The Wolf Queen

“SHE’S WHAT?” RAOUL YELPS, “We can’t take a lady into battle.”

Channin pulls her saddle onto Alloumera. She’s wearing a simple green tunic, much to her mother’s disapproval. She buckles her quiver and arrows to the right side of her saddle and pretends to adjust the saddlebags for the third time, anything to stay out of the conversation.

“We aren’t taking her into battle.” Will sighs, adjusting his own saddle, “She’s going along to see how bad things are. It’ll be good for her.”

Raoul tosses his saddlebag over his horse, “If you want to look at it that way.”

“I’m okay with it.” Runir chimes in, “What about you, Ian?”

The vampire yawns, “Sure.”

“You didn’t get much sleep, did you?” the Elf raises an eyebrow.

“I was up all night. Visiting Abarrane threw my schedule off.” He attaches the gift sword to his saddle.

“General.” A dwarf calls to Will and he leaves Kaiser’s side. They are a short, stout race. With thick hair that is typically dark colored and blue eyes. This particular Dwarf has a beard that drops to his knees, tied with a red string.

“Is her highness ready to see the rest of Laneyth?” Raoul asks, chuckling.

She nods, “You really don’t need to use titles once we are out of Dragonspire. Just Channin is fine.” While the formalities are nice occasionally, she never gets tired of her name without the fancy bells attached.

Will returns and the 3 Dwarves ride off.

“What was that about?” Ian perks up.

The General nervously rubs the back of his neck, “They were uncomfortable with a Vampire joining us, but they draw the line at the heir to the throne.”

“Well who needs them?” Runir turns back to his horse, “I’d rather not have my knees in danger anyway.”

“Where are we headed?” Raoul changes the subject.

“To Ombu.” Will grabs Kaiser’s reins again, “Picking up supplies and taking them up the mountains to Ige.”

“Don’t they do that on their own?” Channin tilts her head.

“Typically, but something has them scared to go up the mountains.” Will pulls himself onto the horse. The others follow suit.

They ride out of town and it is sundown before they arrive at the human village of Redpost. Nestled against the base of the mountains, Redpost is the last stop before the treacherous ride into the Sister Cities. Will decides to make camp and wait until sunrise to attempt the climb.

The soldiers gather around the fire and laugh at each other’s expense. Channin is left on the outside, observing. Runir joins her.

“They aren’t so bad when you get used to them.” He slides to the ground next to her.

She nods, “I just feel like I’m dead weight. Until I earn the right to sit with them, I shouldn’t.”

“Or you could walk up to the werewolf.” He pauses for effect, “And punch him. Square in the jaw.”

She doesn’t like that plan, “Raoul has a soft spot, doesn’t he?”

Runir nods, “Babies. Absolutely loves children. More than booze I think.”

“Runir, get over here and tell that story about your mum again.” Another one of the Elves calls. He’s got pale yellow hair and brown eyes. Fairen, she thinks is his name.

He laughs and stands, “You’re welcome to come along.” He offers her his hand.

She politely declines and he rejoins the group.

Channin is the first one awake in the morning. She curls up in her tent and waits for any other sounds. A rooster crows and a few birds fly overhead, a shepherd brings his flock out, she can hear the dog bark excitedly. A bell grabs her attention. She moves the door aside and spots Will, brushing Kaiser off. The bay horse has a bell tied to his bridle.

“What’s with the bell?” she asks, climbing out of the tent.

Will doesn’t look away from the horse, “He has this bad habit of roaming away. I can hear the bell if he moves and catch him.” Will’s hair is ruffled, he looks like he has been up all night and he just rolled out of bed. She’s not sure how it’s possible, but it suits him.

A gray mare nuzzles Channin, looking for breakfast. She rubs the horse’s nose, recognizing it as Runir’s. “Couldn’t you tie him to another horse?”

“The way we train them is so that they stay together, no matter what. If Kaiser leads one horse away, they all go.”

“Ahh.” Channin glances over Alloumera. She can’t imagine the little white horse staying in one place without being tied up. “Will?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry. That the Dwarves left because of me.”

He turns to face her for the first time, the sun catches in his gray eyes and almost makes them look blue. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“But you said-“

“I know what I said. I’ll tell you the same thing I tell everyone that joins me. Any man willing to die for his King deserves the right to do so. But remember, just because we are all willing to die for the King, doesn’t mean we should carelessly throw each other away. Men come and go. You think they are the first? Others will go too.”

“Because of me?”

“Channin, I believe that you can bring people together. You make everyone around you want to be better.”

“Even you?” she moves closer to rub Kaiser’s neck.

“You might make me a better man.” He thinks about it for a moment. “Or you might make me a monster.”

She smiles at the ground. Then she does the simplest thing in the world. She kisses him. The world doesn’t stop spinning, the morning continues around their intimacy. She takes a step back, leaving him a little stunned as she skips back to her tent and begins taking it down.

Channin and Will don’t speak for the rest of the trip to Ombu. In fact, Will leads the way and Channin brings up the end of the line. They round the side of the mountain and Ombu lies before them. Nestled neatly into the valley, fields of berries are along the southwest side of the village, facing the road in. White boxes lie at the back, across the village. The path is narrow and steep running down into the city. Children race out to meet them at the edge of the field. The horses parade along the path, with berries on either side of them.

The small army stops in the center of town as an elderly human woman comes to greet them. She is a squat woman with silver hair. She’s spent time in the fields and in the home. “I am Hana. Welcome to Ombu.”

“William Starker.” He introduces himself, “We come on behalf of King Svetozar.”

“Please, come inside and have a drink, all of you.” Hana motions for them to follow.

Will quickly ties Kaiser to a post as the men file toward the inn.

“If you don’t want to come, you can wait here.” He offers Channin.

She looks towards the Inn and back at the villagers, “I wouldn’t feel like a real soldier if I didn’t,” and she pulls the door open, “Coming?”

He laughs and follows her. The walls are made of rough cut wood. They match the dark floor perfectly. A few round tables, a bar and one long table are made of a different, lighter wood. A massive stone fireplace is on the South wall, left of the door.

Hana waives them over to a table, “We brew strawberry mead here in Ombu. It’s our major trade with our sister cities Ozim and Ige. We haven’t been able to make a run up the mountains in several weeks though.” She places glass cups on the table for each of them.

“Why not?” Channin asks.

Hana quickly looks over her before continuing, “The redcaps. They’ve taken every delivery we’ve sent.” She begins to fill the cups with a slightly pink fluid. Channin can smell the strawberries already. It is sweet. No bitter burning or after taste. Only strawberries and traces of honey.

“Redcaps?” Ian raises an eyebrow, “Like a troll?”

“They are horribly vicious creatures.” Runir sounds unnerved, “They take children and,” he lowers his voice, “use their blood on their heads.”

“When the blood dries up, they die.” Channin finishes, “Right?”

Hana nods, “Exactly. With how many children they’ve taken, we don’t know how long it will be before they start to dry up.”

“The sooner we get the mead up the mountains the better then.” Raoul finishes off his mead and makes for the door.

“They can’t come out during the day.” Runir explains, “It dries them out too fast.”

“Can we stop with the talk of things drying up please?” Ian asks, obviously uncomfortable.

“Alright, so we go tomorrow morning.” Will announces, “How much are we taking?”

“The winter months make the pass impossible to navigate.” Hana treads carefully.

“A lot.” Ian sighs, “Especially if they drink like Raoul.”

The werewolf glares and takes Ian’s mead, “Just for calling me a drunk.” He drinks it all without taking a breath.

“I’ll show you to your rooms.” Hana moves to the counter.

“Rooms?” Runir tilts his head.

She nods, “There’s enough room here and you are doing our city a great service.”

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Raoul elbows the Elf.

The Inn is small, but warm. Each room has its own small fireplace, a bed and a chair. The walls are built of rough cut wood and a few portraits hang in the halls. Some of the soldiers have to share a room, but Channin gets her own. She spins around, strangely happy to have real bed again.

Channin wakes to the knock on the door. She quickly brushes last night’s drawing session off her face and opens the door. “Good morning.” She greets Will.

“Good morning to you, too.” He makes a puzzled face, “Is that charcoal on your face?”

She inhales sharply and steps aside to let him in, “I fell asleep drawing.”

“May I see?”

She dives over the bed, covering the pictures. “See what?”

“Fair enough.” He laughs, “We are getting ready. Hana is making breakfast.”

“I’ll be right down.” She rolls over and grabs her boots.

Will leans against the doorway, “Are we going to talk?”

She stops in the middle of lacing her right boot, “We are talking now.”

He starts to argue but realizes there is no point in it, “I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready.” He pauses at the door, he doesn’t want to leave her yet. When he goes, he closes the door tightly behind him.

Channin finishes with her shoes and neatly stacks her drawings back into their book.

The chill from the night is still in the air. When Channin gets to the barn, Ian has just finished with his black horse.

“Good morning, Princess.”

She returns the greeting and opens Alloumera’s stall. She looks down the line of horses, all sizes and colors. Her small white stallion doesn’t stand out.

“Can I ask you something?” Ian startles her from her thought.

“Of course.” She smiles.

He’s fidgeting with his horse’s reins, “There’s this woman back home, in Dawncliff. I don’t know how to explain to her that I think she’s beautiful.”

“Just like that.” Channin brushes some straw off Allou’s head, “Women aren’t difficult.”

“She’s amazing. She’s learning magic so I brought her a book and she gave me this sword.”

“Sounds like you’ve got this figured out then.”

“What, just keep bringing her gifts?”

Channin shrugs, “That’s how birds do it. If you won’t tell her word for word, at least don’t leave her doubting it.”

“What?”

“She gave you something that took a lot of time. It looks like she designed it personally for you.”

“Don’t fill his head with your romantic womanly nonsense.” Raoul warns, entering the barn, “She’s a woman, it doesn’t mean anything.”

Runir is ahead of him and heads straight for his mare, feeding her a carrot.

Channin laughs, “What would you know about women?”

“The things that matter.” He proudly states, “I’ll put 5 shillings that she won’t have Ian.”

She leans against Alloumera, “I’ll put 10 that she will.”

“Gambling is terribly unladylike.” Raoul holds his hand out, Channin shakes it, “But I like your style.”

The ride up the mountain pass is just as Hanna described. Narrow with a sharp drop off to one side and a cliff wall on the other. The wagons barely fit along it and take up the entire width. Four carts, each with a full barrel of mead are separated by a few riders. Again, with William leading and Channin very last. The group must move slow enough for the oxen pulling the cart to keep up, but quick enough to meet their destination by nightfall, or they risk an encounter with the redcaps.

At the top of the mountain, the path widens into dense evergreen forest. The trees block out the sun and the ground is covered by years of pine needles. The road could easily be lost beneath them, especially at night. They are met in Ozim by a woman who looks similar to Hana. She introduces herself as Hilde, keeping one hand on the Warhammer at her side, only removing it when Will explains their mission.

Ozim is smaller than Ombu and is mostly populated by Orcs. The village is very clean and everything matches. Hilde invites them to stay on their return journey, Raoul accepts for them. The people of Ozim take their two barrels and the company is on its way again. More steep mountain roads, but this time, they are wider.

Will slows down to let the others pass and eventually falls into step with Channin.

“What do you think so far?” he asks.

“It’s great. Ozim and Ombu are both beautiful and I don’t really get why there is rebellion.” Channin is looking off the cliff and at the other mountains, anywhere but at Will.

“The sister cities have been important to everyone. Ombu grows lots of grain and since it’s hard to port out, the king doesn’t want it. Ozim raises llamas, sheep and that sort of thing and makes fabric. Again, hard to get out. These three cities provide majority of the food in Laneyth.”

Channin looks at him finally, concerned. “But the cities were small. How are they doing all that?”

Will shrugs, “They work really hard. Sometimes one man doing the job of two is all it takes to tip the scale.”

She tilts her head, questions racing through her mind.

“Just remember that. Alright?”

She nods. “Alright.”

Channin falls quiet again.

Ige is the third and largest sister city. Populated mostly by Dwarfs, there is only one human family. Like Dawncliff, Ige is underground.

The group rides into the city though high golden doors. The flooring and walls are smooth stone. At the end of the path, the ceiling rises straight up, creating a massive cave system. Helge looks the same as her other two sisters, she’s the oldest and thinnest of the three.

“Ige, the city of Blessings.” She smiles.

A group of Dwarfs comes forward the take the mead.

“Fitting.” Ian grumbles, looking around.

“For someone carrying a Dwarven sword, you don’t seem to appreciate the Race.” Helge notes.

“He was forced from his home when Dwarves tried expanding.” Will quickly defends him, “It’s just hard to see what they had to keep moving for.”

The woman narrows her eyes, but nods.

“It’s very nice.” Channin adds, quick to pull the attention from Ian’s prejudice.

Helge takes notice of her, she seems surprised to see her. “Ige has been lucky enough to avoid the wrath of the war gods. We have started an escape tunnel to the western side of the mountains, to be safe.”

“It’s hard to get troops up here without being noticed. The city would have time to brace itself.” Will explains, “Not to mention you’d have to get through Hilde.”

“Are you staying in Ige?” she asks.

Channin shakes her head, “No, we’ve got to get back to Ozim before dark.”

“The ride down takes longer than the ride up.” Helge mumbles, “Suit yourselves.”

Runir and Ian share a concerned look and try to ask her what she means, but the woman is already off.

“You are soldiers.” Raoul grumbles, pulling himself onto his horse, “What is out there that could possibly scare you?”

“He has a point.” Channin shrugs, “You’re a Vampire and you’re an Elven archer.” She points at them respectively.

“Redcaps.” Runir reminds her.

Ian nods, “The sun.”

“And it’s a full moon.” Will adds, grabbing Kaiser’s saddle