Page 91 of The Wolf Queen

Silence at that as people looked at those surrounding them, wondering what I knew, if we would be strong enough to stand against this enemy.

“But we will not let that happen.” Selene had taught me how to create a pack, to link my mind with others and I did that now, on a scale I’d never done before. I wavered for just a second, hit by waves of fear, of anger, of desperation, right before I firmed my stance and pushed back. “We will bring every single one of those bastards low, grind them into the dust and leave the ravens to peck out their eyes for the sin of threatening what is ours. We are a pack!”

Everyone shouted in response to that, weapons thrust in the air.

“And this pack will hunt!”

The men at the gates knew that as the keyword, winding the mechanism back.

“A shield wall in a confined space,” Dane said, jerking his hand across a rough map that had been created of the keep. The general, the officers and the lords all nodded in response to this. “We will be outnumbered, but if we use the environment to our advantage.”

“Their number will mean nothing in such a confined space,” Bryson said, stroking his chin as he consulted the map. “They’re wild, undisciplined, savage beasts and we’ll—”

“Meet them with strategy and good sense.” Rath nodded sharply. “This is the only way forward.”

“Shield wall up!” I shouted, my voice far louder than it should be, reverberating all the way through the keep courtyard. I’d used it to subdue people, to declare my intentions, but right now I ensured every single person, trained warrior, religious dissident or just a common man or woman, could do the one thing that might ensure their survival.

But not all of them.

I forced myself to look back over each one of their faces, seeing the fervour and the will to survive there, knowing it would fracture the moment the Reavers got through, because right now was a golden moment. All possibilities existed, including that where we survived and Callum and his beasts didn’t. Axe threw me a shield from across the heads of the crowd and then my mates and I took our place at the vanguard of the shield wall, ready to defend this keep and its occupants.

Chapter52

I’d forgotten this, the sounds of their monstrous growls and screams, the stink of their bloodied and matted fur, made worse by the miasma of smoke and burned flesh that hung over this, but some muscle memory kicked in the moment the gates were pulled open.

“Hold the line!” I shouted, many shouted, because here the Reavers came.

They charged at us with all of the finesse of a wounded bull, but with much of its strength. Arms clenched, hands gripped shields tight as our feet dug into the cracks of the cobblestones, desperately trying to do just this.

“Hold it!” Axe shouted. “Hold it, you fuckers! Hold that line because your bloody lives depend on it.”

But that was hard to do when hundreds of pounds of slavering Reaver was thrown against your shield. Screams of terror, groans of pain as people struggled to obey, but that’s when I reached with my free hand for the Sword of Destiny.

When I skewered it into the eye of the closest Reaver, it felt like something broke. Did the Reavers shout their challenge or screech in fear? I didn’t care because that Reaver and the next fell before my sword with all the effort a child might spike a butterfly on a pin, and that’s when I reached down for this.

Why did Strelan queens have so many mates when the majority of the population had only one? It was because they had to draw power from them in times of need, just like I did now. Down the link I shared with each and every person here I forwarded Axe’s wild glee, all of the confusion, boredom and disappointment of everyday life burned away by the fury of battle fever. I pushed Weyland’s bright energy, his smile in the face of his enemy, growing sharp and wild, his fangs bared in defiance. I shared Dane’s cool certainty. He’d planned this all out to the nth degree, knew every angle, now all we had to do was see it done. Then there was Gael’s deadly ferocity, a need to protect what was his with every fibre of his being, until his last breath was exhaled. The last I pulled somewhat tentatively, not as sure of Bryson as I was the rest of the mates, but his mind flowed into mine like black silk. Of a dreadful, deadly intent. The wolf that ate the world was riding him hard and it was hungry.

“Push!” I shouted and that’s when we all moved.

The collective weight of all of our bodies shoved the Reavers back and with it came our weapons. The front rows stabbed with deadly precision, finding their marks in the Reavers that were pushed against us, then those that stepped up next after the last lot was despatched.

“Push!” I shouted again and we repeated the same process, forcing the Reaver host backwards and out of my keep.

But that wasn’t our purpose.

“Forcing the Reavers to lose ground will help build morale in a short period of time,” Rath had said, as we discussed the plan. “It’ll make people feel like this is possible, and hopefully dispatch a good number of the bastards but then…” He’d moved some counters around which represented the front line. “We need everyone to fall back.”

“To what purpose?” I asked with a frown.

“To create a kill box,” Bryson said with a slow smile and that’s when they demonstrated what they meant.

Right here, right now, we were close to the portcullis, the burning fields coming into view and the Reavers beyond that. I couldn’t see how many and perhaps that was a blessing. I firmed my stance, digging in my heels and then shouted the next order.

“Retreat! Fall back! Fall back!”

The beasts were too stupid to see this for what it was. Callum didn’t create Reavers to think but to kill indiscriminately, so when we pulled back in a series of coordinated steps, they were like cats being teased with a trailing length of string. Instincts to chase us down, to kill a fleeing prey, kicked in and they surged forward.

But we pulled back to the walls, the entrance into the keep, lining up in number as the Reavers attacked, right before we fought back.

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