Page 102 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

When he paused in front of our regiment, he looked every inch the king. Golden hair waving in the wind, and on his shining helm a golden crown had been affixed. His massive white destrier stamped his feet impatiently, even though he would be led away and stabled once his purpose had been served. Ulfric’s blue eyes scanned the troops in a cool and impersonal way.

“Today we face down the most terrible threat Strelae has faced in many a year,” he shouted as he rode down the line. “But within you all pulses the blood of the great warriors that fought for Strelae against the invaders. Today we meet a much greater threat to our families, our homes. Reavers seek to rape, to pillage, to destroy what is ours, so we cannot give them an inch.”

Where was this fervour, I thought, when we first alerted the king to the issue?

“So today, we fight for those we love, those we are honour bound to protect, but most of all, for Strelae!”

“For Strelae!” The cheer went up and down the line.

“Ready, alpha?” Selene asked me, her eyes flicking out into the misty wheat field beyond us and back again. “I’m hoping you’ve discovered more about your powers, because I think you might just need them.”

And as if in agreement, a raven’s cry cut across the sky above us.

Had I? Did I know enough about whatever strange forces pulsed within me to give us this day? Could I bring the Reaver prince down? I took a shuddering breath in, holding it for a second, then let it all out.

My doubts went with it, as did my fear. I could not allow myself the luxury of those feelings today. And as they did, a strange kind of calm settled over me. One I knew well, one I’d deployed so often when training, but this was different. Wheat swayed, the wind plucked at my shortened hair and the sounds of guttural growls and howls punctuated the air more and more.

They are closer. The thought was clear as crystal and just as sharp, cutting through everything.

“We do this, Mother.” My whispered words were a strange kind of prayer, not formal, not with words spoken over and over again down the ages, but said with great earnestness. “We go forth as the only thing between Strelae and destruction.” My mind filled with a screaming nightmare painted entirely in shades of black and red. “We do this to protect them.”

I could feel Del’s arms around me in that moment, my eyes falling closed for a second, then the weight of Jan in my lap.

“We do this for the children, Mother.”

Does every soldier make bargains with the gods before they go forth to fight? I did. I told that impassive white statue what I would do, who I would protect if she gifted us with her grace. I showed her Del and the citadel children, Owe and the other squires then the children of Aramoor. I conjured faces, child after child, most of whom I wasn’t entirely sure I’d actually seen, but I offered them up to her in my mind, begging that for once they not be made a sacrifice. That, instead, she would give us the means to win this day.

When my eyes flicked open, whatever the hell that golden light was, it filled me entirely, pulsing inside like a great heart, as though it wasn’t my own meagre one that pumped, it was hers. The sensation of protection burned through me: a gentle hand on my face, my mother holding me close as I cried, rocking me back and forth, back and forth until I settled.

“Darcy, your eyes…” Gael said, his widening.

But whatever it was that he saw, I didn’t get the chance to find out. The growls, the howls, they got louder and louder, combining together to form a gods-awful roar that threatened to shake the earth.

“Ready!” General Rath shouted and then the horns of war were blasted, their clarion calling us up to fight.

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They emerged out of the mists like a nightmare. Shadows at first, great and hulking, but the clouds of fog parted willing, letting them pass until there they were. Huge bastards in half man, half wolf form, drool dropping in strings from their open jaws, their claws twitching with a need to rend us, tear us apart.

But we couldn’t let them.

“Shield wall!”

Rath barked the order and our shields went up as one, locking together, four men deep, trying to provide a bulwark between the Reavers and the people they sought to eviscerate. My feet planted down into the earth, it felt, digging into her to find the means to resist them. This was not training, not sparring on the sands or even fighting a duel. We had to hold the line. My teeth locked down, my muscles burned as I held on with everything I had, knowing that being one of the smaller, lighter ones, I could easily be the weak link that broke the wall.

“Not this day…” I hissed. “Not today.”

“Courage, alpha,” Selene shouted. “Hold the line, my wolves! Hold this fucking line!”

Similar cries went up through the line, because this was our purpose. We were an army, not warriors, as General Rath had painstakingly explained as he went over the strategy for the battle after he’d gotten free of the king and his court. Our strength would come from the collective, not our individual efforts, and if we could work together, we might just win the day.

We were about to find out one way or the other. The winds picked up as the Reavers broke out into a run, an ugly, lumbering gait.

“They’ve been running for too long,” Weyland said, a smile spreading across his face. “Look at the way they’re moving, their posture.”

“Tired or not, they’re still murderous fucking bastards,” Dane replied from between gritted teeth. “Hold firm, lads!” His voice cracked with alpha power as he shouted out the order, the king’s head whipping around to seek the source of it as he forced himself into the formation. “They might fancy themselves vicious wolves, but they’ve got nothing on us!”

The light inside me swelled as we stood ready. Howls went up and down the line, and the Reavers’ heads jerked up at the sound of it, something red and maddened flashing in their eyes. Some stopped mid-stride, their muzzles thrown back, their claws raking the air as they howled their derision at us, but the others? They were like hunters on the plain, sighting their prey and then moving. Running towards us with quick, economical steps, ones that got faster and faster as they got closer.

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