Winding Trail
Michaela Verburg
Chapter One
The steady beat of horse’s hooves as they walked along the stone-lined trail nearly put me to sleep in the saddle.
“You still awake Commander,” one of my troops joked as they jerked me out of the sense of peacefulness the trail gave to me.
“Amber,” I called over my shoulder to her, “You try doing this job if you think this is so funny.”
“No thanks,” she replied back as moved her blonde bangs out of her face.
I shook my head. These troops were the best out there, considering that we were always on call for one thing or another. Though when you are out on the road for three months straight, nailing pirates and raiders, it was hard to stay awake in the saddle.
“Tristina,” Amber called again after a couple hours, “Can we stop here for the night?”
“Set up camp,” I yelled to everyone else as I heard lingering snickers from earlier.
I shook my head as I tried to keep from laughing. They were my family. Whether they knew it or not I had no clue, but I wasn’t going to start placing bets on them.
As the troops set up camp, I dismounted my mare, Sunburst, and walked a little bit into the woods until I came to a small, gurgling stream. Twilight began to settle in as I sat there thinking.
I thought about my past. My mother who was killed as a sacrifice, and my little sister who disappeared from Elaine’s house one night while I was gone on the road, shorty after I had joined the army. Now here I was five years later, in command of a unit that was considered the best in every way, yet was named the Gray Wolves, which was a constant reminder about the blood wolves. With these people behind me I’ve had many adventures across the kingdom.
There was still a secret that was only between Lord Briar and I that my troops probably never will know.
As the last rays of the sun touched my light brown hair, the snap of a branch made me jump to my feet and look around. Another branch snapped and then another, until I saw the dark outline of a wolf in the growing twilight. Seeing one wasn’t a new occurrence to me, in fact I saw one where ever I went after I did a mission for Lord Briar.
I was a little scared because to keep seeing one was considered to be the blackest of luck. That wolf could easily be a Blood Wolf that is looking for payback for something. Those wolves could shape shift into a human and you would never know the difference. Normally you were supposed to visit one of their many cathedrals to show respect, so that they wouldn’t kill you and drink your blood. I didn't have the time to go to one, so I hoped it wasn't after me.
Unconsciously, I touched the carved wolf at the base of my neck, the one a friend had given me about a year ago, before he disappeared.
“Commander,” Amber called as she walked towards me.
I looked around and noticed that the wolf had disappeared as quietly as he had appeared.
“I’m alright,” I said as I walk towards her.
“Jacen and Court are arguing over something stupid again.”
“I’m coming,” I groaned. They did that every place we went. I was just hoping it wasn’t going to end like that one time when we were in Cuttlervile that turned into a mess. Jacen and Court had been arguing about what Lord Glasson should do about the pirates when the people of the town joined in and it became a brawl in the town square. It took everyone in my unit to stop it. In the end, nearly everyone had nasty bruises and some people had broken bones to show for the whole thing. I’ll admit that there were a few dented heads as well.
When I got back to the camp, I saw Jacen and Court brawling in the dirt while everyone else was cheering them on.
As quietly as I possibly could, I walked right up to the both of them and banged their heads together, before they even had time to notice that I was there.
“Now are you going to cut this out?” I asked as I stared at the two of them as they lay in the dirt.
“I’m good,” Court grumbled as she tried to stand up with little success.
“Jace!”
“I’ve had enough,” he mumbled as he gazed up at the starry sky.
“Good, I don’t want to deal with this again this week.”
“Yes commander,” Both of the chorused wearily.
I rolled my eyes as I walked to my tent. Once I was out of everyone’s sight I smirked because I didn’t believe them for even a minute.
As I laid in my bedroll that night, I heard the howls of a pack of wolves that seemed to completely surround the camp. As I listened shivers rolled down my spine, but I refused to even think about what those wolves could mean.
When the first rays of dawn finally appeared the next morning, my unit and I were all ready on the road. As we rode towards the east we watched the sunrise with its hues of pink and gold that reflected off the clouds. A few of my people were still asleep in the saddle when the sunrise was over. That was normal, considering we were always up at least two hours before dawn every day and didn’t go to sleep till late at night.
When the light was beginning to fade from the sky, the stone walls of Terin began to loom in front of us. Nearly everyone gave a soft sigh of relief. It was good to be home.
Chapter 2
The sights and sounds of the city greeted us like old friends. It had taken us two weeks to get here from Monroe, a town near the Azure Sea. The cobble stone streets of the capital hadn’t changed nor had the whitewashed buildings. What was weird was the people that walked the streets were grim faced and scared. As far as I knew there were no direct threats against the kingdom, besides if there were we would out there dealing with it. Those under my command were worried as well because no one could figure out what was going on.
When we reached a guard station, I dismounted Sunburst and walked up to the nearest guard, hopefully they would have the answer to this mess.
“Excuse me, we just got back to the city and noticed the chaos. I was wondering if you knew what’s going on,” I asked one of the guards.
“It’s none of your business Miss,” the guard snapped.
“It is our business Idiot, since we guard this kingdom,” Amber shouted at him
Just as the guard lunged for her, his companion stopped him.
“They are the Gray Wolves,” the other guard said as he inclined his head to the insignia of a grey wolf on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” the original guard apologized. “It’s the Blood Wolves that have everyone so grim.”
“What is going on?”
“The sacrifices are going to be in a few weeks,” He said as he gave me a weird look.
Drat, I so lost track of time. “It slipped our minds, I admitted.
“I would have done the same, if I was in the same place.”
I nodded to the guard and then my unit and I walked deeper into the city. The cathedral loomed over the streets that were filled with throngs of people that were racing towards it. Almost everyone in the city, except for the soldiers and the royal courts who were exempt, was worried about the sacrifice, but this year the chaos it caused was far worse than normal. In the streets people were pushing and shoving each other out of the way, so that they could try to save their own lives by begging for mercy at the cathedral gates.
Amber shook her head sadly, “Why are they acting like this? The sacrifice happens once a year, what makes this year so different?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered as my unit mumbled among themselves.
At fountain square we all went our separate ways. The break we all thought we were going to get didn’t look like it was going to happen, at least not with all the chaos in the streets. I knew we all need some R&R for at least a couple weeks, but it normally never happens because something like the situation Terin was in now always came up and no one else wanted to deal with it, so we got stuck dealing with it.
I kept riding until I reached a house that was surrounded by all sorts of flowers. There were roses and lilies all around the whitewashed walls of the medium sized house. A blond haired women with streaks of silver in her hair was bent over a rose bush with a knife in her hand.
“Good evening Miss Evans,” I said as I dismounted sunburst.
She looked up slowly with confusion in her eyes until they settled on the insignia on my shoulder.
“So you’re finally back Miss Airon, huh,” She said with a grin as took in the weary look in my sapphire blues eyes, my tangled brown hair, and the stains on shirt and breeches.
“Yes, indeed. It’s been a long three months, especially how everything has changed around here with all the chaos that’s going on.” I said as I led my mare into the stables behind the house.
Miss Evans followed me, nodding her head slowly as she did so. “Everyone is up in arms this time around because the Blood Wolves have called for more to be killed.”
“And why would that be,” I asked as I took of Sunburst’s tack and began to brush her down.
“They say that we have not been listening to them and that if they don’t get what they wanted they will kill everyone in retaliation.”
“Oh that’s just great. So now let me guess the court is meeting to decide what to do about this, and we are going to be the messengers of their decision.”
“They aren’t meeting.”
I stopped brushing my mare and tuned to stare at Miss Evans. “Please tell me that what you just said isn’t true.”
“I’m sorry, but it is. The Wolves are saying that they have people in the royal court that will tell them if the court meets about that.”
“And if they do meet then everyone will die,” I said finishing the threat.
She nodded and I went back to brushing.
“Lord Briar refuses to name a new heir,” She said trying to change the subject.
“He hasn’t,” said with surprise. I figured he would want to not be connected to his adopted son after what he ended up being.
“He says that Felon shall remain the heir no matter what anyone says.”
I put Sunburst away as I thought. The rumors about Felon being a Blood Wolf puts Lord Briar at risk when it comes to the peoples view.
“Don’t worry,” Miss Evans said as she placed a hand on her shoulder, “Lord Briar isn’t stupid. He knows what he is doing.”
“I know.”
“Here,” she said as she placed the keys to the rooms I rented from her in my hand, “You need to rest Coronal Airon, Leader of the Gray Wolves.”
I walked out of the stables and up the stairs inside of the house till I came to an oak door with the number seven burned into it. The door unlocked easily, even though it hadn’t opened been opened in a while, and I stepped inside.
The bed was made with clean, white linens and my books were still in their place on desk were I had left them three months prior. Everything was clean and dust free, something that I needed to thank Miss Evans for.
I placed my bags and sword in a corner of the room before I laid on my bed and fell asleep.
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