despite that, waiting for me to answer the question as if he could've heard.
"Because I told her to."
I'd said it in reply to my brother's question, but I was staring directly into the eyes of the major who should've never dared push at me.
I found pleasure in his dumbfounded expression, especially as I rose my lip in a snarl directed straight toward him.
My brother grabbed and jostled my arm, shooting pains up my spine from just about every possible location. A hiss was my inhale before I turned only to him.
"Where has she gone? Why did you? When was this?"
Of course my look lingered back to the man at the table, who, by then, had his focus only on my words. I wanted to hurt him, and maybe by my words, I could.
"You know why."
It was directed as much to this Major as it was to my brother.
"This is ridiculous -- Zanek, we need her. You said it yourself -- she's the space between us and them! What--"
I ignored his words. They even seemed to fade, as I saw only Cenna rising from his seat, ignoring his own people that demanded what he was doing.
He stepped dramatically in our direction. When Ian's hand grabbed for my arm, I brushed him off.
I turned directly to him.
Leave.
"Bro--"
Go; now, before something happens.
He glanced at the advancing human, made to stand between us, but then seemed to realize he was better off not interrupting me and he backed away, hands up.
I glared at the human as he closed the distance.
For a long moment I returned his hard stare.
"Where is she?"
"I wouldn't know," I replied, just as tightly.
"How dare y--"
"No." I threw his hand back when he made to reach for me, and jabbed my finger into his chest. "You have no ground to get involved now. Whatever was there between you is gone. I don't care what either of you have to say about it."
He made to interrupt, but I held my ground. "None of us can afford the wake. If she still wants you at the end of all of this, see if I stop you. But hear this, Major -- if any of us see you interrupting her progress, you'll have an entire race against you."
Holding my arm there was beginning to hurt; not that I could drop it then.
I clenched my jaw against the look he was giving me. My arms were burning. I was trying very hard not to grab his limbs and twist them behind his back to break. I could've. Easily.
His eyes dropped then, as he pushed against me and shoved my shoulder from his path as he walked away.
I wanted to scream in the pain that shot through my entire side at the contact, but turned my head away and bit my cheek. I had to breathe. Slowly. Or I'd kill every single human in that pathetic place.
There went my hopes at securing a relationship with this major.
It needed to be done. He had no room to confuse himself with what he thought were feelings for Ana. It didn't matter that she was my mate, and it didn't matter than she was more elven than ever before. They could not start anything together.
And if Ana latched onto anyone different then, Gail would certainly find a new target.
I needed him to stay on me as he always had. We would finish this.
... In order to do that, I needed to be stronger.
I had to be better.
Better than before.
I picked my chin up to look around. The other majors were staring at me but I paid them no mind. Above, darker clouds began to form.
Maybe it was time to do some training of my own. Be rid of the scars that I'd left across my skin and beneath.
If I was to be stronger, I had to be free. With no wings to guide me, there was only one way I knew to do that.
So I turned and left the camp with stronger a pace than I thought left in me.
***
Tami
***
We knew he would do it once he stepped into the shadows of what was left beyond the borders of the humans. We felt it. Running through us the same way it ran through the same Elf born to lead... as naturally as his shift was born to fly.
But none of us could follow him.
Except me, of course.
And I risked a skinned backside for it.
It was late. Dark out; cold. The wolves were supposed to be together but a few had left. Sunk back into the woods with the packs that had joined Anaera in the battle. They were not Elven. They weren't shifters.
Someone told Erin what Zanek had said. Ordered, more like, even as many of the others were not of the Vari and he knew it.
I was not of the Vari until I had to stand by Ian.
Erin's anger was ever-present in the backs of our minds since that morning. And yet, he did not move from the comfort of our forest.
He sat back as the rest of them. Unwilling to sacrifice a bit of comfort for the aid of unrelated comrades.
I sounded like a human saying that.
Or thinking.
By nightfall, it was too cold for me. I shifted to pad through the soon-to-be-muddy camps on light paws, head low to sniff around.
Ana was gone. She didn't tell any of us, even though we could feel the obvious space there the farther she went, because she was in her form as a wolf. Which, by the way, was completely terrifying in size now.
I followed Zanek's trail, though it was late and he'd already have been well into it by now.
I didn't tell anyone else what I was doing, following him.
... If anyone would be able to help Zanek, anyway, it would be me.
Neither one of them told me exactly what went on in that tower, but I knew enough to know that if Zanek had to go all Mrietta then it had to have been bad.
The fact that the Knights were back in the city was kind of scary, anyway. He'd gotten in last year, but this time it was different. This time the city was actually fortified. There were more elves around the territory. There were more knights surrounding the walls. So the knight was not actually walking (or sneaking) in. There were too many of us; we would have been able to sense him.
So his magic had to have been getting stronger.
And that must've been why Zanek had to do this. Or felt he had to. Because damn, he was already more experienced than the rest of us.
He had been, anyway. I think he'd been holding back. Focusing on his mate. Watching her to be sure she wasn't hurt. But that wasn't his job, it was our job. I could bet anyone that he would reaffirm that soon.
I hoped they had stepped away from each other. Not in a mean way, but in some sort of... protective way. Zanek was so much stronger than what he'd shown any of us lately. And I didn't blame Ana, but I knew it was because she was there. And at the same time, Ana needed to step it up with the wolves. Like the other night. She did exactly what she should have been doing every night. The wolves needed a leader down south, especially because Erin was choosing not to interfere. It was time for both Ana and Zanek to step it up. Like, seriously.
I stuck my nose back to the dirt to sniff around. I smelled other wolves in the area, but I did know most of them already. The magic was shifting beneath my paws from the thin pocket beneath Dunbirth. There used to be a huge reserve beneath the city, as was seen when it was surrounded by trees and wildlife and wildflowers, but the last two centuries had stripped it between energy-thirsty Knights and struggling elves and even some of the humans held in Dunbirth as mages... though mages were extremely rare. Most humans died before being able to take in all that magic.
The energy was shifting, however, in that moment, because someone was prompting it. And I wasn't worried that it was one of the Knights.
An hour and many head-bumps into stray crates later, I caught his scent. It didn't lead too far off.
Zanek was there, completely involved in what he was doing.
Mrietta started out slow. You close your eyes first and find your pulse. Sink into that wary state of self-awareness.
There were branches off of that. If he was doing what I thought he was doing, it would take all night. Not that he'd mind that.
His hands reached in front of his folded legs to face palms against the ground. Ugly purple and yellow bruises stretched across his entire exposed side, like the waves of one ocean beating against another under his skin. When his right arm reached to the level of the left, his lip twitched, though did not entirely distract him. Hurt his shoulder, did he?
In the ever-smooth grace, flawlessly rising through the initial pose of mrietta, he lifted his legs until the weight bore entirely over his two arms on the ground. The only things to touch were his palms.
In careful, calculated fluidity, his legs rose... straightened... and bowed backward, elongating his stomach against the bare breeze. The shirt he wore slipped down to his armpits, while his abs quivered in their weaker state. He'd been much more involved already in the process than I'd anticipated. Mrietta was not a process to be rushed, either. How late was I?
Stubborn as Zanek was, through his pain, he held the pose perfectly, and dramatically moved his legs back -- only to start on the next move.
I paid less attention to him then. I felt the magic shift between my paws, as some muttering was coming from his lips.
The change was strikingly clear. Made even more so by the highlights of blue wisps that rose from the ground between his planted fingers, traveled up his forearms, and encircled every bruise and mark against his sun-kissed skin. His breathing was heavier, but kept at the same even pace.
At the next words, I figured maybe it was best if I wasn't around. Maybe I should've gone to find Ana instead. Zanek knew the persuasions of magic well enough to continue without me. How many times had he performed his own mrietta in the years he'd spent traveling alone?
The only thing I knew for a fact in this clearing, was that when Zanek emerged, his goal to form something completely different from himself would be accomplished.
***
Ian was standing tensely at the forest edge by the time I wandered out, and I happily jumped into his arms. He hadn't yet said anything when I began to nibble at his ear.
I want you to promise me something, he said, moving just enough to duck his head lower and wrap his arms around my waist in an oddly affectionate way.
"And what's that?" I asked, not used to such serious prefaces and choosing to keep my voice light.
"If you truly love me when you become pregnant, you'll allow me to stay."
I pulled back with one brow raised. "What brought this on?"
"I want to know that we are more than just mates," he said seriously.
"Of course we are!" I patted his back. "But you know expectation. Custom."
"We can change that," he told me.
"Well...." I sighed a light, airy sigh, avoiding his gaze. "You won't have to wait long."
He still had the cutest smile when he was confused. I automatically rubbed a hand along my belly.
"I'm already pregnant."
And Ian Ashe just stared at me... blanch.
***
Ian
***
I sat just inside the walls of the keep, guarding the Elves' lot that was marked by a tree off-center. The others were still regrouping behind me, in the circular yard that had been designated for the elves, as it butt most closely to the walls, and did not interfere in the knight's training yard.
I think they preferred it there, within the walls, after being so used to the claustrophobic trees of Dugrai.
The Sheerian was not liking it, though. He wanted to be out searching, as we assumed Ana was.
As they assumed Ana was. I knew already.
Tami was out with some wolves. I didn't bother to watch her. She seemed outwardly to have agreed to my proposal, before she broke the news to me. She had forgotten, however, that I knew her true intentions. And once the child was born, she would leave. She had no idea where, but she knew she would. Until it came time for me to mentor.
So I sat there and waited for my brother. He would know what to do.
Not entirely entertained as I sat there, I pulled out my swords to examine. Elven. As was everything else.
I looked up to the keep with new memory. Jason had an entire hall of Elven equipment in there from the last war. I bet it would kill the knights not to use any of it.
The appearance of a body at the gate without the sound of footsteps marked the one I was waiting for.
I watched him approach.
"Tami told me you were up to something, but I didn't think you'd go so seriously."
"It was time."
"Aye, it was," I agreed. "Feel better, do you?"
A short nod was my reply as he passed me and my tree. I rocked to my feet to follow.
"You want to look into that mark now?" I asked.
"Not really." He walked through the makeshift pads and circles of our own people sitting down. Their eyes warily traveled over him as he passed. He looked an entirely new person.
"Did you cut your hair?" I asked accusingly, though the answer was obvious. And he looked at me like it was.
"... Aye."
"I knew there was something different." I winked.
Truth was, everything was different. His eyes had a lower burn to them. I saw no scar on his hand that I had put there. He didn't look quite so pale.
"Did you heal your back, too?" I asked as he dug through his pack to find the black stretch of cloth he usually carried for emergencies.
"Can't much kill a Knight with a damaged back," he noted.
"Is that what we're doing now?" I asked, crossing my arms to take a more demanding stance. "We're going after Knights?"
"I am."
"And who else?"
"Maybe the Knight himself."
With the bandana in hand, he walked back through the small groups of Elves, hardly noticing the twelve Vari members that had just arrived the night before.
"If you're going for the Knight, can I go for the pets?"
"How do you plan on doing that?"
"Take an offensive. Stalk in that quiet village south and cut the head as it passes."
He paused to look at me, considering.
"Maybe six of us."
He was biting his cheek. "Take eight, at least."
I nodded. "Eight, then."
"No more than two wolves. Try Alpin and Corbin."
"Do you really want to separate her from Kyna?" I asked seriously.
"Kyna fights much better on his own, anyway." My brother turned to start walking again. "Take Chris and Shayn, as well. Leave the rest here, under...."
He paused again to look back at the group.
"Saerwen. Where is she?"
"Always right where you need me," came the tired, lovingly annoyed voice from behind us. Her shoulders brushed ours as she broke between us.
"Go on and have your fun, Ashe. I'll make sure we don't kill any of those humans."
I raised my brow at his choice in leader. "Saerwen, eh?"
Her silver eyes darted to me. "Better than some pregnant wolf."
I snarled automatically.
"Just keep order. I'll be back soon," Zanek promised, looking to me with an accusing look, and then walking away.
I rolled my eyes at the huntress as she turned away again, twirling her bow to sit over her back. She was the best choice, but I didn't have to like her for it.
I turned back to find my group.
Alpin, Corbin, Chris, Shayn, Adam, Rey, Jens, and Eta. To me. Bring your things; we set out tonight.
I felt Alpin's slight worry.
It'll be alright, we'll set Kyna with a guard.
She agreed with hesitance.
Adam, Rey, and Jens were strong Vari members. I knew them well enough. Eta was a good tracker, and may be necessary. Alpin and Corbin may be faster than the rest of us.
I was happy enough with the group.
We could set an ambush early, and save Dunbirth some time. I knew it would be inevitable to sink back to Dugrai eventually, though Zanek would have to be the one to make that call.
I saw Jason on my way out, as he walked with Commander Eritt.
"Hey, I need a favor."
He stopped, obviously confused. "... Yes? What can I do for you?"
I motioned for Kyna to move away from Alpin. The wolf hadn't come out of his shift since arriving, and stood there with his shoulders well above my waist.
"I have to separate this wolf from his mate. Do you think he could patrol with you?"
Jason, looking even more confused, nodded. "Of course. Is he a shifter?"
"Not tonight he's not. It doesn't speak, but it'd make a good dog. Work for you?"
"I suppose...."
"Good. We'll be back for him in a couple days. Don't worry about his rest." I looked down at the massive brown wolf. "You'll be fine, yeah?"
It blinked its large eyes at me, then looked forward again. Alpin broke forward to kneel beside her wolf, arms wrapping around his thick neck. The look in their eyes was proof enough.
Jason looked at them, seeming to understand though he knew nothing about the pair.
I walked on, calling the others to my sides, and Alpin caught up soon enough after, choosing to stick to Corbin the rest of the night, as silent as her mate.
There was no better example of true link.