CYRANIt's very disorienting, not to mention unusual and bad manners, the way they all stare at me. Argell and Caivan both have askant looks, Jenna, beside me, peers like she's seen me for the first time (or maybe she is, she had her eyes only for Saelyna when Veesa had introduced us), Veesa has worn that calculative frown, and Saelyna…Well, she's staring as well. I just wish they'd all stop.Haron sits up; he's the only one who's not been gaping, even though he's opposite me; and he leans forward. 'I suspect you haven't had these…visions for a very long time. Otherwise, Saelyna here would have noticed', he says gently, holding me with feeble eyes. 'Uh…' I'm not comfortable talking about stuff like this, not here, not now. I have just come out of a trance, I'm sure what I had said was horrible, maybe, but right now I just want to get out of this dark place. 'And you see us…losing. Again', Caivan says. I don't reply him. I'm still figuring out his deal. 'Just another thing to worry abo
RONNIt all happens in blinks; it moves like lightening, a flash of white fur and fangs, and its jaws clap down on Pedran's shoulder. I hear a sickening crunch, followed by his scream. Someone yells a curse, Edril leaps at the wolf, two others leap into the circle, their eyes glowing like sapphires in the dark as they attack Allos and Farden.I don't wait before letting my wolf out. Transformation hurts sometimes, but not when its swift, not when adrenaline takes over, when all I feel is the primal urge to attack. I flip the curtain in the back of my mind, letting go of all control.It's harder to rein the change this time, given it's the full moon. The sight around me lowers inch by inch as my calf stretches, my night view grows brighter, and it becomes hard to think. When my fangs rip out of their gums completely, I act on impulse, and I don't think at all.CAIVANThis was not what I had envisioned when I was on the road back from Qarax. Sure, there was bound to be some disquiet, bu
SAELYNAI don't trust myself to speak. I'm too jittery at the moment (actually I've been so for a very long while now, since the "meeting" had been called).It's Halden all over again. It's like a sickness, this fear, this haunting memory that follows me everywhere I go, that emerges like a pest at the first jolt. It hadn't been there before, not until that night with the mages. Not until I was almost certain death was near.We reach the hospice and I lock the door with shaky hands as Cyran drops Caivan on a bed. I blink thrice to adjust my view in the darkness but Cyran is already ahead of me; he finds a jar of fireflies and shakes them awake. 'Where's Haron?' he asks, casting quick glances around the empty hall. I hadn't noticed the old man slip away when we got to the hall. Neither had I noticed the pair of eyes peeking out at me from under the bed to my left. Blue eyes.'Fuck!' I curse aloud, and hold up my hands, ready to draw on the iden, ready to fire at will when the person sp
CYRAN'Why aren't you doing the healing?'I curse loudly, as I leap at the sound of Gylen's voice. Or it's his breath on my neck, I don't know which. 'Would you all stop doing that?' He raises a brow. 'Doing what?' 'Sneaking up on people like that, it's not healthy'. He smirks. 'So you're scared'. 'Who wouldn't be, winter wolves just attacked the village'. The habitual frown replaces his smile as he folds his arms. 'Yes, I suppose so'.I follow his glance back to the bed in the middle of the hall, where Saelyna has her hands on Pedran's shoulder. Blue light glows now and then when she moves, and the girls are in a sort of huddle around them. Save for Keilen, and the one called Charlin. They both sit opposite each other on the far side of the room, totally ignoring the other.Just then, the door bursts open and Veesa strolls in, the older wolvens following behind her. Her white hair streams behind her, soiled here and there with blood that I'm sure isn't hers; her face has a cut or two
CAIVANI've never felt more grateful for the blast of cool air on my face when I step outside, though I might have to worry about the clouds gathering overhead. There is no wolf around, no immediate threat. So I head for the one place I might actually get more solitude.I don't remain alone for long. Someone approaches, out of sight and as quiet as wolven can be. I don't need to smell him to know it's Gylen. A sight for sore eyes.He pauses at the mouth of the "cave", squinting into the darkness. 'I'm not a Leftyde wight, if that's what bothers you', I call out and he grins. 'I suppose not', he says and climbs over a rock to get to where I sit in the corner, 'I hope to hide out here awhile, if it's okay with you. I can't go on a bloody hunt with Argell tonight'.He's bare, save for a knicker that looks like it came off anyone, and looks way too tight on him. Claw marks line his torso here and there, but I can tell they're already healing as he sits next to me, heaving a breath. 'How a
CYRAN'How are you feeling?'Saelyna has a smile on her face, but it does not disguise the lines under her eyes. Still playing the elder one. 'I feel tired. We both do', I say. She waves a hand and sits next to me on the bed. 'I could do with a nap, to be honest', she whispers. 'Not with those cursed beasts still roving the area', I tell her. Just minutes ago, Argell took Farden, Gylen and Charlin with him to scout the village and the forests. 'Are you worried for Gylen?' she asks, the barest hint of a smile perched on her lips. I fight the heat building in my cheeks. 'Don't be absurd', I scoff, 'It's nothing'. 'Oh?' 'It's a fling…more or less'. I'm not even sure what it is. Relationships have never been my thing; too much to commit, to give, to lose. With Gylen, though, it's kind of different. I'm just not ready to admit it yet.I turn my attention back to Veesa and Constance. I recognize her now as the white-robed assistant I had seen with the claws, when Saelyna had been taken with
RONNAllos circles back to me, his face scrunched up at the sight of guts at my feet. 'You're gonna clean that?' he says. 'That's Sirgil', I reply, recalling the brutal bout the duo had minutes ago. The winter creature had certainly been a handful, but the thing with Sirgil is his craftiness, his stealth. It was relatively easy to avoid his opponent's blow and slash at his trunk and sternum. I hadn't been there, but it plays out in my head from his memory.'You bonded with one of the wolves'. It sounds more like an accusation than a question and I bristle at his tone. 'I did what I had to do', I snap. He nods quietly with an askant look. 'Sure you did'. He turns then, without catching glimpse of the evil look I throw his way. 'So what now?'As if to answer his question, a wolf with white fur, way larger than the others, streaks out from the undergrowth. I barely have time to react; Allos is slower. The winter wolf buries his claws in his chest, snarling as he does it.Then it turns an
CYRAN‘So. You’re the Bekkis twins everyone’s yapping about, eh?’ I exchange a confused glance with Saelyna. ‘”Everyone”? Who’s “Everyone”?’ she asks. ‘Well of course, the Network’. He shifts his glance from me to her and back again, reading our stares. ‘Oh. You don’t know’. ‘They talked about it earlier this evening’, Saelyna says, ‘Who are they?’ Quain puffs out his lips but he doesn’t wince from the scald like he does before I healed him. ‘Like the name suggests, we are a chain of folks with linked interests scattered over Quindar, though, we’re mostly south, and “headquarters” is in Tussel’. ‘How long? How long has the Network existed?’ Saelyna asks. ‘Since the rebellion. Still made up of wolvens and elves, but it’s not just to make a separate nation anymore. No, they’re too angry for that now’.I already know their agenda even without Quain saying it. I could see it in the green flash of Veesa’s eyes and the way Jenna banged the table hours ago in Argell’s hut. Quindar must be ta