Page 85 of With Fangs and Claws (The Wolf Queen 1)

Chapter 35

I thought getting out of the city was a good idea.

I was wrong.

We had travelled for a day and half to get to Wildeford. We’d spoken to one of the higher-ups in the army, a report having come to him via one of the stewards that cared for the lords’ lands while they were at court. The steward had written to his lord, wanting to send men out to the far-flung village, but the request had been ignored. Then the army had wanted to send men. While the king acknowledged their request he did not respond to it.

“It’s a pissant little town,” Axe informed me as we rode. “Mostly humans now, though there were plenty of two-souled living there under the queen’s rule. There were more of us when she reigned. It's an insular little place. People talk and live the way they did hundreds of years ago, not that it helps them any. They live on the foothills of the mountains. Pasture is thin. No iron ore deposits to bring the money in. Depressing place, really.”

“Which is perhaps why Father hasn’t sent anyone to help,” Dane said, craning his neck to try and work out what was sending up the big plume of smoke off in the distance. We were riding through a forest, so we couldn’t see what it was yet, but it didn’t stop him from looking. “No two-souled to call upon. No one of importance lives there.”

“Important to them though, isn’t it?” Gael growled, scowling at the trees as if that would get us out of the forest. “The king is lord of all of Strelae, not just the affluent parts.”

“Well said, brother,” Weyland said with a little smile.

“That’s why the army wanted to send us,” Dane said. “If we take a look, report back on what we see—”

“In theory, we’re harder to ignore,” Axe said, stroking the haft of his weapon. “Though after yesterday, I’m not so sure.”

They all chattered about what was going on, what we were likely to come across, but me? I was quiet as the grave. I’d been plagued by strange visions since I’d met the four brothers, but now. Caw! The sharp cry of a raven had my head jerking up, my eyes following it as it flew across my path. I narrowed them as I saw a glint of gold. Or did I? I gripped the reins tighter, Arden whinnying in response, forcing me to straighten my back, to become more alert.

But not for long. That feeling, when you wake up too early or after not having enough sleep. That haze of tiredness that a nap couldn’t rectify, that resisted the use of stimulants. It hung over me like a grey pall, softening the edges of everything, lulling me with the rocking rhythm of Arden’s gait, plucking away my grip on consciousness, one finger at a time and replacing it with this.

Wolves running.

The slow, steady hush of the breeze through pine needles.

A raven screaming.

Clop, clop, clop, clop, the horses’ hooves setting up a slow rhythm.

Blood spurting.

My back swaying in time with my horse, the feel of my hair brushing over my face.

Teeth tearing. People screaming until they abruptly stopped.

As did we.

Dane satstationary at the front of our party, and I quickly realised we’d come to the end of the forest path. The view of the valley and the mountains beyond spread out before us. Wildeford was indeed a tiny little hamlet, no more than ten houses clustered together.

Or what was left of them.

We could now see where the smoke was coming from. The wreckage of some houses smouldered still, starkly black against the grey of the stones and the green of the grass.

“Perhaps we should leave Darcy here,” Axe said.

“No,” both Dane and I replied, and the dark-haired man caught my eye and smiled in response. “Strength in numbers.”

“Couldn’t agree more, brother,” Gael said, eyeing the landscape suspiciously, that fractured eye of his seeming to see something more than we did. “We won’t be leaving our mate anywhere.”

“So, we take a look,” Weyland said in a deceptively light tone, which was undermined by the fact his fingers strayed to his sword, caressing the filigreed hilt. “Report back and see that whatever happened to Wildeford doesn’t happen again.”

It sounded so simple when he said it like that. The reality was so much different.

The haze settled down around me hard, so it felt like I’d just blinked and we’d crossed the plain between the forest and the town. But whatever clouded my mind, the sight of something on the outskirts of town quickly tore that lassitude away.

I blinked, felt my heart begin to beat faster, felt the tension ratchet up in my limbs as I focused on a brightly coloured piece of cloth had been left half trampled in the mud.

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