Page 22 of Fire And Ice

The three men shook their heads.

Swag scooted forward in his chair and opened his mouth to ask another question.

Luther raised his hand at him.

Swag dropped his shoulders as he looked like he was dying to ask more questions.

Luther nodded at Rissa. “I can only speak for myself but I will protect its secrets.”

Steel nodded. “As will I,” Diesel agreed as well. “We follow our Prez always and we will abide by what he decides.”

One by one, the men all agreed to protect the mountain and its secret.

“Then so be it. You all are now Guardians of the Maiden.” Rissa lowered her head in reverence.

“But that doesn’t stop those wolves waiting outside does it?” Luther spoke up. “What do we do about them? I have a feeling they will try to kill us or use the threat of killing to get us to show them the way in.”

Rissa nodded. “Then before you accept guardian status you have to make up your mind if you think you are strong enough to take on that status. The wolves are powerful and they could cause some damage before they are stopped. Can you fight them? Greed is like a monkey on their backs, whispering to them that they have to get to the riches. Can you fight them and win against the monkey whispering in their ear? Can you be strong against the monkey climbing on your back and whispering its nonsense in your ear?”

Luther shook his head. “There’s one thing about this group, Rissa. We are what the rest of the world would call misfits. We don’t fit in with what they call society because we won’t be talked down to, we won’t be laid hands on, and we just don’t give a damn about what other people think. We came here to this place to be left alone. Most of the people in the area just leave us alone and that suits us just fine. We make a living doing what we want to do. We don’t run drugs or guns but we do work for our living. We like living away from other people, so we don’t have anybody sticking their noses into our business.” Shaking his head he added, “I would be proud to accept the title of Guardian to the mountain.”

Every man around him nodded, even Kinsen, Trent, and Jacks.

Rissa smiled then her smile disappeared as she cocked her head to one side and announced, “The wolves are moving closer.”

Luther looked over at Amira. “Two of those wolves at our back door belong to you,” he reminded her.

She shrugged. “No they do not belong to me, they never did. They could have maybe once upon a time but they never cared. So don’t let that stand in your way.”

Luther stood and called out to his men, “Lords of Fire prepare for battle.”

The men got to their feet and moved to get into position. They were all armed and whoever wasn’t disappeared to get their weapons.

Finally, they all took up a watch by every window and doorway.

Kinsen, Trent, and Jacks joined the Council members and made a circle around the two women.

Rissa chuckled. “Lords of the Fire? How appropriate.”

“What do you mean?” Amira asked.

Rissa looked over at her granddaughter and explained, “Our people are known as Masters of the Ice. Or at least that’s what it translates to be. Our language is very old. So Fire and Ice.” Rissa smiled. “It is so.”

Kinsen walked over to where Luther stood at a window. He looked over his shoulder outside and saw three wolves standing at the edge of the yard. One was a white wolf, Milo. The one to his left was Griffen’s wolf. His wolf was older and brown in color with a white streak down his left side. The wolf on the other side of Milo was a reddish color. Kinsen shook his head. Without turning to look at the other man Kinsen told him, “The White wolf is Amira’s father Milo, the wolf with the white streak is Griffen and the other wolf is a member of the council, Rammish. He’s a backstabber and has wanted the power that Griffen had, so we can expect him to backstab Griffen.”

“And those wolves?” Luther pointed to his left.

Kinsen looked over and shook his head. “More members of the council, Cade Lawson and Mitchell Reads.” Shaking his head he added, “They think they can do whatever they want and they’ll never be called on it. Greedy sonsofbitches.”

“Your pack will not miss them then,” Luther stated,

Kinsen shook his head. “I don’t think there will be much of a pack left after this comes down. We used to be a good strong pack, but now? Now because of these men, we have lost everything.”

Luther looked at him and said, “You can always go back and build up your pack again when this is all done.”

Kinsen shook his head. “I swore I would protect Amira, all three of us did. We could see the rot in our pack and the move we made was good for us. We’d been thinking of leaving for a while now. You can’t go back sometimes and this is one of those times.”

Luther nodded then looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, I get that. But then she’s worth it isn’t she?”

---