“Are Ragnar and your mother okay?”
“Mum is… quiet. She doesn’t talk much – she usually sits by the side of the bed where Dad used to sleep. Ragnee has the servants watching her all day, every day. And he’s holding it together but… he’s torn apart inside, I know it.”
He paused.
“I came out here to walk. You want to tag along?”
She nodded, stepping forward from the side of the path and arriving by his side. They began to walk, advancing slowly, focused on the conversation between them.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m… I’m all right, Rohesia. What are you doing out here, anyway?”
“Same as you – I came out here to walk.”
“Why were you looking off into the trees?”
“I was enjoying the quiet. I usually come out at night and listen to the silence – it’s not something you get to hear often in this city.”
Corsair glanced behind him. Rohesia stopped, paw reaching for her dagger.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. I saw Opulusian legionnaires earlier.”
“Did they stop you?”
“They stopped me because they thought I was someone else. When they saw me, though, they left me alone.”
The archer nodded, allowing the duo to walk forwards again.
“I was thinking about Tiberius. He must have made some sort of deal with the King of Opulus to have all these hounds walking around in Grand Wolf Plains.”
“They must be here to help us with the war.”
“Which means the chances of peace are pretty slim now, huh?”
Rohesia didn’t answer.
“I feel sorry for all the soldiers still out there.”
“We’ll be going back soon.”
He felt his heart sink as he registered what she said, turning his head to make eye contact.
“You’re going back to the front?”
“They still need soldiers to fight against the Land of the Sun and Moon. You can’t fight a war without soldiers. I’m not going, though.”
“They won’t notice you’re gone?”
“Maybe they won’t, maybe they will. Right now, though, I don’t think they’ll be chasing up runaway recruits after all that’s gone on.”
“Right. As long as you’re not getting into bad trouble.”
A lapse in the conversation was exposed, a gaping wound that widened with every silent second, until Rohesia broke the silence.
“Corsair, I know something’s bothering you.”
“My father’s dead. Take a lucky guess.”
He realised how harsh his tone was and stopped, bringing the pair to a halt in the middle of the pathway. He sighed and shook his head.
“Sorry. I don’t want to be rude to you.”
“It’s okay. It’s a sensitive time. I just don’t want you to feel alone in this.”
“Thank you. I…”
He paused, unsure of himself.
She’s trustworthy. Rohesia is trustworthy.
“I think Dad hated me.”
Rohesia didn’t say anything.
“Sorry, I just sound like a spoilt brat for saying that.”
“Are you kidding? Corsair, just say it. I’m not going to judge you.”
He stood there, trying to conjure up the words, but gave up with a defeated sigh. Instead, he reached his paws up to the left side of his neck and parted the fur, revealing the scar. He turned his head to the right and leaned back.
“See that?”
“See what?”
“My neck. There’s a scar on my neck.”
She leaned in, squinting, before she noticed the scar tissue beneath the fur. They were standing not too far from a building, a lantern glowing directly on to them, so it made seeing the scar easier.
“It looks like a bite.”
“Dad gave me that scar when I was 10.”
Her eyes widened.
“He bit you?”
“He almost killed me. I don’t know why he did it. He told the doctors it was an accident, that Ragnee was being rough with me and bit too hard. My family are the only people who know it was him.”
“That’s horrible. You were so young.”
“And I feel like that was the main moment that set everything into motion with him. After that…I don’t remember a time in the last decade or so when he was a father to me.”
Rohesia didn’t speak. Corsair continued.
“He sent me out to fight in a war where it was… horrible. I don’t need to describe it because you saw what I saw but… it terrified me. It still does. Then, when I come back, a guard tells me he’s dying. I run to the Great Hall of Wolves and I’m crying over him with Mum and I rest a paw on his chest. He sees me and… he pushes it off him. He ignores me. He doesn’t even look at me.”
Now that he had talked about it, now that he had willingly opened the chest of misery, he felt the tears penetrate his defences and brim over in his eyes. He wiped them away, sniffling.
“I don’t know what I did. I wanted Dad to love me and appreciate me and approve of me but every time I did anything it was never enough. Every tournament was flawed, every lesson was at best okay, every mistake was amplified and… I went to war for him, only to have him kick the snow in my face on my last training day. He…”
He gave a trembling sigh.
“He tried to bite me. Again. I’ve spent all the years of my life looking up to him and I’ve been so… so pathetic…”
“No, Corsair‒”
“So pathetic that I’ve crawled back to him after every kick in the side to try and get his approval. I didn’t get the message, even after 10 years. I was just an annoying pup. Nothing more.”
He sniffled.
“And you’d think, after all of that, I’d get the message. I’d realise he didn’t care and I’d hate him. I would know for sure that I hated him. But… I’m confused. I don’t love him. Everything I said at the funeral was a lie but when I was sitting in front of his engraving, I missed him. I missed the wolf who almost killed me. Why?”
“I don’t know, Corsair. I honestly don’t. Maybe it’s not him you’re missing.”
Corsair grimaced, shaking his head as he felt the dredges of regret sink in.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have dumped all of that on you.”
“It’s fine. You need to get this off your chest and out into the open. It helps you to cope.”
“I feel like‒”
A shout echoed from further down the pathway.
Both the wolves turned, ears up and eyes wide, peering down the path. In the distance he could see the light of a house stretching out on to the road, door left wide open and more shouts rising from inside.
That’s when he realised that it was his house.
Without a word, he shot off towards his home, Rohesia not too far behind him. They were by the door in seconds, stepping through it and scanning the room.
“Get off me! Get off me!”
Ragnar was on the ground, pinned down by five Opulusian legionnaires, all armoured and using both paws to restrain him. His brother writhed, grunting and growling, snapping his jaws at them as he tried to throw them off.
“Get off my son!” his mother yelled, pinned in the corner of the dining room. “Get off him, you vicious mutts!”
“Hey!” Corsair yelled, drawing his sword. “Get off him!”
He came forwards, snarling as he approached, but then a wolf stepped out in his path. He saw the tip of a longsword being pushed towards him and he stopped, taking a step back.
He looked into the attacker’s face and recognised that insane grin immediately.
“It’s been a while, Sedrid,” Lieutenant Maximus Verschelden said with a smirk. “You’re probably eager to talk about how I didn’t get sent to jail, I know, but that’ll have to wait while we talk to your brother.”
He gestured to Corsair’s sword with his free paw.
“Drop it.”
&
nbsp; Corsair, without room to retaliate or take up a defensive stance, dropped his blade.
“Now kick it away.”
He kicked it. It slid towards Lieutenant Maximus’s hind paws, and he kicked it away further. It slid over to the fireplace.
He saw the blade stop by another set of hind paws and looked up. Alpha Tiberius stood in front of the fire, reading through a leather-bound journal. He flicked through the pages of the book in silence. The servants were sitting on the landing, facing the wall as three legionnaires guarded them with swords drawn. Peter was muttering words of comfort to his fellow servants, donning a hardened expression in the face of danger.
“What are you doing?” Corsair growled. “Let him go! He’s done nothing wrong!”
“That’s not mine! That’s not mine!” Ragnar yelled. “You’re a liar!”
Alpha Tiberius looked up at Corsair and lifted the book in one paw, gesturing to it.
“This book here was found by a tavern worker. It was left by Ragnar Sedrid, son of the deceased Arthur Sedrid, and this proves that your brother was planning to collaborate willingly in a scheme to seize power from me and have me killed.”
Corsair recoiled.
“He what?”
“Let me read it to you. Dear Lieutenant Francis Ziedik of the army, I am able to inform you that I will do anything in my power to help you overthrow Winter Baron Tiberius. Why my father passed the leadership to him I will never know, but it must be some form of mistake. That winged helmet is Sedrid property and Sedrid property alone. Yours sincerely…”
He looked at Ragnar.
“…Ragnar Sedrid, the true Winter Baron.”
“That’s a lie! Corsair, don’t listen to him, I didn’t write that!”
“Please, let him go! Take me! Take me, please, don’t hurt him!” his mother wailed.
Corsair stood in horror, unsure of what to do in the situation. With Lieutenant Maximus standing before him, his brother pinned and restrained on the floor, his mother trapped and the servants under surveillance, there was nought he could do.
Lieutenant Maximus sneered.
“Nothing to say, Sedrid? No brave words to defend your brother?”
He ignored the taunts. Alpha Tiberius sighed and closed the diary.
“That’s one of many excerpts going back and forth between him and this lieutenant, going back to the day after I inherited the Winter Baron’s helm. They have been using this journal to communicate and send letters in secret.”
Ragnar struggled against the legionnaires, but their cumulative strength was too overwhelming to resist.
“This kind of betrayal is high treason. Ragnar, if you’re found guilty of high treason in front of a court… you’ll be executed.”
“No! No, don’t you touch my son, don’t you touch him!”
Ragnar kicked and yelled out. One of the legionnaires removed a muzzle from his belt while the other four held him down.
“Get off me!”
Taking advantage of a momentary lapse in the legionnaires’ united strength, Ragnar swung his left elbow back. The blow struck the legionnaire holding the muzzle in the side of his snout and sent him reeling back, helmet slipping from his head and clattering to the floor. The husky swore in New Opulusian before diving back on top of Ragnar, clamping the muzzle down over his snout with a snap. Ragnar let out a muffled yell, eyes wide in terror. Corsair met the Winter Baron’s eyes.
“Alpha Tiberius‒”
“It’s Winter Baron Tiberius now, Sedrid,” Lieutenant Maximus said.
“Winter Baron Tiberius… please don’t kill him.”
“He’s guilty of high treason, Corsair. The rules apply to all of us.” Winter Baron Tiberius said.
“He did something stupid. We’re still emotional and irrational after Dad’s passing. He knows what he did was wrong – this won’t happen again, ever. Please, Winter Baron, don’t kill him. Don’t kill my brother. We’ve already lost our father. Please.”
Winter Baron Tiberius looked back to the large wolf fighting for his life on the ground, his mother staring at him with pleading eyes. Lieutenant Maximus trained his eyes on Corsair, sword still thrust out towards him.
“I think you must have been influenced by the wrong people. Groomed, to a degree, Ragnar. With your mind in such a fragile, emotional state, I can understand you giving in to their whispers of conspiracy. I will have you charged as an accomplice, not an orchestrator, so you don’t face execution. You’re too young, too rash, and it would weigh on my conscience to have you executed.”
Ragnar didn’t relax fully. He remained tense, ready to struggle again if necessary.
“But repercussions have to be faced. You are an accomplice nonetheless and, if found guilty before a court, you will be exiled to the Deuvick Feldanas.”
Corsair, upon hearing that name, knew what it meant.
The Derelict Plains of the North.
“Let him go!”
Corsair’s mother pushed and punched feebly at the guard holding her. The hound responded by grabbing her by the arms and shoving her back.
“Milady, you need to desist now.”
“Let my pup go!”
As she charged forwards again to berate the legionnaire, the hound slapped her hard across the face. She fell down to one side, shielding her head, whimpering and crying as the legionnaires restraining Ragnar lifted him up.
“Mum! Touch her again and I’ll kill you! You hear me? If you lay a paw on her‒”
“You’re not in any position to make threats, Sedrid,” Lieutenant Maximus said. “If I was you, I’d shut my maw and stop resisting before anything gets worse.”
“Take him to jail,” Winter Baron Tiberius said.
Ragnar was dragged toward the door, his hind paws kicking out from behind as he tried to catch some form of friction underneath him, but he could do nothing. He cried out, trying to deliver his final words to his family, but could only do so in incomprehensible muffled sounds.
“Ragnee!” Corsair cried.
“No, Ragnee!” his mother cried, reaching out from where she was lying on the floor.
His older brother was dragged out the door and from sight, Rohesia watching them disappear down the pathway.
“I’m sorry it had to come to this. You need to understand that-”
Corsair pushed past Lieutenant Maximus, knocking the sword out of the way, and brought his right arm back before thrusting his clenched paw forwards. He struck the Winter Baron in the side of the snout. He reeled back, both paws shooting up to where he was struck.
“You disgusting‒”
Lieutenant Maximus recovered and grabbed Corsair from behind, throwing him down to the floor. He scrambled to get back up but was pinned by the lieutenant straddling him, one leg on either side of his body. He leant back into the floor as he felt the longsword’s blade being pushed up against his throat.
“Give me one more excuse, deserter.”
“That’s… that’s enough, Lieutenant. Leave him be.”
Adhering to his superior’s orders, he alleviated the pressure from Corsair’s neck and stood, sword still in paw. Vulnerable, Corsair made the mistake of trying to get up on to all-fours. Lieutenant Maximus brought his leg back and kicked him hard in the side.
Corsair yelled out, falling back on to his front, paws clutching his body.
“Lieutenant, I said stop!”
Corsair anticipated more but was relieved to see the lieutenant restrain himself.
“We’re done here. Make sure Ragnar ends up in a cell for the night and that he is tried as soon as he can be.”
Grunting in response, the lieutenant rolled his shoulders as he strolled through the door. He barged past Rohesia, growling as he did so, and disappeared into the night. The legionnaires monitoring the servants rushed down the stairs and jogged out, leaving the Winter Baron alone with the distraught family.
He walked to the door and lingered there, turning. Corsair sat up, slouched forwards with his paws pres
sed to the side where he had been kicked.
“I’m sorry for‒”
“Get out of here before I kill you,” Corsair snarled.
The Winter Baron stood there, a look of regret upon his face, before he turned and walked away. Rohesia rushed inside as he left, hurrying over to Corsair and kneeling.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
She helped Corsair to his hind paws. He exhaled gingerly as he stood up.
His mother still lay on the floor, her robes spread out around her as she heaved hot tears of anguish. Corsair arrived by her side with Rohesia in tow, Peter leading the servants down to them.
“Mum? Come on, sit up.”
He eased his mother up into a sitting position, the servants gathering behind him, before she threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He hugged back, feeling his mother cry against him.
“Not Ragnee! Not my… beautiful R-Ragnee!”
“It’s okay, Mum. It’s okay.”
She began to wail, somewhat muffled by her face being pressed against his chest, but it was loud in the silence of the night. Corsair looked to the servants, gesturing for them to find her a drink and something to eat, before turning his attention back to his despairing mother.
“Ragnee will be fine. He’s strong.”
“They’re going to kill him.”
“They won’t. I know they won’t. He’ll be fine.”
She pulled back, leaving the stains of tears against the material of his shirt and cloak. Her eyes were red. She placed both paws on the sides of his face.
“Don’t you leave me. I-I can’t lose you, too. I’ll die if I lose you.”
“I’m right here, Mum. Okay? I’ll always be right here.”
She hugged him again, continuing to cry. All he could do was nuzzle his snout against her neck. He tried to comfort her as much as he could but it was futile even to try.
Feeling completely helpless, all he could do was hold his grieving mother and resist the desire to cry for the loss of Ragnar Sedrid.
Chapter Nineteen
Rohesia saw the two legionnaires drag a wolf from his home, throwing him down into the snow of the main thoroughfare. Bystanders backed away, forced to do so by the imperative barks of the hounds surrounding the house. Some aimed crossbows at the crowd while others threatened them with their swords.
The Sharpened Fangs Of Lupine Spirit Page 25